This is a random collection of thoughts and gleanings from my studies in Genesis 1-11.

The word “name” is a “hinge-word” in Genesis 11 and 12. In Genesis 11, humans want to make a name for themselves. In Genesis 12, God promises Abram to make a name for him.

In Genesis 1, God creates the world and “sees” that it is good (Heb. טוֹב, tov – good. Moreover something is tov when it fulfills its intended purpose). Later Eve “sees” the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and considers it good for herself. Further into the story, the divine beings “see” women as good and take them as their wives. The idea here being that what humans and anyone in rebellion with God see as “good” is not the same as what God sees as good. Our ideas of good bring about death and destruction, whereas God’s way of seeing brings about life.

More to come here…