Observations from Genesis 1

[atpollard]

I know that it is popular to argue over Genesis 1 EXCLUSIVELY in the context of “Literal vs Figurative” and “6 days vs millions of years” and “Faith vs Science” with everyone choosing one of three views:

• Pro-bible literalism
• Anti-bible scientific data
• ”Here is my reconciliation of the apparent contradiction”

As much “FUN” as those discussions are [that was sarcasm, they are the opposite of fun] … I was always attracted to something else. The fancy term is “POLEMIC”, but let’s toss that aside and just talk about Genesis 1 from a completely different point of view.

WHAT IF …
God appeared to you and wanted to talk to you about this potential Bible that He was going to inspire someone to write. People were going to have questions about the origin of everything (CREATION) and God could only afford to dedicate a limited number of words to His explanation. What God provided would be 100% accurate in its details, but limited in scope by the need for brevity. [Let’s face it, there is just a LOT of important information that God needed for Moses to convey and could not spend several books describing creation leading up to the first man and woman.]. So here is God’s question to you:

• Would you rather have a limited but accurate account that reveals information about HOW everything was created, or would you rather have a limited but accurate account that reveals information about WHO created everything?
• Which do you think was more important to God to reveal to His people, HOW or WHO?
• So does it change anything in our thinking if Genesis 1 was written to reveal important information about WHO HE IS … this God that created everything … rather than HOW everything was created?

Genesis 1: WHO GOD IS
An observation from Genesis 1:1 … God always existed. There is no “creation of God”. It is important to our understanding of God to know that He always was and always will be. That makes God “NOT LIKE US” -Holy, set apart, other is the fancy religious description if you get into specific Hebrew words. For me, ETERNAL and UNCHANGING covers enough ground to set the stage for understanding that God is not like Zeus (or any other pagan god).

For the first three days, God DIVIDES things.

• Day 1: God divides LIGHT from DARKNESS
• Day 2: God divides ABOVE from BELOW
• Day 3: God divides LAND from WATER

God is a God who creates by first DIVIDING. That is part of who He is and how He works … God’s modus operandi. [SPOILER ALLERT: What if anything does this tell us about what will come later in the story? Think about it.]

For the next three days, God creates by MULTIPLYING and filling what was divided in the first three days.

• Day 4: God created lights … sun and moon and stars … to fill the ABOVE
• Day 5: God created creature … fish and birds … to fill the air (dividing above from below) and the WATER.
• Day 6: God created animals and man … to fill the LAND.

Thus God is a God who creates by first DIVIDING and then MULTIPLYING to fill the void created by the division. Division creates room for new creation. This is also part of who God is and how He works … God’s modus operandi. [SPOILER ALLERT: What if anything does this tell us about what will come later in the story? Think about it.]

Finally, on Day 7, God rests from His labor and BLESSES. This is also part of who God is and how He works … God’s modus operandi. [SPOILER ALLERT: What if anything does this tell us about what will come later in the story? Think about it.]

I don’t want to spoil too much of the fun for you, so I will leave you all to ponder for yourselves IF and HOW these lessons from Genesis 1 might apply to the work of the New Covenant. I will offer this observation instead:

GENESIS 1: LOOKING AT ABRAM
Abram was a ‘city boy’ living with his extended family in the ‘Fertile Crescent‘ (Mesopotamia, the birthplace of agriculture) when the God of Genesis 1 called Abram to leave his home, family and way of life behind to follow God. STEP 1: God DIVIDES Abram from his old land and life and people.

God leads Abram and Lot and all their servants (because people NEVER quite obey God without hedging their bet). STEP 2: God MULTIPLIES Abram’s household and herds and wealth.

God causes Isaac to be born in a miraculous conception, calls for the sacrifice of Isaac and then offers a ram in his place. STEP 3: God BLESSES Abram, renaming him Abraham, and provides blessings upon blessings for His chosen. Faithfulness is rewarded as “the Father of all who have faith” … through whom “all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed”.

