Genesis 3

The Fall of Humanity
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" (1)

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" (2-3)

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (4-5)

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. (6-7)

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (8)

But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" (9)

He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." (10)

He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" (11)

The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." (12)

Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?"

The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." (13)

The LORD God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this,

cursed are you among all animals

and among all wild creatures;

upon your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat

all the days of your life. (14)

I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel." (15)

To the woman he said,

"I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;

in pain you shall bring forth children,

yet your desire shall be for your husband,

and he shall rule over you." (16)

And to the man he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'

cursed is the ground because of you;

in toil you shall eat of it

all the days of your life; (17)

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field. (18)

By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread until you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

you are dust,

and to dust you shall return." (19)

The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. (20)

And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. (21)

Then the LORD God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"- therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. (22-24)

Genesis 2

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 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. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. (1-3)

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 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; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground- then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. (4-7)

Life in God’s Garden
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 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. (8-9)

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. (10-14)

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 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." (15-17)

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 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. 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 there was not found a helper as his partner. (18-20)

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. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. (23-24)

And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. (25)

Genesis 1- Andy's thoughts

Some introductory ideas to consider before reading Genesis
I do believe that it is good to have and to ask questions of the text. I think that these questions that we bring to the Bible are secondary, however, to the questions that the Bible brings to us. The primary questions that the beginning of Genesis raise are-
• Who is the one who is responsible for not only the world’s existence but specifically humanity’s?
• Why is the world the way that it is- specifically, why does it intuitively feel like things are not the way they ought to be?
• What shall we do with our lives and this God that is described?

I hope that we endeavor to still answer these questions rather than rehash old debates that seldom bear much if any fruit. There is something inherently futile about a Christian trying to convince a person of creationism when that person doesn’t yet believe in a Creator. The purpose of Genesis is much more about who is the God that created rather than how and when God created.

Last year I wrote about some ideas central to Genesis and the nature of revelation (the written account of God’s revealing Himself to humanity) and have included one of these excerpts below entitled “Local Gods”. In this passage I state that God is not merely a local god as the surrounding nations of the time would have believed. Instead Genesis shows that the universal creator is God- called YHWH (the Hebrew word for Lord, usually written as LORD in all capital letters in English bibles) Elohim (the Hebrew word for God- technically it is in the plural to reflect the plural of majesty- kind of like the idea of the “royal we”).

Understanding truth through stories.
There is more that I have written about narrative versus propositional truth. I will include that in later blogs. Here, I will just state that the Bible sometimes reveals truth in the form of propositional logic statements (since God has done X, therefore we ought to do Y) and sometimes in the form of narrative statements (stories- “this is the account of…”).

When truth is revealed through narrative rather than proposition we need to think through the truths in the context of a story rather than as a mathematical equation. Most of Genesis is narrative and it will be beneficial to our understanding of it to get the genre right.

Local gods
I believe that there are reasons why the book of Genesis was written. Initially, it was to instruct the Israelites about the God that led them out of Egypt. This was to help answer the immediate questions of “Was it a good idea to leave the security of the (unpleasant but) known?” and “Is it a good idea to enter the danger of the unknown?” More broadly, it was written to show how God interacted with the people of the previous generations and show that the Lord is a covenant keeping God who delights in showing grace and diligently eradicates sin.

The Lord is neither like the local gods of the Egyptians nor the local gods of the Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, Jebusites, Amalekites, or Philistines. The Lord (YHWH) is the God (Elohim) of everything and everyone. He is more than the mere god of a tree or a field or a hill or a region. He is more than a sun god or moon god or river god. The Lord is the true God. He is the God who created the sun and the moon and the rivers. He is the God who created the trees and the fields and the hills. He is the God of the first peoples and the God of the present peoples (and the future ones as well, but more on that later). The Lord is not a local god. The Lord is the universal God. The Lord is the God of all.

So when we read the beginning of Genesis and see the description of the days and what is made, it is not about the days. Nor is it about the length of the days. Nor is it about the order of the days. It is about the Lord. And specifically about how the Lord is not just the God of one or two of these things, but rather how the Lord is the God of all of these things. The things above? They came from the Lord. The things below? They came from the Lord. The things before us? They came from the Lord. The birds above? The fish below? The animals before? The Lord. The Lord. The Lord. The Lord is the God of all nature.

When we first read about people in Genesis, it is not primarily written to give detailed biological or anthropological data. It is not intended to answer questions of exactly when events took place. Rather it is intended to show that, since the beginning, the Lord, who is the God of all nature, is also the God of all humanity.

Genesis tells the story of the Lord’s relationship with nature and humanity. The Lord transcends the power and authority of any local god and shows them to be cheap imitations of the true God. Whether it is the idols that Jacob’s wife Rachel tries to smuggle out of her home country, the gods of the Egyptians that Pharaoh’s officials consulted and failed to gain the wisdom to interpret his dream in the time of Joseph, the self proclaimed gods that the workers were trying to make themselves at the tower of Babel, the serpent in the garden of Eden who tried to usurp the Lord’s authority, or even Adam and Eve who tried to make gods of themselves, by knowing what only he knew.

