Gooding, David: Excavating the Foundations: One Introductory Study on the Structure of Genesis

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening. I cannot remember an occasion when I was requested to speak before such a select audience. My topic tonight, as you have heard, is to introduce the book of Genesis. And I have to be careful because other gentlemen more qualified will follow me, and I mustn't poach upon their territory. That restricts me a little bit, but let me begin by saying that Genesis appears to be a sizable book. It has fifty chapters. But from another point of view, it is easily comprehensible. It is composed of three creation stories, and I will demonstrate that subsequently. Creation told us from three distinct points of view. Thereafter, amid other details, it is the story of three great patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And it is interesting to observe, by the side, as we pass by that remark, that on each occasion, what happened to the son of the patriarch is both interesting and different. The first ab- uh, uh, patriarch was, of course, Abraham. And what happened to the promised seed Seed is is that Abram's son was sacrificed and laid upon an altar. When Isaac himself became patriarch, he fathered two sons in particular, Esau and Jacob. And the record is given largely to Jacob. And what happened to him? Well, he was so devious in his business arrangements that he had to flee from home to escape being murdered by his older brother. He went and visited his relatives in distant country, worked for his, what was about to prove his father-in-law, because he married two of his daughters, but fell out over his wages with his father-in-law and ran for his life. He eventually got back into the land, though not without fear and trepidation, because Esau was still alive. And when Jacob, on his return, heard that Esau was coming to meet him, he was filled with fear, if not with panic. Because he could not help remembering what he had done to Esau. It was Jacob's sons who are named by their mothers. And the names of those boys, born with the prayers of their mothers, shall go on the gates of the eternal. It is worth remembering when we read of those women and their sons. One of the more famous was Joseph, of course. And he rose from being rejected by his brothers, sold into Egypt, lied against by his, the woman, uh, who employed him, put in prison. Uh, from prison rose to be the savior not only of Egypt, but of the surrounding countries that were dependent upon Egypt for their supply of grain. So that the book of Genesis is a literary whole. It begins with Adam, who was appointed by God, his creator, to be the administrator of the then world. He was put in the garden to till it and to keep it, said God to Adam, see what can be done with this world. I've done it, look. So make that your home, but be aware that there's a big world outside. And you could, uh, make a garden of that too. Adam made to be an administrator of the earth as God made it. The book begins, of course, with Adam the administrator, ends with the most famous and biggest administrator that the Old Testament knows of, namely Joseph, who rose to be second in command to, uh, the Egyptians, and the savior not only of Egypt, but the savior of all the little nations that were dependent upon his organization of the food supply. So that the first book tells us the story of our first father and how he sinned to bring upon us the fatal consequences of his sin. But even the first book of the Bible, by the time it is finished, it puts before us an administrator so wonderful and glorious that we, uh, perforce are driven to think of our blessed Lord, because, like Christ, he was rejected by his Jewish brethren. Was Joseph and sold into Egypt and slandered in Egypt by his boss's wife, for whom he acted as a steward. Put in prison. But by God's preservation, was brought out and became the savior of the then world. Beautiful Beautiful picture picture. in advance of our Lord. But then, of course, who can stop us doing it, even though they call us fanciful for doing it? For seeing in Adam himself a picture of our blessed Lord. For Adam was the first man. And our Lord? And Adam was to be the administrator of the then earth. And our Lord will be not only the counterpart to Ju- uh, to Joseph, but the administrator of the whole heavens and earth. Unless it should seem a fairy story to us. We better pull up our socks and notice that when Christ reigns, there will be vacancies in his administration to be filled by those who have been faithful to him in the various tasks he has given them until he returns. Thus, the book of Genesis outlines man's first history on this earth. Of course, there is more to it than that. I shall need to justify my claim that there are three creation stories in Genesis. Now, it is commonly said, and many students are alas taught it in their theological faculties, that there are two stories of creation in Genesis. That is scarce correct. There are three, of course. But, uh, the two