Questions on the Road: “Is Genesis 1 Poetic?”

Ryan Cox • July 31, 2018

Something you may or may not have heard is the claim that Genesis 1 is Hebrew poetry. I have heard several people from various backgrounds and persuasions make the simple statement that, “Genesis 1 is poetic.” Now the intentions of some may be harmless, but it is an often-cited response by those attempting to claim that Genesis 1 should not be read as history.

The resulting consequence is the open interpretation of Genesis 1 in accordance with any and all worldviews. It does not need to be taken as factual history; it can be God’s colorful description of how He used evolution and billions of years to bring about life and the universe.

Those who attempt to defend the poetry position may use the argument of “Hebrew parallelism”, which may look something like this:

Day 1 : God “separates” light and dark → Day 4 : God “fills” the light with the sun and the dark with the moon

Day 2 : God “separates” the waters → Day 5 : God “fills” the upper waters with birds and the lower waters with fish

Day 3 : God “separates” the land from the water → Day 6 : God “fills” the land with animals and people

Day 7 : God rests → Uh … no parallel

You may already see some major problems with this, especially if you understand what God actually did on each day.

Extensive scholarship has conclusively decided that Genesis 1 is NOT a poetic passage.

Dr. Edward Young, who studied at Stanford, Leipzig, and Dropsy and taught Old Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, wrote:

Genesis one is not poetry or saga or myth, but straightforward, trustworthy history, and, inasmuch as it is a divine revelation, accurately records those matters of which it speaks. That Genesis one is historical may be seen from these considerations. (1) It sustains an intimate relationship with the remainder of the book. The remainder of the book (i.e., The Generations) presupposes the Creation Account, and the Creation Account prepares for what follows. The two portions of Genesis are integral parts of the book and complement one another. (2) The characteristics of Hebrew poetry are lacking. There are poetic accounts of the creation and these form a striking contrast to Genesis one. (3) The New Testament regards certain events mentioned in Genesis one as actually having taken place. We may safely allow the New Testament to be our interpreter of this mighty first chapter of the Bible. ( Studies in Genesis One , Baker, Grand Rapids, 1975, p. 105)

Dr. Stephen Boyd, who studied at Hebrew Union College, taught at The Master’s College, and now teaches at Calvary University, authored the tenth chapter of Thousands…Not Billions (Master Books, Portland, 2005, pp. 157-170), in which he demonstrated the grammatical differences between Hebraic poetry and Hebraic narrative.

For example, narrative/historical passages in Hebrew use more preterite verbs; poetic passages use more perfect and imperfect verbs. Exodus 14 is the narrative/historical record of the Red Sea crossing, while Exodus 15 is the poetic/musical record of the crossing. The historical passage uses 55% preterite verbs while the poetic passage uses 95% perfect and imperfect verbs.

Genesis 1 uses 60% preterite verbs and only 10% perfect and imperfect verbs, meaning the passage is one of the most historical/narrative passages in all the Old Testament!

In my discussions with Dr. James Smith, who also studied at Hebrew Union College and taught at Cincinnati Bible Seminary and Florida Christian College, he emphasized the importance of the waw -consecutive in Genesis 1. The Hebrew word waw (pronounced “vav”) means “and”. When it is in the waw -consecutive, it means “immediately thereafter”. Dr. Smith pointed out that it is in all 31 verses, which is why each day begins with “And” or “Then”, depending on your translation. This means the events of Genesis 1 all occurred “immediately thereafter” in the manner described. There cannot be any gaps of any kind between the days of Genesis 1; each day came “immediately thereafter” the other days. This also makes Genesis 1 narrative/historical and not poetic.

So the next time you hear someone state that Genesis 1 is poetic, hopefully he or she is open to the truth and are willing to hear you lovingly explain the trustworthiness of the perfect record of history found only in God’s Word.

