A Really Divine Text?

 A number of years ago, I gave a lecture I called "And God Said:  'Let There Be a Big Bang'".  During the question and answer period, a woman asked what might happen if the Big Bang was replaced by another theory.  My answer was that I would have to come up with another lecture.  I admit that my ideas are more likely eisegesis, reading ideas into the text, rather than exegesis, trying to determine the intention of the author.  In other words, is the goal of interpretation to be objective, or am I subjectively reading a meaning into the text because that is what I think it means, or what I want it to mean?

First, my assumption.  For the text of the Hebrew Bible to be divine, it must be true.  I am basing this on the assumption that first, God exists, second, God communicates, and third, God would not lie to us.  I cannot prove my assumptions.  Even if I can convince you that the account of creation is scientifically true, it does not prove that it is divine.  It just brings me into the realm of probability.  It must be true to even have the possibility of being divine.  And so, here is my evidence for scientific truth.

First, the opening account of creation describes the Big Bang.  My evidence, light on day one, and the stars on day four.  The light of day one was the photons being released, once it was cool enough for them to escape.  Background microwave radiation is evidence of this.  Once the atoms of hydrogen and helium cooled down enough to combine, stars were formed and we have a second generation of light, day four.

The rabbis tell us that the Torah is the blueprint for the creation of the universe.  It was described in simplistic terms, because when it was revealed to the Hebrews, scientific knowledge was in a very simple, primitive state.  Stars were gods, not hydrogen bombs.  It took thousands of years and the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment, starting in the 17th Century, to finally understand the true meaning of Genesis.  

Next, the Bible is not opposed to the theories of Evolution, it is an evolutionary text.  Life starts in the sea on day five, and evolves into birds, and on day six into mammals, and then humans.  There is also an evolution in human technology.  After eating the forbidden fruit, we see it.  Embarrassed by their nakedness, they learn to sew.  Their son Cain is the first builder of a city.  Seven generations later, the children of Lemech develop music, metallurgy, and animal husbandry.  Technical progress continues, as the Bronze Age turns into the Iron Age.  We also see the sociological development from tribes to kingdoms, and with them, the concept of law.

Am I guilty of eisegesis, or do I understand the intent of the author?  The ultimate test is logic.  Is the Big Bang the most logical interpretation of light on days one and four?  Would an ancient human author know that civilization evolved from hunter-gatherers to nation-states?  It is estimated that the Bronze Age lasted almost 2,000 years.  Progress in the ancient world was slow.  Would an ancient intellectual know that humanity evolved?  Did they think that history was static, and things are they way that always were?  I look at paintings from the Middle Ages depicting biblical characters in Middle Age attire.  Evolution is a modern concept.

According to tradition, Moses is the scribe that wrote the account of creation.  It was dictated to him by God.  Did Moses understand the he was describing the Big Bang?  I doubt it.  For example, there is a story in the Talmud that Moses listened to a debate about the meaning of his laws and he did not understand it.  Did Isaiah, who lived in the 8th Century BCE, know that when he declared, "A voice cries out in the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord", he was describing John the Baptist, 800 years later?

My goal was not to convince anyone that I have proof for a divine text.  To me, the real issue is whether the Hebrew Bible can be used, or in my mind, misused.  There seems to be a dismissal of scientific knowledge by religious literalists, and a dismissal of the Bible by scientists.  The greatest thinkers in Judaism, such as Maimonides and Spinoza, tried to teach us that religion and science are one and the same.  Spinoza wrote that you learn more about God by studying Physics.  Maimonides explained that God gave us the intellect to advance in medicine and science.  

To me, the goal of biblical studies is to open the mind to the multitude of possibilities.  I remember a commercial for the support of Black colleges and universities, "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste".  A closed mind is even worse.