I am excited to read these stories with you and share our reflections.
Please add your comments and thoughts about the readings.
Week
One
Genesis
1-2 New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Key verse
27 So God created humankind[e] in his
image,
in the image of God he created them;[f]
male and female he created them.
in the image of God he created them;[f]
male and female he created them.
1 In the beginning when God
created[a] the heavens
and the earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness
covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God[b] swept over
the face of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”;
and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and
God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the
light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there
was morning, the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the
waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 So
God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the
waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8 God called
the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered
together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God
called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called
Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the
earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind
on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The
earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees
of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And
there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to
separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and
for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of
the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 God
made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser
light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 God set them in the
dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18 to rule over
the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And
God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there
was morning, the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living
creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So
God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of
every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind.
And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply
on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning,
the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of
every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every
kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth
of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon
the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind[c] in our
image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
wild animals of the earth,[d] and over
every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humankind[e] in his
image,
in the image of God he created them;[f]
male and female he created them.
in the image of God he created them;[f]
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves
upon the earth.” 29 God said, “See, I have given you every
plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with
seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to
every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that
creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every
green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw everything
that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there
was morning, the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the
earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the
seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the
seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God
blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the
work that he had done in creation.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when
they were created.
Another
Account of the Creation
In the day that the Lord[g] God made
the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet
in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon
the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6 but a
stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7 then
the Lord God formed man from the
dust of the ground,[h] and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living
being. 8 And the Lord
God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had
formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord
God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food,
the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil.
10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from
there it divides and becomes four branches. 11 The name of the
first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah,
where there is gold; 12 and the gold of that land is good;
bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second
river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14 The
name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth
river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God
took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And
the Lord God commanded the man,
“You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 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 die.”
18 Then the Lord
God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a
helper as his partner.” 19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the
field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he
would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was
its name. 20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds
of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man[i] there was
not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall
upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its
place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made
into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,[j]
for out of Man[k] this one was taken.”
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,[j]
for out of Man[k] this one was taken.”
24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings
to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his
wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
The last time I heard this story was a couple months ago when a colleague of mine was using it to illustrate how God made us to work. In addition to being “fruitful and multiplying,” He gave us the job of taking care of the earth, to “till and keep” the garden of Eden. He made us and gave us a purpose. This was an interesting perspective that I hadn’t considered before. So many of us are driven to fulfill our God-given purpose in life, knowing what that purpose is can be the challenge. When we don't feel like we have purpose, we feel lost.
ReplyDeleteWhat I’m drawn to today is how God created us knowing that we would need companionship. He knew we would need a partner in life. And since he designed us in His image, perhaps we are getting some insight into the character of God here as well…his desire for companionship. Genesis has many mysterious elements, one that jumped out at me this time is “Let us make mankind in ‘our’ image, according to ‘our’ likeness…” Does this mean that God had other heavenly beings with him? I guess some would say this is a reference to the trinity. Still interesting how the word “our” is used.
So even in this incredibly old story, I am shown how God has always given us purpose and wanted us to never feel alone. What a loving God!
I also find it interesting that in verse 29 there seems to be a strong argument for vegetarianism. I never really noticed that before, that He specifically says he gives us every seed bearing plant and tree for food. I also have thought before about the "our" that Gretchen mentions. Perhaps we are made in the image of a God who enjoys companionship. I have to admit, though, that once you have been betrayed by another human, there is little interest in even taking the chance of going through that again.
ReplyDeleteSo our Bible begins with two delightful vignettes magnifying Godʼs creation of the earth. And we must be aware that with this very first “essential Bible story” also begins several key points of departure between us mainstream people of the Book and others. In fact the mainstream churches are diminishing over such contentions; Evangelicals of all religions are burgeoning, new forms of religions of all types are emerging, and most of the economically interconnected, technological world ignores us and God as irrelevant. Consequently, this stimulating story would seem a fine departure point for some enlightening instructions.
ReplyDeleteThere are two different accounts of creation in these two chapters. First is a methodical organization of creation, including good feature by good feature, occurring over six days according to the primitive science of the Priestly Code. The second account depicts a pleasant day when the Lord Yahweh planted the Garden of Eden for man and his partner (except there was an amusing dietary prohibition). Other Biblical accounts of creation (e.g. Psalm 104) reflect the interests of various authors and times. Some critics point to the differences in these accounts as the first of many ʻcontradictionsʼ which nullify the inspiration of the Holy Bible. Others dismiss these vignettes simply as myths ignorant of Galileo, Ben Franklin, Mendel, Darwin, or Einstein; the Big Bang 13.5 billion years ago, evolution of the galaxies, or extinction of the dinosaurs.
However, the point of these creation stories is not to itemize scientific developments of creation, or to describe God, or to analyze the geography of paradise, or even to initiate the burdens of the first guilt. Those are pointless expectations for the Bible, sources of irreconcilable arguments. We donʼt have to invent museums to validate these literal Biblical descriptions. We donʼt need to deny God because ancient temple scribes, some left-brained and others right-brained, were ignorant of 21st century discoveries. God did not freeze because we have frozen Biblical recordings. These Bible stories all agree on lauding God for the amazing gifts and resources of creation. We can all emulate the praises of the ancient writers over the incomprehensible scope and impact of the cosmos. Technologists, like myself, are even at some advantage having viewed portions of the awesome creation thru the scientistsʼ detectors. The Holy Spirit is just as active today, inspiring us with our updated theorems, as when Yahwistic sources were inspired in King Davidʼs time.
So we might each construct our own inspired vignette about how we are impressed and blessed and mystified by Godʼs creation of the universe around us today. And share our view of that awesome God with a grumpy world.
I am a vegetarian and have been for over 30 years, one of the reason is 2 of my favorite verses, Genesis vs. 29 and 30, but we are not is a perfect word as God had intended. (I blame Adam) - Kathleen Kelley
ReplyDeleteI was also struck by the use of "our". God understood and understands our need for companionship, ours and his. For are we not God's companions in thought and prayer.
ReplyDelete