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September/October 2025 Printed Newsletter

October 2, 2025

Flooded Marine Reptile

By Matt Miles • October 2, 2025

The Flood during Noah’s day was a devastating judgement against the sin and wickedness of the time. Most people focus on what the Lord did as He saved the eight people and animals on the Ark. Yet while they were being saved, the Flood destroyed the earth and left behind some remarkable things. Geology around the globe shows water burial of plants and animals. Many of the animal remains show signs of drowning and then burial. One particular reptile that shows this is the Ichthyosaurus. From what we can understand, water was her home for everything in life, even giving birth to live young. This well designed creature may even help us trust the Word of God when it comes to the history of the Flood. In our Mobile Museum of Earth History we exhibit a research replica of an ichthyosaur called Stenopterygius quadriscissus . She is from Holzmaden, Germany and is one example of hundreds that have been found in the area. The reason we can so confidently state this fossil is a “her,” when we rarely know for sure about fossil animals, is because she is pregnant. She has three babies present with her remains: one under her tail, one in or near the birth canal, and one still inside. Our fossil is in situ, which means the fossil remains in the rock matrix it was buried in. So, the presence of momma and babies are how they were buried and not articulated in some manner after excavation. This is important to show the rapid, watery burial that must have taken place to lock this scene in the fossil record. The Flood trapped organisms all over the world in different life positions. Sometimes the fossils left behind have shown eating, hunting, sleeping, swimming, nesting, or drowning. When it comes to ichthyosaurs around the planet, there is a significant number of females that seem to be pregnant. They have been found in the fossil record on at least four continents. A fair assumption would be that Ichthyosaurs had a certain time of year they mated and gave birth to young, much like sea turtles today that nest from late spring to late fall depending on the region around the world. So it should come as no surprise that we find pregnant ichthyosaurs all around the world as the Flood lasted an entire year. It would have buried the females that were pregnant near their location of habitat. Evolutionists maintain that ichthyosaurs lived tens to hundreds of million years ago and each of the mothers found in the fossil record just died while giving birth. This is difficult to support in a millions magnitude time scale. That would mean every time a disaster happened, millions of years apart, the right conditions existed to quickly bury ichthyosaurs that just so happened to be pregnant. It just might take some “faith” to trust that “miracle” would happen over and over again through eons of time. Or you can have faith that the Word of God’s history is correct with a judgement of man’s sin bringing global devastation through the Flood during Noah’s 600th year of life. The Word of God is trustworthy, with even the fossil record showing us glimpses of historical evidence in support of our faith. I’m so thankful we don’t need blind faith to trust our salvation! Blessings.

Our God Whom We Serve Is Able

By Ryan Cox • October 2, 2025

14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 …if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:14-18 In the 6th century BC, three young men stood up for their faith in the one true God, for which someone attempted to kill them. Today, in the 21st century AD, one young man was gunned down for his faith in the one true God. And sadly, Charlie Kirk is not the only one. According to The Esther Project, martyrdom for the cause of Christ is commonplace around the world ( theestherproject.com/statistics ). On average: 322 Christians are killed monthly. 214 churches or Christian properties are destroyed monthly. 772 forms of violence (beatings, kidnappings, etc.) against Christians are committed monthly. 100,000 to 160,000 Christians are killed annually in the 21st century. 1.093 million Christians were martyred between 2000 and 2010. And more than 70 million Christians are believed to have been martyred since the 1st century, with more than half killed in the 20th century alone under communist and fascist governments. And how should Christians respond? Peter wrote, “ if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name ” (I Peter 4:16). Jesus took this a step further; He told us, “ …love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ” (Matthew 5:44). Now, as Shawn Grant, minister at Kissimmee Christian Church, FL, preached on the Sunday following the assassination, th at may not be what you want to hear right now, but that is what Jesus has told us we must do. Why? So the world will see the difference Jesus makes! The night of and the days after the assassination, businesses did not have to board up their stores. Police and soldiers did not have to be deployed. There were no riots, no property damages, no police spat upon – only tears, prayers, and a witness to the world that Jesus is the answer. So noticeable is this to the world, there were more international press requests for the Charlie Kirk memorial service than are requested for Super Bowls. Within seven days of his death, Kirk’s ministry Turning Point USA had received over 54,000 campus chapter requests. And most importantly, scores of videos of young people considering or even deciding to give their lives to Jesus have been posted to social media platforms.