stories, so they are told, contradict each other. That is not so, of course. And we shouldn't, um, begin by supposing that they do. If this is God's inspired word, then the fact that there are three creation stories at the beginning of Genesis should prompt us to ask, from what point of view is each creation story told us? It is commonly said that with the story of the flood that we get in the third creation story, this borrows a lot from the mythologies of the ancient world. So let me do a little advertising, if I may, and I don't get any commission for doing it, do you see? But I will recommend, if you haven't got it, uh, uh, the book on the reliability of the Old Testament by K. A. Kitchen. Now, if you haven't got it, be specially nice to your grandmother or your favorite aunt, and uh, tell her that you were present and uh, heard a man talk about this book and recommended it, but of course you are too abysmally poor to possibly buy it. And you might even soften the heart of your grandmother to give it to you as a Christmas present. By all means, get hold of it and read it. It is by a very learned man. He was professor, uh, he, uh, he's emeritus professor, I suspect, of Egyptology in Liverpool University. And, uh, not only does he have Egyptian, but many another curious language, and is notorious for the ramifications of his studies. And in this book particularly, he's aimed to show us the reliability of the Old Testament, and what he does is to start with the kingdom period in Israel, when they were ruled by kings, and has some very interesting photographs at the end of the seals that, uh, were given as seals of office to some of the kings second in command. He has photographs of them, showing that those people actually existed. You'll see, and works his way back from the kingdom period down to the patriarchs in the book of Genesis. I recommend it to you. Uh, uh, uh, if you haven't a bed to sleep on, well, don't, um, don't give up your bed, but, um, do consider selling anything else so that you can buy this book, to see. So I have said that there are three creation stories. Let me try to justify that if I can. First of all, Genesis one and verse one begins the first creation story. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Uh, you'll see. Thus begins the first creation story. Now look at chapter five, if you will. Well, I better, for those who haven't read it recently, quote chapter two and verse four. Now these are the generations. The Hebrew word means an account of, histories of, uh, uh, and not just generations. These are the histories of the heavens and of the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. The second creation story. And now in chapter five, as, uh, you will see, it begins with, this is the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him, male and female created he them, and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day when they were created. Three creation stories, therefore. The third one is going to be a long one because it will involve the flood and the consequences of that flood. It is ours, of course, to discover, by the Lord's help, what those three creation stories are about. Why hasn't the Holy Spirit combined them into one convenient story? Why are there three? And just as they're in the Gospels, there are not, there is not one gospel, but four gospels, each presenting our Lord from a different point of view. So in the three creation stories of Genesis, creation is dealt with from a distinct point of view, and it is left to us to discover what that point of view is. Let's take an i- i- easy example from the first creation story. Uh, it reads, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Now, of course, we know what the ancients didn't. The ancients often wondered, particularly the pagan nations, often wondered where the sun went to when it went down over America. America is the place where, of course, everybody knows the sun goes down, well, in that direction anyway. But where did it go to? You'll see. Well, we know better. We know it doesn't, uh, uh, the the Earth trizzles around on its axis, you see, and uh, we have a while each day with the sunlight beaming on us, and then we are twizzled round, uh, so that we look out into the darkness. Yes? Day and night. It provokes us to ask, why did God arrange it that way? For the first creation story is marked by organizational details, how God has organized our world. Why do you think that God has organized us so that, roughly speaking, we get, um, twelve hours, more or less, facing the sun, and then, whether we want it or not, uh, twizzled out into the darkness. Some will say, of course, it's for your health, old boy. If you don't learn to sleep, you'll go mad. Well, it could that be, it could be part of the reason, of course. But, um, it is an interesting affair that modern English has the same idiom as the inch- ancient Hebrew. Because, you see, uh, the chapter one, the first creation story, tells us of the days in which God did things. I don't stop to discuss whether