Genesis 1-3
The beginning of the bible, the creation of the earth, and the start of the human race; most people identify these things with a piece of literature called Genesis. It is the written account of the origin of the Earth and its inhabitants, and is found in the first portion of the Bible. The opening of Genesis pertains to some of life’s most intriguing questions, “How did the world begin?”, and, “Where did the human race come from?” Perhaps that is why the first three chapters of Genesis are the most popular, frequently referenced, and highly debated pieces of religious writing that there is. Not only does it address the source of all life and the source of planet Earth, it is a written testimony to the existence of god.
Genesis does not pursue humanity’s beginnings with a scientific approach. Instead, the scripture takes a theological approach. This is because there is no scientific proof to back any claims made within it, nor is there scientific evidence to prove the existence of a god. Unlike other creation accounts, Genesis portrays a creation out of nothing. Other stories may involve altercations between deities, gods that invented humankind for a source of entertainment, or other irrational ideas. But Genesis tells of one loving, omnipotent, and omniscient god who is responsible for the conception of everything from the sun to the sea.
“The text demonstrates the tremendous care and providence of god for all his creations. More than that, it displays God’s extraordinary care for human beings; not only are they created in his image (i.e. finite souls), thereby providing in advance for their spiritual needs, but he previsions fulfillment of their material needs by specifically forming seed-bearing plants for them to eat long before they ever existed.” (MacGregor, 178)
Genesis 1-3 is commonly mistaken for history or mythology or maybe even a combination of the two. However, Genesis 1-3 is correctly categorized in the poetic-structural narrative genre of literature. This genre is common in the Ancient Near East and is one, “…in which truths are reported in highly figurative and poetic ways within a strophic or chiastic literary framework.” (MacGregor, 174) In order for a piece of literature to be identified as being a poetic-structural narrative it must possess a strophic and/or chiastic framework and must contain four of the following criteria: repetition of symbolic numbers like 3, 7, 10, word plays throughout the piece, sentence parallelism, rhyme and meter, imagery, and similes and metaphors. Genesis 1-3 possesses all of these qualities. The most important attribute here is the strophic or chiastic framework. Writing must be formatted in either framework for it to have potential to be in this genre. The first half of Genesis 1-3 is that of a strophic framework, while the second half is that of a chiastic framework. In both layouts there is a foundation upon which the story is built that serves as a reference point. This is crucial in an oral culture where people are illiterate and spread literature by mouth. Furthermore, Genesis 1-3 contains a significant amount of symbolic numbers, word plays, sentence parallelism, and rhyme and meter schemes. Plus imagery, similes, and metaphors are all core components to the creation account.
There are several major themes and insights which the original author of Genesis 1-3 was able to communicate using a variety of structures. The first, and probably most significant, is the “seven day” format utilized. Nearly everybody with a religious background is familiar with the Genesis creation tale; that god created the earth and its populace in one week, as well as the Adam and Eve story. But what most people don’t know is that the days of creation are not intended to be literal twenty-four hour days. Rather, they are meant to be periods of time with no temporal implication. Also, the seventh day, or the day of the Sabbath, is everlasting. It spans from the beginning of the human race to the end of the world. Accordingly, we are currently in a perpetual Sabbath in which we designate the seventh and final day of the week, the day of rest. It serves as a constant reminder for followers to be in fellowship with god.
This genre identification is not a recent discovery. It has been recognized by previous interpreters for a very long time. There have been, and always be, scholars and other people who identify Genesis 1-3 as history or something else. But it is almost universally accepted as being of the poetic-structural narrative variety. “In addition, the poetic-structural genre of Genesis 1-3 has been enunciated by several major biblical interpreters of the Jewish and Christian traditions.” (MacGregor, 176) In order for Genesis 1-3 to be classified as history it would have to be composed of factual evidence. Which it is not, nobody knows for a fact that god composed the Earth and humankind in the manner that it was acknowledged in Genesis. As a revolt against the philosophy of naturalism and evolution, fundamentalists in the mid-1800s attributed Genesis 1-3 as a historical narrative among other things. But when compared to other examples of poetic-structural narratives these false attributions do not hold up.
The contemporaneous creation accounts of the ancient near eastern religions seem to be less organized and more mythological than those of Genesis. All of them tell stories of more than one god, often having separate gods for different things. Some early Mesopotamian religions had a sun god, a moon god, and a god of the sea, among others. Sometimes these gods worked together in bringing about the human race. Or sometimes humans just came to be. Like the Sumerian god, Enlil, he separated the heaven from the earth. Then dug a hole in the ground, out of which humans sprouted as if they were a form of vegetation coming to life. Around 3100 B.C.E. Ancient Egypt began to flourish and another form of religion emerged. Ancient Egyptian religion was a religion in which humans worshiped many gods, some of which were half animal half human. In fact, they even worshiped their own pharaoh or king. They called him ‘the good god’. The most durable creation myth they could fathom, was that the universe was initially filled with water, from which a hill arose on which life began. A primary god was thought to have provided nourishment on that hill in turn spawning the human race as well as the other gods.
These cultures developed unconventional creation accounts from mythology, and worshiped their gods in unorthodox ways as well. Temples, shrines, and chapels were erected in the name of many gods. Select gods, namely the more prominent ones, had buildings dedicated to them alone. Within these places of worship a hierarchy of workers was implemented to tend to the various needs of the gods and goddesses. Sacred Scriptures corresponding to the designated god(s) of a temple or shrine would be kept there. They took it so far as to inscribe literature on the walls and have people whose sole occupation was to live in the chapels and take care of the gods.
The majority of the creation narratives from the surrounding near eastern religions are inadequate fairy tales which in no way clarify why the world exists or why humankind was made. In some cases, like the Sumerians or Akkadians, there were multiple creation accounts for one group of people. So how would you go about deciphering what is real and what is fiction? Plus, a good bit of religious beliefs and foundations were spread orally through cultures so it is virtually impossible to identify the fact from the fiction.
Genesis 1-3 claims that one selfless god decisively and deliberately created everything. The original author of Genesis 1-3 documented truths in a highly allegorical and poetic manner never implying mythology or history in the creation account. Genesis 1-3 is in writing and is easily accessible to almost anybody. There are few variations of it, and certainly no substitute for it. As a result, it is a widely accepted creation narrative throughout the Christian and Jewish faiths.