BibleProject - 7th Day Rest Q&R #1 - 7th Day Rest E7

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

7th Day Q+R 1Sam from Ohio (1:55): “I've heard you use the phrase that the Hebrew authors are in conversation with their Canaanite neighbors. In the creation narratives, when the Hebrew authors use the word avodah—for slave labor or work—are they saying something significant to their Canaanite neighbors, who in some of their creation accounts claim that the gods created humans to be their slaves? Is the word avodah tied to a unique claim that the Hebrew authors are trying to make about the relationship between God, work, and rest?”Laura from Missouri (11:46): “As you were talking about sacred time built into the fabric of creation—particularly how the sun, moon, and stars are indented to mark the days and times for seasons and feasts—would these things still have been the case if the fall did not occur? Were these intended to be part of the people of God regardless of the fall? And if so, what would they be looking back to or forward to?”Mike from South Africa (22:20): “Is the number seven a divine construct imported into the Israelite thinking? Or is it (or was it) an already established cultural idea that God just adopted to teach something that they would have understood if you spoke in their language?”Brianna from Wisconsin (32:35): “I have a question about the flood narrative, and what’s going on there with all the uses of time and sevens that keep getting repeated. I’m wondering if all the references to time are supposed to get mapped onto Israel’s calendar and the feast days? And if so, does that somehow tie into Noah and his name meaning “rest?” What are we meant to see there with all the reference to time and sevens and the idea that Noah is rest and bringing rest into the world.”John from Virginia (43:27): “You mention that the Exodus story participates with days one, two, and three of the creation account. I was wondering if there was anything following that that maps onto days four, five, and six that maps onto the new Eden.”Show musicDefender Instrumental by TentsShow Produced by Dan GummelPowered and Distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

Hey, this is John. And this is Tim. And today on the podcast, we're're gonna do a question and response episode and we're gonna do these Throughout the series that we're in on seven day rest and we're gonna drop them midweek. Yep, and yeah, that's a new approach Normally we put them in the weekly flow. Yeah of the series, but we're gonna try just making a little bonus Do more often episodes do a midweek. Mm- right. All right. Sounds like a plan. Deal. So we're multiple episodes in now. I think this is November 11th. 11-11. We just released episode five. Episode five. Okay. Oh wow. Cosmic time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or the cathedral and time. Mm-hmm. Oh,

that was the one. No one's listen to that. That was the one on the tabernacle. Yeah, the tab and time. Mm-hmm. Oh, that was the one. No one's listening to that. That was the one on the Tabernacle. Yeah, the Tabernacle. Oh, maybe some people have. Well, yes, that's true. It's three in the afternoon. Yeah, no. Oh, yeah.

Many people have listened to it so far. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that was a cool conversation. Yeah, so we're up to the Tabernacle in the podcast series. We're gonna, oh man, we're going in to the story of the temple after that. No, all of the feast days of Leviticus, the Jubilee and exile as anti-Jubilee are inverted Jubilee.

That's all to come. That's all to come. The temple, profits, Jesus and the Sabbath, the New Testament, the apostles did. So much good stuff. So what we're finding is a lot of the questions that are coming in. Mm-hmm. Don't know where we're heading.

That's right. Yes. And some of them will be answered. Or responded to. Or responded to, yeah. Yeah, it's just. Yeah. But at the same time, we may throw it in the mix before we get to it.

Yep. So let's get going. Yeah. First one is from Sam, who's from Ohio. Hi, my name is Sam from Mary's, Villa, Ohio. I've heard you use the phrase that the Hebrew authors are in conversation with their Canaanite neighbors. In the creation narratives, when the Hebrew authors use the word Avudah for slave labor or work, are they saying something significant to their Canaanite neighbors, who in some of their creation accounts claim that the gods created humans to be their slaves?

Is the word avudha tied to a unique claim that the Hebrew authors are trying to make about the relationship between God, work and rest? Thanks so much. Yeah, great question, Sam. So work, this is interesting. So you have the ideal setup of Genesis 1 where God's the one working, yeah? And he rests from his work on the seventh day. So God rests from his work after ordering the cosmos. But then on day 6 of Genesis 1 he appoints humans to rule and subdue the land. Yeah,

what's going to take work? However, it's not till the Eden narrative. Genesis 2 kind of retells that story from a different angle of God, Planta Garden, you know, provides water and Planta Garden, creates the human and then appoints the human. And it's the first time we get the word avad, which is the verb of the noun you mentioned sam avodah, which means labor to work the ground. But it's also the word evid from the same root is the main Hebrew word for slave. And avodah is what the word used to describe the Israelite slavery in Egypt. So the word work, it means just labor, but in Hebrew, someone who does avodah and is the property of another isn't aved. Mm-hmm.

