Genesis 1

Day one: God creates the heavens and earth and light.  From the light he separates day and night, but no mention of dark being created.  Hmmm, sounds like someone has an issue with night.

Day two: God separates the "firmament" (which the notes tell me is a solid dome) or Heaven from the upper and lower waters.  So if I'm reading that right, Heaven is a physical place that divides water.  Now the old story about the Tower of Babel makes a bit more sense, since it appears it is a place man can indeed travel to.  They taught us in my Sunday School that Heaven was more of an ethereal concept, had no substance, but a kind of merging of our souls with God.  That does not appear to be the case here, though.  I don't see anything in this chapter about the waters above, but the waters below:

Day three: God gathers the waters under Heaven to one place and dry land appears.  God calls forth vegetation.

Day four: God creates light in the firmament (like a lightbulb?).  He separates day and night and the seasons and the years.  He gives light to the earth.  So does that mean the light created on day one had nothing to do with the lower waters and the earth until now?  Or is the author reminding us that the light and day and night extended to the earth?  The two lights in the firmament consist of a greater and a lesser, which rule the day and the night (like a dimmer switch?)

Day five: God creates the sea creatures and birds.

Day six: God creates land creatures and man "in our image" and "after our likeness".  There's the polytheism Asimov identified that might be a remnant of a polytheistic past by the Hebrews.  God gives man dominion over all creatures and creates male and female. God give the vegetation to man and the creatures for food, but does not give the creatures to man for food.  Take note,  PETA!

Asimov tackles the physical location of the Garden of Eden.  This is another one that I remember from Sunday School was supposed to be a mystery.  I recall seeing books and documentary programs about the actual location of it, some placing it in such odd spots as Atlantis or Mars.  Asimov posits the radical theory that the Garden was exactly where the Bible says it was, Eden, which is the name for the Valley of the Euphrates River, which is how it was referred to at the time Genesis was believed to have been written.  Coincidentally or not, this is the same area that one of the earliest civilizations came forth, the Sumerians.  Perhaps the location of the beginning of man was the result of oral histories of the Sumerians that have since been lost?

GOD'S COMMANDMENT(S):

Genesis 1:29- God's first law/commandment:  Eat all the plants you want, leave the animals alone, man.  Well, He doesn't explicitly say man is to be vegetarian.  Instead, he says man may eat all the plants without mentioning the animals.  There's a concept in law similar to this, the name of which escapes me. In short, if a sign says "Parking Permitted from 7pm-6am", the implication is that parking is not allowed 6am-7pm.  Anyway, it appears only eating plants gets God's permission at this point.

Spoiler alert, there's a certain tree man is not allowed to eat from.  Let's just say, let's hope there aren't any talking serpents around. 

DIFFICULTY OF FOLLOWING COMMANDMENT(S):

Luckily for those of us that enjoy a rare rib eye, the notes say God gave us permission to eat animals in the time of Noah, so I think we're ok on this one. 

GOD'S DEATH TOLL THIS CHAPTER:

No deaths, yet.

GOD'S RUNNING DEATH TOLL:

0


Tomorrow, the second telling of the story of Creation!