The Book of Genesis has become my favorite book of the Bible, by far. There is so much wisdom and truth in it. Presented in such a tantalizingly esoteric and artistic way, I am overwhelmed at discovering it all, even though in my ignorance of Hebrew I fall far short of understanding it all properly.
The very beginning of the Bible is a scientifically accurate depiction of creation as we know it. It is in line with old earth creationism, and I have discussed this in a previous post.
But it is also a summation of the cyclical nature of God creating an Eden for us, a Promised Land; how we are exposed to evil, fall away from God with increasing depravity, until He is forced to annihilate us because He is so besotted over our grievous behavior; saving those who are most holy to begin anew, making a New Covenant with us.
I want to discuss the correlation of the Genesis story with the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, which are first expressly laid out in Exodus chapter 20, when God makes a New Covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai.
We will start at the beginning:
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and all the host of them.”
God is Sovereign Supreme Being
Enter Day 6 of creation, after God had created everything, creatures on the earth, and man…
Genesis 1:28: “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Commandment 2: Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
God is saying that He is above man and man is above creature, so there is NO WAY that creature can be above God. If man does not honor God’s Original Sovereignty, man will be led to commit idolatry.
Genesis 1:31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Commandment 3: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
God is saying that if everything He made is indeed very good, there is no reason to ever use His name in an unholy way. God is always holy. If man commits idolatry, man will also be led to believe God is mere vanity or emptiness.
Genesis 2:2-3 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Commandment 4: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all they work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD they God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God is saying we should work six days, and rest on the seventh because it is a holy day. If man believes God is mere vanity or emptiness, man will not feel the need to honor God’s holiness or holy things.
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Here we have an intermission in the Genesis/commandment correlation. God creates a perfect world for us to live and dwell in with Him. But evil (which was created before man, as creatures were created before man) enters in and man becomes impure,
and falls away from God.
But God still provides for man and cares for him. Then the story proceeds…
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Genesis 4:1 “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.”
Commandment 5: Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God givith thee.
God is saying that children born to parents should honor them, not dishonor them. If man does not honor God’s holiness or holy things, he will also not honor his own parents.
Genesis 4:8 “Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose against Abel his brother and killed him.“
Commandment 6: Thou shalt not murder.
God is saying that we should not kill those whom we hate. If a man does not honor his parents, he might also commit murder.
Genesis 4:19 “Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.”[Lamech means warrior or conqueror, and this is the first case of polygamy in the Bible]
Commandment 7: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
God is saying that to Him polygamy is adultery. If a man is capable of committing murder, he will also desecrate the holy sacrament of marriage.
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Here we have another intermission in the Genesis/Commandment correlation. God sees the increasing depravity of man. Man has now dishonored and murdered within his own family, and with his act of committing adultery,
his sin is starting to spill over into mankind.
Yet God still continues to give him another chance and Adam has a new son, Seth [which means ‘compensation’ in Hebrew]. Then the story proceeds…
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Genesis 6:1-2 “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God [angels or, likely in this case, fallen angels] saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”
Commandment 8: Thou shalt not steal.
God is saying that now matter how powerful you are, or alluring the prize, stealing is wrong. If a man commits adultery, he will also be willing to steal from others.
Genesis 6:4 “There were fallen ones on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
Commandment 9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
God is saying that the fallen angels tricked the daughters of men into thinking they were good, so that they would bear them wicked children. If man steals, he will be willing to swear falsely by his neighbor.
Genesis 6:5 “Then God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every thought of the thoughts in his heart was only evil continually.”
Commandment 10: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
God is saying that your wickedness grows until every thought in your heart is bent on evil and attaining your own glory. If man is willing to swear falsely by his neighbor, there is no end to the lengths man will go to make himself more lofty.
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Final intermission. “And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” ~Genesis 6:6
Man has fallen so far away from the beginning, so far from
God is Sovereign Supreme Being
That a rip occurs between man and God because man slips so far from God, and since man cannot exist without God, man is annihilated. However, God saves Noah and his family because Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. God floods the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. 40 is the archaic way to describe circle, because there are 400 radians in a circle. Life, exposed to evil, had come full circle.
Then the story continues…
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So, Commandment 1 stands alone and also brings us back full circle to the beginning. Commandments 2, 3, and 4 are about us and God. Commandments 5, 6, and 7 are about us and our family. And Commandments 8, 9, and 10 are about us and society. As we get further and further from God, sin is like a cancer that spreads and spreads until it has corrupted all of society. This reflects number symbology of 1/3/3/3. Which means One LORD whose realm makes a circle with 3 representing pi: a circle within a larger circle within a larger circle, representing the ripple effect of sin as it transmits from mans’ relationship with God into his family, and finally into society, 3 being coded for often in the Torah (see previous posts).
Finally, we end with Commandment 1: I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
God is saying He will bring those He deems worthy [the Chosen Ones] out of captivity, out of the bondage that we will get ourselves into [time and time again]. All He asks is that we recognize His sovereignty, honor Him, obey Him, and love Him, and if we do this, we will not continue along the slippery slope of sinfulness, where we will inevitably meet our utter destruction.
This is a perpetual covenant which He renews with us over and over.
He is full of grace. And LOVE.
Praise be to God. Amen.
~Song of Mary~ 