After reading chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis, you probably noticed that there are some repeated acts of creation between the two chapters. If you read carefully, you probably saw that humans were created twice--once as a large group of people on the 7th day of creation, and once as a creation of Adam. There are several other examples of the two stories narrating the same events and other moments when the stories seem to contradict one another. In class we will discuss some of the possible explanations for these differences, retellings and contradictions, but for your blog entry, I would like you to try to describe the tone and purpose of each story and explain the reasons behind your thinking. There is no wrong answer here. I just want you to consider each story and ask yourself what the tone and purpose of each one seems to be and do your best to describe it.
We'll use your answers to enhance our discussion of the two chapters when we meet on Tuesday.
Something I noticed regarding the tone of the first two books was that everything said seemed definite. There was little room for interpretation, and it was a sort of list of things that God did. It is also told in the third person and is put together in a list format as it just names things that God did to create the world. All of the events were in Chronological order, and were complex actions that were talked about in a simple way. I think the purpose of these stories is to show how the world was created, and also prove how powerful god is. I think God’s power is demonstrated through showing how creating the world only took him six days, and then took only one day to rest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Will in that the first chapter was very list-like. The sentence structure was extremely repetitive, and certain phrases were restated multiple times. The chapter seemed almost like a history lesson that God was giving to the people about the seven days of creation, while the second chapter was a bit different. It was more descriptive and went into much detail about the creation of man. This in-depth focus seems to convey the importance of Adam, and that the genesis of humans was a 'big deal', even in the perspective of God and His divine court. The purpose of the second chapter seems to be to show the superiority of man to the other things that God had created. However, there is also a sense of ominous foreshadowing in the second chapter when God explicitly commands man to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We, as readers, gain some insight of the human spirit through it. The tones of the first and second chapters are contrasting in that the former is very straight-forward and objective, while the latter is more descriptive and offers more of the literary devices we typically think of in books.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with both Sarah and Will. The first two chapters of the genesis both convey the same meaning but are written and formatted differently. The first chapter is more of a straight forward list of things god created, however, the second chapter is more detailed and structured more like a book, it also allows us to interpret the meaning behind the context of what was written. The second chapter is also more concentrated on Adam rather than god. Like Sarah mentioned, the second chapter also includes foreshadowing when god tells Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge. Overall, the first chapter is very concise and straight-forward, while the second chapter is more detailed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Will in that the first chapter of Genesis was very straightforward: first, God created heaven and earth, then night and day, and so on. There were no other characters than God and no one that could have interacted with him; it was very set in stone as to what he did. The first chapter mainly had the purpose of “introducing the stage”; the setting of the story was given to the reader as how God made the world in the beginning. As Sarah mentioned, the second chapter put an emphasis on the creation of man, and that humans were placed as the caretakers of the world by God. It introduces more elements of a story, including more characters, a specific setting within the world God created, and the beginnings of a plot (Adam and the unnamed woman live together in the Garden of Eden). The readers can see a potential conflict that may arise: God commanded Adam to never eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge, unless he wants to die. Over all, the first chapter of Genesis merely sets the stage for all of the stories to come by listing all of the things God created in the beginning, while the second chapter begins to introduce familiar elements of a story with an actual plot.
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ReplyDeleteThe first chapter seemed to follow a very easily understood, chronological order. It went day by day, outlining God’s actions in creating the world and the beginnings of everything. While reading, I felt like the boy was teaching me in how put-together and lesson-like the sentence structure, rephrasing, and repetition was. I think the purpose of the first chapter was to create an understanding and set up for the rest of what was to come. When God first placed men and women on Earth and told them to be “fruitful and multiply” the order of the story seemed to be flowing very easily. Everything was happening in order for man to have dominance and prosper. But, come chapter two, the timeline began to fall apart in that there is not the same type of teaching style or repetitions. I think the purpose of the second chapter was to establish that while man was made much more powerful and intelligent than animals or nature, he still has very real downfalls. Like when God explicitly told man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and man defied him, it proved that intense curiosity, unwillingness to cooperate, or defiance can bring anyone to his knees no matter his strength or power.
ReplyDeleteLike others mentioned the tone is very serious, and also the writing is filled with lots of cement facts that will not be changed. Like Sarah mentioned I also noticed the repetition of certain phrases in the first chapter like "And God said" or "And God saw" and I felt as though that was to make things straightforward and serious, and I the second chapter things were more detailed and a little bit more free. I felt like the first chapter seemed to be more perfect without humans, and almost everything seemed to be positive, but in the second chapter with the humans being things didn't seem as perfect. Like Robert said the first chapter very much sets up for the story and gives it some context, and the second chapter starts to introduce characters, and possible challenges and decisions that they will have to make.
