The creation narrative: A Jewish perspective
Story of Adam and Eve sets into motion the existential question: Why did God choose to create humanity at all?
Whenever I’m asked by a student whether I believe in and accept the creation narrative in the Book of Genesis as scientifically true, I respond: “You’re certainly free to choose that line of reasoning, but essentially you’re asking the wrong question.”
Why so? Because the biblical account of creation has nothing to do with any scientific theory.
Simply stated: The Torah (The Five Books of Moses) is not a book of science. Rather, the creation chronicle as a sacred text sets into motion the existential question:why did God choose to create humanity at all?
By contrast, science focuses on the question of how our universe came to be. Aside from the axiom that God is the source of all creation, the Hebrew text is concerned with God seeking to establish a loving relationship with humanity.
It is from this view that the creation narrative in the first 11 chapters of Genesis provides a universal backdrop where we witness God’s interaction with humanity until He finally chooses Abram as the patriarch of the Hebrews who will come to emulate the virtues of justice and compassion; eternal biblical values that will underscore the foundation for a moral society.
In other words, if I desire to comprehend ‘creation’ as recorded in the Torah, I need to wear biblical lenses (and not a microscope lens that I would use in a scientific lab).
What do I see?
Genesis reveals a theological revolution against the magical world of paganism, which “meant much more than simply believing in the existence of many gods and the worship of images.
Polytheism, the belief in many gods, meant the conviction that the natural world and its rhythms ... is divine.
“The sun, the moon, the stars, summer and winter, growing time and dying time — all in themselves are sacred. And because the natural world is divine … (thereby controlling mortals), individuals are ... trapped, locked into an amoral universe that is indifferent to their strivings and their well-being.
“You may try to influence or bribe the gods, but nature is divine. The gods themselves are part of nature and subject to its limitations.”
Simply put: “Te basic characteristic of polytheism is that the gods have no absolute freedom. The discriminating essence of Israelite monotheism is that
God’s will is absolute and sovereign.” (Nachum Sarna, ‘”tudies in Biblical Interpretation”
And the “absolute transcendence of God ... who is not in nature ... even the most potent natural phenomena are but reflections of God’s.”
At the end of the day, the message is clear and unambiguous: It’s God who is in control; not nature or humanity.
Thus, when I explore the question ‘why’ should God care to fashion humanity in His image, my journey begins not with Euclidean geometric axioms that by definition cannot be proven; rather, as a matter of faith I accept with all the potential spiritual pitfalls that God is the supreme, sui generis power in the universe who chooses to establish a
just and loving relationship with humanity.
As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel affirms: “All of the human history as described in the Bible may be summarized in one phrase: God is in search of man ... When Adam and Eve hid from His presence, the Lord called: “Ayekah, Where are You?” Not geographically but spiritually.
To hear and to respond to God’s call ‘Ayekah,’ is to be able to rise above the din of secularism.
The echo of God’s call that emanated at the time of creation can still be heard. Listen ever so carefully and you,too, may be blessed to also hear it.
ACROSS
1 One of the alkali metals 10 Enjoy a meal, with “down” 14 Lacking taste, say 16 Yul's “Solomon and Sheba” co-star 17 Where fajitas may be seen 18 Senior suffix 19 Ability 20 Breaks down 22 Big extinct bird 23 “Frozen” snowman 26 Chem lab substance 28 Casino option 32 Exercise apparel 33 Out of control 34 Increase 36 Fungal rye disease 37 Wheel part 38 Attack, as with questions 40 Org. monitoring gas prices 41 Pram occupant's diaper 43 __ lily: Utah state flower 44 W.E.B. Du Bois' Tennessee alma mater 45 Looks of contempt 47 Maker of Contadina products 49 Shakespeare's fairy queen
DOWN
51 Evening in Paris 52 Dedicatory lines 53 Wings with rooms 55 __ fog 59 Outer layer 61 1963 Johnny Thunder hit 64 Footwear for the stealthy, maybe 65 “Where's everyone else?” 66 Originate 67 Like some eggs
1 With 31-Down, finalizes, in publishing 2 Short race 3 Approach the gate, perhaps 4 Wrestling maneuver 5 Blanche's sister, in a Williams play 6 Number before Number? 7 Belief suffix 8 Pickup cousins, briefly 9 Inconsequential 10 Movie SFX 11 Request before reaching 21? 12 Savory baked bread 13 Hung in the balance
15 Dice, e.g. 21 Shortened a log 24 Ship that encountered Sirens 25 Rural spreads 27 Switz. neighbor 28 Campaigns rurally 29 “That was so stupid of me!” 30 Skills 31 See 1-Down 35 Pay 38 Talking Heads lead singer David 39 Cone-like candy 42 Little veggie 44 Patti Austin album dedicated to a legendary jazz vocalist 46 Frivolous 48 Piercing locale, perhaps 50 Disinterested 54 Whiskey __ 56 Palindromic time 57 Grammy honoree 58 Duel tool 60 Mil. decoration 62 With “fix,” it describes itself 63 Land's end?