WEBVTT 00:00:04.759 --> 00:00:08.779 Well, friends, here we are, another episode of 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:11.359 the Semi -Seminarian. As always, we're going 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:16.179 to continue looking at the Bible in another installment 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:19.640 of our series that we're calling the Bible for 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:21.620 Grownups. We're going to begin in the beginning 00:00:21.620 --> 00:00:25.140 and we're going to look at the very first book 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:29.550 of the Bible, the book of Genesis. Discussion 00:00:29.550 --> 00:00:32.990 is entitled A Love Affair because what we're 00:00:32.990 --> 00:00:37.710 going to see is that God created the universe 00:00:37.710 --> 00:00:42.109 and created us so that we could fall in love 00:00:42.109 --> 00:00:45.549 with each other. I hope that you'll see what 00:00:45.549 --> 00:00:48.530 I'm seeing and I'll see you on the other side. 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:56.090 So in this episode, we're going to begin a new 00:00:56.090 --> 00:00:58.549 series within our study series we're calling 00:00:58.549 --> 00:01:02.030 The Bible for Grownups. In this series, we're 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:04.609 going to look at the first book of the Hebrew 00:01:04.609 --> 00:01:08.870 Bible, the Genesis. And rather than beginning 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:11.290 in the beginning, let's take just a moment to 00:01:11.290 --> 00:01:14.689 step out and take the 30 ,000 foot view and look 00:01:14.689 --> 00:01:16.950 at the Hebrew Bible as a whole. Then we'll drill 00:01:16.950 --> 00:01:21.189 down to what the Torah is. And then we'll look 00:01:21.189 --> 00:01:24.769 at the first book of Genesis. And then in this 00:01:24.769 --> 00:01:27.230 particular episode, we're just going to focus 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:30.269 on the creation narrative that we find in Genesis 00:01:30.269 --> 00:01:34.590 1 and Genesis 2. The Hebrew Bible is in Hebrew 00:01:34.590 --> 00:01:37.629 called the Tanakh. And then within the Tanakh, 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:40.670 the first five books are known as the Torah. 00:01:40.790 --> 00:01:45.290 That word means teaching or instruction or law. 00:01:45.870 --> 00:01:48.989 The first book, Genesis, in Hebrew is known as 00:01:48.989 --> 00:01:52.189 Bereshit. That comes from the first word of the 00:01:52.189 --> 00:01:54.930 book, which is common amongst the books of the 00:01:54.930 --> 00:01:57.489 Hebrew Bible, in which the Hebrew title of the 00:01:57.489 --> 00:02:00.510 book is taken from the first word or phrase of 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:04.409 that book. In this instance, Genesis or Bereshit, 00:02:04.430 --> 00:02:08.189 it comes from the words in the beginning. That 00:02:08.189 --> 00:02:11.569 could also be translated as in a beginning. And 00:02:11.569 --> 00:02:14.669 in English parlance would probably be the equivalent. 00:02:15.449 --> 00:02:19.509 of saying once upon a time. The first five books 00:02:19.509 --> 00:02:22.349 of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, is basically 00:02:22.349 --> 00:02:24.689 a narrative that moves from the creation of the 00:02:24.689 --> 00:02:29.629 world to the creation of Israel as a free people 00:02:29.629 --> 00:02:33.629 who find themselves on the edge of the promised 00:02:33.629 --> 00:02:37.289 land. Now within this narrative, there are some 00:02:37.289 --> 00:02:40.150 very decisive events. There's the flood and the 00:02:40.150 --> 00:02:43.900 call of Abraham and Sarah. the changing of Jacob's 00:02:43.900 --> 00:02:47.439 name to Israel, the call of Moses and Miriam 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:51.620 and Aaron. Then there's the exodus of the Israelite 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:54.159 people, the establishment of the covenant between 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.939 Israel and Yahweh. And it begins with a broad 00:02:57.939 --> 00:03:02.060 view of the relationship between God and not 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.939 just of the Israelite people, but in the beginning, 00:03:05.060 --> 00:03:07.400 begins with a broad view of the relationship 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:10.900 between God and the whole of humanity. Then, 00:03:11.259 --> 00:03:14.879 It focuses upon a relationship between God and 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:19.979 the family of Sarah and Abraham. Again, it broadens 00:03:19.979 --> 00:03:22.280 its view as the family then grows into a whole 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:25.680 people who are called to be a blessing for the 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.139 whole world. The Torah can be divided into six 00:03:29.139 --> 00:03:33.219 major parts. Primeval history, which we find 00:03:33.219 --> 00:03:36.860 in Genesis 1 -11. The ancestral period, Genesis 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:41.840 12 -50. The liberation from Egypt, which is Exodus 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:46.680 1 through 18. Then there's the stay of the Israelite 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:51.300 people at Sinai or Horeb. That's Exodus 19 through 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:56.919 Numbers 10. And then there's Leviticus, the journey 00:03:56.919 --> 00:04:01.159 to the promised land, which is Numbers 10. 