ReplyDelete-Bella
The first genesis told the story of how God created the world in the first 6 days. The story seems rather monotone and very concise. Each sentence briefly described an action conducted by God. The verbs used were unrealistically simple, judging on the fact that God alone, by himself has created everything relating to our existence. "God said"something and it was done. Then he named them and customized their elements. The statement at the end of every creation, "God saw that it was good", expressed his satisfaction for the world. Most of the Earth was created in 6 short days and the quick, to the point pace of the first genesis has given the readers the sense how everything just came out in a blink of an eye. The second genesis, however, went at a much slower pace and focused entirely on the making of Adam and the Woman, the first human. God created Adam to carry a grander task than any others, aiding God cultivating and taking of the marvelous Eden garden. Another precious gift God gave Adam was "whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof". This shows the destined dominant over other living creatures that God blessed for human. Not just so, God even gave him a soulmate, displayed his valuation of human feelings which set Adam to a whole new level of being.
ReplyDeleteThe first two chapters of Genesis were easy to understand, and were repetitive a lot. Everyday God would create something new, and it would be good. The first chapter was an introduction to God's plan, and all things made before human beings. As bella said, the world seemed way more peaceful and perfect without the human beings.I feel like the purpose of the first chapter was to give context, and try to lead up to what's coming next. The second chapter was really all about the creation of man, and introduced specific settings, instead of just the land/water etc. We also start getting some characters (Adam and unnamed woman who had a garden to live in. The second chapter introduced a plot to the story.
ReplyDeleteThe first two chapters were not hard to understand, and were pretty straight forward. I noticed immediately that in book one, a lot of verses ended in "and God saw that it was good" this created a very positive tone to the first book and in a sense created an ideal "perfect world". In book 2, it was a bit more creative and the story starts to reveal more and more. God, proceeds to create a man named Adam and a yet to be named woman. This book focused more on man than anything else. The man was the one in control even when the woman was created. They were made of one flesh and shows the power that man has over the woman. The man was superior to any animal, and any other living creature to inhabit the Earth. I think that it is set up this way to at first, introduce a very basic understanding of the background of the story and later on reveal more an more and eventually leading to a lesson to be learned for the reader.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sandra and most people who had the same thoughts. I think the chapters were very coherent and concise especially the first chapter. God sensed something missing, created it, usually named it, blessed it, and said that it was good. It doesn't go in depth in any of the the creations and is a little vague, but the reader is still able to clearly understand what happened. In the second chapter, however, it focuses in on man and eventually a woman. It distinctively depicted the location and setting of where they were. Like Robert said, God was testing Adam by telling him not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but he and is new "friend" could eat fruit from any other plant. The reader can think that something bad might happen when a man is given an opportunity to do wrong, when he may take something good away from it. This challenge will prove Adam and this woman's character and like Sandra said, can teach the reader a lesson from this doomed experiment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Robert, Pinn, and Will, the first chapter of Genesis is clear cut. The chapter told of how on the first day God created the Earth and Heaven, the greater light and the lesser light, etc. As Robert mentioned, God is the only character mentioned in the first chapter, except the large group of people created on the sixth day. The purpose of the first chapter was to give a setting for the rest of book. God gave the setting by stating how he created the Earth, Heaven, etc., in six days. The first chapter is not abstract, simple, and concrete. I agree with Sarah that the second chapter focuses on the importance of Adam how man was created to protect the Earth. God says that man has power of all the animals that He created, and puts man on a pedestal. We see some foreshadowing when God commanded Adam to eat from any tree except from the tree of good and evil. This gives the story a plot unlike the first story. The first story was precise while the second story is sets up a plot for later stories.
ReplyDeleteFor the first story, I am drawn to the idea that the purpose of it is to introduce the character of God and subsequently explore what his personality and powers are. So far, I’ve learned that he is an omnipotent being who created the universe because it needed to be created. It hasn’t yet been revealed why he chose to do this or much of his thinking proses at all. Despite that, the way that God creates the world reveals a lot about him. He doesn’t (as far as we know from the first story) create the world because he wants something out of it, but because it is right and good, reinforcing the idea that the God’s character is selfless and wholesome.
ReplyDeleteFor the second story, I think that the a lot of the way that God is described as helping Adam (by giving him a hospitable and habitable place to exist) supports the idea that God is a selfless being that only wants the best for his creations. He goes so far as to create new animals and plants and then a safe haven for Adam, all to protect his creation. From this I feel it’s safe to conclude that the lesson of the second story is that now that God has created Adam, he is going to protect and care for him. Even the woman, Eve, was created to give Adam something he didn’t have before that would help him in his new life (i.e. companionship and someone to experience the his life with).
-Eilidh Dunsmore
I agree with what many of my classmates said above. Especially what Erica said, and what the people who she mentioned in her blog said. I do think that the stories at first seem rather similar but if you look at it more closely they are vastly different. TheMideast story really dose set up the background to the rest of the books. The first story is straight forward and involves lots of repetition, “and God saw that it was good”. While the second story shows more of a complex side. Involving the first real characters that we meet, Adam and Eve. Because we have many things introduced in the second story that means there is a lot to work with in the upcoming stories. And I believe that as Erica said, “The first story was precise while the second story sets up a plot for later stories.”
ReplyDeleteNicola Sommers