And God said...
I'm starting off this post with Gen. 1 and 2 for your convenience, but if you'd like you can skip down to what you really want to hear, my stuff!
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all F2 the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history F3 of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; F4 it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
So there it is- all of creation.
I in the begining, nothing... then
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters." 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth"; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens." 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all F2 the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history F3 of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; F4 it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
So there it is- all of creation.
I in the begining, nothing... then
BAM!
The heavens and the earth! Sweetness!
God starts creating things. The creation process is quite formulaic. Here's how I see it-
1) God makes a decree ("God said," "let there be", "let the earth bring forth" etc) By the power of God's Word, creation comes into existence. He speaks, and it comes into being. This is an interesting principle, because according to the gospel of John, Jesus is the Word. Christ is referred to as the Word of God. By God's word/Word creation comes into being.
2) God's decree comes to pass ( i.e "and there was" or "and it was so"). The word becomes physical matter. By the spoken Word, the face of the earth is made and manipulated.
4) God names/classifies His creation (i.e. "And God called the..." or "according to it's kind...") By naming His creation, God exhibits His ultimate dominion over it.
5) God checks out His work and He enjoys it. He declares it "good".
Nice formula, fairly consistent, BUT something happens that throws all this organized creation off. The formula is altered. Everything is different.
Difference one- "God said 'Let Us make man...'" Not just let there be, but God speaks to the rest of God. Then He even goes as far as to suggest that man not simply be, as the rest of creation came into exsistence, but that they make man.
Difference two- "in Our image, according to Our likeness;" God doesn't just speak it to be, but makes man, and even in His own image and likeness.
Difference three- "let him have dominion over the (stuff)" (I put the stuff in there, it's not scripture, just in case you didn't catch that yourself) So God decides, even before it's created, that man will have dominion over all living creatures, which would inculde himself. Self dominion I think can be rephrased into free will.
Difference four- God tells man that He has given him and the animals all the herbs and fruits for food. God hasn't yet told man He has been given animals to eat. So thus far, all of creation is vegetarian. It's not until Genesis 9, after the flood, that God makes any mention to man that he can eat meat. I imagine man hadn't even thought about eating animals before then. It seems from the text that, before God's declaration in chapter nine, man had a friendly relationship with animals. This would explian how, if dinosaurs did exsist, they co-exsisted with man without destroying us (like Jurasic Park, whoa!). Anyway, Gen. 9: 1-4 is my reference.
So there's this vegetarian cycle of life where nothing had to die for something else to eat. Now we kill animals to eat, but then, man and the animals ate the plants. Even the plants didn't nessecarily die, but they gave their leaves and fruit to animals and man, the animals and man would digest and poop out to fertilize the plants, that would then produce more leaves and fruit. There was this perfect, friendly continuation of life.
Anyway, we already see God is taking extra care with man. He even gives every other living creature to him to take care of. Chapter two tells us God made the garden of Eden and placed man into it. God created the garden after He created man, so we can assume God created Eden for man. I would even assume God created Eden to be a kind of hang out for Him and man to coexsist. Chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 give evidense to that, although I'll go into that a little later.
God starts creating things. The creation process is quite formulaic. Here's how I see it-
1) God makes a decree ("God said," "let there be", "let the earth bring forth" etc) By the power of God's Word, creation comes into existence. He speaks, and it comes into being. This is an interesting principle, because according to the gospel of John, Jesus is the Word. Christ is referred to as the Word of God. By God's word/Word creation comes into being.
2) God's decree comes to pass ( i.e "and there was" or "and it was so"). The word becomes physical matter. By the spoken Word, the face of the earth is made and manipulated.
4) God names/classifies His creation (i.e. "And God called the..." or "according to it's kind...") By naming His creation, God exhibits His ultimate dominion over it.
5) God checks out His work and He enjoys it. He declares it "good".
Nice formula, fairly consistent, BUT something happens that throws all this organized creation off. The formula is altered. Everything is different.
Difference one- "God said 'Let Us make man...'" Not just let there be, but God speaks to the rest of God. Then He even goes as far as to suggest that man not simply be, as the rest of creation came into exsistence, but that they make man.
Difference two- "in Our image, according to Our likeness;" God doesn't just speak it to be, but makes man, and even in His own image and likeness.
Difference three- "let him have dominion over the (stuff)" (I put the stuff in there, it's not scripture, just in case you didn't catch that yourself) So God decides, even before it's created, that man will have dominion over all living creatures, which would inculde himself. Self dominion I think can be rephrased into free will.
Difference four- God tells man that He has given him and the animals all the herbs and fruits for food. God hasn't yet told man He has been given animals to eat. So thus far, all of creation is vegetarian. It's not until Genesis 9, after the flood, that God makes any mention to man that he can eat meat. I imagine man hadn't even thought about eating animals before then. It seems from the text that, before God's declaration in chapter nine, man had a friendly relationship with animals. This would explian how, if dinosaurs did exsist, they co-exsisted with man without destroying us (like Jurasic Park, whoa!). Anyway, Gen. 9: 1-4 is my reference.
