Episode 165. In Exegesis of Passages in Genesis One to 11, we'll examine these in the light of the following categories: first the etiology; then the motifs; the author or authors;.the origins debate implications; and most importantly, the message of faith. With regard to etiology, Genesis One verses one to three, asks the question -- what about the chaotic pre-creative state? And the answer that the Bible offers is that God is in total control of it. The Minor Motif is the dark watery chaotic state. In Ancient Near Eastern creation accounts, the gods arise out of it. The author of Genesis One, verses one to three is the P author, because he typically uses the divine name "Elohim", which in Hebrew means "God or gods". Notably, Elohim appears 35 times in Genesis One, and the P author often uses fives and sevens and their multiples, like in this case, five times seven is 35. Let's now consider some origins debate implications. The pre-creative state is a problem for Young Earth creation because this view of origins loses its temporal marker from which to date the earth. There is no mention of when the earth was created in Genesis One. This, by the way, destroyed my belief in Young Earth creation. With regards to progressive creation, this view of origins attempts to align Genesis 1:1 with the Big Bang, but Genesis 1:2 is the opening scene of this creation account. Water, earth, and time are already present and there is no mention of their creation. So it's notable that by only the second verse of the Bible, scientific concordism fails. The Messages of Faith include that God is in total control of the pre-creative state. As well, there is no hint that God arises out of it. No hint of any other gods arising out of it. And no hint that God battles other gods as seen in some Ancient Near Eastern creation accounts. This is another excellent example of the Hebrews taking an Ancient Near Eastern motif. In this case, the pre-creative state in which they recycle and reinterpret it with their spiritual truths. Please turn to page 66 in the handouts. I found over the years that students appreciate seeing some biblical verses in their original language. This is Genesis 1:1 from the Hebrew Bible. Remember that this language is read from right to left. "Ba" is the proposition that can be translated either as "in" or "when". "Reshith" refers to beginning. "Bara'" is the verb "created". And "Elohim" is "God". Let's look at Genesis 1:1 in the Greek Old Testament. "In" is the proposition for "in". "Archaea", from which we get the term archaeology, refers to beginning. "Epoeisen" is the general Greek word for "to make". And, of course, "Theos" is "God". With an understanding of the first three verses of the Bible, we can now examine the rest of Genesis One and the Six Day Creation account. With regards to etiology, Genesis One asks, what caused the origin of the heavens, earth, plants, animals, and humans? And the answer is God created all of them. The major motif is de novo creation, whereby, everything gets created quick and complete. And this is typical of ancient accounts of origins. There's also the minor motif of vegetarianism for both humans and animals. This motif appears in some other creation accounts and characterizes the diet of the first generation of living organisms and the author is the P author. He often uses a poetic format that is a very structured writing style. Please turn to page 45 in the handouts where you'll find a poetic structure known as parallel panels. This framework is built off Genesis 1: 2 and the two rhyming words: "tohu" meaning formless; and "bohu" meaning empty. End of episode.