Genesis creation story as inspired mythology

[srvfan]

That's interesting. So "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind," is a parable? "The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself" This is also parable?

There are many others if you wish me to list them.

Matthew 5 is all a parable?

This is news to me.

Ma'am, your ability to distinguish literary genres is amazing.

[srvfan]

Genesis is not monolithic, and what one decides about a certain account doesn't necessarily alter how one treats another account. Each should be treated on its own merits. To do otherwise is like determining the historicity of Jesus' raising of Lazarus by analyzing whether his story of the rich man and Lazarus was historical. Even the same names can show up in different kinds of writing.

Anyway, since we seem to have exhausted the Eden account, I'm game to move on. I've focused on the Eden account since that's the account that I think best qualifies as myth. I haven't called the Genesis 1 account a myth, although in a certain sense I guess that could work. (In fact, I typically don't use the word "myth" at all, since it's so misunderstood. I've used it in this thread because of the topic.) In order to keep a bit focused, I'd prefer to deal with one section at a time. We can get to the genealogies later, but first you mentioned Genesis 1 and the creation week. What purpose does the ordering of days in Genesis 1 serve, if they are not historical days?

First, I think God's purpose in Genesis 1 is to establish that he is the only Creator and that he is involved with his creation. He revealed this without giving us the answers to questions that we have the God-given ability to answer on our own. Genesis 1 doesn't tell us the shape of the world, and it uses terminology that would be very familiar to those who believed in a flat earth surrounded by water covered by the canopy of the heavens. The account is given from an earth-based perspective, so there is no hint that the earth orbits the sun rather than vice versa. While these may seem to be gross oversights for those who see the text as scientific in nature, it makes sense if you believe the text is more interested in telling us about God and his relationship to humanity than in spilling all the secrets of how the universe works.

Further, God revealed the indescribable wonders of creation in a way that would make sense to the earliest humans as well as us. Even though I think we know more about the universe now than people did in Moses' day, there are still huge mysteries. Genesis 1 doesn't require an understanding of the immensity of the stars or the amazing complexity of plant life. Instead, it tells of a creative act beyond our imagination by using terms we (and the first hearers) can understand.

Probably the most creative act a person can do is to make a story. Whether told orally or acted out on a stage or produced in a movie, a story allows a person to create a universe of their own, populated with the vistas and characters of their choosing. It is a form of creation that is known to virtually all cultures in all times, even though the methods of storytelling change. Genesis 1 describes how God, the Master Playwright, created this universe, which is his creation. It describes the three realms and the three groups of characters that make up this creation.

The first three days describe the three realms. The first realm (1:3-5) is outer space, viewed from earth. If you picture yourself on the top of Mt. Everest looking straight up, you'll get an idea of this realm. It is the upper reaches of the sky, higher than the birds. If you stay there for days (wearing your oxygen tank to prevent delusions, of course), all you'll see aside from the sun, moon and stars (which come later), is a gradual progression between light and dark, day and night.

The second realm (1:6-8) is sea and sky. Picture yourself on a tiny island just big enough to stand on. You're surrounded by the sea in every direction, and above you are only the clouds of the sky.

The third realm (1:9-13) is land. Note that this realm is created fully-furnished with all kinds of plants and trees. It, like the other realms, is complete except for the characters who will inhabit it.

The last three days describe the three groups of characters that inhabit these realms. First, the characters for the outer space realm are added (1:14-19). Note that the sun is described as governing the day while the moon governs the night: the personification is only natural since these are characters, not merely set dressing.

Second, the characters are added to the sea and sky (1:20-23). A scientist may wonder why whales and bats aren't created with the other mammals, but the point isn't to scientifically classify the animals. Instead, birds and fish (and bats and whales) are all characters that inhabit the second realm, and so they are all created on the fifth day.

Finally, the characters that live on the land are created (1:24-31). This includes livestock, bugs, wild animals, and humans.

One thing I like about this interpretation is that everything fits on the right day. In fact, if you moved any one item to a different day, it wouldn't make as much sense. It is similar to how this creation account is sometimes divided into three days of forming that correspond to three days of filling, but unlike in that view, the creation of plant life on day 3 isn't a problem. Unlike a literal scientific reading, the creation of light first, then plants, then the sun makes perfect sense, as does the personification of the sun and moon. It also explains why humans are lumped together with half the animals on the sixth day rather than having one day for animals and one day for humans.

So that's how I interpret the first chapter of Genesis. It's an account of God's creation explained in terms all humans can understand and relate to: a grand play being created of three realms with three corresponding groups of characters. It is not intended to explain the mysteries of the universe, but rather to point to the One who created those mysteries.

A kingdom may exist without a king, but a king cannot exist without a kingdom. Light doesn't owe its existence to the sun, moon, and stars (which is scientifically true. Light was already present before the creation of stars. We also have lightning, and electric lamps). But without light, what would be the role of the sun? Yet they were created and were chosen to govern the light. Ditto with birds and the sky, ditto with animals and dry land. Now the animals could live perfectly well without humans. Yet humans were created last and was chosen to rule over them. So who was the One who had appointed them?

Framework Hypothesis, hehehe.