I Will Be with You

You've probably noticed it too: the repeating phrase throughout Genesis (and now in Exodus) of God saying, "I will be with you." Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph each receive the promise, and now Moses:

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He said, "But I will be with you...." (Exodus 3:11-12)

God's pattern so far is that he gives this promise in those moments when discouragement, despair, or doubt seem to threaten most (see Genesis 26:24; 28:15; 46:3-4). And if you look closely at Genesis 32:9-12 (and how it construes what was already promised in 31:3 and 28:14-15), you'll see that Jacob understands the phrase "I will be with you" to mean "I will do you good."

Here Moses is afraid to be God's agent for bringing his people up out of Egypt. So God tells him, "I will be with you." But this still isn't enough for Moses. A little while later he gives the excuse, "but I am slow of speech and of tongue." God answers him, "I will be with your mouth" (4:11-12). Still Moses won't obey. God becomes angry, but in his mercy he appoints his brother Aaron to help Moses, promising, "I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do" (4:15).

This theme is huge in the Bible, and a blog post is insufficient space for unpacking all the instances and implications of it. But keep your eyes open. Isaiah is full of the idea of God being with his people, climaxing at the point where he names the Messiah "Immanuel." And this, of course, is picked up by the New Testament and carried into eternity.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3)

Joseph and Judah

Genesis 27:29: “Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” (Isaac’s blessing to Jacob)

Genesis 37:6, 7: He (Joseph) said to them (his brothers), “Hear this dream I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” (Joseph’s dream)

Genesis 49:8: “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.” (Jacob’s blessing to Judah)

As we have been reading through Genesis, we have seen fathers blessing their sons. Interestingly in the Joseph narrative, Judah seems to get the blessing that Joseph should have got. In the verses above we see that Isaac blessed Jacob by putting his brothers under him and Jacob blesses Judah in the same way. However, it seems like Joseph should have gotten this blessing. I mean he did have a dream that all his brothers would bow down to him (and they do). He seems to me to be the obvious choice for this blessing. He is the one good guy in the book of Genesis. Why not send this blessing through him?

Moses is doing something very big at this point in Genesis. First, the blessing of Jacob to Judah is going to come to surface again in the book of Numbers. Secondly, I believe that Moses connects Joseph and Judah to show us what the son of Judah is going to look like. Judah is the son through whom the king will come (Gen. 49:10) and Joseph is who he is going to look like. (Disclaimer: I do not believe this is the only purpose of this narrative. This narrative does connect the story of the offspring of Abraham and at the same time fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that the Hebrews will suffer in Egypt for 400 years.)

Think about it. Joseph stands out in the book of Genesis because he suffers because of righteousness. His whole story is about him responding to unrighteousness and suffering in righteousness. Joseph’s own family sells him into slavery. Then in Egypt he serves faithfully and then is wrongly accused and thrown into prison. He knows that the evil brought upon him by men is actually meant for good by God. And this happens through his acceptance by the Egyptians when he is put as their ruler. He saves the whole world, all nations, through his wisdom and rule. After the nations have accepted him as their ruler, then his family (the Hebrews) comes to him to serve him.

This seems to be exactly Paul’s theology in Romans 9 – 11. Paul says that the Jews have not responded to Jesus in faith, but the Gentiles have. This response of the Gentiles is to make the Jews jealous so that in the coming future the Jews will come to faith in Jesus as the lion of the tribe of Judah. Where does his theology come from? I think it is from this very section of Genesis.

I believe that the Joseph narrative is so striking to us because of whom Joseph’s story reminds us. I need it.

Thanks Moses.

