Chapter Two of Genesis has been used by critics as the very first occurrence of inconsistency in the Bible. Some have gone on to conclude that the author must have collated 2 different account and clobbered them into one book in Genesis because they saw a different way that God was addressed in chapter 2 as compared with chapter 1 (See following section on this issue). Rather than jumping to conclusions, what we have here is a demonstration of what David Cooper termed as "the law of recurrence".
Before we go into this law of recurrence in Genesis, 2 prophetic examples can be found in the Bible (From Fruchtenbaum's "The Footsteps of the Messiah").
The first pair is found in Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39. Chapter 39 gives a complete account of the invasion of Israel from the north and the subsequent destruction of the invading army. This is followed by Chapter 39 which repeats some of the account given in Chapter 38 and gives some added details regarding the description of the invading army.
The second pair is found in Isaiah 30 and Isaiah 31. Chapter 30 gives a complete account of the fall of Judah's alliance with Egypt. Chapter 31 simply repeats the prophesy, adding more details.
Turning back to Genesis 2, this chapter elaborates on Day 6 of God's creation and not, as some have tried to insinuate, a different version of the creation account. Other well-meaning Christians have "fall into" this trap hook-line-and-sinker and invested creative energy to try and explain away the apparent contradictions.
The Elaboration of the Creation of Man and Woman in Day 6
From Genesis Chapter 2 verse 4 (the beginning of the 2nd chapter should have logically started from here), the author took on a different way of addressing God by calling him Yahweh Elohim (or LORD God in NASB) instead of just Elohim (God) in Chapter 1. The purpose, I believed, is to introduce a personal reference of God to narrate the creation of Adam and Eve in this section. because God took a personal interest in Day 6 of creation.
What we have from verses 4-6 is a description of how a piece of land looked like before it was transformed by God to become the Garden of Eden. At this point in time, there was no rain yet and the earth was watered by a mist that rise from the earth itself.
Some may ask why Christians are so sure that Chapter 2 is purely elaborating on Day 6 of creation and describing on a particular place called Eden rather than a different creation account. The clue can be derived from verse 5 where it explained why no shrub and plant of the field had appeared in the earth. The 2 reasons were that (a) "God had not sent rain upon the earth" and (b) "there was no man to cultivate the ground".
If the appearance of shrubs and plants is dependent on the appearance of man, then we must conclude that the only place where God can cause them to appear is in the garden of Eden since we would not expect the first man to be able to cultivate the whole earth. This obviously cannot be true since God can cause life to appear without the help of man. The need for water was answered in verse 6 when it explained that "a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground" (the highlighted words suggest that the author who wrote the book of Genesis did not experienced this phenomena anymore and it was so after the rain made its appearance from the time of the Noahic Flood).
Hence what verse 5 described would fit the context of a particular part of the earth and in this case, the land that God eventually plant the garden of Eden. The other clue came from verses 19-20 where though God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky out of the ground after forming Adam for him to name in verse 19, the cattle were already there in the garden for Adam to name in verse 20. Hence we can see that there is no contradiction that God indeed created the animals before man and that Chapter 2 was indeed an elaboration of Day 6 of creation.
Some will also attempt to cast doubt on this account as an elaboration of Day 6 of creation by asserting that it is impossible for so many things to happen in a single day especially for Adam to name all the animals. To me, this "problem" is not insurmountable. Firstly, God can definitely effect the creation works instantaneously. Second, Adam could be giving names to animal classes and not variants. He could be naming them ants, dogs or cats but not necessarily fire ants, termites etc. Furthermore, given his pre-fall status, his capacity to do all these in one day may not seem impossible.
In verse 7, the Bible elaborated how God created the first man. Though an elaboration, it was in keeping with the spirit of simplicity that it still took a mere verse to describe how God formed man from the dust of the earth and made the man into a living being by breathing the breath of life into his nostrils.
God then proceeded to plant the garden in Eden with "every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food" (v 9). It is also at this point that we are introduced to the 2 special trees: the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Bible made it clear that the garden of Eden was not some mythical place when the author took a total of 5 verses (v 10-14) to describe the river which flows out of Eden to water the garden and how it is subsequently divided into 4 rivers which were described in some amount of details. We know that this garden was in the region of Mesopotamia since 2 of the rivers are known to us till this day (The Tigris and Euphrates).
