The Pentateuch:
Genesis (I)
Sunday 19th July 2020
The word Pentateuch comes from Greek meaning ‘five
books’. In our Christian context these are the first five books of the Bible
and they are worth knowing as they are often many an answer to a pub quiz!
Genesis (Gn), Exodus (Ex), Leviticus (Lv), Numbers (Nb) and Deuteronomy (Dt).
Our brothers and sisters in the Jewish community know these five books as the
Torah, also called the Law.
- The book of Genesis describes creation and tells of the epic lives of the Patriarchs, the Fathers of the people of Israel, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
- In the book of Exodus we read about God’s deliverance for His people from the hands of Pharaoh in Egypt. Exodus also describes the covenant, that unique relationship, between God and His freed people.
- The final three books, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy all contain the commandments and laws of God. These rules are to help the people stay in a right relationship of love and holiness with God, their deliverer.
Now we have an overview of what the
Pentateuch/Torah is, let’s delve into our first text from the book of Genesis.
As we begin, let us pray.
Prayer
before (or after) reading the Holy Bible
+
Come,
O Holy Spirit,
and
fill us with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom.
Strengthen
us, we pray, with heavenly grace,
so
that we may grasp with our minds,
treasure
in our hearts,
and
carry out in our deeds,
all
the teachings of your Holy Book
which
lead to salvation.
Amen.
I found that prayer (above) on a piece of paper
that fell from one of many books I was given by a kindly man called Mr Austin
McCauley. He was a neighbour of my grandparents and when he found out that I
was going to seminary he very generously gave me some books to help with my
studies. When that prayer fell out from the pages of one of his books, I knew
that not only did he read, extensively and seriously, but more importantly he
was a man of prayer. Without prayer are hearts remain cold and we can never
truly grow in Faith despite how much knowledge our brains can retain. I would
invite you to say this prayer each time you begin to read your Bible so that
your heart will be open to God’s voice.
Genesis
In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gn 1:1)
As we begin to journey through the book of Genesis
please read for today’s reflection Gn1:1 – 2:4. As a refresher for those who
are still unsure about biblical referencing Gn 1:1 – 2:4 is the book of Genesis
(Gn), Chapter One, verse One (1:1), and read through until chapter two, verse
four (2:4).
Let’s first of all put these words of Genesis into
their historical context. Do you remember one of the hit records of 1978 by
Boney M called, ‘The Rivers of Babylon’? The lyrics of this Top-Ten song were
based on Psalm 136.
‘By
the rivers of Babylon
there
we sat and wept,
remembering
Sion;
on
the poplars that grew there
we
hung up our harps.
O
how could we sing
the
song of the Lord
on
alien soil?
If
I forget you, Jerusalem,
let
my right hand river.’ (Ps 136:1-5)
These words were originally written by an exile and
who was missing his homeland and longing to return. In 596BC his country of
Judah was invaded and its capital, Jerusalem, was captured. The Babylonians
then forced many of their newly conquered inhabitants to live in exile in
Babylon so to assimilate them into their own culture and quash the threat of
future uprisings in their empire. Between 597Bc to 539BC, many of God’s people
lived in exile and their yearning for home, as seen in Psalm 136, never truly
went away.
Living in a new land, learning a new language and
attempting to embrace a new culture was both frustrating and confusing for the
exiled people of Judah. The Babylonians believed in an ancient story about the origins
of creation and humankind that was known as the ‘Enuma Elish’. It
described the origins of the seasons, the makings of life and the battles
between the gods – Marduk being their great venerated deity.
The Enuma Elish explains that human beings were
created to serve the gods and undertake menial tasks. Marduk (picture above)
achieved this goal by using the blood of his enemy to create mortals whose sole
purpose and existence was to be subservient. The exiled community of Judah knew
these Babylonian creation myths to be fantastical and contrary to what God had
revealed to them about the origins of life. They undertook to write down
formally the Creation story so that they could pass down the truth and hence
the book of Genesis began to take shape.
Now we know the historical context for this passage
in Genesis let’s begin to look at it’s literary style. Genesis is not, was not
and has never claimed to be a detailed scientific account of the origins of the
world. The creation narrative found in Genesis is a poetic epic that reveals
fundamental divine truths. William Wordsworth, the great poet, will help us to
unpack this further.
‘I
wandered lonely as a cloud
That
floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When
all at once I saw a crowd,
A
host, of golden daffodils;
Beside
the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering
and dancing in the breeze.’
The above lines are infamous and well known. Nobody
really believes Wordsworth actually supernaturally began to hover over vales
and hills and physically took the shape of a cloud when they read his words.
Hopefully, no sane person, believes that a bunch of daffodils suddenly took up
the foxtrot as they danced in the breeze. However, what we do accept in the
poets work is the emotion he is trying to convey about a personal experience.
The images and metaphors paint a picture of a concrete moment in Wordsworth’s
life that elated him in a profound and deeply moving way. The creation
narrative in Genesis is doing the same thing. It is revealing the truth of
God’s work in the universe and the beauty of the living world.
The writers of Genesis show that God made an
ordered universe without defect. The repetition of ‘Let there be...’,
‘God saw that it was good...’ and ‘Evening came and morning
came...’ all emphasise the beauty and unique design of the world and
all the elements that God personally created to make it. The world is in a
perfect relationship with God, it is in a state of original holiness.
Creation is structured as a working week. Day one
God creates and separates light from darkness. Day two the waters are divided
from the dome of the sky. On the third day the earth and its vegetation are
created with day four being reserved for the formation of the sun, moon and
stars. Day five God fills the waters and air with living beings and on day six
man is made and finally on the seventh day God rests. The imagery used in this
passage of Genesis continues to emphasise the beauteous order of God’s creation
and how it all fits and works together in harmony. Think of an orchestra. Every
section, no matter how small a part that section may play, all help to create
something wonderful.
When the human family if formed on the sixth day,
it is formed out of nothing but God’s love. The Creator does not make humankind
to be slaves and perform menial tasks for Him, unlike the Babylonian mythical
god Marduk. God instead wants to allow others, wants man, to share and relish
in His Divine Love.
Our biblical journey next week will be an encounter
with Adam and Eve.
God Bless and keep praying
Fr. O’Brien
