Kicking Off With Genesis

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Webers_Home

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Hello; and welcome to the very first book of the Bible.

I'm attempting a systematic, home-spun commentary practically verse by
verse from the creation of the cosmos to Joseph's burial in Egypt.

As of today's date, I'm 73 years old; and an on-going student of the Bible
since 1968 via sermons, seminars, lectures, Sunday school classes, radio
Bible programs, and various authors of a number of Bible-related books.
Forty-nine years of Bible under my belt hasn't made me an authority; but
they've at least made me competent enough to compose this commentary.

Barring emergencies, accidents, vacations, unforeseen circumstances,
and/or insurmountable distractions, database errors, difficulties, computer
crashes, black outs, brown outs, deaths in the family, Wall Street
Armageddon, thread hijackers, excessive quarrelling and debating, the dog
ate my homework, Executive Orders, visiting relatives, brute force, ISIS,
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, gasoline prices, medical issues, and/or hard
luck and the forces of nature; I'm making an effort to keep up a running
commentary every day including Sundays and holidays.

All the really cool stuff is in Genesis: the origin of the cosmos, the origin of
human life, Adam and Eve, the origin of marriage, the Devil, the first lie, the
first transgression, the origin of human death, the origin of clothing, the first
baby, Cain and Abel, the first murder, the Flood, the tower of Babel, and the
origin of Yhvh's people.

Big-name celebrities like Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Ishmael,
Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph are here too.

Not here are Moses vs. Pharaoh and the parting of the Red Sea. That story is
in Exodus; Samson and Delilah are in Judges, David and Goliath are in
1Samuel; and Ruth and Esther are in books of the Bible named after them.

Buen Camino

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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:1

The author of Genesis is currently unknown; but commonly attributed to
Moses. Seeing as he penned Exodus (Mark 12:26) it's conceivable that
Moses also penned Genesis; but in reality, nobody really knows.

Scholars have estimated the date of its writing at around 1450-1410 BC;
which is pretty recent in the grand scheme of Earth's geological history-- a
mere 3,400 years ago.

Genesis may in fact be the result of several contributors beginning as far
back as Adam himself; who would certainly know more about the creation
than anybody, and who entertained no doubts whatsoever about the
existence of an intelligent designer since he knew the creator Himself like a
next door neighbor.

As time went by, others like Seth and Noah would add their own experiences
to the record, and then Abraham his, Isaac his, Jacob his, and finally Judah
or one of his descendants completing the record with Joseph's burial.

Genesis is quoted more than sixty times in the New Testament; and Christ
authenticated its Divine inspiration by referring to it in his own teachings.
(e.g. Matt 19:4-6, Matt 24:37-39, Mk 10:4-9, Luke 11:49-51, Luke 17:26
29 & 32, John 7:21-23, John 8:44 and John 8:56)

Genesis doesn't waste words with an apologetic argument to convince
scientific minds that a supreme being exists; rather, it starts off by claiming
that the existence of the cosmos is due to intelligent design. I mean: if the
complexity of the cosmos-- its extent, its objects, and all of its forms of life,
matter, and energy --isn't enough to convince the skeptics; then they're
pretty much beyond reach.

The creation story wasn't written for the scientific community, nor was it
written for people who indulge in debating and perpetual bull sessions that
never get to the bottom of anything; rather, the creation story was written
for the religious community.

"By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so
that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." (Heb 11:3)

There's quite a bit of debate related to origins; viz: the origin of species, the
origin of the universe, and the origin of life; but not much debate about the
origin of matter; defined by Webster's as 1) the substance of which a
physical object is composed and 2) material substance that occupies space,
has mass, and is composed predominantly of atoms consisting of protons,
neutrons, and electrons, that constitutes the observable universe, and that
is interconvertible with energy.

Without matter there could be no Big Bang, there could be no universe,
there could be no life, and there could be no evolution. The origin of matter
then is where we have to begin.

Gen 1:1a . . In the beginning God

The Hebrew word for "God" is 'elohiym (el-o-heem') which isn't the creator's
personal moniker, rather, a nondescript label that pertains to all sorts of
deities both the true and the false and/or the real and the imagined. The
noun is grammatically plural but doesn't necessarily indicate creation's God
is a plural being. Sheep, fish, and deer are plural too but don't always
indicate more than one of each. There are other gods in the Bible, such as
Baal and Dagon, to whom the word 'elohiym is applied and those gods aren't
composite entities; e.g. 1Kgs 18:25-29 and Jgs 16:23.