Okay. A laborer. And all of Israel was enslaved to Egypt, so they were all laborers. Laborers. Yeah, slaves. So your question, Sam, is about the cross-cultural resonance of this image of God, putting a human, creating human for labor. Yeah, that's interesting.

So if you're a canonite and you're reading or you're hearing the Israelite eatin' narrative and they put a man in the garden to slave as a slave, almost, almost, you sound like. Or just to labor and to keep. To labor. And you'd be like, that sounds like your God wants you to be a slave, almost like sound like. Or just to labor and to keep. To labor. And be like, that sounds like your God wants you to be a slave. Well, except again, Genesis 1 and 2 as complimentary portraits.

So the portrait of Genesis 1 is of a royal priests, kings and queens of creation who rule. And the work that they're doing then in Genesis, if you only had Genesis 2, you might wonder, oh, like what kind of work is this? Is this a God creating humans, a slaves? Because that story is in the air. It's actually not a Canaanite story,

but it's a Babylonian story. So what? Two of the most famous foundation stories for ancient Babylonian culture, one was called Enuma Elish, which tells the story of the rise of Babylon and their god Marduk to become the great power in the world. That's the 100 Marduk defeats the Seven Headed Dragon. By blowing the throat open and shooting arrows.

Done. The Chaos Monsters, mouth care. So the other important foundation story is called the Atrahasis, epic Atrahasis. So this story begins with the origination of the main deities of the land. There's the god, the chief god of the land, his name is Enlil, there's Anu, the sky god, and Anki, the water god. So heavens and the land and the waters. Yeah, basic elements of the ancient cosmos. So it's familiar.

Yep, sounds familiar. Then you've got some other tiers of deities, and there's a whole story about how these deities all emerged from the primary deities and so on. But there's this group called Igi-gi. I like them. Igi-gi. Or Igi-gi.

The Igi-gi. They're lower-class deities who serve the upper upper class deities, the ones at the top. And they staged the first like labor union walk out. I guess in recorded economic history. Because they're tired of farming and providing food for all of the gods who are more important than them. So they go to Enlil and they protest, and they arrange that they're going to make another creature who will serve everybody.

The whole, all the gods give them food, give them clothes, all this, build them houses, and this new creature needs to be more than just an animal, could be kind of like half clay creature, half divine. So they kill one of their own, a deity named Gesh 2, and they pour out as blood, and they make clay. They pour out as blood into the dirt, making clay have blood dirt. Yep.

And then they produce humans, the first humans come from the blood of the gods mixed with clay, and then now you have the humans, and they're essentially are made as slaves of the gods to give them food, clothing, and build their houses. So this is the origin story of humanity in their culture. It's brutal, origin story. Totally. And this is a transparent legitimation story

for the Babylonian hierarchy. Because the king and his all his counselors and so on are either the embodiment of or the appointees of the gods. They are the image of God. These are phrases. The elite are the image of God. And the rest of the humans are essentially the slaves. So of course, this is the story about the origin of all of the normal humans because it legitimates the social order that they're trying to hold up.

To make sure that we can stay fed and happy. That's right, yeah. Because we rule you. Yeah, so you should get to Genesis 1, and it's just everyone's the image of God. Correct. And you're like everyone? Yeah.

Really? Man and women, all humans. Yeah, that's right. And then in the Eden narrative, when they go to work, then it comes out of that identity of everyone being the image. That's right. So in other words, the labor of humanity in Genesis 1 and 2 is a co-partnering, with as God's images. So it's partnering with God to rule the world

and to invest in it, labor, to create new, undiscovered possibilities, just like God, brought new possibilities out of the darkness and chaos. Just like God was working in this sort. Yeah, that's right, that's right. So, you know, it's what we would call today, we would call it as a elevated dignity of the human species, but not just for some, but for the whole race.

So that's what ancient Babylonians and Canaanites would have noticed. And it seems like it's an intentional part of the portrait that it's a royal coworker portrait as opposed to a slave of the gods, kind of portrait. I think that's really interesting. Is there another Hebrew word for work that doesn't have the same slave overtones? Oh, yeah, there's the work that God rests from in Genesis 1's word mellaka.

Mellaka. And then there's some other... Wait, where's that word in Genesis 1? It's on the 7th day when God rested from all of his work. All of his work there is in the Elocah. And so in the Sabbath commands, that's the kind of work you rest from. Also, the avad word is also used, trying to think. Klesiastes has this word, toil, Amal. Amal.

And that becomes his keyword for kind of the post-edin work. What work becomes? Yeah. So if you could avad before the fall and after the fall, Here comes his keyword for kind of the post-edin work. What work becomes? Yeah. So if you could avad before the fall and after the fall, he wants to really drill on the kind of work after the fall and he calls it a mall, toil, chasing after the wind. Yeah. And then the other one that starts with an M, what's that one again?