And the ideas of local gods is not isolated to the Bible. The ancient Greeks believed in a pantheon of gods who were more like exaggerated images of humans- displaying the best and worst of our traits. And in addition to the Olympian gods, they also believed in river gods, and tree nymphs, and Titans, and powerful creatures of magic. The Romans developed a theology that is basically a knock-off of the Greek gods, only they changed the names to make them sound more Roman. The Egyptians worshipped a multitude of gods- Nun- the god of Chaos, followed by Atum- the first god, who spat out Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). They in turn bore 2 children Geb (earth) and Nut (sky). Then Geb and Nut had 4 children- Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. These children fought for control over the earth and the underworld.

Meanwhile in the Americas, the Aztecs of Mexico had their assemblage of gods- primarily their twin creator gods- Ometecuhtli and his sister/wife Omecihuatl, then the gods- Quetzalcoatl- who was followed by the blood sacrifice loving – Huitzilopochtli. Then the Mayans of the Yucatan region of Mexico throughout Central America had their own patron gods such as their creator god- Hunab Ku, death god- Cizin, and rain god- Chac. And the Incans of South American were not without their pantheon. Their supreme creator god was Viracocha, and fathered the sun god Inti who fathered other creator gods called Manco-capac and Mama-oullo.

So what is the point of knowing these local/ patron gods? Is there an application to all of this? Why yes, there is. It struck me how odd it was to hear Christians talk about how they are content with giving reverence and honor to God in some aspects of their lives but not all. For example, I have heard pastors bemoan the evils of drinking and smoking, yet they themselves are more than 60 pounds overweight.

They speak as if the Lord is the God of your liver and lungs, but not your stomach or heart. I hear Christians talk about how they want to support a politician who will outlaw abortions, while those same politicians divert resources away from the poor and elderly sick in order to financially and militarily support countries that perpetrate horrible human rights violations. As if the Lord is the God of the unborn but not the elderly. As if the Lord is only the God of Americans and not the God of the Chinese, the Saudis, the Cubans, the Iraqis.

I hear Christians say that they will freely give ten percent of their income to God but don’t spend free time with non-Christians socially. As if the Lord is the God of our checkbooks, but not our day-timers. No, in all things, the Lord is not a local god; the Lord is the God of all.

I do not bring up these controversial subjects merely to provoke people to debate the same old things. I do this to say that we ought to broaden our understanding of who God is. When Christians focus on only one aspect of God or believe that there is only one issue that is important to support politically, legally, or morally, we show that we believe YHWH Elohim to be just another local god.

When we do this, we fail to see that God is the true universal God that He reveals himself to be in Genesis. I believe that the opening of Genesis shows the fullness of God’s involvement with the world and so we ought to respond to Him with offering him the fullness of our lives in worship and obedience.

“God saw that it was good”
There is a phrase that is repeated that I do think bears more careful attention. It is the phrase “God saw that it was good.” Again and again this phrase is repeated and builds to a crescendo in 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” I think that the repetition of this particular phrase is used to stress a point. Figuring out the point isn’t exactly difficult. The point is that the world and everything in it was good. The world was in harmony with itself and with God.

I am using musical terminology intentionally. Instead of the approaching the text as a math equation to be solved (with which I am more comfortable as a math tutor), I have been seeing it like a musical composition to be appreciated. There is a clear melody being played throughout these first two chapters.

The melody line hints at God’s creative power and intimate connection with His creation. There is a harmony of the creation resonating in unison with God. I imagine a symphony building as, one by one, different instruments chime in to add to the fullness of the sound. First the violins, then the flutes, then an oboe followed by a bassoon. Soon the whole orchestra is working in unison as harmony joins melody to paint a beautiful picture of sound.

As I read these chapters, I first imagine God and him creating. Then there are lights and water, and then plants followed by birds. Soon the whole world is working in unison as God and his creation join together to paint a beautiful picture of existence. Tolkien does an infinitely better job of conveying this concept in the beginning of the Silmarillion.

Keep this musical composition image in your minds as we continue to read the next few chapters. It will frame our discussion on a different paradigm for thinking about evil and sin.

Genesis 1

The History of Creation
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the 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. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (1-5)

And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." 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. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. (6-8)

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. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. (9-10)

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. 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. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. (11-13)

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, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so. God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. (14-19)

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." 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. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. (20-23)

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. 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. (24-25)

Then 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." So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 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." (26-28)

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. 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. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (29-31)

Now for Genesis!

Hey Gang,

I'm glad that you all are on board for our continued communal Bible reading. This week we are beginning with the Old Testament book of Genesis. I know that there is a lot of material in this book, so we are going to move at a slower pace. For a lot of the chapters full of stories we will take at least 2 days to read and post. For some of chapters full of geneologies we will move much quickly.

I would imagine that this book would raise a lot of questions for people. Please feel free to post them here. I will do my best to respond to questions as best as I can. In no way do I claim to have all answers, but I do love teaching the bible and I am happy to share my thoughts.

I pray that God would continue to transform us to more like his son Christ as we read. May God bless us as we honor him by reading and reflecting on his Word.

Andy Newberry