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BibleJourney: Genesis |
Issue 3 |
ISSN 1535-5187 |
A Quick Glance at Genesis 1-11 by Winn Griffin,
D.Min.
The beginning of the
Bible
is full of rich stories that are helpful in today's pagan world. As we continue
our study together we are going to provide you with an overview of the stories
in the first eleven chapters of Genesis.
In these first chapters of Genesis,
Moses
tells stories about
Story 1. From Nothing (Genesis
1.1-2.4a) Remember, Moses first told this story (and the
others) around campfires in the wilderness, given by
God
through him to the Hebrews. They were oral. No doubt they may have had some
verbal expressions as well as dramatic expressions.
More than anything else, the ancient Hebrew needed to
understand that there was only one God. The prevalent cultural belief about
deity in their day was that there were many gods to be worshiped. The idea that
there was only one God and it was he who created the world is what separates
the Old Testament faith from its ancient Near Eastern counterparts.
The trial in July 1925 of a public school teacher John
T. Scopes in Dayton, TN (called the Scopes Trial) set America on a course of
interpreting Genesis against the villain of science. So when you open your
Bible to the first story (Genesis
1.1-2.4a) your natural tendency is to think of it as a treatise about how
God created the earth. This was not the driving question of the day among the
Hebrews as it has become in our day because of the Scopes Trial.
The first teller of this story, Moses, and the first
hearers of this story, Israel in the wilderness, did not have privy to Darwin's
theory. It was not part of their mindset. One might reason that if it were not
part of the original storyteller's mindset and it had meaning for the first
hearer who also did not have a scientific mindset, then we might need to look
in another direction for the meaning of the story of creation.
Alas, we return to our original thought, the ancient
Hebrew needed to understand that there was one God and not many gods. They
needed to realize that other so-called gods that were being worshipped at their
time and thought to be creative forces were in reality not gods at all.
Story 2. The Creation of Adam and Eve (Genesis
2.4b-25) This story tells about the creation of the first
community by God.
The purpose of the stories was to help the children of
Israel to comprehend that God was serious about the covenant that he had made
with them at Mt. Sinai. This story uses the term "Lord God" which is the
covenant-making name of God. The first recipients of this story would have
understood that the God who created the world was the God who had made covenant
with them at Sinai. We must learn to hear the story of the creation of our
first parents through the ears of those sitting around a campfire at the foot
of Mt. Sinai who had made covenant with the God of creation.
Story 3. The Forbidden Fruit (Genesis
3.1-24) This story explains the foundation for the trouble
that humankind lives in. The story was meant to help Israel understand that
there were serious consequences for breaking covenant with God.
We often hear this story told to demonstrate how the
Fall occurred, to identify the serpent as Satan, and to teach about the first
sacrifice of blood. There is one thing clear from this story: the serpent is
not Satan. The first two chapters and the final chapter of Scripture begin and
end with a mention of him. The thrust of this story is to help Israel
understand the care and concern that God has for his children, even when they
disobey them.
Story 4. The Killing Field (Genesis
4.1-16) This story is the first of fallen humankind outside
the created paradise of God. We are told that our first parents had two
children:
Cain
and
Abel.
Abel's vocation was a herdsman and Cain's was growing fruit. We are told that
they both brought gifts to God who accepted Abel's and rejected Cain's. This
story is about the attitude that Israel must have when presenting gifts to God.
It is not as often thought and taught that God accepted Abel's gift because it
was livestock fit for a blood sacrifice and Cain only brought produce from the
field. The story demonstrates the freedom to make choices and to take personal
responsibility for the choices that are made.
Genealogy. (Genesis
4.17-5.32) Those who read Scripture usually do not consider
the genealogies the most exciting parts to read. For the most part they are
read once, if that, and then discarded in future readings. Beginning with
Genesis
4.17 there is a proliferation of people. Scripture uses a literary device,
which is called genealogy. In the Old Testament sense it is a list of names,
which indicate the ancestors or descendants of individuals. Often it is a
simple registration of names. It is clear that Old Testament genealogies are
not used in the same strict fashion that modern genealogies are in which each
person in a line is listed. We find most of the genealogies in the Pentateuch,
Ezra-Nehemiah, and the Chronicles.
