Bible Studies

The Bible Begins with Good News

Lois Tverberg
Garden of Eden

by Lois Tverberg

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. – Genesis 1:31-2:1

The creation story in Genesis teaches some revolutionary truths which are so basic that we can hardly think in any other terms. But, until Judaism and Christianity brought them to the world, they were not a part of mankind’s thinking. Not only are they important, they are wonderful news once you think about it!

The biblical account was utterly unique in comparison to all other ancient stories about creation, and the differences were a powerful challenge to the world-view of its time. Most creation myths Egyptian Creation Mythfeatured wars between human-like gods and goddesses. Through sex and violence, various parts of the creation were formed. According to these myths, the gods were limited in power and not at all interested in morality – just how to gain power over the other gods. They did not care about humanity, but instead created humans as slaves to serve their own desires. Humans were to appease these gods through magical incantations and religious ceremonies, but there was no moral standard – the goal of life was to survive by being quick-witted and devious. People saw the world as unpredictable and cruel, and didn’t see that their lives were meaningful in any way. Humans had no hope of anything beyond survival in a callous, immoral world.

Garden of EdenIn contrast, the first few chapters of Genesis flip our thinking upside-down and offer tremendous hope. One eternal God created everything and is apart from creation. Because God is unique and all powerful, he can set a universal standard of ethics that applies to all humanity. He is the foundation of all good, created a good world, and is concerned about humanity. Man is uniquely precious to him – he was made from dust, but he alone received the breath of life from God himself. God made us in his image, and because of that, God is our “kinsman-redeemer” who is our protector and savior. What good news compared to the immoral, unconcerned pagan gods!

We hardly appreciate these truths that are important fundamentals even before we get to the story of Christ. But the Bible begins with good news, and it only gets better from there.

Photocred: British Museum

In Wonder of the God of Creation

Bruce Okkema
Creation

by Bruce Okkema

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. – Genesis 1:26-28

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. – Genesis 2:4-7

Creation

Numerous volumes have been written attempting to explain the creation account in the book of Genesis. There have been all kinds of discussions about its purpose, its meaning, and the “science” of it. But certainly most of us would agree, whatever our theology, that many questions remain with room for debate.

Lay aside any debate for a while, and ponder the magnificence of the story and the beauty of the pictures in front of us. We have in the first two chapters of the Bible an account of history that could not have been generated by human memory, because it comes from a time before mankind existed. Either the Lord revealed these things directly to Moses, or He told someone who had gone before and it was passed down from generation to generation.

In any case, Moses relates two adjacent versions of creation which are different in order, content, and emphasis. Chapter 1 emphasizes the transcendent God who is supreme over the universe, while chapter 2 focuses on his very special creation and his relationship to the one created in his own image. It is in this connection (Gen 2:4) that we have the first use of God’s Holy Name, used nineteen times in chapters 2 and 3, but not once in chapter 1, — and seldom throughout the rest of the Torah.

Can you comprehend a God big enough to create something in his image with the ability to choose not to follow instructions? Can you feel the hurt in the Lord’s heart when we choose not honor him? Can you imagine the joy in his heart when we do so choose?

The Lord has given us full dominion over all his creation, will you choose to serve him?

Photocred: Art-Jam

Not Quite the Beginning

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. – Genesis 1:1

In Hebrew, the name of the book of Genesis is Bereshit, which is the first word of the book. It is translated, “In the beginning” in our Bibles.

The word starts with the Hebrew letter bet, which is quite obvious if you look at the first page of any Bible printed in Hebrew. The bet is printed extra large and extra dark, just to tell you that this is where you begin.

The letter bet corresponds to our letter B. It is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, like “B” is the second letter of the English alphabet.

There is an interesting Jewish sermon preached about this very first letter. The rabbis asked the question, “Why do the scriptures begin with the second letter of the alphabet rather than the first?” Their answer: To show that the scriptures do not answer every question, and not all knowledge is accessible to man, but some is reserved for God himself.

They point out that the letter bet is closed on the right side but open on the left. Since Hebrew is read right to left, it appeared to them that the Scriptures start with a letter that is open in the direction of the reading, but closed toward the direction of the beginning of the text. It’s as if there is a one-way sign saying that you need to start here and move forward through the scriptures.

The point of this is not to discourage study and inquiry, but to point out the important fact that some things God has chosen to allow to remain a mystery to man. Even in this first line, there is no attempt to answer the question of where God himself came from. Pagan creation accounts always began with stories about how the gods themselves came into existence, feeling the need to address that question. But God in his majesty does not give every answer, just as he did not give Job every answer to the questions he asked.

Even if God wanted to reveal a portion of his wisdom, the sheer magnitude would overwhelm us. We often forget that God designed everything from neutrons to galaxies, and that we are just specks in comparison to his unfathomable magnitude. There is wisdom in the humility to be able to say, “I don’t know” sometimes, and let God alone know all things. 

Emunah – Faithfulness, Abraham Believed

Lois Tverberg 1 Comment

by Lois Tverberg

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

One of the most quoted verses about Abraham is Genesis 15:6: “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” This is a key verse in the discussion about being saved by faith apart from works, the central point of the Reformation. It was Abram’s “believing” that gave him righteousness in God’s sight. Protestants have emphasized the importance of believing God’s promises, instead of working to earn our salvation.

But it is important to understand that the key word, emunah, that we translate “believe” has a different emphasis in Hebrew than we tend to hear. In English and Greek (pistis), its primary meaning is to assent to a factual statement, to agree with the truth of certain ideas.

The word emunah does mean to have faith, but it has a broader meaning that has implications for what God calls us to as people of faith. It contains the idea of steadfastness or persistence. In Exodus 17 Moses raised his hands all day long until the Israelites won a key battle. It says that his hands remained steady, emunah, until sunset. In this sense it means steadfast. God is also described using the word emunah in Deuteronomy 7:9:

Abraham and 3 angels“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful (emunah) God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. “

If we look back at the verse about Abraham’s emunah, it should tell us that Abraham believed God’s promises and had a persistent commitment to God which showed in his faithful life. He waited 25 years for a son, and offered him back to God when he was asked.

This has implications about what it means to be a Christian. I used to wonder why God saved certain people just because they decided to adopt one particular set of beliefs over another. But as James pointed out, Satan himself believes that Jesus died for the sins of the world and that he is God in the flesh, and just knowing that doesn’t redeem him!

But while Satan may have the right beliefs, he cannot say that he has emunah: a committed faithfulness to the Lord. What God asks for goes beyond an academic decision to believe that a certain set of facts are true. He wants faith in his promises that results in a steadfast faithfulness to him.

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Further reading:

See Listening to the Language of the Bible, by Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004. This is a collection of devotional essays that mediate on the meaning of biblical words and phrases in their original setting.

For a friendly, bite-sized Bible study of five flavorful Hebrew words, see 5 Hebrew Words that Every Christian Should Know, by Lois Tverberg, OurRabbiJesus.com, 2014 (ebook).