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.
Kanon, I appreciate your comments greatly. I do not mean to come off as saying that Genesis 1-11 has nothing to say about the coming Messiah, I just wanted to caution us about saying too much too early. One of the neat dynamics of the text is how, for instance (as Nathaniel mentioned earlier), Moses seems to be playing with the ideas of life and death, and is perhaps setting a pattern for what he will write in the future. That's a dynamic that, thus far, seems to have little to do with the Messiah (though we'll certainly get to the point where is has everything to do with him). But it is like you said, the hints are definitely there, and a bunch of themes that have been presented will certainly come together in the lives of the patriarchs and in the Abrahamic covenant. It isn't until later in the book, though, that Moses makes the connections explicitly clear (c.f. Num 24).
ReplyDeleteNot to sound blasphemous, but I think reading Genesis, and the Bible, is similar to watching the movie "Sixth Sense". The first time I watched that movie I didn't truly understand the movie until the very end. It was a fun experience and I couldn't wait to watch it again to see how all the little pieces were there and I missed them the entire time.
ReplyDeleteI think that same sort of thing happens in the Bible. There is a major plot line in the Bible that all culminates in the Messiah. I think when you finally finish the whole Bible, at least when you get to the gospels, you should have this ah-ha moment where you realize that the whole book has been leading up to this one thing. Then you can't wait to go back and reread it so you can see all of the little things that you missed that made the conclusion so obvious.
Certainly we don't want to miss the forest for the trees and get caught up in the finer points to the exclusion of the major ones. At the same time I believe that the Biblical author was a master storyteller who probably realized what he was doing when he dropped hints that many, if not most, would breeze right by when first reading the story.
What makes this a book that you can read for the rest of your life is that it is so smart in the way it tells the story (not to mention the whole 2 Timothy 3:16 stuff). It is an incredible story that has an amazing ending which makes you want to go back and see all the stuff you missed the first time. Perhaps God deserves whatever awards M. Night Smalaldkfahan (I dont know how to spell his name) got for the Sixth Sense.