Genesis, Again?
Writing Today’s Word leaves me with an enormous problem. Â Scripture isn’t bits and pieces. Â It’s a whole unit, an extended story of God’s interaction with the world, in particular, with the people He calls Israel. Â How it all fits together is really the job of exegesis. Â Dealing with one tiny piece at a time often obscures the whole forest among the leaves of a single tree. Â So, when I write about one small word, or one part of one small word, it might lead the reader to conclude that bigger things have gone amiss. Â Where is the illumination of the cross or the blood, the glorification of God or the final victory celebration? Â Where do we find the grand themes of justification, sovereignty, ecclesiology and eschatology? Â They are there, but hidden from view in the microscopic detail of an individual leaf.
I firmly believe that without a deep grasp of the beginning – Genesis – we will quickly get lost in the rest of the plot. Â Everything depends on what God orders at the beginning. Â Everything moves from and elaborates the deep themes of the beginning. Â If you can’t find it in Genesis, then you are probably looking for the wrong things.
But what a huge problem this is! Â The last time I taught Genesis as a group study (not as a quick seminar) it took 18 months to go through the text, 2 hours a week. Â That’s about 150 hours of study. Â We could easily have doubled that, but we had to hurry! Â Today’s Word could spend the rest of my life just in Genesis, one word at a time. Â We would be far, far richer for the experience. Â We would know our Lord much, much better. Â But then what do we do with all the rest? Â Wait for eternity, I suppose.
So, Today’s Word jumps around. Â It picks a word here, a phrase there. Â That might leave you thinking that the WHOLE doesn’t matter, or that it is disconnected from the big issues. Â Please don’t draw that tragic conclusion. Â The only reason Today’s Word moves across the biblical geography is to give you a little hint about the depth of every passage. Â But if I had my choice, we would spend twenty years on Genesis.
Exegetically, Today’s Word deliberately commits a big mistake. Â We should provide much more background. Â We should look at the bigger setting of each verse. Â We should do a lot more work before we pick up a single word. Â But we can’t – at least not in this format. Â All we can do is point.
This is extremely frustrating for me. Â I want to follow a single verse, a single word, deeper and deeper into the heart of God. Â Where is the time to do that, or the audience who would follow such a path? Â So, if I haven’t touched on something near and dear to your heart, if you think Today’s Word wanders too much, remember that I came to point. Â Look here. Â See what you find. Â Then go seek.
Boker tov Skip
Who can doubt the leading of Ruach haQodesh?
I for one am ready and willing to spend the rest of my days digging for gold nuggests while camped out in Bere’shiyt!
brother Skip.. just “keep on, keeping on..” Follow the path our marvelous LORD has laid out before you. How many times have each of us read the same passage of Scripture (how many times) and then (voila!) out pops a new treasure never seen before. I can’t remember the exact number (somewhere around 600+) a seminary professor took a single verse from Scripture and with the help of his students came up with multiple facets to this one verse. As we say here in the South, “well, shut my mouth!”. Someone once said, (it may have been you!!), “when the student is ready.. the teacher will show up”. This (as one my acquaintances likes to say) is a “big-dot deal!”). How many times, how many times.. did Yeshua say, “if any man have ears to hear?” We are told (are we listening?) to “welcome the Word”. The Giver is present, but the “receiver” needs tuning desperately. LORD, give us the “ears to hear” would always be an excellent prayer and (is this G-d’s will?-oh, yes!) one G-d would delight to answer. There are worlds contained with words. How do I know? Genesis. G-d spoke and it was so. The final battle will be fought with a sword that proceedeth out of the mouth of G-d. He will speak again. Something to the effect of, “drop dead”, more than likely though He will compact it to a single word, “depart”. We are present only to be witnesses of His majesty. Every word of G-d is pure. The words I speak unto you- they are spirit and they are life. Where do we find G-d’s will for us? In His words. Where do we learn the pathway of life? In His words. How do we learn of sin, and of a Savior, and of His spirit, and of salvation, and of sanctification? Through G-d’s word. We do err, not knowing the Scripture (which is the power of G-d). How do I know this? “It is written”. Do these words sound familiar?
