Lesson 1

The Setting

(British Library, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Synopsis

One of the purposes of a good introduction is to establish the setting, that is, the location in which this story will take place. The setting for the History of Salvation is the world that God created. In this lesson we will look at what Genesis chapters 1 and 2 say about this world. These chapters give us two creation accounts. The first is found in Genesis 1:1–2:4 and the second in the remainder of chapter 2. Although the two accounts differ, they do not contradict each other. Each describes creation from a different perspective. The first tells us what God created, whereas the second focuses more on why he created us.

Learning Objectives

You will have successfully completed this lesson when you can describe in your own words what Genesis chapters 1 and 2 say about the creation.

The First Creation Account (Gn 1:1–2:4)

Genesis begins with an account of the creation of the world. Although it is not always evident in our translations, this part of the Bible is written in poetry. This is one reason why exegetes think that the author did not intend to give a scientific explanation of how things happened. Poetry, because of its symbolic language, is not a suitable medium to transmit scientific information. The discussion of whether God created the world in six literal days or through a process of evolution that took billions of years is therefore not addressed in the text and so we will not discuss it here.

The author does answer, however, another important question: What did God create? The answer is given in the very first verse, “the heavens and the earth.” “Heaven and earth” is an ancient Jewish idiom that meant the whole cosmos. The earth is the place we live in, consisting of the land and the sea and all that these contain, such as animals and plants. The heavens refer to the sky, the visible universe above us, and everything it contains such as the sun, the moon, and the stars. So, the text is telling us that God created everything that exists.

Verse 2 describes the initial condition of the earth after its creation.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit [or wind] of God was moving over the face of the waters. (Gn 1:2)

The situation described here is one of chaos, like the chaos produced by a storm. There was darkness, strong winds, and flooding. The earth was uninhabitable under these conditions. The process of creation described in the rest of the chapter has more to do with God’s transformation of this chaos into order than with the question of the origin of life. God first transforms the chaos of darkness. He did so by creating light on the first day.

And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Gn 1:3–5)

Next, he transforms the chaos of the flooding. The earth was uninhabitable because the whole atmosphere was filled with water. God solved this problem on day two by separating the waters from above from the waters below.

And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. (Gn 1:6–8)

The Hebrew word for “firmament” can also be translated as “dome.” It implies something like a metal barrier that held up the rainwaters. This created a breathable atmosphere, between the water above and the water below. But the land was still flooded and uninhabitable. Therefore, on day three, God commanded the waters under the dome to be gathered, so that dry land appeared.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. (Gn 1:9–10)

By the end of the first three days, God had created the form or environment necessary to support life. He then proceeded to fill this in during the following three days. On day four, he created the sun and the moon and put them in the dome of the sky. On day five, he created the birds to fill the sky above and the fish to fill the waters below. Finally, on the sixth day, God first created the beasts to fill the land and afterwards he created humankind.

God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gn 1:27).

Man and woman are different than all other creatures. Only we were created in God’s image. The biblical narration points to the fact that humankind is the crown of creation. God created the heavens and the earth so that we would have a home to live in and a place to be with him. The command “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gn 1:28) shows our superiority over the rest of creation.

Regarding this, the Catechism teaches:

Of all visible creatures only man is “able to know and love his creator”. He is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake", and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reason for his dignity.” (CCC 356)

Therefore, after six days, the earth was no longer formless and empty; nor was there chaos. God looked at everything he had made and saw that it was very good. He then rested on the seventh day.

The Second Creation Account (Gn 2:4–25)

If the first creation account tells us what God created, the second one focuses more on why he created us. It tells us that God created the man after having made the earth but before the plants and animals. God formed the man by taking dust of the earth and breathing his spirit into it. He then planted a garden and placed him in the garden. There were four rivers in the garden, two of them are known to us: the Euphrates and the Tigris. God then placed the man in the garden and gave him the task to cultivate and guard it. He also gave him this commandment.

You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. (Gn 2:17)

The Hebrew expression translated as “you shall die” is a good example of an ancient Hebrew expression which is difficult to understand and whose interpretation is a matter of conjecture among exegetes. Since the Hebrew word for “to die” occurs twice, it literally means “you shall die the death” or “by death you shall die”. What could this mean? A possible interpretation is that it refers not to a physical death, but rather a spiritual one.

This explanation is compatible with our Christian faith because, from this perspective, we distinguish between physical and spiritual death. Spiritual death means separation from God. In the end, Adam and Eve did not die physically. But they did suffer separation from God because of their transgression of his commandment.

Why did God give them this commandment? Why would they die spiritually if they transgress it? To answer these questions, we need to delve a little more deeply into why God created us.

Why did God Create Us?

When reading a novel, it is usually not advisable to read the last chapter first. This would just spoil the story. In our case, however, reading the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, can help us understand why God created us. What God will accomplish at the end of the story reveals his intentions from the very beginning.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” (Rv 21:1–4)

At least we can say that our story has a happy ending. There will be no more tears, no more suffering nor death.

