Creation Accounts in Genesis

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Continuing with lights…

On the fourth day God created two lights,

one to rule the day, but does not use the normal Hebrew word for sun.

One to rule the night, but does not use the normal Hebrew word for moon.

There are many other lights in the Bible: His decree are lights; His judgments are lights; His commands are lights; His home is an inaccessible light; He is light; the Word is a light; wisdom is a light; His holy ones are lights; we are lights; knowledge is a light; Gospel is a light; His face is a light; the sun of justice or righteousness; the dayspring in Luke; the sun in revelation; and prophecy is a light.

I believe this is the kind of light that God created. I believe some of these are the literal light of the creation accounts.
 
Concerning the morning in the creation accounts, Psalm 59: 16 tells us that Mercy or love with the dawn. The psalm says: mercy or love with the dawn.

The literal interpretation of these account are based one love.

Again, His love gives life, life is the light for the world.

Psalm 136 is a psalm that teaches How God created, that is, by, with, in and through love.

This teaching about love gives life and life gives light, the passages that address this are John 1: 1-5 and I John 4: 9.
 
Crumpy said:
As Fr. George Montague, the author of the recently published commentary on the pastoral epistles noted, modern Catholic exegesis has at least two concerns, which might be surprising. The first is, what did scripture mean when it was written, as intended by the author and interpreted by the listeners. The second is, what does it mean NOW.

The revelation given by Jesus Christ on the road to Emmaus was about how the Hebrew Scriptures pertained to Him. That has given the Church the insight to look much further and exhaustively as to how the older writings pertain to the modern context, i.e. Christianity.

A Jewish commentary points out how the “God” of Gen 1:1 is revealed as a Judge. The Hebrew word is “elohim” and that word refers to the nature of God as being just. In fact, in the first creation account (Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:1) we read how God is judging things. This is good, that is good, the whole thing is good. These are judgments, not mere commentary or compliments that God pays to Himself.

The second account of creation, starting at Gen 2:3 or thereabouts is written in the Yahwehist or Yahwist tradition, the Hebrew “YHWH” which emphasizes the mercy of God.

Both creation accounts are complementary, and serve, in addition to anything else, to bring out the nature of God, in these two main characteristics.
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Indeed the two creation accounts are complementary. This author argues the unity of Genesis and as art that is much deeper and richer than the modern way of studying Genesis. This is pretty amazing stuff.

Look at the diptych’s as shown here:

Genesis as dialogue: a literary, historical, & theological commentary
 
Jim_Baur said:
In the Beginning God created heaven and earth.

In the Beginning was the Word.

Jesus is the Word become man.

Jesus is the Beginning and the End.

Therefore the God created in Him, with Him and from Him–Jesus.

Second, God so loved the world that He sent His Son.

When we see that the Word is also love, then God created with love.

Or, this is how God created–with love.

One last thing for now, we were made in the image and likeness of God.

God is love.

Therefore we were made in the image and likeness of God.
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According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Holy Spirit is the Love of God, or the wisdom of God, while Jesus, the son, is the Word of God. This is a quote from his ‘Shorter Summa’:

The relations by which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinguished from one another are real relations and not merely mental relations. There cannot be more than 3 persons in God. Procession in God that does not terminate outside of God, must be either according to the operation of the intellect, whereby the Word proceeds, or according to the operation of the Will, whereby love proceeds. Therefore no divine person can proceed unless He proceed as the Word, whom we call the Son, or as love, whom we call the Holy Spirit.

Since God comprehends everything in His intellect by a single act of intuition and similarly loves everything by a single act of His will, there cannot be several words or several loves in God. So there is only one Son, who is the Word and only one Holy Spirit who is His Love.
 
Thanks for the help, I have more ideas for discussion but it might take a day or two to find the time.

Again, thanks for you helpful ideas.
 
On the Third Day God makes vegetation grow.

Could this be all kinds of vegetation in the sense that He is making the physical trees and other kinds of plants. Also, by their fruits you will know them, Is it also the trees of love, life, knowledge, joy, peace, kindness and so forth?
 
how about, as some Tradition has it, that just as God made the world in six days, rested on the seventh, and rose from the dead on the eighth, so God shall REmake the world in eight ages, the Salvation history.

Each age begins with spiritual darkness (evening) and ends with spiritual light [morning].

This is salvation history, first a great period of sin, then a period of Redemption, then sin again, then redemption again:

Wickedness of Noah’s day, the Flood

Tower of Babel, confounding of tongues and calling of Abraham

Egypt enslaves, the Exodus and OT Kingdom

The Jews become unfaithful to the Law and Prophets, the Exile and Restoration to Holy Land

Maccabbean OT Antichrist Ordeal, Christ comes the first time

Pagan Rome persecutes, Catholicism converts much of world (Catholic Christendom)

Gentiles lose faith progressively (Protestantism to present minor apostasy), Minor Chastisement/restoration to faith/age of peace (the imperfect Sabbath rest from the sin of history)

The Great apostasy and NT Antichrist, Second Coming/General Resurrection/Eternal New Creation (the ultimate Sabbath that shall never end)

How’s that for theology? 🙂
 
Reflection on literal seven days

When considering the literal sense of the first chapter of Genesis, the literal sense is difficult to recognize. The literal sense of the words beginning, God, created, abyss, mighty wind, waters, light, day, darkness, night, evening, morning, the firmament, waters above firmament and below the firmament, dry land, earth, vegetation, the great light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, stars, the birds that fly below the heavens, sea creatures, land animals and human beings are more fully understood by using the other parts of the Bible. The word God is even difficult to understand. What is the literal, factual, and historical being described by the word God? We improve our understanding of the reality that is signified by the word God when we utilize other parts of the Bible. We then realize that God has a name, I Am Who Am. God is beautiful, infinitely loving, and eternally happy. He gives His children existence, love, and ultimately happiness. He makes us love Him and His children. All of these are biblical mysteries.