GENESIS 1: LOOKING AT MOSES
Naw, I’m not going to do it … but you can look at it for yourself if you want. DIVIDE - MULTIPLY - BLESS Can you find the pattern?

As for me, I will just point out that God revealed this pattern of WHO GOD IS and HOW GOD DOES THINGS in Genesis 1 … which I found a LOT more useful than a divine textbook on “evolutionary biology” or “planetology”.

I will let all of you decide for yourselves.

 

[atpollard]

Who wants to talk about "Mystical Numerology"?
(No, not the secret numbers for winning the Lottery. I mean why God keeps using certain numbers over and over in the Bible.)

First, a quick lesson in Hebrew Grammar. Hebrew does not have a lot of words (only about 7000 in Biblical Hebrew). As a comparison, Koine (Biblical) Greek contains about 66,000 words and English at the time of the KJV bible contains about 150,000 words. So if you want to say something in Biblical Hebrew, you have only 7000 words to choose from. That requires some special rules.

When you say a word one time, it just means that word in its simple form. Example: "Shalom" means "peace and well being". When you say a word twice, it adds emphasis. For example: "Shalom shalom" means "Total/Complete peace and well being". When you say a word three times, you are going beyond human emphasis and into the realm of God. No one would say it, but "Shalom, shalom, shalom" would mean "peace and well being as only God can experience it". Where you do see a word repeated three times is "Holy, Holy, Holy" ... said only TO God and OF God.

So what, who cares, what does this have to do with Genesis 1
That is what you were thinking, Right?

We have shown how and why the number 3 points to God (only God is TRIPLE WORD PERFECT). Look at days 1 to 3 in Genesis 1. God starts out with THREE DAYS of DIVIDE. Three is the number that points to God and three things are divided and there are three persons in the TRIUNE Godhead [Father - Son - Spirit].

Does this mean each "person" of the Godhead divided one thing? Probably not.
Does this mean that God included HINTS of his trinity even in the very first chapter of the very first book introducing mankind to WHO created everything? Probably.

God repeated His triple day HINT with MULTIPLYING.

God repeated His "hint of Three" with the overall structure DIVIDE - MULTIPLY - BLESS.

There is a triple within the BLESSING, but it is more hidden than the "in your face" Three Days each of DIVIDE and MULTIPLY.

• At the end of Day 6, after God finishes creation, He evaluates it and proclaims all of it "very good" - that is a BLESSING - like the "Well done good and faithful servant" we long for. Creation received the approval of its CREATOR.
• You have to go to Genesis 2 to locate the details, but there is a special blessing for MANKIND above all of creation. (It helps to remember that MEN added the chapter breaks and verse numbers later for easy reference - Moses wrote Genesis as one long message). Everything except man was just SPOKE into existence - God said and it was so. For mankind, God got his hands dirty. The hands of God caressed the clay into the form of man. The mouth of God kissed the breath of life into the lifeless form of man - His breath is our breath. That is a second BLESSING.
• God rested and BLESSED the seventh day - which Jesus later clarifies was as a gift to mankind, not because God was tired. [NOTE: The New Covenant has revealed to us an even deeper truth that this "REST" is itself trinitarian in nature. A day of rest from physical labor in the Old Covenant - a rest from working to earn a righteousness we can never obtain in our strength in the New Covenant - a PERFECT REST in a future where we are glorified and can worship Him forever and ever.]

So the WHO AM I message of Genesis 1 points to a Trinitarian (Father - Son - Holy Spirit) One God right from the beginning. Remember every time you see the number 3 in Scripture, that is the "fingerprint" of God .... so look for His hand at work. [Wise men brought 3 gifts to Jesus.]

 

[journeymanisnothing]

Very goid atpollard.
"Who" is exactly where iur focus should be.
It's interesting how all of creation depicts mankind in some way. Light, dark, water, land, seeds bearing plants, the luminaries, kinds of animals are all in some way defined as human.

 

[journeymanisnothing]

How about that creation was complete after mankind and God rested?
What if God created the first Adam and rested so when he appeared as the 2nd Adam we'd know he was resting in Himself from the beginning?

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Mt.11:29