It’s Day 1 of #Bible365, and please hear me when I say that it is not necessary for you to buy a new Bible to participate in this event. I must have 20 Bibles, but I invariably do most of my quick searches of scripture in some of the great, free online Bibles that are available.
I grew up reading the King James version of the Bible. As though it was yesterday, I remember getting my first very own King James Bible. The cover was white leather, and it was a red letter edition. Here is a free, online King James version of the Bible:
![[Illustration]](https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10/images/cover.jpg)
King James Bible Free Online Here: https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10/pg10-images.html
Genesis Book 1 – The Creation Story Days 1 through 6
Genesis 2 – The Creation Story Day 7
Genesis 3 – The Serpent and the Fall of Adam and Eve
Genesis 1 – The Creation Story Days 1 through 6 – A few scriptural excerpts follow:
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” ….
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees ….
16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.
25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground.
27So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
(“Genesis 1 (NIV)”)
” And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” Genesis 1: 3-5
In my opinion, the creation of Light is very significant. One of the most prominent literary themes is about Light.
The beginning of the New Testament records the fact that God ultimately sent His Baby Jesus to be an eternal flame in the darkness. Jesus is the Light of the World, but God created Light itself in Genesis.
The books of the Old Testament record the fact that mankind had continuously fallen in and out of the darkness. The beginning of the New Testament records the fact that God sent His Baby Jesus to be an eternal flame in that darkness. Jesus is the Light of the World.
I promise that I won’t constantly pitch my debut picture book The Donkey’s Song, but in the seemingly simple text of that book, I allude to some complex ideas. A couple of times, I allude to the Light that Jesus brought into the world.
The stars, the moon, and of course The Great Star foreshadow the light that Jesus brought to mankind.
The sunlight beaming in the above passage is Jesus, the Light of the World.
If I were forced to summarize the message of the Bible in a few words, I would say:
- God created the Light and
- God Created Jesus, the embodiment of God’s Light.
- Try to capture Darkness in words and contrast that darkness with God’s light.
A variation of the Creation story is part of many cultures and many mythologies, and the religion of many peoples. Research other creation stories and begin to understand more about darkness and light, as it has been expressed in as many myths as possible. Try to bridge the peoples of the world by finding the common threads of the beliefs or ideas that all people have in common.
Focus on the animals and the plant life in the Bible.
As I read the Bible, I’ll try to note every time that each bit of flora or fauna is mentioned there.
Although mankind [them] is created in Chapter 1 of Genesis, Chapter 2 elaborates on Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2 – The Creation Story Day 7
Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden
2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Rivers
2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
We will read about Abraham much later, but it is significant to note that the Israelites were in the area of Mesopotamia for many years after Adam and Eve purportedly lived there.
[“The region commonly called Mesopotamia (“between the rivers”) was home to some of the oldest civilizations in the world and is often speculated to be the location of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:8-14). Located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Mesopotamia formed a large portion of what is often called the Fertile Crescent, and it gave rise to the nations of Elam, Babylonia, and Assyria, each of which interacted with the people of Israel at various points history. Mesopotamia was the birthplace of Abraham, the ancestor of the Israelite people. Much later during the Old Testament the Assyrians exiled many Israelites to Assyrian lands (2 Kings 15:29; 17:1-6; 1 Chronicles 5:26), and the Babylonians exiled many other Israelites (primarily from the tribe of Judah) to Babylon and its surroundings (2 Kings 24:15-17; 25:8-12; 2 Chronicles 36:20). Hundreds of years later in the time of Jesus, Magi (priestly astrologers) traveled from this region to worship Jesus, for they had seen a sign in the heavens that signaled the birth of the king of the Jews (Matthew 2).] Bible Gateway
Don’t Eat from the Tree of Knowledge
2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
Adam’s Rib
2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
I love the way that Paul Stookey turned this passage into a song:
2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
Genesis 3 – The Serpent and the Fall of Adam and Eve
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
In Exodus, Aaron’s staff is turned into a snake – Note all future references to snakes in the Bible.
3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Eve – The Mother of All Living
3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Expulsion from Eden
3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.