Thoughts about Genesis (1)

There are two versions of the creation account in the book of Genesis. The first account is in chapter one, and the second is in chapter two. Essentially, it is two versions (or narratives) of how things began. First, we must understand that the intention of the creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2 was not to explain the science of creation. Instead, they describe the theology of God. Secondly, they utilize terms and imagery that the ancient Israelites effortlessly understood. By understanding how the original audience understood the creation account, we can see how many modern readers misread Genesis 1. It is easy to read the creation account with scientific assumptions and questions already in mind.

On the other hand, we may easily read into Genesis 1 detailed scientific information that is not there.¹ Depending on what people read into the text, they may find that Genesis 1 may or may not agree with “modern science.” We should not look for scientific teaching in Genesis 1 but treat it for what it is, a theological treatise about the God of the universe. I will do my best not to inject modern science into this series. The original audience did not know what we do and I want this teaching to be from their perspective.

I must warn you not to attempt to date the earth from the genealogies listed in Genesis. Some people theorize that if you add up the generations in Genesis and then add the generations down to Christ, you will come up with a figure of about 6000 years. This theory is based on the assumption there are no gaps in the genealogies listed in the Bible. Unfortunately, genealogies often contain many gaps and only highlight significant (or essential) people. The Bible does this quite often.

For example, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew presents a stylized scheme of three groups of fourteen generations each. To do so, it omits from the list three consecutive kings in verse 8. (Matthew 1:8 states that “Jehoram was the father of Uzziah,” but Uzziah was actually his great-great-grandson. In this case, “father” means “ancestor.”)² The point is that trying to figure out the age of the earth from genealogies is a fruitless endeavor. God deliberately does not give us the universe’s age; we should leave it at that.

The one thing you need to understand is that there are two very different ways to look at the creation story in Genesis.
 (1) It teaches the history and science of the creation.
 (2) It teaches the theology of the creation and is not concerned about history or science.
The history concept. This premise teaches that the creation story is the history of the plane and the universe can only be (at the most) approximately 6 to 8 thousand years old.
The theology concept. This premise doesn’t care how old the earth is (it could be millions of years old) and focuses instead on the theology of the creation as being more important.

I will be teaching from premise number two that Genesis teaches the theology of God. Genesis utilizes terms and imagery that the ancient Israelites effortlessly understood. By understanding how the original audience understood the creation account, we can see how many modern readers misread Genesis 1. It is easy to read the creation account with scientific assumptions and questions already in mind. The original audience did not understand science the way that we do.

We may easily read into the creation account detailed scientific information that is not there. Depending on what people read into the text, they may find that Genesis 1 may or may not agree with “modern science.” My point is that we should not look for scientific teaching in Genesis 1 but treat it for what it is, a theological treatise about the God of the universe.

God did not reveal science as we understand it because the ancient Israelites would not have understood it. The creation story is told on a level that the Israelites understood. Depending on what people read into the text, they may find that the creation story in Genesis may or may not agree with “modern science.” We should not feel obliged to defend the “science” of the Bible. The Bible’s truth is not vested in the science that it reflects. If each generation thought the Bible had to be reconciled with the science of its day, that would cause problems. (It certainly has in the past, just ask Galileo.) When science progressed, the science of the Bible would no longer be true. Therefore, it is preferable to understand that the Bible does not offer science. Instead, the truth that it has to offer is independent from the science of the ancient world into which God’s Word was communicated.³ My point is that we should not look for scientific teaching in Genesis but treat it for what it is, a theological treatise about the God of the universe.

Keep in mind that the Israelites had just come out of Egypt and were familiar with the Egyptian gods and the Egyptian creation accounts (there were several). However, they were relatively unfamiliar with (or knew little about) the God of Abraham. The Genesis creation account would teach them about the one and only God who called the Israelites his “chosen” people. A word of caution: do not fall into the trap of thinking that Genesis is an ancient document, written to an ancient culture, with nothing to say to our generation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The same theological principles are still in effect. The creation account sets forth events on each day of creation (specific events that happened in space and time) that illustrate God's rule over the world. It showed Israel how they fit into the creation story and it does the same for us.

Moses divided the book of Genesis into ten toledoth’s. Toledoth (תולדת) is a Hebrew word that means generations, descendants, or accounts. The following is a list of every toledoth phrase found in the book of Genesis (ESV). (Words translated from toledoth are bolded in the verses below.)

