While Books Five and Seven are brief, Book Six makes up for it with volumes of material. While Books Five and Seven contain no poetic section, Book Six makes up for it with three poetic sections. The title of Book Six is "Now these are the generations of Terah" (Gen 11:27), which (as is usually the case) means it is about Terah's descendants. In particular it is about Terah's son Abram (renamed Abraham by God).

There are two parallel halves to the book. In the first half, the pattern of the text is prologue (Gen 11:27b-32), poetry (Gen 12:1-3), narrative (Gen 12:4-22:14), poetry (Gen 22:15-18), and epilogue (Gen 22:19-23:20). This half of the book is a chiasm: prologue answered by epilogue, poetry answered by poetry, and the narrative itself forming a chiasm within this. Also the prologue is a chiasm. As one begins to see when unpacking this text, it is quite structurally elaborate. And the purpose of this half of the book is to focus on Abraham who is clearly superior to Noah and Adam. Book One tells us that Adam was created perfectly righteous and that he fell. Book Three tells us that Noah was created perfectly righteous and that he fell. Noah was celebrated in the ANE by many peoples. Abraham, however, passes the probationary test of sacrificing Isaac. Abraham lived by faith.

The second half of the book focuses on Terah's greatgranddaughter (through Nahor and Bethuel) Rebekah. She too came in the fullness of time as the epilogue for the first half of the book tells us Nahor's eight children and grandson Aram and then mentions that Bethuel fathered Rebekah for number ten. The narrative of the second half of the book (Gen 24:1-59) follows what Waltke would call an alternating structure rather than a chiasm or concentric structure. It thematically moves A, B, C, A', B', C'. It is followed, as we should expect, by poetry (Gen 24:60) and an epilogue (Gen 24:61-25:11).

We can begin by looking at the three sections of poetry in Book Six, since this is the most important part in many respects. The first poem says, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation [1], and I will bless you [2] and make your name great [3], so that you will be a blessing [4]. I will bless those who bless you [5], and him who dishonors you I will curse [6], and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed [7]" (Gen 12:1-3). This seven-fold blessing is a thoroughly complete blessing. And it is worth observing that it is pronounced before Abram did anything solely because of God's sovereign choice.

The second and third poems, falling at the same point in the structure of these halves, both share a similar phrase. The second poem says, "By myself I have sworn, declares YHWH, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice" (Gen 22:16-18, emphasis added). The third poem in the parallel position to poem two says, "Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!" (Gen 24:60, emphasis added). Both poems are poems of blessing. Both stress great numbers of descendants and that the one descendant (the heir of the promise -- the singular seed, the Messiah to come) will possess the gate of those who hate him. He will have victory. It should go without saying for the Christian that all three blessing poems come to fulfillment in the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the reason that in Abraham all of the families, clans, and nations of the earth will be blessed.

Next we will look at the prologue and epilogues the same way. The prologue (Gen 11:27-32) through the selective use of vocabulary reveals a chiastic pattern. The genealogical pattern begins in Gen 11:27 and ends in Gen 11:32, Haran (a person, son of Terah) died in Ur of the Chaldeans in Gen 11:28 and Terah left Ur of the Chaldeans for Haran (a place) in Gen 11:31b, Abram and Nahor took wives in Gen 11:29 and Terah took Abram, Lot, and Sarai in Gen 11:31a, and at the center is "Now Sarai was barren; she had no child" (Gen 11:30). This, of course is in tension with the blessing that follows and even when she had a son Isaac he did not yet have a wife in order to have a son of his own yet.

The epilogue for the first half then tells us about Abraham's relocation to Beersheba and resumes the genealogical narrative by telling us about Nahor's ten descendants by Milcah and four descendants by his concubine Reumah (for a total of fourteen descendants mentioned here, we find out for example that Rebekah had a brother named Laban so this is fourteen artificially contrived to show order and the tenth is Rebekah, which is contrived by adding that Kemuel [3] is the father of Aram [4]). It also reports a death, this time it is Sarah.

The first epilogue (Gen 22:19-23:20) follows the following thematic pattern: they arose and went (to Beersheba), genealogy (of Nahor) featuring the number ten, report of a death and burial (Sarah). Interestingly the second epilogue (Gen 24:61-25:11) follows the same thematic pattern: for they arose and went it says, "Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way" (it also reports that this comforted Isaac given his mother's death further tying this text to the other epilogue), there is a genealogy featuring the number ten (Abraham's descendants through his concubine Keturah, with five children or grandchildren of Jokshan and five children of Midian...Keturah had six children rather than four or seven), report of a death and burial (this time Abraham himself). After the burial the epilogue reports that God blessed Isaac and Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi. Isaac is the heir of the promise, he is the seed/offspring of the woman. This book from beginning to end is about Terah's descendants but Abraham in particular.

While the prologue, poetry, narrative, poetry, epilogue of the first half of the book forms a chiasm with the narrative at the center, the narrative also continues this chiasmic pattern. It begins by telling us about Abram building altars at the oak of Moreh at Shechem and at Bethel (Gen 12:4-9). And the narrative section ends with Abraham building an altar to sacrifice Isaac upon (Gen 21:1-22:14, in particular see Gen 22:9). The first section deals with the promise of land and the last with the promise of the seed.

The second story and the second-to-last story have to do with Sarai/Sarah the sister/wife of Abram/Abraham and the same six things happen in order (Gen 12:10-20 and 20:1-18). 1. There is a famine, so Abram/Abraham sojourned elsewhere (Egypt and Gerar) 2. Abram/Abraham says Sarai/Sarah is his sister. 3. The Pharaoh/king took Sarai/Sarah. 4. YHWH confronts the Pharaoh/king 5. Pharoah/king confronts Abram/Abraham. And the sixth thing is the conclusion of the episode. The second time this happens Abraham tells us that Sarai/Sarah is indeed his sister as they share Terah as their father but have different mothers (Gen 20:12). This book is truly about the descendants of Terah.

