|
To understand what the scriptures we have mean we must examine
Genesis again in the light of what we have discovered in this search
that has lasted with intensity of hours a day over the last three
years.
Until the creation of the nation of Israel the peoples were searching
for a way to eternal life. This, it seems from recent research,
was usually through the stars as giving access to a place in the
heavens where souls lived for ever.
There was, as far as we know, little idea or worship of one eternal
creator God. Certainly there was no relationship with such a being
as a loving father.
We have seen that scholars believe there was more than one writer
and someone later put the writings together with some connecting
remarks to give continuity.
Applying this to Genesis, and remembering that these scriptures
were written for Israel to read and be thereby educated over a
number of centuries, more comes to light.
There are different periods in the history of the nation, which
have to be addressed.
The first is when they left Egypt and were a rabble (Ex. 12 v
37 &38) only used to Egyptian ways and laws. After four generations
they would be beginning to loose their heritage from the patriarchs.
Strong leadership, guidance, and a sense of nationhood and purpose
would be necessary. They needed to know their roots and God's promises
for them. They must become united. Laws and festivals bound them
together.
Later they needed to be a nation of warriors, not slaves, or nomads,
to take the land.
Then they needed to know how to live in it in a just society that
could stand proud amongst the nations. Again laws and festivals
of remembrance of how God had led them would do this.
They were to be different - a peculiar people: special for their
God Yahweh. They would sometimes be called a son and sometimes
a wife of the Lord Yahweh.
As Moses led them from Egypt there was still much of that culture
with them. This would take a long time to shed completely. Some
things had to go immediately, such as worshipping other gods and
having graven images. As they worshipped the creator God they were
not to eat blood as this signified the life of the animal which
belonged to its creator.
On entry into the land Joshua reminded them of the laws of Moses,
and the blessings for keeping them and worshipping only Yahweh,
God of Israel, and the curses that would come upon them if they
turned away from Him. It is interesting that in the last chapter
of Joshua he asks them to turn from the gods their forefathers
worshipped over the river (Aram and Sumer) and in Egypt. He asked
them to get rid of the gods still among them. So even after the
time in the desert this new generation still were carrying these
gods forbidden in the law of Moses! They promised to follow only
Yahweh from then on and Joshua wrote this down and set up stones
to witness to this.
When Jesus was entering Jerusalem and being greeted by his disciples
he said that if they did not cry out to God in this way the very
stones would. Was he reminding them of the promise to follow the
pure Mosaic law?The beginning of the book of Judges shows this
was soon forgotten. (See Judges chapter 2). As they turned away
to worship the gods of the tribes already in the land, and did
not eliminate them as they had been told, disasters came upon them,
as they had also been told it would. They were invaded time and
time again.Still they did not learn, and even after the temple
was built they were again worshipping other gods. This was an abomination
to the Lord Yahweh, who found their sacrifices and celebrations
to Him meaningless whilst they also worshipped other gods. They
were like an unfaithful wife. This is the theme of all the prophets
who constantly called for a return to the pure worship of Yahweh
alone.This is seen in Isaiah ch.1, Jeremiah ch.2, Ezekiel ch.8,
(where idolatry is actually happening in the temple itself!), Daniel's
prayer in ch.9, the book of Hosea, especially ch. 2 & 4), Micah
ch. 1&6, Zephaniah ch. 1, and Malachi ch. 2, as examples.This
is theme of the old testament.
Therefore, no matter who wrote Genesis, be it Moses or others,
the point being made must be the same : this nation as it is formed
must learn that Yahweh is its One and Only God. They are not to
worship the sun, the moon, or stars, or graven images of anything.
Their God is invisible. He is the Creator. He made everything and
has given them their wealth and their land and made them a people
to worship and give thanks to Him. They are to look only to Him
for their needs and guidance.
If we bring what we have learned that is on this site about the
beliefs of the ancient peoples, especially Egypt, to the stories
in Genesis we can see that the same points are being made there.
The emphasis on this being about the formation of the nation of
Israel is shown as early as the story of the flood. Here we have
the escape of Noah and his sons because Noah was a man righteous
in his generation (Gen. 6-10). Japheth was the eldest (ch.10 v
21), but the order they are always listed is Shem,
Ham and Japheth.
Shem, meaning "name" is the father of all the Semitic
peoples, including the Arameans, and the people of Uz, where Job
lived, and the Eber (Hebrews) who produced the Israelites from
Abraham and Isaac, the Ishmaelites (from Abraham and Hagar), the
Midianites (from Abraham and Keturah), and the Edomites (from Esau
brother of Jacob), from whom came the Amelekites who were enemies
of the Israelites.
These would, then, all be the people of "the Name".
Which interesting as they are those who follow either Judaism or
Islam today in the Middle East. Jordan, for instance, is called
the Hashemite kingdom.
Ham was the father of the Canaanite tribes in the land promised
to Abraham, and the Mizraim father of the Egyptians and the Philistines.
Japheth was the father of all the Europeans.
