What if Genesis 1 is Moses’ Mnemonic Parable?

[RUNNONMT]

This forum is not the place for me.

[Bill_II]

@RUNNONMT

When I use the word “parable,” I am not using it the way most people think of it today.

Which means you will fail to communicate whatever it is that you are trying to communicate.

@RUNNONMT

why would we assume Moses, the first great prophet, did not also teach in parables?

You are adding the assumption that Genesis 1 is a parable, which you have failed to demonstrate. It is a given that Moses used parables.

@RUNNONMT

when we narrow the meaning and the intention of scripture to the history of the salvation of man, then that range of meaning narrows.

Which is your interpretative lens. It isn’t a requirement that anyone else should accept that lens.

[Christy (Christy Hemphill)]

@RUNNONMT

When we read all of Scripture through the lens of “The History Of The Salvation Of Man,” does that larger salvation framework give us good reason to understand b’reshiyth in Genesis 1:1 as “firstfruit”: the beginning of the harvest of souls of men?

Why do you think this is a good lens though? Clearly the creators of the texts were not trying to communicate the history of salvation of humanity. The Bible is a compilation of a huge diversity of texts from varying times, cultures, languages, social locations, and genres, and they very served different purposes.

@RUNNONMT

So if Yehoshua taught in parables, and Yehoshua was like Moses, then why would we assume Moses, the first great prophet, did not also teach in parables?

Well for one, I don’t know any Bible scholars who think Moses “wrote” the Pentateuch, so there’s that.

And if “teach in parables” means say things that require interpretation, say things that require understanding conventional symbolic associations or figurative/metaphorical meanings, yes, of course, the Hebrew Scriptures “teach in parables,” that isn’t disputed.

@RUNNONMT

The first 34 verses of scripture is an oral history of what the former slaves had just experienced. Verse 35 tells the slaves, and this is where it all began, Adam in a garden.

I don’t understand this. The Hebrew freed slaves had just experienced a creation week?

@RUNNONMT

By the time Moses showed up in v2, the descendants of Adam were enslaved in Egypt: tohu and bohu.

How is Moses showing up in v2?

The idea that Moses and David and Adam are literary types that Jesus/Yehoshua echoes or re-enacts to establish his own authority and identity is widely discussed in biblical scholarship.

[peterkp (Peter Kirkpatrick)]

This is from your opening post:

@RUNNONMT

I would genuinely appreciate any thoughtful, text-based feedback.

Were you serious when you wrote that? I’m willing to assume that you were, so I encourage you to reflect on the fact that all the replies so far have major reservations about your method of interpreting the Bible.

To sum up my view, I too have a lens for reading the Bible. My lens is that God inspired the Bible, so it has the truth we need for authentic life and faith. But God chose to inspire the Bible through normal human literary forms. So as I read the Bible I need to honour that choice. I need to read narrative as narrative, poetry as poetry, proverbs as proverbs, letters as letters and so on.

Ultimately this is why I reject your lens. To me it contradicts the way God chose to communicate with us.

[RUNNONMT]

I will seek

[RUNNONMT]

This forum is nice, but not a good fit for me.

[Roy (Roy (Listener twice correct))]

@RUNNONMT

To answer your question about Moses “showing up in v2”:

Verse 2 describes the condition of the descendants of Adam (Israel) when they were in complete bondage in Egypt: tohu and bohu, darkness upon the face of the deep.

Then in verse 3, Elohim says “Become light!” and Moses became light to that first generation of Israel.

With this looseness of association it’s possible to find correspondence from any text to any other text.

[Mervin_Bitikofer]

@RUNNONMT

BQMQ: …

BQMQ? Is that something I need to add to our glossary of phrases? What does it mean?

[RUNNONMT]

I think there is a better place for this topic

[RUNNONMT]

this was the first time that i went on a forum.

[Mervin_Bitikofer]

@RUNNONMT

did you read my booklet?

I have not. …so it’s a kind of ‘capture phrase’ to draw people like me in then. I see.

I can understand the drive to challenge conventions and rock boats at times. We can all be called to do that on occasion. But you might find communication with others to be less frustrating, and they might find you less frustrating if you use language the way everybody around you understands it. The stuff we hold in common … “language” - it’s a gift. Don’t scorn it.

[Roy (Roy (Listener twice correct))]

@RUNNONMT

looseness"?

Yehoshua proclaimed himself to be the light of the world.

Yes, looseness.

You were applying ‘light’ to Moses, not Jesus.

[RUNNONMT]

i am not sure the a forum is the best place

[Christy (Christy Hemphill)]

@RUNNONMT

Or is Moses (and later Matthew) using the familiar language of creation to describe what the former slaves had just lived through? their own redemption story?

This is a false dichotomy. Literature often works on multiple levels at once. Animal Farm is a story about farm animals AND a commentary on Russian political realities. I agree that Genesis is written the way it was written to fit with Hebrew narratives and identity marking. But the text we have was compiled during the Exile, not immediately post-Exodus, even if maybe some of the oral texts used originated around that time.

@RUNNONMT

BQMQ: When you read my interpretation, can you see the story of the Exodus in the first 34 verses of Genesis?

I’m not going to read your interpretation because I’m not really interested in the musings of individuals that are untethered from the intepretive traditions of the faith and the realities of how texts and communication work. Lots of people come on this forum convinced the Holy Spirit has revealed some special insight to them. But I’m not looking for special insight, I’m looking for consensus scholarship and credible refining of consensus scholarship. I don’t think you get to be a teacher just because you claim wisdom.

[RUNNONMT]

god bless this forum

[Bill_II]

@RUNNONMT

BQMC — SEEK A CONSISTENT MEANING OF A WORD THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE

First, seek the context for the word in the text.

Second, if you don’t know Hebrew/Greek don’t try to do word studies in Hebrew/Greek.

Third, if you don’t know the principles of translation don’t try to do translation. Leave it to the professionals.

[RUNNONMT]

god bless this forum

[Roy (Roy (Listener twice correct))]

@RUNNONMT

Genesis 1:3

Moses standing before the burning bush:

Moses commissioned by Yehovah to lead His people out of Egypt!

”Moses, become light!”
Moses became light!

That ‘quote’ is not in the Bible.

You made it up.

Any two texts can be made comparable if passages can be invented.

[Christy (Christy Hemphill)]

But texts are not data sets, they are records of communication. Approaching texts “scientifically” (unless you are using the science of cognitive psychology or something relevant to language processing) is not a valid way to understand communication.

[RUNNONMT]

when i was a child i spoke as a child…