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The Genesis Account: A Theological, Historical, and Scientific Commentary on Genesis 1-11
This classic commentary on Genesis 1–11 contains a thorough analysis of the text itself, and has a number of features that set it apart from many other Genesis commentaries:
It defends the biblical creationist position: creation in six consecutive normal days, death resulting from Adam’s fall, and a globe-covering Flood, and confusion of languages at Babel, and in the process it explains how the rest of the Bible interprets Genesis in the above straightforward manner.
While skillfully documenting how interpreters throughout Church history have taught the above, and that long-age death-before-sin views were a reaction to 19th-century uniformitarian geology, it also provides cutting-edge scientific support for the Genesis history.
Importantly it demonstrates that all doctrines of Christianity begin in Genesis 1–11, and straightforwardly answers the commonest objections to a plain understanding of these crucial Genesis texts.
It defends the biblical creationist position: creation in six consecutive normal days, death resulting from Adam’s fall, and a globe-covering Flood, and confusion of languages at Babel, and in the process it explains how the rest of the Bible interprets Genesis in the above straightforward manner.
While skillfully documenting how interpreters throughout Church history have taught the above, and that long-age death-before-sin views were a reaction to 19th-century uniformitarian geology, it also provides cutting-edge scientific support for the Genesis history.
Importantly it demonstrates that all doctrines of Christianity begin in Genesis 1–11, and straightforwardly answers the commonest objections to a plain understanding of these crucial Genesis texts.
786 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2015
40 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Sarfati
18 books61 followersDr Jonathan D. Sarfati is a renowned creationist, physical chemist, spectroscopist, and chess master. He is most famous for taking an uncompromising stance on the origins of the universe, the earth, and life, and defending Scripture in a straightforward manner against any attempt to "reconcile" it with "scientific data" that contradict it.
Life and career
Jonathan Sarfati was born in Ararat, Australia in 1964. He moved to New Zealand as a child and received his early education there.[1] He graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry with two physics papers substituted, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry, based on his thesis: A Spectroscopic Study of some Chalcogenide Ring and Cage Molecules. He has also had papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals including co-authoring in the journal Nature on high-temperature superconductors in 1987, when he was 22 [2].
Life and career
Jonathan Sarfati was born in Ararat, Australia in 1964. He moved to New Zealand as a child and received his early education there.[1] He graduated from Victoria University of Wellington with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry with two physics papers substituted, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry, based on his thesis: A Spectroscopic Study of some Chalcogenide Ring and Cage Molecules. He has also had papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals including co-authoring in the journal Nature on high-temperature superconductors in 1987, when he was 22 [2].
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 20, 2015
"The Genesis Account: A theological, historical, and scientific commentary on Genesis 1-11" by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati is a new landmark book; the most up-to-date and in-depth commentary on early Genesis ever published. This book is phenomenal, possibly one of the best books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot!
As the title suggests, the book's focus lies in the first eleven chapters of the Bible (a 24-hour 7 day Creation to Abraham), where you'll find the foundations for the most important Christian doctrines.
"The Genesis Account" is a brilliant read, thought-provoking and just shy of 800 pages. It's written at a high school reading level. The author, Dr. Sarfati, is a PhD scientist and a learned Messianic Jew, so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to studying the God's Word. While a little of the mathematics/science content flew over my head, most of it was written to engage the average reader. There were a few conclusions in the book that I didn't agree with, but nothing major. I found a few proof-reading errors, but I’m really reaching to find something not to like.
Now I'd like to share about myself:
I was raised in a Christian household with a biblical creation worldview. As such, I've been reading Creation magazine since the very early 1990s (this book is associated with their ministry). Since then I've read thousands upon thousands of such articles, many books and of course, CMI's quarterly magazine. I’ve watched numerous documentaries, online talks and have attended many lectures. So you could say I'm familiar with the topic of biblical creation versus evolution. Despite that, I found much new material in “The Genesis Account”, which was surprising but awesome.
Outside the home I was constantly exposed to evolutionary storytelling, but from an early age I thought little of evolution and even less as I grew older. The science stories just seemed nonsensical in comparison to the biblical creation understanding. Because of this, I found most dinosaur books and science documentaries an exercise in frustration. But at least I was informed and a critical thinker. I read both sides of the argument to better understand evolution.