NOTE: The plurality of 'elohiym works to the advantage of some religions;
e.g. Jehovah's Witnesses. In their theology; no less than two creators were
involved in the origin of the cosmos; so that in their thinking, Gen 1:1 reads
like this:

"In the beginning, gods created the heavens and earth"

The word for "heavens" is from the Hebrew word shamayim (shaw-mah'
yim) and means: to be lofty; i.e. the sky; perhaps alluding to the visible
arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher void where the
celestial bodies reside, i.e. interstellar space. Even in English, the sky is
commonly referred to in the plural; i.e. heavens instead of heaven; which is
biblically correct since according to 2Cor 12:2 there's at least three.

The Hebrew word for "earth" is 'erets (eh'-rets) which is yet another of the
Bible's many ambiguous words. It can indicate dry land, a country, and/or
even the whole planet.

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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:2-4a

Gen 1:2a . . the earth being unformed and void

That statement reveals the earth's condition prior to the creation of an
energy that would make it possible for its particles to coalesce into
something coherent.

Gen 1:2b . . and darkness was over the surface of the deep

This deep is a curiosity because 2Pet 3:5 says the earth was formed out of
water and by water. So I think it's safe to conclude that every atomic
element that God needed to construct the Earth was in suspension in this
deep; viz: it was more than just H
2O; it was a colossal chemical soup, and
apparently God created enough of it to put together everything else in the
cosmos too.

Gen 1:2c . . and Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.

The Hebrew word here for "waters" is another plural noun like 'elohiym;
which means it can be translated water instead of waters. Plural nouns are
pretty much at the discretion of translators whether to make them plural or
singular in a particular context.

The Hebrew word for "moving" is located in only three places in the entire
Bible. One is here, and the others are at Deut 32:11 and Jer 23:9. The
meaning is ambiguous. It can refer to brooding; i.e. a mother hen using her
wings to keep her chicks together, and it can refer to incubation and/or
quaking, shaking, and fluttering. Take your pick. I'd guess that the Spirit's
movement was sort of like the hen keeping the colossal chemical soup from
running rampant and spreading itself all over the place before God began
putting it to use because up to this point, gravity didn't exist yet.

Gen 1:3 . . Then God said "Let there be light" and there was light.

The creation of light was a very, very intricate process. First God had to
create particulate matter, and along with those particles their specific
properties, including mass; if any. Then He had to invent the laws of nature
to govern how matter behaves in combination with and/or in the presence
of, other kinds of matter in order to generate electromagnetic radiation.

Light's properties are curious. It propagates as waves in a variety of lengths
and frequencies, and also as quantum bits called photons. And though light
has no mass; it's influenced by gravity. Light is also quite invisible to the
naked eye. For example: you can see the Sun when you look at it, and you
can see the Moon when sunlight reflects from its surface. But none of the
Sun's light is visible to you in the void between them and that's because
light isn't matter; it's energy; and there is really a lot of it.

Space was at one time thought to contain absolutely nothing until radio
astronomers discovered something called cosmic microwave background. In
a nutshell: CMB fills the universe with light that apparently radiates from no
detectable source. The popular notion is that CMB is energy left over from
the Big Bang.

The same laws that make it possible for matter to generate electromagnetic
radiation also make other conditions possible too; e.g. fire, wind, water, ice,
soil, rain, life, centrifugal force, thermodynamics, fusion, dark energy,
gravity, atoms, organic molecules, magnetism, color, radiation, refraction,
reflection, high energy X-rays and gamma rays, temperature, pressure,
force, inertia, sound, friction, and electricity; et al. So the creation of light
was a pretty big deal; yet Genesis scarcely gives its origin passing mention.

2Cor 4:6 verifies that light wasn't introduced into the cosmos from outside in
order to dispel the darkness and brighten things up a bit; but rather, it
radiated out of the cosmos from inside-- from itself --indicating that the
cosmos was created to be self-illuminating by means of the various
interactions of the matter that God made for it; including, but not limited to,
the Higgs Boson.

Gen 1:4a . . And God saw the light, that it was good

God didn't see the light until He said let there be light; meaning of course
that natural light didn't exist until God made it.

God declared that light is good; but He didn't declare that darkness is good.
In point of fact, darkness typically represents bad things in the Bible; while
light typically represents good things. It's been a rule of thumb from the
very beginning.

You know it's curious to me that most Bible students have no trouble readily
conceding that everything else in the first chapter of Genesis is natural, e.g.
the cosmos, the earth, the atmosphere, water, dry land, the Sun, the Moon,
the stars, aqua life, winged life, terra life, flora life, and human life.

But when it comes to light they choke; finding it impossible within
themselves to believe that Genesis just might be consistent in its description
of the creative process. I mean, if all those other things are natural, why
wouldn't the light be natural too? In point of fact, without natural light,
planet Earth would become a cold dead world right quick.

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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:4b-5

Gen 1:4b-5a . . and God separated the light from the darkness. God
called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.