Oh, melacha. Melacha. Yeah, melacha. How else is that used? Yeah. It can be used to describe people's property. A thief is somebody who puts their hands on their neighbor's Melacha. So the community property.

Property? What you've worked for. Your possessions? Oh, what you've worked for. Yeah, okay. Yeah, what you've worked for. The tabernacle, all the instruments or like the tables and poles and tent things of the Tabernacle are all called Melachah on analogy to Genesis one.

Because the Tabernacle. It goes God, Melachah. Yep, and because the Tabernacle is a mini Cosmos. Yeah, that's right. How well it says the man. Tabernacle narratives is the more the majority of this word occurs. And then in Sabbath commands, that's really interesting.

Is it just a synonym? It is a synonym. This from the Dictionary of Classical Hebrew by David Client's editor, Melachah, work, task, deed, business, trade, can refer to handiworks or crafts, property, versus Avodah, which is more about toil, excuse me, like physical labor. You know, don't we have to work to serve, to be subservient to, to perform service, to labor? Yeah, we have tons of words. Yeah.

I'm just curious if like, it's just, yeah, they had two different words. And so one was using Genesis one, one was using this two. Or if there's some significance to God's work being Malakah and the human's work being. Being Avodah. Avodah. Yeah, that's a good question.

Okay. Yeah, that would be, yeah, I don't have the full concordance uploaded in my mind. If I was a better man, I would,, yeah, I haven't had the full concordance uploaded in my mind if I was a better man I would, but I don't. Okay, so Sam, that's a great question. Next we have a question from Laura, from Missouri. Hi, Tim and John, this is Laura from St. Louis, Missouri. As you're talking about sacred time built into the fabric of creation,

particularly how the Sun, Moon, and Stars are intended to mark the days and times for seasons and feasts. Would these things still have been the case if the fall did not occur? Were these intended to be a part of the people of God regardless of the fall? And if so, what would they be looking back to or forward to? Thanks so much for all you do. That's kind of a tricky question. Yeah, that's a very thoughtful question. I appreciate it. And I've never quite thought to ask it in that way. That's why I liked it. Yeah. Yeah, I'm happy to respond. So even though the event being referred to in Genesis 1 is the beginning of all things, although from a different cosmological perspective, a different sense of the cosmos than, you know,

what I was grew up with in public school, of like the solar system and the galaxies and big bang and all that kind of thing, expanding universe. So different cosmologies and how the cosmos is structured. However, the universe had some kind of beginning. And this is a story claiming to make some claims about that. The trick is that the vantage point of the narrator's speaking voice is not from the vantage point of the first second, some of the universe. The vantage point is from way down the line of the biblical narrative. In other words, the origins of the world are being described in precisely the language and categories needed

to set you up for the whole drama of the biblical narrative from Genesis to kings, especially from creation to Israel's exile. So the whole story is focused on Israel as God's conduit for producing some a promise seed through whom the new creation will come into being. So Genesis 1 isn't like a neutral pre-enculturated version of like

video camera footage of the big part of it. It's very much a version to the ancient Israelite cosmology meant to explain specifically what Genesis 1 is we're gonna see. No, we just in this episode that dropped today on November 11th. Is Genesis 1 is teeing you up to give you the categories for Israel's sacred space and sacred time in the Tabernacle and temple and the sacred calendar. So think of it this way. If Israel's Sacred Calendar is being referred to in Genesis 1, God appoints the Sun Moon stars. Yeah, so this is just reading it again. 114, God said, let there be lights in the vaults through the rock of the sky. No, no, no, is that the right word? In the rakia. Rakia. Yeah, yeah. And the rakia of the sky

to separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs to mark sacred times and days and years. Referring to their feast. The feast days of this that we're gonna read about and Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. So here's God at the beginning of the ordering of the cosmos and the purpose of the stars were for these feasts for ancient Israel.

That's right, yeah, that's right. Yeah, one of those feasts is Passover, which hasn't happened in narrative time yet. One of them is the day of atonement, which is when the people's sins are dealt with and covered, but there's no sin in the narrative that's happened yet. This is what I think is prompting your question. Yes, right. Yeah. So in other words, the narrator's vantage point is that of somebody for whom the sacred space and sacred time of Israel's calendar and tabernacle, they are the way that the seventh day rest and the micro-edin are being remembered and recovered and reenacted.

And Genesis 1 is told from that vantage point. These ways that God has told us to recreate Eden here in the Tabernacle and in the sacred calendar, these are woven into the fabric of God's redemptive purposes for the universe. And Genesis 1 is told from that vantage point. Genesis 2 is told from a different vantage point, right? Genesis 1 begins with its chaos and disorder in the dark, watery abyss. Genesis 2 begins its disorder and un-cultivated wilderness without any water. So, the two visions of the beginning, the both begin in chaos and disorder. Genesis 1 is specifically to eat up, to prepare you for recovery of the seventh day, eat an ideal in the tabernacle and the ritual calendar.

