01 Genesis 1-5

And so, we start our Bible journey, and with great excitement I feel that I am embarking on a new journey of discovery and hopefully find out for myself what is really written in this book that is so often quoted. To my experience, quotes from the Bible are used to settle any argument, and generally taken out of context so this is one of the purposes for this exploration of the entire text.

 

Genesis…….. In the beginning……

 

The first thing that god did (in the beginning which was no beginning because there is no time until at least day four of creation) was to create the heaven and the earth. But the earth was “without form and void”. So, it had no shape and contained nothing.

And it was dark, and the Spirit of God moved on the water. So, there was no earth, only water, but god was there on the surface of the dark water. He did not like it much cruising around in the dark, so he said, “Let there be light” and that made it better because now he could see it all, so he said that this was good. Then he divided the light from the darkness and called the light day and the dark he called night.

Since there is no sun, moon or stars yet, this is an interesting process in creation.

 

So that was day one of creation. The second day he made a firmament in the middle of the water and divided the water from the water. So the firmament divided the water above it from the water below it…… and it was so.

Then god called the firmament heaven and that was enough for another day.

 

The third day of creation dawns (well, there is no sun yet so I guess it just kind of started magically like everything else) and he put all the water in one place so that the dry land could appear…. and it was so. Now we have some earth to go with all that water that he called seas….. and it was good.

 

Now we start with the grass, herb yielding seed, and the fruit trees each after their own kind…. And that was good. And he knocked off for another day.

 

Now we come to the lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night (which was already done in day two?) and this set up the process of having time by counting the days, seasons, and years. And he let these lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth (already done in day two as well)…. and it was so.

 

He then made the greater light to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night. He then added in all the stars. These he set in the heavens to give light to the earth…… and it was good. So that finished another day.

 

Now we need to bring forth lots of moving creatures from the waters, and birds that can fly in the sky. Whales get a special mention, and every kind of winged fowl…. And it was good. So god told them to go forth and multiply and that completed another day of creation.

 

Then we gehave the land bringing forth living creatures after their own kind, cattle, creeping things and beasts of the earth…… and it was so….. and it was good.

 

Then comes the creation of man in our image (the use of the plural pronoun here is interesting) after our likeness, and let him have dominion over the fish and the fowls and cattle and all the earth. So god created man in his own image (story goes back to singular first person pronoun) in the image of god created he him, male and female created he them.

 

 So, Adam and Eve were created simultaneously on the fifth day of creation. God told them to go forth and multiply and “replenish the earth and subdue it”. However, they weren’t actually on the earth, as we shall see later.

 

God said he has given man every herb bearing seed on the earth every tree bearing fruit, for you it shall be meat…. and it was so. Then god checked out everything that he had made and said that it was very good and that is the end of the six days of creation.

 

So, now heaven and earth are finished and on the seventh day god ended his work and took a break for the entire day. This was such a good idea the he said that every seventh day would be a day for resting.

 

Now everything that has just been created were actually the generations of the heavens, and not actually on the new earth. All the plants of the fields had not actually grown yet because there had been no rain and there was apparently no man actually on the earth to till the ground.

 

So, there went up a mist from the earth, and it watered all the ground. And then the lord god formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and then man became a living soul.

 

God then planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man that he had just made. And then god made every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food and the tree of life also in the middle of the garden and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

So, there is now created the garden of eden, man put in it, all the trees that are nice and fruitful, and the TWO other trees…. The tree of life in the middle of the garden, AND the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

 

And there was the river coming out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted into four rivers….. Pison which encompases the whole land of Havilah where there is gold, and bdellium and onyx stone. The second river is Gihon that encompases all of Ethiopia. The third is the river Hiddekel that goes toward the east of Assyria and the fourth is the river Euphrates.

 

And god took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend to the place and keep it looking nice. Now comes the big commandment: You can eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – eat that one and you die.