11 00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:04.879 through 36, 13. And then there's the patriarch 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.560 Moses' farewell, which we find in the book of 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:13.599 Deuteronomy. Now, we recognize that the book 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:18.420 of Genesis is written by people in their understanding 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:23.620 of their relationship with God. Now, if God didn't 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:28.139 write the Torah, who did? As I had mentioned 00:04:28.139 --> 00:04:31.649 earlier, traditionally, Moses is associated with 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:35.209 the writing of the Torah as the one who taught 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:38.269 Israel the commandments from God. However, it's 00:04:38.269 --> 00:04:41.470 important to remember that the Torah as a whole 00:04:41.470 --> 00:04:45.649 never actually claims that Moses wrote it. In 00:04:45.649 --> 00:04:49.149 fact, the description of Moses' death at the 00:04:49.149 --> 00:04:51.910 end of Deuteronomy would seem to argue against 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:55.910 Mosaic authorship of this material. What might 00:04:55.910 --> 00:05:01.160 it mean? if Moses actually didn't write the Torah. 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.420 So let's begin in the beginning. Let's look at 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:10.759 Genesis 1, chapter 1. The words of God read, 00:05:10.899 --> 00:05:13.600 In the beginning, God created the heavens and 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.560 the earth. Now, the earth was formless and empty, 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.379 darkness was over the surface of the deep, and 00:05:19.379 --> 00:05:22.740 the Spirit of God, that word in Hebrew is ruach, 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:27.500 was hovering over the waters. And God said, let 00:05:27.500 --> 00:05:30.959 there be light, and there was light. God saw 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:34.680 that light was good, and he separated the light 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:37.939 from the darkness. God called the light day, 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:40.800 and the darkness he called night. And there was 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:44.259 evening, and there was morning, the first day. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.399 Although the opening phrase of Genesis 1 -1 is 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.540 commonly translated in English, as I just read, 00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:55.279 the Hebrew is actually ambiguous and can be translated 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:59.120 at least three ways. As a statement that the 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:04.120 cosmos had an absolute beginning, like in the 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:06.579 beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:10.319 as a statement describing the condition of the 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.579 world when God began creating. In other words, 00:06:13.660 --> 00:06:16.459 when in the beginning God created the heavens 00:06:16.459 --> 00:06:19.560 and the earth, the earth was untamed and shapeless. 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:23.379 And essentially similar to that second version, 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:27.560 but taking all of Genesis 1 verse 2 as background 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:30.000 information, it could also be interpreted as 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.519 saying, when in the beginning God created the 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.319 heavens and the earth, the earth being untamed 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.860 and shapeless. God said, let there be light. 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:44.079 Verse 6 of chapter 1, And God said, let there 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:47.100 be a vault between the waters to separate water 00:06:47.100 --> 00:06:50.079 from water. So God made the vault and separated 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:52.259 the water under the vault from the water above 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:56.560 it. And it was so. God called the vault sky, 00:06:56.740 --> 00:06:59.060 and there was evening, and there was morning, 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:04.639 the second day. Now the Hebrew word rakia, here, 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:10.060 or vault, is of an unspecified material. It represents 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:13.420 the boundary between heaven and earth and its 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:17.019 main function is to hold back the waters that 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:21.040 are above. Some mountains are identified as intersecting 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.279 the sky and perhaps holding it up. The concept 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:28.720 of heavenly waters is the natural human deduction. 00:07:29.819 --> 00:07:33.120 That's drawn from our experience of precipitation. 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:38.500 If water comes down from the sky, it seems that 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:42.060 there's water up there. Thus, the sky becomes 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:45.839 the pivotal phenomenon associated with weather. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.980 And God said, let the water under the sky be 00:07:49.980 --> 00:07:53.079 gathered to one place and let dry ground appear. 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:56.839 And it was so. God called the dry ground land. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.720 and the gathered water he called the seas. And 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:04.300 God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:07.740 the land produce vegetation, seed -bearing plants 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:10.600 and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:14.019 in it according to the various kinds. And it 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:18.079 was so. The land produced vegetation, plant -bearing 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.800 seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.180 fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:27.139 And God saw that it was good. And there was evening 00:08:27.139 --> 00:08:32.259 and there was morning the third day. Now, the 00:08:32.259 --> 00:08:34.539 indication that the land produces vegetation 00:08:34.539 --> 00:08:39.259 here is not a statement about the land being 00:08:39.259 --> 00:08:41.679 somehow involved in creation. What is actually 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:46.159 being created by God here is a function whereby 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:51.860 the land that is spoken of regularly and characteristically, 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:56.379 in other words, in order of things, produces 00:08:56.379 --> 00:09:02.559 vegetation. The principle fecundity whereby agricultural 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:07.539 can exist and food can be grown. Verse 14 of 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:10.240 Genesis 1 continues, And God said, Let there 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.220 be lights in the vault of the sky to separate 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:14.860 the day from the night, and let them serve as 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:17.799 signs to mark sacred times and days and years. 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:20.740 And let them be lights in the vault of the sky 00:09:20.740 --> 00:09:25.070 to give light on the earth. And it was so. The 00:09:25.070 --> 00:09:29.389 author or authors of Genesis now has emptied 00:09:29.389 --> 00:09:33.350 the elements of the cosmos of their personal 00:09:33.350 --> 00:09:36.269 traits we find so frequently in ancient Near 00:09:36.269 --> 00:09:42.110 East text. The sun and the moon, for example, 00:09:42.110 --> 00:09:47.309 are not depicted as gods in the Genesis account 00:09:47.309 --> 00:09:50.669 as they would have been in other Near East literature. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:55.320 Verse 16 continues, God made two lights, the 00:09:55.320 --> 00:09:57.460 greater light to govern the day and the lesser 00:09:57.460 --> 00:10:01.139 light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:04.559 God set them in the vault of the sky. Here we 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.440 go again. To give light on the earth, to govern 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.720 the day and night and to separate light from 00:10:09.720 --> 00:10:13.179 darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there 00:10:13.179 --> 00:10:16.539 was evening and there was morning, the fourth 00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:20.519 day. Verse 20 continues, And God said, Let the 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:24.419 water team with living creatures. Let birds fly 00:10:24.419 --> 00:10:26.600 above the earth across the vault of the sky. 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.820 So God created the great creatures of the sea 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:32.779 and every living thing with which the water teams 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:36.159 and it moves about in it according to their kinds 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.700 and every winged bird according to its kind. 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:43.340 And God saw that it was good. In the mythologies 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:46.600 of the ancient Near East, a variety of Terrible 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:49.799 creatures inhabited the sea. These are occasionally 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:53.259 associated with the threatening forces of chaos 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:57.480 that need to be defeated and harnessed by creator 00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:00.620 deities. God blessed them and said, be fruitful 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:03.039 and increase in number and fill the water in 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:06.059 the seas and let the birds increase on the earth. 