Thanks, Carl. My only concern is that we forget about the forest in the fascination with the trees. But Today’s Word is not forest material.
How I treasure and miss those two hour study groups when I was able to attend them with the group in Fla. What a wonderful learning experience for me. And now you have traveled miles and miles of new territory without me, but I struggle to keep up and put all the new info you send in
the word into my heart, mind and to use in my life. I have always appreciated the meaning of the words and how they mean different intentions in different situations and cultures. Keep up the good work and be not discouraged dear brother. The Lord is using you.
Dear Olive,
How nice to hear from you? I teach weekly (or whenever I am in town) at a location in Groveland (Psalms) and in Winter Garden (now Beatitudes and soon the opening chapters of Genesis). You are welcome anytime.
Skip … be at peace brother!
This time I will disagree with you outright :)!
Admittedly the format of TW does not result in a broad and concise synthesis of the larger picture. A picture that stands in contrast to tradition and accepted Christian conventions. The corpus of your commentaries, teachings, etc. should however most certainly provide a foundation for a solid understanding of the forest.
Over the years you have shed so much light on many critical truths just by introducing a proper Hebraic exegetical method … anyone paying attention would have no choice but to have their traditional Christian world rocked!
Let’s be honest …. issues such as ELOHIM’s Character, Israel, Covenantal Relationships, Torah, T’shuvah, Roles of Gentiles and Jews, Spiritual Re-birth, Dying in Yeshua, and on and on and on (all within the context of Yeshua HaMashiach) ….. these are the components of the broad framework …. these are the various stands within the forest.
OK …. so there is no completed synthesis …. so what? If you bring me into the forest … show me the trees …. explain the trees to me … show me how the trees are inter-related …. should I not begin to develop a very good understanding of the forest? Should I not begin to get a feel for the magnificence and grandeur of the forest?
Ultimately Skip I think TW is very much forest material …. it just happens to be presented one tree at a time and if we honestly take stock in the collection of trees we should realize we are getting a wonderful education and understanding of the forest itself!
My two cents anyway!
Greetings to everybody!!
Some words by a great writter.
“There are two kinds of secrets in the world, make-believe secrets and real secrets.
A make-believe secret is one that depends on its concealment; it is shrouded in mystery.
Such a secret relies on darkness and the unknown.
So long as it remains hidden, it arouses interest, but when it is revealed, the mystery vanishes and the secret loses its fascination.
Such is the secret of the trickster and the charlatan, a stage magician and the mystigogue; their spell lies in the undisclosed, the mysterious wrapping.
When the inner content of the trick becomes apparent, the magic disappears.
Such is not the case with the real secret.
A real secret can be open and apparent to everyone.
All can see the matter clearly and examine it from all sides.
Nevertheless, the more it is looked at and examined, the more of a secret becomes, profound and insoluble.
The story in the first part of the Book of Genesis is very well known — children learn it at school, adults read about Adam in the Garden in many books — and still it remains a secret.
And the more the extremely simple words of the Bible text are studied, the more numerous the aspects of riddle and mystery.
Thousands of interpretations have already been written on Genesis, all trying to explain, reveal, and decipher the story — and still the secret remains inviolable, because the secret of the Torah is a real secret.
As greater illumination is turned on it, new facets of inscrutability become apparent.
Consequently, additional contemplation or study of the story in Genesis does not propose to reveal the mystery of the secret or to make it more simple and comprehensible, but rather to disclose it further, to reveal additional sides to it.
Every deepening of inquiry merely shows how these short, plain sentences lead to another intersection from which innumerable paths branch out, paths which a person can continue to trod all the days of his life.”
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
Once we read the words of Rabbi Steinsaltz we start to appreciate the greatness of our Rabbi Yeshua. Everytime we go over the Gospels, we must read it taking in consideration the magnitude of the revelation at Mount Sinai. Because the greatness of that revelation announce the greatness of our Teacher. It is beyond our comprehension capacities….
Shalom…
Skip,I would love it if you did Genesis,word by word,by word.!!!
