Creation Series #3
June 12, 2007
Genesis 1:1-2:3
Turning to the first chapter of Genesis, we find a very different portrayal of creation and, correspondingly, a very different portrait of God. Instead of a craftsman God, shaping clay like a potter, we have a royal God, summoning the world into existence by divine decree. Instead of playful, creative improvisation we are given a majestic sense of divine order.
Everything about this passage speaks of order. The passage is very stylized with regular repetitions – “God said… let there be… and it was so… and God made… and God saw that it was good… and it was evening and morning.” Furthermore, nothing is created at random; the world is created according to a repetitive scheme of sky, sea, land:
1) light (sky)
2) seperation of waters (sea)
3) dry land and vegetation (land)
-and-
4) stars, sun, and moon (sky)
5) fish and birds (sea)
6) animals and humanity (land)
It’s very interesting that this story doesn’t suggest that the world was created out of nothing, rather we are giving a glimpse of God drawing the world out of primoridal chaos. Before there is light, before God utters a single proclamation, the earth is formless and darkness covers the face of the deep. Rabbinic midrash makes a point of the fact that Genesis starts with the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, not the first, suggesting that we are not entering the story at the very beginning. We just don’t know what happened before God created light and, perhaps, it isn’t very important to know. What is important, however, is that this present reality is not a random occurance.
It’s important to pay attention to the geography of these stories. Genesis 2 leaves no doubt as to the location of this narrative; Eden’s location is tied into the Tigris, the Euphrates, Assyria, and several other locations. The majority of the action takes place in a garden, and God condescends to talk to Adam about individual trees.
Genesis 1, however, is much more cosmic in scale. Scholars believe that this story was written several hundred years after Genesis 2, when the Israelites were living in forced exile in Babylon. While the early Israelites viewed God as a local, tribal diety who was to be worshiped in the temple of Jerusalem, the later exiled Israelites had no temple and no land of their own, and so they envisioned God on a grander scale. They needed God to be bigger than their Babylonian oppressors. While Genesis 2 says “God made everything around us and placed us here within it,” Genesis 1 says “God is God no matter where you go or who rules over you.” Very different emphases.
So what does a modern person of faith do with the various contradictions between these creation accounts? I claim that such a reconciliation is not necessary. These two stories were written in different contexts and they have different theological agendas. If these stories are read literally, then the mutual contradictions demand explanation. If, however, they are read theologically, these same contradictions create greater depth of meaning. Together, they show us a God who is both majestic and playful, both cosmic and personal, both immanent and transcendant.