Day and Night simply label two distinct physical conditions-- the absence of
light, and/or the absence of darkness. Labeling those physical conditions
may seem like a superfluous detail, but when analyzing crucifixion week in
the New Testament, it's essential to keep those physical conditions separate
in regards to Christ's burial and resurrection if one is to have any hope of
deducing the correct chronology of Easter week.

Gen 1:5b . . And there was evening and there was morning, a first Day.

When you think about it; a strict chronology of evening and morning doesn't
define day, it defines overnight; viz: darkness. In order to obtain a full 24
hour day, you'd have to define creation's first Day as a day and a night
rather than an evening and a morning.

In accordance with a normal, strict chronological sequence; evening and
morning would indicate overnight; viz: a day of creation would take place
entirely in the dark; which fails to comply with the definitions of Day given at
Gen 1:4-5a and Gen 1:14-18

Well; thus far Genesis defines Day as a time of light rather than a 24-hour
amalgam of light and dark; plus there was no Sun to cause physical
evenings and mornings till creation's fourth Day so we have to come at this
issue from another angle apart from physical properties.

According to Gen 1:24-31, God created humans and all terra critters on the
sixth Day; which has to include dinosaurs because on no other Day did God
create beasts but the sixth.

However; the sciences of geology and paleontology, in combination with
radiometric dating, strongly suggest that dinosaurs preceded humans by
several million years. So then, in my estimation, the Days of creation should
be taken to represent epochs rather than 24-hour events. That's not an
unreasonable estimation; for example:

"These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven." (Gen 2:4)

The Hebrew word for "day" in that verse is yowm (yome) which is the very
same word for each of the six Days of God's creation labors. Since yowm in
Gen 2:4 refers to a period of time obviously much longer than a 24-hour
calendar day; it justifies suggesting that each of the six Days of creation
were longer than 24 hours apiece too. In other words: yowm is ambiguous
and not all that easy to interpret sometimes.

Anyway; this "day" thing has been a stone in the shoe for just about
everybody who takes Genesis seriously. It's typically assumed that the Days
of creation consisted of twenty-four hours apiece; so Bible students end up
stumped when trying to figure out how to cope with the 4.5 billion-year age
of the earth, and factor in the various eras, e.g. Triassic, Jurassic, Mesozoic,
Cenozoic, Cretaceous, etc, plus the ice ages and the mass extinction events.


NOTE: Galileo believed that science and religion are allies rather than
enemies-- two different languages telling the same story. He believed that
science and religion compliment each other-- science answers questions that
religion doesn't bother to answer, and religion answers questions that
science cannot answer.

For example: theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking understood pretty well
how the universe works; but could never scientifically explain why it should
exist at all. Well the only possible answer to the "why" is found in intelligent
design; which is a religious explanation rather than scientific.

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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:6-10

Gen 1:6-8 . . And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of
the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God
made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it
was so. And God called the firmament Heaven.


In this case the word for "heaven" is singular probably because we're only
looking at the Earth's atmosphere.

We can easily guess what is meant by water that's below the sky. But is
there really water that's above it? Yes, and it's a lot! According to an article
in the Sept 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine, Earth's atmosphere
holds roughly 3,095 cubic miles of water in the form of vapor. That may
seem like a preposterous number of cubic miles of water; but not really
when it's considered that Lake Superior's volume alone is estimated at
nearly 3,000.

Our home planet is really big; a whole lot bigger than people sometimes
realize. It's surface area, in square miles, is 196,940,000. To give an idea of
just how many square miles that is: if somebody were to wrap a belt around
the equator made of one-mile squares; it would only take 24,902 squares to
complete the distance; which is a mere .00012644 the surface area.

Some of the more familiar global warming gases are carbon dioxide,
fluorocarbons, methane, and ozone. But as popular as those gases are with
the media, they're bit players in comparison to the role that ordinary water
vapor plays in global warming. By some estimates; atmospheric water vapor
accounts for more than 90% of global warming; which is not a bad thing
because without atmospheric water vapor, the earth would be so cold that
the only life that could exist here would be extremophiles.

How much water is below the firmament? Well; according to the same National
Geographic article; the amount contained in swamp water, lakes and rivers,
ground water, and oceans, seas, and bays adds up to something like 326.6
million cubic miles; and that's not counting the 5.85 million cubic miles tied
up in living organisms, soil moisture, ground ice and permafrost, ice sheets,
glaciers, and permanent snow.

To put that in perspective: a tower 326.6 million miles high would exceed
the Sun's distance better than 3½ times. It would've exceeded the distance
between Mars and Earth on July 27, 2018 by 5 times.

Gen 1:8b . . And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

At this point, there was no sun to cause physical evenings and mornings; so
we can safely assume that the terms are merely place-cards indicating the
completion of one of creation's six-step processes and the beginning of
another.

Gen 1:9 . . And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be
gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it
was so.