God Meant It for Good

And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Gen 50:19-20

Joseph was a man who could have allowed his life to be poisoned with unforgiveness, bitterness, and unbelief. His life had been rocked by the betrayal by his own brothers who sold him into slavery; wrongly accused by a wicked woman being thrown into prison; and forgotten by one whom he had helped. Joseph could have easily shaken his fist at God for allowing him to experience such “unfair” pain, but instead he chose to believe. He could have easily resented those who treated him unjustly seeking vengeance, but he chose to forgive. Joseph could have lived his life wallowing in the mire of self-pity and misery, but he chose to rejoice. He could have chosen to look for the negative, but he chose to look to God. Joseph never allowed the pain of the moment to cloud his view of eternity. His eyes and faith were steadfastly set on the God of creation and redemption. Joseph simply surrendered himself to the providential plans of the Sovereign Lord and rested in His unending mercy. Because of Joseph’s steadfast surrender God placed him in position to be a great blessing to others and he in return lavished in God’s blessing. Truly he could say, “What others meant for evil, God meant it for good.”

God never wastes our experiences

"Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Genesis 41:51,52

We have read of all Joseph's hardship; all the unfairness, the pain, the continual waiting. Yet we see that every hardship and every affliction has a purpose in God's sovereign plan for our lives. The places of our pain become the places of fruitfulness. Only God can make someone fruitful in a land of affliction.

Last week my friend Cindy was talking about how she felt after the death of her son Adam, who died two years ago. She said she thought that after a season of searing pain, the Lord would give her more of Himself in exchange for the life of her son. Time went on, and she did not feel she was experiencing a richer and deeper walk with the Lord. She said she finally got to the point where she told the Lord, "Even if this is all that I get of You, I trust You." I felt like I was sitting with her in a holy place, because in her words, her face, her voice was the presence of the Father who had accompanied her at every moment during her affliction, and accompanies her even now, because her hardship will last until she sees Jesus. And the ministry she and her husband have now is a result of their affliction....they are always being called or visited by parents who have lost children. They have 'fruitfulness in the land of their affliction.'

I pray that I will always trust God when His path for me is hard.

and they laughed

Matthew 9:24 he said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him.

How many times have we, like those called in to mourn over Jairus’ daughter, laughed at Jesus? Sarah laughed also at the news from the LORD that she would give birth in her old age. We may not be overt in our laughter and our laughter may not be with intent to scorn as the mourners, but yet we laugh within our hearts even as Sarah. This laughter reveals unbelief and a resistance to the things our Lord is desiring to do for us and through us. If we laugh, let us laugh “with” Jesus in joy and amazement instead of “at” Jesus in disbelief and scorn.

Jacob's Vow

Gen 28:20-22 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, 21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, 22 and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you."

Jacob had an experience with God through a dream which prompted him to make a vow unto the Lord. The question which must be asked is “What is the motive of the vow?” Was this a statement of true commitment to God or was it a conditional bargain driven by selfishness? Obviously, the language leaves room for interpretation as commentators debate the true intent. This leads to another thought. Language within itself can always leave room for uncertainty. Words that are written or spoken with the clearest of communication can never prove true motive. Was it not our Lord who said, “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,…” Isa 29:13. Therefore, any vow or statement must be proven by the actions that follow. Proceeding the vow, Jacob was a man who lived up to his name as a supplanter/deceiver to acquire the desires of his heart. At the very time of the vow he was on the run escaping his brother’s vengeance for stealing his blessing. Jacob was the same man after the vow, a man always scheming to get an edge rather than placing dependence upon the God of his vow. It was not until he was on the run again that he wrestled with God and cried out in desperation that his motives appear pure. Only then did he receive a new name, Israel. No longer was he bargaining with God but instead, grabbing hold and not letting go. This is a vow of the heart. This is a vow which our Lord smiles upon.

