Living creatures

July 30, 2020 (Thursday)

 

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

 

Creation is *almost* complete. God looks at everything and declares it “very good.” Creation is not finished, there is one more day to go. Despite creation being “very good” there is one situation that needs remedied. We pick it up in the next chapter, which almost seems to be a second creation story. I think it is an expansion or explanation of what we have already read, and not a separate event.

 

Genesis 2:2 – 3a establishes what might be the most important day of creation.

 

It’s important to understand, God did not get tired. The Hebrew word here means God “ceased” work. Nothing more needed to be done. Notice God “blessed” the day and “made it holy.” This is the basis for the “Sabbath.” (see Exodus 20:8 – 11 and Exodus 31:15 – 17) Two things to note about the Sabbath. First, there is no mention of it before Moses or the law. Second, it was something God took seriously. Jeremiah understood the years of exile correlated with the number of Sabbath years that were skipped.

 

Genesis records nine “toledots.” A “teledot” is a book, or record of “generations.” The first starts in Genesis 2:4. It is a record of the creation (heavens and the earth). It is the first use of the formula “LORD God.” In the English language, when we see “LORD” in capital letters, we understand this to be the translation of God’s sacred/personal name YHWH.

 

Please note the older word “Jehovah” cannot be the sacred/personal name because the Hebrew has no “hard J” sound. Historically the Roman church borrowed the name of a Roman god (also known as Jupiter) and imposed the vowels found in the Hebrew word for “lord.” Just a technical note, for those who insist on a precise name for God.

 

The creation story continues with the creation of humanity in Genesis 2:4. We can understand what we have read before as a prologue. We read,

 

Paul used the image of “dust” to distinguish between humanity and Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15:47,

 

Back to the “living creature” expression. It is used for the animals as well has humans. We are connect to the physical world. Humans were created out of the dust of the earth and became living creatures. The distinction comes in the idea we have become living creatures BECAUSE God breathed “the breath of life” into Adam. This breath is connected to the Holy Spirit.   

The first human found life when the breath of God entered him. Jesus, promising the Holy Spirit used the image, “Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” [John 20:20 NLT] The follower of Jesus gains eternal life as the breath of God (Holy Spirit) enters us.