1.  These are the generations of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 2:4a).
2.  These are the generations of Adam (Gen. 5:1a).
3.  These are the generations of Noah (Gen. 6:9a).
4.  These are the generations of the sons of Noah (Gen. 10:1).
5.  These are the generations of Shem (Gen. 11:10a).
6.  These are the generations of Terah (Gen. 11:27a).
7.  These are the generations of Ishmael (Gen. 25:12).
8.  These are the generations of Abraham’s son Isaac (Gen. 25:19a).
9.  These are the generations of Esau (Gen. 36:1).
10.  These are the generations of Jacob (Gen. 37:2a).

The use of toledoths functions as a reminder of the genealogical succession essential to continuing the book’s plot.⁴ The toledoths explain the genealogy of the Israelites. The toledoths let them know who they were, where they came from, and how and why God chose them.

The examination of Genesis chapters one and two will be in the form of exegesis. Exegesis is a critical (exercising or involving careful judgment or judicious evaluation) interpretation of the Biblical text to discover its intended meaning. It is one approach, among many, to studying the Bible. The idea behind exegesis is to look at the words and let the text reveal what the writer is revealing to us, the readers. Thus, exegesis requires research and discovering the meaning “behind” the text. In this process, we must carefully examine the words of the text. It is also essential to consider how the original readers might have understood the text.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Hebrew is a visual language. Hebrew is a phonetic alphabet system in which typographic characters define a sound. When linking letters together the characters create a word describing an action, idea, or object.⁵ Each word paints a picture. It can be challenging for translators to reduce that “picture” to a single word. Translating Hebrew words can sometimes be quite challenging and deciding upon the context can be even more so. If they did not reduce these word pictures down to a single word, the Bible would be so large that it would require a wheelbarrow or two to carry it. The ancient Israelites tended to think in agricultural terms, and the Hebrew language focused on what they could see, feel, taste, smell, or hear (the five senses). These things are part of what makes Hebrew a fascinating language to study and translate.

Another critical question is when Genesis was written and who wrote it. The answer has recently become a hotly debated subject. Most scholars believe that Moses wrote the book while the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, possibly around 1500 BC. However, in the past 500 years, some scholars have argued that Moses did not write Genesis, that it was written during the Babylon exile by several authors and editors. Challenging Moses as the author allows them to question the legitimacy of the creation story. For these scholars, the creation story is nothing more than a myth to be regarded on the same level as every other creation myth. This paper is written from the perspective that Moses wrote Genesis as it was given to him by God himself.

A word of caution: do not fall into the trap of thinking that Genesis is an ancient document, written to an ancient culture, with nothing to say to our generation. Nothing could be further from the truth. The same theological principles are still in effect. The creation account sets forth events on each day of creation (specific events that happened in space and time) that illustrate God's rule over the world. The creation story showed Israel how they became the chosen people and where they fit into the world.

The Bible would be incomplete and perhaps incomprehensible without the Book of Genesis. It sets the stage for the entire drama of redemption, which unfolds in the rest of the book and the Bible as a whole. Almost all of the important doctrines and teachings of the Bible are introduced in Genesis.

1.  Genesis gives the foundation for the doctrines of:
   1.  Sin, the fall, redemption, justification.
   2.  The promise of the Messiah (Jesus Christ).
   3.  The personality and personhood of God.
   4.  The kingdom of God.
2.  Genesis shows us the origin of:
   1.  The universe.
   2.  Order and complexity.
   3.  The solar system.
   4.  The atmosphere and hydrosphere.
   5.  Life, man, marriage.
   6.  Good and evil.
   7.  Language, government, culture, nations, religion.
3.  It is precisely because people have abandoned the truth of Genesis that society is in such disarray.⁶

References
[1] Vern S Poythress, “Three Modern Myths in Interpreting Genesis 1,” Westminster Theological Journal 76, no. 2 (2014): 321. [2] “Can You Calculate the Age of the Earth from Genesis 5?,” (pursuegod.org, March 2018), last modified March 2018, accessed October 2022, https://www.pursuegod.org/can-calculate-age-earth-genesis-5/.
[3] John Walton, “Reading Genesis 1 through Ancient (Not Modern) Eyes - Article,” BioLogos, last modified September 18, 2009, accessed October 19, 2022, https://biologos.org/articles/reading-genesis-1-through-ancient-not-modern-eyes. [4] Mark J. Boda, Severe Mercy: Sin and Its Remedy in the Old Testament (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2014), 17. [5] Shayna T. Blum, "Hebrew Typography: A Modern Progression of Language Forms" (2017). Faculty and Staff Publications. 47. [6] David Guzik, “Enduring Word Bible Commentary Genesis Chapter 1,” Enduring Word, 2018, https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-1/.

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