abraham's life

It's been an interesting week getting into the reading this week. A few notes for thought.
First, it's been of special note to me to compare Abraham with the kind of righteousness Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount. Throughout Paul's letters Abraham is the righteous man par excellence, and I'd like to hear some thoughts on how Abraham fits into Jesus' sermon.
Second, I've been able to see more clearly this week some of the patterns that Sailhamer talked about in his commentary between the life of Abraham and the narrative of Israel that will take place starting in Genesis 43 through Exodus 20. I've written at great length about the purpose of that comparison in a paper last semester. You can find that here: www.andywittonline.com , click "papers". For those of you who won't read it, the main thing to look for in the reading coming up in Genesis and Exodus is what happens after the sojourns in Egypt. We saw that Abraham settled in the land of Canaan (Gen. 13), had great victory in battle (Gen. 14), and was blessed (Gen. 14). In the end, Abraham was found to have faith (15:6) and was obedient to God's law (26:5). The exact opposite happens to the people of Israel after their sojourn. They don't even have the faith to enter into the land (Num 14:11; 20:12), let alone win battles (Num. 14:39ff) or obey the laws (Exo. 32). What are we to make of that?
Third, and this is kind of in response to an earlier post about Melchizedek, I recently realized that Melchizedek was the first person to bless Abraham after the promise in 12:1-3. No wonder the psalmist (Ps. 110) and the epistle writer (Heb 5-9) paid such attention to him.
~aw

Thoughts on Isaac?

This was also a comment that I thought some of you might like to see. - TG

dayle said...
Here goes!!My first blog! I am accustomed to sit down face to face chats, but a new year, a new beginning. I reading Chapter 22 of Genesis, I was drawn to "burnt Offering". When I think of burnt Offering I think dead. But, Isaac was offered as a living sacrifice and is this not what Paul challenges us in Roman 12:1-2 to be daily " a living sacrifice"?

Questions from Adam

This was a comment from Adam (under Drew's post) that I think everyone might like to read:

Okay, so I know I am way behind here but I wanted to throw out some questions about Eve, Cain's mark, and Lamech (Not Noah's padre). I read Pentateuch as Narrative this past summer and was wondering what you guys thought of some of Sailhamer's translations of (1) Eve's response to Cain's birth, (2) Cain's Mark and (3) a more positive look at Lamech.

In 4:1 Sailhamer translates Eve's response to Cain's birth as "I have created a man equally with the Lord" and he says this is more likely since her response to Seth's birth is very different "God has appointed for me another offspring..." As if she understands her place now. She was a little cocky the first go around, perhaps thinking she had created the seed of Gen 3:15 but then realizes "he" can only come God's way.

Secondly, he says Cain's mark is actually the city of Nod which was a place of refuge where Cain could not be "attacked". This sounds like a prototype of the cities of refuge in the Pentateuch. Pretty interesting...Before this he says Cain's response to God's punishment was not so much a complaint but actually a repentant statement, "My iniquity is too great to forgive" (4:13). This changes the outlook on Cain quite a bit. any thoughts?

In regards to Lamech, Sailhamer says his response about killing a man for wounding him (4:23)is appealing to a system of justice. I don't have the book in front of me so I don't want to misquote his ideas but it made me look at Lamech quite different as well.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I know these are side issues and not necessarily in keeping with the canonical theme but I am interested to see if those who have read Sailhamer are in agreement.

As a final note, I apologize for bringing Sailhamer into this discussion if indeed his name is forbidden in this blog. If you must, replace all use of Sailhamer with Susan B. Anthony. I can only respond like my brother Adam, "That woman whom you gave me..." (3:12) Luchky

Can We Ask Questions?

Hey Everyone, 

Since I am new this whole blog thing, I thought that I would start out by asking a question, and one that I have been thinking about for awhile but I am just having trouble resolving.  Last month my wife (Laurie) and I started listening to Mark Driscoll preach through the Song of Solomon.  I recommend this series, if you are married, or thinking about, in the fact that it has a lot of good practical ways on how we should view Christian Marriage.  As we were listening it got me thinking about the book itself, and so my question is this: How should we read/think about/interpret/and ultimately apply the Song of Solomon to the Christian walk.  Now from my understanding there are two camps that people generally view this book.  The first is a more literal view - and they see this between Solomon and his wife, and it some think of it as a how-to for Christian marriage.  The other camp sees this as a representation of Christ and the Church and this is supposed to show how Christ passionately loves His Church.  I often find myself not fully agreeing with both of them.  If it is about Christ and His Church, what should we do with the overtly sexual references?  This book is also Jewish Poetry and I dont know if it is necessarily supposed to be instructional.  I do know that canonically it falls after Ruth in the Old Testament, but what significance does that give the interpretation?  All of that to say, what do yall think?  

