Introduction John Stevenson 2015 Dr John T Stevenson

Introduction © John Stevenson, 2015

Dr. John T. Stevenson • Family Life • Academic Life

Dr. John T. Stevenson • Family Life • Academic Life • Professional Life

Dr. John T. Stevenson • • • Family Life Academic Life Professional Life Spiritual Life Ministry Life

Dr. John T. Stevenson http: //John. Stevenson. net John. Stevenson@Bellsouth. net

Group Introductions • Your name • Your home church • Where are you in your educational process? • What classes have you already taken in the area of the Old or New Testament?

Torah Hebrew: “Law, Instruction” Pentateuch Greek: “Five-Part Book”

Genesis Traces the origins of God’s people from creation to Egypt Exodus Relates God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt and establishing His covenant Leviticus Sets forth the Laws of worship Numbers Relates the wilderness wanderings Gives the Law to a new generation with special Deuteronomy emphasis to those entering the land

Documentary Hypothesis Deuteronomy Jean Astruc: Jehovah Elohim Moses utilized two different source documents Wilhelm de Wette: Deuteronomy penned by alternate author

Julius Wellhausen: J – Jehovah Documentary Hypothesis Jehovah Elohim Deuteronomy Herman Hulfeld: E-1 E-2

Mosaic Authorship of Genesis • Moses was qualified to write the book of Genesis. • The Style of Genesis reflects an Egyptian influence. • The unity of the book of Genesis reflects a single author.

The Pentateuch was not written as modern books are. It is a collection and arrangement of ancient written sources, many of which appear to have been fragmentary and already old by the time of Moses. Indeed, Moses may have had to translate some of them into Hebrew. (John Sailhamer, The Meaning of the Pentateuch, Pg 28).

Title for the Book • The Hebrew Title: tyviare. B. (Be. Reshyth); “In the Beginning” • Greek Title: Genesi. V - “Beginnings”

“These are the generations…” • Hebrew: t. Adl. At h. L, ae - Elleh toledoth • Ten sets • History of account follows: “These are things that followed…” Adam Genesis 2: 4 – 11: 26 5 Toledoth from Adam to Abraham Israel Abraham Genesis 11: 27 – 50: 26 5 Toledoth from Abraham to Israel

Genesis 1 -11 Genesis 12 -50 Events Predominant People Predominant – Creation – Fall – Flood – Tower of Babel – Abraham – Isaac – Jacob – Joseph Race as a whole Family of Abraham Over 2000 years 250 years

Beginning & Ending • Genesis begins with God: “In the beginning God created…” • Genesis ends with a corpse: “…in a coffin in Egypt”

Babylonian Creation Account • • • Enuma Elish Seven Tablets Apsu & Tiamat exist as primal gods When the sky above was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,

Babylonian Creation Account • • • Enuma Elish Seven Tablets Apsu & Tiamat exist as primal gods And the primeval Apsû, who begat them, And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both,

Babylonian Creation Account • • • Enuma Elish Seven Tablets Apsu & Tiamat exist as primal gods Their waters were mingled together, And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;

Babylonian Creation Account • • • Enuma Elish Seven Tablets Apsu & Tiamat exist as primal gods When of the gods none had been called into being.

Babylonian Creation Account • Chaos erupts with creation of other gods • Aspu killed & Tiamat takes Kingu as new husband • Marduk fights Tiamat and uses her corpse to fashion earth and sky

Babylonian Creation Account • Marduk kills Kingu and creates man from his blood • Sabbatu is established as observance (Refers to full moon that appears once a month)

Ennuma Elish Genesis Account When in the height In the beginning God heaven was not named, created the heavens And the earth beneath did and the earth. not yet bear a name, And the earth was And the primeval Apsu, without form and void, who begat them, and darkness was And chaos, Tiamut, the upon the face of the mother of them both deep, and the Spirit of Their waters were mingled God was moving on together… the face of the waters…

Ennuma Elish Genesis Account Tiamat engulfs world in The world was a primal chaos. unformed and unfilled. Light comes from the gods. Marduk makes the stars of the zodiac and ordains the year. Marduk makes man from the blood of Kingu. God brings light into existence. God sets sun and moon for signs, seasons, days, and years. God creates man in His own image and likeness.

Ennuma Elish Genesis Account Marduk commands the God creates in six horns to determine six days and rests on the days, the seventh day which He to divide the crown, appoints as a Sabbath and the fourteenth day to be the Sabbatu (when the moon is full)

Ennuma Elish Genesis Account Moses is giving to us a refutation of the accepted mythos that was held in antiquity as he goes point by point to show that God is the true Creator of heaven and earth.

Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. When God began to create heaven and Earth (Jewish Publication Society, 3 rd edition) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1: 1).

Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Elohim • • Teaches the existence of God. Teaches the existence of One God. Teaches the pre-existence of God. Teaches the personhood of God.

Genesis 1: 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. bara • An initial act of creation. • A summary statement of the entire chapter.

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

Theories of Creation • Supernatural versus Evolutionary. • A Superficial Appearance of History. • The Gap Theory.

Genesis 1: 2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Original Creation Formless & Void 6 Days of Re-creation

Support Objections The verb hayeta in The normal rendering Genesis 1: 2 can be of hayeta is “was” and translated “became” so indicates a state of that we could read that being. “the earth became without form and void. ” Tohu wabohu (“formless and void”) are a destruction which can just as easily took place after God’s describe an original creation (Jer. unconstructed state. 4: 23, Isa. 34: 11).

Support Objections Isaiah 45: 18 says that God did not create the earth void (tohu) while Genesis 1: 2 says that the earth was now void. It is reasoned that the earth must have come to be in this manner after its original creation. Isaiah 45: 18 simply tells us that God’s intention for the earth in its completed form was that it would not be tohu, but rather that it might be inhabited. The prophet is simply stating the purpose of creation.

Support Objections Darkness does not The darkness which always indicate evil. characterized the Both light and formless and void darkness existed upon condition is indicative the finished earth and of evil. it was still said to be good.

Theories of Creation • • Supernatural versus Evolutionary. A Superficial Appearance of History. The Gap Theory. The Day/Age Theory.

Support Objections The word “day” does The word “day” is sometimes used in the not normally refer to an extended period of Scriptures to describe time when it appears a period of time longer with a modifier (1 st than a 24 hour period day, 2 nd day, etc). (“the day of the Lord”). 2 Peter 3: 8 states that These days are clearly with the Lord one day defined in Genesis 1: 5 is as a thousand years. when God calls the light day and the darkness night.

Support Objections The sun and the moon The very purpose of the sun was to rule are not created until over the day while the 4 th day. This moon was to rule over indicates that the night. previous days are not literal.

Theories of Creation • • • Supernatural versus Evolutionary. A Superficial Appearance of History. The Gap Theory. The Day/Age Theory. The Non-Sequential Theory / Framework Theory.

Unformed Unfilled Day 1: Light Day 4: Light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) Day 2: Water & sky divided Day 5: Fish & birds to fill water & sky Day 3: Dry land & vegetation Day 6: Land animals & man Day 7: Sabbath Rest

I personally take the view that Genesis 1 and 2 relate to each other the way Judges 4 and 5 and Exodus 14 and 15 do. In each couplet one chapter describes a historical event and the other is a song or poem about theological meaning of the event.

When reading Judges 4 it is obvious that it is a sober recounting of what happened in the battle, but when we read Judges 5, Deborah’s Song about the battle, the language is poetic and metaphorical.

When Deborah sings that the stars in the heavens came down to fight for the Israelites, we understand that she means that metaphorically.

I think Genesis 1 has the earmarks of poetry and is therefore a “song” about the wonder and meaning of God’s creation. Genesis 2 is an account of how it happened (The Reason for God, pg 93 -94).

Theories of Creation • • • Supernatural versus Evolutionary. A Superficial Appearance of History. The Gap Theory. The Day/Age Theory. The Non-Sequential Theory / Framework Theory. • The Literal Interpretation.

…general revelation in creation, as well as the special revelation of Scripture, is also the voice of God. We live in a “universe, ” and all truth speaks with one voice (2001: 77).

Genesis 1: 2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Tohu wa-bohu • • • Unformed and unfilled. Topsy-turvy. Desolate and deserted.

Genesis 1: 2 And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. And darkness was over the face of the deep, And the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. 9 For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32: 8 -9).

He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. (Deuteronomy 32: 10).

Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. 12 The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him. (Deuteronomy 32: 1112).

Genesis 1: 2 Deuteronomy 32 And the earth waste and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.

Genesis 1: 2 Deuteronomy 32 And the earth waste and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. 12 The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.

Spirit What God did with the world at creation, He does with the Israelites in the wilderness

Spirit What is God’s Spirit doing in your life?

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. ” (John 3: 8).