It is not recorded in the text if Adam asks god why he put in the garden something that would kill him. Also, Adam is now expected to know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong.

 

Then god said that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so he decides to give him a “help meet”. From the ground god formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air (apparently made now and not actually made during the fourth day of creation) and brought them all to Adam to see what he would call them. So, Adam had to think up names for all the creatures and that is what they have been called ever since.

 

So now all the animals were actually created and named, but there still was no “help meet” for Adam, so god put him to sleep and took out one of his ribs and made a woman from it and then took it to him.

 

Adam declared that this was bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh and called her Woman because she came from a man. He said that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife instead. 

Adam must have gained his wisdom from god about fathers and mothers and families and what men should do, because none of these things existed yet.

  

And, they were both naked, the man and his wife but were not ashamed.

Why is it implied that they should be ashamed? Wasn’t this all good and coming directly from god? Also, up to this point, they have no knowledge of good and evil.

 

Enter the serpent (another of god’s creations that was declared good by god before) but he was more subtile (clever or cunning depending on what translation you read) of all the animals. He sets out to beguile the woman asking about if there is any tree that they cannot eat from. She tells about not being able to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden or they would die.

 

Snake tells her that the story is not right and that if she eats from that one, her eyes will be opened and you will be like god, knowing good and evil. So, being a pushover for a good sales line, she takes some fruit and eats it. Then she gives some to her husband (who was actually there at the time and must have listened to the whole thing from the beginning and allowed it to happen) and he ate it too.

Contrary to the story that it was the woman who subsequently coerced the man into eating the fruit in direct violation of god’s commandment, seems that the text is clear that he was there with her and they did this thing together.

 

Now they knew that they were different and made aprons from fig leaves and covered themselves.

Up until now, they were without the knowledge of the difference between good and evil, and now the only difference is that they have a knowledge of opposites. Good and bad, man and woman, right and wrong etc etc. NOW they know. So… previous to this, there was no knowledge of good and evil so how could they be held responsible for this act?

 

Now god shows up again, and they hid themselves from him because now they know. And god called to ask Adam where he was. And Adam admitted to being afraid because he was naked. God asks “Who told thee that thou wast naked?”

Is this the first dumb question in the history of the world? There was only the two of them there and god wants to know who told you??

 

So, he asks about if he ate the fruit of the forbidden tree (another dumb question from the all knowing god). Adam blames the woman (who a short time ago was flesh of his flesh but now he disowns her and leaves her to take the blame), the woman doesn’t want any trouble, so she blames the snake. (So the first buck passing in creation also takes place).

 

For the first time in the Bible, god starts to get cranky and curses the snake and causes him to have to go everywhere on his belly (did he have legs before this?) and he would have to eat dust for all his life. He would also not be liked and have problems with people forever.

 

To the woman, he promised to multily her sorrow in conception and in having children. He also said that her only desire shall be to her husband and that her husband will rule over her.

(Sounds a bit tough, but women, right at the start and at the order of god, must forever be subject to the rule of their husbands).

 

Then he turns to Adam and said that because he had listened to his wife (who did not actually tell him anything but simply hand him the fruit and he ate it willingly) he cursed the ground and caused it to grow thorns and thistles and Adam would have to work hard to grow food to eat for all his life. In the curse, he was also told that he was made of dust and will also now have to return to the dust.

 

Adam gives his wife a name, Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Although up to now she had not given birth to anything.

 

And to Adam and Eve god made coats of skins (god killed some animals for this?) and clothed them. He said, “Behold the man is become one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:

 

Seems to be text missing here. Missing translation? Man now needs to eat of the tree of life in the centre of the garden and he can then live forever, but god throws him out of the garden and posts guards and a flaming sword to “keep the way of the tree of life”. God denies access to the tree of life that he has said that Adam and Eve now need to eat from to save them.

 

So Adam gets on with “knowing” his wife Eve, and she then carried the first ever pregnancy in all of creation and brought forth the first man to actually be born – Cain – and she said that she got a man from the lord!

