Essay: Central Themes In The First 11 Chapters Of Genesis.

Writre about the central themes in "The first eleven chapters of Genesis".

Creation Story and the Binary Opposites

The Bible is a holy book that consists of holy texts that explain about all actions of God, beginning from creation to human life and existence. The Book of Genesis is referred to the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament. This book is divided into two parts. The first part is the primeval history which is covered under chapter 1-11 and the Ancestral history which is covered under chapter 12-50. The primeval history defined in the first eleven chapters provides the concept of the nature of the deity and the relationship between humans and their maker. The key theme of these chapters is that God created everything in the world which was beneficial and enough for the mankind to live happily, however, man corrupts the creation of God with sin and God decided to destroy his creation. God only saved righteous Noah in order to re-establish the relationship between God and man. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate the central themes of the first eleven chapters of Genesis. This essay will evaluate the central themes in every eleven chapters and analyze it to understand the relationship between God and man and how the Book of Genesis has highlighted these key themes in each chapter. The scope of this essay will be limited to the eleven chapters, and it will not include information regarding other chapters and the New Testament.

The book of Genesis is a cohesive unit that shows thoughtful order and a self-consistent theology. The first 11 chapters in the first book of bible that is the book Genesis were written over a long period by different authors. Based on their methodology text is divided into different segments written by different authors who had dissimilar theological interests. The compositional strategy of Genesis 1 to 11 is in the shape of the Pentateuch as a whole. It looks like the author of the first 11 chapters of the Genesis is the author of the whole Pentateuch. A lot of research has been done on the historical background of the book of Genesis. Most common scholarly opinions continue to state the viewpoint of the book of Genesis being a Documentary Hypothesis. The late Umberto Cassuto saw it as a single unifies composition created according to early believes various traditions and different origin and characters. The first line of the book “In the beginning” shows that this is a creation story in which God creates, establishes and puts ‘everything’ into motion in the world and then rests. And he does it all in seven days. The key theme of the first eleven chapters of Genesis is that God is supreme, and he created everything; human beings should not doubt his words. This central theme is further explained in detailed by different stories and lessons by God in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The writer of the genesis used the poetic device of antistrophe which is defined as repetition of a line in reverse order. This technique is used in order to highlight the parallels and contracts in relation to the creation of man. The use of the antistrophe highlights a key theme which suggests that the world is logically organised by the God around basic opposing forces or binary opposites. It means that there are positive and negative, work and rest, day and night and many other binary opposite factors which are described in the first chapter of Genesis. One of the most explored binary opposite factors of the Old Testament is good and evil. This is further clarified with the story of Cain and Abel which shows a lengthy analysis of which is good and what is evil.

The Fall of Man

In the Book of Genesis chapter 1 to 11, the information regarding the truth of a number of controversial topics is brought to the light by the authority of the Holy Word. The major thematic link between the first eleven chapters of Genesis is that the world is structured based on a system of parallels and contrasts. It is highlighted in these chapters that the light break into the darkness, land separates water and “the greater light” of the sun results in opposing “the lesser light” of the moon (1:16). One of the key themes which are included in the first eleven chapters of Genesis is that ‘in the beginning’ there was nothing. God brings the light, and God builds everything including Adam and Eve. These truths are exposed to the entire world still many individuals believe in things which are contrary to the Bible. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are real facts which give record of what happened a long time ago and how God created the world. A key theme of these chapters is that man is made in the image of the God, but woman is made from man’s rib, however, it did not mean that the man is superior to the god. These chapters highlight that the creator is superior to the creation, not vice versa. Thus, the main highlight of these chapters is that God is above all and God has created the world and all its things for humanity, however, due to their sins and not believing the word of God, humans suffer pain.