The literal, factual, and historical (from now on, literal) sense of created also needs other parts of the Bible. From other parts of the Bible we discover that before creation there was only God, nothing else. God created and made all things that exist; but He always existed. Also, we begin to see that God created all that is by, in, through, and from His love. The literal senses of God and created teach us that God created all things by His love.

Let us look at the word beginning. The literal sense is that all things had their beginning by and from God. The Bible later says that the Word of God is the Beginning. The Bible also reveals that the Word of God became human and made His dwelling with us. In addition, the Bible reveals that the Word of God was God’s love sent into the world to redeem us. Thus, the Word of God is love, and it is in His love that God created all that things. Therefore the word beginning has two senses, one that creation had a beginning, and that the Word of God is the beginning.

Heaven’s literal sense is better understood by other parts of the Bible. Heaven can be seen as coming into existence from God. It is the place where good angels and humans experience God’s love for all time.

Earth’s literal creation is clear. Earth had a beginning and it is from God’s love.

There are two kinds of abyss, God’s judgment and the deep of the earth or sea. The abyss here is at first in darkness, and then God says let there be light. The abyss is then separated from the darkness, and receives the light from God’s face, home, commandments, and words. God’s judgment is now enlightened.

Let us look at the word light. The literal sense of light is better understood by using other passages from the Bible. Light has two senses: one is the light of the Word, commandments, judgments of God, God’s face, God’s home, His laws, prophecy, knowledge, the Gospel, holy ones, and from Jesus Himself. The other sense is light from the sun, moon, stars, and fire. The light that enlightens the abyss, God’s judgment, is the light of His word and commandments.
 
Reflection on literal seven days, continued

The word day’s literal sense is told to us, God called the light day. There are seven lights that Genesis calls days. Also, we know that light is a fundamental reality joined to heaven. This light that enlightened the abyss is called day. This literal meaning of day is that it enlightens the judgment of God.

The word night’s literal sense is revealed to us, the darkness He called night. The literal meaning of darkness and night is that it darkens the judgments of God.

The word evening is the time of darkness. Darkness is night. The light of God’s face, judgment and commands are the light of day.

The literal sense of morning is revealed to us in some of the psalms. His love or mercy is the beginning of the day, and day is the light that enlightens His judgment.

The literal sense of the firmament is revealed to us here, God called the firmament heaven. Also, the firmament is heaven which is His powerful love. In the New Testament it seems to be His faith placed in our hearts. Paul says “I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is” (Colossians 2: 5).

The waters above the firmament seem to be the waters of the Word of God. As St. John tells us that Jesus said, “He that believe on me, as the scripture has said, out of his bell shall flow rivers of living water.” The water below the heavens is where the whore of Revelation sits.

God created dry land, earth, vegetation, plants and every kind of fruit tree with its fruit in it. This seems to point to two different kinds of reality at once. The first is the plants and trees on the earth such as orange, peach, apple and pear trees. There are other kinds of trees such as trees of love, life, knowledge, wisdom, justice, peace and joy. These are trees produced by the seed or the word of God planted in human beings that were made from the clay of the ground.

God created lights in the firmament. He created two great lights, the greater to rule or govern the day. This verse does not use the normal word for the physical sun. The best biblical suggestion for the literal meaning of this ruling light of the day is from Malachi, St. Luke and the book of Revelation. In Malachi it is stated: “But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with it healing rays…” In St. Luke it is stated: “He, the Dayspring, shall visit us in His mercy. To shine on those who sit in darkness…”

The passage that says the lesser light to rule the night does not use the normal word for moon. Traditionally this verse can be seen as the people of God. We give light to the night of the world. We are the light to the world.
 
Reflection on seven literal days, continued

The stars were created by God, too. The word star seems to have two meanings. The first meaning is the stars that we see in the sky. The other meaning of the word star seems to point to angles. This can be seen in the book of Revelation. It also seems to be indicated when St. Matthew says that astrologers arrived from the east, but St. Luke says that an angel lead the shepherds.

The birds that flew below the heavens are the birds that fly in our sky. Also, Jesus does use birds in His parable of the seed as a symbol for the devil.

The sea creatures are all the different kinds of animals that swim the seas of the world. However, the sea monsters of John were also created by God. Thus we have two meanings for sea creatures, too.

Then we come to the land creatures including human beings. The human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. The Word that became flesh is the image of God and we were created in His image. These seem to be the literal meaning of some of the crucial words in this creation account.

On the seventh day God rested. These days are composed of light from God, or light is what composes these days. Again, there are seven lights that Genesis calls days.
 
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