the introduction to the version of the Bible I've chosen starts with these words:
"The First Testament (commonly referred to as the Old Testament) is a collection of books that constitutes the first three-quarters of the Bible. It begins a story that is completed in the last quarter of the Bible, in the books of the New Testament. It tells first how God created a world of beauty and harmony and made people--creative, relational beings like himself--to care for this world and develop its potential. Next, it tells how people disastrously turned away from God, and then describes how, ever since, God has been working to bring them back."
Is reading the Bible as God's story meaningful to you?
Do you like the term "First Testament" instead of "Old Testament"?
Thanks for getting us going. I have my new bible for the read this year and am looking forward to doing this with our "group".
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the format of this bible and am glad you suggested ordering it.
Mariwyn
Mariwyn, I'm glad you have the blog figured out--I think it will take a while to get going
ReplyDeleteLaura and I just finished reading Day 2 and yes, we feel reading the Bible as God's story is meaningful. It reminds us of His plan from the very beginning.
ReplyDeleteWe never realized that Adam was standing at the tree with Eve the whole time and never intervened. For some reason we thought he wasn't there and Eve brought the fruit to him later.
Also, we have a question. Who are the "sons of God" and "daughters of men"?
Lastly, who are the Nephilim?
as for Adam and Eve--we may have been taught to think of Eve as "more guilty" than Adam. what do you think?
ReplyDeleteGenesis Chapter 6:1-4 seems to have many interpretations--my commentary lists several. In reading this story, though, we can understand that in the generations from Adam and Eve to Noah humans had as in verse 5--become greatly wicked "that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time."
ReplyDeletethe Message Bible say: "God saw that human evil was out of control . ."
then there's that amazing statement in verse 8: "but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." God wants to start over with humans--but instead of completely starting over--he finds righteous in Noah and decides to build on that.
The Bible as God's story; I totally agree. This is how my teacher presented it when I took a Bible as lit class in high school. Of course, being an English major I think stories are of tremendous power and importance. I'm sure I'll end up saying a whole lot more about that throughout the year, so I won't flood you with everything I think about the Bible as Story right now.
ReplyDeleteRenee and Laura:
The sons of God and daughters of men made me stop and think for a while, too. On my own I came up with the thought that maybe this was meaning that God had created from scratch other people the way he did Adam and Eve and they were the sons of God and their natural offspring were the daughters of men. Kind of a weird conclusion, I know. Then I read the note that's in my Bible (the Jerusalem Bible, great translation, tries to be very true to the literary and poetic form and sense of the text) and it said that some scholars think the sons of God were fallen angels! And the Nephillim were references to other mythic stories in the area when Genesis was written. I'll write out the whole note when I get home so you can read it.
As I was reading I was thinking about how after the flood story things become more concrete. It's kind of like the flood is separating the rime of history from the mirky mythic past. I really like that idea, somehow, though it's hard to explain.
...in answer to you Barb, I believe that is a true statement. We are taught from a very young age that Eve was the "instigator" however; not to male bash but Adam set an example for men that seems to be an ongoing problem and that is that men frequently let women take the lead as spiritual leaders despite the fact that we are the "weaker vessel".
ReplyDeleteHere's what the note in my Bible says about the Nephilim:
ReplyDeleteAn obscure passage (from the 'Yahwistic' tradition). The author uses a popular story of a race of giants, in Hebrew Nephilim, the Titans of eastern legend, born of the union between gods and mortals. The author does not present this episode as a myth not, on the other hand, does he deliver judgment on its actual occurrence, he records the anecdote of a race of super-men simply to serve as an example of the increasing human malice that is to provoke the Deluge. Later Judaism and almost all the earliest ecclesiastical writers identify the 'sons of God' with the fallen angels; but from the 4th century onwards, as the idea of angelic natures becomes less material, the Fathers commonly take the 'sons of God' to be Seth's descendants and the 'daughters of men' those of Cain.
Barb, you were right. Reading the comments of others help alot. I too thought that Eve was the only one there at the tree, and that Adam was somewhere else. I don't know how many times I read that passage and didn't see it.
ReplyDeleteBarb, I hope I did this right.
ReplyDelete