At this point, God initiated the on-going titanic forces that keep the Earth's
surface in a perpetual state of alteration.

"He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. You
covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the
mountains. At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took
to flight. The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you
appointed for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they
might not again cover the earth." (Ps 104:5-9)

Psalm 104 is stunning; and clearly way ahead of its time. Mountains rising,
and valleys sinking speaks of magma pressure and tectonic plate
subduction.

It's doubtful the Psalmist knew about those particular fields of science but he
was clearly somehow aware that the Earth's crust is malleable. And that's
true. With just the right combination of time, temperature, and pressure;
solid rock can be made to fracture, buckle, and give way; and also to bend,
even forced to hairpin back upon itself like taffy.

Now, it's right about here that young-earth theorists have a problem
because it's obvious from physical evidence that much of the Earth's dry
land was inundated for a very, very long time.

Take for example Mount Everest. Today its tippy top is something like
29,029 feet above sea level. The discovery of fossilized sea lilies near its
summit proves that the Himalayan land mass has not always been
mountainous; but at one time was the floor of an ancient sea bed. This is
confirmed by the "yellow band" below Everest's summit consisting of
limestone: a type of rock made from calcite sediments containing the
skeletal remains of countless trillions of organisms who lived, not on dry
land, but in an ocean.

Gen 1:10 . . And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering
together of the waters He called Seas: and God saw that it was good.


"good" meaning not that the dry ground and seas are morally acceptable,
but rather, perfectly suitable for the purposes that God had in mind for
them.


NOTE: There are Hebrew words in the Bible for marshes, rivers, and
streams; but I've yet to encounter one for lakes and ponds. In other words
"seas" suffices not only for oceans; but also for smaller accumulations. (A
rather curious sea is located at 1Kings 7:23-26)

/
 
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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:11-13

Gen 1:11a . . Then God said: Let the land produce vegetation

This is the very first mention of life on earth; and what's interesting about it
is that life on earth wasn't created from nothing, rather, by means of
ingredients taken from the earth itself; e.g. aqua life and winged life were
made from water and terra life was made from land.

Gen 1:11b-12 . . seed-bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on
earth that bear fruit with the seed in it. And it was so. The earth
brought forth vegetation: seed-bearing plants of every kind, and
trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw
that this was good.

According to Gen 2:4-5, the land's plant life was dormant in the beginning; it
didn't actually flourish until the atmosphere began producing precipitation.


NOTE: It's believed by science that there was an era in Earth's youth called
the Carboniferous period when it was blanketed by dense jungles and
forests. As those plants and trees died, and were buried beneath layers of
sediment; their unique chemical structure caused them to be "cooked" into
solid coal; and there is really a lot of it.

Why isn't the Earth currently blanketed by dense jungles and forests? Well;
the earth's conditions today cannot produce enough humidity, nor enough
rain, nor enough global warming to sustain the kinds of heavy vegetation
that once existed in the Carboniferous era. In other words: the earth, over
time, has managed to give itself a remarkable make-over; and at least one
element of its make-over are the mountains.

The ranges now in existence; e.g. the Andes, the Himalayas, the Rockies,
the Urals, the Appalachians, the Cascades, the Brooks Range, the Alps, etc;
and the various minor inland and coastal ranges didn't always exist. Those
were shoved up over time by the forces of tectonic subduction, volcanism,
and magma pressure. Even Yosemite's massive granite monoliths haven't
always been there. They were formed deep underground and then somehow
shoved up to where they are now.

Anyway, point being; those ranges have a very great deal to do with the
earth's current weather systems.

Gen 1:13 . . And there was evening and there was morning, a third
day.

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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:14

Gen 1:14a . . God said: Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky

On the fourth day, God spent time up in celestial regions. It might seem odd that He began work on the surface of the Earth, and then before finishing, stopped short and moved off into space. Why not finish building down here on the planet first?

Many types of plants and animals need sunlight if they're to be strong and healthy. At this point in the creation, planet Earth was very dark and freezing cold. For example: the dark side of the Moon gets down to like 279º below zero; so it was time to turn the earth into a greenhouse.

A major player in the earth's water cycle is evaporation, which is driven by the Sun. By means of evaporation, the earth's atmosphere gets enough water vapor to form the clouds that produce precipitation.

The Sun also plays a role in temperature variations that make conditions like humidity and fog possible. Temperature variations also play a role in the process of erosion; which assists in soil formation.

Many varieties of vegetation depend upon the annual cycle of the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter; seasons which would not be possible without the Sun.

Oxygen is a must gas for sustaining life on earth and a very large percentage of it is produced by photosynthesis which is a chemical process that works best in sunlight. No doubt the original atmosphere contained oxygen enough, but would eventually be absorbed by oxidation and other kinds of chemical activity. Plant life plays a major role in both filtration and replenishment; hence the need to get a Sun shining as soon as possible.

