Post by alon on Oct 11, 2017 12:05:27 GMT -8
Date of reading: 14 October 2017/ 24 Tishri 5778
Next week’s reading schedule:
Name of Par’shah: Noach
Par’shah: Genesis 6:9-11:32
Haftara: Isaiah 54:1-54:5
Brit Chadashah: Matthew 24: 37-39
Name of Par’shah: B’reshit- In the Beginning
Par’shah: Genesis 1:1-6:8
Haftara: Isaiah 42:5-43:10
Brit Chadashah: Revelation 21:1–5; 22:1–5
D’rash: Looking at the account of creation given in Gen 1:1-2:3 we see an interesting account of G-d’s work. There is an anomaly in how the days are numbered. For the first six days the number of each day is given after the record of the work done on that day. But on the seventh we are given the number before we are told He ceased from His labors and before He declared it to be holy. Before He blessed the day. So the “set apartness” of the Shabbat is stressed in scripture right from the first, and emphasized by how it is written.
Another thing we can see is the austerity of the account given. In most mythologies, especially in the mid or near-east we are given a graphic account with drama and descriptions of the events they portray. But the work of Abishter, the Almighty here recounts His actions as just a simple statement that He did it with no need for embellishment. This emphasizes the power and majesty of our El-him. No grande portrayals of how He did it; just that He did. He is G-d who spoke the world into existence. Simple.
In Western thought the opposite of the created order is nothingness. But to ancient cultures it was a much worse state; a malevolent state of chaos and darkness. In Paleo-Hebrew the letter mem looks like either teeth, which can rend or mash, or waves crashing along a shoreline. It represents destructive forces. This chaotic, destructive state as well as the darkness were feared more by the ancients than simple nothingness. So when verse 2 says “The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep,” it doesn’t depict creation from nothing. It is talking about creation from chaos and darkness. Notice that the first thing created is light. The shedding of light on the chaos is prerequisite to making order from that chaos.
Now the Sun and Moon are not “created” until the fourth day. So light energy existed, or at least was ordered before the heavenly bodies as we know them. In this context “light” can also be seen as some kind of understanding. It is apparent that El-him had created the universe in some form prior to this, and that at that time it existed in a state of chaos. So this act of creation is a reordering as much as it is anything else.
Jewish tradition puts a break between verses 2:3 & 4. Contemporary scholars place the break in the middle of verse 4. Either way we have an editorial devise linking (by a break) two different creation accounts. When we look at these together we get a much richer idea of how El-him relates to man. In verse 2:15 we see “Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it.” So Adam was created outside the Garden, in the wild. He was created from the very earth of this wilderness. And so it is his nature to go out into the world and subdue it. But he always yearns to return to the Garden, the comforts of home.
Later in verse 18 we see Chava created from Adam’s rib. So she was created in the Garden. Her desire is to keep the home and family together and safe. These characteristics are later emphasized when they are expelled from the Garden. We read in verses 3:15-19 “I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant and her descendant; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.””
Note the enemy, ha’satan attacks the home, thus garnering animosity from the woman. This does not exclude Adam from either attack or these feelings of hostility and anger. Just that the attacks are worst at the seat of man’s existence here on earth; the home, where the woman’s domain is. The man is to go out and earn their living by the sweat of his brow. He now must go out and subdue those wild spaces from whence he originated. The woman’s curse was on her, the man’s curse was on the earth he was supposed to care for but must now fight for his very existence. The serpent was both cursed to eat the dust of the earth he had polluted, and to be a curse to man and woman. He is at enmity with all creatures, especially man who is mentioned here.
But how is it we have these two different accounts of creation? My opinion is that they were existing documents at the time Moshe was told to write the
. I do not believe he wrote every word of , but rather was commissioned by El-him to supervise its’ writing. Part of this was the gathering of as much information as existed. These two accounts were most likely existing documents which Moshe, led by the Ruach HaKodesh used to enrich our understanding of how we fit into G-d’s overall plan. How He values us.
The haftara emphasizes the fact that HaShem created everything: Isaiah 42:5 “Thus says God, Adonai, who created the heavens and spread them out, who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it:”
It goes on to talk to Yisroel about His relationship to them. Especially relevant is the comparison made to Himself and idols:
Isaiah 44:9-11 (ESV) All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to
. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to , and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to together.
Now Isaiah would have known that it was not the idol itself that was thought to be powerful by pagans; rather that the idol was thought to be a conduit for the god it represented. I see this as saying ‘why fashion an idol from things created by G-d to attract another petty god and invoke his favor when you as a Jew had access to the Creator of both?’ To El Elohe Yisro’el, the god you invoke has no more power than the idol you used to represent him!
In our B’rith Chadashah reading we are told of a new ordering as the seas are gone and a new Yerushalayim descends from the heavens to earth. Our relationship at that time is one of worship and praise for YHWH Hose’enu, God Our Creator (Psalm 95:6). He is Rishon v’ha’Acharon, First and the Last (Isaiah 44:6); ha’Aleph v’ha’Tav (Revelation 22:13). And there is no other God but Him.