Clearly a bit confused that the “knowing” and the baby were connected.

 

Then they did it again and had Abel. Able went on to become a shepherd of the flocks, but Cain was a farmer. In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the lord. So, Abel turned up with some offerings too of the firstborn of the flock and their fat portions.

 

Now the lord liked what Abel offered, but had no respect for Cain’s offering and made sure that he knew it. Cain was very upset about the rejection of his offerings, and the clear favoritism for Abel. Then the lord asked him why he was upset, and rather than being sympathetic, the lord just said that if you don’t do right, then sin is waiting at the door. He just tells Cain that he has to master his sin.

 

Not impressed, Cain invites Abel to go for a walk to the fields, and while there, Cain attacked his brother and killed him. The lord turns up again and asks “Where is your brother?”

Yet another dumb (or loaded) question since god already knew as he later reveals to Cain.

 

Abel lies directly to the face of god and says that he does not know. He simply argues that he is not his brother’s keeper. Then god starts to get cranky again and says that he knows what has happened because Abel’s blood cries out to him from the ground. So, again god starts to lay curses on people and says that Cain will not be successful as a farmer any more and will have to become a wanderer.

 

Cain thinks he is not getting a fair shake and complains to god that his punnishment is too great for him to bear. Banished from the soil and has to hide himself from god’s presence, and become a restelss wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds him will kill him. The lord then thinks that he has a case, and so says that whoever would kill Cain will suffer vengance seven times over. He put a mark on Cain so that anyone who saw him would not kill him. So, off went Cain from the lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod east of Eden. He took a wife (but no mention of where his wife came from since there was no other people on the earth just yet) and started to begat his whole line of decendents, some with two wives and all with lots of tradesman like knowledge.

 

Meanwhile, Adam is getting into Eve again, and she gave birth to Seth whom Eve said was a replacement from god for Abel. Seth had a son (no mention of where the woman came from who bore this son) and his name was Enosh. The people started to call upon the name of the lord.

Seems that people are magically turning up in the story and it is great speculation on where these may have come from.

 

From Adam to Noah

 

Adam was 130 years old when he and Eve had a son named Seth. After this Adam lived another 800 years having a lot more children.

 

At age 105, Seth became the father of Enosh. He lived another 807 years having a lot more children. (no mention of where the wife or wives came from to bear all these children.)

 

When Enosh was 90 years old he became the father of Kenan. After Kenan was born, Enosh lived another 815 years having a lot more children. (again no idea where the very productive wives came from.)

 

At age 70 Kenan had a son named Malalalel, then lived for another 840 years having many more children. (women just seem to turn up conveniently to have all these babies for the male decendents of Adam.)

 

When Mahalalel was 65 years old he had a son named Jared and then lived another 830 years having other sons and daughters. (the menfolk are getting younger with each generation as the sons are born.)

 

Jared lived until he was 162 years old before he bacame the father of Enoch. He then lived another 800 years having more sons and daughters.

 

Enoch was 65 years old when he became the father of Methuselah, and it is said that after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch “walked with god” for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Enoch did not die, but he just was not there any more and seems that god just took him away.

Interesting thing, and no further explanation on why god took this guy away. Very mysterious event without further explanation.

 

Methuselah was 187 years old when he had Lamech then lived another 782 years, having other sons and daughters. Oldest man in the bible at 969 years when he died?

 

It was Lamech was 182 years old when he had a son named Noah. Now it was said that Noah would give comfort concerning all the work and toil of the peole’s hands because of the ground which the lord had cursed.

Seems that this is the curse put on the earth because of Adam being found guilty in the garden of Eden 9 generations ago!

 

Now it is said here that Lamech lived another 595 years after the birth of Noah fathering other sons and daughters and that he was 777 years old when he died.

 

By the time that Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons named Shem, Ham, and Napheth.

 

 

To be continued…….