S1 1: Trust the Story
The Creation Story of Genesis 1 [53:08]
Episode Length: 53:08
Published Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2016 01:00:00 -0700
Session 1
About this episode:
Marty Solomon and Brent Billings talk about the creation story in Genesis 1 and the foundation it lays for understanding the scriptural narrative correctly.
Trust the Story Presentation (PDF)
Sabbath as Resistance by Walter Brueggemann
The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel
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Study Tools
Legacy Episode Content
- Episode updated 6 January 2025
- Original audio from 8 September 2016
- Transcript for BEMA 1 of 8 September 2016
Notes
*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.
BEMA Episode 1: Trust the Story - Study Notes
Title & Source Summary
Episode: BEMA 1 - Trust the Story (2016)
Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings
Topic: An analysis of the Genesis 1 creation narrative as an ancient Hebrew poem, focusing on its literary structure, cultural context, and theological meaning regarding rest, identity, and God’s view of creation.
Key Takeaways
- Genesis 1 is not a scientific account but an ancient Mesopotamian/Hebrew poem with sophisticated literary structure
- The creation narrative is organized as a chiasm (mirror structure) with the word “moad” (sacred times/seasons) at its center
- The story addresses liberated Hebrew slaves, teaching them their worth comes from being God’s beloved creation, not their productivity
- Sabbath rest is the central message - we are valued for who we are, not what we produce
- The “evening and morning” refrain reflects Jewish understanding that each day begins with rest, not work
- Creation is fundamentally “good” (tov), not perfect in a static sense but dynamic with potential
- The seventh day has no closing refrain, suggesting God’s invitation to eternal Sabbath rest continues
Main Concepts & Theories
Literary Structure - Chiasm
The Genesis 1 creation account is structured as a sophisticated chiasm (mirror literary structure):
- Days 1-3: Separation phase (light/dark, waters, land/sea)
- Days 4-6: Filling phase (sun/moon/stars, sea creatures/birds, land animals/humans)
- Correspondence: Day 1↔Day 4, Day 2↔Day 5, Day 3↔Day 6
- Center: The Hebrew word “moad” (sacred times/seasons) appears at the exact center of the poem
Hebrew Wordplay and Patterns
The poem contains intricate numerical patterns:
- Patterns of 3: Three aspects of God (creator/bara, spirit/ruach, word), three days of separation, three days of filling
- Patterns of 7: First verse has 7 Hebrew words, second verse has 14 words (7x2), “Earth” appears 21 times (7x3)
- Patterns of 10: “And God said” appears 10 times, “according to its kind” appears 10 times
Cultural Context - Egyptian Slavery
The original audience were Hebrew slaves recently liberated from Egypt who:
- Worked seven days a week making bricks for 430 years
- Had their value determined solely by productivity
- Needed to learn their worth came from being God’s beloved creation, not their output
- Required deprogramming from a production-based identity system
Theological Framework - Rest vs. Production
Egyptian Narrative: Value = Productivity (brick-making capacity) God’s Narrative: Value = Beloved creation status Sabbath Purpose: Remembering identity comes from who we are, not what we do
Examples & Applications
Modern Parallels to Egyptian Slavery
- Career-based identity (“I am what I do”)
- Worth tied to achievements, possessions, appearance
- Cultural pressure for constant productivity and improvement
- Social media validation through performance metrics
- Academic or professional achievement as primary self-worth
Practical Sabbath Implementation
What Sabbath Includes:
- Rest and play without productivity goals
- Activities that remind us we are loved regardless of output
- Intentionally “not doing” things that tie worth to performance
- Celebrating creation as good without needing to “fix” or improve it
What Sabbath Avoids:
- Work that contributes to identity-building through production
- Activities done from obligation rather than joy
- Treating Sabbath as another performance to master
Evening-Morning Rhythm
Jewish days begin at sunset, meaning:
- Each day starts with rest, not productivity
- Sleep comes before work, symbolizing trust in God’s provision
- Identity is established in rest before engaging in activity
Potential Areas for Further Exploration
Literary Analysis
- Study other chiastic structures throughout Hebrew Scripture
- Explore additional Hebrew poetry forms and their theological significance
- Investigate other ancient Near Eastern creation narratives for comparison
Sabbath Practices
- Historical development of Sabbath observance in Jewish tradition
- Jesus’s teachings on Sabbath in Gospel narratives
- Modern applications of Sabbath in various Christian traditions
Cultural Context Studies
- Ancient Egyptian labor systems and their impact on Hebrew identity
- Mesopotamian creation myths and their relationship to Genesis
- Hebrew concepts of time, rest, and productivity versus modern Western views
Theological Themes
- The relationship between creation’s “goodness” and the problem of suffering
- Identity formation in Scripture: being versus doing
- God’s character as revealed through creation and rest patterns
Comprehension Questions
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Literary Structure: How does the chiastic structure of Genesis 1 point readers toward the central message about sacred times and seasons? What does this suggest about the author’s primary intent?