D to the L

Genesis 14 and Do I Really Have to Wait for Hebrews to Get This Guy?

Melchizedek. What do we do with him?

Let me suggest that the Gen. 14:14-24 insertion is a validation of God's promise to Abraham before it really exists. Sarah can't have babies. The family run-down concludes with this info in 11:30. Then the promise that demands the contrary. You would expect she has a baby now. But not yet. Then in 13:14-17, but still no baby. 14... Abraham bails out Lot with his paramilitary group partnered with some kings (then 14:14-24). Then 15:1-21, but no baby. 16, weird. 17 covenant and a more specified promise of a son. 18, 19, 20 and finally 21:Isaac is born.

The point is belabored in the narrative what God is doing, (I may be breaking the Cardinal rule of the canonical-linguistic approach by using the words of that Paul guy from the NT here)... But very emphatically the Lord is calling into existence things that just plainly do not exist (Rom 4:17). From 11 to 21 Moses is showing us that.

I am not giving a comprehensive understanding of Melchizedek here. But I do think his portion of the narrative validates God's promise to Abraham in 12 as it having an already-occurring reality, in some way. Abraham is one blessed and is also the blesser. Melchizedek knows Abraham as the one blessed by the Creator of 1-2 (14:19). Melchizedek, the Righteous King, understands something about Abraham that the reader can also see, namely, that he is special. 

And the priest-king thing is really really important:)

Reading Matthew alongside Genesis is remarkable.  The genealogies of Genesis, and of course throughout the Old Testament, flow right into Matthew but with the answer which we have all been waiting.  While reading Genesis, there is such hope for mankind in these genealogies.   The destructive nature of Cain’s genealogy is quickly renewed with Seth, as Eve exclaims that God has given her another offspring, and from this genealogy man began to call upon the name of the LORD.  Seth leads us to Noah who is righteous and his father, Lamech has great hope that Noah maybe the one to give them rest.  With Noah, God gives all of mankind a covenant, and Noah fathers the genealogies of Japheth, Ham, and Shem.  While there is great hurt in the line of Ham, there is still hope in the line of Shem.  Shem leads us to Abram and the great promises God has in store for all flesh through the offspring of Abraham. 

After reading all of these promises and watching God’s clear control over these genealogies as he gives Eve another son, and then Abraham and Sarah a son in their barren years, the beginning of Matthew resounds with joy and fulfillment at the completion of the genealogies.  Matthew frames the beginning and ending of his genealogy with Jesus, the Messiah.  It is clear that the offspring has come.  He is Emmanuel. 

Matthew chapter two begins with the Magi inquiring, “Where is the King of the Jews?”  Herod immediately consults the scribes who consult the Scripture.  The answer is found in Micah; the Ruler will come from Bethlehem.  The remarkable thing about this is that Herod and the scribes believed and recognized the truth concerning the Messiah in the Scriptures and failed to worship.  They knew to look to the Hebrew Scriptures for the answers about the Son, but knowledge did not result in faith.   The hope in their failure is that we will not do the same and miss what the Scripture says about the Son. 

Responding to Andy's previous comment:

