needsalt
a well lived bland life
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In the Beginning..
I finally decided on a name for my blog (needs salt). If you don't get the joke, don't think about it for too long or you may end up hurting yourself. Anyway I think I may have also finally decided on colors as well, so if you're sick of coming to this site and not knowing if its mine of not because the colors and logo have changed, rest assured it should be the same for awhile.......maybe. Also if you attempt to connect to the site and its not being found, it's usually because I run this website off a server in my house (I use my own server as a by-product of my ever lasting desire to not spend money on needless things - website hosting companies) and I may have lost my internet connection or I may have turned off the server to speed up my connection when playing Halo...
Starting last Saturday I joined yet another bible study. This one is put on through my church and is a BILD class, in which we will be studying the Torah - Pentatuech, The Law, First Five Books of the Old Testament, or whatever you want to call it, either way its the story of creation through Moses and the nation of Israel coming into the land that Yahweh (Hebrew name for God) laid out for them. So as I started to prepare for class I read through the first eleven chapters of Genesis at a very slow pace while taking very detailed notes and I noticed many things that I feel I've over looked in the past.
As a attempt to deepen my understanding of the material and share my new found knowledge with whoever, I decided to walk through the first creation story out of Genesis and point out a few things I think are very interesting.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And 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.
Genesis 1:1-5
First, if taken literally, the creation of the heavens and earth are actually a given before the first day even occurs. How much "time" occured between the "beginning" and the first day ? - I say "time" because this very well could have transpired before time ever began, which is what I think we are seeing here.
And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
Genesis 1:6-8
Here we see the creation of an "expanse" which separates the waters and is referred to as "Heaven". If the "heavens" were created in the beginning, what is this "Heaven" that was created on the second day, and how does it differ from the previous?
And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens 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. And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
Genesis 1:9-13
Here we see plants being created on the third day, take note of this.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens 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 expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on 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.
Genesis 1:14-19
Here's where things get interesting. As you noticed the sun was not created until the fourth day - assuming "the greater light to rule the day" refers to the sun. Which brings up a few ideas.
- Since we measure days by the rising and setting of the sun, how were the first three days measured, how long were they?
- Since we all know that plants live using a process called photosynthesis which relies on the sun, how did they live - that one is easy, it's God, He can do whatever He wants.
- Here we also see that the greater and lesser lights were put in the "heavens" - little 'h' - and since we know that the sun and the moon/stars are in "outer-space" we can now assume that in the beginning it was the earth and space that existed, and possibly not the Heaven all picture as in the clouds with pearly white gates and all that jazz.
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And 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.
Genesis 1:20-23
Here I just want you to take note of what is created: fish - and other fishy creatures, and birds.
And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And 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 heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on 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 heavens 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. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 1:24-31
Ok that was a lot of reading, lets all take a quick breather - God was busy on the sixth day! Where to start.......?
- "let the earth bring forth", I like the way that it doesn't say that God created the animals with his bare hands, but instead he had the earth produce them.
- If I remember correctly from biology class evolution says that "creatures" first lived in the water then evolved into land dwelling creatures...seems to follow fairly closely - if you correctly noted that the fish came on day five.
- Notice the way that "make man in OUR image" was translated in a plural form, this really helps to support an argument for the Trinity - the Trinity is God, three in one, you know Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
- Also it appears that in the beginning God gave man the animals to "have dominion over" and every plant "for food". Not every animal for food and plant for food. It appears that the first humans may have been vegetarians. (quick side note: Man is given dominion over the animals for food after Noah lands the ark on Mt. Arafat - Genesis: 9:3; I've also heard people say that man didn't start eating animals until after the first murder (Cain -> Abel), but I'm not sure about that).
- After God creates most things he responds "And God saw that it was good", but after creating man, you don't see that response, but instead it says that He saw all that He had made and commented that as a whole it was good.
- Lastly I really like that the author refers to all living creatures as "having the breath of life", its neato.
My last few comments before going to bed - I'd better hurry or I'll have to edit the date as being the 20th!. Personally I don't care how old the earth is or how long each day of creation was, to me it really doesn't matter. The point of the story is that God created it all at one point in "time", and you didn't. Seriously, that is the main jist of the story. It wasn't written as historical dating or an exact recording of what happend in the beginning, if it was it would have been more detailed in its transcription, such as the day that Noah landed the Arc on Mt. Arafat, its noted to the exact day (Genesis: 8:4,13). Instead, its to assure you the reader (and as the author's intent was - the nation of Israel), that God is in charge, always has been, and always will be.
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Blando's Blog
Disciple of Christ, Husband, Father, and IT-guy.
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