The atmosphere contains about 19.5 to 23.5 percent oxygen at any given time and even with all the fossil fuel burned around the world, along with the destruction of savannas, prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and rain forests, coupled with volcanic activity; the percentage remain fairly stable.

We today are aware that the Moon doesn't generate its own light; but prior to that discovery, people no doubt regarded the Moon as a sun; especially seeing as how from the perspective of Earth, the Sun and the Moon appear to be exactly the same size in diameter, and both appear to circle the Earth.

Gen 1:14b . . to distinguish Day from Night;

On the first day; God defined Day as a condition of light; and defined Night as a condition of darkness. Here, it's further defined that Day, as pertains to life on Earth, is when the Sun is up; and Night is when the Sun is down.

These definitions occur so early in the Bible that they easily escape the memories of Bible students as they slip into the reflexive habit of always thinking of Days as periods of one earth rotation of 24 hours. That's okay for calendars but can lead to gross misunderstandings when interpreting biblical schedules, predictions, and/or chronologies.

Gen 1:14c . . they shall serve as signs for the set times-- the days and the years;

The word for "signs" is from 'owth (oth) and means a signal; viz: indicators. For example: the mark that God put on Cain was an 'owth. (Gen 4:15)

The Sun and the Moon are very useful time keepers. The Sun of course marks off days and years; and if you were to tell somebody your intention to visit them in five Moons, they would have a pretty good idea when to get ready for your arrival; so long as you both used a common definition of "moon". To some, a moon is new moon, while for others a moon indicates full moon.

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mjrhealth

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Good luck on this one, i know someone who teh Lord has being teaching Genesis for over 30 years and so far hasnt made it past teh 3 chapter.

Have fun
 
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ScottA

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This is very good and I really like your writing style, so I don't want to rain on the parade you have begun. But this is [only] the word as it is publicly understood, i.e. the ecclesiastical account, a worldly study. Surely there is profit in the word. But how much greater, after all this time, if it were to now included the spiritual interpretation?

"My words are spirit."

Of course, some will undoubtedly say, "Christ spoke many parables, but all scripture is not in parables." But, on the contrary, here is what Jesus himself said: “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables." And if it has been given to us "to know the mystery", why then would we leave that part out and simply elaborate the manifest parable component?

For example, if the ancient scriptures read: "Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow"...surely we should tell the lost world that it is about Jesus.
 
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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:15-19

Gen 1:15-18a . . and they shall serve as lights in the expanse of the
sky to shine upon the Earth. And it was so. God made the two great
lights, the greater light to dominate the day and the lesser light to
dominate the night, and the stars.

. . . And God set them in the expanse of the sky to shine upon the
Earth, to dominate the day and the night, and to distinguish light
from darkness.

In that passage "day" on Earth is clearly, conclusively, and without
ambiguity defined as when the Sun is up, and "night" is defined as when the
Sun is down.

At that point in biblical history, "stars" no doubt indicated all objects in the
heavens that blazed with light seeing as how it would be a very long time
before humanity began categorizing some of the stars as planets.

I think it's important to emphasize that in the beginning God "set" the stars
in the sky just as he set the Sun and the Moon in the sky, i.e. celestial
objects didn't arrange themselves all by themselves sans any intelligent
supervision whatsoever; no, they were placed; and not only were they set in
place, but also set in motion-- nothing in the entire cosmos is standing still,
though many things appear to be.

According to Gen 1:15, stars illuminated the Earth on the day that God
made them.

Well; the only stars whose shine is of any practical use as illumination on the
Earth are those of the Milky Way; which is estimated 100,000 to 180,000
light years in diameter. Of course light from stars nearest our location in the
galaxy would begin dousing the earth with illumination long before those at
the far side.

For example, light from Alpha Centauri takes only about 4½ years to reach
Earth while light from Alpha Orionis (a.k.a. Betelgeuse) takes about 640.
There are quite a few stars whose illumination reaches Earth in less than 50
years. But whether 4½ years, 50 years, 640 years, or 180,000 years; the
time involved is insignificant if we but allow the days of creation to be
epochs of indeterminate length rather than 24-hour events.

But what's the point of putting all those objects out there in space? Well, for
one thing, they're not only brain teasers; but they're actually quite pretty.
Celestial objects decorate the night sky like the ornamentation people put up
during holidays. The night sky would sure be a bore if it was totally black.
Decorated with stars; the night sky is like a beautiful tapestry, or a celestial
Sistine Chapel.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork."
(Ps 19:2)

Stars makes better sense that way than to try and find some other meaning
for them. The universe is simply a magnificent work of art-- just as
intriguing, if not more so, than the works of Picasso, Rembrandt,
Michelangelo, Monet, Vermeer, and da Vinci --testifying to the genius of an
engineer-artist without peer. I doubt the stars were ever meant to be a
home for Mr. ET.

