From the very first verse of the intial disclosure of the Divine’s interaction with the void of nothingness in Genesis, the reader finds an active, engaged Creator speaking and forming a cosmic order for His pleasure and purpose. According to the Genesis editors, his creative sequencing begins from this initial verse and promulgates through the remaining verses culminating in a “very good” result. The Creation story denotes a literal/historical context though the timing as understood by the modern reader incurs intense debate concerning a literal seven-day creation. James M. Efird, in his work The Old Testament Writings: History, Literature, and Interpretation, explains the longevity of this debate and offers a way to engage without losing the power of the story. He writes, “If one remembers that these stories were told against a background and knowledge of their own times basically present religious understandings not scientific data, one is more likely to understand the creation account as it was intended.”[1] A literal seven-day understanding aligns with a “priestly tradition of the story structured around a seven day week centering on a Sabbath as God’s special day.”[2] The symbolism of the seven days aligns theologically with Scripture. As Peter denotes in his second letter, time is relative to God and not constrained to the confines of human time, “Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day (2 Pet. 3:8, CSB).[3]
From a hermeneutical framework, the text’s intial translation roots it firmly in literal time and provides evidence of its historicity. In the Septuagint (LXX-G) translation of the Hebrew text, this creative beginning’s temporal nature aligns with a literal process of Creation with God as the artistic divine source. Susan Ann Brayford, in her commentary on the LXX-G translation of Genesis, writes, “The opening verse of LXX-G summarizes God’s beginning act of making the heaven and the earth, and represents, as William Brown maintains, an “initial step of the creative process” (1993, 31) that will be described in detail in vv. 3– 31.”[4] She goes on to disclose that ancient and modern scholars conclude the initial noun though not articulated in the text άρχη is temporal. She writes, “many ancient and modern interpreters presume the word’s temporal definiteness and translate accordingly, i.e., the beginning.”[5] A contrasting viewpoint posited by a historical criticism of the text and based on the argument that the priestly scribes recorded traditions and their understandings rooted in those traditional stories primarily for religious purposes. Lawrence Boadt asserts in his book Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction that the Genesis writers did not understand the geological or the anthropological history of the earth, nor were they concerned with these facts. He writes, “They wished to sketch instead a few highlights about human origins that had particular religious significance for Israel’s view of life.”[6]
However, to understand the text rooted in time and historically significant and not as an analogous rendition of myth or mere oral traditions provides a theological understanding necessary for the redemptive story of Christ to emerge as the second Adam through the revelation of God to a specific people, the Hebrews. Historically, the interpretor sees humankind’s fall from an Edenic state into rebellion with the need for a Divine plan to rescue them from their sinful condition. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul explains this theological rooting of Christ’s redemptive work from before the creation of humanity, “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him” (Eph. 1:4).
Also, the necessity of Adam and Eve’s historicity as literally created beings provides the beginning substance for redemptive history to unfold and a foundational primer for Christ’s heroic act of salvation on the Cross. Humankind created in the image and likeness of God effaced by a sinfal fall sets the stage perfectly for this unfolding. Victor Hamilton, in his book, Handbook of the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, posits the critical role of Adam and Eve within the Creation story, “human beings are unique, set apart from everything else God created. They alone bear God’s image, and they alone subdue.”[7] The Imago Dei of their essence emphasized the redemptive work needed to restore humankind back to proper order within God’s cosmic design. In his Acts narrative, Luke sums up this restorative work in Christ, “that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning” (Acts 3:20-21).
Bibliography
Boadt, Lawrence. Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction. New York, N.Y.: Paulist Press, 1984.
Brayford, Susan Ann. Genesis. Boston: BRILL, 2007. Accessed March 25, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Efird, James M. The Old Testament Writings: History, Literature, and Interpretation. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.
Hamilton, Victor P. Handbook On the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2005.
[1] James M. Efird, The Old Testament Writings: History, Literature, and Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), 43-44.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Unless otherwise noted, all Biblical passages referenced are in the Christian Standard Version.
[4] Susan Ann Brayford, Genesis (Boston: BRILL, 2007), 205, ProQuest Ebook Online.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Lawrence Boadt, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction (New York, N.Y.: Paulist Press, 1984), 109.
[7] Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook On the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2005), 29.
Restored 