Creation Account in Proverbs
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, King Solomon recorded (in Proverbs 8:27 – 30a) an eye witness testimony of Jesus, where He revealed geological details of the Creation that were not all recorded by Moses. In a strictly literary sense, no particular sequence is required for the events recorded. However, given their conspicuous parallel with the physical reality of the first four days, a sequence of geological events is exactly what Jesus provided.
Day 1 - When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
Day 1 - When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
Day 2 - When He established the clouds above,
Day 2 - When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
Day 3 - When He assigned to the sea its limit,
Day 3 - So that the waters would not transgress His command,
Day 4 - When He marked out the foundations of the earth…
Preparation of the heavens - Proverbs 8:27a
Jesus was there for the creation of the celestial bodies, including the sun, moon, and stars. This brings us up to around 4.5 billion years ago, when the earth first formed.
The Circle on the Deep - Proverbs 8:27b
Verse 27b describes the effect of God’s first creative pronouncement… the drawing of a circle around the deep with the sun’s light. This requires there to be an ocean completely covering the earth. The first ocean is believed to have been 4.4 billion years ago, based on the discovery of zircon crystals that required a moist environment to form. However, there is also evidence of a series of meteor strikes which would have decimated the ocean and ancient atmosphere. With the first evidence of a stable ocean and atmosphere (i.e., no more large meteors) dating back to between 3.8 and 3.9 billion years ago, the geocreationist view is that God drew the circle on the deep around then.
It should be noted that God’s pronouncement of light did not actually create light upon the earth, but resulted in the absence of darkness over the deep from a perspective of one hovering over it. With an ocean but no real atmosphere, the sky over the deep would appear dark (as opposed to blue), even in the sunlight. With the clouds of a vaporized ocean covering the earth, and eventually raining down, the earth would be even darker. Add to that a relatively dim sun, and you can see that it was pretty dark. However, as the atmosphere began forming, above the clouds, a dim light could begin showing through. That light would extend to the horizon encircling the earth… the circle on the deep.
Establishment of the Clouds Above - Proverbs 8:28a
Though clouds actually existed on Day 1, they extended pretty low.  And when it started to rain, a sheet of rain virtually connected the clouds to the ocean. From a position of hovering over the deep, the clouds above would not be clear until the rain let up, and the firmament had formed. The clouds referred to in verse 28a were those seen “above” the firmament.
Strengthening of the Deep - Proverbs 8:28b
Eventually, the earth’s crust would become strong enough to create great pressure. It is this great strenght that would eventually being the process of plate tectonics in verse 29.
Assigning the Sea its Limit - Proverbs 8:29
About 2.5 Ga, the strenght of the earth’s crust had built enough pressure for plate tectonics to start. The initial upheavals of crust were probably quite violant as they broke the surface of the ocean. As the waters tried encroaching upon the new land, the moon’s gravity helped keep it in check.
Marking the Foundations of the World - Proverbs 8:30
As the atmosphere continued to clear, and photosynthesis helped convert the atmosphere to a habitable one, the sun, moon, and stars became visible from the earth’s surface. As recorded in verse 30, the foundations of the world could now be marked. The sun and moon would let you mark your location locally and temporally, and the stars would let you mark your location globally.
December 18th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
[…] Traditionally, the creation of light is thought to refer to the invention of light itself. But were that the case, Proverbs and Job would not have described that creation with such accurate physical descriptions of the line between night and day through which the earth perpetually rotates. As it happens though, not only does that line exist, but there was a time when the sky was dark, even beneath the sun. It was when there was water covering the earth, and there was a hindrance to the formation of a day and night sky. And Genesis 1:1 to 1:4 describes these conditions quite accurately, if incompletely. […]
January 10th, 2007 at 2:01 am
[…] geocreationism.com Geo-Creationism - Showing harmony between mainstream science and scripture « Creation Account in Proverbs Genesis 1:2 >> ~3.9 Ga » […]
January 26th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
[…] What I did was to compare the account in Genesis with those in Proverbs 8, Job 38, and Psalm 104. Proverbs 8:26 tells us that God “drew a circle on the deep” on Day 1. Job 38:5 tells us that God “stretched the line upon” the foundations of the earth. Finally, Psalm 104:2-3 tells us that God covered Himself with light, and laid the “beams of His upper chambers in the waters.” Let us compare this to what happened on the Earth. […]
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:25 pm
[…] Danger NO. 7… Loss of Biblical Chronology The time-scale cannot be extended indefinitely into the past, nor into the future. There is a well-defined beginning in Genesis 1:1, as well as a moment when physical time will end (Matthew 24:14). […]