nd purpose of the biblical writings. It is true of these chapters, as
of other parts of the record, that "the only care of the prophetic
tradition is to bring out clearly the religious origin of humanity.[9]
If anyone is in search of accurate information regarding the age of
this earth, or its relation to the sun, moon, or stars, or regarding
the exact order in which plants and animals have appeared upon it, he
should go to recent textbooks in astronomy, geology, and paleontology.
It is not the purpose of the writers of Scripture to impart physical
instruction, or to enlarge the bounds of scientific knowledge. So far
as the {236} scientific or historical information imparted in these
chapters is concerned, it is of little more value than the similar
stories of other nations. And yet the student of these chapters can
see a striking contrast between them and extra-biblical stories
describing the same unknown ages handed down from pre-scientific
centuries. Here comes to view the uniqueness of the Bible. The other
traditions are of interest only as relics of a by-gone past. Not so
the biblical statements; they are and ever will be of inestimable
value, not because of their scientific teaching, but because of the
presence of sublime religious truth in the crude forms of primitive
science. If anyone wishes to know what connection the world has with
God, if he seeks to trace back all that now is to the very
fountain-head of life, if he desires to discover some unifying
principle, some illuminating purpose in the history of the earth, he
may turn to these chapters as his safest and, indeed, only guide to the
information he seeks.

The purpose of the narratives being primarily religious, it is only
natural that their lessons should be religious lessons. The one
supreme lesson taught throughout the entire section is "In the
beginning, God." But each separate narrative teaches its own peculiar
lessons. The more important of these are briefly summarized by Driver
as follows: "The narrative of creation {237} sets forth, in a series of
dignified and impressive pictures, the sovereignty of God; his priority
to and separation from all finite, material nature; his purpose to
constitute an ordered cosmos, and gradually to adapt the earth to
become the habitation of living beings; and his endowment of man with
the peculiar, unique possession of self-conscious reason, in virtue of
which he became capable of intellectual and moral