The Edenic Covenant (Part 2)
In Chapter 2, we also have the 2nd part of the Edenic Covenant in verses 15-17 with the remaining 3 of the 7 provisions (we mentioned the first 4 in the previous post).
(5) Physical labour in the garden (to cultivate it and keep it).
(6) Permitted food (From any tree of the garden you may eat freely) and forbidden food (from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat) in the garden.
(7) Penalty of disobedience (for in the day that you eat from it, you will surely die)
We will revisit the details of the Edenic Covenant later on in Chapter 3 of the Genesis study.
Helper for Adam
While in the garden of Eden, God was the initiator when He noted that it was not good for man to be alone. While God in his infinite wisdom knew what Adam (man) needed was the woman, yet He did not "force" it onto Adam. As a living being with free will, Adam needs to discover for himself this inner need. Hence God set up this interesting exercise for Adam to select a helper from amongst the animals.
God did this by raising from the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the sky and brought them to Adam for him to name them. In the biblical context, naming is an exercise of authority and it validated man's authority over the animal kingdom. So, Adam gave names to 3 categories of animals: (a) the cattle (or domesticated animals) who were already in the garden and hence there was no need for God to bring them to Adam, (b) the beasts of the field (or wild animals) and (c) the birds of the sky. It was also in verse 20 where the man's name was first revealed as Adam.
This naming exercise obviously did the trick and after naming all the animals, Adam did not find a helper suitable for him in the animal kingdom and was still alone. Once Adam came to this personal realisation, God took over control, causing a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and formed a woman using portion of flesh and bone from Adam's side (NASB translated tsalah as rib but the Hebrew literally means side. It also fits verse 23 better where Adam described the woman as the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh).
When the woman was brought to Adam, he finally encountered the helper that was suitable for him and broke into a song in verse 23 and named God's special creation as "woman".
The First Spoken Language
It is interesting to take a slight digression here to discuss what was the first spoken language before God confused the language in Chapter 11 at Babel.
Fruchtenbaum made an interesting case that Adam was created with the ability to speak the Hebrew language. He made the argument on 2 points:
(a) All names before the Tower of Babel are Hebrew names and have meanings only in Hebrew even though the Jewish people did not exist as yet. That is not true of all names after the Tower of Babel when you have non Hebrew names.
(b) Prior to Babel all the wordplays in the Bible make sense only in Hebrew. Genesis 2:23; 3:20; 4:1 and 4:25 are all examples of Adam and Eve's use of wordplays that make sense only in Hebrew, proving that Adam's language was Hebrew.
Genesis 2:23 - She shall be called Woman (ishshah), Because she was taken out of Man (iysh).
Genesis 3:20 - Now the man called his wife's name Eve (chavvah), because she was the mother of all the living (chay).
Genesis 4:1 - Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain (qayin), and she said, "I have gotten (qanah) a manchild with the help of the LORD."
Genesis 4:25 - Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth (sheth), for, she said, "God has appointed (shiyth) me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him."
While I do not know much about all the ancient languages, this postulation does have its merits and we can suggest that the original language at least bears resemblance to the Hebrew language.
The Meaning of Helper
Turning back to the study, feminists had a field day accusing the Bible for being patriarchal here by degrading woman to be a mere helper for the man.
This demeaning view of the word helper is unfortunate and I feel three points here are in order to refute this:
(1) The Hebrew word for helper is ezer. This same term is used to describe God in passages such as Deuteronomy 33:7, 26, 29; I Samuel 7:12; Psalm 20:2; 33:20; 46:1; 70:5; 115:9-11; 124:8; and 146:5. Surely a term used to describe God should not be seen as demeaning.
(2) In Genesis 1:28, both man and woman were both recipients of God's mandate to exercise authority and dominion over the earth. Again, this would hardly be a degrading proposition for the first woman.
(3) The Hebrew word for suitable is neged which literally means "what is conspicuous, what is in front of". Taken in its entire context, the helper suitable for Adam implied a helper of his equal.
Fruchtenbaum concluded that the woman will be"one who will perfectly complete him, one who will provide what is lacking in the male, one who can do what the male cannot do alone. Man was created in such a way that he needs the help of a partner, and she corresponds physically, socially, and spiritually. There was headship before the fall, but it was complementary, not competitive.".
