I have had a long-time interest in the Creation Narrative — how God proceeded in the project of creation: first the universe, then elements, and on to life, animals and the crowning glory, the creation of humans in his image. Daniel Friedmann read some of my work on the web, liked what he saw (I presume), and introduced me to his book, The Genesis One Code.

Thank you, Daniel. I was amazed and pleased with what I found. To start, it is very well written, the clearest exposition of the Genesis Creation account that I have seen coming from his school of Kabbalist thought (a point of view that I previously had brushed up against — but not seriously studied — in Gerald Schroeder’s books God According to God: A Scientist Discovers We’ve Been Wrong About God All Along, and The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth).

Perhaps the first thing that attracted me to this book is that he shares with me a belief in the authority and divine inspiration of the Biblical text. In my own analysis of the Genesis text I come at it from an entirely different point of view. My own view (published in some lectures on the Creation Narrative, posted on the web) is much closer to Church interpretation, genetically related to St. Augustine of Hippo’s 4th Century work, 41. St. Augustine, Vol. 1: The Literal Meaning of Genesis (Ancient Christian Writers). Daniel’s approach derives from the 11th Century Jewish Scholar Rashi and 12th Century Scholar Ramban (also known as Nahmanides), who exegete oral and written Jewish traditions that go back thousands of years.

I am always interested in clear expositions of alternative viewpoints, particularly when combined with a high view of Scripture.

The book, Genesis One Code shares another thing with my own studies of the Creation Narrative: a high respect and acceptance of modern science. An amazing thing has happened only within the past hundred years: Cosmology has moved from a religious, mystical, and — forgive me for saying it — superstitious concern, to a precise scientific discipline. The burning questions of the ages — Where did our world come from?, What is the origin of matter?, What are the stars, and how do they burn?, What is life, how does life sustain itself and pass its blueprint on to succeeding generations? — have all found answers within science just within the last, say, 60 years. I don’t say science has come up with the final answers, there is much more to do, but who would have thought that the superstitious and largely unrespected world of cosmology could have metamorphosed into a modern scientific discipline?

The book deals with the timeline of the universe, and relates it to the six days of creation in Genesis One. He does this according to Kabbalist tradition, which lays out a 13.74 billion year timeline (!) that he asserts exactly matches the timeline of science (13.75± 0.13 billion years, from NASA’s WMAP satellite) as revealed by modern astrophysics and the geological record. I leave it to you to see how he does this. Hint: “For the LORD a thousand years is as … a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4, cf. 2 Peter 3:8 ” One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”).

Just to mention one specific thing. Both St. Augustine’s (and my own) analysis conclude that the word “water” is used in two different meanings in the Genesis account. The change comes between Day Two and Day Three. According to Mr. Friedmann’s analysis, the same change in meaning occurs in Kabbalistic teaching. Isn’t that enough to pique your interest?

I could say much more — Mr. Friedmann and I are in communication about a number of the fine points in his interpretation — but I’ll rest it at this. Whether or not you subscribe to Kabbalistic interpretation, this book is well worth your attention. Perhaps when all of my picayune comments are dealt with I might up my assessment to 5 stars.