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Essay on The Creation Story
| Date: |
05-08-02 6:11pm |
| Subject: |
Religion |
| Word Count: |
2379 |
| Page Count: |
9.52 |
The creation story
Consider the purpose of the literary presentation of the nature of God in Genesis chapters one to three.
G.J Wenham states that, “Source criticism of the Pentateuch has often been a subject of controversy”. Indeed, the Pentateuch or Torah has been the most questioned section of books in the world. It may also be the most well known group of books worldwide.
The word Pentateuch literally means “five scrolls” and refers to the first five books of the Old Testament in the Bible. These books are, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books trace history from the beginning of time to the formation of Israel and its exodus from Egypt.
The initial Act of Creation begins in Genesis chapter one verse one to verse two. The five things revealed in this initial act are time, identity of the Creator, Act of Creation, objects of Creation and the initial state of creation. The revelation of time emphasizes that the specific time of creation is not relevant or important. In chapter one God is identified as “ Elohim” which is the generic term for God in Hebrew and emphasizes the power and creative aspects of God.
In Genesis chapter one verse three to chapter two verse three the days of creation begin. On the first day God created light. On the second day there was a firmament, the space that separates earth from the rest of the universe. The third day had dry land and water separating. On day four God separated the light from darkness with the moon and stars. On the fifth day God created water, animals and birds. On the sixth day God created land animals and man, and finally, on the seventh day God rested, setting the seventh day apart from the rest by declaring His Lordship over all time, thus the seventh day was to be the Sabbath.
In addressing to the question, there are two forms of the creation story. One describes God as Elohim, in chapter one, and another names Him Yahweh, in chapter two. Both of these chapters, one and two seem to contradict one another in form and structure. This oscillation between the divine names of Elohim and Yahweh have been regarded by traditional source critics as initially the most decisive reason for distinguishing J and P in the creation and flood stories. The J source comes from the use of Yahweh in Genesis and the P source comes from the Priestly source of Elohim when priests wrote about the law of Moses in the Old Testament.
When Jewish writers wished to emphasize that something was true, they wrote in poetry. Unlike English poetry, which relies on word rhyme, Jewish poetry uses thought rhyme. In Genesis chapter one, the poem is structured around the prologue that says that "in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was ‘unformed and unfilled’ (literal Hebrew)". This sets the pattern of rhymes. On one day, something will be formed. On another it will be filled. Since forming and filling are two halves of the thought of creating, a statement about forming one part of creation will rhyme with a statement about filling the same aspect of the world. Claus Westermann also states that "In Genesis chapter one, we see the beautiful poetry written by the Elohist about the spectacular events of Creation".
In discussing the source analysis of Creation Habel relies on three main criteria which are the literary style, distinctive terminology and the theological perspective. Habel notes that "Genesis one is repetitious, tabular and formal". Throughout chapter one it is repeatedly stated that God saw what he created as "good", the repetition used by the writer of Genesis chapter one creates a sense of poetry. There is an order to the events in Genesis chapter one and the way in which it has been written. The use of a lot of punctuation adds to the sensation of poetry as chapter one has been written as if each sentence and word is to be emphasized and studied because the events taking place are so wonderfully important. God structured creation in a specific order required for the world.
By structuring the account of creation in this way, the author has highlighted the order, planned the structuring of the account and given it a majestic tone with everything going according to God's plan. Habel states "The text thus provides a reflection of an orderly, harmonious, creation" , because, "The text shifts rhythmically between actions and results which utilize the same words, ('separate', 'call', 'see' , and 'make' )and many other sequences. Its economy of vocabulary and technique produces a dictum of controlled energy and force". Perhaps this is because in one verse the narrator speaks and then in another verse God speaks the whole way through the chapter in alteration of God, who is majestic and powerful, and the narrator, an author of great intelligence.
Though not strictly poetry, there are certain characteristics which suggest we should regard it more as a "Hymn of Creation" than a factual statement in prose. Some of these characteristics are: a number of alliterations which are lost in translation; the prominent use of repetition; the anthropomorphic treatment of God's creative acts (He "speaks," "sees," "moves," "breathes"); the use of the numbers three, seven and ten in a very specific and coherent way (groups of 7 are especially significant in the Hebrew arrangement of this chapter); and places in the account where the words rhyme, which is also lost in translation. No scientific literature ever uses these kinds of literary devices. It bears some similarities to more poetic passages on the creation like Job 38:1,4-11 and Psalm 104.
In chapter one God speaks before each creation He carries out. But it is the narrator who addresses God as Elohim which is known as the Priestly Source method of writing, indicating that the author may have been a priest, laying down the laws of creation in the order God sets them in.
Great believers in the Preistly and Yahweh sources are two German scholars, known as Graf and Wellhausen. These men also believed in two other sources, the Elohist and the Deuteronomist sources. This approach to the naming of God is well known as Source Analysis to many well known scholars such as F. F Bruce and N. Habel. These four sources are believed to be used throughout the Old Testament Bible by the priests, the scholars of Deuteronomy, who appear to have written most of the Pentateuch, and the authors who feel more familiar through their languages as Elohim.
Jean Astruc believes that things appear to be told twice. He believes that in the accounts of creation there are two different stories. He saw things that did not necessarily fall into chronological order and believed that material objects were to be seen as " being out of order". He concluded that there were "two writers behind the book of Genesis, one of whom wrote Elohim and the other Yahweh". He then followed the belief that Moses put them together in separate columns and that someone may have "read across rather than down the columns". The first person to introduce the doctrine that Moses may not have been the only author of the entire Pentateuch was the scholar Jean Astruc as he understood that Moses could not have possibly written about his own death at the end of Exodus.
