Genesis 1:11-12

2006.Apr.05 17:24

Flora

Read Genesis 1:11-12 | Full Chapter

God makes plants. This is good, since later creations will eat them. Additionally, these plants do a couple of things:

1. They sprout from the earth; or, more precisely, the earth sprouts them
2. They bear seed, or fruit with seed, after their kind

The attributes suggest that God is designing them to reflect his plan for humanity, in addition to providing sustenance.

God orders (or allows from the “Let”) the earth to "”sprout vegetation…and fruit trees”" (Genesis 1:11, NASB) . God builds up his ideal location for humanity, that is earth, but he also reflects humanity in this. Humans are created from the earth, and sustained by the things of the earth. We, like flora, are constrained to an environment. And one, considering the size of the universe, indeed of the planet, that is pretty darn small. We are dependent, explicitly, on the earth. Why would that be important to God? Because he is teaching us to depend on him. These environmental constraints remind us that we are now gods, at least not on the level of Jehovah. We see this constraint all around us, and plants, which must hold root, dependant on the earth, are an excellent example.

The plants also have seed, after their kind. (Side note: Sorry for the bad transition sentences. My essayist skills have diminished.) Once again, we see God creating distinctions, now adding to it that of generations. Also here is the concept of parenthood, although not of rearing.
In all, that is, God is presenting the concept of connection with prior generations, that each species can be seen as its own entity. As Adam and Eve are one, even more so prior to the seperation caused by sin, so we as humanity act as one. This point is solidified is the concept of the bride. God desires friendship and companionship. However, due to the natural claim to godhood of sentient beings–anyway, I think it’s inevitable–that companion must be matured, with things added and things cut off. We as humanity are the bride, but only those unwilling to renounce their godhood and turn to Jesus will be cut off.

And so, once again, I am left wondering how I got from the first point to this. Coming up: God plays with light some more!

Genesis 1:26-31

2006.Apr.25 23:03

In which humanity is created

Read Genesis 1:26-29 | Full Chapter

Wow, I will get through Genesis 1 in less than two months! But then, since I imagine this will be a lifelong project, that’s not so bad. Still, I want to linger on these things, this creation bit, because I get to see my God making something so important to him. Fortunately, this part gets a bit repetative after the first two verses.

Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them”.
(Genesis 1:26-27)

There are three important things about humanity in constrast to all the other creations.

1. God makes us in his (their?) image.
2. We are to rule over the rest of creation.
3. God makes a point that we are sexual beings, and ought to procreate.

God created us in his image. Actually, this version, and others I remember, use the word “our”. I assume this is referring to the mad crazy trinity bit, or duality(?) for some, although I don’t really see that made explicit. Still, the use of the plural is super-duper (sp?) important. So make sure I come back to that. Making us in his image means that we are similar to god. In particular, if we want to understand God’s personality, his drives, desires, etc, we can look at humanity. No way? Most humans want to be worshipped; we want to see ourselves as gods and have others recognize it; we want security, but also adventure; we enjoy feeling powerful but also desire to help others; we want genuine friendship; we hurt when we’re betrayed by those we counted as friends; we like to laugh; we have emotions; etc. Yeah, we’re rather like him. But then, there is that difference: We’re not God, and as long as I think I am–or could be–I will always position myself as a rival to God, which precludes friendship. Who wants to live with a rival?

And then there’s the plurality. Of the three sentient species (God, angelic beings, and humanity), God and humanity can be seen as a collection of individuals, or as a unit (maybe angels/demons can to, but they’ve yet to mentioned, and this entry will be long enough anyway). There’s been much ado about the Trinity throughout the church’s history, and relatively little to do about the corollary for humans. God sees us both as individuals and as a whole. Those of us who choose him and renounce our claim to godhood will be part of the bride of Jesus (as best I currently understand the concept). And yet, how we fight amongst ourselves. We ought to be more like the various pieces of God, working together instead of tearing apart. And I, being the cynic…

God then places into the hands of humanity governance over all sorts of things on the earth, although we are still subject to the governance of things like the sun and moon, and rotation of the earth (time, to wit), putting us in our place, if we ever pay that much attention. If we are to understand God enough to form a friendship, we must understand both the burden and benefits of power. And so, he has placed us in an environment in which we can learn that. Oddly enough, we tend to shun the opportunities to really understand and grow in authority.

Finally, God makes it explicit that humanity is to include women and men (that is, Eve is not an afterthought, more later), and that they should procreate.
God uses marriage and children to teach us more about him, and to teach us about love and commitment. Marriage is his example to us of the kind of relationship he wants with us. It also gives us a feeling of the connection we could have had as a species if not for sin, and does indeed give us a true, intimate connection, a view of what he longs for with us. Also, he sees us as his children, and so, too, we learn about him.

Then there’s the multiply and subdue the earth bit. I’m not sure I have anything clever to comment about that beyond what I just wrote. We’ve done good at multiplying but tend towards overrunning the earth–authority misused at times. And he does give us to "”every tree which has fruit yielding seed”" (Genesis 1:29, NASB) to eat, making you wonder about that forbidden fruit. But, whatever else, he sums it up by saying its very good.
It might bursts some bubbles, but God really likes us. He really does.

Genesis 2:4-7

2006.May.20 10:51

Making Humans, Part 2

Read Genesis 2:4-7 | Full Chapter

I don’t know how the word create in Genesis 1 reads in the original Hebrew, but I’m wondering if perhaps it meant create in the sense of creating the ideas and concepts. For example, if I create a movie, that could just mean defining the concept of the movie, rather than the actual making of the product. It might explain the sort of double creation story, as well as the line "”When God made the earth and the heavens and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth…”" (Genesis 2:4-5, NASB) . In any event, voila, we have an earth. Now we start to see more of humanity.

God creates man from the dust of the ground and breathes life into him. This is different certainly from the accounts of God creating other things because of the direct physical action. Additionally, God’s breath goes into man, perhaps yet another symbol that he wishes for intimate friendship with us. Finally, that after that, "”then man became a living being”" (Genesis 2:7, NIV) , shows again our dependance on God. My interpretation on this is that God makes us in his image, but with the understanding that we are dependant on him and ought not be rivals.

I know this is not much, but next week I’ll look at Eden itself. I just can’t seem to think this week. Well, that’s not true, but I feel as though I can’t.