The Bible begins with the story of Genesis, which tells us how God created the world and its creatures and all the events that followed. The theme of the first chapter of the Genesis is relating to the creation of the heavens and earth. Information regarding the creations is given in the first and second verse of chapter one of the genesis. The preparation of earth is covered from verse 3 to 31 in which God created light, day and night on day one. All that comes out of nowhere and has no evidence or explanation of emergence is stated to be made by God and nothing, and no one is said to co-exist with god. The story of Genesis starts by stating how the world was a dark, hollow and empty place. God said let there be light, and the world got lit up he called it a day, and he called the darkness night. On the second day, God created expanse. On the third day, God ordered the water to move and make dry land appear, and thus land was created, and he called the water body sea. On the fourth day, God created heavenly luminaries. God created fish and birds on the seventh day, and he created land animals and humans on the sixth day. All these incidents have one central theme which provides that God is the ultimate creator who is above everyone else. He is the most powerful entity in the entire world because he is the one who created this world. Another key theme of this chapter is that it sets human being apart from nature and implies that the natural world was created just for the sake of human use. The Biblical text that best exemplifies this view is “and God said to them be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it: and have domain over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” God made humans just like the true reflection of himself, but they still had differences, which is why humans come at a lower level the creator is always more supreme than the creation and not vice versa. God never grows tired, but humans do, humans have to stop at least three times a day to eat food and recharge their strength but God does not sleep also is for humans and not god. It shows a theme that humans are an image of God; however, they are not as superior as God.

Noah's Ark

In chapter two, God rests on the seventh day after creating all the things. This chapter provides information about Jehovah God who is referred to the creator of the universe and the maker of heaven and earth. From verse 5 to 25, the chapter provides information regarding man and woman in the Garden of Eden and the facilities available for them. It shows that God did not differentiate between man and woman, and they were created equally. Man formed out of dust in verse seven and creation of woman is given under verse 18 to 25. In this chapter, information regarding the Forbidden tree of knowledge is given which teaches a lesson to human beings for not believing in the words of God. The theme of chapter two highlights that God loves all his creations. He has created everything for the comfort of human beings because he loves them. Therefore, the central theme of chapter two of the book of Genesis is that God loves all his creations equally, and he has created all these things for human beings so that they are able to live happily.

The central theme of chapter three is related to the sins of human beings and how they upset God. Verse 1 to 13 of this chapter provisions information regarding origin of man’s sin and the verse 4 and 5 provision the first lie ever told. It is shown in the previous chapter how strong and superior God is and that he loves human beings. However, human beings betrayed the words of God by deciding to eat the fruit from the Forbidden tree of knowledge. Adam and God created the concept of parents and marriage. They were both naked and not ashamed. A tree in the garden gave rise to the fruit of knowledge. God commanded the humans not to consume it as it were poison to them but after the serpent told the humans that they were gods and nothing could kill them they consumed the fruit, and that is when they attained knowledge, knowledge of sin, pain and death and that is when all the tragedy began. The serpent here is symbolized to be the true image of evil. The evil misleads Adam and Eve by making them think that they are superior creations, and they cannot die. Satan makes them believe that they cannot die, and they are similar to God. Therefore, they eat the apple by disobeying the words of God. It is said that the story of the fruit of knowledge was a chance given to humans to choose whether to trust gods idea and theory of good and evil or discover the theory of good and evil themselves. The consumption of the fruit of knowledge showed that they questioned God’s words and thus this led to the destruction of mankind. The first tragedy that took place after the consumption of the fruit was the sense of shame in Adam and Eve, and suddenly they were running away from each other and covered their bare body with cloths. This event displays how the idea of sexuality was made so pure by god but the idea of sin made humans pollute the pious concept of communion between men and women, and it became such a private thing. As the consumption of the fruit of knowledge made the human brain able to understand and commit sin, it is considered a great sin. Therefore, the theme of this chapter shows that difference between good and evil and the punishment which human beings face if they did not obey the word of God.