In contrast to chapter one, chapters two and three reveal a very different narrative technique. The formal structure and repetitious narrative remains in chapter and does not follow into chapter two. Genesis two is a lengthy narrative which develops differently to that of chapter one as Habel comments "Here, in Genesis 2:4b to 4:16, we meet concise and vivid stories told in a masterful fashion". Each section in chapters two till four has its own distinctive terminology as chapter one unfolds we can see that the author has used the Hebrew word "baru" which means "to create", whereas the author of chapter two uses "yatsar", which is the definition of "to form". An aspect of terminology is the names of God used and seen in chapters one and two such as Elohim and Yahweh.
Habel says of the theological perspective of God as seen in chapter one, " The possible 'anthropomorphic' expressions of Genesis chapter one ('God said', 'God saw' and 'God rested'.) are reserved in chapter one and tend to preserve the transcendence of God. They do not suggest the close proximity of a God who acts and looks like man.” However, in argument to what Habel has stated, God did not build man to be like Him in outward appearance. Man was built by God to be like God in a spiritual way, He created with the power of mind and soul over the other creations. There is no mention of God making man to be like Him in a physical way. In the following books of the Bible, John 4:24, Luke 24:3 and Colossians 1:15, God is described as a “ Spirit” and NOT physical.
Looking back to chapter one at how it portrays God in a personal way to show God's sovereignity and majestic power in His ability to create. His transcendence is shown in how everything God does goes according to His plan in order of necessity. The pattern of the seven days of creation also enhance the majesty of God's power. In chapter one, God creates, He is not intimate with any of His creations, the
author (s) of chapter one keeps what has been written formal and distant, with everything being blunt and factual. Everything God says, the author simply says "And it was so", there are very few other details or descriptions of the events. God is described as separate from creation, His name is Elohim (God) which is formal and impersonal.
In chapter two, however, God's majesty and transcendance is seen in a more personsal way. Here, God creates a relationship with Adam and Eve on a personal scale. In Genesis two, the writer gives a detailed description of the account, unlike that given in Genesis one. In chapter tow God is portrayed as a bulider, a carpenter and artist for the world in the creation of Eden and of the beasts, separating and joining elements of creation and colours. On the personal note of Yahweh in chapter two we see here, mentioned, the marriage bond between husband and wife with Adam and Eve.
With the author's use of the term 'Yahweh' in chapter two allows the reader to relate to God in a personal way as 'Yahweh' is a personal name which has been replaced by the name 'The Lord'. This term to address God in the Bible allows one to feel a closer and deeper bonding to God, however, it also lowers the posistion God should be revered at. This is because with the name 'The Lord', one almost envisages a being closer to man than God. 'Elohim' is the name replaced by 'God' which is more distant to ones ear yet it recognises God as a much more superior being than we humans.
In the literary sense of chapter two, the way in which it has been written is distinctly different from the way in which chapter one has been written. There is a personal way in which chapter two has been written, as it has a less formal structure and there is no repitition or poetic form. However, chapter two clearly has a fashion in its narrative style which Habel calls 'Yatsar' from the Hebrew to 'form'. Habel believes chapter two contains "concise and vivid stories told in a musterful fashion".
In Genesis chapter three the name of God continues to change alternatively form Yahweh to Elohim. It has become im-personal like Genesis chapter one. However, it does not stay Elohim throughout the chapter as it becomes Yahweh almost halfway through chapter three. This is as if the author, or snake, is treating God as an object rather than a being. God's name changes back to Elohim when the spiit speaks and the serpen wants to depersonalise God by provoking Him into anger and distance, when God wants to be close to His successful creations. However to overcome the serpent, God's name becomes Yahweh again to show His personalbond with Adam and Eve, His first respnding creations. God's anger towards Adam and Eve for their sins is personal as His name remains Yahweh.
I have found in my study of the book of Genesis that Holy Scripture is like the five loaves and two fishes from which Christ fed the multitude. There is no end to the ability of God’s Word to provide for those seeking understanding through the Holy Spirit, with an abundance always remaining to be discovered after one has been filled. Because the King James Version of God’s Word is a comprehensive English translation of all the languages of Holy Scripture, this translation reveals an understanding which may not be apparent to an individual reading only the Hebrew, Chaldee or Greek. The King James Version offers an understanding of God's Holy Word that goes beyond the barriers of language or time. An opportunity for revealing the mysteries of Christ that is related in God’s Living Word is given to Christians of the English language because the King James Version offers God’s Word in a single language, translated comprehensively and without bias or prejudice interruption.
This work reveals an understanding of Genesis chapter one, which has eluded man for the past two thousand years. The concept provided by this work was revealed through viewing the Bible as a work of God, singular in its message, not as a product of many writers using various languages over thousands of years. From this method, key terms in chapter one such as light, darkness and the beginning derive their definitions from the remainder of God’s Word and not from any dictionary produced by man. In this way, light and the beginning refer to Christ, while darkness refers to Satan. This method of understanding Holy Scripture renders an entirely different concept of the story of Creation given in Genesis chapter one than that of our forefathers. Because this method of understanding Genesis chapter one has never been attempted, it deserves the attention of those who follow Christ.
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