Years later, after much reading, study, thought, consideration, discussion of both sides of the argument, and of course prayer, I arrived at the conclusion that biblical creation provided the only logical, reasonable and consistent explanation for the world around us and for what happened in the ancient past. I learned that a grammatical-historical perspective was needed to make sense of the Bible, especially early Genesis. This refers to a ‘plain reading’ of the Bible allowing for the figurative language found throughout. After all, the Bible is not a book of secret knowledge for the learned few to make sense of.
I believe “The Genesis Account” is an important book that should be read by every pastor, theologian, Bible scholar, student – everyone really. It’s that good! I highly recommend it.
We can trust God's Word completely. Genesis is truthful history from the very first word. Hallelujah!
9.5/10
As the title suggests, the book's focus lies in the first eleven chapters of the Bible (a 24-hour 7 day Creation to Abraham), where you'll find the foundations for the most important Christian doctrines.
"The Genesis Account" is a brilliant read, thought-provoking and just shy of 800 pages. It's written at a high school reading level. The author, Dr. Sarfati, is a PhD scientist and a learned Messianic Jew, so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to studying the God's Word. While a little of the mathematics/science content flew over my head, most of it was written to engage the average reader. There were a few conclusions in the book that I didn't agree with, but nothing major. I found a few proof-reading errors, but I’m really reaching to find something not to like.
Now I'd like to share about myself:
I was raised in a Christian household with a biblical creation worldview. As such, I've been reading Creation magazine since the very early 1990s (this book is associated with their ministry). Since then I've read thousands upon thousands of such articles, many books and of course, CMI's quarterly magazine. I’ve watched numerous documentaries, online talks and have attended many lectures. So you could say I'm familiar with the topic of biblical creation versus evolution. Despite that, I found much new material in “The Genesis Account”, which was surprising but awesome.
Outside the home I was constantly exposed to evolutionary storytelling, but from an early age I thought little of evolution and even less as I grew older. The science stories just seemed nonsensical in comparison to the biblical creation understanding. Because of this, I found most dinosaur books and science documentaries an exercise in frustration. But at least I was informed and a critical thinker. I read both sides of the argument to better understand evolution.
Years later, after much reading, study, thought, consideration, discussion of both sides of the argument, and of course prayer, I arrived at the conclusion that biblical creation provided the only logical, reasonable and consistent explanation for the world around us and for what happened in the ancient past. I learned that a grammatical-historical perspective was needed to make sense of the Bible, especially early Genesis. This refers to a ‘plain reading’ of the Bible allowing for the figurative language found throughout. After all, the Bible is not a book of secret knowledge for the learned few to make sense of.
I believe “The Genesis Account” is an important book that should be read by every pastor, theologian, Bible scholar, student – everyone really. It’s that good! I highly recommend it.
We can trust God's Word completely. Genesis is truthful history from the very first word. Hallelujah!
