First story of creation sheet Genesis 1-2:4
On the second day, God separates the sky from the
Water
For the ancient Hebrews, humans most closely resemble God by their ability to control or have authority over the
world
God wants the creation to continue and wishes humans to be part of that process and so orders in Genesis 1:28:
"Be fertile and multiply"
The author closes by telling what day it is with these words:
"Evening came and morning followed....the whatever day it is"
each day begins with the words:
"Then God said"
The account of creation of the world is divided into days. The number of those days is
6 or 7
The ancient peoples thought that water gave the sky its blue color and therefore the sky must contain water, since at times water did fall from the sky. God, they reasoned, created something to keep the water aloft. This something was a
Dome
In this account of creation, God is simply called
God
One truth learned from this Genesis account of creation is that the world and the whole universe were created by
God
It is evident therefore, that we do not read the Bible for scientific truth, but for the truths of
God/faith/spirituality
On the first day, God separates darkness and
Light
The first three days are days of
Separation
God creates by separating created material to produce
Something else
Scientific accuracy is not the author's intention. For instance, the sun, moon, and stars were not created until the fifth day, while light was created on which day?
The first day
The book of Genesis concerns itself with the origin of the human race and in particular the Jewish people, and so it begins logically with the creation of the
World/earth
Then this command or order is actually
accomplished/made/fulfilled
Third truth learned from this Genesis account of creation is that creation was not done in a haphazard way, but with great
care
Since in Genesis 1:27, God creates them both male and female, God apparently has both male and female
characteristics/attributes
Next, to create something, God gives a
command
God is portrayed in a definite manner in this account of creation. God seems to be par away from creation and very powerful. To create something, all God has to do is
command it/give a command
The author's scientific knowledge is obviously not as important for us today as is his understanding of the relationship between creation and its
creator
God looks at it and sees that it is (what he created)
good
Second truth learned from this Genesis account of creation is that creation is not evil, as is believed by some ancient cultures, but
good
God creates humans in
his own image in two ways
On the sixth day, God creates
human beings/humans
On the third day, God separates the earth into water and
land
Fourth truth learned from this Genesis account of creation, is that the sun, moon and stars do not control human destiny, that their purpose as designed by God is to provide
light
On the fifth day, God populates the land with
living creatures
God fills the world with
many creations
Therefore, this account of creations follows a
pattern
The next three days are days of
populating
three days of
populating in which "actors" are put on the stage
The most important day for Jews is the Sabbath. The origin for this weekly feast is given in Genesis 2:2-3 where God, on the seventh day, does nothing but
rest
and one day of
rest, in which the goodness of all is celebrated and enjoyed
Then, on the seventh day, God
rested
three days of
separation in which a stage is built
On the fourth day, God fills the sky with
sun, moon and stars
And further, how could one determine the length of the first three days without the
sun/dark/moon
There is also a pattern for
the days themselves
Patterns allowed ordinary people of the ancient times to more easily memorize stores since most information between generations would have been by
word of mouth