This symbiotic relationship between man and woman was reflected in verse 24 in which the final union between them will be the act of marriage to become one flesh.
An Ominous Statement
The final verse in Chapter 2 describing Adam and Eve's innocence (naked and not ashamed) was to become the preamble of the account of the Fall in Chapter 3.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Genesis 1 - In the Beginning
Other than the Gospels, Genesis chapter one is probably the most dissected chapter of the Bible. It is also one chapter that has been ridiculed and poured scorn upon by non Christians and many have tried to link the Biblical creation account to other mythical accounts.
However, reading through chapter one, one does not find in the account many of the embellishments that you find in other mythical accounts. There was no epic battle of good-versus-evil, teardrops becoming the ocean etc. The Biblical account is a simple matter-of-fact narration of how God brought the heavens and earth into being. It introduced God as having existed before time and space, and in the same way, there was no embellishment of what God looked like. God is Spirit and that was it.
Leaving the “gap theory” which I described in a previous post, the earth started out as a planet which is covered entirely by water and darkness was over the surface of the deep (v 2).
The Creation Account and Sequence
The sequence of creation was then narrated:
(1) Light (Day and Night) - Some have identified this light as the Shechinah or the Glory of God's Presence.
(2) Expanse / Firmament (heaven)
(3) Dry Land (earth) and Gathering of the Waters (seas)
(4) Vegetation: Plants Yielding Seed and Fruit Trees on the Earth bearing fruits with seed in them, after their kind
(5) Lights in the expanse: Sun, Moon and Stars
(6) Swarms of living creatures in the waters and Winged Birds, after their kind
(7) Beasts of the earth (wild animals), Cattle (domesticated animals) and Everything that creeps on the ground (reptiles and amphibians), after their kind
(8) Man and Woman
It is not my intention to debate on the sequence of God’s creation. There will be questions on what was the light that God created if the sun, moon and stars were created on the 3rd day, how the plants survived without the sun, how the solar system be sustained with the Earth created before the sun, moon and stars etc. To me, these questions are rather superfluous. To those who do not believe in the supernatural, the first action would be a denial of God’s existence from the beginning. To those who can entertain the concept of supernatural, it would not be too difficult to believe a God who can create out of nothing could temporarily create the necessary conditions to answer these questions.
No Room for Theistic Evolution
God seemed to have the evolution advocates in mind in the very first chapter of the Bible by making 2 clear statements repeatedly:
(a) Each of the days of creation was a 24-hours day. Genesis Chapter One was deliberate to a fault by repeating the constant refrain - “and there was evening and there was morning, one (and a second, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth and the sixth) day”. Even without the sun, moon and stars on the first three days, the refrain was constant - they were all 24-hours day. Some have, interestingly, decided that since the sun, moon and stars were created on the third day, that Day 1, 2 and 3 need not be 24-hour days. Most of them subscribe to this view because of their need to entertain what they felt are irrefutable "proofs" that the earth and the universe are billions of years old. They pointed that Moses had no choice but to use the same term "day" to describe Day 1-3 or that he wanted to maintain the consistent literary structure of the creation account. I feel that we should let the plain text speak for itself and there is no need to artificially differentiate the term "day" within the same passage. If you are not convinced, then I suggest you consider what the same Moses said further down in Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
(b) The strict biological taxonomy was deliberately emphasized. The plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruits with seed in them, swarms of living creatures in the waters, birds, beasts of the earth, cattle and everything that creeps on the ground were all created after their kinds (species).
These 2 statements set up the case against the theory (I rather call it a hypothesis since it cannot be experimentally tested to become a theory) of evolution in that the Bible does not give it the time or the space to stand.
Interesting Trivia
Some interesting trivia in the creation account can be noted here:
(a) God declared the work done by Him as good with the exception of Day 2 when He created the expanse (firmament) which was called heaven. Some have expounded on the reasons why this was so but a simple explanation would be that God did not "finish" what he started on the second day. The making of the expanse, the gathering of the waters below the expanse and the appearing of the dry land was deemed as one "complete" activity. Which also explained why God "saw that it was good" twice in Day 3.
(b) The uniqueness of Day 6 of creation was noted in the way the writer of Genesis described the end of that particular day. Unlike the first 5 days, the end of the 6th day was mentioned with the definite article the, pointing to the uniqueness of this day when man was created. It was also Day 6 that not only God declared what He as created as not just good but very good.
