Genesis 1

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.  10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.

12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”  23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

NOTES:

Gen 1: IN THE BEGINNING GOD

I love the first phrase:  in the beginning God.  It does not hedge or apologize.  It is rather aggressive as a beginning.  One Biblehead (Baxter) says that this one phrase attacked six historical ideas:

1.  It attacks Atheism since there is a God.  

2.  It attacks Polytheism since there is only one God.  

3.  It attacks Fatalism since there is a creator instead of just chance.  

Add the next word: in the beginning God created.  

4.  It attacks Evolution because it is created rather than is always becoming.  

5.  It attacks Pantheism since God is separate from the world.  

6.  It attacks Materialism since matter is not eternal.  

Um, honestly, I did not get all of that until he mentioned it, but what an appropriate start to a book that challenges everything.  We are such rebels with a cause!  

We get this image next of a dark and lifeless earth.  God’s Spirit is hovering over the waters.  We get our first peek at the Trinity here.  The Spirit is in play and God is also present.  We are not given a timeline for this portion of things.  But God creates light next.  I think light was already a thing, but God just added it to the earth.  The sun was not mentioned here.    

The light was good.    Side note:  not every day is labeled “good” by God.  I wonder why since He made it all.   I also like that God gives Himself encouragement like that.  I wonder why we are told about it.  This is the first mention of good -an absolute.  It also affirms that we live in a good place.  But maybe He is modeling how we are supposed to work.  I rarely look at my own work and think, wow, that is good.  

God does sorting next.  I think I saw a cartoon about that one.  I will post it in the notes below.  But sorting is a more hands-on act than the previous speech or hovering.  

God separated the waters.  He does that again for Moses later.  If I was making a list of names for God, water bender would be in there.  

This talk of a vault is an odd one (V7-8).  It sounds like the ozone layer to me because the sky is the focus.  Sky vault – better look to see what the Bibleheads think.  

Some interpret this to be an old-world idea that the sky is a solid thing.  This, of course, is not scientific and leads those predisposed not to believe to disbelieve anything else they read in the Bible.  Well, that was fast.   Sort of a logic vault.  Oh no, now I cannot believe in logic!  

Others read the verse to mean a stretching out of the heavens.  The separation of water would involve weather like clouds.  I have also heard people say it did not rain in Genesis and that there was a water canopy in place.   Others think there is water somewhere outside the cosmos.  I found an article on that-will attach about space water.    

Well, the idea of a sky vault is very poetic, but it sounds like it is enough to shake off some people straight out the gate.  Just like the day thing creates time, I think this sky thing creates weather and atmosphere.  How would Moses, upon hearing God explain things to him, describe this without doppler radar and Hubble photographs to fall back on?   Sky vault is as descriptive as anything I can think of.  Vaulting onwards!

God goes on to separate the land from the sea.  This is the second thing He calls good.  He next creates another system here– this time the reproductive system of plants through seeds.  God thought that was a good system.  I have a black thumb, so not my favorite.  

After the plants, we finally get the sun and moon.  It is sort of weird that they come after seeds.  I am sure that our remaining scienceheads scoff at that.  Again, hospice for plants here, but even I know plants all start in the dark, so this does not bug me.  The original light was God’s light, but now we have a system in place.  The lights in the sky mark seasons and time because it made measurable units of time.  He creates the stars as well.  

God creates animals next.  The term “each according to their kind” is why many Christians think evolution conflicts with the Bible.  The section does speak of categories though, and each reproduces its own kind.  

God creates mankind last, and here is where it gets really good:  

6 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…”

God is talking to Himself here, and He is talking in plural.  The Trinity is always a part of the story.  The other cool part is that we are made in God’s image.  We get more detail next chapter, but here we are just told that both men and women are made in God’s image.  

God gives people plants to eat – so we were originally vegans.  Bloodshed was not yet part of the plan.  God looked at all of this and thought it was very good.  

People spend time thinking and theorizing over the 6 days here of creation.  There is a lot of well thought through analysis of this.  I will provide a link to a summary for those who want to have a clear personal opinion here.  Opinions vary: young earth theory, old earth theory, theistic evolution theory and philosophical naturalism to name the most common).  Honestly, this is not something I get too worked up about.  Creation cannot be recreated and is not provable in a scientific sense.  I also know that sometimes God explains things to us in terms we find confusing (like, say, the idea of being born again which baffled a whole lot of people or the idea of communion which made some people think Christians were some sort of vampire).  It all requires faith.  But there is a conflict between the theories.  This creates a lot of tension for those who demand evidence in the natural world to prove God.  When I look outside and see all of the complexities of the world, I have no trouble seeing proof of God.  Every time I see a new born baby cry, or touch a leeeaf, or seeeee the sky, then I know whyyyyy… oops, I fell into a song.  I do that sometimes.  An oldie, probably written in Genesis times.  

I think the important part for us to understand is that God created us and we are in His image.  That is awesome news!  This also gives us a great commission in how we approach others.  That annoying person who eats your snacks from office frig is made in the image of God.  This is the ultimate equalizer and our common ground.    

Chat:

TJ:  I always imagine God explaining all of this to Moses when he was on Mt. Sinai. I wonder if he wrote it when his face was still so glowing that people did not want to look at him. There is a poetic rhythm to the verses. I love the idea of God creating the world from mere words, but using His breath to create men. I believe that is our souls.   What did you notice today?

Sweet T:  I always wonder how God told Moses....how long was he up there on the Mt.?

TJ:  I think Moses was up there twice. I want to say it was 40 days.

Sweet T:  That must have been SOME conversation.... There was a lot of really important information that he was in charge of bringing back down to the people.

TJ:  Turned his hair white!

Sweet T:  I think He would have sent me back down halfway and asked for someone else. And how mundane life down the mountain would be after having been in the presence of God!

TJ:  Probably would have kept you.  You would look great with white hair.  

Top of Form

Sweet T:  I have so many questions. He separated the light from the dark BEFORE he created the sun, moon and stars....where was the light coming from before the sun? Gen. 1:14-15...."Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and the days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth." Whoa. What does that mean? And why did He need to rest? Where did He go to rest, and what did he do to rest?? How specifically are we, "in His image.”

TJ: We are not given all the answers, and I like the mystery of it.  About God resting - I think it was as an example for us.

Sweet T:  I think it was Florida.

TJ:  Would you believe scholars think it was Iraq/Iran area???  Eden - not his rest day!

Sweet T:  that the garden of Eden was in Iraq/Iran? Yes, I've read that....makes sense.  Rest day was in Florida.

TJ:  Might explain the need for rest - exhausting area   In fairness, may be beautiful there.  Never visited.   I will look for pictures since I have only seen war photos of the place.  Ok, looked it up and it is gorgeous!  

DIG DEEPER

  https://blog.emergingscholars.org/2014/03/christian-views-of-creation/

from that blog I got a helpful chart that I will share.

https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/underneath-a-solid-sky/

https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_685.cfm

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/universe20110722.html

Isn’t there a cool God of space video