Season 4 Podcast 105 “The Story of Creation, Genesis 1-3 Pt I”
Season 4 Podcast 105 “The Story of Creation, Genesis 1-3 Pt I”
In this and the succeeding two podcasts on The Story of Creation, Linda and I will analyze Genesis Chapters 1-3 which relate the story of creation and the fall of man. The story of creation is among the greatest stories ever told. Those who read the Bible are acutely aware of what is not said. For such an important story, the language of the Holy Bible is very succinct. It is also beautiful and astonishingly informative. We thank you for taking this journey with us.
In the following I recommend that you have the King James Version of the Text in front of you. Though I have used the wording of the KJV, I have discarded the traditional chapter and verses and divided the story of creation into parallel elements as if it were a poem. It would take many pages to do a complete analysis which could only be illustrated in written form. Audio does not do it justice. In reading Linda is following my parallel structure.
In the beginning God created
the heaven
and the earth.
And the earth
was without form,
and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters.
The above was the introduction. Now we begin the description of each day of Creation. Each Day begins with “And God said,” and ends with “And the evening and morning were” followed by the number of the day. Day of course means period of time, not 24 hours. Time cannot be created before the timing mechanism is in place, and that does not really occur until after the fall. Our time is measured by the revolutions of the Sun, Moon, and Earth as they stand in heaven today. Such a clock did not exist before creation occurred. I am not competent enough in science to discuss the scientific implications of Genesis. Science must stand or fall upon its own methods. I have one primary goal. I let the great poets John Milton and Alexander Pope speak for me—to justify the ways of God to man. I believe the Bible is the word of God. I am a literalist. My goal is not to question the Bible but to understand it. It is true that we are at the mercy of human translators, and it is always possible that in translation some ambition souls may slant the text according to opinion rather than sticking to the original text. We do not live in a perfect world, but we are very fortunate that down through the centuries men of great character tried to preserve the original thus we have what we have, and it is magnificent.
DAY ONE
And God said,
Let there be light:
and there was light.
And God saw
the light, that it was good:
and God divided
the light from the darkness.
And God called
the light Day,
and the darkness
he called
Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day.
By restructuring the epic poem, you may easily discern the parallel elements: God created, God moved, God said, God saw, God divided, God called. In some I insert words that are clearly implied to complete the parallel elements. You may also see the antithetical parallelism: heaven & earth, form & void, darkness & light, day & night, evening & morning. Without paragraphs or verses or numbers or titles, parallelism provided the structure of ancient Hebrew poetry. Whenever things are repeated they are repeated for a purpose thus allowing the readers to connect scriptures throughout the Holy Bible. Parallelism enhances meaning, provides emphasis, gives structure, connects concepts, and clarifies relationships. It is awkward at first for readers of English, but it grows on you. Now Let’s connect it to the second day.
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