Does that make any sense? It does make sense, but it's still, questions still then underneath that is. And I think this is kind of how I was trained to read these chapters as well, is God creates this kind of perfect untouched by evil and sin, kind of cosmos and world that He puts humans in. And so there's this desire to kind of go back and go, okay, so what is the ideal? And if you go back and you look

at Genesis 1 and you're looking for an ideal, then you go, oh, well God made the stars to show these sacred days. So the ideal must be to observe these sacred days. Now that was the ideal for an ancient Israelite, and so it's doing that work, but now we're reading it, post Jesus as non-Jewish people who want to use the scriptures for wisdom. So do you go back and say, there is an ideal of these sacred days being part of our life rhythm and if it's not then it almost starts to feel like what other strings can you pull and unravel things out of it. Yeah, that's interesting. And that argument has been used throughout history, even in

the first generations where you have the church like in Rome, for example, you can tell from the letter to the Romans or in Galatia where you have some Messianic Jews, not all, but some who are certain that the scriptures are very clear that if Gentiles want to enter the family of Abraham, they need to become toward observant, start observing the sacred calendar because the sacred calendar isn't just for Israel, it's for the new humanity that corresponds to God's original vision for humanity and Genesis one. And if that's your position, going to Genesis 114 would be like C. Yeah, exactly. He put it in the fabric of the cosmos. That's right. So it seems like Jesus and the apostles drew a different conclusion.

For them, what was universal was the symbolic meaning of the seventh day. I mean, this is where our conversation is going in the podcast series. This is why Jesus began to redefine and include new definitions of work on the Sabbath, the work of healing and restoration. And this is ultimately what led the apostles to say that Israel's calendar

wasn't obligatory for followers of Jesus because the Kingdom of God inaugurated in Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the seventh day of the Passover of the day of atonement, of Tabernacles. It's the kingdom of God. That's what all of these symbols point to. So... Was that making any sense? Yes.

It seems like the Messianic Jews of the early Jesus movement as the Jesus movement went cross-cultural and the whole inclusion of the Gentiles without having to become kosher and circumcised and Torah-observant for the sacred days. So that was a key moment where they believed that in Jesus' inauguration of the Kingdom of God, the symbolic meaning of the Sabbath and of Israel's calendar came to its fulfillment in the age of the kingdom of God and the coming of the Spirit. So if I understand then what you're saying is, Genesis 1 was not written in a vacuum. It was written by... The biblical authors. as part of their identity as the people of God had sacred days and feasts to observe. And so when

they are immersed in the sacred calendar, in the weekly Sabbath rhythm, it's their world. It's their cosmos. So as they're reflecting on that and they're writing Genesis 1 through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit directs them. The Holy Spirit directs them. Put in the stars are signs for their sacred days and years. That seems specific to them. And what you're saying is the apostles, clearly. Well, the first step is, within the Hebrew Bible itself,

those sacred days are the way that God is recreating Israel according to the seventh day rest Eden ideal of Genesis 1 and 2. That's why those clues are there. That's why all the temple calendar clues are there in Genesis one. All this is pointing to the ideal That's right. You get to Jesus and he says I am that which is this is Coral been pointing to exactly. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I am. Yeah, the Lord of the Sabbath. He reads from Isaiah 61 Yeah, this is the year of Jubilee. Your Jubilee is here and today these things are fulfilled. This is all filled in me. That's right and and today these things are fulfilled. This is all filled in me.

That's right. And that doesn't mean you have to stop observing any of these holy days. No, many messy, any of these things do. But it also means you don't have to because they were all a foreshadow of what he was doing or going to do. Yeah, that's right, that's right.

So they served as markers for these days that were also markers for a person. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Yep, I think that's exactly right. Yeah, this is why we're gonna, by the way, we're gonna have this conversation over and over and over again in all these Q and R's. This is, when we talk about Sabbath,

these are all exactly the questions that come up. So actually, we have some later questions that are going to, oh actually the next question I selected is same issue but from another angle. This is from Mike who lives in South Africa. Hey guys, my name is Mike. I'm from South Africa. My question is, is the number seven a divine construct imported into the Israel thinking, or was it a already established cultural idea that God just adopted to kind of teach something that they would have understood if he spoke in their language? Thank you. Is he saying like, was this idea already in the air? And so God used it as like a teaching lesson?

