Our group has been going through a series of teachings lately that were shared to us by David Gordon and David Rickman. They are both part of the Daniel Training Network and David Gordon leads a community of believers out in Burlington, NC. The title of the class series is Studies in Torah: Biblical Frameworks for the Jewish Narrative and I've linked it there so you can access it yourself. What follows here is a summary of the first couple of teachings as well as my own thoughts. I'm not trying to 'steal' their material, but rather, I just want to solidify my own understanding by writing out my thoughts.
Genesis 1-11 - Unique in Scripture
Genesis 1-11 has one very unique aspect to it that makes it stand out from the rest of Scripture. That unique aspect is the sheer amount of time that it covers, about 1,950 years. By contrast, Genesis 12-50 covers about 360 years. The rest of Scripture tends to cover smaller periods of time. This may not seem all that important, but I thought of it this way - if someone were going to write about nearly 2,000 years of history and only mention a few things, and if those few things were more-or-less the BEGINNING of a longer story, then those few things mentioned at the beginning must be extremely important in helping us understand the rest of the story. Not only that - but in order for someone to so briefly summarize nearly 2,000 years of time, they would have to be very intentional about the words they chose. So with that in mind - let's look at the major themes of Genesis 1-11.
Saw, Took
In reading the creation narrative (Genesis 1-4), the narrative of events in Genesis 6, and the story of the Tower of Babel, we see a single theme:
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit and ate; and she gave some to her husband also and he ate." (Genesis 3:6, JPS)
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw that daughters of men were beautiful and they took them as wives." (Genesis 6:1-2, JPS)
The references are less direct here, but the theme is the same:
"They said to each other, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick in stead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that that we may make a name for ourselves..."" (Genesis 11:3-4, NASB)
The main idea in all three of these stories is the same - that both man and heavenly beings saw something and instead of deferring to the boundaries that God had set in place, they decided to take it for themselves, to choose something for themselves that was outside of God's will and design. In the creation narrative, God's clear boundary to man was "you are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil..." Adam and Eve violate that boundary by eating the fruit of that tree. Similarly, in Genesis 6 (making the assumption, with evidence, that the 'Sons of God' are created divine beings), God must have set a boundary for created divine beings of not inter-marrying/having sexual relations with humans. Man, being complicit by allowing these marriages, also bears blame because it is clearly an effort on their part to circumvent God's curse of death after Adam & Eve's sin. And then with the Tower of Babel, we again see man attempting to have a relationship with the divine apart from God and God's will. It is a clear attempt to erase the boundary between earth and heavenly realm.
The creation narrative is clear - to be made in the image of God is to have the authority to steward, authority which is given by God. It is to have responsibility for something - but to CHOOSE, that is reserved for God. God alone has true authority. Created beings, both human and divine, have authority that has been delegated to them by God for certain things or over certain things. God delegates stewardship of the Earth to man early on, commanding them: "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:28, NASB) This doesn't mean they get to determine how the world was made or how it works, but rather that they have been given responsibility to cultivate and subdue it.
To Choose = Authority
I've been thinking about this idea of choice as authority. Think about children - when they are born and up until about age 2, they have and exercise no choice. Every detail of their lives is chosen for them. Then they start to become aware and they develop the ability to communicate. Anyone who has had a 2-3 year-old knows that they then become quite demanding. Some become downright tyrannical. They want to exercise an ability to make choices. Or think about the person or people who run the organization that you work for. If you work for a company that has a single owner - they probably like to know what their options are in any given situation and ultimately, they are the person who is responsible for making the final call.
God has given Man responsibility (Gen 1:28). He has also given created divine beings responsibility (Daniel 10: 20-21, Matthew 18:10-11, Jude 1:6). Authority has been GIVEN, but it is not inherent to the created order. When we say that God is sovereign, we are saying that God has ultimate authority, that His authority supersedes all other authority. Therefore, we can say that if God has chosen something, then any effort made to go around that choice or to undermine that choice is an effort to assert one's own authority over God's. At the core, that is Sin. Is is knowing what the boundary is and willfully overstepping that boundary. Jesus put it this way, "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters." (Matt 12:30) To go against the authority of God is to set oneself up in opposition to God.
**this idea of choice equaling authority lends itself to a lot of questions. Namely, does man have the ability to 'choose' to follow God if God is ultimately the one with power? I definitely do not understand how this all works, but I would say in that instance, it's more about deference than it is about authority. God's sovereign authority demands that we defer to Him, and to the boundaries that He has set up. To choose to violate those boundaries doesn't mean that those boundaries cease to exist, but only that we have decided to assert our knowledge of what is right above His.
Prelude to the Abrahamic Covenant
Given this brief Genesis 1-11 context, we can now have a clear understanding of the dynamic happening in Genesis 12, when God CHOOSES for himself a people, beginning with Abraham. Not only that, God is also laying out what his choice is for the redemption of humanity. That redemption itself was possible was made clear in Genesis 3:15. Now we will start to see with Abraham, and on through Moses and David, just how God intends to redeem humanity. But it is important to note that this people and this plan is of God's choosing. God is exercising his sovereign authority - He is asserting that this is the way He will do it.
This all begs an important question then...has God changed His plan? Perhaps also of importance would be to ask; have there have been attempts by humans to alter God's plan of redemption and salvation? The first utterance by God of a covenant with Abraham seems very clear:
"Now the LORD said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make you name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you; and in you all of the families of the Earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)
God's plan for the salvation (blessing) of all of the families of the Earth goes through Abraham, the patriarch of the nation of Israel (Jacob's grandfather).
The Practical
Speaking for myself, I never want this stuff to be purely theoretical - because without a connection to reality, knowing things doesn't amount to anything. My 'ah ha moment' here is just how important God's promises to Abraham, Moses and David are. To me, it underscores the importance of the choice itself, even if we can't understand the 'why' of it. The point is that God chose! God said this is what I decide and this is how I'm going to do reconcile humanity to myself. He is not asking for our permission - he is asking for our obedience. As for specifics, this means that the Jewish people are still extremely important to God (which is exactly what Paul says in Romans 11:28-29). People have warped this in certain ways over the last several decades, I'm not arguing that we need to be picketing for Israel or making political overtures to or for Israel or anything like that - I'm saying that at the very least, we need to be praying for our Jewish brothers and sisters - praying for the remnant and praying that it would grow. Why? Because God has made it clear that salvation itself is going to be administered by His Chosen People. The twelve (Jewish) Apostles will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28). The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Perhaps we also pair that with an intentional evangelism to our Jewish brothers and sisters? I don't know what that looks like, but if the Jewish people are still important to God, then they should be important to us Gentiles as well, right?
There is so much meat on the bones of the book of Genesis. I didn't even mention the flood story or how Genesis traces two lines - the line righteous line of Seth and the evil line of Cain, all the way through to the end of the book. It seems likely that one could spend many weeks and months plumbing the depths of this unique book. I hope to gain more insight as I continue to read and study and really, what this all comes down to, is further rooting myself in the hope that God has provided through his promises. Is God going to do what He said He's going to do, or not? To me, that is what the entire Bible is trying to answer. If God is faithful to His promises, then He is God and thus worthy of everything that we are. If He is not, then He is not God. Simply - this is a question worth knowing an answer to!
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