Why did God create us? He did so so that he could dwell with us and we with him and each other in a loving communion that would last forever. The Bible uses many metaphors to describe this communion between God and his people, but the image of marriage is perhaps the most profound of them all. Just like a groom loves his wife and takes her to him and the two become family, so too does God love us. He takes us to himself and forms us into his family. We (all of humanity together) are his bride.

This image of our marriage to God is present throughout the Bible. It is not just some obscure idea hidden between the lines. It can be found in the prophets of the Old Testament:

Therefore, I will allure her now; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak persuasively to her… There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as on the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. On that day—oracle of the LORD— You shall call me “My husband,” and you shall never again call me “My baal.” … I will betroth you to me forever: I will betroth you to me with justice and with judgment, with loyalty and with compassion; I will betroth you to me with fidelity, and you shall know the LORD. (NABRE Hos 2:16–22)

For your Maker is your husband,

the Lord of hosts is his name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth he is called. (Is 54:5)

It is also present in the gospels, where Jesus is presented as the bridegroom:

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. (Mt 9:14–15)

It also reappears in the last book of the Bible:

“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory,

for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready. (Rv 19:6–7)

God has created us so that we may live together with him and each other as one big family. The Bible truly is the greatest love story ever told!

The Seventh Day

Knowing God’s purpose in creation can also help us understand the meaning of the seventh day mentioned in the first account of the creation narrative.

And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation. (Gn 2:2–3)

Was God tired? Did he really need to rest? Of course not! God is God. He was inviting Adam and Eve (and through them all of mankind) to become a part of his family through the establishment of a covenant. This is what the author of Genesis expresses in a language that is difficult for us to understand. In the ancient world, one entered a covenant by swearing an oath. In Hebrew, the original language in which the Book of Genesis was written, the word for “oath-swearing” is formed from the word for “seven”. To swear an oath was literally called “to seven oneself”.

Since a covenant is formed by oath-swearing, which means “sevening oneself,” it may not be unreasonable to see God covenanting himself to the cosmos in the very act of creating it, deliberately in a sevenfold way. In any case, it’s significant that the Sabbath was understood by the Jews as the day for Israel to “remember” God’s covenant with them and creation. They did so in prayer and worship, to renew the covenant oath that made them God’s sacramental family. (Hahn, Scott, A Father who keeps His Promises, Servant Books, 1998, p. 51)

God created Adam and Eve on the sixth day, the same day on which he created the beasts. They were created with the beasts, but God invited them to enter into a covenant with him, that is, to enter into the rest of the seventh day, and so become a part of his family.

God wants to establish a covenant with us as well and so bring us into his family. We are free to accept or not, and God respects our freedom. We can choose to remain on the sixth day and remain with the beasts and live like them. The number six is used throughout the Bible to describe those who reject God. Goliath was six cubits high (cf. 1 Sm 17:4), Nebuchadnezzar made a statue of himself which was 60 cubits high and six cubits wide (cf. Dn 3:1). The number of the beast is 666 (cf. Rv 13:18). This interpretation is supported by a curious episode in the life of Nebuchadnezzar we read about in Daniel 4. Because of his sin of pride, he was punished by God and became like a beast.

At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox; and seven times shall pass over you, until you have learned that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnez′zar. He was driven from among men, and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws. (Dn 4:29–33)

Or we can choose to make a covenant with God. If we accept Gods invitation, we will become a part of his family. This is what it means to enter into the seventh day. However, if this is what we choose, we must be willing to live according to God’s rules for his family.

This understanding of the meaning of the seventh day may seem obscure at first, but it is very important. As we have seen, the idea of our covenantal relationship with God, described as a marriage, is present throughout the Bible. It is what gives unity and structure to the whole story. We will study the biblical concept of covenant in a future lesson.

We now have enough elements to answer our question about why God prohibited Adam from eating from the tree. God had created Adam and Eve out of love and invited them to enter into a covenantal relationship with him, to become part of his family. He gave them the gift of freedom so that they could freely accept this offer and love him in return. Love, however, has to be proven. Adam and Eve were to prove their love by obeying this one, simple commandment. Unfortunately, they failed, and by doing so, they broke their communion with God and therefore died a spiritual death.

The Creation of the Woman

Let us return to our story in chapter 2. Seeing that Adam was alone, God created all the animals and gave him the task of naming them. This meant that Adam had authority over the animals. However, after doing this, Adam was still alone as none of the animals proved to be an adequate partner for him. God then put him to sleep and created Eve from his rib.

Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. (Gn 2:23–25)

The Setting

Every story has a setting because the action has to take place somewhere. Settings are important because they can create moods, establish context, and support the narrative. For example, in the Bible the original setting is this paradisiacal world, a garden full of beautiful trees that are good for food. It tells us that in the beginning everything was good.

But settings are more than just the physical location. Healthy relationships can also form part of a setting. We read that “The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Gn 2:25). They lived in a healthy relationship with each other. But above all, they lived in a healthy communion with God. He had created them out of love and invited them to enter into a covenantal relationship with him, to become part of his family. Unfortunately, this setting is about to change drastically, as we will see in the next lesson.

Assignments

Read Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

Explain in your own words the differences between the two creation accounts.

Why did God create us?

Home