9.5/10
February 20, 2023
A VERY DETAILED ‘YOUNG EARTH’ INTERPRETATION
Jonathan David Sarfati is a young Earth creationist researcher, author and speaker for Creation Ministries International (CMI). He wrote in the Introduction to this 2021 (4th edition) book, “It’s notable that the New Testament authors cited Genesis frequently… the correct view must be obtained from the Bible alone… The onus is on those proposing a novel interpretation to prove their case… For example, if long-age interpretations … were absent until they became popular in ‘science,’ it’s more likely that such interpretations were motivated by trying to reconcile the Bible with ‘science.’” (Pg. 2)
He states, “Genesis 1 has a repetitive structure, a common device in ancient literature to aid memorization. However, there is not the slightest linguistic or archaeological evidence or precedent for claiming that this implies anything non-historical about the content.” (Pg. 50)
He rejects ‘Long-Age Concordism’ on the grounds: “there are major contradictions between a straightforward reading of Scripture and the order claimed by … ‘science’… Genesis teaches that God made the earth on day 1, and the sun and stars on Day 4… Genesis reveals that God created land plants, including trees, first… Genesis explicitly teaches that God made the sea and flying creatures on Day 5, a day before he made land creatures… the first recorded death of a biblically living creature … occurred ADTER Adam and Eve sinned, when God killed an animal to make skin clothes for them.” (Pg. 57-59)
He argues, “[William] Dembski’s solution … [is] the correct view that Christ’s death on the cross worked retro-actively, to save the Old Testament saints. But he then argues that the Fall likewise worked retro-actively to curse the world for millions of years before Adam sinned… the premise is dubious…” (Pg. 81)
He explains his own chronology: Adam to Flood: 1656 years… Flood to Abraham: 352 years… Abraham to Sojourn: 290 years… Sojourn: exactly 430 years… Exodus to Solomon’s Temple: 480 years… Division to Exile: 345 years… Exile: 588 BC… Thus Creation was 4178 +/- 50 BC (3590+588)… and I would be writing this around 6190 years after Creation.” (Pg. 126-127) He continues, “The uncertainties I gave, +/- 50 years… understate the overall certainties… the main ones are… Uncertainty in the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah… The date of the Sojourn…” (Pg. 130)
He suggests, “radioactive decay… rates have been tested for only about 100 years, and the factors that could possibly affect the decay ate are not fully understood. So one can’t be sure the decay rates were constant over the alleged billions of years. Recent laboratory research has demonstrate that beta decay rate was sped up to a BILLION TIMES when atoms were stripped of their electrons… If God weakened the strong nuclear force, greatly speeding up alpha decay, then the nucleus would expand and restructure itself. The lower the decay constant… the more the decay rate would be accelerated… And even if there is no conclusive mechanism for accelerated decay, this doesn’t disprove the existence of the PHENOMENON… Many scientists have discovered the existence of a phenomenon long before anyone could explain how it occurred…” (Pg. 142-145)
He rejects the Whitcomb/Morris ‘vapor canopy model’: “Many of the arguments for the canopy were faulty on scientific grounds… one argument is that the canopy would have protected humanity from damaging radiation, so explaining the extremely long lifespans… One obvious problem is that Noah lived over a third of his life AFTER the Flood but still lived to 950… The real explanation of longevity and its sharp decline seems to be the exponential decay of fitness that follows a population bottleneck, as per the Flood…” (Pg. 158-160)
Of the separation of Seas and Lands, he argues, “there are problems with the slow-and-gradual view (uniformitarian plate tectonics)… which are solved if the plates moved apart much more quickly in the past… Catastrophic Plate Tectonics… propose a continent speed… billions of times that of uniformitarian place tectonics…” (Pg. 165; he explains in greater detail on pgs. 5631-532)
He explains, “Does ‘mature creation’ make God a deceiver? By no means!... there is no deception when people make the wrong assumptions about the starting conditions. Indeed, how could God be deceiving when He had told us plainly when He created?” (Pg. 174)
He argues, “All it takes to have a day-night cycle is a rotating earth and light coming from one direction. Thus, we can deduce that the earth was already rotating in space relative to the light created on Day 1. This unusual, counter-intuitive order of creation (light before sun) actually adds a hallmark of authenticity. If the Bible had been the project of later editors… they would surely have modified this…” (Pg. 187)
