"One of the striking features of Genesis 1 is its insistence that the one true God speaks the divine Word and everything comes into being day after day in obedience to his Word. This stands in stark contrast with the polytheism that was dominant in all other creation accounts that have come down to us in the ancient literature of the Near East. "Instead of having a different god, or a collection of squabbling gods, in charge of the different creative activities on the different days, Genesis 1 is insistent that there is just the one God who does everything without exception. The sun, moon and stars that played such a central role as gods to be worshipped and feared in the pagan pantheon, do not even make an appearance in the Genesis account until the fourth day – talk about relegation to the second division! And here they are introduced simply as created objects made by God for functional reasons, to give appropriate levels of light in the day and the night and to ‘serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years’ (verse 14), quite lowly functions in comparison with their elevated status in most Mesopotamian literature of that era. "The Hebrew word ‘light, lamp’ used to refer to the sun and moon in this passage is also used to refer to the sanctuary lamp in the Jewish tabernacle, and it is possible that the writer is pointing out by this usage that the order introduced by God into the days and seasons by such heavenly ‘lamps’ is parallel to the God-given order which characterised the running of the tabernacle. The almost throwaway line in verse 16, that God ‘also made the stars’, certainly gives no room for viewing them as having any role to play in human affairs, thereby subverting all forms of astrology. Again and again later in their history the people of Israel were tempted to worship sun, moon and stars, but again and again they were challenged to return to the pure monotheism of Genesis 1. God reminds his people as they head towards the Promised Land that ‘when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars – all the heavenly array – do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven’ (Deuteronomy 4: 19)." Alexander, Denis (2008-07-18). Creation or Evolution (Kindle Locations 2484-2500). Monarch Books. Kindle Edition.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:53:44 +0000
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