In the beginning

Genesis 1: 1-27 (June 19, 2011)

1) The Text

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7So 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. 8God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11Then 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. 12The 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. 13And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14And 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, 15and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21So 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. 22God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24And 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. 25God 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. 26Then God said, “Let us make humankind 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, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

2) The Context

Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It begins with two versions of the creation story, neither of them scientific but telling us why we are on earth. In the story of Adam and Eve, it tells us that we are responsible, under God, for the care of all creation. It then continues with the stories of the patriarchs: Abraham (who enters into a covenant with God), Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

3) Interpretation

This passage says much about God and his relationship to humans. Long ago, people in the Near East asked how the earth came to be. A single creation story was known throughout the region; one such, dating from at least 1700 BC, is Enuma Elish from Mesopotamia (now Iraq.) It and Genesis 1 have a similar sequence of events, so studying what the authors of the Genesis story added, and what they left out, tells us about our God.

First, “In the beginning when God created ...”: God pre-exists all creation. The whole visible world came into being as a result of divine activity. At first, there was no order to the earth; it was “a formless void” (1:2). However here, unlike in Enuma Elish, a force is present, a life-giving power. From 1:3 on, the creation story is in the form of a hymn, with a refrain, “God saw that ... [it] was good.” This ancient story is divided into seven days, or stages of creation.

On the first day, God creates light, thus overcoming the “darkness.” In the Semitic mind, God’s ability to name light and darkness shows that he controls them. To grasp Day 2, we need to appreciate that people saw the earth as covered by a huge inverted pudding bowl, the “dome”, above which were the upper waters: snow, hail and rain. The “waters” surrounded the “dry land”. On Day 3, God has vegetation created through his agent, Earth. Other peoples worshipped some kinds of vegetation; in not creating vegetation directly, God reduces the chances of Israel doing the same: they are to worship only God. On the following days, living things are created or made. People then thought plants were unable to transmit life. The Sun and the Moon, created on Day 4, are inanimate to us, but to ancient people they were beings, moving on fixed tracks on the under-side of the dome. To Israel, they are beings under God’s command. On Day 5, God creates animals of the sea and air. Even the “great sea monsters” (e.g. Leviathan) were seen as creatures of the one God, and are therefore good. They, the fish and the birds get a special blessing because people thought they did not have the same ability to reproduce as land animals. On Day 6, land animals are created. 1:24 says that God caused the earth to “bring [them] forth”; however, in 1:25, God creates them directly. The creation story was handed down orally for centuries, and varied in its telling. The author (or editor) of Genesis is not afraid to include divergent versions.

“Let us” (1:26) is like a royal we; the creation of humans is the climax of the creation story. Human is made (created) in God’s “image” (the Hebrew word implies an exact copy); but he is also a “likeness” (similarity). He rules over all creatures. Sex is of divine origin. It is because of God’s blessing that we have procreative power.

4) Thought Exercise

What does the creation story say about God’s relationship with us?

What does the creation story say about our relationship with other creatures?