Going further back to the creation there are clearly two stories
being told in Genesis chapters one to three. The first is a general
one about the creation of the universe, the earth and all that
is in them. In this God is called Elohim, which is the pleural
form of El, which means a god. Whether you think this means there
were multiple gods involved, as in so in many creation stories
from round the world, or whether it means one supreme God with
multiple attributes, is for you to decide. But for those for whom
this book was written; i.e. the Israelites (and those who practise
Judaism today), there was only One God. This is the story of creation
that the forefathers had handed down to Israel of how everything
came into being.
The text then begins with another story of how a particular man
and woman were made by a God called Yahweh. The man is taken from
the ground and life breathed into him and he is called "Adam" which
sounds like Hebrew for "ground". The woman is taken from
the man and becomes the mother of all the living - she is called" Eve",
which sounds like the Hebrew for "living"
They are placed in the garden of pleasure-"Eden" which
has been prepared by Yahweh. Here they have the choice between
eating of the tree of life, or the tree of the knowledge of good
and bad. They make the wrong choice in eating of the tree of the
knowledge of good and bad, and so face death and are exiled from
the garden to the ground from which they were taken.
If Adam is Abraham being taken from the ground (actually the "dust" which
could mean death) to the east of Mesopotamia and brought to Canaan,
which was the beautiful land promised to him; then Eve is Israel
who comes from him and are the people who have life. She is like
his sister wife Sarah, who also a part of him as a close relative.
Eve is taken from Adam's side whilst he is in a deep sleep. This
is an adaptation of the "lady of the rib" story from
Sumer.
Abraham was in a deep sleep when in the land to the east and
before the nation came to birth - he had no idea that God was preparing
to give him a land. He was also in a deep sleep in Gen. 12 when
God made the covenant with him to give him the land in which the
nation of Israel would live. So there is a strong connection with
the land and the people. The covenant of circumcision was about
being in the people and is given later just before Isaac is born.
The story is to warn them that choosing the forbidden fruit of
turning to other gods and religions instead of trusting in the
God who formed them as a people, will mean exile from the land
and death.
The serpent coiled and with its tail in its mouth represented
to other religions the cycle of death and rebirth - i.e. their
eternal life. The serpent, or dragon in the sky, and the path of
the milky way (like the Nile) and the eternal movements of the
star formations signified eternity to them and to reach them was
to become a god..
Also the tree of Asherah was the bearer of fruit that ensured
you would have eternal life, as had the goddess Asherah herself.
The story makes it plain that to become gods as the serpent says
is the way of death, not life. The serpent is cursed to crawl in
the dust of death as the result of its seduction of the people
of the God Yahweh..
When Israel was made a nation on leaving Egypt they were to forget
all the other gods and religions and worship only Yahweh. Eve says
the serpent made her forget what God had said. Israel did forget
and worship other gods, and as Moses warned would happen they were
exiled.
In Genesis three they hid themselves from God in their naked vulnerability
after forgetting and making the decision to eat of the forbidden
fruit of other religions.
Israel became vulnerable when they did that and their enemies
were allowed to overcome them as they were no longer under the
protection of God.
There was always enmity between the worshippers of Yahweh and
those who worshiped the serpent and all it represents.
Israel will have pain in giving birth to her children and the
children of Abraham will toil hard for little return if they do
not worship only Yahweh. Compare this with the blessings and cursings
in Deuteronomy 27 & 28.Moving on through Genesis to the story
of Cain and Abel and the birth of Seth, from whom the line of the
chosen people comes, we can see the emphasis on what is relevant
to Israel later.The name Cain can mean "brought forth" or "jealousy".
He is the first to be brought forth from the union of Adam and
Eve, but he is jealous of his younger brother Abel when his offering
of the fruit of the ground is rejected in favour of the animal
sacrifice from Abel. It seems Abel's offering of a first born of
his flocks was what God required. This was what was required of
Israel, too, as a nation. Is this the beginning of the laws to
come, or the reinforcing of laws they already had? The covering
of skins given by God to Adam and Eve meant an animal had to be
sacrificed. So Abel had understood and acted upon it, but Cain
had not so responded. Being right, however, did not, in this case,
save Abel from being murdered by his brother. The first murder
in scripture is because of religious jealousy - a warning! Cain
pays the penalty of being exiled from the land.Cain is told that
he could have done the right thing: a sin offering crouches at
his door and its desire is towards him, and he should have taken
it. This is a different rendering from the usual of these verses,
but see the study on Genesis on this site for the Hebrew background;
which supports this.Cain is doomed to wander outside the land,
but is protected by God.It is not through his offspring that Israel
comes, but from Seth, his younger brother, who is the son in the
likeness of his father.There are parallels later in scripture of
younger brothers being the chosen for inheritance rather than the
eldest.
The story of the flood has also been taken and adapted to make
points in line with Israelite religion.
The ancients believed disasters came because the gods were angry;
and so a flood must happen because the people had been wicked.
This is in Sumerian texts much older than the Bible account.
Only the righteous survive. As shown on "Other creation stories
from round the world" the creation and flood stories are world
wide.
If you look at the text we have there are two accounts interwoven.
The passages using "God" and those using "Yahweh" can
be separated out and each will give a very similar story.