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Cultural Context: How would the message of Sabbath rest specifically address the psychological and spiritual needs of Hebrew slaves who had been valued only for their brick-making productivity for 430 years?
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Theological Implications: What does it mean that God “rests” not from exhaustion but because creation is complete and good? How does this change our understanding of both divine nature and human purpose?
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Modern Application: In what ways do contemporary Western cultures mirror the “Egyptian narrative” of productivity-based worth? How might regular Sabbath practice serve as counter-cultural resistance?
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Evening-Morning Pattern: How does the Hebrew understanding of days beginning with evening and rest challenge modern assumptions about productivity and the proper ordering of work and rest in daily life?
Brief Personalized Summary
Genesis 1 emerges not as a scientific textbook but as a profound theological poem designed to reshape the identity of former slaves. The sophisticated chiastic structure points to “moad” (sacred times) at its center, emphasizing that Sabbath rest is not merely a commandment but the foundational truth about human worth.
For people whose value had been determined solely by brick production, God’s first lesson is revolutionary: your worth comes from being beloved creation, not from what you produce. The evening-morning refrain reinforces this by structuring each day to begin with rest rather than work, establishing identity before activity.
This ancient wisdom speaks directly to modern cultures obsessed with productivity, achievement, and performance-based identity. The invitation to “trust the story” means accepting that we are enough simply because we are God’s good creation, worthy of divine enjoyment and celebration. The seventh day continues endlessly, representing God’s eternal invitation to join in celebrating the goodness of creation rather than constantly striving to prove our worth through what we accomplish.
The core message is both simple and profound: before learning about human brokenness or divine requirements, we must first learn to rest in the fundamental truth that we are deeply loved and valued by our Creator.
Original Notes
- The creation story in Genesis 1.
- Everything will build on this lesson.
- Marty has been very influenced by Rob Bell’s first Everything Is Spiritual and this episode is HEAVILY influenced by that teaching.
- This G-d is a creator, a spirit, and word
- Genesis is a poem
- Samaria. mesopatamian, other cultures maybe
- Refrains refer to evening and morning
- Westerners speak about this backwards, morning and evening.
- “it was good”
- This poem might be about something different than what we have been taught it was about.
- Plants are created on day three BEFORE the sun is created on day four.
- Days are being measured before days can be determined by the son.
- This poem is certainly about creating but it’s also about resting
- Looking at day five, fish and birds go in the place that were created on day two. Days one and four correspond, two and five correspond, and three and six correspond.
- To the Jewish, a line is drawn down the middle and this is known as a chiasm OR a chiasmus.
- In the center of a chiasm, there is a treasure buried in the middle. A chiasm is a tool to lead a reading on a journey of discovery.
- Parralellisms are a similar tool to chiasms.
- Genesis 1 happens to be two chiasms in one.
- Paragraph sizes: small (day one), medium (day two), large (day three), large (day four), medium (day five), should be small (day six) if it weren’t for the creation of man. Paragraph size follows A B C C’ B’ A’
- Paragraph content follows A B C A’ B’ C’
- Days one and four
- Days two and five
- Days three and six
- This story is NOT about logic or a science report or how G-d created the world.
- It’s about something far wider/deeper: It’s about the nature of G-d, the nature of the world he created, and the nature of man.
- What patterns are there in the poem?
- If this is a poem, there should be a cadence and a rythm and numbers that jump out at you.