Sadly, a number of very intelligent people like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse
Tyson look to the sky for the wrong reasons. Why not just look to the sky for
inspiration instead of only exploration and discovery? What's so bad about
visiting the sky as a Guggenheim or a Louvre displaying your maker's many
faceted talents?

"For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it
evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes
of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived
in what He has made." (Rom 1:19-20)

Gen 1:18b-19 . . And God saw that this was good. And there was
evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

/
 
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Webers_Home

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Genesis 1;20-21

Gen 1:20-21a . . And God said, Let the waters bring forth
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created
great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the
waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged
fowl after his kind.

How can water alone be used to create living things? Well, it can't be any
more difficult than creating the entire cosmos ex nihilo; i.e. from and/or out
of nothing.

The word for "creature" is from nephesh (neh'-fesh) which distinguishes
conscious life from non-conscious life. For example: though saguaro cacti
are alive, they aren't nephesh because saguaro cacti aren't conscious
beings, i.e. nephesh refers to all critter life great and small; but never to non
critter life.

Nephesh shows up first in Gen 1:20-21 as sea creatures and winged
creatures.

Next it shows up in Gen 1:24 as terra creatures; viz: cattle, creepy crawlies,
and wild beasts.

It shows up again in Gen 2:7 as the human creature.

It shows up again in Gen 2:19-20 as the creatures to whom Adam gave
names.

It shows up again in Gen 9:8-16 as all conscious life aboard the ark,
including Noah and his family.

Some say that animals are people too. Well . . they're certainly not human,
but according to the Bible, they are very definitely just as much a nephesh
as a human being. So I guess we could consent, at least to some degree,
that critters are people too; in their own way.

The Hebrew word for "fowl" is 'owph (ofe) which just simply means covered
with wings rather than covered with feathers. It's a rather unusual word
because it includes not only creatures with feathers, but according to Lev
11:13-23, 'owph also pertains to bats and flying insects. The English word
"fowl" was obviously an arbitrary translation since owph is ambiguous.

What did those early flyers look like? Well; I suggest that at least some of
them had to be Pterosaurs because on no other day but the fifth did God
bring about critters with wings. Precisely when and/or how God phased out
those early skin-winged creatures is one of science's thorniest mysteries. It's
reasonable to assume that whatever exterminated the Pterosaurs should
have exterminated everything else with wings too; but somehow birds, bats,
and flying bugs are still with us.

It's important to note that winged creatures were just as distinct a creation
as aqua creatures. So winged creatures didn't evolve from creatures who
once lived in the sea. Winged creatures are a separate genre of life in their
own right, and absolutely did not evolve from some other order of life.

"great whales" is from tanniyn (tan-neen') and/or tanniym (tan-neem')
which mean: a marine or land monster. Tanniyn is sometimes translated
"dragon" as in Isa 27:1

It wasn't a tanniyn, however, that swallowed Jonah. That creature was
either a dagah (daw-gaw') a dag (dawg) or a da'g (dawg). All three words
mean a fish.


NOTE: The reason I quoted the three Hebrew words for "fish" is because the
fact is: translators are not always confident how best to represent a Hebrew
word with the English alphabet. In point of fact, there are ancient Hebrew
words that nobody really knows what they mean so translators are forced to
take educated guesses here and there.

"every living creature that moveth" would include not only critters that swim
but also critters that creep, e.g. starfish, lobsters, crayfish, newts, clams,
and crabs et al.

But what about aquatic dinosaurs? Well; according to Discovery's web site
"Walking With Dinosaurs" paleontologists believe there were some
amphibious reptiles such as plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs, but those
creatures didn't have the gills necessary to be truly aquatic like Nemo and
his dad Marlin.

Gen 1:21b . . And God saw that this was good.

In other words: He was satisfied.

The Hebrew word for "good" in this instance is towb (tobe) which is horribly
ambiguous. It's meanings range from morally good, to good looking, to a job
well done, to something that's good to the taste; and to a whole lot of other
things in between; e.g. a good show, good food, as good as it gets,
satisfactory; etc, etc.

/
 
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101G

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The word for "God" is from the Hebrew 'elohiym (el-o-heem'). It's a plural
word and means, ordinarily: gods. 'Elohiym isn't really the creator's personal
moniker, rather, a nondescript designation that pertains to all sorts of gods,
along with, and including, the supreme one.

