Bible Study with Gene: A Constantly Recreated World
Genesis 1
I want to focus your attention on two familiar passages in Genesis. You probably know best the first chapter of Genesis 1:1-2:3, the drama of God’s very carefully ordered creation. It begins during disorder: When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was in shambles, 1:2. We don’t know exactly how to translate the Hebrew, but the best I can do is “shambles.” The traditional “without form and void” is probably the least adequate.
I could say more, but suffice it to say, God created an orderly, dependable world out of the mess that existed. That careful order ends with God declaring, It is wonderful 1:31. “Very good” is OK, but the world God gave us is even better than that. Hebrew is poetically expressive, and I don’t want to reduce it to pedantic. A carefully constructed world is beautiful.
Genesis 2
Genesis 2:3-25 is not a carefully ordered portrayal of God’s creation. At the end of a long first sentence, before doing anything else, God stooped down, took some soil, and, like a potter, shaped it into a human form. God then breathed the breath of life into this lifeless form. The result was a living human being. God then continued with creation, including food to eat from a beautiful garden in Eden.
God created animals and let the human name them. But not everything was good. The human being was lonely – no companion, no partner. Loneliness hurts the body and the spirit. So, God put the human into the deepest possible sleep, extracted part of the human, and formed another human being. Before, one; now two: a man and a woman.
The man waxed poetic. I hope the woman was just as ecstatic. Be that as it may, the two who had once been one became one again. This time by choice. They were so completely one that how they were dressed, or not, didn’t matter 2:24-25.
Genesis 1 and 2 portray the emergence of creation in very different ways. In Genesis 1, we see God operating as a careful and orderly “builder.” In Genesis 2, God functions as an intimate artist. The divine hands form the man and woman. God cares about the human couple, providing them food and companionship.
Which portrait is “true”? The answer, of course, they are both true. God is and is a dependable, orderly creator and an intimate, hands-on artist.
One thing the two have in common. They present the “best imaginable” conclusion to God’s creative enterprise: a beautiful world with wonderful relationships.
What happened
What happened to the beautiful, dependable, loving world God created? The answer: we happened. God saw humanity’s disruptive, destructive inclination very soon after the initial work ended. The couple abused God’s gift of food. Within the family, one brother became so angry, he killed the other. It only got worse. In fact, it became so bad. Lamech threatened to kill countless others if they so much as touched him. Divine beings began taking the human women they wanted Genesis 4 and 6.
God became heartbroken (6:6). Has anything changed? It doesn’t appear so -- not even after God’s own son came to show us how to live, forgive, care, and enjoy. Looking at the abusive, violent mess in the world, one suspects God remains heartbroken.
Not the End
However, God promised never to give up (Genesis 8:21-22). The rainbow of God’s promise still shines through the storm. God has not finished creating, and does so with careful, orderly, intimate, loving care. God has invited us to join that effort. We don’t work alone, but with one another and with God.
God’s wonderful world peeks out from the cloud; the day of loving relationships rides the wind. Do you see them?
