SUMMARY: The biblical text is absolutely brilliant literature, but it is more than that. The composition, style, and message of the text reflect a level of genius consistent with its claims of divine origin. Many critics and skeptics dismiss the creation story as a mere creation myth. However, by looking deeper, the form of the text conveys a profound message that has shaped civilizations.
“For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.” – Deuteronomy 11:22-23 (ESV)
The Brilliance of the Biblical Creation Account
In the biblical account of creation, the creative genius of God is featured in amazingly succinct yet profound language. The text tersely recounts how over the course of six days, God created everything that was made in the heavens and on the earth. In just a few short paragraphs, the world is birthed out of non-existence, into a vast primordial sea.
As the creation drama unfolds, the origin and commission of mankind becomes one of the most captivating scenes of the narrative. With special attention given to his unique design, the creation of Adam serves as the climax to God’s creative work. After his animation, his appointment as vice-regent becomes the final act of chapter one. Chapter two opens with the final day of the creation week, but it is different. It marks the cessation of God’s innovative work and the beginning of a new era of sustaining work. This day punctuates the creation week and is designated the Sabbath.
GENESIS 1: Simply Unforgettable
The entire chapter one story is remarkable for its terse, arresting detail. Employing a historical narrative framework, injected with varied literary structures and poetic devices, including chiasm (1:5, 27), assonance (Hebrew sound play; 1:11), hendiadys (1:26), word play (1:27, 28 features paranomasia), parallelism (1:27, 28), and more, the narrative beautifully captures the grandeur of God’s creation. From the universe’s genesis to the world’s completion and man’s place in it, the prerogative of an all-powerful Maker is summarized in about 30 English verses. The result is that the Bible’s creation account is unforgettable.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1 (ESV)
CREATION CONTROVERSY: Facts or Fears?
For all of the amazing beauty of the Genesis account, its presentation is hotly debated. This is the case in part because it immediately and necessarily relates to the Creator-creature distinction and relationship. For example, if someone has created or authored me, that suggests that someone has authority over me. Conversely, if no one authored me, then no one has authority over me and I can live in any way that I please. Closely connected questions include: “Why am I here?,” “Where did I come from?,” “What is the meaning of life?,” and “Why is there something rather than nothing?” The Bible gives answers for all of these and more, and does so with a style that is as stunning as it is profound.
GENESIS 1: A Message with a Mission
Although many dismiss the biblical creation account as one of several ancient creation myths, there is an amazing brilliance to the Hebrew creation narrative that penetrates deeper than most critics imagine. In chapter one of Genesis, the creation is portrayed as the awesome product of unquantifiable power, majesty, and genius. In a way appropriate to that event, the story providing the account is likewise a literary product reflecting that same towering brilliance. The reality is that both the content of the narrative along with the mechanics of its composition are consistent with its claims to a divine source. The following illustrates just some of that brilliance by exploring a few of the ways that the creation text accomplishes its message.
Creation’s Ingenious Composition
As noted, one of the remarkable characteristics of the Genesis creation account is its brevity. The story itself is concise, but as short as it is in English, the original version is even shorter – in terms of the amount of space it uses. Amazingly, the original composer was able to convey the entire account in just 362 words, comprised of 1,745 characters, in a mere 7 parashot (roughly paragraphs), constituting just over one and a half columns of Hebrew text. It is short enough to be easily memorized and communicated orally to others. This efficiency is one of the geniuses of the language. For comparison, the English Standard Version (ESV) requires 794 words, 3,240 characters (not including punctuation), and 10 paragraphs to render this same text into English. Remember, this was done using the world’s first alphabet, previously invented by a Semitic individual who borrowed symbols from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS: How Creation’s Account was Efficiently Recorded
One of the factors that allows for such a condensed narrative is that the Hebrew alphabet is an “abjad,” meaning that it is written without vowels. By reducing words to consonants only, the amount of characters needed to record ideas is drastically reduced. The result is an exceptionally economic writing system that requires a minimum of space, so that even the amount of writing media is reduced. This accomplishment allowed the Israelites to fulfill the biblical requirement of ensuring literacy for their families. Such a system was ideal for the biblical text. When the goal of the writing is so closely linked to reading aloud for both public and family instruction, the intent assumes a high level of reader-listener engagement. It both assumed and required familiarity to be mastered.
