WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.960 Malcom: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:03.053 --> 00:00:03.853 Day 82 00:00:04.300 --> 00:00:06.370 introduction to Beginnings. 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:11.710 The Bible tells this story of how our world that's gone 00:00:11.710 --> 00:00:13.240 wrong is being made right. 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:13.630 Again. 00:00:14.440 --> 00:00:18.880 God's creation was intended to be beautiful and harmonious, but due 00:00:18.880 --> 00:00:23.020 to the deception of evil powers and human disobedience, the creation 00:00:23.020 --> 00:00:24.730 became broken and disordered. 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:25.960 Cursed. 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:32.290 Yet ever since the fall, God has been working patiently and carefully to restore 00:00:32.290 --> 00:00:37.360 humanity to his presence and the whole creation to its lost beauty and harmony. 00:00:38.230 --> 00:00:43.150 The biblical narrative of restoration and renewal takes a significant step forward. 00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:45.940 Every time God establishes a covenant. 00:00:46.915 --> 00:00:51.505 These covenants are God initiated sets of promises and obligations 00:00:51.775 --> 00:00:55.525 that establish a binding relationship between God and his people. 00:00:56.425 --> 00:01:00.175 In our day, we are more familiar with contracts, agreements, 00:01:00.180 --> 00:01:01.825 enforceable by human law. 00:01:02.605 --> 00:01:06.535 But in the ancient world, people made covenants, which carried the 00:01:06.535 --> 00:01:10.375 expectation that God would bless them for keeping the covenants terms 00:01:10.675 --> 00:01:12.655 or curse them for breaking them. 00:01:12.985 --> 00:01:17.815 And as a full participant in the covenants he makes, God actually puts himself under 00:01:17.815 --> 00:01:19.915 his own curse, should he break the terms. 00:01:20.545 --> 00:01:25.195 The goal of these God initiated covenants is to gather people into communities 00:01:25.195 --> 00:01:29.005 that will live the life he intends for everyone through communities 00:01:29.005 --> 00:01:30.925 deeply connected to their creator. 00:01:31.375 --> 00:01:35.305 This life will spread outward to other people as well, starting 00:01:35.305 --> 00:01:39.325 with chosen individuals, then a family, and then a nation. 00:01:39.775 --> 00:01:44.275 God moves in the interest of winning back all things in heaven and on earth. 00:01:44.965 --> 00:01:49.015 The first five books of the Bible tell the story of the first three covenants 00:01:49.015 --> 00:01:54.835 God makes with Noah, Abraham, and Moses, who act as humanities representatives. 00:01:56.020 --> 00:02:00.910 The first nine books of the Bible, Genesis through Samuel Kings are actually 00:02:00.910 --> 00:02:06.550 one continuous narrative, sometimes referred to as Israel's primary history. 00:02:06.790 --> 00:02:10.600 This saga covers this story from the birth of the world to the painful 00:02:10.605 --> 00:02:13.750 account of God's people being exiled from the Land of promise. 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:18.700 The first five books have a special status of their own, and in Christian 00:02:18.700 --> 00:02:22.900 tradition are known as the Pentateuch, meaning five books in Greek. 00:02:23.770 --> 00:02:29.140 But its ancient Hebrew name, Torah reveals the purpose of these books more clearly. 00:02:30.310 --> 00:02:36.010 Torah is probably best translated as instruction as God's covenant 00:02:36.010 --> 00:02:38.140 community follows these instructions. 00:02:38.440 --> 00:02:42.610 They not only receive God's blessings, but also are uniquely positioned to 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:47.680 bring renewal and healing to the world as implied in God's promises to Abraham. 00:02:48.310 --> 00:02:51.700 God's instructions to his people are the catalyst for their 00:02:51.700 --> 00:02:55.300 movement to show all peoples the true character and nature of God. 00:02:56.050 --> 00:02:59.410 The community of God's people is being sent on a mission to renew 00:02:59.415 --> 00:03:02.980 the world, and these instructions are, its marching orders. 