So there's this vegetarian cycle of life where nothing had to die for something else to eat. Now we kill animals to eat, but then, man and the animals ate the plants. Even the plants didn't nessecarily die, but they gave their leaves and fruit to animals and man, the animals and man would digest and poop out to fertilize the plants, that would then produce more leaves and fruit. There was this perfect, friendly continuation of life.
Anyway, we already see God is taking extra care with man. He even gives every other living creature to him to take care of. Chapter two tells us God made the garden of Eden and placed man into it. God created the garden after He created man, so we can assume God created Eden for man. I would even assume God created Eden to be a kind of hang out for Him and man to coexsist. Chapter 3 verses 8 and 9 give evidense to that, although I'll go into that a little later.
Verse 7 tells us God formed man form the dust in the ground, and then breathed into his nostrils. Two interesting things-
1. God only breathes life into one creation, the man.
2. God formed man.
The interesting thing about God forming man goes down to the root of the word. In Hebrew, the word used for most of creation, create, or bara, simply means to create, possibly out of nothing. To form, or yasar, has the meaning of a potter molding something out of clay. This word indicates far more creativity and care than the rest of creation. God simply creates the world, but He forms man.
So its apparent God took extra special care making man. Not only does He go about it differently, He is far more creative and then He gives the rest of creation to man. Then He takes even more creative lisence in making Woman. He could have formed her out of the dust like man, but instead He takes a rib and made, or banah, which can be translated as built. God builds Eve out of a rib.
So sum up so far- God makes the world, then He takes a LOT of extra effort, thought, and care into making His ultimate creation- Us! In chapter 2, God forms animals after He forms man. If we follow the two chapters chronologically, we can read it as God creates the world, He forms man, sticks man into the garden paradise of Eden, and then creatively forms animals to keep him company. These animals aren't fitting, so He builds woman out of Adam's rib.
Unfortunatly, man chooses sin. Verses 8 and 9, however, shows us a beautiful picture of God walking through His lush creation in the cool breeze of the day, looking for Adam. This little glimpse shows us something very important- God created the world to be relational with it. God walked through the garden. He called out for Adam. While it wasn't a pleasant conversation, Genesis records a personal conversation God has with Adam and Eve. He was with them and loved them and talked with them like we talk to one another.
So what's my point? God created to love. He created to enjoy and to be in relationship with His creation. His favorite part was people. He took a lot of care with us when He made us, more than the rest of creation. Why? Because God knew us before He made us, and He loved us. God is love. He loves His whole creation. He created to love, He created because He loved. God loves us, so He created. That's my conclusion. Pretty simple in the end. There's more to it, but I can't give it all in one blog, so keep checking back. The next installment presents sin, and the third is Seth and Cain, which I already posted. The final conclusion is what all the posts mount up to, and it was a pretty big epiphany for me. So keep reading my Theological blogs and I'll try to convince you God loves you and wants you to be holy.
1. God only breathes life into one creation, the man.
2. God formed man.
The interesting thing about God forming man goes down to the root of the word. In Hebrew, the word used for most of creation, create, or bara, simply means to create, possibly out of nothing. To form, or yasar, has the meaning of a potter molding something out of clay. This word indicates far more creativity and care than the rest of creation. God simply creates the world, but He forms man.
So its apparent God took extra special care making man. Not only does He go about it differently, He is far more creative and then He gives the rest of creation to man. Then He takes even more creative lisence in making Woman. He could have formed her out of the dust like man, but instead He takes a rib and made, or banah, which can be translated as built. God builds Eve out of a rib.
So sum up so far- God makes the world, then He takes a LOT of extra effort, thought, and care into making His ultimate creation- Us! In chapter 2, God forms animals after He forms man. If we follow the two chapters chronologically, we can read it as God creates the world, He forms man, sticks man into the garden paradise of Eden, and then creatively forms animals to keep him company. These animals aren't fitting, so He builds woman out of Adam's rib.
Unfortunatly, man chooses sin. Verses 8 and 9, however, shows us a beautiful picture of God walking through His lush creation in the cool breeze of the day, looking for Adam. This little glimpse shows us something very important- God created the world to be relational with it. God walked through the garden. He called out for Adam. While it wasn't a pleasant conversation, Genesis records a personal conversation God has with Adam and Eve. He was with them and loved them and talked with them like we talk to one another.
So what's my point? God created to love. He created to enjoy and to be in relationship with His creation. His favorite part was people. He took a lot of care with us when He made us, more than the rest of creation. Why? Because God knew us before He made us, and He loved us. God is love. He loves His whole creation. He created to love, He created because He loved. God loves us, so He created. That's my conclusion. Pretty simple in the end. There's more to it, but I can't give it all in one blog, so keep checking back. The next installment presents sin, and the third is Seth and Cain, which I already posted. The final conclusion is what all the posts mount up to, and it was a pretty big epiphany for me. So keep reading my Theological blogs and I'll try to convince you God loves you and wants you to be holy.
posted by I Believe We Shall Win at 9:14 PM
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