Yeah, the contrast, the way Mike puts it, we see this as opposites. Is it either a divine construct imported into the biblical author's minds? In other words, the idea of the seven-day scheme is actually like a universal divine concept that dropped out of the heavens into the biblical author's minds with no cultural influence Whatever right or is it a cultural idea At work in the cultures around Israel that happened through the culture of Israel and then God is using that Through the biblical authors to teach Is it a law of the universe like gravity? Right.

Or is it just a social construct? Yeah, that's right. This is the question that comes up with Genesis 1. So what we want to do is actually take Genesis 1 out of its language, historical, cultural context of its Israelite ancient context and make it about the origins of the universe in some abstract ideal form. And usually by that we mean according to 21st century

Western cosmology. Usually what's assumed but not stated in those conversations. And so then what we're looking for is like patterns of seven in modern mathematical equations of physics. I think that's a dead end intellectually because it doesn't honor the most basic form of human communication.

The God's chosen to use through the scriptures and through Jesus, which is words only mean what they mean in light of the language in which they're spoken. And language is a product of human societies and cultures which differ and develop over time. And so, if you really believe in the incarnation of Jesus as a first century, Aramaic speaking Jew who pooped his diapers and grew up in Nazareth. You believe that God works in and through culturally influenced and shaped people and processes. And so I think it's only consistent to say Genesis 1, it's the same. It's an ancient Israelite cosmology.

So where I should look is both within ancient Israelite culture, within the biblical narrative, and then within the cultures around Israel for what Why the number seven would be used and that's what we did real Briefly in our first episode. So that's the approach that's most compelling to me And that has been the most fruitful in illuminating biblical literature and understanding it in its context for me Well, let's say Genesis 1 was written during Second Temple Judaism.

Yeah, or even let's just say it were even during the first temple. First temple. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. On mosaic authorship models during, you know, when the Tabernacle. So yeah, maybe it was in some form being passed around.

Yeah, even as early as the time of the tabernacle. And the Sabbath ideal or law was in the narrative happens right after the Exodus. Yeah, that's right. The actual command to observe the Sabbath comes way later in the Exodus. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Well, or I mean, I guess depending on where you think this story materialized. Oh, I see. I mean, like, well, sure. Yeah.

Here's a question. Did they already have the law of Moses before the circulation or writing of the creation story? Or did the creation story exist? Moses knew it and then he got the law. Yeah. Yeah, and that's a fascinating question, but that's a different question than reading Genesis 1 as the introductory chapter to the Hebrew Bible, to the Tenant collection. The current function of Genesis 1 is to give you all of the language, the categories, vocabulary, and themes that you need to read the rest of this literary collection.

And lo and behold, it gives you everything you need. Because what the narrative is doing, it's written by an Israelite for an Israelite audience, and that Israelite audience, and that Israelite author grew up immersed in this calendar. The whole story is about this people believes that through them God is doing something to bring new creation to all the nations and Genesis 1 functions perfectly as the prologue as a way of thinking about the origins of the universe for that kind of story. The problem is when we want Genesis 1 to serve our cosmological purposes and answer our cosmological questions according to modern physics. We're wondering if the number 7 might somehow... Correct. Like help us solve strength barriers. Yeah, totally. And who knows,

I'm not a physicist, but to me that's totally different question than reading an ancient text and asking what is its meaning? In the story of the Bible of the Hebrew Scriptures is of a people set apart to reclaim this relationship with God so that the whole world can then be blessed through it. And as part of them being recreated and transformed is these sacred feasts and so to set that up to understand the significance of that and you're reading God ordering the cosmos, you see like, oh yeah, basic to the whole universe, not just to me and my clan. Basic to the Israelite view of the universe. Israelite, yeah, but their view of the universe is that this is. Yes, not just, that's correct.

That's correct. Israelite view of the universe has relevance for all. That's why Genesis 1 through 11 is about all humanity, not just God in Israel, but it's told in the language and categories that set you up for the story of what God is doing through Israel. Yeah, and yeah, I'm just going to repeat this because I wanted to help it land for me, that you could look at this and then say, well, you see, we need to practice the Sabbath. It's woven into the fabric of the cosmos, reading Genesis. Because God did it.

Yeah, God did it. Yeah. You got to do it. Also, all the feasts and holy days also woven into the fabric of how God ordered the cosmos. That's why the stars exist. Read Genesis 1, 14. Yeah. Yeah. That's why the stars exist. Regenesis 114. That's a really good argument.

And what you're saying is, well yeah, and that's especially a good argument because that's their identity as Israelites. But what they didn't see coming and what the narrative is kind of slowly going to boil up to is that all of this is our signs pointing towards what ultimately is going to be a person. Yes, totally.

That's exactly right. In exalted image of God, human, ruling with God as his partner and image in the never-ending seven-day rest. That's how Genesis 1 ends. With God in His image, living together in the seventh day rest that has no end. And then you turn to page 2 and immediately that ideal is not realized. If you had a seventh day rest with no end, there is no point in Sabbath and festivals you're living in a different type of time space. That's right.

