The Story of The People of God: Part IV - Cosmos and Microcosm

1. PRAYER
Life-giving God,
heal our lives, that we may
acknowledge your wonderful deeds
and offer you thanks from generation
to generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

2. the CHURCH calendar: SUNDAY, 7.16.23

3. The Story of the People of God: Part IV
GENESIS:COSMOS & MICROCOSM

4. WHATWE’VE LEARNED…
• The story of God and God’s
people has ancient roots
• Genesis was written/compiled
around 580BC, post Babylonian
Exile, as Israel wrestled with
their sense of national identity
• Genesis is not interested in the
material origins of the universe
• Creation in the ANE was about order
and function

7. WHATWE’RE EXPLORING
• How the Genesis story of the
created cosmos foreshadows the
creation of the Tabernacle/Temple
• How the Tabernacle in Exodus
and the Temple in 1 Kings function
as microcosms (mini cosmos),
sacred spaces harkening back
to the cosmic order created
in Genesis (esp. the Garden)

8. And God blessed them… God SAW ALL
God had made, and behold, it was very good…
The heaven and earth were COMPLETED…
And God COMPLETED, on the seventh day,
THE WORK God had done.
GENESIS 1:28, 31; 2:1-2
Moses SAW ALL their work, and BEHOLD…
they had done, and he BLESSED THEM…
Moses COMPLETED THE WORK.
EXODUS 39:43; 40:33

9. 1. In the Bible/ANE the temple
is viewed as a microcosm
2. The temple is designed with
the imagery of the cosmos
3. The temple is related to
the functions of the cosmos

10. 4. The creation of the temple
parallels cosmic creation
5. In the Bible, the cosmos can
be viewed as God’s temple

11. 4. The creation of the temple
parallels cosmic creation
5. In the Bible, the cosmos can
be viewed as God’s temple
“It is not the material phase of temple
construction that (creates)
the temple; it is the inauguration
of the functions and the entrance of
(God’s) presence that creates (it)…”

12. …It is likely that the tasks given to
Adam are of a priestly nature: caring
for sacred space…preserving order
(kept) non-order at bay…Maintaining
order made one a participant with God
in the ongoing task of sustaining the
equilibrium God had established in the
cosmos…God (knows this) task is too
large for (Adam) to do on his own (so
God provides an ontological equal to
help in the priestly duties.)

13. …Rather than understanding Scripture
as necessitating the view that Adam
and Eve are the first humans, (and in
light of their role
as priestly mediators in the garden),
we might alternatively consider the
possibility they are the first significant
humans…established as significant by
their election to a priestly role. (This,
not any imagined genetic role),
is what sets them apart.

14. The Lord God took the man and put him
in the garden of Eden to till* it and keep* it.
And the Lord God commanded the man,
‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but
of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat of it you shall die*.
*That doesn’t actually happen in the story!
GENESIS 2:15-17

15. …The trees are understood best in the
context of sacred space…they provide
what is only God’s to give…we make
a mistake to think that this is simply
about magical trees in a garden
paradise. It is about the presence
of God on earth and what relationship
with God makes available…If the text
chooses to use metaphorical symbols, it
is free to do so, and we would be remiss
to read them any other way.

16. These ordered worlds, that the
Torah describes as having existed
in the initial moments of time and
subsequently in the Tabernacle,
are not real—they are imagined…
(Religious) ritual represents
a controlled environment where
the variables (i.e. accidents) of ordinary
life have been displaced… ritual is a
way of performing the
way things ought to be.

17. The world was and indeed is a morally
and spiritually complicated place.
It is filled with chaos, evil, ambiguity, and
often an absence of control.
The possibility for renewal, harkening
back to the ideal orderliness of creation,
and for establishing
God’s power and majesty, provide
an opportunity to escape from the
problems of the world into the real
or imagined orderly sacred place.

