| Basic interpretation principlesOne important | | | | creation."A world shiftThis truth would have |
| principle of biblical interpretation is to | | | | had a profound effect on the former slaves of |
| try to understand Scripture from the point of | | | | Egypt. They had lived in a world in which |
| view of the original audience and then use | | | | virtually every object was a spiritual being, |
| that as a stepping stone to work out what it | | | | whose will had to be accommodated, whose |
| means for us. Along with this original | | | | wrath must be placated. But when the one true |
| audience principle is the principle of | | | | God revealed His nature through Moses, |
| original intent: what did the author intend | | | | including His relationship to all that He had |
| to communicate to that original audience?If | | | | made, the world shifted. All of those objects |
| we ask these two questions of chapter 1 of | | | | were drained of their spiritual significance. |
| Genesis, the story of creation, we may find | | | | Now they were only objects, things that human |
| the answers surprising. The prophet Moses is | | | | beings could handle and manage without fear. |
| presumably the author of Genesis, the first | | | | |
| of the five books he wrote while the children | | | | Yet the new world that stood in place of the |
| of Israel were wandering in the wilderness of | | | | old was not bereft of its spiritual |
| Sinai. These people, the original audience, | | | | dimension. All of the power, the mystery, and |
| had just emerged from 400 years of slavery in | | | | the majesty of the Egyptian pantheon, the |
| Egypt. Joshua 24:14 explains that many of | | | | Hebrews learned, belonged to the one true |
| them had been idolaters there.Pantheon of | | | | God, the king of the universe. And |
| godsThe Egyptians had a god or goddess for | | | | furthermore, and herein lay the good news, |
| virtually everything: the sun, moon, stars, | | | | The Almighty cared about them, and He was |
| crocodiles, flies, cats, the Nile--all of | | | | ever faithful and reliable.Theological |
| these and more were considered divine and | | | | foundationGenesis as a whole serves to lay |
| were worshiped. But Genesis 1 explains that | | | | the groundwork for the Law of Moses that is |
| neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, | | | | revealed in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and |
| neither that water nor the sky, nor any | | | | Deuteronomy. Nothing in the Law is more |
| plants, nor fish, birds, beasts, or creeping | | | | foundational than what is expressed in the |
| things are divine. | | | | Shema, accepted for thousands of years as the |
| | | | credo of Judaism and acknowledged by Jesus |
| To paraphrase the significance of Genesis 1 | | | | Himself as the "Greatest Commandment":Hear, O |
| for the original audience, it's as if Moses | | | | Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. |
| said, "All that you have been worshiping the | | | | Love the LORD your God with all your heart |
| true Creator spoke into being in the | | | | and with all your soul and with all your |
| beginning. He alone is worthy of homage; He | | | | strength. |
| alone is God, and king over all of His | | | | |