That's right. Yeah. And so the whole story then from Genesis 2 onward is about these failed partners that God keeps putting up with as he tries to recreate and lead humanity towards the seventh day rest and people keep blowing it. And so the Israelite calendar is one of the ways. It's the main way for Israel that he institutes that they have all now, they have seven, now of these feasts. And they're all pointing to the same ideal yet to be realized. So all the sun or sorry the stars, they're pointing towards feasts that are pointing towards an ideal which the seventh day is the ultimate in Genesis 1 itself is the fulfillment of. That's right. So yeah, you get today

What is it for? Yeah God creates the stars? Yeah, and you're like and they're signs and like awesome Let's let's follow this and by day seven. They don't matter anymore So you're saying oh well, I mean part of this is This is the function of the Hebrew Bible is meditation literature. So there are things buried in the opening pages that are only comprehensible once you've read through the whole collection. I know, it's kind of funny to think about. And then come back and read it again.

If it's a day that doesn't end, then yeah, what are the purpose of this? He had sure. And so from a linear narrative perspective, yeah, that makes sense. But when you read Genesis 1 as like the prologue and the summary of the whole story, you're about to read. This is why Jesus calls himself the son of Adam, the son of man who's the Lord of the Sabbath. He is bringing that seventh day into reality.

He is the image of God, as Paul says, in Colossians 1, and the first born of the new creation. So yeah. I think it's landing. Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. Sorry to beat that down.

Oh, no. Lorda and Mike, these were wonderful questions. This is Brianna who came for the John class. Hi guys, this is Brianna from Wisconsin. I have a question about the flood narrative and what's going on there with all of the uses of time and sevens that keep getting repeated. I'm wondering if all of the references to time are supposed to somehow get mapped onto Israel's calendar and the feast days. And if so, does that somehow tie into Noah and his name, meaning rest? And what are we meant to see there with all of the references to time and sevens and the idea that Noah is rest and bringing

rest to the world? Thanks for all you guys do. This has been a fascinating series. Yeah, man. Yeah. What is she saying? Yeah, I did the flood story. So awesome. Did we didn't talk about this, did we? Ah, did we? A little bit. I don't actually remember all the sevens in the flood story. This could be a long, we could do a whole class, just a whole class on the flood story. But when God tells Noah that he's going to bring the waters of the flood, what he said, this is in Genesis chapter 7. And God tells Noah that he's gonna bring the animals in by seven. And then according to all the categories of Genesis one. And then in verse four he says, in seven more days

I'm going to send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. All literally blot out from the face of the land, all life that I've made. For six, Noah was 600 years old. Old man. When the flood waters came up upon the land. So there you go. So he's told in seven more days, then rain will come for forty days and forty nights. Does that make sense? Yes. See, in seven more days, then rain will come for 40 days and 40 nights. Does that make sense?

Yes. In seven days. So down in verse 10, it came about after seven days, the waters came. In the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the 17th day of the month, on that very day, all the springs of the deep, these are the... Countains. Well, it's the water. It's the waters underneath the land.

Coming up, yeah. Yep, and then the windows up in the Rakea drop. So the waters above and below that were separated on day two are now collapsing back in on each other. That's the image. And the rain fell for 40 days and 40 nights. So here's what's interesting. So you have this 40, you have seven days, 40 days and 40 nights. You have seven, you have pairs of animals and seven. Sevens. Yep. That's right. Go down to the end of

chapter seven. The last sentence of chapter seven is the water was strong on the earth on the land for 150 days. So a point is somebody really wants us to pay attention to these numbers, time, notices, and so on. So what, there's three sets of schemes here. There's a seven day theme here at work. There's a 40 days and 40 nights. And then there's this 150 days.

What's interesting is if you follow the numbers, they appear, if you read the story through, highlighting these notices, they're in exactly reverse symmetry order. They're in the order of a chiasm, all the numbers. Oh, really? Yep. So God tells Noah about the seven and seven more days, the rain will come for 40 days and 40 nights. The water was over 150 days, chapter 8 verse 3, then the water receded at the end of 150 days. Chapter 8 verse 6, it came about at the end of 40 days, and then in chapters 8 verse 10, then he waited another seven days, then verse 12 and another seven days. So the numbers, they're exactly mentioned in mirror order that they were back in chapter 7.

Interesting. Two sevens, a 40. A 150. 40 days, 49s. Another 150, another 42 more cents. Correct, yeah, that's right. Notice. What does that matter?

Look at the notice in verse 13 of chapter 8. Now, it came about in the 600 and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month. The water dried up from the earth. What is the first year? 601st year? That's no as life. Okay, yeah. That's a birthday?