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:09.279 Verse 23 continues, and there was evening and 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:13.090 there was morning, the fifth day. Verse 24 says, 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:15.850 And God said, Let the land produce living creatures 00:11:15.850 --> 00:11:19.389 according to their kinds, the livestock, the 00:11:19.389 --> 00:11:21.470 creatures that move along the ground, and the 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:24.509 wild animals, each according to its kind. And 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:28.210 it was so. God made the wild animals according 00:11:28.210 --> 00:11:30.710 to their kinds, the livestock according to their 00:11:30.710 --> 00:11:34.370 kinds, and all the creatures that move along 00:11:34.370 --> 00:11:36.450 the ground according to their kinds. And God 00:11:36.450 --> 00:11:40.309 saw that it was good. Then God said, Let us, 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:45.679 make mankind in our image, in our likeness. We'll 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.059 come back to this just in a second. So that they 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:51.299 may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds 00:11:51.299 --> 00:11:54.100 in the sky, over the livestock and all of the 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:56.620 animals and over all the creatures that move 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.919 along the ground. Now let's pause here just for 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:03.399 a second and ask ourselves, to whom is God speaking? 00:12:04.740 --> 00:12:07.139 There are four popular answers to this question. 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:12.490 One, that God is speaking to angels. The second 00:12:12.490 --> 00:12:15.730 suggestion would be that the use of us there 00:12:15.730 --> 00:12:19.970 is just a plural usage to indicate the majesty 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:25.370 of God's station. The third possibility is that 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:27.570 the plural should just be translated as a singular. 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:31.830 It's just a mistranslation. And then the fourth 00:12:31.830 --> 00:12:35.210 possibility is that the us refers to the members 00:12:35.210 --> 00:12:37.950 of the Trinity. So let's look at each one of 00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:41.330 those. The first instance, the angels. Angels, 00:12:41.370 --> 00:12:45.830 some have taught that the reference to us refers 00:12:45.830 --> 00:12:48.370 to God speaking to angels. Now this has been 00:12:48.370 --> 00:12:52.350 a very popular interpretation amongst the Jewish 00:12:52.350 --> 00:12:55.429 people. However, it doesn't fit with the rest 00:12:55.429 --> 00:12:58.929 of scripture. In fact, nowhere do we find angels 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:02.350 involved in any type of creation. According to 00:13:02.350 --> 00:13:06.600 the Bible, angels are created beings. and not 00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:10.340 co -creators with God. Others have argued that 00:13:10.340 --> 00:13:13.500 the plural is only a plural of majesty, which 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:17.159 speaks to God's dignity and God's greatness, 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:21.960 because God is just simply too majestic to be 00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:25.940 spoken of in the singular. They argue that the 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:30.470 plural form of the noun of God, Elohim, can be 00:13:30.470 --> 00:13:33.490 explained somewhat in that way. That word Elohim 00:13:33.490 --> 00:13:36.850 is a plural. It's been contended that the phrase 00:13:36.850 --> 00:13:41.250 let us makes reference to discourse where the 00:13:41.250 --> 00:13:45.230 subject, although singular, speaks of himself 00:13:45.230 --> 00:13:48.750 in the plural. Though this use of editorial we 00:13:48.750 --> 00:13:51.710 is popular in Western literature, there's just 00:13:51.710 --> 00:13:54.899 simply No evidence of it anywhere else in the 00:13:54.899 --> 00:13:58.279 Hebrew Bible or in any literature of the ancient 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:02.179 Near East. One of the most common ways of viewing 00:14:02.179 --> 00:14:05.240 this verse is that we have communication within 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:08.580 the members of the Trinity, our fourth possibility. 00:14:09.340 --> 00:14:12.120 Though not explicitly stated in the verse, the 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:15.679 implicit nature of the Trinity seems to be evident. 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:21.080 Elohim plural, the Hebrew noun Elohim used throughout 00:14:21.080 --> 00:14:25.100 chapter 1, is plural in form, but when used it 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:29.340 takes a singular verb. To me this appears to 00:14:29.340 --> 00:14:31.960 speak of the plurality of persons within the 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:36.419 nature of one God. The pronoun us also seems 00:14:36.419 --> 00:14:40.679 to suggest itself a plurality of persons. When 00:14:40.679 --> 00:14:42.980 this phrase is used elsewhere in scripture, it 00:14:42.980 --> 00:14:46.960 seems to bolster the idea of the Trinity. In 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.220 the third chapter of Genesis, chapter 3, verse 00:14:50.220 --> 00:14:54.440 22, has God stating that the man is like one 00:14:54.440 --> 00:14:57.399 of us. There are some Christian interpreters 00:14:57.399 --> 00:15:00.480 who believe it's not correct to find a reference 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:02.500 to the Trinity in this passage. They, in fact, 00:15:02.500 --> 00:15:04.940 argue that the Trinity was not revealed until 00:15:04.940 --> 00:15:07.600 the New Testament and that the passage could 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.639 be better interpreted as something else, like 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:14.419 the plurality of majesty. While affirming the 00:15:14.419 --> 00:15:17.360 doctrine of the Trinity, they deny that we should 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:21.019 read it into this particular passage. They don't 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:24.059 believe that it would have been in the mind of 00:15:24.059 --> 00:15:28.240 the writer or it would have been in the mind 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:31.960 of the audience. That's a pretty compelling counter 00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:37.159 -argument. Genesis 1, verse 27 continues, So 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.340 God created mankind in his own image, in the 00:15:40.340 --> 00:15:42.919 image of God. He created them, male and female. