Literary Analysis: The God Of Genesis 1: 2

The God of Genesis 1:2 Thus far it has been stated that Genesis 1:2 suggests the Hebrew creation narrative is connected to other creation stories in the ancient Near East. Additionally, the location of this verse within its own story advocates for a different locus than the explanation of the origin of material existence in its interpretation. Though this can easily incite pushback, neither of the above points suggest that the Genesis creation story is merely a modified copy of any other ancient work, nor does it suggest that Yahweh is not the sole and sovereign creator of all of the material world. Simply stated, the presence and location of Genesis 1:2, within the larger framework of Genesis 1:1-2:4, clarifies that it was written in an

The cultural context of, and competing narratives to the Genesis creation story do not indicate a codependence between ancient works, but instead help to “calibrate the genre of Genesis 1,” according to Enns. What this unique milieu reveals is that the Hebrew creation story is not about creation as much as it is about God. Despite the obvious storyline of creation, it is God who is referenced more than thirty times throughout the first chapter of Genesis. Johnston, who argues at length that the Hebrew narrative is chiefly, though not solely, written to compete with Egyptian traditions, specifies that “Genesis 1 was originally composed, not as a scientific treatise, but as a theological polemic against…models of creation which competed against Yahwism for the loyalty of the ancient Israelites.” This was then, at its center point, a defining story about the divine Lord of Israel. In seeing this as a story about the power and character of Yahweh, a reasonable explanation is provided for the stylistic and parallel similarities it holds with other creation traditions. Devoid of violent conquest and noticeably missing the polytheistic committee of gods that the surrounding people groups worshipped, the Hebrews’ creation story described their God as the lone and unchallenged

Reichenbach again states, “the creation account (Gen 1:1-2:3) can be properly understood as the narrative of God establishing his kingdom…The first creation account is…an ordered series of acts by which God by royal decrees brings in to being his territory.” Curiously, deviating from an eternal view of Yahweh, Reichenbach’s language points toward God as becoming something, as if he was working his way into his royalty. This is not, however, the portrait of Yahweh that Genesis paints. He is not the God who became king, he is the God who is revealed to have been king all along. Genesis 1:2, which at first glance seems to be an outlier in the creation story, shows the presence of unexpected chaos or disorder in the darkness of the pre-creation ordering of the world. Everything in the Genesis narrative, save for this tehom, looks like progress, the generation of substance and specificity. But it is in the very picture of the divine wind, or spirit, hovering over the waters, before anything has been spoken into existence, that Yahweh’s kingship is most clearly seen. Gottlieb points out that God will, in subsequent verses, divide and separate, and bring a recognizable balance and amity. But it is crucial to point out that He is not overcoming the deep, he is speaking creative order out of the very place of disorder. The place of emptiness is being shown to have been full all along. Yahweh does not