The third story and the third-to-last story are about Abram/Abraham rescuing his nephew Lot (Gen 13:1-18 and 19:1-38). The first time this happens Lot settles in Sodom and separates himself from the righteous Abraham. The second time this happens lot is fleeing from Sodom for Zoar because the two angels found him to be a righteous man but the story also relates his fall (like Adam and Noah before him). The first time is a chiasmic pattern beginning with Abram going to the place where he had built an altar "at the first" and ending with Abram settling by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron and building an altar. The second thing in this chiasm is Abram telling Lot, "Is not the whole land before you?" (Gen 13:9) and YHWH telling Abram that the whole land that he can see will be the possession of Abram and his seed/offspring. And the center of the chiasm is Lot separating from Abraham and settling at Sodom. The text tells us, "Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against YHWH" (Gen 13:13). This is a fall for Lot. The second time Lot shows hospitality to the two angels and protects them from the men of Sodom. Abraham's prayer of intercession is remembered (Gen 19:29) and the angels spare the righteous man Lot (but not the city because ten righteous men are not found). But Lot experiences another fall. The second time his two daughters got him drunk (like Noah was drunk) and slept with him producing the Moabites and Ammonites. Thus Noah and Lot are unfavorably compared to Abraham in Genesis but while Noah is the heir of the promise the Moabites and Ammonites will not inherit the promise.

The fourth and the fourth-to-last stories concern Abraham fulfilling his kingly and prophetic offices (Gen 14:1-24 and 18:16-33). In both stories Abram/Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Lot. The first time like a king Abram intercedes militarily to free Lot who has been taken captive. Abraham gives a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek ("king of righteousness"), king of Salem and priest of God Most High. Abraham's victory was a victory on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. The second time Abraham interceded as a prophet for Sodom and Lot and asked God to spare the city of Sodom if it meant sweeping away the righteous with the wicked. At the end, YHWH promises to spare them if ten righteous persons are found. Prayer of intercession is the role of the prophet. And Abram knows that Lot lives at Sodom and is interceding on his behalf.

At the center of this chiasmic or concentric pattern is the covenant with Abram/Abraham (Gen 15:1-16:16 and 17:1-18:15). Since this is the center/focus of the chiasm we will need to slow down here and be more observant.

It has been argued that the first of these two stories can be divided into three parts. The first two have an alternating structure and the third part has a chiastic structure. The first part (Gen 15:1-21) uses vocabulary and themes for the alternating structure stressing the promise of a seed (15:1-6) and then the promise of the land (Gen 15:7-21). YHWH says, "I am your shield" to Abram (Gen 15:1) and then He says to Abram, "I am YHWH who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give to you this land to possess" (Gen 15:7). Then Abram replies using "O Lord YHWH" (Gen 15:2-3 and 15:8). And thirdly, YHWH gives Abraham a sign -- first the stars for the number of seed/offspring (Gen 15:4-6) and then "a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces" of the sacrifice for the land (Gen 15:9-21). The most developed is the third third with this smoking fire pot and flaming torch representing YHWH. He was swearing an oath that Abram's seed would inherit the land or God would be torn apart like these animals (a picture of what would happen with the death of Jesus Christ on the cross). Normally during covenant making the vassal and not the sovereign would walk through the pieces to indicate what would come if they failed to keep covenant. One of the most fascinating comments of this text prophesying the sojourn of Israel in Egypt is "And they shall come back here in the fourth generation [about four hundred years according to verse 13], for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Gen 15:16). God allows sin to reach a climax before judgment comes (counting even the sins of previous generations that have gone on) to the Canaanites just as he did with the flood (Book Two describes sin reaching climax and mentions that it will be 120 years before the flood). Another pattern to notice is the number of nations mentioned in verses 19-21 is ten. The land will fully be for Abraham's seed.

The second part of the first story also follows an alternating structure (Gen 16:1-6). It begins with Sarai telling Abram to obtain children by her Egyptian servant Hagar (16:1-2) and then Sarai is speaking quite differently in the parallel position when she tells Abram "may the wrong done to me be on you!" (Gen 16:5). The second position has to do with Abram obeying Sarai: "And Abram listened to the voice of [an idiom meaning obeyed] Sarai" (Gen 16:2c) and "Abram said to Sarai, 'Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please" (Gen 16:6). The third and fourth positions have to do with Sarai giving Hagar to Abram as a wife (Gen 16:3) and Hagar conceiving and looking with contempt on Sarai (Gen 16:4) and Sarai dealing harshly with Hagar (Gen 16:6b) and Hagar fleeing (Gen 16:6c). We know that things are going to go wrong as soon as Abram takes a second wife and this mistake will be a thorn in the side of Israel.

The third part of the first story follows a chiasmic structure (Gen 16:7-16) with the angel of YHWH's blessings of Hagar at the center. The first blessing is one of multiplication of offspring: "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude" (Gen 16:10) and the second blessing is of one seed in particular -- her son Ishmael: "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because YHWH has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen" (Gen 16:11-12). Indeed, he will be a thorn in the side of Israel. The third part of the first story begins and ends mentioning water -- a "spring of water" (Gen 16:7) and a well (Gen 16:14-16). In the second position is Hagar's interaction with the angel of YHWH. YHWH questions her and rebukes her (Gen 16:8-9), like we have seen repeatedly in Genesis, and she acknowledges that YHWH looks after her (Gen 16:13).

In the parallel position to Gen 15:1-16:16 at the center of the largest chiasm is Gen 17:1-18:15. The usual strategy for explaining Genesis (usually with the objective of casting doubt on the text's truth) is to explain recapitulation in the text as having arisen from different sources, different titles for God reflect different sources, two stories about Abraham telling kings that his wife is his sister as reflecting different sources, etc. The solution has always been -- this just reflects different sources. The approach of this commentary I have been doing has been to see how regardless of the sources this work is a well crafted and intentional whole as we now have it. If you were reading this part of Genesis and came upon this account of establishing the covenant your first thought might be -- does this arise from a different source because I remember something similar already took place. So instead of this approach, I want you to see that the establishment of the covenant is at the center of this narrative and indeed this half of the book. We saw this especially with the first part of Genesis 15:1-21 (with Gen 16:1-16) and now we will see this with especially the first part of Genesis 17 (with Gen 18:1-15).

On Genesis 17: YHWH appears to the 99 year old Abram, tells him to "walk before me, and be blameless" (Gen 17:1, calling to mind the description of Enoch and Noah) and renames him Abraham: "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations" (Gen 17:5). And the blessing is that God will make him into nations and that kings will come from him (Gen 17:6). This is an alternating structure with Gen 17:1-8 paralleling Gen 17:15-22. In the parallel portion God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name" (Gen 17:15) and it is also said that "she shall become nations [and] kings of peoples shall come from her" (Gen 17:16). Both texts talk about an everlasting covenant God is making with Abraham. Thus from Genesis 17:1ff, Abram is now Abraham and Sarai is now Sarah which is why in comparing every portion of the chiasm we have been saying Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah because the first half of this half of the book goes by the old name and the second half of this half of the book goes by the new name. And both Genesis 15-16 and 17 deal with the place of Ishmael. Here God reveals to Abraham that Ishmael will father twelve princes and is blessed and will multiply greatly (Gen 17:20). But the covenant will be with Isaac.