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:46.440 He created them. God blessed them and said to 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:49.080 them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:53.019 the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in 00:15:53.019 --> 00:15:55.440 the sea and the birds in the sky and over every 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.919 living creature that moves on the ground. Now, 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:02.419 this is in stark contrast to the role of humanity 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:06.879 that we find in other examples of creation stories 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.600 within the ancient Near East, where in fact, 00:16:10.250 --> 00:16:13.570 In almost all of them, humanity is created to 00:16:13.570 --> 00:16:18.789 serve the gods. In Genesis here, we see the attribution 00:16:18.789 --> 00:16:22.610 to all people, what seems to have been the sole 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:26.350 prerogative of the king in the rest of ancient 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:29.289 Near East literature. Now from verse 29 here, 00:16:29.370 --> 00:16:33.409 we see this newly imagined role as the created 00:16:33.409 --> 00:16:37.610 in relationship with the creator. Continue. Verse 00:16:37.610 --> 00:16:40.610 29 says, Then God said, I give you every seed 00:16:40.610 --> 00:16:42.309 -bearing plant on the face of the whole earth 00:16:42.309 --> 00:16:45.990 and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. 00:16:46.210 --> 00:16:49.649 They'll be yours for food. And to the beasts 00:16:49.649 --> 00:16:51.470 of the earth and all the birds in the sky and 00:16:51.470 --> 00:16:53.049 all the creatures that move along the ground, 00:16:53.169 --> 00:16:56.110 everything that has the breath of life in it, 00:16:56.149 --> 00:16:59.269 I give every green plant for food. And it was 00:16:59.269 --> 00:17:04.089 so. God saw that he had made all that he had 00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:07.160 made and it was very good. And there was evening, 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:11.140 and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus ends 00:17:11.140 --> 00:17:14.619 the reading of chapter 1. Now chapter 2 continues 00:17:14.619 --> 00:17:19.799 with a shorter condensed version, and in some 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:21.940 ways a little bit different than what we just 00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:25.640 read in Genesis 1. Genesis 2 is an additional 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:28.640 creation story that begins with a conclusion 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:31.559 from chapter 1 that says, Thus the heavens and 00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:34.099 the earth were completed in all of their vast 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:37.170 array. By the seventh day, God had finished the 00:17:37.170 --> 00:17:39.150 work he had been doing, so on the seventh day 00:17:39.150 --> 00:17:41.910 he rested from all of his work. Then God blessed 00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:44.329 the seventh day and made it holy, because on 00:17:44.329 --> 00:17:48.250 it he rested from all of the work of creating 00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:51.430 that had been done. Now here's this second account 00:17:51.430 --> 00:17:56.130 here. Verse 4 of chapter 2 says, This is the 00:17:56.130 --> 00:17:58.230 account of the heavens and the earth when they 00:17:58.230 --> 00:18:00.950 were created, when the Lord God made the earth 00:18:00.950 --> 00:18:03.990 and the heavens. Now no shrub had yet appeared 00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:06.390 on the earth, and no plant had yet sprung up, 00:18:06.390 --> 00:18:09.670 for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth, 00:18:09.690 --> 00:18:12.289 and there was no one to work the ground. But 00:18:12.289 --> 00:18:14.569 streams came up from the earth and watered the 00:18:14.569 --> 00:18:18.230 whole surface of the ground. Now Genesis begins 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:22.750 with a time when no irrigation or planning strategies 00:18:22.750 --> 00:18:26.509 of organized agriculture were actually being 00:18:26.509 --> 00:18:29.009 carried out by the people. In the ancient Near 00:18:29.009 --> 00:18:32.460 East, this... obviously would then result in 00:18:32.460 --> 00:18:35.859 no offerings for the gods. In Genesis, though, 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:39.240 God plants the garden and then puts people in 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:44.140 it. The similarities show this common idea that 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:47.599 creation accounts proceed from an unordered, 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:51.119 non -functioning beginning, in other words, chaos, 00:18:51.259 --> 00:18:55.980 through an ordering process. This is the way 00:18:55.980 --> 00:18:59.460 that we imagine these... ancient people of the 00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:01.960 Near East, imagine their relationship with this 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:07.680 one God. That out of chaos, out of the lack of 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.619 organization and lack of structure, through divine 00:19:11.619 --> 00:19:16.500 intervention, ordering, and process, came to 00:19:16.500 --> 00:19:21.400 civilization. This beginning here doesn't mean 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:24.980 that God had not yet produced any plants. It 00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:30.130 means God has brought an ordered process to cultivation. 