The Plurality of the Godhead
The concept of the ONE Godhead and the PLURALITY of the Godhead is introduced at the very first chapter of the Bible.
- The Hebrew word translated as God in English is “elohim”, which is plural form of “El” or “Eloah” - God. While it is true that “elohim” can also be used in the form of plurality in majesty, this term does introduce the possibility of the plurality of the Godhead.
- The Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit?) was described as moving over (or hovering) over the surface of the waters.
- In the creation of man, God is quoted as saying: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (v 26). At the same time, in the very next verse, Genesis recorded that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them”.
God’s Mandate for Mankind
The uniqueness of man (and woman) in comparison with other living things that God has created can be seen in 2 aspects: (1) that man was the only living organism that God was said to have created in His image and (2) man was given dominion over the rest of God’s creation.
It was here that the Edenic Covenant was made between God and Adam (part 2 of the covenant is given in Gen 2:15-17) in which Adam stood as the representative head of the human race.
The covenant consisted of seven provisions of which 4 are mentioned in Chapter One:
(1) Man was told to populate the earth (Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth).
(2) Man was given authority over the earth (Subdue it [the earth]).
(3) Exercise dominion over all living things (Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth).
(4) Vegetarian diet for mankind and animals (v 29-30).
Completion of God's Creation (Chapter 2 Verses 1-3)
With the creation of man and woman, the heavens and earth were declared as "completed" and God rested on the 7th day. He also blessed and sanctified the 7th Day because in that day, God rested from all His work.
2 points should be noted here:
(1) Some commentators go into a deep theological discussion on whether we are still in the 7th Day given that the Bible did not do its previous refrain of "and there was evening and there was morning, the seventh day". I think this is unnecessary since God did not do any more creating on the 7th day and hence there was no reason to reiterate the 24-hour day again. Furthermore, Chapter 1 should have logically been extended to Chapter 2 verse 3. Hence at the end point, there was no need to say anymore. (See my blog in Chapter 5 for the divisions of Genesis).
(2) Some have also wondered whether God indeed was omnipotent since He was described as having a need to rest from His works. Again, this is unnecessary since what we have here is a case of anthropomorphism, in this case, applying human characteristics to God. If we need the Bible to convince us that God is not resting in the sense of being made tired by all the creation work, Isaiah 40:28a tells us:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.
Thus ends the creation of the heavens and the earth.
However, reading through chapter one, one does not find in the account many of the embellishments that you find in other mythical accounts. There was no epic battle of good-versus-evil, teardrops becoming the ocean etc. The Biblical account is a simple matter-of-fact narration of how God brought the heavens and earth into being. It introduced God as having existed before time and space, and in the same way, there was no embellishment of what God looked like. God is Spirit and that was it.
Leaving the “gap theory” which I described in a previous post, the earth started out as a planet which is covered entirely by water and darkness was over the surface of the deep (v 2).
The Creation Account and Sequence
The sequence of creation was then narrated:
(1) Light (Day and Night) - Some have identified this light as the Shechinah or the Glory of God's Presence.
(2) Expanse / Firmament (heaven)
(3) Dry Land (earth) and Gathering of the Waters (seas)
(4) Vegetation: Plants Yielding Seed and Fruit Trees on the Earth bearing fruits with seed in them, after their kind
(5) Lights in the expanse: Sun, Moon and Stars
(6) Swarms of living creatures in the waters and Winged Birds, after their kind
(7) Beasts of the earth (wild animals), Cattle (domesticated animals) and Everything that creeps on the ground (reptiles and amphibians), after their kind
(8) Man and Woman
It is not my intention to debate on the sequence of God’s creation. There will be questions on what was the light that God created if the sun, moon and stars were created on the 3rd day, how the plants survived without the sun, how the solar system be sustained with the Earth created before the sun, moon and stars etc. To me, these questions are rather superfluous. To those who do not believe in the supernatural, the first action would be a denial of God’s existence from the beginning. To those who can entertain the concept of supernatural, it would not be too difficult to believe a God who can create out of nothing could temporarily create the necessary conditions to answer these questions.