The second part of the alternating structure of Gen 17 deals with the cutting of circumcision (Gen 17:9-14 and 17:23-27). The sign of the covenant (Gen 17:11) is circumcision and the instructions concerning it are in Gen 17:9-14) and the fulfillment of those instructions for Abraham's household are described in Gen 17:23-27. Abraham and Ishmael and the male servants and any other males in the household were circumcised.

Gen 18 is somewhat parallel in content to Gen 17. Abraham laughs in Gen 17 and Sarah in Gen 18. The birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah is prophesied by YHWH in both. And Abraham showed great hospitality to YHWH and the two angels who met him at the altar Abraham made at the oaks of Mamre (cf. Gen 13:18 and 18:1).

Before we leave this half of the book I want to observe one more difference (besides the names Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah) between everything on the upward swing of the chiasm (Gen 11:27b-16:16) and everything on the downward swing of the chiasm (Gen 17:1-23:20). The first half is unconditional. And the second half was conditional. The sevenfold poetic blessing of Abram (Gen 12:1-3) was unconditional and 100% the work of God. The second poetic blessing of Abraham (Gen 22:16-18) was based on Abraham's work (his 100%) passing the probationary test "because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son" (Gen 22:16) and "because you have obeyed my voice" (Gen 22:18). This is also very pronounced in the central sections of the chiasm on the covenant. In Gen 15 the covenant is unconditional and received by faith (justification by faith): "And [Abram] believed YHWH, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:6). Moreover, the sign of the covenant in Gen 15 is the stars and the smoking fire & flaming torch that passed through the pieces of the sacrifices. This is the 100% God. In Gen 17 the covenant is conditional (on keeping covenant, cf. Gen 17:14) Abram is told to "walk before me, and be blameless" (Gen 17:1) and the sign of the covenant is circumcision. This is the 100% Abraham. Then we need to take this to Jesus. The unconditional covenant with Abraham continues (100% God). Jesus passed the test and satisfied the terms of the conditional new covenant and established it (100% Jesus). We then continue to keep the terms of the new covenant (He kept perfectly for us) with the sign of baptism (100% the Spirit leading us to walk in the steps God prepared beforehand).

All that is left to examine then is the narrative for the second half of Book Six (Gen 24:1-59) which follows an alternating pattern. An alternating pattern should almost be expected simply because the servant has to repeat the story for Abraham's kinsmen of Nahor. In the first position it is said that Abraham has been blessed by YHWH and the servant asks what should he do if the woman he is seeking for Isaac's wife is not willing to come back with him (Gen 24:1-10). In the parallel place, the servant tells Laban and Bethuel that YHWH has blessed Abraham and that he asked Abraham what to do if the woman was not willing to return with him. The only difference is that the servant wisely did not relate that Abraham forbid him to take Isaac back there to get his bride. Most important here is that Isaac's bride cannot be a Canaanite under the curse.

In the second position we see the servant's prayer spoken and fulfilled (Gen 24:11-27) and then retold (Gen 24:42-49). The only substantive thing not repeated the second time is the comment: "The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known" (Gen 24:16). He prayed that God would reveal to Him the ideal wife for Isaac and God did. This is in stark contrast with Jacob who later went for Rachel because she "was beautiful in form and appearance" (Gen 29:17) but without a test of her hospitality. And we will see from the third position that Laban never changed -- he liked money and riches -- Abraham was wise not to allow Isaac to go to his kinsmen.

In the third position we see expensive gifts shown to Laban and that the servant is in a hurry and not to be delayed (Gen 24:28-33 and 24:50-59). The expensive gifts Laban sees the first time are the gold ring weighing half a shekel and the two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels (Gen 24:22 and 30). And the servant was in a hurry to speak before sitting down to eat (Gen 24:33). The expensive gifts Laban sees the second time are, "The servant brought out jewelry of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments" (Gen 24:53). And the servant was in a hurry to leave with Rebekah to return to Abraham but her brother Laban and mother wanted to delay for at least ten days (Gen 24:55-58).

At the center of this alternating pattern was God showing Rebekah to be the one for Isaac.

This has been the longest book thus far in Genesis but hopefully this will seeing connections you never noticed before and lead you to appreciate it even more. Like the books before it, this is history told artistically and we need to see the beauty of the art in order to better interpret and understand the history of salvation.

Labels: abraham, ammonites, blessing, chiasm, covenant, gate, Genesis, gomorrah, ishmael, justification, lot, moabites, rebekah, sarah, seed, sodom

The title of Book Five is "These are the generations of Shem" (Gen 11:10). It is considerably shorter than any book we have seen and it is missing the poetry and epilogue. The text is in a hurry to get to Abram.

The royal genealogy follows the pattern we saw in the royal genealogy of Book Two, with one major departure: it is missing the summary/death statement for each: 'Thus all the days of ____ were ___ years, and he died." The only significance it seems appropriate to conclude from this omission is that the pattern has been shortened to get to Abram. Especially since this summary/death statement is used in the next book for Terah in order to focus on Abram.

A second difference with the royal genealogy of Book Two is that in Book Five there is no significance attributed to number seven. In Book Two there was a departure from the pattern to highlight Enoch, but there is no such departure from the pattern for Serug. Again the brevity does not tell us whether number seven was just simply not noteworthy or anything about him, but it does reinforce this picture of wanting to move quickly to Abram.

A third difference with the royal genealogy of Book Two and the other genealogies is that the three sons usually belong to the plus one generation. For the evil Lamech in Book One, number seven in that genealogy, the eighth generation had three sons. For Noah in Book Two, number ten in that genealogy, the eleventh generation had three sons. But here the tenth generation is the one with the three sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The LXX adds Cainan as the son of Arpachshad and father of Shelah. But this addition to the last book would have made seventy-one nations rather than seventy and here would highlight Terah rather than Abram. Book Five wants to highlight Abram as having come in the fullness (ten) of time.

The lifespans are considerably shorter in Book Five compared to Book Two, suggesting that life is more difficult post-flood. I am unaware of any other significance to these numbers. This may be significant in and of itself.

This royal genealogy, like that of Book Two (which ignores the Cain and Abel story), tells us the legitimate heirs of the promise. It does not tell us about Peleg's non-elect brother Joktan mentioned in the last book. All of the focus is on the heirs to the promise. But Scripture as a whole does not speak too favorably of the generations leading up to Abraham who came in the fullness of time. Joshua tells us, "Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods" (Joshua 24:2).