I agree that once the "seed" has been revealed in later chapters as specifically the Suffering Servant/Messiah, it is ridiculously difficult, at least for me, to disengage that way of thinking, even minimally.  Your comments regarding understanding the text as it comes are very helpful, but I do not think that the notion of specific "seed" understanding can only happen once we reach Numbers 24.  While it is true that Balaam's prophecy gives enormous insight into what the seed is to be, Moses' themes throughout even the beginning chapters of Genesis all point to something more...something perfect...something future.  Creation, degeneration and re-creation are all extremely important to the story of the first 9 chapters in Genesis...and at the end, the re-creation that took place after the flood was not perfect.  Mankind's sin was still without remedy.  Chapter 4 relates the story of Cain and Abel and I thought that it was interesting that Cain was cursed in the reverse way of Adam.  Because of Adam the ground was cursed, but Cain was cursed from the ground.  Both cases of degeneration.  With Abel's murder we continue to see the degeneration of humanity because of sin.  Cain's genealogy ends with further depravity when Lamech multiplies Cain's revenge ten-fold.  But as Moses relates again and again in Genesis, hope is always present.  Chapter 4 doesn't end in despair, instead Eve bore another son, Seth, and it was with the birth of Seth's son Enosh that "people began to call upon the name of the LORD."  The genealogy from Adam to Noah shows the grace and hope that God grants to humanity.  Seth was fathered in the likeness of Adam, who was fashioned in the likeness of God.  Enoch "walked with God, and he was not, for God took him."  Of all the men on the earth, Noah found favor in the eyes of God.  But here again, in Chapter 7, we find destruction.  Verses 18-21 are almost a reversal of the creation account found in Genesis 1.  The ark floated on the "face of the waters" where as the "Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" in Genesis 1.  The water covered the land, the animals were destroyed, and finally mankind perished.  All except those who found favor with God.  After destruction, we see regeneration and re-creation.  But this was not the final phase.  Noah and his son Ham failed, and the battle with sin continues.  

As Tanner noted, Lamech realized, very early on, that something positive was coming.  I think you are right that we should be cautious about applying future developments on the text, but it seems that Moses has painted, at least a primitive picture of what the coming "seed" will do.  His emphasis on the effects of sin and its consequences, along with God's continual grace, and man's inability to defeat sin, all begin to paint a purpose or mission for the seed at least.

Missing the Trees for the Forest

Hey all,
When can we properly talk about the Messiah in Genesis? Most of us would ascribe to a text-oriented approach to reading; that is, we allow the text itself to inform us about the author's intent. But, all we've had so far in Genesis is one passage that talks about a "seed" or "offspring" that for all we know is quite ambiguous. Granted, we know the end of the story - but we shouldn't allow the end of the story to spoil how the author is getting us there. Moses makes a multitude of connections between different themes and concepts that are only peripherally concerned with the Messiah in these early chapters, and these are just as important to the author as the Messiah.
Let us not forget that the main topic of the Torah is the giving of the Law, the Sinai covenant. It covers about 2/3 of the text within the Torah, and to miss how Moses is setting us up for the giving of the Law at Sinai would be a great tragedy. Starting in Genesis 12 the author is going to start making some important commentary that sets us up for Sinai, making the Abrahamic covenant an essential ingredient on properly understanding Sinai. Though the messianic figure will emerge as a primary figure in the Torah, Moses' commentary on Sinai and faith deserves an equally fair share of attention. I mean, it's not until Numbers 23-24 that the concept of seed is clearly given a singular meaning. Before then, it ambiguously refers to all Israel and individual offspring of Abraham, with no indication of which is the seed of Eve in Gen 3.15. Moses purposefully leaves this tension in the book of Genesis for a reason, and we would do well to follow his story and argument as much as possible.
For some of us, this may be the first time we are reading through the Bible in a Tanakh order, or even reading through it with an eye to the author's intent and compositional strategy. Maybe restraining the Messiah references until the text leads us there would be helpful. What do you all think?
~aw

New to the blog?

Hey Everyone. If you are new to this blog you will want to look at the post titled "Purpose of Blog" and then also see the "Bible reading plan" that we are using. Then you will want to read all the other posts that all of our authors are writing.  Then post whatever you want and we will all be benefited. 

This is fun. Thanks for being part of it.

TG

Lamech is Looking

Here are a several interesting things that I have seen in these first chapters of Genesis:

1) Look at the wording between the curse to Eve (3:16) and the conversation between Cain and God (4:7).

"Your desire will be for (or against) your husband, but he shall rule over you." (esv)

and

"Its (sin) desire is for (or against) you, but you must rule over it." (esv)

I would love to hear thoughts on this.

2) Lamech is looking for the Offspring (the Messiah)! (5:28-31)

I think it is so cool that in the genealogy of Noah we get to see  that Lamech is looking for the offspring that remove (or reverse) the curse from the Earth. He says, "Out of the ground that the LORD has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and the painful toil of our hands." 

3) Both Enoch and Noah walk with God. 