00:03:03.790 --> 00:03:08.980 This Torah is conveyed through a variety of literary genres or kinds of writing. 00:03:09.940 --> 00:03:15.220 About two thirds of these first five books consist of laws that instruct people on 00:03:15.220 --> 00:03:17.260 how to live the life that God intends. 00:03:18.025 --> 00:03:22.915 These laws appear both in general terms, love your neighbor as yourself, and 00:03:22.915 --> 00:03:27.805 in specific cases, if you come upon your enemy's ox or donkey that has 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:30.265 stray away, take it back to its owner. 00:03:31.405 --> 00:03:34.795 These laws were given to govern the covenant relationship 00:03:34.795 --> 00:03:36.355 between God and his people. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:40.870 It is important to understand that these laws are for God's people in 00:03:40.870 --> 00:03:45.490 a particular historical and cultural setting, and in an early stage of 00:03:45.490 --> 00:03:47.500 God's story with respect to the world. 00:03:48.250 --> 00:03:51.730 Many of the particular laws are not God's final timeless 00:03:51.730 --> 00:03:53.410 answers about how we should live. 00:03:53.950 --> 00:03:58.120 The entire Bible tells this ongoing story and more light is 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:00.130 shed as the story moves forward. 00:04:01.090 --> 00:04:05.890 In addition to stories and laws, we find songs and poems that celebrate 00:04:05.890 --> 00:04:08.170 special events or anticipate the future. 00:04:08.950 --> 00:04:13.330 There are family trees genealogies, listing people in relation to their 00:04:13.335 --> 00:04:17.650 ancestors and descendants locating their historical place in the community 00:04:17.655 --> 00:04:21.140 that experienced God's faithfulness, generation after generation. 00:04:22.120 --> 00:04:26.590 Other kinds of lists appear as well, detailing kings spies, 00:04:26.830 --> 00:04:30.850 stopping points along a journey, job assignments, and so forth. 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:35.590 These books also contain elaborate blueprints for a place of worship 00:04:35.595 --> 00:04:40.060 and its furnishings, and even census reports for the population of Israel. 00:04:40.900 --> 00:04:45.430 All of these different kinds of writing are woven together into a single work 00:04:45.880 --> 00:04:49.840 whose overall purpose is to describe the formation of the covenant community. 00:04:50.620 --> 00:04:55.210 This community, the ancient nation of Israel will constitute God's 00:04:55.210 --> 00:04:58.060 people on earth for the first three quarters of the Bible. 00:04:58.960 --> 00:05:02.100 Over the course of these first five books, beginnings. 00:05:02.635 --> 00:05:06.685 We follow the community from its earliest ancestors to the moment 00:05:06.685 --> 00:05:08.395 it is poised to enter the land. 00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:14.005 God promised them there, the community can begin living a life that will lead 00:05:14.005 --> 00:05:16.105 the surrounding nations to exclaim. 00:05:16.555 --> 00:05:20.455 How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation 00:05:25.975 --> 00:05:27.195 immersed in Genesis. 00:05:29.965 --> 00:05:33.085 The first book of the Bible lays the foundation for the 00:05:33.090 --> 00:05:34.495 rest of the Bible's story. 00:05:35.215 --> 00:05:38.095 It reveals God as the world's sovereign creator. 00:05:38.665 --> 00:05:43.765 It shows his intention to bring blessing to people, his image bearers, and for all 00:05:43.770 --> 00:05:46.165 life to thrive by living in his presence. 00:05:47.095 --> 00:05:51.325 Genesis tells us about the entrance of evil into the world and the commencement 00:05:51.355 --> 00:05:52.975 of God's struggle against it. 00:05:53.425 --> 00:05:55.645 A theme that flows through the whole Bible. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:00.850 God created the world as his own temple intending to live here 00:06:00.850 --> 00:06:02.710 among humanity for their wellbeing. 