July 23, 2009

The Beginning - Genesis 2

Before we get on to Adam & Eve, i have two things to say about Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work...
1. Why is God almost always referred to as a "he" ? Who started this? How do we know if god is male or female?

If it's for simplicity's sake/ ease of reference, why don't we use the word "it"? Same number of letters as 'he', but this isn't Twitter so who's counting.

Or perhaps, just keep repeating the word God instead of using some sexist pronoun...
e.g. "By the seventh day God had finished the work God had been doing; so on the seventh day God rested from all God's work..."

Sounds better much, no?



2. The Creation is conveniently condensed into seven days.

Yes, I know it wasn't exactly done in seven days literally - 1 day could've meant 10 million years.

What I'm curious about is - the 7-day week is somewhat modern, no? (modern as in 586 BCE, compared to the actual 4.54 billion yr old age of the earth.) OK the Jews had a 7-day week... but that is waaaaaaay after The Creation. Whoever decided to pen down history at the time made a momentous decision to follow their own local calendar at that point in time.

If the scribe had been living in a country/era that had a 9-day week, Genesis 2:2 would say the world was created in Nine Days.

We haven't always worked around 7-day weeks throughout history, and even till this day, there are the culturally traditional who may clock by on weeks ranging from four days to twenty days.

What do you think? Do you accept the 7-day creation because it is familiar and convenient?

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