January 14

The meaning being conveyed is the origin of the world. Since the bible is not a scientific recount of the creation, this selection of the bible is figuratively speaking. It allows us to understand what God was thinking when he was creating the world. Why he created day and night, the seas and land, the creatures, and man. It shows God’s thoughts during the process and how he chose to create things. It shows that God was satisfied with his creations. This excerpt also provides a reason for why Sundays are a holy day because God rested and blessed the world.

God chooses to create life in this excerpt. He slowly but surely enhances the complexity of the earth. He starts with light and ends with human life. It shows that he had spent a lot of time to thoroughly plan the creation of the world and to make it very intricate. He mastered every detail and put it into action. After each day, God reflects on his creations and decides that they are good. On the sixth day he says that his creation of man was very good. He gives the creatures tasks and a reason for living.

On the sixth day, God creates the most complex creature: the human person.He creates this man in his own image and likeness giving part of himself to the man. He gives this man full responsibility of the world and to take care of all of the creatures. This man is the ruler of the world under God. By doing this, God creates a hierarchy separating humans and creatures.

Since God does not need rest, the resting of the seventh day emphasizes his satisfaction of the world and it also foreshadows to having the seventh day as sabbath. He spends this day to bask in the glory of the world and to fully take in what he had just finished creating. This creates a day where we are supposed to reflect and be satisfied with the world. It allows us to take in what was created for us and to fully comprehend it.

January 16

The account emphasizes knowledge because there is a temptation to have full knowledge. God has full knowledge about the world he has created and he know what is good and evil. However, man is not given this knowledge and is instead withheld from this knowledge. They are told not to eat from the tree of knowledge even though this would allow them to know what was good and evil just like God. Without knowledge, Adam and Eve are innocent, but with knowledge they are corrupted.

Legaspi describes how God prohibits Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge, therefore banning knowledge from them. The knowledge that comes from this tree is the knowledge of responsibility. This means that Adam and Eve would understand what was good and what was bad. Legaspi argues that since they did not have this knowledge, they could not be good caretakers because they do not fully comprehend what is good or bad for the world. Legaspi also looks at how he bans one particular thing to eat when eating is necessary for Adam and Eve to live. They must eat to live. As well as being nourishment, eating represents a relationship with God. He is the giver, the food is a gift, and the people are the recipient. In this way, God is withholding a gift: the gift of knowledge.

Even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they gave the rest of the world the gift of knowledge. This knowledge impacts the way they lived then and affects how we live now. Because of their failure to follow Gods commands, they gained the knowledge of pain and suffering which transfers to us as well.

Adam and Eve were never God-like. They were created without knowledge giving them innocence. God has knowledge and the power to create. They never started on the same level. God was always above Adam and Eve. Once they gained knowledge, they could comprehend the world like God, but they still never received the power to create or become immortal.

It is merciful that God banished them because he could have chosen a different drastic outcome for the two of them. It also allows them to not be reminded by their failure by walking by the tree all of their lives.

January 21

Before creation there was just water. God used water to create while in the count of Noah, he uses water to destroy. Kass states that the flood, “restoring watery chaos of the ultimate beginnings, merely completes the descent into chaos that anarchic and heroic men were bringing upon themselves entirely on their own” (Kass 9). The people were corrupt in Noah’s land so God decided to wash them out. This is similar to Adam and Eve because once they broke God’s commands, they were exiled from the garden of Eden. However, God decides to have Noah live because as what Kass says, he is virtuous; “Noah is a saving remnant because of his saving virtue” (Kass 8). Noah and Adam differ because Noah follows God’s commands to build an arc. Noah follows each of God’s command allowing him to have saving grace whereas Adam disobeyed God’s only command and was exiled. Kass also acknowledges that Noah was a very simple man and accepted the fact that he was mortal. Eve ate the apple believing she would become God-like. She wanted more than mortality causing her to ignore God’s command. God also informs Noah to have two of each animal board the arc so then there will be offspring. God started with two humans to start off the world. The animals will then start the new world with two of each. 

In the creation story God gave Adam and Eve commands whereas in the story of Noah and the arc, God grants them a covenant. He gives them commands but also holds a promise for them.  God commands Noah and his family to be fruitful just like he told Adam and Eve when he created them. Another comparison between the two stories are that in the creation story the main animal that affected Adam and Eve was a snake. The snake caused them to sin. In Noah’s story the animal they were looking for was a dove. This was a sign of hope and love from God.