By Randall L.
Broad
Read: Genesis
1-2:25; Matthew 1-2:12; Psalm 1:1-6; Proverbs 1:1-6
New Year’s Day
represents a symbolic beginning for all of us. Essentially nothing has changed
except the calendar, but a new year offers the hope things will be different–
better than the year before. All of us were blessed last year, but time offers
us the chance to continue to grow in our faith and in our relationships. Do not
neglect your relationship with Jesus Christ; create something better for
yourselves and the people you love.
It is fitting that
we start the reading of the One Year Bible with the story of God’s creation
found in the Book of Genesis. In my biblical studies, I discovered a whole new
perspective on these first important verses of scripture.
Genesis 1:3-5 tell
this story:
Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And
God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the
darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the
darkness “night.”
Conventional wisdom tells us the obvious–God
created light.
One of the fundamental elements of all
creation stories is that the form of their
god and the purpose of that god
were based upon essential functions found in nature. For example the sun gods
controlled the movement of the sun, other gods controlled harvests, some
controlled human fertility, etc. These pantheons of gods shifted with the
unique needs of their human creators to explain functions that could not be
explained otherwise. Gods were created, worshiped, and forgotten as needed.
The God of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and David was
different. He had no creator. He shared no authority with any other god. The
idea of a monotheistic God was unique to the Israelite. As descendants of that
legacy we take the Bible literally and purposefully stay away from the
definition of Yahweh creating function.
Instead, we see the God of the Israelite as the creator of substance–in the
case found in Genesis 1:3-5–light.
This brings me to my point. In Genesis 1:5, “God called the light (‘or) day (yom) and
the darkness he called ‘night’.
God did not create only light (‘or) the first
day. He created the period of light known as yom, or day; a contrast to the night, a period of darkness. What he
created was both substance and function.
Conceding God Himself called ‘or a period of
light. The above verse really reads:
Then God said, “Let there be light and there was a period of light. 4 And
God saw that the period of light was good. Then he separated the period of
light from the darkness. 5 God called the period of
light day and the darkness “night.”
Professor John H. Walton said it best;
We could only conclude, then, that day one does not concern itself with
the creation of the physicist’s light, that is “light” as a physical element
with physical properties. Day one concerns something much more elemental to the
functioning of the cosmos and to our experience of the cosmos. On day one, God
created time.[1]
Thus it is only fitting as we pass through
one of the milestones of the calendar–the beginning of a new year that we honor
the creator of time itself.
Walk with the Lord …
Ephesians 1:17
(RLB250101)
© Copyright 2017: Randall L. Broad
Disclaimer: This commentary is written by Randall L. Broad. It is in no way affiliated with or represents any denomination, university, church, or pastor. Any errors or omissions are purely my responsibility.
[1] Walton, John H. Ancient
Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic,
2006: pg. 180.