00:06:03.400 --> 00:06:07.780 But how will God achieve his goal in the face of rebellion and disobedience? 00:06:08.950 --> 00:06:12.460 Genesis tells the story of God's dealings with humanity from the 00:06:12.460 --> 00:06:16.330 world's creation to the time when Abraham's descendants were beginning 00:06:16.330 --> 00:06:18.160 to grow into the nation of Israel. 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.320 It does this by giving the accounts the word that marks the major divisions 00:06:23.325 --> 00:06:25.180 of the book of notable people. 00:06:26.125 --> 00:06:30.565 The most important figures are part of the covenant lineage and therefore advance 00:06:30.565 --> 00:06:36.445 the ongoing story Others described much more briefly represent offshoots that 00:06:36.450 --> 00:06:40.795 will be drawn back in later as the reach of the covenant community spreads to all 00:06:40.795 --> 00:06:46.885 of humanity in the first four accounts, human disobedience leads to evil and 00:06:46.885 --> 00:06:49.285 violence that corrupt the created world. 00:06:50.005 --> 00:06:55.735 Seeing that everything people think or imagine is consistently and totally evil. 00:06:56.065 --> 00:06:57.745 God is sorry he made them. 00:06:58.345 --> 00:07:03.775 He destroys wicked humanity in a great cleansing flood, but spares Noah and 00:07:03.775 --> 00:07:09.355 his family, the only righteous people left after the flood, Noah worships 00:07:09.355 --> 00:07:11.965 God and God makes his first covenant. 00:07:12.925 --> 00:07:16.885 With Noah serving as their representative, humanity and all 00:07:16.885 --> 00:07:19.525 animals on earth receive God's promise. 00:07:20.005 --> 00:07:24.025 Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures. 00:07:24.955 --> 00:07:29.965 God then makes a second covenant one that will ultimately transform humanity. 00:07:30.175 --> 00:07:34.555 Starting with only a small group, God promises A man named 00:07:34.795 --> 00:07:37.135 Abram later renamed Abraham. 00:07:37.735 --> 00:07:40.585 That all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 00:07:40.585 --> 00:07:42.415 Through him and his descendants. 00:07:43.195 --> 00:07:46.945 God tells him to leave his home and move to a new place. 00:07:47.245 --> 00:07:52.075 The land of Canaan Abraham essentially becomes a wanderer 00:07:52.075 --> 00:07:56.035 in that land and eventually has a son named Isaac who becomes the 00:07:56.040 --> 00:07:57.865 heir to all that God has promised. 00:07:58.465 --> 00:08:03.055 God renews his covenant with Isaac and then again with Isaac's son Jacob, 00:08:03.415 --> 00:08:05.515 who then has 12 sons of his own. 00:08:06.205 --> 00:08:10.435 These 12 sons will become the ancestors of the tribes of Israel. 00:08:11.275 --> 00:08:16.255 The book concludes by describing the life of Joseph, one of Jacob's sons. 00:08:17.065 --> 00:08:21.955 Joseph is betrayed and cast off by his jealous brothers, but he ultimately has a 00:08:21.960 --> 00:08:26.155 surprising role in preserving the family so that it can expand into a nation. 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:30.820 Throughout Genesis, we see God relentlessly pursuing his plans 00:08:30.820 --> 00:08:35.110 to renew humanity and the rest of creation, blessing the covenant 00:08:35.110 --> 00:08:38.950 community and their obedience and overcoming their disobedience. 00:08:40.210 --> 00:08:45.580 Genesis consists mostly of stories, but family trees which connect 00:08:45.580 --> 00:08:49.450 the stories of people in different generations also play a big role. 00:08:50.185 --> 00:08:55.105 Ancient Hebrew writers loved to tell stories using the literary form of 00:08:55.105 --> 00:09:00.445 chiasm in which the first and last episodes slash elements are paired. 00:09:00.805 --> 00:09:06.175 Then the second and next to last episodes slash elements are paired and so forth. 00:09:06.985 --> 00:09:12.055 This literary structure lays out a series of situations that are resolved in the 00:09:12.055 --> 00:09:14.485 reverse order of their initial appearance. 00:09:15.475 --> 00:09:19.405 The formatting of this edition of Genesis will single out the separate 00:09:19.405 --> 00:09:21.595 elements of the chams as they appear. 