link to podcast
link to presentation
In Hebrew it's obvious, in English it's still noticeable, that Genesis 1-11 is simply a different genre of literature.
Review
Genesis 1
- Creation
- Chiasm in and of itself
- About a God who knows when to stop
- Centers around rest
Adam and Eve
- Chiasitc with "nakedness"
- Tragedy ensues because they don't know how to stop
- They don't find rest, they find mistrust
Cain and Abel
- Chiasm
- Another tragedy that parallels Adam and Eve
- Cain becomes obsessed with acquiring more
Noah's Ark
- Another chiasm
- God reaffirms the goodness of creation by partnering with humanity to save it
- Here we see God know when to say enough, but about destruction
Noah's Curse
* Another chiasm, hard to see - Marty hasn't nailed the details down
* Noah is obsessed with destruction
** Parallels Cain's obsession with acquiring
* Noah shows mistrust of God, not knowing when to say enough about destruction and curses Canaan with eternal consequences basically
Tower of Babel
* Chiasm around the letters
* Another tragedy
Observations
- Genesis 1-11 is itself a larger chiasm (see presentation)
- So what's the center?
- Genesis 5:28-29
- Center of this verse is Noah - reiterates that the entire preface is about rest
When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. He named him Noah and said,
“He will comfort us in the
labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the grounds the LORD has cursed.
We are invited through this story of stories to reframe what we think is most fundamentally true about the world we live in. Who are we? Who is God? What does God think about us?