00:19:31.529 --> 00:19:34.289 Verse 7 of chapter 2 continues, Then the Lord 00:19:34.289 --> 00:19:36.569 God formed a man from the dust of the ground 00:19:36.569 --> 00:19:40.430 and breathed into his nostrils the breath of 00:19:40.430 --> 00:19:44.490 life, that word is neshima, and the man became 00:19:44.490 --> 00:19:49.589 a living being. Man is made from the dust, and 00:19:49.589 --> 00:19:52.930 since he'll also return to dust, all people can 00:19:52.930 --> 00:19:56.450 be seen as created from the dust. The creation 00:19:56.450 --> 00:20:00.369 of Eve from Adam's side, likewise, expresses 00:20:00.369 --> 00:20:04.329 a relationship between man and woman that permeates 00:20:04.329 --> 00:20:09.109 the race. In these, Adam and Eve are actually 00:20:09.109 --> 00:20:12.569 archetypes, which represent the whole of humanity 00:20:12.569 --> 00:20:16.289 in creation, just as they do in their own sin 00:20:16.289 --> 00:20:20.150 and their own destiny, which, unfortunate to 00:20:20.150 --> 00:20:23.539 the human condition, is death. Their function 00:20:23.539 --> 00:20:27.359 as archetypes to this story does not necessarily 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:30.819 suggest that they're not historical individuals. 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.960 It only suggests that they actually function 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:40.400 more importantly as representatives of the race 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:45.900 of humanity. Verse 8 continues, Now the Lord 00:20:45.900 --> 00:20:48.420 God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden, 00:20:48.579 --> 00:20:52.559 and there he put the man he had formed. Then 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:55.140 Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of 00:20:55.140 --> 00:20:57.500 the ground, trees that were pleasing to the eye 00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:00.339 and good for food. In the middle of the garden 00:21:00.339 --> 00:21:03.440 were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.519 of good and evil. The phrase there, good and 00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:10.559 evil, that phrase, tov warah, it literally translates 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:13.180 as good and evil, but it might be an example 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:16.839 of a type of figure of speech which is known 00:21:16.839 --> 00:21:20.039 as a mirism. which is a literary device that 00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:24.200 pairs up opposite terms together in order to 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:27.700 create some broader general meaning so that a 00:21:27.700 --> 00:21:32.660 phrase like good and evil, tov or ra, might simply 00:21:32.660 --> 00:21:36.779 imply everything. So a knowledge of everything. 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:41.480 Verse 10 continues, a river watering the garden 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:44.200 flowed from Eden. From there, it was separated 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:48.000 into four headwaters. The name of the first is 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:51.579 Pishon. It winds through the entire land of Havilah, 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:55.740 where there is gold. Verse 12 says the gold of 00:21:55.740 --> 00:21:59.339 that land is good. Aromatic resin and onyx are 00:21:59.339 --> 00:22:03.299 also there. The name of the second river is Gion. 00:22:03.420 --> 00:22:06.500 It winds through the entire land of Cush. The 00:22:06.500 --> 00:22:09.119 name of the third river is the Tigris, and it 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:14.160 runs along the east side of Asher. And the fourth 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.299 river is the Euphrates. Recent investigations 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:21.880 have attempted to identify the Pishon as a major 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:26.019 river that has since dried up in antiquity. This 00:22:26.019 --> 00:22:29.579 possibly emerges from the analysis of sand patterns 00:22:29.579 --> 00:22:33.460 and satellite photography that we have made with 00:22:33.460 --> 00:22:36.079 technological improvements, which have since 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.819 revealed an old riverbed which actually runs 00:22:38.819 --> 00:22:42.819 northeast through Saudi Arabia from the Hejaz 00:22:42.819 --> 00:22:46.019 Mountains near Medina. which happens to contain 00:22:46.019 --> 00:22:47.920 one of the richest gold mines in the region, 00:22:48.019 --> 00:22:51.460 to the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, near the mouth 00:22:51.460 --> 00:22:56.460 of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Verse 