00:09:22.195 --> 00:09:24.565 Here's a brief example from the account of the flood. 00:09:25.765 --> 00:09:27.985 A Noah builds an arc. 00:09:28.945 --> 00:09:32.425 B God tells Noah to enter the arc. 00:09:33.565 --> 00:09:36.145 C, the waters rise. 00:09:37.315 --> 00:09:40.345 D, the waters flood the earth. 00:09:41.575 --> 00:09:44.215 C, the waters recede. 00:09:45.340 --> 00:09:48.520 B, God tells Noah to leave the ark. 00:09:49.630 --> 00:09:52.090 A Noah builds an altar. 00:09:53.380 --> 00:09:57.280 The overall story in Genesis has an artistic shape. 00:09:57.790 --> 00:10:01.360 Its 11 accounts together with its prologue about creation. 00:10:01.420 --> 00:10:02.620 Give it to 12 parts. 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:04.300 Mirroring the 12 tribes. 00:10:04.300 --> 00:10:08.950 Abraham's descendants would grow into the storytelling in Genesis 00:10:08.950 --> 00:10:13.060 is marvelous and it's best to read continuously through the whole book. 00:10:13.795 --> 00:10:17.845 The stories are set in an ancient world, very different from our own, so 00:10:17.845 --> 00:10:20.875 don't be surprised at the strangeness of some of what we encounter. 00:10:21.685 --> 00:10:25.165 But the characters in these stories are human and very 00:10:25.165 --> 00:10:27.025 much like us in crucial ways. 00:10:27.895 --> 00:10:32.995 God is wrestling with them to slowly bring his redemptive purposes into our world. 00:10:33.535 --> 00:10:36.265 The name Genesis means beginnings. 00:10:36.715 --> 00:10:41.305 It is the perfect introduction to the entire Bible, giving us the framework 00:10:41.305 --> 00:10:43.705 for understanding everything that follows 00:10:49.135 --> 00:10:50.545 the book of Genesis. 00:10:53.005 --> 00:10:56.065 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:10:57.265 --> 00:11:01.495 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters 00:11:02.065 --> 00:11:05.335 and the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 00:11:06.055 --> 00:11:11.875 Then God said, let there be light, and there was light, and 00:11:11.880 --> 00:11:13.825 God saw that the light was good. 00:11:14.425 --> 00:11:16.735 Then he separated the light from the darkness. 00:11:17.605 --> 00:11:23.005 God called the light day and the darkness night and evening passed, and 00:11:23.005 --> 00:11:25.045 morning came marking the first day. 00:11:26.200 --> 00:11:30.490 Then God said, let there be a space between the waters to separate the 00:11:30.490 --> 00:11:34.870 waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth, and that is what happened. 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:38.440 God made this space to separate the waters of the earth. 00:11:38.710 --> 00:11:40.300 From the waters of the heavens. 00:11:41.020 --> 00:11:46.060 God called the space sky and evening passed and mourning 00:11:46.060 --> 00:11:48.610 came marking the second day. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:54.640 Then God said, let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place. 00:11:55.270 --> 00:11:58.690 So dry ground may appear, and that is what happened. 00:11:59.470 --> 00:12:06.640 God called the dry ground land and the waters seas and God saw that it was good. 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:11.260 Then God said, let the land sprout with vegetation. 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:16.810 Every sword of seed bearing plant and trees that grow seed bearing fruit. 00:12:17.650 --> 00:12:20.950 These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which 00:12:20.955 --> 00:12:23.950 they came, and that is what happened. 00:12:25.255 --> 00:12:29.695 The land produced vegetation, all sorts of seed bearing plants and 00:12:29.695 --> 00:12:31.405 trees with seed bearing fruit. 00:12:32.305 --> 00:12:37.045 Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind and God saw that 00:12:37.045 --> 00:12:42.955 it was good and evening passed and morning came marking the third day. 00:12:44.125 --> 00:12:49.495 Then God said, let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. 00:12:50.275 --> 00:12:53.755 Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days and years. 00:12:54.520 --> 00:12:59.680 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth, and that is what happened. 00:13:00.670 --> 00:13:04.870 God made two great lights, the larger one to govern the day and 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:06.520 the smaller one to govern the night. 00:13:07.270 --> 00:13:11.950 He also made the stars, the God set these lights in the sky to light the 00:13:11.950 --> 00:13:16.720 earth, to govern the day and night and to separate the light from the darkness. 00:13:17.350 --> 00:13:19.000 And God saw that it was good. 00:13:19.960 --> 00:13:24.700 And evening passed, and morning came marking the fourth day. 00:13:25.930 --> 00:13:30.790 Then God said, let the water swarm with fish and other life. 00:13:31.630 --> 00:13:34.780 Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind. 00:13:35.740 --> 00:13:40.300 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries 00:13:40.300 --> 00:13:44.650 and swarms and the water and every sort of bird, each producing 00:13:44.650 --> 00:13:46.300 offspring of the same kind. 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:48.700 And God saw that it was good. 00:13:50.050 --> 00:13:54.100 Then God blessed them saying, be fruitful and multiply. 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:58.750 Let the fish fill the seas and let the birds multiply on the earth. 00:13:59.710 --> 00:14:03.490 And evening passed and morning came marking the fifth day. 00:14:04.540 --> 00:14:08.800 Then God said, let the earth produce every sort of animal, each 00:14:08.800 --> 00:14:14.170 producing offspring of the same kind, livestock, small animals that scurry 00:14:14.170 --> 00:14:16.690 along the ground and wild animals. 00:14:17.350 --> 00:14:18.200 And that is what happened. 00:14:19.390 --> 00:14:23.500 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock and small animals, each 00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:28.540 able to produce offspring of the same kind, and God saw that it was good. 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:35.230 Then God said, let us make human beings in our image to be like us. 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:40.420 They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the 00:14:40.420 --> 00:14:44.560 livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals 00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:46.060 that scurry along the ground. 00:14:47.215 --> 00:14:52.975 So God created human beings in his own image, in the image of God, he created 00:14:52.975 --> 00:14:56.335 them, male and female, he created them. 00:14:57.385 --> 00:15:01.525 Then God blessed them and said, be fruitful and multiply. 00:15:01.975 --> 00:15:03.745 Fill the earth and govern it. 00:15:04.255 --> 00:15:08.455 Rain over the fish in the sea, the birds and the sky, and all the 00:15:08.455 --> 00:15:10.345 animals that scurry along the ground. 00:15:11.380 --> 00:15:16.360 Then God said, look, I have given you every seed bearing plant throughout the 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:21.190 earth and all the fruit trees for your food, and I have given every green plant 00:15:21.190 --> 00:15:26.530 as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals 00:15:26.535 --> 00:15:31.900 that scurry along the ground, everything that has life, and that is what happened. 00:15:33.280 --> 00:15:38.530 Then God looked over all he had made and he saw that it was very good. 00:15:39.805 --> 00:15:44.335 And evening passed and morning came marking the sixth day. 00:15:45.415 --> 00:15:48.595 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything 00:15:48.595 --> 00:15:49.915 in them was completed. 00:15:50.875 --> 00:15:55.225 On the seventh day, God had finished his work of creation, so he rested 00:15:55.225 --> 00:15:59.755 from all his work and God blessed the seventh day and declared it 00:15:59.755 --> 00:16:05.125 holy because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. 00:16:07.510 --> 00:16:10.390 This concludes today's Immer Reading experience. 00:16:10.510 --> 00:16:11.740 Thank you for joining us.