No Room for Theistic Evolution
God seemed to have the evolution advocates in mind in the very first chapter of the Bible by making 2 clear statements repeatedly:
(a) Each of the days of creation was a 24-hours day. Genesis Chapter One was deliberate to a fault by repeating the constant refrain - “and there was evening and there was morning, one (and a second, and a third, and a fourth, and a fifth and the sixth) day”. Even without the sun, moon and stars on the first three days, the refrain was constant - they were all 24-hours day. Some have, interestingly, decided that since the sun, moon and stars were created on the third day, that Day 1, 2 and 3 need not be 24-hour days. Most of them subscribe to this view because of their need to entertain what they felt are irrefutable "proofs" that the earth and the universe are billions of years old. They pointed that Moses had no choice but to use the same term "day" to describe Day 1-3 or that he wanted to maintain the consistent literary structure of the creation account. I feel that we should let the plain text speak for itself and there is no need to artificially differentiate the term "day" within the same passage. If you are not convinced, then I suggest you consider what the same Moses said further down in Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
(b) The strict biological taxonomy was deliberately emphasized. The plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruits with seed in them, swarms of living creatures in the waters, birds, beasts of the earth, cattle and everything that creeps on the ground were all created after their kinds (species).
These 2 statements set up the case against the theory (I rather call it a hypothesis since it cannot be experimentally tested to become a theory) of evolution in that the Bible does not give it the time or the space to stand.
Interesting Trivia
Some interesting trivia in the creation account can be noted here:
(a) God declared the work done by Him as good with the exception of Day 2 when He created the expanse (firmament) which was called heaven. Some have expounded on the reasons why this was so but a simple explanation would be that God did not "finish" what he started on the second day. The making of the expanse, the gathering of the waters below the expanse and the appearing of the dry land was deemed as one "complete" activity. Which also explained why God "saw that it was good" twice in Day 3.
(b) The uniqueness of Day 6 of creation was noted in the way the writer of Genesis described the end of that particular day. Unlike the first 5 days, the end of the 6th day was mentioned with the definite article the, pointing to the uniqueness of this day when man was created. It was also Day 6 that not only God declared what He as created as not just good but very good.
The Plurality of the Godhead
The concept of the ONE Godhead and the PLURALITY of the Godhead is introduced at the very first chapter of the Bible.
- The Hebrew word translated as God in English is “elohim”, which is plural form of “El” or “Eloah” - God. While it is true that “elohim” can also be used in the form of plurality in majesty, this term does introduce the possibility of the plurality of the Godhead.
- The Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit?) was described as moving over (or hovering) over the surface of the waters.
- In the creation of man, God is quoted as saying: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (v 26). At the same time, in the very next verse, Genesis recorded that “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them”.
God’s Mandate for Mankind
The uniqueness of man (and woman) in comparison with other living things that God has created can be seen in 2 aspects: (1) that man was the only living organism that God was said to have created in His image and (2) man was given dominion over the rest of God’s creation.
It was here that the Edenic Covenant was made between God and Adam (part 2 of the covenant is given in Gen 2:15-17) in which Adam stood as the representative head of the human race.
The covenant consisted of seven provisions of which 4 are mentioned in Chapter One:
(1) Man was told to populate the earth (Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth).
(2) Man was given authority over the earth (Subdue it [the earth]).
(3) Exercise dominion over all living things (Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth).
(4) Vegetarian diet for mankind and animals (v 29-30).
Completion of God's Creation (Chapter 2 Verses 1-3)
With the creation of man and woman, the heavens and earth were declared as "completed" and God rested on the 7th day. He also blessed and sanctified the 7th Day because in that day, God rested from all His work.
2 points should be noted here:
(1) Some commentators go into a deep theological discussion on whether we are still in the 7th Day given that the Bible did not do its previous refrain of "and there was evening and there was morning, the seventh day". I think this is unnecessary since God did not do any more creating on the 7th day and hence there was no reason to reiterate the 24-hour day again. Furthermore, Chapter 1 should have logically been extended to Chapter 2 verse 3. Hence at the end point, there was no need to say anymore. (See my blog in Chapter 5 for the divisions of Genesis).
(2) Some have also wondered whether God indeed was omnipotent since He was described as having a need to rest from His works. Again, this is unnecessary since what we have here is a case of anthropomorphism, in this case, applying human characteristics to God. If we need the Bible to convince us that God is not resting in the sense of being made tired by all the creation work, Isaiah 40:28a tells us:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.
Thus ends the creation of the heavens and the earth.
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