Of the ‘Distant Starlight’ problem, he asserts, “when we are discussing any sort of time, we must ask, ‘according to which clocks?’ In the Bible, it’s clear that EARTH CLOCKS are in view. Several creationist cosmologies … propose models that explain the distant starlight travelling to earth in a biblical timescale, as measured by earth clocks. One way to dilate time is gravity… Dr. John Hartnett has proposed … the expansion of space cases the time dilation… Many creationists in the past have proposed … the light beams in transit… It fails… [because] it would make God into a deceiver, by showing ‘evidence’ of events that have not happened.” (Pg. 216-217)
He uses the 4th Commandment to support literal 24-hour days: “it’s explicit that the Creation Days were the same length as those of the human work week… if the creation days were millions of years long, should we then work for 6 million years and rest for 1 million years.” (Pg. 285)
He states, “Some use Genesis 2:4, ‘In the day that God made’ to argue that the days of Genesis 1:1-2:3 were not 24-hour days… However, this ignores the completely different grammatical context---there is a singular, absolute noun ‘day’ in Genesis 1, but a singular, construct noun ‘day’ in Genesis 2:4…” (Pg. 294)
He digresses to discuss the fate of aborted babies: “the Bible doesn’t say explicitly… Some think that they go AUTOMATICALLY to heaven… However, this actually leads to… [the view] that it would be better for the babies in an eternal sense to be aborted and be GUARANTEED heaven than to be allowed to live with a good chance to be damned eternally… since the Bible doesn’t say one way or another, we are obliged simply to … refrain from murdering children, and to trust His judgment.” (Pg. 310-311)
He rejects the idea that Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Cor 15:21-22 refer only to HUMAN death, not animal; “there are huge numbers of human fossils ‘dated’… long before any biblical date of Adam. And many of these humans are victims of … murder and cannibalism…” (Pg. 379-380) Of possible ‘gaps’ in the Genesis 5 & 11 genealogies, he argues, “none of [the proposed] gaps in genealogies (Mt 1:8-9 vs. 1 Chr 3:10-12) mention the age of the father at the birth of the next name in the line, so are irrelevant to the issue of the GENESIS genealogies, which do. Also, Matthew’s genealogy was clearly INTENDED to be incomplete…” (Pg. 464) He also rejects the idea that the ‘Nephilim’ in Gen 6:4 were ‘giants.’ (Pg. 482-484)
How did both saltwater and freshwater fish survive the Flood? “There are three basic reasons both could survive: 1. Fish can survive a range of salinities if they have a chance to acclimatize GRADUALLY… 2. Freshwater is less dense than saltwater, so can float on top… 3. Many fish kinds have both saltwater and freshwater varieties. This suggests that tolerance for a particular degree of salinity is a specialization within the kind.” (Pg. 515)
He asserts that humans and dinosaurs lived contemporaneously: “while some wonder how humans could have coped with huge dinosaurs, in reality, this is not a problem. Man had the intelligence to us traps, weapons, poison, and fire…” (Pg. 596)
This book is a significant update/improvement to Morris/Whitcomb’s “The Genesis Flood’ and Morris’s ‘The Genesis Record,’ and will be a resource to ‘Young-Earth’ Creationists (or those wanting to study their arguments presented succinctly).
Jonathan David Sarfati is a young Earth creationist researcher, author and speaker for Creation Ministries International (CMI). He wrote in the Introduction to this 2021 (4th edition) book, “It’s notable that the New Testament authors cited Genesis frequently… the correct view must be obtained from the Bible alone… The onus is on those proposing a novel interpretation to prove their case… For example, if long-age interpretations … were absent until they became popular in ‘science,’ it’s more likely that such interpretations were motivated by trying to reconcile the Bible with ‘science.’” (Pg. 2)
He states, “Genesis 1 has a repetitive structure, a common device in ancient literature to aid memorization. However, there is not the slightest linguistic or archaeological evidence or precedent for claiming that this implies anything non-historical about the content.” (Pg. 50)
He rejects ‘Long-Age Concordism’ on the grounds: “there are major contradictions between a straightforward reading of Scripture and the order claimed by … ‘science’… Genesis teaches that God made the earth on day 1, and the sun and stars on Day 4… Genesis reveals that God created land plants, including trees, first… Genesis explicitly teaches that God made the sea and flying creatures on Day 5, a day before he made land creatures… the first recorded death of a biblically living creature … occurred ADTER Adam and Eve sinned, when God killed an animal to make skin clothes for them.” (Pg. 57-59)
He argues, “[William] Dembski’s solution … [is] the correct view that Christ’s death on the cross worked retro-actively, to save the Old Testament saints. But he then argues that the Fall likewise worked retro-actively to curse the world for millions of years before Adam sinned… the premise is dubious…” (Pg. 81)
