1Doesn’t wisdom cry out?
Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?
2On the top of high places by the way,
where the paths meet, she stands.
3Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,
at the entry doors, she cries aloud:
4“I call to you men!
I send my voice to the sons of mankind.
5You simple, understand prudence!
You fools, be of an understanding heart!
6Hear, for I will speak excellent things.
The opening of my lips is for right things.
7For my mouth speaks truth.
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness.
There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
9They are all plain to him who understands,
right to those who find knowledge.
10Receive my instruction rather than silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold.
11For wisdom is better than rubies.
All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it.
12“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling.
Find out knowledge and discretion.
13The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil.
I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
14Counsel and sound knowledge are mine.
I have understanding and power.
15By me kings reign,
and princes decree justice.
16By me princes rule,
nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.
17I love those who love me.
Those who seek me diligently will find me.
18With me are riches, honor,
enduring wealth, and prosperity.
19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
my yield than choice silver.
20I walk in the way of righteousness,
in the middle of the paths of justice,
21that I may give wealth to those who love me.
I fill their treasuries.
22“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work,
before his deeds of old.
23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
before the earth existed.
24When there were no depths, I was born,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was born;
26while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,
nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
27When he established the heavens, I was there.
When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,
28when he established the clouds above,
when the springs of the deep became strong,
29when he gave to the sea its boundary,
that the waters should not violate his commandment,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30then I was the craftsman by his side.
I was a delight day by day,
always rejoicing before him,
31rejoicing in his whole world.
My delight was with the sons of men.
32“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,
for blessed are those who keep my ways.
33Hear instruction, and be wise.
Don’t refuse it.
34Blessed is the man who hears me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting at my door posts.
35For whoever finds me finds life,
and will obtain favor from Yahweh.
36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul.
All those who hate me love death.”
There is controversy today in the Christian community far more important than differences among believers in many decades regarding the nature of the Genesis account in Genesis 1, 2, & 3. Liberal scholars have generally believed the creation account was not truly representative of an actual event but embraced a Darwinist explanation of the creation of the world (what is often called macro-evolution), that contends that all of life on earth developed from very small forms of life that were created by an accident in the primordial fluids of ancient earth billions of years ago. Even so, the current debate extends much further than believing in long periods for the creation days and even accepting some form of evolution. The current debate is whether Adam and Eve and the events transpiring around them in the biblical account ever occurred and whether Genesis is only a myth rather than factual history.
Christians, through most of Christian history (and the Jewish people before Christianity), have embraced a literal and factual creation by God that is found in Genesis 1, as well as the more detailed creation of humans in Genesis 2. In current Christianity, several scholars, who are generally conservative in most areas of theology, are advocating that the Genesis One account is, in reality, a myth or fiction. Moreover, there is a rejection of an actual Adam and Eve, a temptation and fall, and many of the events in the book of Genesis and elsewhere in the Old Testament. Allegedly, God only inspired a mythical account that provided a story in which He could teach an inerrant truth about Himself being the ultimate Creator of the universe.
However, there are several reasons to reject this manner of interpreting Genesis. First, this alternate view is contrary to the understanding of various persons in the Old Testament, Jesus, the apostles, and the church for most of its history. Second, though the factual account of creation and the fall arguably contains some poetic features, the essence is a true and historical account that is consistent with the mainstream scientific understanding of the chronology of the creative events. Additionally, the biblical account of creation is not in agreement with Ancient Near East creation stories, upon which many current scholars rely in rejecting the factual, historical account found in Scripture, as well as the uniqueness of the Genesis account of creation. As the literary scholar C. S. Lewis once stated, "Myth comes from history and not history from myth."
I would encourage you to view the free YouTube video, Is Genesis History? Click https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UM82qxxskZE&feature=youtu.be in the browser of your phone, iPad, or Computer for this excellent discussion of the historicity of the book of Genesis.
The writers of the Bible believed in the historical doctrine of the creation of the world and the specific creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible contains about 300 verses on creation.
Gen 1:1-27; 2:1-23; 3:1, 19, 23; 5:1, 2; 6:6, 7; 7:4; 9:6
Exod 4:11, 32; 14:21; 20:11; 31:17
Job 4:7; 9:8, 9; 10:8; 26:7; 28:6; 31:15; 32:22; 33:4, 6, 7; 34:15; 38:4-6; 40:15
Ps 8:3-8; 19:1-4; 24:1; 33:6; 52:7; 86:9; 89:11, 12; 90:2, 3; 94:9; 95:5, 6; 96:5; 100:3; 102:25; 104:2-5, 19, 24, 25, 30; 115:8, 15; 119:73; 121:2; 125:3, 8; 135:7; 139:14, 15; 146:6; 148:1-5
Prov 8:23-29; 14:31; 16:4; 17:5; 20:1, 2, 12; 22:2; 26:10
Eccl 3:11; 7:14, 29; 11:5; 12:1, 7
Isa 17:7; 22:11; 27:11; 29:16; 37:16, 26; 40:21, 26, 28; 41:20; 42:5; 43:1, 7, 10, 17, 21; 44:2, 21, 24; 45:7, 8, 12, 18; 48:13; 49:5; 51:13, 16; 66:2, 22
Jer 1:5; 10:11-13, 16; 27:5; 29:9; 31:35; 32:17; 33:2; 51:15, 16
Matt 13:35; 19:4, 5, 6, 8; 24:21; 25:34
John 1:3, 10; 8:44; 9:32; 17:24
Rom 1:19, 20; 5:12, 14-19; 8:19-23, 39; Rom 13:1, 4
1 Cor 11:3, 8, 9, 12; 15:22, 38, 45-47, 49
Eph 1:4, 39
1 Tim 2:13, 14; 4:3, 4
Heb 1:2, 3, 10, 14; 3:4; 4:3, 4, 10, 13; 9:11, 26; 12:27
Rev 3:14; 4:8-11; 10:6; 13:8; 14:7; 17:8; 21:1, 5; 22:13
Knowing the Truth about Creation, p. 150, from Norm Geisler, The Importance of Creation (PowerPoint Presentation)