The next book will begin with some recapitulation and adds Lot: "Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot" (Gen 11:27) and does include the summary/death statement for Terah, "The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran" (Gen 11:32) so that the book can focus on Abram, Nahor, and Lot.

Thus in the fullness of time, came Abram, Nahor and Haran. Now we will see God choose Abram to bless.

Labels: abraham, Genesis, recapitulation, royal genealogy, ten

The fourth book begins with the title, "These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth" (Gen 10:1). So this book will be about the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But interestingly in the opposite order: Japheth, Ham, and Shem from those furthest from Israel to those closest to Israel. Israel descends from Shem through Peleg. But the Shemites (Semites, those who are Semitic peoples) genealogy here traces through Peleg's brother Joktan. The comment "for in his days the earth was divided" (Gen 10:25) refers to the split of the descendants of Shem between elect descendants of Peleg and non-elect descendants of his brother Joktan. This book is about the non-elect descendants of Noah through his sons Japheth, Ham, and Shem. The next book will tell us about the elect line of Shem through Peleg.

Book Four continues with the same pattern as earlier books. Gen 10:2-32 consists of three genealogies with commentary and Gen 11:1-5 is the story of building the tower of Babel. So this entire section we have been calling narrative. Gen 11:6-7 is the poetry and Gen 11:8-9 is the epilogue.

Like the other genealogies we have encountered, noticing the patterns will help us. There are fourteen nations from Japheth (seven times two), thirty from Ham, and twenty-six from Shem for a total of seventy nations. Seventy is a highly symbolic number (being seven times ten) suggesting that the genealogy is highly stylized to make a point through numbers. The text is also in a framework. Each one begins, "The sons of [Japheth, Ham, or Shem]" and each one ends in a similar way "each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations" (Gen 10:5), "by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations" (Gen 10:20 and 10:31). Thus the genealogy will divide these descendants by their politics, language, geography, and ethnicity. Some of these names are people groups, others are people, and some are place names. "Sons of" or "fathered" may indicate political, linguistic, geographical, or ethnic relationships. Two names are repeated Havilah and Sheba. These places may have elements descending from Cush and Joktan. Waltke, citing others, makes these observations. The whole table has a framework, beginning with "Sons were born to them after the flood" (10:1) and ending with "These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood" (Gen 10:32).

Japheth's genealogy is stylized around sevens. He has seven sons and seven grandsons mentioned. This suggests order. The commentary, "From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands" (Gen 10:5) means to stress their distance from Israel.

The sons of Ham are closer to Israel. There are five sons of Cush and two grandsons through Raamah for a total of seven. This suggests order. Egypt has seven sons (do not count the Philistines as the mention of them is parenthetical) again suggesting order. But Canaan, the son of Ham cursed by Noah in the poetry of the last book, has eleven sons suggesting disorder.

There are two portions of commentary in the Ham section. The first says, "Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before YHWH. Therefore it is said, 'Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before YHWH.' The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Ninevah, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Ninevah and Calah: that is the great city" (Gen 10:8-12). This is an interesting addition. Nimrod is not numbered among the seven sons. Cush fathered Nimrod could mean, as with all genealogies in Scripture, Cush is the ancestor of Nimrod. He is a mighty man or champion warrior king reminiscent of the giants. His kingdom included Assyria (Ninevah as the major city) and the land of Shinar (including Babel). That is, his kingdom included the two nations (the Assyrians and Babylonians) that would take Israel and Judah into captivity. And Babylon (the land of Shinar, Gen 11:2) is where the Tower of Babel was being built. Thus this addition would be a great assurance to the people during captivity.

The other commentary in the Ham section says, "Afterwards, the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha" (Gen 10:18d-19). This commentary deals with the more immediate concern of Genesis about the Canaanites who are under the curse of God and prepares us for the episodes with Sodom and Gomorrah. It is clear based on both comments that the descendants of Canaan are closer than Japheth to Israel and that they are the source of Israel's biggest strife.

The third section includes text before the standard "The sons of..." It says, "To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born" (Gen 10:21). Perhaps we should see the number twelve (like the twelve tribes of Israel). Especially when we remember the elastic use of the word "sons" (as this opening phrase alerts us "the father of all the children of Eber" since Eber is not his immediate son but a descendant), Peleg would be the twelfth son of Shem (or better yet Peleg is the fourteenth distinct name if you count Shem and Japeth in Gen 10:21). And for the sons of Eber through Joktan (including Joktan) there are fourteen (seven times two) . This suggests order. So the three sections of the genealogy considered together serve to highlight the disorder of Canaan.

We have already discussed the first comment in the third section "for in his days the earth was divided" (Gen 10:25) though I will have more to say later about it. The second comment in this section is: "The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of the Sephar to the hill country of the east." This just means to communicate that they are close to Israel geographically but separated from Israel. This genealogy serves to tie the non-elect Shemites to the story of the tower of Babel.

But while these peoples would all have their own languages this was not originally the case. The narrative tells us that the whole earth had one language and the same words (Gen 11:1). And they decided to build a ziggurat tower climbing into the heavens. So YHWH came down to them in judgment. The stated reason for building the tower was: "let us make a name [Shem] for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth" (Gen 11:4). God was going to make a name (shem) for His people of the line of Shem. But these non-elect descendants of Noah tried to make a name for themselves.

One must confess that this book is one of the hardest in Genesis to understand. The poetry is the most difficult. The increased use of parallelism tips us off that this is poetic. One people//one language. This is only the beginning of what they will do//Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Let us confuse their language//so they may not understand one another's speech. The middle pair seems to be the focus. What exactly does it mean that God says, "nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them" (Gen 11:6)? It reminds us of the language of the epilogue in Genesis 3 (complete with God's discussion with His "us"). We, God says in His heavenly council, need to stop man before he does something to keep salvation from being possible.

The epilogue begins and ends saying, "YHWH dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth" (Gen 11:8) and "from there YHWH dispersed them over the face of all the earth" (Gen 11:9). The comment in the middle "they left off building the city therefore its name (shem) was called Babel, because YHWH confused the language of all the earth" is interesting. Babel sounds like babbling -- confusion. They had set out to make a name (shem) for themselves but the city gets the name (shem) of confusion. Their plans were frustrated. They never finished the city...as St. Augustine said, "the city never reached the kind of completion that the pride of impious men had dreamed." Or as Waltke puts it, "The Tower of Babel story lampoons this boast [that Babylon is the religious center of the world]. To its founders "Babel" meant "gate/residence of the gods." but the narrator parodies that significance by a Hebrew by-form bll, meaning "confused" (cf. English, "a babel of voices"). Its builders think their temple tower reaches into heaven; it is so low that the Lord has to descend from heaven just to see it!" (178). It is not finished because it can never get them to God.