Conclusion

In chapter four of the book of Genesis, the story of Cain and Abel is given who were the sons of Adam and Eve. Eve gives birth to Cain who was a tiller of the ground and later Abel who was a keeper of sheep. Cain murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy, and the series of great sins started with that. Cain then had a son named Enoch, Enoch had a son named Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methusael and Methusael had Lamech. The Cain and Able story display falling of a brother from brotherhood and how the innocent and united bond of brotherhood can be broken and destroyed by sin and it showcases events from early unity to later division. The father figure plays a significant role in the context and displays how the same father might give rise to children of such different physiologies and this frame the story altogether. The theme of this chapter is that children suffer and pay for the sin of their father and it also defines one of the biggest sins which a human can make which is killing another human being and destroying the creation of God.

In chapter five, everyone obeys the command of God to be fruitful and multiply, and they have babies. The narration of this chapter starts with a summary of the humankind and also the power of God. The theme of this chapter highlights that man is the image of God, but it did not make him equal or superior to God. God is the ultimate creator who has created male and female, and God told humans to be fruitful and multiply. This chapter also introduced Noah who was the tenth of the pre-flood Patriarchs. Lamech was the father of Noah, and after getting five hundred years old, Noah becomes the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Children were considered as a blessing in this chapter. Lamech, father of Noah and son of Methuselah, lived for seven hundred and seventy-seven years. This chapter reflects on the relationship between parents and children along with the role of God in creation of the humankind.

Chapter six provided information regarding long-suffering of God which is exhibited in deferring and the Holy Spirit strives with sinners. This chapter provided that the holy spirit withdrawn from incorrigible sinners and believers in the early church baptized their children to withdrawn evil spirit from children. The narrator provides why people are destroyed and how they are punished for their sins. In this chapter, along with God, many other divine beings are mentioned as well, especially sons of God. This chapter also introduced the word “polytheism” which means acceptance of several deities. This word is opposed to “monotheism” which means that God is singular. Sons of God start to marry human ladies after which God decides to limit the lifespan of mortals to 120 years. After Sons of God take wives on earth, the Nephilim were born. They were a product of sons of God who married daughters of Adam. In this chapter, God commissioned Noah to build an ark, and he also proclaims regarding the coming of the flood. God was in grief after seeing the misery spread around and thus decided to wash off all humans with a flood to restore humanity. He saved Noah and his family in a boat as he was an ideal man and blesses them to be fruitful, replenish and multiply to restore humankind but when the boat came to the land, Noah planted a vineyard and consumed the wine it had produced and then he got drunk and lay naked in his tent. Among Seth’s offspring, the sons of the day such as Noah, which means comfort or rest, who identified the Grace in the eyes of God and as a crier of a fresh day, conveyed relief to cursed earth. The theme of this chapter is that God is disappointed in his creation and he wanted to make it right through the floor.

In the chapter seven, the ark was made by Noah as per the order of God. God was upset because of the sins of humankind and he wanted to destroy it entirely. Noah gains the trust of God, therefore, he ordered him to build an ark to save himself and his family. In the boat, Noah also brings male and female animals in order to protect them. The central theme of this chapter is the forgiving nature of God. It shows that even after huge disappointment from his creation, God was forgiving enough to let those live who obey her words without questioning him. God was angry of those individuals who thought that they can build a tower to the heaven. God spread human beings all across the globe and confusing them by changing their language which separated human being forever based on race, caste, religion and others. The global flood perished the old world but Noah and his family was preserved due to the ark along with animals. The flood destroyed the old world and it resulted in destruction of life. The flood continued for forty days in which the world and all its inhabitants were destroyed except for all who were on the ark. This chapter shows that God has the power to destroy his creation once and for all and everyone could face his wrath. It is the ultimate punishment which human beings could face when they doubt or question the words of God and goes against his orders.

