Parashat Bereshit 5763/2002
EJD
The Bagel: What was. What shall be. And what can be. Our reading compresses major events and time into six short chapters of text. There is an implied eternity past, before creation, then creation, then the flood. The six chapters cover the interval between eternity past and the flood. This interval is known as the anti-deluvian world, or pre-flood world.
To condense an already compact history with the Haftarah reading and also the Brit Chadashah or New Testament is difficult, but a pattern emerges:
Torah (History) Haftarah (Prophecy) Brit Chadashah (can do)
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Design Gen 1-2 Design Isa 42:5-13 Redesign Romans 8:1-2
Failure Gen 3-4 Failure Isa 42:14-25 Faith Rom 8:3-8
Decline Gen 4-5 Deliverance Isa 43:1-7 Deliverance Rom 8:9-12
Failure Gen 6 Salvation Isa 43:8-13 Salvation Rom 8:14-16
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God is in the business of bringing good things out of nothing and also bringing good things out of formless/defective things. The Genesis account shows such things as a creation Ex Nihilo (out of nothing), a formless earth made beautiful in six days, a shameful nakedness covered by animal skins (probably lamb skins - Gen 3:21), a Seth to succeed a murdered Abel, an Enoch to succeed a Cain, and a righteous Noah with an Ark to save in a condemned and hopeless world. Even the problem of sin, which turns good things either into nothing or deforms or defects, can be overcome by God's grace. But the conditions for that grace-power are clear: "....without me (Yeshua) you can do nothing" (John 15:5).
Cream Cheese: A grand design will bring eternity in time.
The weekly reading for the week of 29 Tisrei, 5762 - Oct 5, 2002 Torah: B'reishit Genesis 1:1 to 6:8; Haftarah: Isaiah 42:5 to 43:10
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