written on January 14th, 2023
For tonight, I have read the first three chapters of the Holy Bible's first book, Genesis. From what I know, I will be greeted with the characters of Adam and Eve, and their sons, Cain and Abel. I know the old testament is filled with incredible stories of beasts and surreal images, contrary to what I believe is the more grounded in reality new testament. The old testament's verses are the ones people usually turn to when spreading the rules of god. This testament is what people usually use to spread hatred. I hope to find the good in this, but with the fact I will be reading the King James Version, I doubt I will find much good. When I do read something that, to me, seems odd and vile, I will research other versions of the same verse and try to understand it fully and heavily. Let this be the catalyst my friends, now we may eat!
As the first chapter begins, I start shaking hands with familiarity. God begins creating the earth, day by day. The word "firmament" is used heavily through verses 6-8 and later on in the chapter. I have to look up what "firmament" means- expansion. In other versions, "firmament" is replaced with "expanse", but in the "New International Version," "vault" is used instead, which confuses me. I don't see how that's any better than expanse, or what meaning it gives to the verse. Useless tidbit, but it interested me. It took me three re-reads to understand that "the evening and the morning were the third day" are exemplifying what it means for a day to pass. I just thought time was going backwards for a little bit. God also creates the animals in the first chapter, calling them "beasts" and "cattle". In Genesis 1:27, God speaks of creating humans in his image. This was taken literal to most, if not all, artists of the distant past. God is a white, beared, and robed old man. "Image" should been taken as the overall values and personality of God, not the physical form. After creating male and female he lets them have dominion over all living things on the earth, "and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the six day."
It is biblically canonical that the week starts with Monday and ends with Sunday. The latter being the Lord's blessed day of rest. The second chapter begins to lay out the earth in detail. God creates the first man, Adam, from the dust of the earth. The name comes from the Babylonian word for "Red", which was probably the color of the dust he was made from. There is no verse that specifically states the christening of the name Adam, it kind of just shows up. God also desrcibes the four rivers that sprout from the garden of Eden, "Eden" meaning "paradise". The exact geographical location of the garden of Eden is not known. It is not known if there even is a real "garden of Eden" that is the bases for the one in the bible. All theories point to it being located in the Middle East, mainly the head of the Persian Gulf wear the Tigris and the Euphrates (which is the only river of the four in the bible that seems to exist, though it is not known, by me at least, if the river was named after the biblical one, or vice versa). God gives Adam the freedom of naming all of the animals and the job of taking care of the garden of Eden, but Adam is without a suitable helper for these tasks. God decides to put Adam into a deep sleep and remove one of his ribs to create woman. When Adam is presented with her, he dubs her Woman. "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." I can't get over this line. It feels personal.
In Genesis 3:16, God punishes the wife for eating the forbidden fruit (If you don't know the story, Eve is told by the serpent that she can eat the fruit that hangs from the tree of knowledge, and that she can disobey the Lord's orders of not eating from the tree. The wife eats and gives to Adam, who eats aswell. They are given the knowledge of being naked and become ashamed.) by "multiply(ing) thy sorrow and thy conception" and "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." When reading other versions, I understand that God is punishing the wife by giving her the pain of childbirth and forcing obedience to her husband. When reading it the first time, I thought God was punishing Woman with depression. This is the root of all sexism and misogyny in current and classic times. This is the catalyst for the centuries of the female being lesser than the male in the eyes of so many. But, something I didn't know before, Adam is not without punishment. His seems to be much more painful but less emotionally impacting. Adam's punishment is the hardships of labor. He must now work hard and go through pain to get his food for survival. At this point, Adam finally names his wife. Eve- mother of all living. I wonder if the root of "evening" and "Eve" are similar. Is the mother of day "evening"?
So now there is Adam and there is Eve, and they are now cursed with these burdens some of us still hold to day. We will see what they make of their new life. I must rest now, I will find out tomorrow.
-- > i want to go back home < --