Tag: Genesis 1

Fluttering Spirit

Posted on by jovial_cynic
I used to say that the first lesson of Scripture is the promise found in Genesis 1:1-3: “Light in the Darkness.” That’s a whole teaching that gives us hope.

However, I’m staring at Genesis 1:2 and seeing another lesson.

In the context of the Babylonian captivity, where images and murals of the captors must have shown Marduk the Warrior Chief of the Gods striking down Tiamat, the goddess of Chaos and Water to bring Order, Genesis 1:2 says something to counter this message:

“The Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the Deep.”

If you’ve studied ancient Hebrew and ancient Babylonian texts, you’ll know that “the Deep” is the Hebrew word “Tehom.” It’s the Hebrew word for Tiamat.

What the ancient Hebrew people were shown in Scripture is a COUNTER-story to the War God Marduk battling Tiamat to bring Order out of Chaos. Instead, the God of the Israelites simply… hovers.

The word “hover” is “rachaf” (רָחַף), which means to soften. To relax. To flutter. It’s used to describe the wings of a mother eagle over her young (Deut 32:11).

This verse is a promise. It doesn’t tell us that God will bring order out of our chaos. God doesn’t promise to slay Tiamat here. Not yet. Instead, the God of scripture tells us that God will provide peace through it. He will flutter over us, like an eagle fluttering her wings over her young to assure them.

“I am with you. Always.”

Is, Was, Will Be

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Verse 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Verses 2-4: And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:1-4 (NASB)

This is my theological framework:

If the text is true, it describes something that happened.

If the text is truth, it describes something that is always happening. (is/was/is-to-come)

Genesis 1:1 is true.
Genesis 1:2-4 is truth.

God with Us

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Our blessed hope is that when there was darkness over the world, God spoke Light into it. But He is the Light, so what we learn is that God brings Himself into our darkness to be with us.

That is Emmanuel. God with us.

Genesis 1:2 tells us that the Spirit of God hovered or fluttered over the water – like a dove, close enough to stir the water with the beating of his wings.

The Light isn’t shining from far away. It’s shining so near to us.

400

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Genesis 15:12-14 (NASB)

Genesis 15:12-14 echoes Genesis 1:1-3.

The number 400 is represented by the Hebrew letter “tav,” which is the final letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It points to a finality; perhaps captivity in Egypt is a picture of something larger.

It is the past. It is the future. It is now.

Seeds in the Dirt

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your [a]descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:7 (NASB)

[a] Lit seed

I’m charmed by the imagery of “seed in the land” that ties us back to the third day of creation.

Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Genesis 1:11 (NASB)

After the water was separated from land, plants began to grow.

Yes, “seed” refers to descendants and offspring, but the word choice gives us an echo.

Authority to Rule Rightly

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.

Immediately after God blesses Noah and his sons in Genesis 9, we are given this strange and dark change: the animals of the world will view humanity with FEAR and DREAD.

In the Midrash, the rabbis note the change from Genesis 1, where humanity was blessed, told to be fruitful & increase and fill the earth, but were specifically given the authority/dominion over the animals. To RULE over them.

This authority to RULE appears to have been lost.

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.”
Genesis 1:28 (NIV)

This word “rule” (רָדָה, “radah”) is used a few more times in the Scriptures, but it isn’t shown to be restored or given back to humanity until Numbers 24, in the oddest way. It’s from Balaam, when he tries to CURSE Israel, and God turns the curse into a blessing:

“I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,
the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
Edom will be conquered;
Seir, his enemy, will be conquered,
but Israel will grow strong.
A ruler will come out of Jacob
and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Numbers 24:17-19 (NIV)

The Christian sees Jesus in this, whereas some Jews point to King David or future Messiah.

In the Messiah interpretation, it points to a future when God’s own hand empowers a star to rise from Jacob’s bloodline with the scepter of authority. To rule RIGHTLY.

This Ruler will not rule creation with FEAR and DREAD the way humanity will wield it, as expressed in Genesis 9. The Ruler will rule creation the way God intended in Genesis 1.

Of course, someone will note that the Balaam prophecy looks a lot like “FEAR” and “DREAD” for the enemies of God’s people.

Yes. But the “enemies of God’s people” are spiritual things, not nations or tribes or people. This is a parable.

Food for Everyone

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NASB)

As for you, take for yourself some of every food that is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and them.
Genesis 6:21 (NASB)

The word “eat” shows up 21 times in Genesis 1 and 2, and it should tell us something. It’s made explicit in Deuteronomy.

When our spiritual hunger for God’s words matches our literal hunger for food, then we will be satisfied. Comforted.

Noah brought food on the Ark for everyone.