Chronologically the narrative of Gen 11:1ff, poetry and epilogue belong before the royal genealogy. Thus Ephrem the Syrian, as quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (same source as the Augustine quote above) , said, "Because of their new languages, which made them foreigners to each other and incapable of understanding one another, war broke out among them on account of the divisions that the languages brought among them. Thus war broke out among those who had been building that fortified city out of fear of others. And all those who had been keeping themselves away from the city were scattered throughout the entire earth. It was Nimrod who scattered them. It was he who seized Babel and became its first ruler. If Nimrod had not scattered them each to his own place, he would not have been able to take that place where they all had lived before." This is an interesting attempt at harmonizing the genealogy and the rest of the book. While we should avoid assuming that Ephrem is correct in the details, his impulse is right. We need to remember that the reason the descendants of Japheth, Ham, and Shem in the genealogy live in different places is the result of being dispersed throughout the land after the attempt to build the city and tower of Babel. This division of the land between the seventy nations took place when Peleg was living ("for in his days the earth was divided") and divided Peleg from his brother Joktan (because Joktan was associated with the tower). And it is in this context that Nimrod conquered the lands of Babylon and Assyria and built his empire and built cities in the image of the original Babel. The text is dischronologized because of the structure of the genealogy and the overall structure of title, genealogy/narrative, poetry, epilogue.

The concern of this book is the salvation of the nations. They have been given their inheritance and are governed by God, whether they admit it or not. And the poetic curse is designed to pave the way for their future salvation through the seed of Abraham. This is the salvation accomplished by none other than Jesus Christ. As the author of Revelation tells us, "By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation" (Rev 5:9) and we see that all authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation had been given to the beast (Rev 13:8) and that an angel had "an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people" (Rev 14:6). The similarity to our book in Genesis is not accidental. For one thing, tribe is the same word as clan. The salvation Jesus accomplished is for the elect of every tribal/clan/political faction, every tongue, every people/nation, and every ethnicity. And this is what the epistles of Paul mean when they say things like "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people" (Titus 2:11). Paul does not mean that Jesus has saved everyone but that the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ was for all kinds of people -- people of every clan, language, people, and ethnicity (Jews and Gentiles/nations). (translation used was ESV with minor changes)

Labels: assyria, babylon, election, Genesis, gomorrah, royal genealogy, seventy, shem, sodom, tower of babel, ziggurat

Even though Book Three is much longer than Book Two, it follows the same pattern. It begins with the title "These are the generations of Noah" (Gen 6:9). The book should focus on the descendants of Noah with such a title, but the last book did not record his death so that this book could tell us what happened in the fullness of time. The narrative section begins "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God" (Gen 6:9). Thus both numbers seven and ten in the royal genealogy of Book Two's narrative are now described as having "walked with God." The narrative of Book Three continues until Gen 9:24. The pattern then finishes out with the poetic curse of Canaan and blessing of Shem (Gen 9:25-27) and an epilogue reminiscent of the pattern found in the royal genealogy of Book Two: "After the flood Noah lived 350 years. All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died" (Gen 9:28-29).

The narrative follows a chiastic structure natural to a flood story because of the flood rising and receding. In a chiasm the first thing said and the last thing said are parallel conceptually or thematically and the second thing said and the second to last thing said are parallel conceptually or thematically and so forth. Chiasms can be very elaborate or very simple. This one is very complicated. The Scriptures use chiasms as a way to organize stories repeatedly. Sometimes scholars have been tempted to see them where they do not exist. But this story is artificially crafted to maintain the chiasm's structure. We know the chiasm is intentional and not just an accident of flood story-telling because on the way to the climax we see one week described two times (Gen 7:4-5 and 6-10) and in the parallel position after the climax we see three weeks described two times (Gen 8:10-11 and 12-13). The first is one week described as if two weeks by simply repeating that the rain will begin in one week (Gen 7:4 and 10). The second is a time period of three weeks described as if two weeks because there is a week that he waited before sending out the dove (Gen 8:10), he waited another seven days and again sent out the dove (Gen 8:10), and then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove (Gen 8:12). But clearly the way it is written these three weeks sound like two weeks. So the author wants us to read the story as a chiasm. I am indebted to Tremper Longman III for this observation in his article in Inerrancy and Hermeneutic (see p.142).

The climax of a chiasm is at the center. In the flood chiasm the center is: "But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark..." (Gen 8:1-3). The language of remembering is language for resurrection. The flood story is a death and resurrection story. But this resurrection falls short of the one it points forward to -- as the narrative analogy demonstrates.

The story develops a narrative analogy or recapitulation (Sailhamer shows this) between the creation and fall narratives and the flood story. The flood is a creation-reversal. Thus when the flood recedes we see similarities with the creation story. So we see a new creation. At first the waters cover everything. Then the tops of the mountains were seen (Gen 1:9 and 8:5). The dove brings back a freshly plucked olive leaf (the earth brought forth vegetation, Gen 1:11 and 8:11). God blesses the animals and tells them to be fruitful and multiply on the earth (i.e. Gen 1:22 for birds, Gen 8:17). Man is blessed and to rule over the creation (Gen 1:28b, 9:1-2) and told that he can eat (Gen 1:29, 9:3). Man is told to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28, 9:7). Adam and Noah both have three sons. Adam has Cain, Abel, and Seth (Gen 4:1-2, 25); Noah has Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen 9:18-19). YHWH God planted a garden for Adam (Gen 2:8) and Noah planted a vineyard (Gen 9:20).

Then we see the recapitulation of the fall narrative. Adam and Eve ate of the tree they had been commanded not to eat from (Gen 3:6) and Noah drank the wine and became drunk (Gen 9:21). Adam and Eve knew they were naked (Gen 3:7) and Noah "lay uncovered in his tent" (Gen 9:21). Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together for aprons (Gen 3:7) and Shem and Japheth took a garment and walked backwards to cover Noah's nakedness (Gen 9:23). And then YHWH cursed the serpent (Gen 3:14-15) and Noah cursed Canaan (Gen 9:25-27). Therefore, we learn that things before and after the fall are remarkably the same. The people still need a Savior from sin. Noah is one of many Christs (anointed ones) in Scripture who through their sin will point us to the need for Jesus. Noah's resurrection does not change hearts. The curse still holds sway over this new creation.