Moses is so fun to read. I hope these thoughts help you in your reading. Remember Moses wrote this book about Jesus. Moses is showing us that from the beginning we were to look for this offspring that will come from Eve who will remove the curse from us. Lamech is looking and so should we, as we read and as we live. Jesus is coming again and we live exactly how these men lived - looking for our Savior! 

"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End...

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen. (Rev 22:12, 20-21)

Come. Let's read looking. 

TG

God's One-Sidedness

God's covenant with Noah--and, through him, every living creature for all future generations--had no stipulations.

Noah didn't have to do a thing to receive it, nor do we have to do anything now to keep it. God just said, once and for all, "Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood" (Genesis 9:11-12).

Now that's some grace--grace that every living human is experiencing right now, whether they believe it or not.

genesis 1 - 3

First, let me say I am so excited about reading through the Bible with you all! I am so glad to see all of the posts on Genesis. I hope we keep up the posts when we get into Ezekiel.

Let me start with the way I am going to be reading through the Bible this year. I am going to take what Jesus says in John chapter 5 and read with this as my lens. He said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me...If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me."
I will be reading the whole Old Testament in this light, that Jesus is the centerpiece of all Scripture. Scripture exists to reveal Jesus as the Messiah to us. (see John 20:30-31; II Tim. 3:15) So with that - let's begin.
As most of us know, the book of Genesis is the first of five sections of the first "book" in the Hebrew Bible. It was known to the Hebrew people as "The Law of Moses" or "The Book of the Law" (The Law of Moses includes the books include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Jesus calls it "The Law of Moses" in Luke 24:44. The first three chapters of Genesis is the foundation for Genesis and for the whole Law of Moses, and for that matter the whole Bible.
There is so much here in Genesis 1 – 3. As has been noted by others in this blog the good news of the offspring in chapter three is of great importance. This offspring will reverse the curse of sin.

Outline:
Genesis 1:1 – Creation of Everything (no focus)
Genesis 1:2 – 2:3 – Creation gets more focused (Earth)
Genesis 2:4 – 25 – Creation of Man (focus Eden)
Genesis 3:1 – 24 – Sin enters the world, so does the hope of an offspring 3:15

Notice that the first chapters are not necessarily even chronological (see 2:5 versus 1:11). This shows us the Moses has a purpose other than a chronological step by step walk through the ins-and-outs of creation science. Moses is using these chapters to set-up his whole book.
In these first chapters we see the preparation of the Land (Eden) that God is making for his people and the idea that obedience will keep them in this land and disobedience will exile them out from the land. The theme of obedience is seen in the rest of the Old Testament (think about the Promised Land) and the theme of exile is also picked up in the rest of the Old Testament and even in Matthew chapter 1. The disobedience of the Israelites will lead to their exile from the land. At the end of the genealogy in Matthew you see that the Israelites are waiting for their Savior from the exile (strangely they are not “historically” in exile at this time – more on this later). Think about the Christmas song – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Isarel, that mourns in lowly exile here, until the Son of God appears. Rejoice Rejoice Emanuel!
These are just a few thoughts. More to come. More to read.

Creation-Restoration Speculation Generalization

The early portions of Genesis have been the victim of some pretty erroneous speculations. From Adam and Eve's belly buttons to fallen angels having sex with humans, there is so much here of which we are left to wonder. However, we can have legitimate questions...

 Compare the texts of Gen. 2:8-14 and Rev. 22:1-5...

 Is what we find in Revelation a mere restoration of Eden? Or is it something more? Does the whole metanarrative of Scripture take us back to the way things were? Or does it take us further?

Could the idea be that the creation narrative is the world in infant stage, sabotaged by the Fall, then through the Redeemer it is regenerated into the glorious maturity of Revelation 22.

(I should reference that I heard bits of the infant stage idea from Carl Sanders at ETS in the paper that he presented, although I don't have a copy of the paper).

Genesis 3:20

In reading Genesis 3 I noticed something that I thought seemed out of place.  I will mention it, if you have any thoughts I guess the best thing to do is to include them as a comment to this post.

