The Design of Genesis 1-11 pt 1

2025-01-18T04:54:03Z

Genesis 1 #

There is a cyclical pattern of Genesis 1-11.

Introduction 1:1 may be a summary heading rather than the first “verse”.

Chaos #

The narrative begins in 1:2, and the start of everything is a “non-created world”, which in the ancient mind we should think about as “non-ordered reality”.


Genesis 1:2 (LEB): 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was
over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface
of the waters. 

Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer,
J. A., & Wierenga, M., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ge 1:2). Lexham
Press.

תֹּ֫הוּ | to-hu | formless בֹּ֫הוּ | ba-hu | empty, void

The first image is that there is “unordered wild and waste (wasteland)” (we typically see this as formless and void). There is also “darkness” and “deep”, which is a dark chaotic ocean - and this is the ANE person’s conception of “nothing”. Westerners think “nothing” means “no atmoic particles, no matter” but the ANE person would’ve thought about creation as unordered chaos.

God’s spirit is hovering over the dark, formless, wild, chaotic ocean.

Day 1 #


“Let there be light!” And there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it
was good, and God caused there to be a separation between the light and between
the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Creation starts by separating light from darkness. The darkness is now tamed, it is apart of an ordered cycle. The ordering of the days is now established and is repeated in every subsequent day of creation

Day 2 #


“Let there be a vaulted dome in the midst of the waters, and let it cause a
separation between the waters.” 7 So God made the vaulted dome, and he caused a
separation between the waters which were under the vaulted dome and between the
waters which were over the vaulted dome. And it was so. 8 And God called the
vaulted dome “heaven.”

Then on day 2 he separates “waters from the waters”. God “splits” (Exodus) the waters, brining order to the chaotic waters.

Day 3 #


“Let the waters under heaven be gathered to one place, and let the dry
ground appear.”

The waters below are gathered together - so there is further order being brought to the waters.


“Let the earth produce green plants that will bear seed—fruit trees bearing
fruit ⌊in which there is seed⌋—according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was
so. 12 And the earth brought forth green plants bearing seed according to its
kind, and trees bearing fruit ⌊in which there was seed⌋ according to its kind.

Bonus #

Fruit trees (foreshadowing) are then brought up from the lands

Notice that there are things even in the first 3 days that will be apart of the narrative going forward

So in the first 3 days God has handled the unordered wild and waste

What this cosmos needs now is inhabitants

Day 4 #


“Let there be lights in the vaulted dome of heaven ⌊to separate day from
night⌋, and let them be as signs and for appointed times, and for days and
years,

The “lights” are clearly the sun, moon, and stars. But they are not called by those names, they are just called “lights”. Which is the descriptive word מָאוֹר | ma-or, used to describe the light from the lamp stands in the temple, which was also a symbol of God’s presence.

Notice this is not the same word for “light” in the separation of light and darkness, that is אוֹר | or, not ma-or


Psalm 90:8 (LEB): 8 You have put our iniquities before you,  our hidden
sins into the light (מָאוֹר | ma-or) of your countenance.  

Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer,
J. A., & Wierenga, M., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ps 90:8). Lexham
Press.


Exodus 35:14 (LEB): 14 and lampstand of the light (מָאוֹר | ma-or) and its
equipment and its lamps and the oil for the light (מָאוֹר | ma-or); 

Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer,
J. A., & Wierenga, M., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ex 35:14). Lexham
Press.


Genesis 1:16 (LEB): 16 And God made two great lights, the greater light to
rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night, and the stars. 

Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer,
J. A., & Wierenga, M., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ge 1:16). Lexham
Press.

These lights have a job to rule

Notice the callback to day 1 - light and darkness were initially separated, and now there is further order brought to both the light (sun) and the dark (stars and moon)

Day 5 #


Genesis 1:20–21 (LEB): 20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms
of living creatures, and let birds fly over the earth across the face of the
vaulted dome of heaven.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every
living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their
kind, and every bird with wings according to its kind. And God saw that it was
good. 

Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer,
J. A., & Wierenga, M., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ge 1:20–21).
Lexham Press.

Day 2 was about the waters, they were separated from above and below, and now in Day 5, above and below, will be populated, will be ordered.

Great Sea Creatures - תַּנִּין | tan-nin is a rabbit-hole for another time, but it’s not insignificant

Day 6 #


“Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind: cattle
and moving things, and wild animals according to their kind.” And it was so.
25 So God made wild animals according to their kind and the cattle according to
their kind, and every creeping thing of the earth according to its kind.

Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer,
J. A., & Wierenga, M., eds. (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ge 1:24–25).
Lexham Press.

On Day 6 the land, which was brought up on Day 3, is now populated with animals according to their kinds, again further order

Bonus #

“Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness

Just as fruit-trees were brought up, specifically with seed in them, now we have humanity, given a job to rule the earth, subdue it, and multiply

Humanity are the rulers below (Day 4 with the rulers of the sky)

So God created humankind in his image

Humanity are God’s idols… Where do you put idols? In a temple…

Humans are made to rule - God makes humans kings and queens

Summary #

God has just built for himself a temple of Creation.

Day 7 #

God is clearly in charge, but he wants to rule the creation with his image bearers. So now he rests

Genesis 3 #

The one thing, the first thing, that a creature in the narrative sees as “good” is the one thing God said would bring death…

“So when the woman saw that the tree [of knowledge of good and bad] was good…”. God said to eat from every tree except this one… The first judgement call humanity makes is contrary to God’s command

Posts tagged: design-of-genesis-1-11 Archive

The Design of Genesis 1-11 pt 1

Genesis 1 #

Chaos #

Day 1 #

Day 2 #

Day 3 #

Bonus #

Day 4 #

Day 5 #

Day 6 #

Bonus #

Summary #

Day 7 #

Genesis 3 #