He explains his own chronology: Adam to Flood: 1656 years… Flood to Abraham: 352 years… Abraham to Sojourn: 290 years… Sojourn: exactly 430 years… Exodus to Solomon’s Temple: 480 years… Division to Exile: 345 years… Exile: 588 BC… Thus Creation was 4178 +/- 50 BC (3590+588)… and I would be writing this around 6190 years after Creation.” (Pg. 126-127) He continues, “The uncertainties I gave, +/- 50 years… understate the overall certainties… the main ones are… Uncertainty in the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah… The date of the Sojourn…” (Pg. 130)
He suggests, “radioactive decay… rates have been tested for only about 100 years, and the factors that could possibly affect the decay ate are not fully understood. So one can’t be sure the decay rates were constant over the alleged billions of years. Recent laboratory research has demonstrate that beta decay rate was sped up to a BILLION TIMES when atoms were stripped of their electrons… If God weakened the strong nuclear force, greatly speeding up alpha decay, then the nucleus would expand and restructure itself. The lower the decay constant… the more the decay rate would be accelerated… And even if there is no conclusive mechanism for accelerated decay, this doesn’t disprove the existence of the PHENOMENON… Many scientists have discovered the existence of a phenomenon long before anyone could explain how it occurred…” (Pg. 142-145)
He rejects the Whitcomb/Morris ‘vapor canopy model’: “Many of the arguments for the canopy were faulty on scientific grounds… one argument is that the canopy would have protected humanity from damaging radiation, so explaining the extremely long lifespans… One obvious problem is that Noah lived over a third of his life AFTER the Flood but still lived to 950… The real explanation of longevity and its sharp decline seems to be the exponential decay of fitness that follows a population bottleneck, as per the Flood…” (Pg. 158-160)
Of the separation of Seas and Lands, he argues, “there are problems with the slow-and-gradual view (uniformitarian plate tectonics)… which are solved if the plates moved apart much more quickly in the past… Catastrophic Plate Tectonics… propose a continent speed… billions of times that of uniformitarian place tectonics…” (Pg. 165; he explains in greater detail on pgs. 5631-532)
He explains, “Does ‘mature creation’ make God a deceiver? By no means!... there is no deception when people make the wrong assumptions about the starting conditions. Indeed, how could God be deceiving when He had told us plainly when He created?” (Pg. 174)
He argues, “All it takes to have a day-night cycle is a rotating earth and light coming from one direction. Thus, we can deduce that the earth was already rotating in space relative to the light created on Day 1. This unusual, counter-intuitive order of creation (light before sun) actually adds a hallmark of authenticity. If the Bible had been the project of later editors… they would surely have modified this…” (Pg. 187)
Of the ‘Distant Starlight’ problem, he asserts, “when we are discussing any sort of time, we must ask, ‘according to which clocks?’ In the Bible, it’s clear that EARTH CLOCKS are in view. Several creationist cosmologies … propose models that explain the distant starlight travelling to earth in a biblical timescale, as measured by earth clocks. One way to dilate time is gravity… Dr. John Hartnett has proposed … the expansion of space cases the time dilation… Many creationists in the past have proposed … the light beams in transit… It fails… [because] it would make God into a deceiver, by showing ‘evidence’ of events that have not happened.” (Pg. 216-217)
He uses the 4th Commandment to support literal 24-hour days: “it’s explicit that the Creation Days were the same length as those of the human work week… if the creation days were millions of years long, should we then work for 6 million years and rest for 1 million years.” (Pg. 285)
He states, “Some use Genesis 2:4, ‘In the day that God made’ to argue that the days of Genesis 1:1-2:3 were not 24-hour days… However, this ignores the completely different grammatical context---there is a singular, absolute noun ‘day’ in Genesis 1, but a singular, construct noun ‘day’ in Genesis 2:4…” (Pg. 294)
He digresses to discuss the fate of aborted babies: “the Bible doesn’t say explicitly… Some think that they go AUTOMATICALLY to heaven… However, this actually leads to… [the view] that it would be better for the babies in an eternal sense to be aborted and be GUARANTEED heaven than to be allowed to live with a good chance to be damned eternally… since the Bible doesn’t say one way or another, we are obliged simply to … refrain from murdering children, and to trust His judgment.” (Pg. 310-311)