Story 5. When It Rains It Pours (Genesis
6.9-8.22) This story identifies
Noah
as a righteous man who walked with God and was not contaminated by the
wickedness and sin of his day. God tells him to build an ark in which his
family and other created creatures could enter and escape the coming judgment
of God on the world. God establishes a covenant with Noah and then the
flood.
For forty days and nights it rains until every part of creation was wiped out
except for those who were on the ark. After the flood God told the survivors
that never again would such a catastrophe come on humankind.
Our usual attempts are to try and prove the Flood
story scientifically. It has been fashionable to try and discover the ark so
that Christians could say that Scripture was true to a scientific certainty so
that the world would know the Scriptures are true.
Of course, this is not the purpose of this story. It
is a story of God's judgment and grace on humankind.
Story 6. Beginning Again (Genesis
9.1-17) God made a promise to Noah and all other life on
earth. Noah's family was to begin the process again of increasing and filling
the earth. Life is revealed as sacred. The storyteller could have ended the
story with the covenant of the rainbow but instead chose to tell a story about
the weakness of Noah who produced some wine and got intoxicated. The flood
surely did not wipe out the human tendency to sin. This story is not about
drunkenness or the evils of wine. It is not about the African race being the
descendents of Ham/Canaan and thus being cursed (which was the belief by which
our own forefathers in America defended slavery). It is about a God who
protects his own image. It is about the propensity of children to be like their
parents regardless of race. It is about how God makes covenant in spite of the
sinfulness of humankind. It is about a God who is faithful to his own word.
Remember, these stories are told against the
background of the covenant that God made with Israel. Like Noah, he would
surely allow the Israelites to begin again after breaking covenant with
him.
More Genealogies (Genesis
9.18-10.32) The genealogical table begins with a list of
Noah's sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Story 7. Loss of Communication (Genesis
11.1-9) A new expression of confidence was instilled when the
world was repopulated. Everyone spoke the same language and because of this
they were able to collaborate on this tower building adventure.
All these stories are told against the backdrop of
polytheism. The point of the story like the ones before is that the creator God
is the only one to be worshiped. Towers were built in the ancient world with a
staircase so the gods could come and visit. Moses may have wanted God's
children to understand that his presence was with them at all times (the
tabernacle) instead of occasionally at his whim.
Final Genealogy (Genesis
11.10-26) We now come to the last section of Genesis 1-11. We
must note that this section ends with verse 26 and the new section of Genesis
begins with verse 27. This is one of those unfortunate breaks that came with
the versification of Scripture. The narrator ends with another genealogy
section. This genealogy is of the Shemites that begins with Shem and moves to
Terah who was Abraham's father. This is a vertical genealogy and is designed to
show legitimate ancestry. These types of genealogies were often used in the
ancient world to establish the authenticity of a king or a dynasty. The
narrator moves his hearers toward the next story to be presented in Genesis,
the story of Abraham.
Where do we go from here? We are
now ready to tackle each of the stories and see what they teach us for living
our lives today. It should be fun. Hang on!
It is always important to apply what you have learned.
Pause at this point and ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to help you
meditate on and put into practice some or all of the following.
- Why is it important to understand that Darwin's
theory of Evolution has no part in interpreting the story of creation?
- Why do you think that the genealogies are
important?
- How does seeing these first eleven chapters broken
into stories help you begin to understand them?
-
Read
Genesis 1.1-2.4a
Read the following Dictionary Articles from
Easton's Bible Dictionary, or the International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia. Easton's is about a century old, therefore, some of
the information is not current with newer Bible Dictionaries. ISBE is
about seventy-five years old. You might read the articles off-line in a number
of different Bible Dictionaries. If you do not own a Bible Dictionary, I would
recommend
New
Bible Dictionary 3rd Edition. If you like lots of color pictures, try
The Revell Bible Dictionary now out of print but still
can be ordered from amazon.com. One of these should suit your personal
needs.
Genesis 1.1-11.26
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Copyright © 2001-2019, Winn Griffin.
All rights reserved. BibleJourney: An Almost Weekly Bible Study is a service of
SBL Ministries. Unless otherwise stated, scripture quotations are from the
International Standard Version (ISV) of the Bible®. Copyright
© 2001 by The ISV Foundation, 2200 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana, CA
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