To return for a moment to the subject of the narrative analogy with Genesis 1: the text, like Genesis 1, uses ANE cosmology to describe the flood. The picture is one where the deep wells up like fountains and the waters above the firmament are allowed to pour through the windows in the firmament. The firmament had been created to hold back these waters. The firmament is a hard structure to which the sun, moon, and stars are attached. In this cosmology, when one looks up in the sky and sees blue they are seeing the waters on the other side of the firmament. The author of Genesis has shown us that he knows about clouds forming and watering the earth (Gen 2:5-6 as translated by Kline) but here describes the water coming down from above with the ANE cosmology by saying the windows of the heavens were opened (Gen 7:11) and closed (Gen 8:2). We should expect the author of Genesis to do this. And this in no way demonstrates that the author is in error because the book is not teaching us science but is teaching us about God's judgment, will, salvation, and people. It is important that the flood be considered a universal one regardless of whether it covered the whole earth or not because the text is teaching us about the final judgment that is coming for all.

So to summarize the positive teaching of the flood narrative: the great Noah falls short of the coming seed who will crush the serpent's head. Changed hearts do not result from Noah's resurrection. All deserve the final judgment of guilty for sin. The new creation after the flood has not escaped the effects of the curse. Thus we need the poetry.

In the overall structure of Book Three (like Books One and Two) the most important part is the poetry. Curses and blessings for future generations are immensely important in the Torah and often are the poetic text. This poem is a curse/blessing: "He said, 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.' He also said, "Blessed be YHWH, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant'" (Gen 9:25-27). Thus the poem points us to the line of Shem as the line of the promise for one whose resurrection will crush the serpent's head, reverse the curse, and begin the new creation of the heavens and earth. Israel is of the line of Shem. Thus the poetry points us to Israel as the legitimate seed of the woman and heir to the promise and ultimately points us to Jesus Christ as that seed and heir.

And the brevity of the epilogue is appropriate. Noah died.

Labels: blessing, canaan, chiasm, curse, flood, Genesis, japheth, noah, recapitulation, shem

The second book in Genesis begins with the title "This is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen 5:1). Thus we will find out about the descendants of Adam.

We should identify the genre of the narrative and part of the epilogue as a royal genealogy. Up until now I have not spoken much about the similarities of Genesis and literature from the surrounding ANE world. But this genre identification is important because the tendency of some is to try to date the earth based on mathematically analyzing texts like this. Waltke's commentary mentions the Sumerian king list, which could skip over many generations. Likewise, in Scripture the father/son relationship could also be a grandfather/grandson (or any number of generations) relationship. The purpose of this text is not scientific. It is a royal genealogy pointing us to the legitimacy of Israel (and ultimately Jesus Christ) as the heir of the promise to the woman. And thus the genealogy conforms to a pattern we will analyze later.

Genealogies are one of the most skimmed things in Scripture, but the genealogies in Genesis are some of the most fascinating texts. One of the really interesting things is the ages of the Sethites. Waltke cites M. Barnouin (who wrote in French) who has observed that the ages of the Sethites are equal to particular astronomical periods known to the Babylonians. Enoch's 365 years are the same number of days of the year. Lamech's 777 years (not to be confused with the Lamech in the last book) are the same as the synodic periods of Jupiter plus Saturn (this just means how long it takes for the planet to get back around to the same place in the sky). And Jared's 962 years are the same as the synodic periods of Venus plus Saturn. Moreover, Waltke says,

"If the sum of the years at the time of fathering and of the total life spans from Adam to Lamech are each divided by sixty--based on the Babylonian sexagesimal system--the sum of the remainders is 365, again perhaps representing the perfect life span. The cycles of a man's years may match the cycles of the heavenly spheres to show that their lives follow a meaningful pattern and end with a completed cycle."

So even though 365 is short compared to the lifespans of the others in the genealogy, Enoch was a very important man.

This is confirmed when we observe the pattern of the text. The pattern is: When X had lived Y years, he fathered...Z, The days of X after he fathered Z were ZZ years; and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that X lived were ZZZ years, and he died. For Adam the pattern is more expansive than the rest. For example, for 'he fathered Z' it says, "he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth." This line is also expanded for Lamech, the text says, "he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying..." Any major variations of the pattern should stop us in our tracks as we read the genealogy. When we get to number three (Adam, Seth, Enosh) we find the basic pattern. Same with number four, Kenan; five, Mahalalel; and six, Jared. But as we should have guessed from the symbolic significance of seven (not to mention the crafting of the genealogy we saw in the last book) the pattern is broken for Enoch who lives the perfect lifespan. Instead of saying, 'Enoch lived after he fathered Methuselah 300 years' it says, "Enoch walked with God after he fathered..." And where we would expect the text to tell us, "and he died" it says, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Enoch's son has the longest recorded lifespan (according to Scripture) 969 years. And Enoch himself could have lived longer than his son, but it is far better to be with God.

The pattern resumes only to be broken again for number ten. Ten means fullness. Therefore, at the fullness of time, God sent forth his son Noah (cf. Galatians 4:4). Thus the longer form of he fathered: "he fathered a son and called his name Noah, saying, 'Out of the ground that YHWH has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands'" (Gen 5:29). Here we see the same overall pattern for most of these books applies to this second book as well (heading, narrative, poetry, epilogue). And remember that we said the poetry is what is most important. Noah gives rest and joy to the people of God through raising a vineyard. Of course, this points forward to Jesus Christ, the son of God born at the fullness of time, who gives us rest and joy everlasting.

The epilogue continues the royal genealogy and adds the plus one generation has three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. The next book will be about them and unlike most of the books it will also be about Noah as it does not tell us "and he died" quite yet. The epilogue continues to prepare us for the next book and to set the stage. Traditionally the problem has been explained as the sons of Seth intermarrying with the daughters of Cain. But, following Meredith Kline, it is much more plausible (for grammatical, contextual and other reasons) to read "sons of God" as a title of kingship. Since "sons of God" also sometimes refers to angels, it is not a stretch to say that these kings are demon-possessed. The text then is talking about demon-possessed kings (the sons of Cain) taking harems ("they took as their wives any they chose," Gen 6:2) and breeding champions for their army (the Nephilim). The Nephilim are giants sometimes called Anakim. Anak was a person who is the ancestor of many giants and Nephil is the place where giants lived. See Numbers 13:33. Without a doubt, all giants are then called Nephilim. Sin has continued to escalate to a climax demanding judgment. Now we see more than just polygamy and murder but harems and marauding armies. "But Noah found favor in the eyes of YHWH" (Gen 6:8).