He rejects the idea that Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Cor 15:21-22 refer only to HUMAN death, not animal; “there are huge numbers of human fossils ‘dated’… long before any biblical date of Adam. And many of these humans are victims of … murder and cannibalism…” (Pg. 379-380) Of possible ‘gaps’ in the Genesis 5 & 11 genealogies, he argues, “none of [the proposed] gaps in genealogies (Mt 1:8-9 vs. 1 Chr 3:10-12) mention the age of the father at the birth of the next name in the line, so are irrelevant to the issue of the GENESIS genealogies, which do. Also, Matthew’s genealogy was clearly INTENDED to be incomplete…” (Pg. 464) He also rejects the idea that the ‘Nephilim’ in Gen 6:4 were ‘giants.’ (Pg. 482-484)
How did both saltwater and freshwater fish survive the Flood? “There are three basic reasons both could survive: 1. Fish can survive a range of salinities if they have a chance to acclimatize GRADUALLY… 2. Freshwater is less dense than saltwater, so can float on top… 3. Many fish kinds have both saltwater and freshwater varieties. This suggests that tolerance for a particular degree of salinity is a specialization within the kind.” (Pg. 515)
He asserts that humans and dinosaurs lived contemporaneously: “while some wonder how humans could have coped with huge dinosaurs, in reality, this is not a problem. Man had the intelligence to us traps, weapons, poison, and fire…” (Pg. 596)
This book is a significant update/improvement to Morris/Whitcomb’s “The Genesis Flood’ and Morris’s ‘The Genesis Record,’ and will be a resource to ‘Young-Earth’ Creationists (or those wanting to study their arguments presented succinctly).
December 19, 2016
Valuable Apologetic of Christianity and a Young Earth
The author comes from the position that the Bible and only the Bible provides the authoritative account of God creating the universe and the earth in it. The authors insight into the creation story provides solid evidence of the Creationist position and the need for intelligence behind the creation of all things both living and material. The information on the creation story and the flood are truly grand. Unfortunately one needs plow through a thorough exegesis of geneologies, the journey is well worth it. Valuable read.
The author comes from the position that the Bible and only the Bible provides the authoritative account of God creating the universe and the earth in it. The authors insight into the creation story provides solid evidence of the Creationist position and the need for intelligence behind the creation of all things both living and material. The information on the creation story and the flood are truly grand. Unfortunately one needs plow through a thorough exegesis of geneologies, the journey is well worth it. Valuable read.
May 23, 2017
Aite simply the best commentary on the book of Genesis that I have read, and I have read many. This is a must have book for every pastor, as well as a valuable resource for every Christian, church member, and Bible study leader. Additionally, it is a worthwhile gift to give to an intellectually honest seeker of the truth who has unanswered questions about God, the Bible, etc.
March 14, 2016
An excellent, in-depth commentary. A must read.
January 22, 2019
Though I am not a young earther, there was some good info here in particular about Noah's Ark and the Tower of Babel.
June 1, 2022
Very detailed and informed. Highly recommended.
May 16, 2016
Brilliant book by a brilliant scientist !!! I highly recommend this book!!
October 1, 2018
I am a young earth creationist for about the last 20 years. I took some convincing since, even though I am an evangelical, pentecostal Christian for nearly 40 years I was an old earth creationist for the first half of that time. As a young earth creationist this book is very important since it marshalls in one place all the main arguments for that position. Jonathan Sarfati is a very intelligent man and a believer in the authority of Scripture. The reason I only gave it 4 stars is that this is a book aimed exclusively at your head /mind which doesn't necessarily suit everyone.
January 1, 2023
Very few commentaries on Genesis 1–11 include materials responding to the views of secular science with regard to origins. Most commentators choose to either ignore the conflict between the theory of evolution and Scripture or have already capitulated to the pressures of secular humanism. This commentary is different — it confronts the issues head on. Whereas most commentaries totally avoid referring to what is known as young-earth creationism, Sarfati does not avoid referring to what is known as old-earth creationism. Even evangelical commentaries on Genesis tend to ignore everything published by young-earth creationists. Sarfati helps readers become better acquainted with the work of creation scientists, to discover they actually do real science, as well as get involved with the biblical text and what it means. I highly recommend The Genesis Account, no matter what your view might be.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews