Walking with GOD Chapters Chapter 1 Early World

Bible References Gen 1-3, 4-11

Stories CREATION, Fall, Noah, Tower of Babel

The Creation story is a poem written in prose style and is not meant to report scientific
data but to communicate a profound theological meditation on the act of creation. Also
Read CCC 279-301 and CCC 315-324.

There are 2 accounts of Creation in the Bible. Ancient Hebrew story telling used what
is known as the “synoptic-resumptive” technique. The first account tells the story in
“broad strokes” (“synoptic”) while the second account resumes and focuses on details
(“resumptive”).

The creation story is a wonderful prose poem; its purpose is not to report scientific
data but to communicate a profound theological meditation on the act of creation. The
creation account and Psalm 104 both envision the heavens as a dome and the earth
upheld by pillars because the poet is communicating the meaning of creation, showing
that creation is a temple and pointing us to our end, which is praise and worship of the
Creator. In Genesis, God simply speaks, and creation comes into being ex nihilo, “out
of nothing.”

The aspect of the creation story that is the most important—and the most misread—is
the seven-day format in which creation is set. It is especially here that readers, viewing
the biblical narrative through the lens of modern science, reduce the biblical narrative
and thus miss the meaning that the seven-day structure is meant to convey.

The temple structure of creation is built in the first three days and then furnished in the
second three days. The one day that stands apart is the seventh day. The seventh day is
holy and represents divine rest.

In the Bible, the number 7 signifies completion and perfection. God’s creation of the
world in 7 days signifies that he is making a covenant with his creation. From the
beginning, this covenant was God’s way of making man and woman not simply his
creation but also his sons and daughters.

1. What does it mean that man was created in the image and likeness of God? (Refer
to CCC 356-357).

Answer Man is the “only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake, and
he alone is called to share by his knowledge and love in God’s own life. He
is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself
and entering communication with other persons. And he is called by grace
to a covenant with his Creator to offer him a response of faith and love that
 no other creature can give in his stead.”

2. Describe the temptation. (Gen 3: 1-14).

Answer The serpent asks Eve “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the
garden?’” The serpent knows very well that God disallowed only one tree.
The serpent suggests that God is acting arbitrarily and therefore is a master
or a despot, rather than a Father who cannot be trusted.
When the woman answers that God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of
the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall
die”, the serpent answers “You will not die for God knows that when you eat
of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, ” sowing doubt in
their minds. And yet, in the first account, it is said that God created man in
his image and likeness. In other words, our first parents were already like
God.

3. What did God promise aside from just sending Adam and Eve into exile? (Gen
3:15).

Answer While Adam and Eve were sent away from the garden of Eden, God
promised a savior: “I will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the
woman and between her offspring and yours; he will crush your head, and
you will strike his heel.”

4. What are the consequences of the fall? (Gen 3:14-19 and CCC 402-409).

Answer Immediately, our first parents lost the grace of original holiness. The
harmony with God is now destroyed. The control of the soul’s spiritual
faculties over the body is shattered. The union of man and woman become
subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.
Harmony with creation is broken. Creation is now subject to decay. Man will
return to the ground. Death makes its entrance into human history.

5. How did the sin of our first parents become the sin of all their descendants? (CCC
404).

Answer All men are implicated in Adam’s sin. Still, the transmission of original sin
is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. Adam and Eve committed a
personal sin, but this sin affected human nature that they would then transmit
in a fallen state. Original sin is called sin only in an analogical sense: it is a
sin “contracted” and not “committed – a state and not an act.
6. What was God’s punishment for Cain for the murder of Abel? Did God leave
Cain to be a fugitive and possibly killed? (Gen 4:11-16).

Answer Cain was cursed from the ground. “When you till the ground, it will no
longer yield to you, its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the
earth. But God had mercy for Cain. “The Lord said to him (Cain).
“Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance. And the Lord put a
mark on Cain so that no one who came upon him would kill him.”