It is also worth noting that before the flood "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 8:5) and after the flood "the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Gen 8:21). The circumcision of the heart has not yet taken place. God has started over but the problem of sin is not yet answered. This is the difference when God starts over with Jesus Christ and He pours out the Spirit.

Labels: enoch, Genesis, giants, harems, kline, noah, royal genealogy, ten

The key to seeing what is most important to the author is noticing the compositional strategy of the book. Most of the books in Genesis follow the following pattern: heading ("these are the generations of..."), narrative, poetry, epilogue. Actually Sailhamer, as mentioned in my earlier post, "The Way of Wisdom: The Canon and Cessation," notes that narrative, poetry, epilogue is the compositional strategy of the whole of Genesis and the whole of the Torah. In this strategy the key is the poetry. The difference between this book and most of those in Genesis is that the pattern of narrative, poetry, epilogue takes place thrice.

Genesis 2:4 is the heading for the second book: "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that YHWH God made the earth and the heavens." It is worth noting, since this is a common structure in Genesis, that the mention of heavens, earth, earth, heavens is a chiastic pattern. Also the heading is artificially contrived to maintain continuity with the rest of the ten headings in the whole of Genesis. (Ten being a consistently significant number for fullness.) The title does not tell us who the book is about, instead the book is about this person's descendants. Thus, the first book is about the "descendants" of the heavens and the earth.

Within the narratival sections there is a general pattern. Each one begins with the problem, the response to the problem, and interaction between the person(s) involved and God. In the first panel (Gen 2:5-22) the main problem is that the earth has not yet brought forth vegetation (Gen 1:12) because it had not rained. It is also noted that there was no man, thus no irrigation. God solves these problems one at a time. First with rain, as translated by Lee Irons and Meredith Kline in "The Framework View" in The G3n3s1s Debate, "So a rain-cloud began to arise from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground." The word translated "rain-cloud" is only found in Scripture in Job and is found in another ANE language. In Job and the other language it means, "rain-cloud." (Not to mention that this translation makes sense as the solution to the problem introduced.) The other part is then solved by making man and designating him as the priest who guards or keeps the garden (Gen 2:15). God tells the man not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (a probationary test) and after making the land animals and birds then makes woman. The act of naming the animals shows Adam's servant-king power over the creation.

In the second panel (Gen 3:1-13) the problem is the serpent. Adam is the one to blame in the text because he had been given the role of the priest ("guard" the garden). Adam's response to the problem, however, was not to stand up to the serpent but to buy into his lies. In this panel the interaction between God and man is one of judgment. The picture is that of Judgment Day, or as it is often referred to in Scripture "the day" -- thus "And they heard the sound of YHWH God walking in the garden in the Spirit of The Day" (Gen 3:8). Adam and Eve hid because they knew it was The Day "for in The Day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen 2:17). The judgment day motif is complete with the sound of YHWH, which elsewhere in Scripture is described as incredibly loud and similar to that of a huge army. And the Spirit of God, usually translated with the silly "cool" idea of wind, should be identified with the Spirit of God from Gen 1:2 that hovered like a bird over the face of the waters. The response of Adam and Eve to the questioning in the court of judgment was to pass the blame. Adam blamed God and the woman. Eve blamed the serpent. It is not much of a step to Cain's "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen 4:9).

In the third panel (Gen 4:1-22) the problem is that "Cain brought to YHWH an offering of the fruit of the ground." Abel's offering was accepted because it was the firstborn of his flock, but Cain's offering was not the firstfruits of the ground. And Cain's sin mastered him as he killed Abel in premeditated murder in the field. Unlike in later Scripture where the death penalty is prescribed for murderers, God spares Cain and protects him. The genealogy offered in this chapter includes several interesting things worth noting. As we have been stressing structure, you should number the genealogy with Lamech as number seven. Cain is number 2, Enoch is number 3, Irad is number 4, etc. Number seven will without a doubt be significant. And Lamech is significant because he shows that sin has escalated out of control to a climax ready for God's judgment since he has two wives in contrast with the teaching of the first panel of marriage between one man and one woman and is a murderer (this we discover in the poetry). The genealogy is also structurally interesting because Lamech has three sons Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain. Adam also had three sons, Cain, Abel and Seth, and Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Most important in this book's structure is the poetry. In panel one the poetry is Gen 2:23: "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." In panel two the poetry is Gen 3:14-19. The most quoted portion of this poem is the protoevangelium: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15). The poetry in the third panel is Lamech's curse where he boasts of murdering a young man for striking him and calls for revenge seventy-sevenfold. Unlike Cain, Lamech does not want his family to wait for God's vengeance but to take unbridled revenge into their own hands if anyone touches him. This is the perfect example of disproprotionate response -- Lamech kills a man for hitting him and if anyone kills him in reply he calls for seventy-sevenfold retaliation. Lamech's words are the anti-gospel. All of this poetry points to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the new Adam and his church is the Woman, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. Jesus is the seed ("offspring") of the woman who bruises the head of the serpent. And Jesus is the one who goes through the curse of death on the cross for our sins and leads us to forgive seventy-sevenfold as he forgives his murderers.

The rest of the text in each panel (the remainer of each chapter) are the epilogues. The first epilogue shows a happy relationship between man and wife without shame. Shame would require clothing in the second panel (first they clothe themselves, but in the epilogue God sacrifices an animal to give them garments of skin). The epilogue also explains the continuing application of the poetry to the life of God's people ("a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" Gen 2:24). In the second panel, the continuing consequence is being driven from the mountain-garden of fruitfulness (Eden) so that man would not eat of the tree of life and seal himself to continue forever in his fallen estate. The way to the tree of life is through the sword of the circumcision of Christ on the cross. And in the third panel we see the birth of Seth. Seth's son Enosh would be the heir of Abel as this is the first example of a common practice in Israel (for example Boaz does this in the book of Ruth for Elimelech and his son Mahlon). This is why Enosh is mentioned here: Abel has his heir and the book can conclude on a note of hope with calling upon the name of YHWH.

We could examine these three chapters and note a great many more details. My reflections here owe much to my professors at Westminster Theological Seminary, the works of Meredith Kline, and the commentary of Bruce Waltke. As always I have added my own observations and analysis and any mistakes are my own.

Labels: abel, cain, Genesis, Genesis 1, kline, lamech's curse, protoevangelium, sailhamer, serpent

This text is a prologue for the whole of Genesis, the whole of the Torah, the whole of the Old Testament, and the whole of Scripture. It is not a science textbook.

