Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Exegesis of Genesis chapters 1-6

It seems that just a cursory reading of the book of Genesis tells the same old story of Creation that many readers are familiar with, but upon closer inspection it just might reveal precious cosmic mysteries that go largely unnoticed. The most startling thing to me is that the narrative is not one continuous narrative but a composite of several stories that the redactor or editor pieced together in the present order that appear in the Old Testament Scriptures and Christian Bible. So now it is time to start the journey of rediscovery in the following excerpts below:

(Version 1)
Genesis 1: 1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface (face) of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering [vibrating] over the waters.

Genesis 1: 20
And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures. . .”

Genesis 1: 24
And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures. . .”

Genesis 1: 26-28
Then God said, “Let Us make Man [Adam] in Our image, in Our likeness, and let “them” rule. . .” So God created Man in His own image; in the image of God He created him- male and female [pairs??] He created them [Man-Adam-mankind??]. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and replenish (fill) the earth and subdue (??) it. . . .”

NOTE: In this story the Creator God makes not just a single man and woman but several whom are called the family name ‘Adam’ (“mankind”) and are commanded to fill or populate the entire earth and bring it under subjection. This is quite different from the other version which has as its centerpiece a single male who is placed in a garden to take care of it, and only subsequently is given a mate as helper because none of the animals or other creatures are compatible.

Genesis 2: 1-3
Thus the heavens and earth were completed in their entire vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing, so on the seventh day He rested (ceased) from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and make it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.
THE END

(Version 2)
Genesis 2: 4
This is the account of the heavens and earth in the day [eon??] when they were created, when the LORD God made the heavens and the earth.

NOTE: Chapter 2 appears to be out of sequence and verse 4 should actually be verse 1 (in my opinion). Also, instead of God, the term LORD God is used.

Genesis 2: 5-6
The LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth; there was no man (Adam) to work the ground; streams came up from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.

NOTE: One would think that even if some underground streams supplied water some vegetation would still grow, unless it was too briny or salty to produce anything. The LORD God in this account seems different from the Creator in chapter 1, Who seems to just “speak” things into existence and qualifies everything as good, very, good and blesses creation.

Genesis 2: 7-8
The LORD God formed man (the Adam) out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man (the Adam) became a living soul (“person”). The LORD God planted a garden in the east, in Eden.

NOTE: This is quite different from chapter 1 in quantity as well as quality-

Comparison/Contrast:
1. Them [Adam/mankind]   
1a.Him [the Adam/man].
2. Be fruitful, replenish/fill and subdue the earth
2a.Dress and keep the garden.
3. Man [Them-male/female pairs] to rule the earth
3a. Woman as a helper for the Adam (man).
4. Adam (Man/mankind) made in the image and likeness of God
4a. Adam (the man) made from the dust of the ground.

Genesis 2: 10-14
A river watering the garden flowed out of Eden and from there [the garden] it separated into four headwaters- Pishon that winds through the entire land of Havilah; Gihon that flows through the land of Cush [Ethiopia??]; Tigris runs along the east side of Asshur [Ninevah/Babylon (modern Iraq)]; and the Euphrates river.

NOTE: There was no need to explain the location of the Euphrates because the recipients of this oral narrative were familiar with its route. That must have been some enormous river that flowed out of Eden (downstream) and still was able to continue as some major waterways into other countries-if literally true. Also, verse 18 seems out of place and makes a little better sense as far as sequence if it were placed before verse 21 (maybe).

Genesis 2:21
The LORD God took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

NOTE: We know the story that Eve (woman) was formed from this rib, but Aramaic Bible translator Vic Alexander has an intriguing theory about this event. He speculates that since man has a YX chromosome pair, God took one of the ‘ribs’ and replicated the X chromosome to produce the female “XX” pair. It is interesting because the Hebrew word for rib (‘tsala’) can also mean side, so one of the side chromosome genetic markers or sites was used to fashion the female type. Whether true or not I thought it is just as plausible as anything else, and besides all this, it does seem that the woman (Eve) was fashioned from the man’s (Adam) genetic substance or material.

Genesis 3: 15
The LORD God said [to the serpent], “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
NOTE: This prophesy is revealed in the heavens in the study of astrology (the Zodiac). SEE “Witness of the Stars” by E.W. Bullinger and read especially pages 54-62. To fully appreciate the enormity of the scheme of redemption it would be beneficial to read the entire book.

Genesis 4: 16
So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain lay with is wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

NOTE: The million dollar question is where did Cain find a wife? The answer is from among the people who populated the earth after the first creation in Genesis chapter 1. It could not be from the other daughters of Adam and his lineage since the birth of Seth because Cain was already in the land of Nod and married before Seth was born (Cp. Genesis 5: 1).

Genesis 4: 25-26
Adam lay with his wife again and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him. Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

Genesis 5: 1, 3
This is the written account of Adam’s line. When Adam lived 130 years, he had a son in his own image and likeness and he named him Seth.

NOTE: Is this another separate Creation fragment and what form such as hieroglyphic, cuneiform, or when was some type of script writing invented? Is not Cain and Abel part of Adam’s line so why are they omitted, here? Why was it necessary to mention that Seth was made in the image and likeness of Adam, since it seems at this time that Adam had fallen from grace and was banished/driven from the garden?

Genesis 5: 4-32
NOTE: The long lives of these antediluvians stems from the fact that they are the ones from Genesis chapter 1 that some editor extrapolated or placed in this genealogy of this Adam; of course that ideal and efficient diet of plant-based foods from rich soil probably helped the Adam prime male/female pairs live for a long time, too. Interestingly, those Bible literalists who interpret the days of creation in 7/24 hr. cycles find difficulty in accepting these great ages of Adam made in the image and likeness of the Creator. Besides, it would mess up their chronology for the age of planet earth being 6,000 years old because adding up the 9 generations of Adam comes to 7,625 years; and when you add in Noah’s age and the time until the flood you get 8,225 years up until then.

Genesis 6: 3b
His days will be 120 years.

NOTE: This is supposedly how long God decreed that humans live from now on but Abraham’s father Terah lived 205 years (Genesis 11: 32). I think the one hundred-twenty years is roughly the time that the human race had from Noah’s 500th birthday until the earth was destroyed by the Great Deluge (“Flood”) one hundred years later.


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St Apt B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
May 5, 2015
robertrandle51@yahoo.com