Given that the Bible tells us this information, maybe the assumption being made is that it's not accurate.
Much love!
Let me offer an idea.
Moses tells us (as recorded in scripture) that in the beginning, the earth was formless and void.
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
-in the beginning (of this episode) -He's telling a story. It's imagery that he is relating to us, not something that he was witness to. Do you see that? It's the equivalent of the modern- 'Once upon a time' which doesn't have to refer to a fairy tale, but simply--- earlier.
Isaiah says--
For this is what the LORD says— he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited.
Jeremiah tells us--
I looked on the earth, and behold,
it was formless and void;
And to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
And all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and behold, there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.
I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were pulled down
Before the LORD, before His fierce anger.
Yet, in the beginning of Moses' telling the earth is formless and void. That's not how it was created. But wups! In Jeremiah, there it is-- formless and void again, AFTER the heavens went dark, the mountains quaked, the hills moved.... there was no man. Is he talking about that time that Moses was talking about? Obviously not, because he goes on to tell us that all this happened as a result of God's fierce anger and the cities were pulled down.
Could that have happened before Moses begins his story? Of course it could. Could it have happened more than once? Of course.
We are promised that it will. There will be a destruction and a renewal. What we refer to as a promised new heaven and a new earth.
And we were also promised that there will always be a remnant to begin again. We are promised that life will never again be completely wiped out by a flood as it once was. (Gen 9). Furthermore- God promised also to never again curse
the earth on account of man...
The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”
And this>>> I guess one either believes the scriptures, or they don't.
A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hastening to its place it rises there again.
Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.
All things are wearisome;
Man is not able to tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.
There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance
Among those who will come later still.