Chapter 3 is clearly the chapter of bad news.  Certainly verse 15 is an exception because it promises a seed that will crush the serpent's head.  Part of what makes that verse stand out so much is that it falls in a chapter filled with bad news.  However, today I realized that there is some other good news in this chapter that I have not payed quite as much attention too, and its placement in the chapter, at least in my estimation, makes it a very intriguing bit of good news.

Verse 20 depicts Adam as having a very positive outlook on his future.  I say this because he names Eve the mother of all living here.  It seems interesting that he would do this in the middle of a chapter all about death and suffering.  He doesn't even wait for the naming until the end of the chapter when the death and suffering has been finished.  Instead the positive naming of Eve is immediately followed with their expulsion from the garden.

So seeing this odd placement of optimism, I now feel compelled to try and understand why Moses included it here, and what significance it might have for his story.  I will try and list a couple of possibilities, however as I am only just now considering this I am sure that there may be more possibilities than I will list.

1.  It is just an odd writing style.  Eve had to get a name and Moses thought this was a fine place to do it.  This is certainly possible as I an not an ancient Hebrew writer and I don't know their style that well.  At the same time, I really believe that this seems too out of place for it to be an example of an odd writing style.  Instead I think it may have been purposeful.

2.  It serves a literary function.  This is the idea that I think is more probable.  However it is not enough to say that it serves a literary function, I now have to try and determine what that literary function might be.  I do have an idea, however I am not sure if this idea has a name.  I believe that it is possible that this good news is inserted in between the bad news to allow the author to follow a pattern of shifting focus from life to death and vice versa.

It is clear that the first two chapters of Genesis are about life.  However, Genesis 2:17 introduces death as a consequence for eating from the fruit of the tree.  But, in the following verse He continues with the theme of life in that he creates woman, a new life.  Chapter 3 picks up by the serpent discussing whether or not Adam and Eve will live or die if they eat the fruit.  He says they will live, while God says they will die.

When the curses begin it is clear that death ensues.  The serpent is cursed (death) but life is promised (the seed in vs. 15).  Even things that bring life are marred by death such as childbirth, in which the labor pains are increased, marriage, in which the husband dominates the wife, and farming, in which the life bearing ground also produces thorns and requires painful labor.  The theme has returned to death immediately before vs. 20 when Adam is told that he will die (return to dust vs. 19).  And then vs. 20 returns the theme to life by naming Eve the mother of all living.  

Though vs. 20-21 have hope for life, vs.22-24 bring the reader back to a mindset of death by focusing on the expulsion from Eden and removing Adam and Eve from access to the tree of life.

Chapter 4 continues the process with childbirth, and obvious focus on life, moves to murder, a focus on death, and the building of a city of refuge, which brings the reader back to a focus on life.

_________

Clearly I think that the second is a better option, evidenced by the fact I spent more time writing about it.  As I said earlier, perhaps there is a yet better option that I haven't considered, but at this point I am thinking about how this story seems to intentionally teeter-totter between life and death, and I have to ask the question "what is the significance of this?"

I think one thing I can think about is the significance of sin.  It is a matter of life and death.  To obey God promises life, but disobedience promises death.  Additionally, the focus on life and death points to the significance of the story in general.  Certainly we haven't finished the story, but already we see that it is focused not simply on happy vs. sad, but on life vs. death.  The story is setting the stakes high.  I think ultimately Moses wants the reader to see that death has entered the story and it is mingled with everything.  However, the characters still have hope.  They still are looking for life.  And so far, the only signs of life are coming from God and from this woman.

Purpose of blog

Good evening everyone!

I have had several questions about how this blog will work so I will post what I would like to see happen with this blog. 

1) Read the Bible - To see us all reading and thinking through the Word of God is the primary purpose of this blog.

2) Write what you think from your reading - After reading, write whatever you think would be helpful or fun to have others read here. This could be devotional thoughts or technical thoughts. For example - Andy may share any Hebrew knowledge he has on a text (if you don't know Andy he is a Hebrew genius.) or I may write a devotional thought. The main idea is to help each other see what the main idea of our reading is.

