Genesis 1

the first book in the bible is called genesis  and we're going to look closely at the first   page of the book of genesis it's a carefully  crafted narrative about god creating and   ordering the whole cosmos okay let's check it out  now the opening line of the whole bible is in the   beginning god created the skies and the land now  your bible translation might say the heavens and   the earth in biblical hebrew the word for heaven  refers simply to the sky above and the word for   earth does not mean globe but rather the land the  ground below us right this line is summarizing   what's going to happen in the following narrative  which starts in the next line and it reads now   the land was wild in waste this phrase rhymes in  hebrew the land was tohu which means unordered and   uninhabited this is the ancient way of talking  about the pre-creation state what we might call   nothingness for the biblical authors non-existence  means having no purpose and no order and the next   line uses another image to say the same thing  and darkness was on the face of the deep abyss   what's the deep abyss yeah it's a dark chaotic  ocean it's another common way the ancients   described the non-reality that preceded creation  now here's where things start to get interesting   because in the midst of those dark waters god  is present and the spirit of god was hovering   over the face of the waters the hebrew word  for god's spirit is ruach which can refer to   wind or breath or god's invisible presence so you  can't see it but god is present in the darkness   ready to bring order so that life can flourish yes  and this ordering happens in a series of six days   each day begins with the phrase and god  said and then ends with the phrase and   there was evening and morning yeah every day  addresses those problems introduced in verse two   that there's no order and no inhabitants so on  days one through three god splits apart that   unordered darkness into three ordered realms then  on days four through six god fills the uninhabited   wasteland with creatures interesting let's see  how that works okay so the first realm of order   begins with light on day one oh yes let there  be light this is god's own glorious light that   fills and contains the darkness as he separates  day from night god's establishing the order of   time okay and then on day two let there be a vault  between the waters to separate water from water   what's the vault in the ancient culture of the  biblical authors the sky was perceived as a solid   dome that holds back waters god's depicted here as  splitting the chaos waters in half above and below   which creates the realms of the sky and the seas  and then on day three let the waters under the sky   be gathered into one place and let dry ground  appear god is establishing the realm of the land   and it emerges out of the chaotic waters and  then there's a bonus creative act on day three   god invites plants and fruit trees with  seed to emerge out of the land okay so   we've got the realms of time the realm  of the sky and the seas and the land   and they all have order right now it's time  to go back and fill these realms of days   one through three with inhabitants this is what  happens on days four through six so on day four   let there be lights in the vaults of the sky  god installs these lights the sun moon and stars   as signs and symbols that reflect god's own light  he gives them his own royal power to separate   day and night then on day five let the waters  swarm with living creatures and let birds fly   above the land yeah these are the creatures that  live in the waters below and those that fly near   the waters above then finally on day six let  the land produce living creatures they emerge   up out of the ground to live on the land and then  matching that bonus act of creation on day three   god makes a special land creature human or in  hebrew adam then god provides all of those plants   from day three as abundant food now over and over  god says what he created was good but then after   making humans god says that it is very good yes  humanity is the climax of days one through six   and their importance is explained in the first  poem in the bible so god created humanity in his   own image in the image of god he created them  male and female he created them so humans come   up from the ground like the other land creatures  but they're also more they're god's image which   means that together men and women embody and  represent the creator within his creation   god blessed them and said be fruitful and increase  in number fill the earth and subdue it ruling over   the creatures this is the purpose of being god's  image to oversee creation as god's partners and   representatives in the world very cool now after  the sixth days we get a concluding line that links   back to the keywords of the opening line and so  we're completed the skies and the land and all   their inhabitants except there's one more day it  stands outside the pattern of days one through six   it's the big climax and god completed on the  seventh day the work which he had done and he   rested on the seventh day from all the work which  he had done and god blessed the seventh day and   set it apart as holy so god rests on the seventh  day this is a standard biblical image where god   after ordering the cosmos comes to rest and dwell  in his sacred space it's like the whole world is   a holy temple where god lives with his people  now that phrase there was evening and morning   it doesn't appear on day seven that's right the  seventh day has no end that's because genesis   1 is describing god's ideal vision for the  whole cosmos a place where god lives with his   partners to rule the world in harmony forever  yes the seventh day is the goal of creation   it's actually so important that the author of  genesis 1 has woven the number seven into every   part of the story there are seven days of creation  seven announcements that creation is good there   are seven hebrew words in the opening verse and  then two times seven hebrew words in verse two   and then the statement about the seventh day has  three lines of seven words wow so the first page   in the bible is doing way more than just telling  us how the world was made right genesis 1 has   been designed to show us that god's purpose is to  share creation with his images so they can rest   and rule it with him forever and that purpose is  what the rest of the biblical drama is all about you

Channel: BibleProject

Views: 423,248

Rating: 4.9654031 out of 5

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Id: afVN-7vY0KA

Length: 7min 42sec (462 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 24 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/mayayahee]

I am super, super stoked for this series!

Like near the end of the video where he mentions all the times 7 appears in some manner shape or form? I had to bloody buy a commentary by an Italian rabbi (Umberto Cassuto) that was kinda hard to read to learn that. And that video just goes over it beautifully for free.

This is why I love TBP and am so excited about them and love supporting them! They do all the studying for you and offer it to the world free of charge with beautiful and clear animation. So wicked.

[u/LonelyLaowai]

What a terrific video. When I first saw that it was 7 mins long, I thought they didn’t have a chance to make it compelling enough. I was wrong!

[u/Repentant_Revenant]

I'm looking forward to this "visual commentary" series! I know that it's Tim and Jon's pipedream to one day have a video like this for every chapter of the Bible.

[u/fragrantazalea]

I love everything TBP does! I am doing the Heaven and Earth Classroom lessons, learning so much there!