Swim and fly in creation’s fifth season interpreted by nature. The structured circular poetry conveys an outline of evolution on Earth viewed by science. Without the overburden of unbiblical “perfectionism,” the ancient text matches the evidence perfectly.
Genesis 1
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day (NIV).
On Day 2, the writer used the poetic structure to open two extreme environments on Earth: sky and ocean. The “extreme” animals of Day 5 filled those spaces in a poetic balance of opposites. From the heights, the oceans collected water; from the finned depths, the sky fluttered. Within these two extremes, man does not dominate, not yet. Only now are we at a juncture of awareness.
Following the circular format, the poet filled the ocean with living creatures, and then the sky. The two days were not simultaneous; neither were the creations. Poetically, everything had a relationship.
Birds followed the proliferation of sea creatures. Incredibly, this matches the evidence of paleontology and the theory of evolution. Life in the oceans became abundant before anything lived on land. Once there, the land creatures, insects, reptiles, dinosaurs, and mammals eventually learned to fly.
Days 5 and 6 encompass all animal forms, the microscopic to the gigantic. Each grouping fits within the scientific understanding of families, orders, and kingdoms. Not one word stipulates a species or even a genus, including “human-kind.” The text generalizes all life forms and emphasizes the concept of “everything.”
The use of generalization is unique among ancient creation stories. It lets Genesis 1 tell the same story as evolution theory. The nonspecific word “kind” encapsulates all the animals connected by lineage with no time or species left out. Each grouping includes all life that existed at the time of writing and all that came before, no matter how different they may have looked.
Evolution does not mean a fish suddenly grew legs and walked away from the water. It means that everything changes. With the passage of enough time, generations transform into things not quite like their forebearers. Genetics drives change and proves the probability of the evolution of life. Each life form that produces offspring adds its unique blend of DNA into the next generation. A small population accumulates a particular lineage of genes until a subspecies is recognizable. Time differentiates one group from another until new species form. All evolution needs to change anything is the right amount of time, then, that produces all the life currently on Earth. God’s universal sculpting tool was and still is evolution. He did not change his ways.
Most often, change happens at a slow pace. However, with the right environmental stimulation, change comes in quick spurts creating radically different forms. That means an animal group that changes slowly can live at the same time as a similar one that changes quickly. Oddly enough, the old forms sometimes outlast the new forms.
“Kind” means “lineage,” and lineage changes kind. We trace each lineage through many shapes, which branch to produce cousin forms, each link back to the first creature. First-life came from the minerals (“dirt” in Genesis 2) abundant on Earth and throughout the universe. That lineage of mineral takes us back to the beginning of everything.
The poetic circle of day 5 and day 2 restates the theme of the entire poem. God created everything above and everything below. Our God wants us to know. All of creation, including life, is one, as its Creator is one.
To be continued:
