The Raynville Rambler

Please see my introduction before reading this.

2 January. Genesis chapters 4-7

I regard these early chapters of Genesis as mythological rather than historical, although there may of course have been historical events that inspired stories such as that of the great flood.  But what can we learn from them?

 

It is interesting that the genealogy of Noah (and thus of all of us, according to the story) derives through Adam’s third son Seth, and not through Cain, presumably due to his murder of his brother.  Meanwhile, God’s punishment of Cain for the murder was to make his land infertile and thus cause him to leave the homeland and become a wanderer, which he considers “unbearable” (as it must be for anyone forced to leave their community in this way). But he is protected from vengeance, which is never God’s way for the world.  The moral? Our sins can indeed have long-lasting consequences for ourselves and others, but justice must not be confused with vengeance.

 

The beginning of chapter 6 intrigues me with its repeated references to “the sons of God and the daughters of humans”.   Is this merely a patriarchal view of sons being more important than daughters, or is there some deeper meaning? Likewise the Nephilim (sometimes translated as “giants”)  – could be a folk memory of Neanderthals, or may have a more spiritual meaning.  I don’t know.

 

As explained in my introduction I am aiming to read the whole Bible in 2017 and comment on it here.  There’s been a slight delay in starting as I got the blog set up.  But here we go.

1 January.  Genesis chapters 1-3

I never cease to be amazed at the insight that the anonymous writer of the creation story appears to have into the origins of “life, the universe and everything”. While modern science may explain it more precisely (but still with many uncertainties), this ancient near eastern wisdom understands the way in which this earth on which we live, and its many life forms, are intimately connected in themselves and with the rest of creation. I believe that someone, somewhere, received a revelation as astounding as that of St John at the end of the Bible, and that this is the form in which he (or she?) passed it down through the generations.

 

For example, this brief account echoes the order we now know of space-time, stars, planets, oceans, vegetation, animal then human life.  Or take the references to “water” throughout the first ten verses of the creation story. We now know that water is present throughout our solar system, and may have been brought to earth on many asteroids and meteors over countless millions of years, and that without water there would be no life.  How could that have been known in ancient times? But what a marvellously poetical account of God’s provision of this life-giving substance!

 

Another key verse for me is 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” So let’s hear nothing of men’s superiority over women: we are all equally bearers of the image of the creator, who must be all that it is to be truly masculine, feminine and far more. But in chapter 3 – a different and more human-centred account of creation – both male and female are guilty as charged in living disobediently.  We are all in this together.