Blog 2 Genesis

Danelle Turney

01/29/13

Genesis 1-26


"In the beginning..." when reading this for the first time, it is striking that the stories are written in such a simplistic manner. A lot of the lines repeat, and it almost reminded me of a refrain in a poem. For example, when explaining the days and steps of creation, it would end with "...and it was so" (genesis 1). The repeating of such lines may have been to put what was occuring during creation into perspective. God was creating all that is known by man today in regards to nature and was doing it in such an easy, matter-of-fact manner, that the repeated "...and it was so" line is intended to portray that what God wants to occur, will occur with minimal effort from Him. Also, the way in which the paragraphs are set up is interesting too. It appears to be that the authors will set up the story within the first few sections and then pinpoint one particular instance next. When talking about Adam and Eve, they are first brought up when "...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them..." (Genesis 2). Then it went on to describe His first conversations with Adam and how Eve came to be.
Some of the people mentioned almost seem to be there simply for acknowledgment's sake. Genesis will list six or seven people to pick out the honorable mentions and the rest will be forgotten. I am not completely sure what the point of these listings are except maybe to keep track of the lineage of the first people on Earth. It also seems that maybe this was how particular nations came to be. A man would have so many sons in a particular place, and then that was where their people dwelled for the rest of time.
One of the things that confused me the most was when Adam and Eve had two sons Abel and Cain, and once Abel was out of the picture, Cain went about his business as a wanderer and found himself a wife somewhere. Where did this woman come from if Cain and Abel are the only two children Adam and Eve had? The only thing I can think of is that God created more than just Adam and Eve at first, but like later on in Genesis, Adam was a chosen one out of many.