- There is a pattern of threes
- Three days that mirror three days
- Threeness of the creator: bara, spirit, word
- The word Bara, creator, appears three times (beginning, middle, end) and at the end when it appears, it appears three times in rapid fire.
- We would also look at seven days and expect there to be patterns of seven
- 7x1: The first verse in the Hebrew has seven words in it
- 7x2: The second verse in the Hebrew has fourteen words in it
- 7x3: The word earth appears twenty-one times in the poem
- 7x5: There are thirty-five words in the seventh verse
- 7x5: The word G-d is mentioned thirty-five times
- 7x1: “It was so” seven times in the poem
- 7x1: “G-d saw” seven times in the poem
- If we see patterns of three and patterns of seven, the logical question to ask is, “are there patterns of ten?”
- “to make” ten time
- “according to its kind” ten times
- “and G-d said” ten times
- Three times in reference to people
- Seven times in reference to creatures
- “and let there be” ten times
- Three times in reference to things in Heaven
- Seven times in reference to things on Earth
- This poem is FULL of patterns… it is NOT a scientific lab report.
- This chiasm points toward the center
- The center of the chiasm contains the treasure
- The chiasm begins with chaotic nothingness and the chiasm ends with G-d doing nothing–resting.
- The Hebrew word right in the middle of the chiasm is moad which can be translated as seasons.
- Moad is one of four words that we use to refer to Sabbath.
- This is what G-d refers to at the end of the poem and what he will call his people back to throughout the story.
- The reasons Sabbath is so important to the Jewish people is because the Bible begins with a huge poem about Shabbat.
- Why is moad the treasure?
- If we take this back to the people that wrote this story, we would be talking to the Hebrews after they had just come out of Egypt.
- The Hebrews did manual labor making bricks in slavery for 430 years.
- They had been told for hundreds of years that their value was wrapped up in manual labor and making bricks.
- If they cannot make bricks, they are not very valuable to the Egyptians.
- We all know what Egypt will do to your wives, sons, and daughters if you can no longer provide for Egypt.
- Hard labor was a very real hardship for the Hebrews.
- And so, the very first lesson, before anything else, G-d needs his people to know how to take a break.
- A break that will remind you that your value and worth does not come from what you are.
- God calls it good, “very good” after he creates man. Man is the crowning moment of G-ds good creation.
- He stops not because he needs to rest but because he knows there is nothing more he can do to make creation any better.
- Rabbi David Fohrman has influenced this teaching:
- The Mona Lisa and David: at one point Da Vinci and Michaelango respectively had to know that they were finished and one more brush stroke or one more chisel mark would ruin the painting or the scultpure.
- Westerners like to say that creation was “perfect” but perfection doesn’t even exist in the Hebrew mindset.
- It’s not that creation was perfect, it’s that creation was good.
- The evening and morning refrain is missing from the seventh day as if the author is hanging endlessly forever because G-d’s invitation to you and me is to trust the story.
- We westerners try so hard to be better, and work harder, and impress more people…
- God says, you need to know how to stop and just enjoy creation. There is nothing more that needs to be done. Just trust that creation, including you, is good.
- Just trust the story.
- The evening and morning refrain is weird but why is it weird?
- To Jews, their days begin in the evening.
- Why? Because the first thing that a Jew does is not production but resting.
- To Jews, their days begin in the evening.
- All of Genesis 1 is about rest. Period.
- The Solomon children will say about the Sabbath, “we rest. we play. no work. G-d loves us.”
- Jesus will say later in the narrative, “Man was not created for Sabbath but Sabbath was created for man.”
- Sabbath was a gift. A reminder that G-d loves us.
- Marty hates shaving his head and loves to make his bed.
- On Shabbat, he doesn’t shave his head and he doesn’t make his bed.
- Not shaving his head puts a smile on his face as he remembers “ah, i’m just loved.”
- Not making his bed, while it makes his cringe, reminds him that even when his life looks like that, he’s still loved.
- Sabbath should be a day that sets us free.
- If you’re not doing something that reminds you that you’re loved by G-d, you’re doing it wrong.
- This rest is both practical AND big picture, a posture that we carry with us.
- If I believe that G-d loves and cares about me, it shifts my mindset from a scarcity mindset to one of abundance.