Genesis 1:20-23
Teaching the word of God is
like planting seeds.
It must be done ahead of time. You can
not wait until you are hungry for lunch to plant a garden.
Likewise the church can not continue to be reactionary in their Sunday morning messages.
Teach the word in season and out of season.
A basketball coach who runs a
full court press will often force the other team out of their game style.
The other coach will end up teaching a press break during the game and during
timeouts.
That coach ends up doing reactionary coaching.
Reactionary coaching can only try to stay in the game not win it.
The church today is letting culture press them and dictate what we teach and
preach.
First Timothy 4:13
Four Points:
1) Nepes Hayya = Living creatures
2) Bara
a. 3 phases of creation
b. Not dualism
3) Tannim speak of two “monsters” of the sea
a. Animal life of the sea created on day five
b. God’s enemy before time, during time and at the end of time, Satan, the dragon
4) Blessing
a. All was blessed on day five
b. When sin entered the world there were choices and blessings were now qualified
i. Matt. 5. sermon on the mount example “Blessed are those who. . .”
ii. Gen. 12 “bless those who bless you, curse those who curse you.
The creation of living creatures is done on two days.
Day Five:
1) creatures of the sea
2) creatures of the sky
Day Six:
1) creatures of the land
2) this includes man
Day one and four correspond: Light and the lights in the sky
Day two and five correspond: Water and Sky are now filled with two types of animal life
1:20
God speaks:
“And God said” – “wayyo’mer”
Water filled with “living creatures”
1) “living creatures” is the Hebrew words “nepes hayya”
2) “living being” is the way the same phrase is translated concerning man in 2:7
3) The phrase “nepes hayya” is used in 1:21, 24, 30
4) If 2:7 is translated “living soul” as it is in many translations then 1:20, 21, 24, 30 in reference to sea creatures, birds, land animals.
5) Gen. 9:16 it refers to both animals and man.
Literally says “swarm with swarms of living creatures”
Sky filled with “birds”
1:21
God acts:
“So God created” – “wayyibra”
“created” is “bara” This is the second time it is used (first in 1:1)
“Bara” is used six times in creation account.
1) 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Begins the account)
2) 1:21 – “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing.” (Introduce creation that move, interact with creation, have blood)
3) 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (3x) (Introduce mankind)
4) 2:3 – “And God blessed the seventh day and made (asah) it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating (bara) that he had done (asah). (Ends the account of creation)
”Bara” is used here possibly to distinguish a new phase of creation. The creation account then can be broken into
three divisions:
1) the Creation of the universe beginning in 1:1 and going until Day Four
2) the Creation of the animals, which were a new type of creation since they live and move and have blood.
3) The Creation of man who was created in God’s image.
“Bara” is also used to clearly portray that God is sovereign and did not conquer a preexisting earth that was there before God was.
This is not a copy of
mythology. In fact, the Genesis account
conflicts with the ancient myths (
In ancient mythology the god
battle with and conquered “Tannin” or the “tanninim”
The Canaanite God Baal (god of strms and fertility) struggled with Yam (the
sea) for kingship.
Tannin in Ugaritic literature is a generic term fo r the mythological monster of chaos that had to be conquered by the god or gods.
Tannin = 1 monster or dragon or sea creature
Tanninim = plural monsters, dragons or creatures
The creation of the sea animals is divided into two groups:
1) “great creatures of the sea”
a. Hebrew is “tanninim”
b. Nine OT references to tannim
c. “serpant” – Exod 7:9, 10, 12; Deut. 32:33; Ps. 91:13
d. “crocodile” – Ezek. 29:3; 32:2
e. Psalm 148 calls creation to worship YWHW. 1-6 lists elements in the sky, 8-14 focuses on terrestrial elements, verse 7 calls on the sea animals and uses “tanninim”
f. “Tanninim” is also used to refer to the beast of the ancient chaos that YHWH defeated:
i. Psalm 74:13-14 with verses 15-17 describing creation
ii. Isaiah 27:1 describes the future prophetic day when God will slay both Leviathan and Tanninim (“the dragon that is in the sea”
iii. Isaiah 51:9 again refers to a past battle set in “the days of old”
g. Three enemies of God in OT:
i. Tanninim (monsters, dragons, sea creatures)
ii. Rahab
iii. Leviathan
h. In the New Testament we could make the connection to Satan
i. Matt. 4
ii. Ephesians 2
iii. Revelation 12
iv. Revelation 20
v. And others
i. “BARA” may be used in verse 20 to discern between the two uses of this word
i. An ancient spiritual force dealt with in the beginning and at the end of time.
ii. The new “creations” (bara) that have nothing to do with the spiritual enemy of YHWH which are also called “tanninim”
2) “every living and moving thing with which the water teems”
1:22
“Blessing” - for the first time the concept of blessing is introduced.
The blessing given to animals (1:22) is the same as the blessing given to man (1:28).
The blessing centers on the multiplication of the life they have been given: “Be fruitful and increase in number”
Man’s blessing includes the command to have dominion:
1) Subdue the earth
2) Rule over the animals
For the first time God speaks to somebody
Blessing is for all the earth beginning here with the animals.
Blessing is not only for
All are blessed here since there is no sin and no other choice.
After sin is introduced the blessing remains for those who remain in it.
But a curse is also available (Gen. 12:3)
There are criteria for the blessing after the fall of man as is seen in the sermon on the mount (Mt. 5:3-12)