00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:59.519 16 continues, The Lord God took the man and put 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:01.119 him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.839 care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:06.039 You're free to eat from any tree in the garden, 00:23:06.099 --> 00:23:08.980 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge 00:23:08.980 --> 00:23:12.039 of good and evil, for when you eat from it, you'll 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:15.769 certainly die. The Lord God said, it is not good 00:23:15.769 --> 00:23:19.529 for man to be alone. I'll make a helper suitable 00:23:19.529 --> 00:23:22.730 for him. Now the Lord God had formed out of the 00:23:22.730 --> 00:23:24.769 ground all the wild animals and all the birds 00:23:24.769 --> 00:23:27.309 of the sky. He brought them to the man to see 00:23:27.309 --> 00:23:29.410 what he would name them. And whatever the man 00:23:29.410 --> 00:23:32.710 called each living creature, that was its name. 00:23:32.849 --> 00:23:36.170 So the man gave names to all the livestock. The 00:23:36.170 --> 00:23:39.250 birds in the sky and all of the wild animals. 00:23:39.329 --> 00:23:43.150 In ancient Near East culture, the power to give 00:23:43.150 --> 00:23:48.410 something a name gave the namer power over that 00:23:48.410 --> 00:23:51.349 individual. Again, what we're seeing here is 00:23:51.349 --> 00:23:56.750 this expression by the divine to enter into a 00:23:56.750 --> 00:24:01.569 relationship with the created over creation. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:07.900 But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. So 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.119 the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep 00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:12.440 sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took one 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:15.539 of the man's ribs and closed up the place with 00:24:15.539 --> 00:24:18.759 flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:21.000 rib that he had taken out of the man, and he 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.960 brought her to the man. The man said, This is 00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:26.339 now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and 00:24:26.339 --> 00:24:29.039 shall be called woman. She was taken out of man. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:32.380 That's why a man leaves his father and mother. 00:24:32.890 --> 00:24:36.769 and united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 00:24:37.190 --> 00:24:40.170 And Adam and his wife were both naked, and they 00:24:40.170 --> 00:24:44.809 felt no shame. In Genesis, the nakedness of humans 00:24:44.809 --> 00:24:47.990 here doesn't appear to be a negative comment, 00:24:48.210 --> 00:24:51.309 though it is contrasted through wordplay to the 00:24:51.309 --> 00:24:53.789 craftiness of the serpent in the next verse, 00:24:53.829 --> 00:24:56.549 which we'll study in the next section, and it 00:24:56.549 --> 00:24:59.890 might actually refer to a relative nativity. 00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:04.420 So what we see here in the first two chapters 00:25:04.420 --> 00:25:09.640 of Genesis are an account of the creation of 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:14.440 the world. Now, what many people in our secularized 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:19.420 society today want to focus on is the impossibility 00:25:19.420 --> 00:25:23.700 that someone would be able to describe the events 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:28.480 of the creation of the universe before they were 00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:32.960 themselves ever created. And that's not necessarily 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:37.619 the point of this primeval story. The story is 00:25:37.619 --> 00:25:43.079 not necessarily how God created the world, but 00:25:43.079 --> 00:25:47.079 that God created the world. In other words, it's 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:54.180 not the how, but the who. The first two accounts 00:25:54.180 --> 00:25:57.140 of the creation of the world that we find in 00:25:57.140 --> 00:26:00.859 Genesis 1 and 2, the author or authors are trying 00:26:00.859 --> 00:26:06.640 to exhibit their understanding of the way that 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:11.799 the divine, a creator, a being that exists outside 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:16.240 of their creation interacts with the created 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:22.069 of the world. Now, the Hebrew account. certainly 00:26:22.069 --> 00:26:28.130 exists in common with other examples of the creation 00:26:28.130 --> 00:26:32.329 story that we find in ancient Near East cultures. 00:26:32.769 --> 00:26:36.730 For example, the Epic of Gilgamesh, which we 00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:39.990 will learn about the flood account. There's also 00:26:39.990 --> 00:26:44.210 the Enuma Elish. But what makes this particular 00:26:44.210 --> 00:26:54.119 account different, or believers in Yahweh, in 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:58.619 God, as Christians, in the way that Christianity 00:26:58.619 --> 00:27:02.940 sees itself in relation to the creator Hebrew 00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:07.220 God, the difference here is that there is but 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:13.559 one God and that God created his creation out 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:18.299 of a desire to live with them and operate with 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.259 them as the way, as best as we can understand 00:27:21.259 --> 00:27:27.619 it, within our own mortal frames, as individuals 00:27:27.619 --> 00:27:31.400 that work in relationship, in covenant with God, 00:27:31.579 --> 00:27:37.579 and not merely subject to God. And what we find 00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:41.519 here is the very first expression of a love affair. 