Neat thing #1: Besides being called "buraysheeth" which is "beginning" or "head," this is also the first of five "books of Moses." How is Genesis a book or scroll of Moses? Moses is called a prophet. The writers of the Bible want us to understand that Genesis is a kind of prophecy. It is a kind of prophecy that looks and sees the truth about the past though, instead of the future. The writers of the Bible want the scroll or book of Genesis to have come from Moses or the school of Moses, Moses' students or disciples.
Neat thing #2 The heavens are pictured as a great crystal dome surrounding us and protecting us. In other words according to the writers of Genesis we are not whirling around in cold space but are enfolded and protected in a Buckminster Fuller dome! God gives us this wonderful round house to live in.
Dim recollection #1 Haven't I read somewhere that the rabbis drew connections between the various days of creation and...what? I think that Jesus may have known and alluded to these connections or correspondances. Does anyone know what I am talking about?
Neat thing #3 I just think it is neat that God gives the fruit trees and seed bearing plants, power within themselves to produce fruit and seed. God is not a puppeteer. He empowers the plants and trees to carry on his work. And he empowers us too. Think of all the stuff Paul wants us to do. Paul directs his church to have compassion, to forgive one another because they have been enabled to do these things by the Lord. In other words Paul is saying "keep on keepin' on" and God is saying the same thing to the fruit trees. There is good reason that Isaiah calls the people of Israel "oaks of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:3). Not that God leaves us alone "deus ex machina" kind of thing. In the morning and evening he walks in the garden that he has created. And in Job we learn that God cares not only about the stars in their heavenly courses but about the mountain goats. He knows the time that they bring forth their young and presumably is with them. Talk about a "with it" God!
