Some thoughts on Genesis chapter 1

 

I.                    Gn. 1.1—2.3: The (first) creation account

A.    OBSERVATION

1.      General observations

     There isn’t exactly “nothing” in the beginning.  Darkness covers the watery abyss which surrounds (?) the earth, i.e. “a formless void” (1.2).[1]  A “wind from God” swept over the face of the waters (1.2; cf. 8.1[2]).  Then, God begins to speak and thus to form an ordered cosmos out of the primordial chaos.  The expression “there was evening and there was morning” which is used to “wrap up” the account of each day of creation is intriguing.  God’s delight in his work of creation is evidenced by the repeated use of the word “good”.[3]  This pericope is obviously, amongst other things, a justification of Sabbath observance (2.3; cf. Ex. 20.8-11).

2.      The 6 questions

a.       Who?  God (Elohim) is the only agent in this pericope.  God speaks, God creates/makes, God blesses, God rests.

b.      What?

     God is creating the cosmos, i.e. “the heavens” and the earth.  There seems to be a nuance between the meaning of samayim in 1.1 (NRSV: “heavens”) and in 1.8-20 (NRSV: “sky”).[4]  Perhaps 1.1 refers to “God’s abode” as opposed to “the earth”, which is the abode of all those creatures that “have the breath of life”.  Did God create “the heavens” as an abode for himself from which he could interact with “the earth”?  If this pericope does indeed follow the “blueprint” for the construction of an ANE temple, then it would follow that God is not only making a “place” for the created order, but also for himself.[5]  Perhaps this is panentheism at work…[6]

c.       When?  There is a timeless feel to this pericope – we are “in the beginning” when God created...[7]

d.      Where?  The reader, though having a terrestrial vantage point,[8] surveys the entirety of the cosmos as God creates.

e.       Why and wherefore?  This pericope, like all of Gn. 1—11, explains the origins of all things.  Here, the basic structure of the cosmos is explained, as well as humanity’s role within it (as well as setting the scene for Israel’s role within humanity).[9]

f.        How?  God creates through his Word (cf. Jn. 1.1-5).

3.      Structure

     The pericope is divided into 7 “days”.  Each of the first 6 days contains some form of the following sequence: “God said, let there be…and there was/it was so…God saw that it was good…and there was evening…X day”.[10]  Days 5—7 also include a blessing.  One of the most striking examples of “secret” symmetry of days 1—6 is the diptych design, seen in the correspondences between the first 3 days and the second 3 days.[11]

B.     INTERPRETATION

1.      Questions

     What kind of text is this?  Even by ANE standards, there are signs that this text was not intended as a straightforward, chronological account of the world’s origins (e.g. light is created before the Sun, (other) stars, and moon).

2.      Answers

     This text is, according to Brueggemann, neither “mythological” nor “scientific/historical”.[12]  Rather, this text is the fruit of Israel’s theological imagination.  The dynamic between Creator and creation is “covenantal”.  Israel’s theologians have articulated a new world in which to live.  The way of discerning reality which they have bequeathed to us is a way in which grateful obedience to God is known to be the mode of the world willed by God, and is embodied as doxology.

3.      Outline

     The text can be divided into 4 parts:

·         1.1-2: overall thematic statement or perhaps a “(a)temporal” statement (“Once upon a time…”).  Creation from nothing presented alongside creation from chaos.

·         1.3-25: the first 5 days of creation, culminating in the first blessing – that of the birds and sea creatures.

·         1.26-31: the creation, on the 6^th day, of land animals and humans.  Humanity – male and female – is created in the image of God and is granted dominion, i.e. to have a shepherd’s care, over the rest of creation.[13]  This is the pinnacle of the pericope.

·         2.1-4a: the 7^th day is blessed (as the Sabbath) because God rested on it from all his work of creation.  The “Sabbath” nature of creation speaks to God’s delight in his “work of art”, exhorts against all fearful grasping and invites trust in the God who gifts the world to his human creatures.  It also creates a new form of community – one that rests in the Creator’s graciousness and receives life as a gift.[14]

C.     APPLICATION    

1.      Interpretation

     If this text was indeed composed in the context of the 6^th-century Babylonian exile, then it consisted of both a subversion of the Babylonian worldview and an encouragement to the people of God (Judahites) to trust the Creator as the One who defines reality, and who made a cosmos informed by faithfulness and absolute trustworthiness (towards his covenant people).

2.      Situation

     The 6^th-century Judahites were in need of a reminder of who God was and what kind of world they were living in.  Was the world ruled by the gods of the current empire, or was there a source of authority over and above all pagan and imperial pretensions?  Was there hope for new life beyond the chaos of Jerusalem’s destruction and the exile of her people?  Genesis 1 replied Yes!  The sovereign Creator is at rest, and his people can rest assured that he will fulfill his purpose both for his world and for his people.  He is the God who re-made the world after the Flood, and he will re-make Israel’s world following the disaster of 587 B.C. and its aftermath.  Just as the flood waters had eventually receded, the people of God will return to the land promised to Abraham to rebuild the city promised to David.

     No matter our present-day experience of abandonment, we can look to the Creator with hope in his undying faithfulness (i.e. righteousness) to his covenant commitments, both to his world (cf. Gn. 9) and to his people – that’s you and me!

3.      Putting the text into practice

     I will seek to adopt an attitude of renewed trust in the faithful Creator God who seeks to be in loving relationship with his world, and especially with his image-bearing creatures, whom he addresses directly in this pericope (1.28-29).  Also, I will strive to maintain gratitude in my heart for the generous gift of life, of the world and the opportunity to reflect God’s glory into it (cf. Irenaeus: Gloria Dei Est Vivens Homo).

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[1] Cf. Hendel, Ronald, The Anchor Yale Bible: Genesis 1—11, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024, p. 143, who calls these the “primeval materials”; cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 29; cf. Ibid, pp. 29-30 for an argument in favour of retaining both an understanding of creatio ex nihilo and creation from pre-existent chaos.

[2] Cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 22, who claims that 8.1 is the turning point of the entire narrative of Gn. 1—11.

[3] Cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 37.

[4] In 1.26-30, the NRSV renders samayim “air”.

[5] Pace Hendel, Ronald, The Anchor Yale Bible: Genesis 1—11, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024, p. 144.  Cp. 1 Kings 8.27; though the temple-imagery may be subtle in Gn. 1, the fact that humanity is created in the image of God as the final aspect of the created order strongly suggests just such a temple theme.

[6] Cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 17 who insists that this text is a “proclamation of covenanting” as the shape of reality.  The claim of this tradition is opposed both to a materialism which regards the world as autonomous and to a transcendentalism which regards the world as of the same stuff as God.  The term “create” asserts both distance from God and belonging to God.  The idiom of covenant applies to all of the materials of Gn. 1—11. 

[7] Cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 11: in Gn. 1—11, there is almost no historical particularity. 

[8] Cf. Kass, Leon R. The beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 56.

[9] Cf. Gn. 12.1-4; Hendel, Ronald, The Anchor Yale Bible: Genesis 1—11, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024, p. 141.

[10] Hendel, Ronald, The Anchor Yale Bible: Genesis 1—11, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2024, p. 142, who points out that this sequence never occurs in full, and never the same way twice; cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 30.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, pp. 13-14.

[13] Cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, p. 32.

[14] Cf. Brueggemann, Walter, Genesis, Atlanta: John Knox, 1982, pp. 35-38.