they were days of twenty four hours or not. That, for the moment, beside the point. It records the various days. And on the first day, do you see, God said, let there be light, and there was lo- uh, there was light. God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the fir- the first day. Well, wait a minute. Uh, the Hebrew is using the word day in two different senses, isn't it? The evening and the morning were the first day. And yet it says he called the, the light day and the darkness he called night. Yes, but Hebrew has what we have in English. Do you see your Aunt Matilda is coming from America? And you say, ah, when is she coming? By liner or by aircraft? And you say by aircraft, of course. When is she coming? She's coming on Thursday, but is she coming on daylight Thursday or overnight Thursday? And we're using the word day in two different senses, aren't we? So here, the first day, twenty four hours, presumably, was divided between light and day. Well, he's saying the obvious that everybody has known it since about the age of nine months or more. Do you see? Yes. But why do you think God has organized it that way? If you were going to organize Earth's light, would you have organized it that way? Can be very inconvenient when you're digging a garden, if ever you dig the garden, uh, you'll see, uh, and the daylight fades on you and you have to pack up before it's finished. Um, why has God organized it? The medics will tell us because you need to put yourself on a shelf while it's dark and recover from the day's activities and be refreshed in mind and body, uh, until the next day. That's a very good explanation. But why didn't God make us so that we didn't need it? What is this alternation between day and night? And if you're doing your garden or something and you, the night overtakes you, you can't work. Um. The sun has set, as we say. We have no control over it. Our lighting system that is so vital and fundamental to our existence and to our work. Our lighting system is not in our Earth, nor near our Earth. It's outside our world. It is ninety million miles outside our world. And Genesis one is pointing out to us at its very beginning that the light that is necessary for life is not in our world. You have to look out for it from our world for ninety million miles to the sun. Of course, there's the moon. Perhaps you begin to see what I mean by saying that the first creation story has to do with the organizing of our world, how it is organized, and why, therefore, it is organized. What the second creation story is about is somewhat different. Two and verse four begin the second story. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in that the day that the Lord God made earth and heavens. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew, for the Lord had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. So now God makes a man, puts him in a garden, and the man breaks the co- uh, the condition and is turned out of the garden to till the soil from which he was taken. And Cain, who was a tiller of the ground, rose up and in a quarrel murdered his brother. And God said to Cain, Cain, you can go. Here's your cards, Cain. You can go. You say that sounds to me a, a, a great option. You know, free now to go with his wife on a Mediterranean cruise or something. No, he wasn't. He was now, according to Genesis and the second creation story, he now was bereft of the very reason for which he was made. And I can't imagine a more grievous thing than to lose the very purpose of your existence. Why exist? It will be one of the horrors of hell. I shall avoid talking about the third creation story. I'm aware of my instructions to leave something for other people to say, do you see? So I've left the rest of the whole chapter and two and three and so many more. The third creation story begins in chapter five. This is the book of the generations of Adam, in the day that God created man. In the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created he them and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters. And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. Look at the end of verse eight, and he died. And verse eleven, and he died. And verse fourteen, and he died. That was a new thing for Adam. Dying. What did it mean? And what did it imply? Of course, it is an issue to be faced even still, isn't it? What will my death mean to me? It'll be a relief to others of my friends, of course, but that goes without saying. Uh, but what will it mean to me? What does death mean? So that the three creation stories deal with different aspects of creation. The three major patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, tell us another story. And the New Testament is not slow to profit from it. Abraham and his experience, and the birth of Ishmael, and the birth of Isaac, when they were sizably elderly. Um... The New Testament comments on it, doesn't it? God made a promise to Abraham, in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed. But for a long while, his wife could not bear a child. They were reduced, uh, to using their slave girl, and she produced an Ishmael. No, said God, that wasn't what I had in mind. Oh, it was a trial of faith. And in Abraham, we find lessons that are absolutely basic to our present relationship with God and to salvation. Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. And the New Testament will take up the story, pointing out that we're saved by faith, and we're meant to go on to live by faith. You see, rather than to introduce the slavish notion of being saved by works. There's more to it, of course, than that. Abraham had a son called Isaac. And in those days, fathers were particularly concerned about who their sons married and organized the whole arrangement, you see. Mm-hmm. And the story is told at great length of how Abram provided a wife for his son. Beloved Isaac, God had once asked Abram to offer him on the altar, and Abram rose to the occasion, and just as he lifted the knife, the angel of the Lord intervened and said, now I know that you fear me, seeing you've not withheld your only son from me." So Abraham was justified by faith. Chapter fifteen of Genesis tells us so. Chapter twenty two tells us he was justified by his works. And so Genesis keeps the balance in our doctrinal system. Abram justified by faith, Abram justified by works. What is Jacob about, therefore? Well, he's not so much another repeat lesson in what, how we are to be justified. In Jacob, we meet the businessman. And in those days, of course, well... Suppose you were a businessman and you were very wealthy, and you're sitting in your great office, not on a throne necessarily, but you might as well be, and in comes a poor man, uh, he's failed in business. And he's asking you to come and buy a painting that he has, because this is his hope of getting some money. So you go and look at the painting. You see it once, it's a Renoir. Oh, worth a million. And the poor man about to be bankrupt says, and what will you give me for it? What would you say? Well, I'll give you ten thousand for it, knowing it to be worth a million? Is that, you say, well, that's how business works. I see. Is it a matter of Christian faith? What about our business life? In Jacob, we learned the lesson. Uh, do you see? He had robbed Esau of the birthright and escaped, and he'd made good. He had got, uh, two wives and their handmaids as well. Whether that's good or fortune or bad, I wouldn't know, you see, but, um, he had, and he could no longer stay with Laban, his father-in-law, because all the shops in that part of the world were entitled Jacob's shops. And he's managed to transfer most of his father-in-law's balance in, uh, to his own bank account, had Jacob. And in the end, his brothers-in-law couldn't stick it anymore, and he had to run for his life. So there he was, running for his life to escape Laban, and he hears the news that Esau is coming. Oh. Oh dear. What now? Which was the occasion when he wrestled with the angels. You see, God blessed Jacob. But if Jacob thought that the way to blessing was by stealing and perverse, perverse business deals, he had yet to be taught. So when he heard that Esau was coming, he sent his, brave man he was, sent his wives across first. And then, oh no, end of sheep and stock and so on. And as he thought about what would happen, there wrestled with him a man until the daylight. It was God incarnate, of course. Breaking Jacob. Touching his thigh so he could no longer wrestle. And had to learn to depend. And came back to Canaan. Lame. And there his sons committed unspeakable atrocities. The return of Israel has not been without its complications, has it? And the way Israelis have treated the local population. Jacob, therefore, not just a repeat of justification by faith, but now true faith in God applied to our business life and our marriages and so forth, and having to face what we've done in the past, regrettable though that might be. And Joseph comes at the end. What a story it is, as poor old Jacob comes down to Canaan to get the food necessary to save his life, is introduced by his glorious son Joseph to the Pharaoh, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh. The less is blessed by the greater, you know. So says scripture. Pharaoh blessed by Jacob because of Jacob's son, Joseph. The solution of our world's problems will be found in Jacob's son, our blessed Lord, our Joseph, yet to rule. So, these scattered remarks, try and forgive them, uh, forget them, lest they lead, uh, the subsequent speakers astray. Eh, but, um, there might be an odd here and there thought that would encourage you in your excavations in the book of Genesis. Let's pray. We thank thee, Father, for thy word. We thank thee for those men and women through whose mistakes thou dost warn us, and through whose successors we are to follow. Grant thy blessing on thy word, we pray, and help us to live according to it, according to thy desire, that we might please thee and be of benefit to others. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.