Introduction to Genesis

My relationship with the Bible is changing.

I've been hearing phrases replay in my head, like "The B.I.B.L.E contains ‘Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth," or "God communicates through His Word to show us what we should do."

These ideas about the Bible are things I've been taught, and I never really questioned them until I started to feel uneasy about my own self-centered approach when I opened the Bible.

What if I've been looking at it all wrong?

What if reading the Bible isn't primarily about improving my life or solving my immediate problems?

What if it's more about getting to know God, understanding His character, and meditating on His ways? What if my time with the Bible was less about finding answers for myself and more about discovering who God is?

So, as I begin this new chapter in my spiritual journey, I'm changing my perspective.

As we open our study of the book of Genesis, I want to approach it like a time traveler experiencing the story. I want to immerse myself in the narrative, explore the setting, and try to understand the Bible the way its original authors intended, as a message meant to be received and responded to by those who hear it.

I want to dive deep into the word choices an author makes. I want to understand the cultural context and see how radical the God of Israel is to include humankind in His plan to redeem a broken world.

When we open the book of Genesis, we see “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

We usually rush through this verse to get to God’s first creation, light.

But, this time, I am studying the Tanakh with a Bible commentary and for the Torah specifically, I picked up another book to orient myself around the biblical narrative and it is forcing me to slow down.

In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word used for "beginning" is "רֵאשִׁית" (re'shit). This word carries several layers of meaning and is significant in the context of marking time and creation.