What I'm Studying: Where Have I Heard These Words Before?
When you read the Bible, as I have said before, it is good to play the game, “Where have I heard these words before?” When you play that game with the Bible, texts start to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and a picture starts to emerge.
Let me give you an example of this. Let’s start off by looking at Genesis 1:1…
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
If you were to close your eyes and picture this scene, what would it look like?
So, the first thing descriptive words we get are “formless and empty.” This brings to mind chaos.
The second description we get is “darkness.”
The third description is “the deep” or “water.”
The fourth description is “the Spirit of God.” Now, the word “spirit” in Hebrew can mean “spirit” or “wind.”
So, what does that sound like? Have you heard of that description in the Bible before?
This description sounds a lot like what we see in Genesis 8.
Look at Genesis 8:1…
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
Look at what God sent to make the waters recede? A wind. The same word is used in the creation story as well.
So, in both of the stories we have…
Element #1- darkness
Element #2- water everywhere
Element #3- chaos
Element #4- the wind or spirit of God
Do the elements continue?
Spend a couple minutes reading through Genesis 8 and see if you can find any other elements from the creation story?
Keep studying!
Paul