Week 1:
Creation and the Cosmic Temple

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Click the link above or below to access and download the materials for Week 1 of the Unseen Genesis bible study.

Contents

  1. Opening — Laboratory or Temple Dedication?
    • Hook question: when you picture Genesis 1, do you see a lab or a throne room?
    • Frame: read the text with its first audience’s questions — Who made everything? What are people for?
  2. One God, No Rivals — Genesis 1:1–2
    • Seven Hebrew words; creation ex nihilo; no theogony, no combat, no rival.
    • Tohu wabohu, darkness, the deep — conditions God will order: forming (days 1–3), filling (days 4–6).
    • The precedent of prophecy: what God speaks comes to pass (Hampson). Cross-ref: Isaiah 46:9–10; 55:10–11.
  3. The Throne Room and the Image — Genesis 1:26–28 
    • Plural announcement (“let us”), singular act (1:27) — God alone creates.
      • Heiser: announcement to the divine council (Job 38:4–7; Psalm 82:1; 89:5–7; 1 Kings 22:19).
      • Classic options: Trinity in view; NT confirms Son & Spirit active in creation (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16).
    • Image of God = royal-representative vocation, conferred on all, joined to a commission (1:28).
      • Cross-ref: Psalm 8:4–6; Hebrews 2:5–9; Revelation 5:10.
  4. The Seventh Day — Genesis 2:1–3
    • No evening-and-morning refrain; rest = residence and rule in a completed temple.
    • Seven as the number of completion; the designed week (Hampson). Cross-ref: Psalm 132:7–8, 13–14; Hebrews 4:1–11.
  5. Dust, Breath, and the Garden-Temple — Genesis 2:4–15
    • Macro to micro: chapter 2 as the day-six close-up (Muddamalle); Elohim → Yahweh Elohim.
    • Adam from adamah — the human from the humus; humility as origin (Muddamalle).
    • Eden as sacred space: mountain of God (Ezekiel 28:13–14); rivers, gold, onyx; God walking (3:8; Leviticus 26:12).
    • Abad and shamar (2:15) = the priests’ verbs (Numbers 3:7–8): Adam as priest-king.
  6. The First Prophecy — Genesis 2:16–17
    • Lavish permission, one prohibition, predictive warning — the Bible’s first prophecy (Hampson).
    • Fulfillment in ch. 3: spiritual death immediately, physical death eventually.
  7. Not Good Alone — Genesis 2:18–25 
    • Woman built from the man’s side: corresponding partner, co-ruler, co-priest.
    • Naked and unashamed: total vulnerability inside total protection (Muddamalle). Cross-ref: Ephesians 5:31–32.
  8. Skeptic’s Corner
    • Borrowed Babylonian myth? Shared furniture, opposite theology (polemic against Enuma Elish / Atrahasis).
    • Two contradictory accounts? Harmonizing close-up reading vs. source-critical view — name both honestly.
  9. Discussion, Take-Home, Week 2 Preview
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