11: The Adamic Covenant Flashcards
What are the principles to be applied in a hermeneutical reading? (1/2)
- Genre question: What kind of text is this? (narrative, poetry, etc.)
- To whom was it addressed?
- Communicative or authoritative relationship between the author and the audience?
- What is the structure (and outline) of the text?
What are the principles to be applied in a hermeneutical reading? (2/2)
- What is the relationship of the smaller parts to the whole?
- How does the author highlights his concerns? (repetition, etc)
- How does it meets the need of the original audience?
- Where does this fit into the redemptive history?
What is the genre of Genesis 1-2?
Two kinds of narrative here
- exalted prose
- the events are one of a kind
- no other actors beside God
- highly patterned language
- ordinary prose
What is the intended audience of Genesis?
Israel, recently liberated from Egypt, and/or their children who entered the promise land.
What is the communicative situation of Genesis?
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.
What is the structure of Genesis 1-2?
Two narratives and a hinge
- Gen 1.1-2.3 (exalted prose)
- Gen. 2.4 (hinge)
- Gen 2.5-25 (ordinary prose)
What is Genesis 1-2’s relation to the rest of the book?
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.
What is the highlighted concern in Genesis 1-2?
- 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
- In the ordinary prose, the concern is in the first marriage.
- It is also structured in a particular way.
What is one broad outline of the book of Genesis?
- Primeval History (1-11)
- Patriarchal History (12-50)
What is an outline that helps get into the characters of the story?
- Primeval History (1-11)
- Patriarchal History (12-50)
- Abraham (12-25)
- Isaac (26-27)
- Jacob (28-38)
- Joseph (39-50)
What is the toledot outline of Genesis?
What is the Overview of the Primeval History?
- 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)
What was created on day 1?
Light and Darkness (v. 3 - 5)
What was created on day 2?
Sea and Sky (v. 6 - 8)
What was created on day 3?
Land, Sea and Vegetation (v. 9 - 13)
What was created on day 4?
Light bearers in the heavens (v. 14-19)
What was created on day 5?
Sea creatures and flying animals (v. 20 - 23)
What was created on day 6?
Land animals and Humans (v. 24 - 31)
Who is God according to Genesis?
- 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)
How are the days divided in the Genesis account?
- Days 1 - 3 he creates Location
- Days 4 - 6 he creates Inhabitants
What is humanity according to Genesis?
- Created by God
- Embodied creatures
- Unique - special relationship with God
- 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
What does it mean to be image of God?
- Resemblance - capacities
- 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
- Relational - relationship
According to Collins, what is a covenant?
“A covenant formally binds two parties together in a relationship, and obligates them to practice faithfulness, with rewards and sanctions”
What are the features of the Adamic Covenant?
- The Lord is the covenant king and all his creation his servant.
- With mankind there are rewards and sanctions
- The command first given to Adam includes Eve as a member
- Adam is treated as the responsible representative, even though Eve exercised an agency and therefore culpability
- All of the descendants of Adam and Eve suffer the consequences of their sin
- The Adam/Noah parallel is that Noah is the second Adam that receives a covenant on behalf of his descendants, but also the animals.