3) Tell anyone you want to about this site - if you think this would be helpful for anyone, tell them about it. We would like to see anyone who desires to learn more about the Bible do just that. 

I hope this helps. 

P.S. - If you do not have a copy of Dr. John Sailhamers NIV pocket commentary ($10 at Amazon.com) that would be very helpful. It is a small and clear commentary through the whole Bible that is smaller than a normal size Bible.

TG

Genesis 3

Hey guys,
No one has posted yet, so I guess I'll be the first one to comment on the readings thus far. One of the passages that I continue to always slow down to read is Genesis 3. The last few days I had the chance to reflect once again on this chapter, and it has once again humbled me. Though God has certainly brought me a long way from where I started over eight years ago, I continue to see in myself the same struggle and rebellion that began with our first parents so many centuries ago. Their desire for wisdom and knowledge, apart from God's design and purposes, continues to rise up in my heart almost daily. Like them, I often imagine what godliness might be, and aim for that, instead of believing God and His way of godliness, leaving me less like God and without him, rather than growing in his image and with him.
As far canonical issues in this chapter, I don't think any of us need to be reminded of the immense weight these first few chapters in Genesis carry for a proper biblical theology. One only needs to look at how later texts reflect back on them (e.g., Rom. 6, Eph. 2, and Ja. 1) to see their importance for a proper understanding of the nature of sin and of the depravity of man. But, more than that, Genesis 3 is primarily about wisdom. One of the treasures I've taken away from paying close attention to the Hebrew of Genesis is the wordplay on "naked" throughout Genesis 3 that just isn't translated into English. Since that is the case, I thought I might make a brief note on it here. I deal with it far more in my Sunday school class, which is posted at www.andywittonline.com/genesis.
Unlike English, Hebrew had several nuanced words for "naked." One of them is used in Genesis 2:25, and refers to simply being naked, with no connotations attached. The other word used for naked is in Genesis 3:7, 10, and 11, which carries with it a connotation of guilt. For example, in Deut. 28:48 the same word is used of nakedness in the midst of a whole chapter commenting on on God's future judgment of Israel for their disobedience (note, the punishment of Israel in Dt. 28 is eerily similiar to the punishment of Adam and Eve). Thus, in Genesis 3, we have a word play on what it means to be "naked": before gaining the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve were "naked and unashamed", but afterwards were naked and afraid of Yhwh. In the midst of this wordplay is another between "naked" (2.25) and "crafty" (3.1). The man and woman were naked in regards to wisdom (c.f. Prov. 1:4; the Hebrew word for "naked" is the same word used for "simple"), while the serpent was crafty, or smart. In the end, when we desire to grow in wisdom outside of God's design we end up cursed and without God, but when we listen to him, believe him, and obey his commands, then we find ourselves with God, and growing up into the image of his Son.

...and these are but the fringes...

I hope you all are enjoying these chapters as I am. Blessings, Andy

Bible Reading Plan

Here is the link to the plan I will be using for this year.

www.treasuringchristchurch.com/uploads/files/biblereadingplan_2009.pdf

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

2008 has been a roller coaster year for many. In 2008 I graduated from seminary, gotten engaged, helped plan a wedding, married Kara and seen an economic recession that many say is the worst since the Great Depression. You know, all pretty normal stuff.

As I was considering what I want to be true of my life in 2009 I came to the conclusion that I want to read the whole Bible in 2009 with my friends. I want you to read with me and then make comments on this blog so that we would be greatly benefited by our studies of Scripture. The focus of this blog will be what Jesus says is the focus of the Scriptures - himself (John 5:39-40). I will be posting on how the Scriptures fit together in this purpose - to reveal the Messiah to us. 

I want you to be part of this. It will help me greatly. If you don't post or make comments I hope that you are benefited by my posts and continue to read through the Bible this 2009. The goal of this blog is to help you see Jesus in the Bible and when we see him that we will be like the disciples that were on the road to Emmaus. I hope that we will say like them - "Did not our hearts burn with within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" (Luke 24:32)

Grace and peace to you in 2009

TG