The "beginning" is mentioned again at 1John 1:1 which I believe safe to
assume compliments John 1:1-2
GINOLJC, addressing the OP, good, but why haven't you address the "aleph" and the "tav" in the very first verse which set the stage of the whole entire bible, both old and new testament. yes, the aleph and the tav which identifies the 'elohiym or the plurality of the one true God.

second, to the compliment of John 1:1-2, read 1 John 1:1 which also clearly identifies that 'elohiym of Genesis 1:1 in flesh

be blessed
 

Webers_Home

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Genesis 1:22-25

Gen 1:22a . . God blessed them, saying: Be fertile

The blessing of fertility is pretty amazing. It not only enables creatures to
reproduce their own bodies, but also to transfer the breath of life from one
generation to the next.

Gen 1:22b . . and increase, fill the waters in the seas, and let the
winged creatures increase on the earth.


Aqua creatures exist in the most unlikely places. When the crew of the
bathyscaphe Trieste descended into the 35,761 feet Challenger Deep located
in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench in 1960, they didn't really expect
to find anything living down there; but to their surprise, they saw a flat fish
similar to sole and flounder.

The video camera on board the Kaiko probe spotted a sea cucumber, a scale
worm and a shrimp at the bottom.

The Nereus probe spotted a polychaete worm (a multi-legged predator)
about an inch long.

Gen 1:23 . . And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth
day.


Gen 1:24-25 . .Then God said: Let the earth bring forth living
creatures after their kind-- cattle and creeping things and beasts of
the earth after their kind, And it was so. And God made the beasts of
the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and
everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw
that it was good.


We've come now to the sixth day when all terra life was created; including
dinosaurs and humans.

This grouping of creatures (except for Man) isn't specifically given the
blessing of fertility. But if God would bless aqua creatures and those with
wings, why ever would He not bless the terra species too who are just as
important? But since they've been reproducing all this time, then I'd have to
say there is sufficient empirical evidence to support the assumption that that
they were equally blessed with fertility just like everything else.

The Hebrew words for "living creature" are chay (khah'-ee) and nephesh
(neh'-fesh).

Chay makes it first appearance at Gen 1:20 in reference to aqua creatures
and winged creatures; and many times in the Old Testament thereafter;
including fifteen times in reference to God; e.g. Jer 10:10, indicating that
the originator of life actually exists as opposed to a totem pole or a mythical
fantasy. There is a very large number of instances recorded in the Old
Testament where God speaks of Himself as "I am".

Nephesh first appears in Gen 1:20-21 in reference to sea creatures and
winged creatures; again at Gen 1:24 as terra creatures; viz: cattle, creepy
crawlies, and wild beasts; and again in Gen 2:7 as the human creature.

Terra critters consist of the very land masses upon which they live. They,
like Man, weren't created out of thin air; but rather, God used earthly
materials and ingredients already at hand to construct them. Neat-O. Not
only are the various plants and animals indigenous to planet Earth; but they
are part of it too and blend right back in when they die and decompose.

The word for "beasts" (of the earth) is chay, which, in this instance, simply
refers to wild life as opposed to domesticated life.

The word for "cattle" is behemah (be-hay-maw') and means a mute beast
(a.k.a. dumb animal). Behemah are the herd species from which came those
that can be domesticated for Man's uses. They can pull plows and wagons,
provide tallow for candles and soap, and hide and wool for clothes, meat and
dairy for table, carry loads on their backs, and give people rides.

Not all herd animals can be tamed. Zebras, for instance, and male elephants
are not particularly suited to domestication.

The plural of behemah is behemowth (be-hay-mohth') a word which some
have construed to indicate dinosaurs; citing Job 40:15-24 as their proof text.
However, it's easily proven that the era of monster reptiles was long gone
before Mr. Job was even born.

It's no accident that some of the animals are so useful to Man. God made
them for the express purpose of serving people. Although they're nephesh,
same as Man, that doesn't make them equals with Man. However, although
beasts are below the rank of the image and likeness of God, people have no
right to be cruel to animals. But Man does have the right, by the Creator's
fiat, to take advantage of them; and to induct them into slavery for Man's
benefit.

"creeping things" is the word remes (reh'-mes) and means: a reptile; or any
other rapidly moving animal. Dinosaurs would've been included in this
grouping.

Some Bible students suffer anxiety over dinosaurs because paleontologists
have easily dated them extinct a good many thousands of years prior to the
emergence of humans; but that's not really a problem if we but permit
creation's days to be epochs of indeterminate length rather than 24-hour
events.

/
 
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GodsGrace

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Hello; and welcome to the very first book of the Bible.

I'm attempting a systematic, home-spun commentary practically verse by
verse from the creation of the cosmos to Joseph's burial in Egypt.

As of today's date, I'm 73 years old; and an on-going student of the Bible
since 1968 via sermons, seminars, lectures, Sunday school classes, radio
Bible programs, and various authors of a number of Bible-related books.
Forty-nine years of Bible under my belt hasn't made me an authority; but
they've at least made me competent enough to compose this commentary.

