There are many who object to what is called “Darwinian Evolution.”
Why object?
R. Yitzchak of Akko, a disciple of the Ramban, wrote 750 years ago that the world was created 15 BILLION years ago (to be exact: 15,340,500,000). The Midrash states that God created universes and destroyed them.
The gemara in Chagiga 13b states that there were 974 generations BEFORE Adam.
There are many midrashim noting that the first week of Creation lasted eons (see: Anafim, a commentary on Rabbi Yosef Albo’s Sefer Ikkarim 2:18, explaining Rabbenu Bachya’s comment on the use of YOM ECHAD instead of YOM RISHON in Genesis 1:5; Breshit Rabba 9).
The biblical day is 1000 Divine years, which is equivalent to 365,200 earth years, and the Midrash indicates that the world is 42,000 Divine years old.
The Midrash in Breshit Rabba 14 mentions in the name of Rabbi Yehuda that man was born with a tail. The Midrash Tanchuma Genesis 6 states that people born before the time of Noah had webbed fingers. Breshit Rabba 23 states that in the days of Enosh, the faces of men became APE LIKE.
By Dr. Josh Backon