As a prologue to Genesis 2-3 in the Garden of Eden, the creation of man is parallel to the creation of vegetation. The text also reveals what would happen if Adam had passed his probation -- he would continue to fill the earth and spread the garden and enter Sabbath rest. As a prologue to the story of Israel, it describes the creation of the sea and the land on Days 2 and 3a in a way similar to the Exodus Event. The waters separate and dry land appears. Moreover, the text teaches us that Israel was to be the servant of God and the king of creation (including the nations). In two words, Adam and Israel were to be a 'servant king' or, in one word, a 'son'. As a prologue to Scripture as a whole, it points us to the the goal of creation -- a fruitful earth filled with people glorifying God and entering His Sabbath rest.

The days of Genesis 1:1-2:3 are not literal twenty-four hour periods of time. First of all, Day Seven does not end in the text but continues throughout Scripture (Day Eight begins ahead of time with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ). Secondly, the sun, moon, and stars are not created until Day Four. And thirdly, these days while figurative with respect to earthly time are describing a heavenly reality. That is, the days and the speech of God all take place in the invisible heavens.

The days of Genesis 1:1-2:3 are not sequential periods of time on earth. Clearly Day Seven must be last and Day 6b must take place after Days 1-6a, but the days are not arranged sequentially. First of all, Day One and Day Four take place at the same time on earth. Day Four repeats language from Day One. On Day four it says that these lights are "to separate the day from the night" (Gen 1:14) and "to separate the light from the darkness" (Gen 1:18). This is precisely what was accomplished on Day One: "God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night" (Gen 1:5). The text through repetition means to let us know that these two Days take place at the same time on earth. Moreover, we should not expect that God would use His providence ("the earth brought forth vegetation" Gen 1:12 and "When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land" Gen 2:5) in one area and sustain light without His normal means of providence until Day Four.

So Days One and Four are parallel. In fact, Day One describes kingdoms and Day Four describes the kings. "God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern (or rule over) the day, and the lesser light to govern (or rule over) the night" (Gen 1:16). Days Two and Five are also parallel. On Day Two the kingdoms of sky and sea and then Day Five the kings of sea creatures and birds. Notice that the kings are created in the opposite order to the kingdoms (chiastic order). Also, they are described as kings by blessing them with a dominion (kingdom) mandate, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth" (Gen 1:22). Moreover, another thing the author does to make sure you read Days Two and Five as parallel in this literary structure is to leave out the phrase "and God saw that it was good" or something similar on Day Two and to leave out the phrase "and it was so" on Day Five. Thus "and it was so" or "and light was" for Day One (phrases that in Hebrew look much more similar than in English) is said a perfect seven times and "God saw that it was good" or "very good" is said a perfect seven times. The only place these are missing in the structure are on days two and five. Leaving out the comment about it being good is appropriate for Day Two because land has not appeared yet -- so in a very real sense it is not good yet.

Days Three and Six are also parallel. The main way this is communicated is through having each have two creative acts. The phrase "And God said, Let..." takes place eight times in the first six days. And to make this work Days Three and Six are both given two. The diagram compared to the text will help you visualize this better. On Day 3a there is the creation of the kingdom called land. On Day 6a there is the creation of land animals. And on Day 3b there is the creation of the kingdom called vegetation, and on Day 6b there is the creation of people as kings. The dominion mandate for man is over the whole of creation in general but more specifically over the garden (preparing us for Genesis 2-3).

Thus at the end of Day Three the formless or more literally "wilderness/desert" earth is on its way to becoming fruitful and at the end of Day Six the void or better empty or "deserted" earth is on its way to becoming full.

Whenever we interpret Scripture we must try to discern what it is that the author is doing. In this text, once you see the structure, it is clear that the Days are not literal nor sequential from an earthly perspective. God is trying to teach us much more important things than a science textbook. And Genesis 1:1-2:3 is fully the word of God and without error.

And this is 'literally' a prologue to the book of Genesis. The rest of Genesis, beginning with Gen 2:4, consists in ten books each beginning with a phrase like "These are the generations of..." and Genesis 1:1-2:3 is the kingdom prologue.

I am heavily indebted to the works and teachings of Meredith Kline (even borrowing his book titled Kingdom Prologue for the title of the post), Lee Irons, and Lane Tipton for this post.

Labels: framework, Genesis, Genesis 1, kingdom, kings, kline, prologue, protology

Elders (including the teaching elder often called the pastor) and deacons are the Spiritual leaders of the church. The elders lead the church in word ministries and the deacons lead the church in deed ministries. Even among the elders there is a division of labor between the teaching elder(s) and the ruling elders, but both groups of elders are Spiritual leaders who lead in word ministries.

Jesus was the perfect elder and deacon: He was "a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people" (Luke 24:19). His words interpreted his works. Both point to who He was and what He was doing. Our words and works also should point people to Jesus.

As a division of labor - elders focus on leading the church in word ministries and deacons focus on leading the church in deed ministries. But all members do both - all members are ministers in word and deed. And as Paul said, "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Col 3:17). We are ministers out of thanksgiving for our salvation in Christ.

Word ministries respond to the broken relationship that people have with God and with themselves. Thus evangelism (narrowly defined) and counseling are word ministries that elders lead and that the whole church does.

Deed ministries respond to the broken relationship that people have with each other and the ground. Deed ministries include any ministry that addresses physical and social needs - like for fellowship, friendship, food, water, shelter, transportation, etc. Such deed ministries deacons lead and the whole church does.

Both word and deed ministries must focus first on the congregation and then on the community. If we are not taking care of the Spiritual, psychological, social, and physical needs of our congregation, then we will be much less effective at evangelism. Let me broadly define evangelism as ministering to the Spiritual, psychological, social, and physical needs (needs for Christ) of others (our community and the world) or for a shorter definition ministering the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed to the world. Evangelism is something that elders and deacons lead and that the whole church does.

While there is a difference in emphasis between elders and deacons, both will engage in word evangelism and both will engage in deed evangelism. The words interpret the works. Words without works are just talk, as John said, "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). And works without words are open to misinterpretation. God creates and interprets all of the good works you will do. In philosophical terms, for Christianity, there are no brute works just as there are no brute facts. The primary misinterpretation is that you are doing good works in order to earn your salvation. We need to offer people God's interpretation. As Paul said,

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10).

My thoughts have been influenced by many people and books including:

Harvie Conn, Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1982).

Timothy Keller, "Diaconal Training" [audio cd] (WTSBooks, 1997); and Ministries of Mercy: The Call of the Jericho Road, 2d. ed. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997).

Labels: brute works, deacons, elders, evangelism, reformed theology, spiritual leadership, thanksgiving