Yeah, this is birthday. 601st year, yeah, it was a birthday, in the first month, on the first of the month. What's the first month? What's the... In Genesis 1 through 11, the first month of what? Of what calendar? Are you with me? No. In Genesis 8 verse 13, in the 600 year and first year. In the first month. The first month of his life. On the first of the month. Did you see this? In the 601st year, seems like of Noah's life, on the first month, on the first of the month,

according to what calendar? Probably ours, January 1. No, dude, this is fascinating. The flood story is all coordinated to Israel's sacred calendar, laid out in the book of Leviticus. It's so fascinating, dude. And this is the book of Leviticus. Really? So fascinating, dude. And this is the month of Tishri. It's the month that has the begins with Rasha Shana on the first day, or this very day.

It's Rasha Shana. Rasha Shana. That's being noted right here. It's the month of the day of atonement. It's the month of tabernacles going through the wilderness in the tent. So and actually here, this isn't just me, this is like old, old observation and Jewish tradition. Oh, and it's also within the calendar teed back to the first day of creation. Within the chronological scheme of Genesis 1 through 11, and then the sacred calendar, how it works out.

It's also the day of creation narrative. So I'm quoting from Michael Morales, a really amazing book called The Tabernacle Pre-figured Cosmic Mountain Ideology and Genesis and Exodus. It's not thrilling. It's actually a great book. So he says not only is a new year for Noah beginning, but a new year's day for the whole world, the birth day of creation. On this very day, the world rises again from the chaos of the flood waters. The removal of the ark's cover is Noah's New Year celebration, so to speak, which is a renewed creation and a new life start. This is also the same day later on in the story when the tabernacle will be commissioned into service.

It exists in Exodus chapter 40. It's the first day of the first month. Exactly. Yeah. And so on and so on. So what's happening here is, and then Noah is going to then do the testing to get off the boat and then get off the boat and offer a sacrifice, which God will smell and be pleased and then say, I'm never going to bring the flood again, which He brings rest to the land and brings comfort and peace to the land. So, Brianna, your point is your observations are there's something with these patterns of seven,

especially, but actually the whole numerical sequence is trying to replay the flood story as a replay of Genesis 1, but then also... For like an undoing of Genesis 1. Yeah, it's a de-creation and then a recreation story, and it ends with deliverance through the waters in the New Year, and then in the same month Noah will offer his great sacrifice that will please God. And all of this is happening in the same month that when you come to Israel's calendar later on, is the month of Tishri, which is Rosh Hashana, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles, or all in that same month. And it's the month that the Tabernacle itself is, or like commissioned, in Exodus chapter 40.

Yeah, so that makes sense that this you would read this story and you'd go, oh okay this is the this is the New Year. Noah comes out of the ark on the New Year the first day of the year. That you said something about then all of these numbers are about the calendar. So the significance of these other 7, 7, 40, 150? Well, the 40 days and 49 is actually an important motif. Yes. In periods of purging and testing. Okay. And now this is actually fairly simple. You just get a concordance and look at all the 40 days or 40 nights. And their periods of waiting and testing, usually in a period of

transformation or purging. So that's like a design pattern. Yes. And it's actually the 40 days and 40 nights that kind of makes the chronology of the flood narrative difficult to map precisely because when you add up the sevens, the 40s, and the 150s, it's challenging to do. And it seems like there's two, like the 40 days and 40 nights, it's more like a fixed kind of trope of a round number in the story, introducing the motif of the waiting, the waiting in the arc.

And what's the 150? What's significant to that? It's 40, I am feeling it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Is relights and the willingness to... Well, it's part of the way that you get to, because the whole point is it's one whole calendar year that's essentially, he gets onto the arc

and the flood water start when he's 600 and it's in the 600 in first year. So those 250s are part of making up a whole calendar year that he's on the boat. That's right. Yeah, so which is why, which gets you to the days on the boat. That's right. Yeah. So, which is why, which gets you to him getting off the boat. But it's not the first day of the first month in the 600 year.

It's the 17th day on the second month. You're looking at 8-13? 7-11. That's when the flood started. Correct. Yep. I'm looking at 8-13 in the 601st year. Yes. First month on the first month. That's what it ends. That's right.

However, then, verse 14, in the second month of the 27th day of the month, the earth was dry. So the arc even. Yeah, it took a while. Like a rest. Yeah, there's nothing. There's at least waiting periods of seven days after that. Anyhow, there's more detail than we need to get into. My point was just Brianna, you're on to something and uh... Is that cool how like, like, you know, Brianna just noticed? Well, there's sevens in this flood narrative. Yeah, totally. It's just our pollen at it. Yeah, that's right.

