20Something 1-25-06 Genesis 3 and 4
The Old Testament for Progressive Christians – Lesson 3- Genesis 3 & 4. {This study asks us to consider Genesis as a myth, rather than history. Either way, truth can be extracted and valuable lessons learned.}
The implied audience of the origin stories in Genesis: a people in exile; an entire nation in need of God’s creative actions in the middle of their formerly ordered world, which was now in a state of collapse. Not only did they look for an explanation of why things were as they were, they needed hope for a future when their exile would be over. Many of the early narratives are about “life after exile.”
Genesis, Chapter 3.1-22 group reading; passing of the story stick.
What kind of a story is this? (history, myth, fable, legend?)
What elements setup this story in Chapter 2?
What have you been taught or how do you define “Original Sin?”
What is “The Fall?”
Is the word, “sin,” ever mentioned in Chapter 3?
What did the humans do that was wrong?
The snake is described as an animal of the field in this story. What are some later definitions that have been given as the identity of the snake?
Did the snake tell the truth or did it lie to the humans?
The snake does represent a metaphor of anything in God’s good Creation that could present options to distract or seduce human beings away from God. Name some others.
This “Primal Sin” can be described as a violation of trust. (-Trust in God and in God’s world.) Psalm 111.10 says,”The fear of the LORD is the beginning of all wisdom.” (“Fear” means total respect or absolute trust.) The problem with the path chosen by Adam and Eve is not the gaining of wisdom, but the way they went about it.
What does “trust in God” mean to you?
Why do you think God would withhold the “knowledge of good and evil” from the humans in this story?
The Blame Game; some story points to consider:
Who was present throughout the story?
Did the woman tempt the man?
How is God pictured in this story?
Who blamed who in the story?
Gen 3 14-19 is a description of the consequences of sin, not a divinely established list of the proper order of things for all the future of the human race.
What does this tell us about:
Humanity’s responsibility to the natural world.
The “rule of a man over a woman.”
How would the implied audience have related to the expulsion from Eden?
Cain Carries On: For private study, read Genesis, Chapter 4 and consider:
What elements indicate this story takes place in a world of greater population than just Adam, Eve, and their two sons?
How is the theme of the exile again mirrored?
How is this a story of the etiology of rivalry between shepherds and farmers?
How is this a story of the appropriate form of worship?
Gen 4.7 is the first mention of sin, personified as “lurking at the door.” What was Cain’s fatal flaw that he could not master?
God mercifully gives Cain a second chance. What does he do with the rest of his life?
Some thoughts to Ponder: Genesis 2 through 6 should be read in context as far as the mythic cosmic effects of human sin on all of Creation. Adam and Eve commit a single act of wordless disobedience, the next generation commits murder, and the generations after Cain are listed in a variety of states of being very creative to being vile and degraded, finally culminating in 6.5 as “every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was on evil continually.” The story significance to the audience in exile is that the further they go from Eden (In their case; their roots in the one true God, the greater their inclination to sink into sin.
The implied audience of the origin stories in Genesis: a people in exile; an entire nation in need of God’s creative actions in the middle of their formerly ordered world, which was now in a state of collapse. Not only did they look for an explanation of why things were as they were, they needed hope for a future when their exile would be over. Many of the early narratives are about “life after exile.”
Genesis, Chapter 3.1-22 group reading; passing of the story stick.
What kind of a story is this? (history, myth, fable, legend?)
What elements setup this story in Chapter 2?
What have you been taught or how do you define “Original Sin?”
What is “The Fall?”
Is the word, “sin,” ever mentioned in Chapter 3?
What did the humans do that was wrong?
The snake is described as an animal of the field in this story. What are some later definitions that have been given as the identity of the snake?
Did the snake tell the truth or did it lie to the humans?
The snake does represent a metaphor of anything in God’s good Creation that could present options to distract or seduce human beings away from God. Name some others.
This “Primal Sin” can be described as a violation of trust. (-Trust in God and in God’s world.) Psalm 111.10 says,”The fear of the LORD is the beginning of all wisdom.” (“Fear” means total respect or absolute trust.) The problem with the path chosen by Adam and Eve is not the gaining of wisdom, but the way they went about it.
What does “trust in God” mean to you?
Why do you think God would withhold the “knowledge of good and evil” from the humans in this story?
The Blame Game; some story points to consider:
Who was present throughout the story?
Did the woman tempt the man?
How is God pictured in this story?
Who blamed who in the story?
Gen 3 14-19 is a description of the consequences of sin, not a divinely established list of the proper order of things for all the future of the human race.
What does this tell us about:
Humanity’s responsibility to the natural world.
The “rule of a man over a woman.”
How would the implied audience have related to the expulsion from Eden?
Cain Carries On: For private study, read Genesis, Chapter 4 and consider:
What elements indicate this story takes place in a world of greater population than just Adam, Eve, and their two sons?
How is the theme of the exile again mirrored?
How is this a story of the etiology of rivalry between shepherds and farmers?
How is this a story of the appropriate form of worship?
Gen 4.7 is the first mention of sin, personified as “lurking at the door.” What was Cain’s fatal flaw that he could not master?
God mercifully gives Cain a second chance. What does he do with the rest of his life?
Some thoughts to Ponder: Genesis 2 through 6 should be read in context as far as the mythic cosmic effects of human sin on all of Creation. Adam and Eve commit a single act of wordless disobedience, the next generation commits murder, and the generations after Cain are listed in a variety of states of being very creative to being vile and degraded, finally culminating in 6.5 as “every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was on evil continually.” The story significance to the audience in exile is that the further they go from Eden (In their case; their roots in the one true God, the greater their inclination to sink into sin.
posted by Jen Austin at 6:08 AM
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