Skip, I can appreciate your frustration, but you must do what the Lord has called you to and leave the results, the increase to Him. This Word, is a deep well, a river that never runs dry, causing an unquenchable thirst to continue to thirst and hunger after the righteousness of the Holy One. Jesus told the Samarian woman that if she drank from the well He spoke of she would never thirst again. He told us that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. But this well keeps us coming back for more. This well is deep. Keep pouring from the well one spoon, one bucket at the time as the Lord leads.
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I know you are chomping at the bit to present the “broad sweep” of the forest and the “eagle-eye” perspective from above but we need to know the words of G-d. We desperately, critically, vitally need to hear the words of G-d. Precept upon precept and line upon line. Your introduction of the small “na” spoken to Abraham by G-d was a mind-blowing concept for me. One small word brother Skip rocked my world. The Hebrew word for blessing (also the same word used for “bow the knee”)- just a coincidence? I think not.. no.. I know it is not. It is G-d planned. The intricacies, and nuances of the words even the symbolic structure of the words themselves, (the jots and the tittles) are instructive. I’ve said it before and will say it the rest of my limited time here on this green planet..-the Bible is a goldmine when you learn to use a Hebrew key. Anyway who says or thinks differently is just plain “missing out”. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth of G-d”, “every word of G-d is pure”, “the words I speak unto you”.. shall we continue on? the words, the words, we need to know His words. “Feed my sheep”- not with conclusions, not with your opinions, not with your concepts, feed us with the words of YHWH. We don’t need another commentary, we need instruction. There is life giving, life-sustaining power in the very words of G-d. Return to your roots and give us our daily bread from the living and powerful words of G-d. A ramah from the logos. These are not leaves on a tree to look at, these words are our spiritual sustenance- “thy words were found, and I did eat them, and they became unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart”. Sing them over again to me wonderful words of life, let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life- words of life and beauty, teaching me faith and duty, beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life. Thank you Chef Moen for these delicious and nutritious meals every day. We are what we eat and as we “consume” these “power” packed delights every day we are becoming strong in the LORD and in the power of His might.and healthy sheep will reproduce. I have had many opportunities to share with others what has been given to me through your ministry and I’m sure others will join me in the same testimony of how our Father has used you greatly in strengthening and deepening our faith.
Thanks, Carl. We will keep looking, as deep as we can.
You keep pointing, I’ll keep looking. We had a fire in my home two weeks ago and being without computers I was also without TW…. It was a bummer to say the least. I like what you do and how you do it. You are sufficiently challenging me at MDIVS and SPTS such that TW is a paper cup of cool water at mile 13 of a 26.2 mile race…. Just enough.
Skip,
I just wished I lived in Florida! 🙂
Jimmy
Hi Skip,
I to miss the days we use to get together with the group and study Exodus. Hey, but what’s stopping us in doing a live streaming class?? I know, most people don’t have computers with web cams, just a though. TW is a blessing.
Patrick and I have talked about this possibility a lot, but so far we haven’t been able to figure out how to make it happen. We will be talking about this a lot in Jerusalem.
Skip – O MY GOODNESS! I have learned so much from TW. Please, cease worrying that you aren’t
‘pointing enough’. Just continue to ‘point’ & allow us to ‘look’ over your shoulder.
Suz
Hey Skip!
Unless there are emails being moderated and not added to this page, please note that everyone posting above on this topic thinks you are doing the right thing… and you are! These are the deeper things of God that all your talmudim are desperate for… so as long as you can find the time (and I don’t know how you do!) please do ‘feed us’ the finer things.
By the way, am I right in thinking that the Skype business account allows conference webcam calls? I’ll also apply our technical resources to this issue and get back to you.
Be Blessed,
Ian
Skip, I love “Today’s Word” no matter which way you do it! I pray the Holy Spirit will continue to lead you as we all grow in Him. Kelly
Skip… I love you man…. just give it what you’ve got… who could ask for more from you? God will take up the slack, and keep us grounded and founded.. just give us what’s full in your heart.. that’s enough.