Reading through the Bible—things that stand out

I’ve downloaded a New American Standard Version of the Bible onto my kindle, and I really enjoy reading scripture on this electronic tablet. I’m starting over, from the beginning. And here are some of the interesting passages from Genesis that have caught my eye:

“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” (Gen 1:2)

This concept of “the deep” really baffles me. I wonder if there is any connection between that and “deep calls out to deep.” So I took it to the internet and found my answer at yahoo.answers:

“  Creation began when the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and darkness lay on the face of the deep (tehom; same word). In Romans 8 we read about creation groaning and suffering anxiously from longing for the revelation of the sons of God, and we must recognize that in the private ardor of Psalm 42, the voice of the entire universe resounds, perhaps even as primary intend. But that's far from all.

In verse 9, the author likens God distinctively to the opposite of water: a rock. "The figure of God as a rock becomes typical for the New Testament teachings relative to Christ's person and walk - 1 Pet 2:6; 1 Cor 10:4" (TWOTOT, page 627), and our attention is drawn to Jesus Christ. Remarkable, because where the Psalmist states, "I will say to God, my Rock, "Why hast Thou forgotten Me?"," Jesus cried from the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Mat 27:46).

Dying the way Jesus did is a pretty hard death. There is some debate about His actual posture, but everyone agrees that His arms were stretched, and placed either sideways or straight up. The result of this is that the chest cavity expands and exhaling is made difficult. After a while, breathing is impossible and Jesus' actual cause of death was exhaustion and asphyxia. This makes the report of His dying by Matthew and Mark highly remarkable, if not boldly referential, "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit" (Matt 27:50); "And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last" (Mark 15:37).

"Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I am thirsty" (John 19:28)." NAS links this to Psalm 22:15. Others to 69:21. But perhaps Jesus thought of Psalm 42:7, and its incredible extent of profundity, and Deep cried out to Deep.”

Thank you some person named Paulette.

Genesis 2 states: “²¹The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”

The unfortunate truth about reading an English translation of scripture is that it lacks the same detail as original. “Garments of skin”? Did he actually create the stretchy epidermis in that moment, or was the skin from another creature? GOOGLE TIME!

In another English version, they are a little more liberal with detail and say “tunic of skins.” According to an article from the Lavista Church of Christ’s site, “The Hebrew word translated as "skin" is 'owr which means hide or leather.”

So my human skin hypothesis was wrong.

A couple of chapters into Genesis, the lineage and _______ bequeathed _______ at _______ years old starts to take over. I used to find these passages langweilig, but now I find them fascinating. These people’s names are in the Bible. They are important, so pay attention. The section in Genesis 6 titled: “The Wickedness in the World” caught my attention. Why? Because I am currently in conspiracy theorist mode, and feel like the 2011 world culture is in the pits.

Sad, but true.

Reading that God was actually regretful of his decision to make humans kind of stung. I am of the belief that he knows every potential outcome, and no action is a surprise to him. Why now, here, in this portion of scripture does it reveal that God was troubled.

Then something stuck out to me:

“Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.”

That is the man that God saved. Noah’s culture was wicked and inclined to do evil, but because he lived righteously, blamelessly and faithfully God was inclined to preserve his life.

This was kind of convicting because I realize that the first three adjectives I’d use to describe my character are not in line with those. And that is a result of my decisions not to live like that.

Oh Genesis! You make me uncomfortable!