The name of the hero is Noah meaning "rest" or "comfort" from
the painful toil due to the ground cursed by God.
After the flood has receded Noah gives thanks to God and builds
an altar to the Yahweh and makes a sacrifice of clean animals.
How did he know which were clean and unclean? This information
was supposed to be given later at Sinai.
After this God promises not to curse the ground again because
of the evil of men. But the word for curse used here is not the
same as that used in chapters 3 and 4 of Genesis. In chapters 3
and 4 the word is "aror" which means to be detestable,
and in chapter 9 it is "lekalel" which means to "despise" or
disesteem, as Young has it.
So comfort comes from Noah, who was a righteous man and gave the
right sacrifices to God - Yahweh.
So we have progressed from animal sacrifice to the right kind
of animal sacrifice. This kind of sacrifice by a righteous person
avails for them and for others. The covenant in chapter nine made
with Noah
, is announced by God, not Yahweh. This seems to be for all man
kind, but the statement about not cursing (despising) the ground
again is spoken by Yahweh to Noah, after his sacrifice.(see end
ch.8).
Job, who was a Semite from Uz, also sacrificed to God. He seems
to have lived in ancient times as a patriarch. He and his friends
do not speak of God as Yahweh, but the narrator does (which suggests
the story itself has been imported from an older source). At the
end of the book as the friends sacrifice and Job prays for them
he is rewarded by being reinstated with wealth and family again
- only doubly so. The book teaches that one should worship God
no matter what happens, and after this testing you will be rewarded.So
there were stories from the ancient world about man's relationship
with a God, to whom sacrifices were made, but that for Israel it
was to be only clean animals and only for the God Yahweh.In ch.
10 it is Yahweh God of Shem, and may God enlarge
Japheth, and he will live in the tents of Shem i.e. under his covering.
When we get to the account of Abraham again there is use of both "God" and "Yahweh".
Hagar, the Egyptian mother of Ishmael, refers to Yahweh. It is
God who makes the covenant of circumcision with Abraham, and makes
the promises for Ishmael. Also it is God who seems to send Abraham
to sacrifice his son, but Yahweh who provides the alternative sacrifice!
In the story of Jacob's life it is mostly "God". Leah
speaks often of Yahweh, but Rachel does not.
It is not until Moses' encounter on Sinai that the name of Yahweh
is used frequently again.
Where we have Moses speaking to the people it is often "Yahweh
your God". In fact, in Deuteronomy, as many times as there
are verses this phrase appears.
In Genesis chapter one it was "God", and in chapter
two it was "Yahweh God". Then it became just "Yahweh".
So there is the God who is Creator of everything and so is God
of everyone, and there is the God called Yahweh, who is the God
of Israel.
There seems to be a progression from an impersonal God, who was
the Creator, to a personal God called Yahweh, who was the God of
Israel. But we know that the Sumerians had the idea of a personal
god for each person. For Israel he is a national God for all the
people descended from Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac, and Jacob.
The descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar the Egyptian
and the descendants of Abraham and Keturah (including the Midianites),
are also in the covenant of circumcision, which about belonging
to the people of God. The covenant concerning the land made later
was only for the descendants of Abraham through Sarah: Isaac and
Jacob.(it did not include Jacob's twin brother, Esau).So the progression
is also towards a separating out of a "peculiar" people.The
account of the creation of the universe and all in it is also about
separating.What happened at the time of the Exodus and the forming
of the nation was a separating of Israel from Egypt demonstrated
before hand in the distinction made between hem during the plagues.In
the passages where both terms are used, the "Yahweh" verses
seem to speak of a person who acts very much like a human being
and so is what is called "anthropomorphic"(In the book
of Joshua the same pattern as with Moses is seen. Yahweh speaks
to Joshua, and Joshua says to the people " Yahweh your God").If
Moses had written all the first five books of the Bible, the question
has to be asked: why was he not consistent with the name used for
God? It would be expected that he might use "God" up
until his encounter at Sinai, and then use the Name revealed to
him there from then on.
The history of the formation of the nation of Israel and the taking
of the land promised to them written in these books shows a progression
of understanding of the relationship the Israelites had with their
God.
Abraham leaves the land and goes down to Egypt to escape a famine
and returns with great wealth. Jacob leaves the land to escape
his brothers anger and goes to the land of his fore fathers and
returns with great wealth and a large family. His whole family
leaves the land to escape a famine and goes down to Egypt and returns
with great wealth and vastly increased numbers.
This pattern reinforces the promises to Abraham and reassures
Israel that if they leave the land because of adversity they will
return richer and more numerous.
This must have been a comfort to those going into exile later.
It now seems obvious that all the stories in Genesis have been
compiled from historical accounts about real people, but have been
told in such a way as to make particular points about the land
and people of Israel and their relationship with their God, Yahweh.
They have been put together at a later date than it might seem
at first glance, gathering information from different sources.
They have then, been edited with a particular agenda in mind. They
cannot be unbiased in that case.
They tell a spiritual story from the view of Israel and her God.
Christians ignore this at their peril.
next section : Is the Bible the Word of God?
|