Resources: JPS Study TNK, Dr. F Seekins, John Eldredge, and personal observations
Dan C
Next week’s reading schedule:
Name of Par’shah: Noach
Par’shah: Genesis 6:9-11:32
Haftara: Isaiah 54:1-54:5
Brit Chadashah: Matthew 24: 37-39
Name of Par’shah: B’reshit- In the Beginning
Par’shah: Genesis 1:1-6:8
Haftara: Isaiah 42:5-43:10
Brit Chadashah: Revelation 21:1–5; 22:1–5
D’rash: Looking at the account of creation given in Gen 1:1-2:3 we see an interesting account of G-d’s work. There is an anomaly in how the days are numbered. For the first six days the number of each day is given after the record of the work done on that day. But on the seventh we are given the number before we are told He ceased from His labors and before He declared it to be holy. Before He blessed the day. So the “set apartness” of the Shabbat is stressed in scripture right from the first, and emphasized by how it is written.
Another thing we can see is the austerity of the account given. In most mythologies, especially in the mid or near-east we are given a graphic account with drama and descriptions of the events they portray. But the work of Abishter, the Almighty here recounts His actions as just a simple statement that He did it with no need for embellishment. This emphasizes the power and majesty of our El-him. No grande portrayals of how He did it; just that He did. He is G-d who spoke the world into existence. Simple.
In Western thought the opposite of the created order is nothingness. But to ancient cultures it was a much worse state; a malevolent state of chaos and darkness. In Paleo-Hebrew the letter mem looks like either teeth, which can rend or mash, or waves crashing along a shoreline. It represents destructive forces. This chaotic, destructive state as well as the darkness were feared more by the ancients than simple nothingness. So when verse 2 says “The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep,” it doesn’t depict creation from nothing. It is talking about creation from chaos and darkness. Notice that the first thing created is light. The shedding of light on the chaos is prerequisite to making order from that chaos.
Now the Sun and Moon are not “created” until the fourth day. So light energy existed, or at least was ordered before the heavenly bodies as we know them. In this context “light” can also be seen as some kind of understanding. It is apparent that El-him had created the universe in some form prior to this, and that at that time it existed in a state of chaos. So this act of creation is a reordering as much as it is anything else.
Jewish tradition puts a break between verses 2:3 & 4. Contemporary scholars place the break in the middle of verse 4. Either way we have an editorial devise linking (by a break) two different creation accounts. When we look at these together we get a much richer idea of how El-him relates to man. In verse 2:15 we see “Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it.” So Adam was created outside the Garden, in the wild. He was created from the very earth of this wilderness. And so it is his nature to go out into the world and subdue it. But he always yearns to return to the Garden, the comforts of home.
Later in verse 18 we see Chava created from Adam’s rib. So she was created in the Garden. Her desire is to keep the home and family together and safe. These characteristics are later emphasized when they are expelled from the Garden. We read in verses 3:15-19 “I will put animosity between you and the woman, and between your descendant and her descendant; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you.” To Adam he said, “Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, ‘You are not to eat from it,’ the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.””
Note the enemy, ha’satan attacks the home, thus garnering animosity from the woman. This does not exclude Adam from either attack or these feelings of hostility and anger. Just that the attacks are worst at the seat of man’s existence here on earth; the home, where the woman’s domain is. The man is to go out and earn their living by the sweat of his brow. He now must go out and subdue those wild spaces from whence he originated. The woman’s curse was on her, the man’s curse was on the earth he was supposed to care for but must now fight for his very existence. The serpent was both cursed to eat the dust of the earth he had polluted, and to be a curse to man and woman. He is at enmity with all creatures, especially man who is mentioned here.
But how is it we have these two different accounts of creation? My opinion is that they were existing documents at the time Moshe was told to write the
. I do not believe he wrote every word of , but rather was commissioned by El-him to supervise its’ writing. Part of this was the gathering of as much information as existed. These two accounts were most likely existing documents which Moshe, led by the Ruach HaKodesh used to enrich our understanding of how we fit into G-d’s overall plan. How He values us.The haftara emphasizes the fact that HaShem created everything: Isaiah 42:5 “Thus says God, Adonai, who created the heavens and spread them out, who stretched out the earth and all that grows from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it:”
It goes on to talk to Yisroel about His relationship to them. Especially relevant is the comparison made to Himself and idols:
Isaiah 44:9-11 (ESV) All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to
. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to , and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to together.Now Isaiah would have known that it was not the idol itself that was thought to be powerful by pagans; rather that the idol was thought to be a conduit for the god it represented. I see this as saying ‘why fashion an idol from things created by G-d to attract another petty god and invoke his favor when you as a Jew had access to the Creator of both?’ To El Elohe Yisro’el, the god you invoke has no more power than the idol you used to represent him!
In our B’rith Chadashah reading we are told of a new ordering as the seas are gone and a new Yerushalayim descends from the heavens to earth. Our relationship at that time is one of worship and praise for YHWH Hose’enu, God Our Creator (Psalm 95:6). He is Rishon v’ha’Acharon, First and the Last (Isaiah 44:6); ha’Aleph v’ha’Tav (Revelation 22:13). And there is no other God but Him.
Resources: JPS Study TNK, Dr. F Seekins, John Eldredge, and personal observations
Dan C