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. “And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV)
Another factor contributing to the brilliance of the creation narrative is that Biblical Hebrew, like other Semitic languages, has an efficient grammar. For example, a single verb can convey subject, object, and a wide variety of actions by making simple modifications to a standard three letter verbal root (in most cases). The noun system has similar efficiency, with the result that a lot can be said with remarkably few letters and in a short amount of space. In fact, this compact quality sometimes presents major challenges for translators. One famous example is from Psalm 69:22, where the Hebrew text has a mere six words. However, the translators of the King James Version had difficulty capturing the verse’s meaning in English. The result is that their translation required twenty-two words to render the same meaning into English!
In addition to the efficiency of the writing system, and the grammar (form of individual words), Biblical Hebrew has an ability to convey meaning by a versatility in word placement (syntax). By changing the positioning of words to one another, slightly different effects are accomplished. For example, the placement of an infinitive before a verb of its same root intensifies the action or certainty of the verb. This feature is often translated into English as “shall surely” (see Gen 2:17). Placing the same infinitive after a verb of its same root communicates an action that is continuous or ongoing in nature. This is often translated as “keep on” in English Bibles (see Num 23:11; Joel 2:26). In this way, different meanings are accomplished by the order of words and without adding additional words.
Sometimes creative structuring happens over the space of lines, or units and subunits of text, by way of style and structure. For example, the eight acts of creation follow a pattern of parallel symmetry. As noted by Jerome T. Walsh in his Style & Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative, the creation acts are generally arranged according to the following pattern (p. 74):
Notice how the structure creates a flow that exudes dignity. By serving as the pattern for the creation acts, the feel of the narrative is elevated in a way appropriate to the subject matter. This style clues the reader as to the greatness of the One who spoke existence into being.
At a larger level, however, the six creation days follow a pattern of forward symmetry. Walsh notes that they are arranged as “corresponding subunits … linked by … numerous repeated words” [underlined below]” (Walsh, 37). He points out that the first three days are related to environment while the second three days are related to the inhabitants. The structure appears as:
The sixth day, however, breaks the pattern by providing the account of the creation of Adam. In doing so, day six takes nearly twice the space of any of the preceding days and introduces new structures and forms. The structure of the Hebrew text appears below next to an English translation.
In this case, the style and structure are employed to reveal the unique design of human beings. This is relayed not merely through the choice of individual words, but through an extravagant and stunning complex of poetical and literary devices. These include a four line poem known as a quatrain, a poetic device referred to as a chiasm where the two middle lines correspond (illustrated by the A, B//B’, A’), a grammatical interplay between the singular “image” and “him,” with the plural “them,” showing the complementarity of the male and female components to mankind/humankind. There is more, too, but as extraordinary as the Hebrew text is, the message communicated is even more stunning.
CREATION’S MESSAGE: Pretty, or Profound?
The biblical narrative is absolutely brilliant literature. However, it is more than that. Amazingly, it presents the basics of a complete worldview. It provides the nature and source of existence. Ultimate existence is God; created existence is everything else. It shows the foundation of mind and reason. Because God is the all-knowing knower of all things, humans can be the sometimes knowing knowers of some things. It introduces the origin and ground of ethics. That which is good is so because of its design, pronouncement, and reflection of the goodness of the Creator (the English term “good” is derived from the term “God,” i.e. to be good is to be like God).
As far as human beings are concerned, the effect of the structure shows just exactly how unique and spectacular a human being is. A human, as originally designed by God, is a being that is as much like God as a created being can be in terms of the sum total of his unique qualities. This uniqueness is referred to by theologians as the imago Dei, or “image of God.” Like God, humans are spiritual, emotional, moral, volitional, rational, and relational. They are communicative, physiologically possessing the organs of speech. They are gregarious, meaning that they have the capacity for social interaction. They possess the capacity to govern, and much more. Because of this uniqueness, human beings possess dignity and it is why the murder of a human is expressly forbidden in the Torah (Gen 9:6). In fact, the murder of a human being is the basis for capital punishment (notice the structuring of this text).
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” – Genesis 9:6 (ESV)
In the New Testament, this is extended as a ban on even using perverse speech to profane another human being.
“[N]o human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” oever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” – James 3:9-10 (ESV)
Conclusions
The biblical text is absolutely brilliant literature, but it is more than that. The composition, style, and message of the text reflect a level of genius consistent with its claims of divine authorship. Many dismiss its opening chapter as just one of several creation myths. However, a closer look at its composition and message reveal something entirely different. It is beautiful literature, but more importantly, it is profound. It remarkably provides its own, true, coherent worldview, and includes with it answers to the most profound questions that humans consider. There is a reason it has so profoundly shaped entire civilizations, and that is something about which we should all KEEP THINKING.
TOP PHOTO: The Garden of Eden with the Creation of Eve – Jan Brueghel the Younger. (1601-1678) (Public Domain)
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
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