The poetry in this opening chapter of Genesis and the Bible leaves me amazed every time I read it. The earth was formless, chaotic, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Water in the ancient mind symbolized chaos, and so the author of Genesis emphasized not that the earth was nothing, but that earth had no order to it. God brought order to the chaos. He begins with the general concept of light (and without the sun, moon, and stars no less) and moves to the more specific with each passing day. Finally in day six, God caps creation with his most prized creature, human beings. The writer of Genesis makes it clear how important humans are to God when he writes, "So God created humans in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them." We are the crowning glory of God's creation. God created each human being special because we reflect the image and glory of God in this world. One Hebrew play-on-words stands out in this passage. The word for create is bara. The word for bless is barak. So whatever God bara (created), God barak (blessed). However, being the crown of God's creation carries with it responsibility. God gave care of his creation to us, his image bearers in the world. There is so much in this passage, and I cannot wait to read what comments and insights you have.
"Our God, please help us to walk as your image bearers in the world. Help us to reflect your glory with our lives. Amen."
6 comments:
I love beginning a new year reading the creation passage in Genesis. Knowing we have been created in the image of God humbles and amazes me.
I am reminded of what a great artist God is in Genesis 1. He starts out with very broad strokes and then notice how the detail picks up in day three and following. As a former science teacher I see God as the Father of science with His work as an astonomer, geologist, botanist, zoologist, etc. On day six He is a great potter sculpting man out of clay. In verse 26 I see the establishment of the food chain with God giving man rule over all the living things of the earth. There is so much packed into the first chapter of Genesis it is mind-boggling. We take for granted the creation that we have access to and have been able to enjoy. We do not need to be world travelers to see God's beautiful creation because it is all right there on the first couple of pages of the Bible. Just sit back and use your mind to envision the process that He laid out for us to see. You can even rewind as many times as you want and watch it again and again. I think the more we do the more we will appreciate just how magnificent a Creator He is. Lastly, notice His critique near the end of the chapter when He says it was very good. He had been saying good up until the completion and then He said it was VERY good. He knew it was perfect. It was a perfect creation made by a perfect Creator!!
I was impressed that the spirit was hovering over the deep and it gave me the reassurance that no matter how deep or dark my day/situation, God is hovering over my deep and I need only to trust Him for the outcome.
I like Jeff's word of artist. I think that accurately describes God, especially in this passage!
By not having the right address I'm having to catch up. In the first of the Hebrew the fourth word is (alef tav) the first and last lettlers of the Hebrew alefbit and there is no word for it in english (it means that the action before it takes place after it) At the end of the fifth verse most Bibles say first day or one day but in the Hebrew it is (yom echad) not (yom ychad) day one a mtltable of one like Christ said the He and the Father are one (echad) by going with the echad this could sort of suport the gap theory althoe thie is a quesion that await my geting to Heaven to find out
Being an engineer, I like the symetry of creation. Day 1 light; Day 4 Sun, moon and stars. Day 2 Sky and water; Day 5 filling the sky birds and the water with living creatures. Day 3 Land; Day 6 animals and man. I also like the presence of the Trinity right at the beginning -- "Let US make man in OUR own image..."
Post a Comment