“Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground…” Genesis 2:7 informs us that God molded the first man from the dust of the ground. The word for “ground in the biblical language is adamah. So, God formed adam, meaning “humankind” out of adamah, meaning “soil or dirt.” Who knew Joe Dirt was so deep in it’s theological meaning?
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Category Archives: words for the day
day or day?
Genesis 2:4 reads, This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven. Heaven and earth are the universe. Everything. And according to this passage, everything was created “in the day.” One day?
In the biblical language the same word for “day,” “a twenty four hour period,” is “day,” “a period of time.”
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the period of time that the LORD God made earth and heaven.
Hmmmm….
blessing
In Genesis 2:3 we read, Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. As I mentioned in a prior post, the verbs here are in the continuing present. We are in the “seventh day,” and God is continuously blessing his creation.
How God blesses his creation is up to him. What we know is this. God uses us in this process.
Ask yourself this question:
How am I currently being a seventh day blessing?
not done, yet
Genesis 2:1 in the New American Standard Bible (a very literal technical version) is, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.” In the original ancient language the verb is present active. The correct interpretation is,
“Thus the heavens and the earth are being completed and all their hosts.”
Verse 2:2 is the same situation.
“And God is finishing the work…”
Changes a bit of the perspective, doesn’t it?
The work continues and we are in “day seven.”
spent
In Genesis 2:2, the ancient word for “finished,” as in “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation…” is literally, “spent.” We don’t use this word much anymore, except maybe, Austin Powers. I like the word because it says even God puts in his best effort in blessing others and he is not just about cruising along. If he is willing to give himself that way, so am I.
very good
In Genesis 1:31, God sees everything he has made as “very good.” Whether this means, “very satisfying,” or “very pleasing,” and whether this is everything he has made or specifically referring to the sixth day, one thing is clear:
God enjoys his work.
How about you?
If not, why not?
What can you do about it?
dominion
In Genesis 1:28, the word “dominion” is particularly controversial in today’s environmental “climate.” Does the word mean to ” exploit and destroy?” No it means to “rule” just like God. Rule for God. In the way God would care for his Kingdom if he were us.
Don’t Christians advocate exploiting the earth?
Don’t scientists advocate any politically popular research that is intentionally skewed to their advantage, in order to emotionally influence people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about fund their research?
See how easy it is to stereotype and be totally wrong?
…fill the earth…
Christmas 2008
In the phrase,”…fill the earth…” (Genesis 1:28), “fill” means, “to satisfy.”
I remember the scares of the “population explosion,” predicted by Paul Ehrlich in The Population Bomb (1968). There would be mass starvation in the 1970′s, where “hundreds of millions of people” would starve to death in global famine.
Not only did this famine not occur, but actually, the population rate of the world has been declining since 1970, and the prediction (UN reports) is sometime around 2070 the world will reach zero population growth.
Ironically, most countries in the MDC (more developed country) category are trying to implement a pronatal policy.
I’ll let you debate “carbon footprints” and the rest. It takes 2.1 children to sustain a level population rate, and we have 3 and so we did our part to “fill” the earth, and we find our children very “satisfying.”
shade of God
Genesis 1:26 tells us we are made in the “image” of God. This is an unusual word in Hebrew, connected to the concept of “shade.” We are a shadow of God’s glory, and this is a helpful metaphor of our impact as God bearers in the world. Who comes into our shade is to be blessed as they are in God’s presence.
The Trinity pays a visit
It doesn’t escape notice that in Genesis 1:26 when God makes people it says, “Let us make…” This is, of course, a clear allusion to the concept of the Trinity, but even before that we have a clue that slips notice unless we translate it literally.
You see the ancient word used for “God” here in Genesis 1 is, “Elohyim.” This is in the plural.
Literal translation? “And Gods said…”