00:27:43.059 --> 00:27:49.000 God creates his created. in an effort to have 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:51.680 a loving relationship, not a relationship that 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:56.140 is based on servants, because the gods have become 00:27:56.140 --> 00:28:00.380 tired and weary, so they create servants to appease 00:28:00.380 --> 00:28:04.539 them. This is what makes the Genesis account 00:28:04.539 --> 00:28:10.220 unique, in that God, Elohim, or Yahweh, the way 00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:13.720 that we perceive the Jewish or Christian God, 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:21.339 his universe so that he could have a relationship 00:28:21.339 --> 00:28:26.759 with us, that we might live in relationship with 00:28:26.759 --> 00:28:33.599 him in a love affair. Now things right off the 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:41.940 bat turn ugly and eventually humanity will and 00:28:41.940 --> 00:28:45.589 continually We'll mess up that relationship. 00:28:46.369 --> 00:28:51.809 The beauty of this love is that God continues 00:28:51.809 --> 00:28:56.950 to pursue his desire. And we'll pick that story 00:28:56.950 --> 00:29:00.609 up next time when we look at Genesis chapter 00:29:00.609 --> 00:29:11.839 3. Well, there you have it. I hope that that 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:14.880 was as enlightening for you as it was for me 00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:17.119 in preparing it. I just want to tell you about 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:20.119 a couple of things. The first is a change to 00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:24.539 the podcast. In contrast to what we've been doing 00:29:24.539 --> 00:29:28.740 with the Bible study in the past, every two weeks 00:29:28.740 --> 00:29:32.799 we have been releasing a new installment. of 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:35.160 our series over a particular book of the Bible 00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:38.099 in which we are calling the Bible for Grownups. 00:29:38.099 --> 00:29:40.579 We're going to add a new installment in that 00:29:40.579 --> 00:29:44.319 second week. So we'll have a new episode every 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:47.940 week. So what we'll do is we'll introduce a new 00:29:47.940 --> 00:29:51.519 study of a particular book of the Bible in which 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.460 we look at particular chapters. And then on the 00:29:54.460 --> 00:29:59.470 next Friday, we'll have a commentary. about some 00:29:59.470 --> 00:30:02.049 of the things that we found and maybe answer 00:30:02.049 --> 00:30:06.900 some questions that may have rose over that installment 00:30:06.900 --> 00:30:10.079 from the week before. So we'll be uploading new 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:14.039 episodes every single Friday. On one Friday, 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:17.839 we'll upload the new lecture series installment, 00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:21.000 and then the next Friday, we'll have commentary, 00:30:21.140 --> 00:30:24.779 perhaps probably correcting maybe some of the 00:30:24.779 --> 00:30:27.019 mistakes that I'd made in the initial lecture, 00:30:27.099 --> 00:30:30.380 and also delve a little bit deeper into some 00:30:30.380 --> 00:30:33.839 of the concepts that maybe I just brushed over 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:37.039 in the lecture part. I hope that you'll enjoy 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:41.180 it, and I hope that you will continue to like 00:30:41.180 --> 00:30:43.099 and subscribe to the podcast while I'm talking 00:30:43.099 --> 00:30:45.359 about that. If you like what we're doing here 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:48.160 at the Semi -Seminary, I would appreciate it 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:50.559 if you'd do me a favor, however it is that you 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:52.680 listen to the podcast, if you would subscribe 00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:56.319 to the podcast. That way you know when new episodes 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:59.660 are coming out. Also, If you are subscribing 00:30:59.660 --> 00:31:03.400 to this podcast on a podcast provider that allows 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:06.759 you to rate and review the podcast, we would 00:31:06.759 --> 00:31:09.400 certainly appreciate if you could take the time 00:31:09.400 --> 00:31:13.039 to rate and review the podcast. It helps the 00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:17.480 podcast grow up in the listings. It also gives 00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:19.700 people a little bit of feedback on what they 00:31:19.700 --> 00:31:23.440 might expect. Anyway, I'll see you next Friday 00:31:23.440 --> 00:31:26.420 as we take just a moment to delve a little bit 00:31:26.420 --> 00:31:29.579 deeper into some of the concepts that we just 00:31:29.579 --> 00:31:33.180 discovered of a love affair, Genesis chapter 00:31:33.180 --> 00:31:36.079 1 and 2. I'll see you next week.