June 1, 2009

Readings: Genesis 1 and 2, Matthew 1

Long before the books of the Bible were written down, the stories were told and were passed on from generation to generation. The written books were often compilations from different sources. You might notice that there are two different accounts of creation (Genesis 1-2:4 and Gen 2:5-25). Scholars trace the different "strands" of tradition through these texts refer to 4 or 5 different traditions that were edited together to create the first 5 books of the Bible.

Note the similarities and differences between the two accounts. Is there one you prefer? Why?

Text notes:
Gen 1:2 "wind from God", if you remember from the Pentecost sermon, is the same Hebrew word, "ruach" and it means "wind, breath, spirit".

Gen 1:26-27
The pronouns for God in these verses switch back and forth from plural ('let us make humankind in our image') to singular ('so God created humankind in his image'). Why do you think that is?

Gen 2
Adam comes from the word that means "ground, land", since Adam was made from the ground. Even though the word "Adam" in English does not show up in Genesis until 4:25 in the NRSV, many of the references to "man" in the first 2 chapters have the word "Adam" in the Hebrew. The other word for man in this section is "ish" and for woman is "isha".

Matthew 1
Genealogy of Jesus
Make note of who is being included in this genealogy of Jesus.
1:2 "Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers"--these are the brothers who sold their brother Joseph into slavery. Jacob tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright.
1:3--Judah slept with his daughter in law Tamar (it's a complicated story, you'll discover)
1:5--Boaz marries Ruth, a foreign woman
1:6--David arranges to have Uriah removed from the story so he can have his wife Bathsheba. Bathsheba doesn't get named, but Matthew makes sure the readers remember "the wife of Uriah".

What does it say to you that Jesus' genealogy was not "cleaned up" or "sanitized" for official publication?

In a culture where women were worth slightly less than cattle, what does it say to you for so many women to be mentioned, by name, in this genealogy?