The floodwater subsides in chapter eight and the ark rest in the mountains. After the flood, more consequences were forced by God on humanity which is given in detail in this chapter. God set out great wind to dry the water of the flood, and he stopped the rain as well which took one hundred and fifty days. The ark of Noah was settled on the mountain of Ararat, and after ten months the peak of mountains was seen. God sent a dove to give a sign to Noah that he would stop the judgments and Noah left the ark. An olive leaf was brought by the dove which demonstrated that waters had abated and vegetation has started growing. God told Noah that he and his family and leave the ark, and he asked them to be fruitful and multiply. This highlights the theme of this chapter which provides that God did not want anything from humanity, and he simply wanted them to be fruitful and multiply while obeying to his words. God promised that he would not again curse the ground for man’s sake, and he will not again smite any more living beings. This shows that God wanted humans to live their lives while following his guidelines, and they are free to choose their path.

In chapter nine, God has provided instructions for all mankind along with law about blood. The central theme of this chapter is that humankind should live in a governed manner where they comply with certain rules which are provided by God for their own wellbeing. God told that man relationship with animals has changed and man is free to eat animals in order to be fruitful and multiply. However, God prohibits eating meat which has blood in it which shows that man is higher than animal form. The green herb provided by God is given for human beings, and God wanted man to enjoy these things which he has provided. God also allowed human beings to take the life of a man who murders another human. God made the promise to Noah that he will never destroy the life on earth or its living creatures and God provided that rainbow is the token of the covenant which defines the agreement which is formed between humankind and God. Verse 18 to 29 provides information regarding prophecies about Noah’s descendants. The information regarding Noah’s three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth is given in this chapter as well. Another story is mentioned in this chapter in which Noah gets drunk and sleep naked. His younger son, Ham, saw him naked, but he did not cover him. On the other hand, Shem and Japheth covered their father without looking at him. After waking up, Noah becomes angry at his son Ham, and he cursed him that his future generations will serve others which means Canaan, the son of Ham. The central theme of this chapter is that Ham sinned because he did not cover his father after seeing him naked due to which his future generations suffered the curse.

The chapter ten of Genesis provides information about list of nations along with details regarding descendants of Japheth, Ham, and Shem. The origin of the post-flood nations is given in this chapter along with details description regarding descendants of the sons of Noah. The theme of this chapter is based on the expansion of humankind in the world with the descendants of Japheth, Ham, and Shem. Description regarding geography is also included in this chapter which shows that human beings followed the order of God to be fruitful and multiply.

The chapter eleven started by providing that the whole earth was one language and the gift of language was used to divide humanity based on race. Human beings followed the order of God, and they became fruitful and multiplied by populating the earth and spreading in different places. This chapter told the story of the tower of Babel when the humankind multiplies, and they build a city and a tower. Human beings become so arrogant that they wanted to build a tower which reaches to heaven. The Lord becomes angry, and he destroyed the tower. He also scattered humans all over the earth by confusing their language which leads to difference in race. In this chapter, the primeval story ends with the genealogy of Shem, and it begins the family of Abram. The chapter ends with Abraham leaving Haran after his father death which ends the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The theme of this chapter shows that God has the power to completely destroy humanity again if they make him angry. Human beings should comply with the guidelines given by God to ensure that they did not angry God.

In conclusion, the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis provide a central theme which is based on how God has created the entire universe along with all its being. All these things were created for human beings so that they can live happily and be fruitful and multiply. The central theme of these chapters is that although man is made like the image of God, but it did not make him superior to God. God is supreme, and he has the power to destroy the entire world. Human beings should not doubt the words of God or else they could suffer negative consequences. Before humans started to understand the true meaning of sin, pain, and death, everything seemed beautiful and happy. When human questioned god’s belief of good and bad, they started to walk on the path of sin and thus it is called to be the greatest sin because it was the beginning of all of it, and that resulted in God’s grief and anger causing havoc that the flood was. Moreover, the consequences of sin exist even as God’s children God, as an individual is living in a place where a room is allowed for Satan for his act, in a formation still grumbling, due to all the sin’s consequences. Saved Noah’s family but the sins continued, and humans multiplied. The theories attached to Hams sin and the curse of Canaan is explained here. Therefore, the central theme of these chapters tells the story of creation of the universe and the humanity by the almighty God.