11: The Adamic Covenant

Question 1

What are the principles to be applied in a hermeneutical reading? (1/2)

Answer 1

1. Genre question: What kind of text is this? (narrative, poetry, etc.)
2. To whom was it addressed?
3. Communicative or authoritative relationship between the author and the audience?
4. What is the structure (and outline) of the text?

Question 2

What are the principles to be applied in a hermeneutical reading? (2/2)

Answer 2

1. What is the relationship of the smaller parts to the whole?
2. How does the author highlights his concerns? (repetition, etc)
3. How does it meets the need of the original audience?
4. Where does this fit into the redemptive history?

Question 3

What is the genre of Genesis 1-2?

Answer 3

Two kinds of narrative here

• exalted prose
  
  • the events are one of a kind
  • no other actors beside God
  • highly patterned language
• ordinary prose

Question 4

What is the intended audience of Genesis?

Answer 4

Israel, recently liberated from Egypt, and/or their children who entered the promise land.

Question 5

What is the communicative situation of Genesis?

Answer 5

Introduction of God to his people.

Lays the foundation for the Sinai covenant: Israel as a theocracy for the sake of the rest of the world.

Question 6

What is the structure of Genesis 1-2?

Answer 6

Two narratives and a hinge

• Gen 1.1-2.3 (exalted prose)
• Gen. 2.4 (hinge)
• Gen 2.5-25 (ordinary prose)

Question 7

What is Genesis 1-2’s relation to the rest of the book?

Answer 7

The God of the covenant, is the Creator of the Universe and God of all the other nations as well.

This is the God who liberated them from Egypt.

Question 8

What is the highlighted concern in Genesis 1-2?

Answer 8

1. In the exalted prose, the concern in the creation of mankind.
   
   • It repeats “created” three times
   • In EV it is structured in a particular way
2. In the ordinary prose, the concern is in the first marriage.
   
   • It is also structured in a particular way.

Question 9

What is one broad outline of the book of Genesis?

Answer 9

• Primeval History (1-11)
• Patriarchal History (12-50)

Question 10

What is an outline that helps get into the characters of the story?

Answer 10

• Primeval History (1-11)
• Patriarchal History (12-50)
  
  • Abraham (12-25)
  • Isaac (26-27)
  • Jacob (28-38)
  • Joseph (39-50)

Question 11

What is the toledot outline of Genesis?

Answer 11

Question 12

What is the Overview of the Primeval History?

Answer 12

• Creation (universal) and Garden (local) (1 - 2)
• The fall and its aftermath (3 - 4)
• Spread of mankind: Adam to Noah (5)
• The Covenant with Noah (6 - 9)
• Spread of mankind after the flood (10 - 11)

Question 13

What was created on day 1?

Answer 13

Light and Darkness (v. 3 - 5)

Question 14

What was created on day 2?

Answer 14

Sea and Sky (v. 6 - 8)

Question 15

What was created on day 3?

Answer 15

Land, Sea and Vegetation (v. 9 - 13)

Question 16

What was created on day 4?

Answer 16

Light bearers in the heavens (v. 14-19)

Question 17

What was created on day 5?

Answer 17

Sea creatures and flying animals (v. 20 - 23)

Question 18

What was created on day 6?

Answer 18

Land animals and Humans (v. 24 - 31)

Question 19

Who is God according to Genesis?

Answer 19

1. He is a kingly creator
   
   • The Lord made all things from nothing (ex nihilo)
   • Not an impersonal force, but a personal God who speaks
   • He is self-sufficient and purposeful
   • Distinction between God and his creation (neither pantheism nor deism)

Question 20

How are the days divided in the Genesis account?

Answer 20

1. Days 1 - 3 he creates Location
2. Days 4 - 6 he creates Inhabitants

Question 21

What is humanity according to Genesis?

Answer 21

1. Created by God
   
   • Embodied creatures
   • Unique - special relationship with God
2. Created in God’s image
   
   • Unlike Mesopotamian stories, human are created to be benevolent rulers and bring creation to its full potential
   • God’s representatives

Question 22

What does it mean to be image of God?

Answer 22

1. Resemblance - capacities
2. Representation - task, what humans do
   
   • In Mesopotamia, the monarch was described as “the image of God”
   • In the Bible, it not only pertains to kings but to humankind as a whole
3. Relational - relationship

Question 23

According to Collins, what is a covenant?

Answer 23

“A covenant formally binds two parties together in a relationship, and obligates them to practice faithfulness, with rewards and sanctions”

Question 24

What are the features of the Adamic Covenant?

Answer 24

1. The Lord is the covenant king and all his creation his servant.
   
   • With mankind there are rewards and sanctions
2. The command first given to Adam includes Eve as a member
3. Adam is treated as the responsible representative, even though Eve exercised an agency and therefore culpability
4. All of the descendants of Adam and Eve suffer the consequences of their sin
5. The Adam/Noah parallel is that Noah is the second Adam that receives a covenant on behalf of his descendants, but also the animals.

Question 25

In what sense is this a covenant of works?

Answer 25

1. It is proposed by some the idea that Adam was to merit life on behalf of his descendants by his obedience
2. But Genesis 1-3 points to the beneficence and abundant provision of the Lord, so Adam had everything to lose, and nothing to gain.
   
   • Adam had a relationship with God and his obedience was necessary to maintain that relationship, but not sufficient.
   • He was to be a conduit of blessing, not a self-directed creature.