Barring emergencies, accidents, vacations, unforeseen circumstances,
and/or insurmountable distractions, database errors, difficulties, computer
crashes, black outs, brown outs, deaths in the family, Wall Street
Armageddon, thread hijackers, excessive quarrelling and debating, the dog
ate my homework, Executive Orders, visiting relatives, brute force, ISIS,
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, gasoline prices, medical issues, and/or hard
luck and the forces of nature; I'm making an effort to keep up a running
commentary every day including Sundays and holidays.

All the really cool stuff is in Genesis: the origin of the cosmos, the origin of
human life, Adam and Eve, the origin of marriage, the Devil, the first lie, the
first transgression, the origin of human death, the origin of clothing, the first
baby, Cain and Abel, the first murder, the Flood, the tower of Babel, and the
origin of Yhvh's people.

Big-name celebrities like Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Ishmael,
Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph are here too.

Not here are Moses vs. Pharaoh and the parting of the Red Sea. That story is
in Exodus; Samson and Delilah are in Judges, David and Goliath are in
1Samuel; and Ruth and Esther are in books of the Bible named after them.

Buen Camino

/
Wow. This is great!
God bless you and thanks!
 

Webers_Home

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No replies to comments then, just more of the same?

"Comments" are oftentimes alternate interpretations of Genesis that attempt
to debunk my own. I try to encourage the authors of such comments to
please exit and start up a thread of their own instead of hijacking
mine. Like they say; too many cooks spoil the broth, especially when one of
the cooks makes it his mission in life to critique the other guy's work.

/
 
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ScottA

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"Comments" are oftentimes alternate interpretations of Genesis that attempt
to debunk my own. I try to encourage the authors of such comments to
please exit and start up a thread of their own instead of hijacking
mine. Like they say; too many cooks spoil the broth, especially when one of
the cooks makes it his mission in life to critique the other guy's work.

/
I see.

However, I must say, I am disappointed. I would have thought during these times when God has said He would pour out His spirit upon all flesh, that the priority would be to get the spiritual truth, to "press on", rather than rehash the life and times of the first Adam.

As you will then.
 
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bbyrd009

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seems more suited to a blog post, but a page is a page i guess

"too many cooks spoil the broth" sure comes across as "my interpretations won't make it through the fire" though wadr
 
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Webers_Home

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"press on", rather than rehash the life and times of the first Adam.

I once heard tell of an autistic boy who said to his dad that airplanes fly so
high because he isn't afraid of heights. You see in his mind, air traffic control
is designed to accommodate his personal feelings about altitude.

Point being: when certain personality types have been on an internet forum
for a number of years they tend to become not only territorial, but also
somewhat bigoted. In their mind's eye; if something is a tiresome rehash,
then of course it must be a tiresome rehash to everyone else too.

Senior forum members also tend to be quarrelsome and bossy; somehow
assuming that their lengthy tenure grants them a license to dictate the
forum's use.

Back in the heyday of CB radio, we used to call those kinds of breakers
channel bosses; which was a polite way of calling somebody a nuisance.
(There was a curse word modifying "nuisance" but seeing as how forum
etiquette requires keeping a civil tongue in one's head, I can't repeat it.)

Please ScottA, don't make a nuisance of yourself. Have some
consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others less bored with
the Bible than yourself. As CBers used to say back in the day; Let the
channel roll.

/
 
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ScottA

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I once heard tell of an autistic boy who said to his dad that airplanes fly so
high because he isn't afraid of heights. You see in his mind, air traffic control
is designed to accommodate his personal feelings about altitude.

Point being: when certain personality types have been on an internet forum
for a number of years they tend to become not only territorial, but also
somewhat bigoted. In their mind's eye; if something is a tiresome rehash,
then of course it must be a tiresome rehash to everyone else too.

Senior forum members also tend to be quarrelsome and bossy; somehow
assuming that their lengthy tenure grants them a license to dictate the
forum's use.

Back in the heyday of CB radio, we used to call those kinds of breakers
channel bosses; which was a polite way of calling somebody a nuisance.
(There was a curse word modifying "nuisance" but seeing as how forum
etiquette requires keeping a civil tongue in one's head, I can't repeat it.)

Please ScottA, don't make a nuisance of yourself. Have a some
consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others. As CBers used to say
back in the day; "Let the channel roll."

/
I was being nice, but you force my hand with condescension.

It is the "feelings of others" that prompts me to call you on the carpet: You will always have the poor (Mark 14:7), but "you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.” You preach the first Adam and the things of the flesh, and if your spirit were willing, I would have you preach the last Adam, whom is spirit.

So, if it is a "nuisance" to you, to serve the age in which you were born, that is not my concern. But it is my concern that the message for these times be told and not hidden in rhetoric, when it has been given to the children of God to know the whole meaning, all truth, and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

John 15:2
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
 
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