Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 - A Truth Revealed?
Have you ever had an ‘aha’ moment when things became suddenly totally crystal clear? May 14 2014 5:30 am I was granted an ‘aha’ that filled me with excitement.
The previous evening I'd wrestled with questions concerning Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Many doubters in my acquaintance, had long denied the existence of God - citing the first two books of the Bible as contradictory. It grieved me not to have an answer for them. The quandary?
In Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26-27, God says “Let Us create humankind in Our image” and the creation of man and woman on the sixth day is described. Then, Genesis Chapter 2 verses 7,18 and 22-23, describe the making of man from dust and woman from a rib in Adam’s side.
What?? Hold on! Hold on! Hold On! Let’s back this up ... I thought they were already created in Chapter One! This was the bone of contention my sister would always waggle in front of me to support her disbelief in the Bible.
I poured over the two chapters repeatedly, but could not bring meaning to the text. How could man and woman be created twice? What happened to the first man and woman? Where did they go? My mind tangoed with questions dancing back and forth. Finally I drifted off to sleep.
3 And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. 4 And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided between the light and 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.
6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters. 7 And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters that are under the expanse and the waters that are above the expanse; and it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heavens. And there was evening, and there was morning—a second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry [land] appear. And it was so. 10 And God called the dry [land] Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth cause grass to spring up, herb producing seed, fruit-trees yielding fruit after their kind, the seed of which is in them, on the earth. And it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herb producing seed after its kind, and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in them, after their kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—a third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth. And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night,—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule during the day and during the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—a fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens. 21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply on the earth. 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—a fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after their kind. And it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 And 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 fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. 27 And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 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 fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb producing seed that is on the whole earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree producing seed: it shall be food for you; 30 and to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth on the earth, in which is a living soul, every green herb for food. And it was so. 31 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
2 1. And the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished. 2 And God had finished on the seventh day his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because that on it he rested from all his work which God had created in making it.
The previous evening I'd wrestled with questions concerning Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Many doubters in my acquaintance, had long denied the existence of God - citing the first two books of the Bible as contradictory. It grieved me not to have an answer for them. The quandary?
In Genesis Chapter 1 verses 26-27, God says “Let Us create humankind in Our image” and the creation of man and woman on the sixth day is described. Then, Genesis Chapter 2 verses 7,18 and 22-23, describe the making of man from dust and woman from a rib in Adam’s side.
What?? Hold on! Hold on! Hold On! Let’s back this up ... I thought they were already created in Chapter One! This was the bone of contention my sister would always waggle in front of me to support her disbelief in the Bible.
I poured over the two chapters repeatedly, but could not bring meaning to the text. How could man and woman be created twice? What happened to the first man and woman? Where did they go? My mind tangoed with questions dancing back and forth. Finally I drifted off to sleep.
Embracing the Son to Know the Father - A Wonderful Dream
I dreamt I was trying to choose between two men. I went out with the one man, and thought I liked him, but decided I should give the other man a chance. I met the second man, and he was nice enough, but I couldn’t seem to feel close to him. He had an adult son with him. It came time to part and his adult son held out his arms to me for a hug. When I embraced his son, something inside me melted and suddenly my heart opened, and I KNEW the father with an indescribable joy and closeness. I then sat with the father in a lush verdant grotto - filled with bird song, beautiful flowers, trees, and a rock wall fountain. The grotto seemed to be in the lower part of a house. He talked quietly with me and I was filled with such joy and peace as I had never imagined could be. I never wanted to leave, and was so disappointed when I awoke.Seeing Genesis 1 Anew
Picking up my phone, I began reading the Darby English version of the Bible at Genesis Chapter 1 again. This time, however, as I read Genesis Chapter 1, it was as if filters were lifted from my eyes. Phrases jumped off the page! The Genesis puzzle revealed itself to me. Genesis 1 is a song! The overture before the movie! I could almost hear the leader and congregation singing in call and response! I wondered if this call and response pattern would hold up in the original Hebrew too. Was I seeing patterns that were simply illusions, or had God removed scales from my eyes?Patterns in Genesis 1 - Darby Translation 1890
Here is a copy of Genesis 1 the Darby Translation Translated in 1890 by John Nelson Darby. The yellow highlighted phrases below, show how the pattern first revealed itself to me. Since beginning my Bible studies, I have learned some surprising things about the Bible, including that in the original oldest texts, there were no book names, chapters, nor phrase divisions - these were all recent innovations beginning with the Greek translations, which is where the name Genesis, as well as other book names come from. Since there were originally no book nor chapter divisions, I would propose that part of Genesis 2 would have been part of this song as well. This provides a more logical division, by completing the song and Genesis 2: 3 makes much more sense as an introduction to the Biblical narrative that follows. The call and response song style speaking to my heart is indicated by blue and green. How does this song sing to your heart?
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 And the earth was waste and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. 4 And God saw the light that it was good; and God divided between the light and 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.
6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters. 7 And God made the expanse, and divided between the waters that are under the expanse and the waters that are above the expanse; and it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heavens. And there was evening, and there was morning—a second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry [land] appear. And it was so. 10 And God called the dry [land] Earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth cause grass to spring up, herb producing seed, fruit-trees yielding fruit after their kind, the seed of which is in them, on the earth. And it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, herb producing seed after its kind, and trees yielding fruit, the seed of which is in them, after their kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—a third day.
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth. And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night,—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule during the day and during the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—a fourth day.
20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let fowl fly above the earth in the expanse of the heavens. 21 And God created the great sea monsters, and every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged fowl after its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply on the earth. 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—a fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living souls after their kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, after their kind. And it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing of the ground after its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 And 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 fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. 27 And God created Man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 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 fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb producing seed that is on the whole earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree producing seed: it shall be food for you; 30 and to every animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth on the earth, in which is a living soul, every green herb for food. And it was so. 31 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
2 1. And the heavens and the earth and all their host were finished. 2 And God had finished on the seventh day his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because that on it he rested from all his work which God had created in making it.
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