Chapter 5 is titled Days One to Three in Genesis 1 Establish Functions. This chapter also provides further argument on function orientation of the first chapter of Genesis. Like Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, chapter 5 also focuses on biblical text.
Genesis 1: 3-5 read as "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day', and the darkness he called 'night'. And there was evening and there was morning -- the first day. (NIV)
Dr. Walton asks how ''God called the light 'day', and the darkness he called 'night'' of verse 5 might best be understood. He says it is best understood if read as " God called the period of light 'day' and the period of darkness he called 'night'". With verse 5 understood that way, we can work backward to verse 4 and to verse 3. This is what we get!
" Let there be a period of light (v. 3). God saw that the period of light was good, and he separated this period of light from the period of darkness (v. 4). God called the period of light 'day' and the period of darkness, he called 'night'." The author further argues that only when read this way, the line 'And there was evening and there was morning' makes sense.
The result of reading this way is that one realises that the basis for time i.e day and night, are used in functional sense. And this is what took place on the first day. One the second day, God created the firmament -- that expanse which separates the water below from the water above and thus controls the weather. On the third day, God created the dry land and vegetation. "So on day one God created the basis for time; day two the basis for weather and day three the basis for food." They are the foundation of life in ancient thought! God was not about giving ancient Israel correct information about cosmic geography; his intention was to focus on functions and to establish that it was he who sets up the universe functioning.
No comments:
Post a Comment