![]() What God did at the beginning and in the wilderness he can do again. The Torah closes with the people at the end of a trek through the wild and barren wilderness hoping for blessing and life in the land God promised to their ancestors (see Deut. In the creating days, the power of God’s word tamed what was wild and brought to life what was desolate. The relationship between the preformed and pre-filled world and the creation days is important for this passage and for the entire Torah (not to mention all Scripture). The unformed and unfilled state of the earth set up the six creation days-three in which God formed the world and three in which he filled it. Formed from the wild and the wasteĪccording to the storyteller, the world God created in the beginning was unformed and unfilled-wild and waste. ![]() Learn more in The Torah Story online course. Instead, the opening of Genesis theologically interprets the relationship between God and the human world, namely, that he created it by the power of his word. In this case, the author is not primarily explaining in historical or scientific terms the beginning of the human realm. An apprentice of the biblical writers, especially one who regards their writings as Scripture, needs to put the weight of his or her studies on what the biblical authors have written rather than on what they have omitted. The other biblical authors found in the pentateuchal creation narrative an account on which to construct their own writings.īiblical readers are free to wonder about the source or sources of the creation account. From ancient times, Judaic and Christian believers have embraced Genesis and its account of creation as Scripture-God’s word. The author does not disclose the source of the Genesis creation story. Or, perhaps God revealed it to him in a special way, such as through an oracle or vision. Perhaps he offered his own interpretation of how it might have happened based on his understanding of God, humanity, and creation. He could have imaginatively adapted his narrative as a polemic against an ancient written account like the Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish. Perhaps the author learned the story from an ancient oral tradition. You may also ask, “How did the author learn of this story since there were no people to observe it?” We, as readers, can make guesses. The opening of Genesis, however, attempts to tell the story of the beginning of the human realm. Whether there are other beginnings or not remains a significant issue. The story that follows reveals that this is the beginning of the human world-the setting for God’s story. ![]() The Torah begins with a beginning-“in the beginning.” It simultaneously serves as the introduction to the book of Genesis, the Torah, the Hebrew scriptures, and the entire Bible. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at What is the origin of the creation story? You may unsubscribe from these email communications at any time.
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