18. The construction of the Tabernacle
on the first day of the first month—
the New Year—may indicate its meaning
as a site for re-creation*.
*ForChristians, we see this reflected Jesus’
garden resurrection, representing the “new
Adam”
inaugurating a new creation;
reflected as well in the garden city
of NewJerusalem in Revelation…

19. The Story of the People of God: Part IV
GENESIS:COSMOS & MICROCOSM

21. Creation story: Separation of higher/
lower heavens by the firmament
Tabernacle: the holy of holies and
the sanctuary, separated by a
curtain embroidered with spiritual
“cherubim” (nearest the Most
Holy Place, which held the Ark
of the Covenant) and in colors
of the heavens (red, blue, purple.)

22. Creation story: Seven days
Tabernacle: Ex 25-31, seven speeches:

23. Creation story: Seven days
Tabernacle: Ex 25-31, seven speeches:
Day 1: Light; evening/morning
Speech 1: Tending the lampstand
from evening to morning

24. Creation story: Seven days
Tabernacle: Ex 25-31, seven speeches:
Day 1: Light; evening/morning
Speech 1: Tending the lampstand
from evening to morning
Day 3: Gathering of the seas
Speech 3: Bronze wash basin

25. Creation story: Seven days
Tabernacle: Ex 25-31, seven speeches:
Day 1: Light; evening/morning
Speech 1: Tending the lampstand
from evening to morning
Day 3: Gathering of the seas
Speech 3: Bronze wash basin
Day 4: Lights in night sky; calendar
Speech 4: More use of the lampstand

26. Day 6: God commissions humanity
to tend to/care for/oversee creation
Speech 6: God commissions Bezalel and
Oholiab to oversee the making
of the Tabernacle’s design elements

27. Day 6: God commissions humanity
to tend to/care for/oversee creation
Speech 6: God commissions Bezalel and
Oholiab to oversee the making
of the Tabernacle’s design elements
Day 7: God rests, takes up residence
Speech 7: Sabbath instructions
for living in the midst of God’s presence,
as God’s people

29. Creation story: ANE people thought of
pillars holding up the heavens
Temple: pillars holding up the roof

30. Creation story: ANE people thought of
pillars holding up the heavens
Temple: pillars holding up the roof
Creation story: God gathers
“the sea” into one place; chaos to
order; water separated from dry land
Temple: A large bronze vessel called
“the sea”; chaos is ordered and stands
on its own in the courtyard, where
God’s people gather to worship

31. Creation story: vegetation/garden where
humanity is planted to flourish
(See: Adam/Eve)
Temple: a floral decorated garden
where God’s people can flourish
(See: Priest)

32. Creation story: vegetation/garden where
humanity is planted to flourish
(See: Adam/Eve)
Temple: a floral decorated garden
where God’s people can flourish
(See: Priest)
Creation story: Creation = God’s cosmic
temple, which God creates
Temple: God imbues artists with God’s
Spirit to construct that which
reflects God’s cosmic temple

33. OKAY,
THAT’SALL
FINEANDGOOD,
BUT…WHYTAKETHE
TIMETO FOCUS
ONALLTHIS?!

34. 1. I want you to know what biblical
scholarship says on these things,
and we respect what it has to say
WHY FOCUSONALLTHIS?

35. 1. I want you to know what biblical
scholarship says on these things,
and we respect what it has to say
2. I want you to know thoughts on
a non-literal/science reading
of Genesis are in the majority
WHY FOCUSONALLTHIS?

36. 1. I want you to know what biblical
scholarship says on these things,
and we respect what it has to say
2. I want you to know thoughts on
a non-literal/science reading
of Genesis are in the majority
3. I want you to know it’s ok to be curious &
ask questions. I promise: God can handle it!
WHY FOCUSONALLTHIS?

37. QUESTIONS
ONANYTHING
GENESIS RELATED?
EITHER DIRECTLYOR
TANGENTIALLY?

38. A Prayer For The People of God
O God, Ancient Gardener,
your holy word is planted in our hearts
as good seed in fertile soil.
Nurture us, Lord, that we may
abundantly bear the fruit of your Spirit,
towards the restoration of all you have made,
for the glory of your name.
Amen