Adam’s genealogy begins with an account of how Seth is born in Adam’s image and
likeness, and it is prefaced by a reminder that God made man, male and female, after
his own image and likeness. These important details are recalled only in Genesis 5 with
Seth’s line, and not in Genesis 4 with Cain’s line, to draw a sharp distinction between
the two lines. Cain’s line produces murderers and polygamists like Lamech. The
Nephilim may refer to this fallen line, as the word “Nephilim” comes from the Hebrew
naphal, “to fall.” Seth’s line, on the other hand, produces righteous men like Enoch
and Noah who worship God and “call upon the name of the LORD” (Gen 4:26).
Seth’s line, the line that worships God, is the one that is singled out as being in the
image and likeness of Adam and Eve, who are in turn in the image and likeness of God.

7. What was the reason for the flood? (Gen 6: 11-13). The Atrahasis Epic which is an ancient
flood story, tells how minor gods worked for the major gods. When the minor gods refused to continue,
the major gods created humans to work. However, humans were multiplying in numbers and were
disturbing the sleep of the gods with their noise. The chief god finally decided to wipe out humanity with
a flood.

Answer In Genesis the reason for the flood is because “God saw that the earth was
corrupt for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth.” The flood was
not because God is threatened but because God wants to wash away violence
and bloodshed among mankind.

8. After the Flood, what covenant does God make with Noah? What is the sign of this
covenant? (Gen 9:8-17).

Answer God commands Noah to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He also
reiterates that God made man in his own image. God also says that never
again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood and never again shall
there be a flood to destroy the earth.
As a sign of this covenant, God sets his bow in the clouds. “When I bring
clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my
covenant between me and you and every living creature of all flesh….”

After the flood, Noah settles down and builds a vineyard. He takes the fruit of the vine, gets drunk, and
ends up naked in his tent. Noah’s son Ham comes in, sees his father’s nakedness, and then goes out and
tells his two brothers, Shem and Japheth. They, in turn, back into Noah’s tent and cover their father’s
nakedness. When Noah awakes and realizes what Ham had done, he curses Canaan—a man who has not
yet been born but who will be the son of Ham. To look upon, or uncover, the nakedness of your father
means to sleep with your father’s wife (which likely meant incest; see Lev 18:6-7. 20:11). In other words,
while Noah is passed out drunk, Ham sleeps with Noah’s wife, who is also Ham’s mother. When Shem
and Japheth hear this, they go carefully into the tent and cover their mother, who has most likely been
raped.

The whole chapter of Leviticus 18 describes seeing someone’s nakedness as having sexual relations. To
look upon your father’s nakedness means to commit incest by having sexual relations with your father’s
wife. Ham’s motivation may have been more than just lust. In ancient mythology, when the head of the
gods is overthrown, the usurper legitimizes his rule by sleeping with the previous god’s wives. Since the
blessing had already been given to the first born, Ham may have wanted to insert himself into the head
position by committing incest with his father’s wife.

The statement “God remembered Noah” Gen 8:1 doesn’t mean that for a while God
forgot Noah and then suddenly, remembered him. “To remember” is an ancient idiom
for being faithful to one’s covenant obligations.

The Tower of Babel

Why did the people want to build a tower? There are two possible reasons which are
not mutually exclusive. The first reason is that they wanted to reach the heavens by
building a tall tower. The other reason is to build a structure that will protect them
against a future flood. Further, Gen 11:14 mentions that they wanted “to make a
name for ourselves.” In Hebrew, the word for “name” is shem, Noah’s firstborn son.
To make a name (shem) for themselves means to usurp the family authority given to
Shem.
However, the tower is so far below heaven that the author mocks the people by saying
that God has to come down to have a better look.
God intervenes in the affairs of men because of their wickedness. He judges Babel,
confusing the people’s language; their sin and rebellion have resulted in division and
exile.