There's a whole world there that... Yeah, totally. Now, we can't do justice in a few minutes. Yeah. I think I'm just really confused, but I'm intrigued. Yeah, and for the record, I need to do some more work to map out exactly how they all work. But Jewish interpreters and Christian have noticed the chronology of the flood narrative matches Genesis 1 and the Tabernacle commissioning and the feast calendar. All these calendars are connected. And of course they are. I mean, of course they are.

Yeah. That's one cohesive story. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we would expect. To the next one is about Exodus story, which we just talked about. John from Virginia. Hey guys, it's John Sturgar from Fairfax, Virginia.

My question is about the flight episode. Tim, you mentioned that the Exodus story participates with days one, two, and three of the creation account. I was wondering if there was anything following that. The maps on to days four, five, and six as we anticipate the new Eden. So thankful for everything you guys do. It has been a huge faith builder. Thank you so much.

Yeah. Perceptive. Thank you so much. Yeah, perceptive. Good question, right? Yeah. That is what the narrative leads you to think then, right? Yeah. So, take around and find it. So, in other words, within the parting, parting of the water story in Exodus 14,

you have, it's all happening at the transition between night and sunrise. The sun rises, mentioned multiple times. Right, as the sun is rising, the waters are parted and the dry land appears. Jesus, two, Jesus, three. That's day one, the light. Oh, the light.

Day two, water separated from the waters, day three, so that the dry land emerges. So it leads you to ask the question, alright, what about the Sun Moon and stars on day four, what about the sky flyers and water swimmers on day five, what about? I have been reading Genesis 1 my whole life. And that was never pointed out. Yeah. It was just like what in the world? Yeah, and they're just right there in the vocabulary. So it does it lead us to expect things from days four through six. So I wish I had me, he'd be viable here because it has all my coloring and notes on it.

This was part of where we went in the conversation then. The song of the sea, the prayed song, the Israel sings after it, is where the next step of Genesis one and the Eden story come into play. Because that song is all about the victory of Yahweh over the gods and over Egypt. Which chapter is this? Exodus 15. Yeah, they come out from the other side, the rescue, and there's this worship song. Yeah, that's right. So in this song, we are praising Yahweh for his acts of deliverance over Pharaoh.

So this is just rough, like, kind of spotting themes in the song. One is there's a lot of focus on the destruction of the enemy in the waters. Right. So actually, that's what that's all riffing off is flood, that's flood imagery of God destroying the wicked with the chaos waters. God is the master of the chaos waters. But then, look in verse 11, the conclusion, after watching Pharaoh and his armies and the evil destroyed in the flood, the conclusion of verse 11 is, who is like you among the Elohim? Oh Lord. There's the Sun Moon Stars.

Well, in other words, no, it's actually kind of where I'm going. You remember in Genesis 1, days 4 and 6 are the days where the rulers of the cosmos are appointed. Oh right. The Sun Moon Stars, and specifically the Sun and Moon, specifically called the rulers of day and night, corresponding to the earth, the land rulers. We have the rulers above, the rulers below, and they correspond to each other. What that tells me, then, is, having an earth and inhabitants of heaven and earth are mirrors

of each other, so to speak. In the tenth plague of the first born, God says when he passes over Egypt, strike the firstborn, he says he's bringing a judgment against Pharaoh and the Elohim of Egypt, Exodus 12-12. So the last plague tells you that the plagues have been an assault both on Pharaoh and his house for royal ideology and also to the Elohim that are a part of the principalities and powers over each it. And you see that same theology reflected here in the song. When Pharaoh is brought to his end, the conclusion is there's no Elohim like Yahweh. He's clearly the Elohim in charge around here. There's no other power in the universe that is more. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. There are no rulers above or below

that can challenge Yahweh because he's the creator. He can, right? He's the ruler of Master of the Chaos Waters. Yeah. So from that point then, look where the poem goes. In verse 13, then in your loyal love, you've taken the people that you've redeemed and you have led them. We talked about this in our conversation in the podcast. That word lead rhymes with the word Noah. Noah's name is Noah, this verb is nacha. And then you guide them to your holy habitation. Verse 17, you're going to bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance,

the place that you've made for your dwelling. This is all Eden. And now we're to either day six of God, leading his people and appointing them, planting, and it's Eden. Planting the human rulers as the image of God, planting them in the Eden. That's right. Yeah.

And in that place where God will dwell with his human rulers, he reigns forever as king. That's verse 18. So it really kind of have to read the full, the concluding song, to pick up the completion of Genesis one and two of the design patterns. Yeah. Anyhow.

That's cool. Yeah, it is cool. These, yeah, this literature is amazing. So what we're doing, we're continuing to basically cycle through. Each large narrative chunk is patterned on the template of Genesis 1, 2, and 3, really all of 1 through 11, provides the template. And then later stories through their vocabulary can just pick up those earlier themes and then develop them in a new direction.

So for example, the human rulers and the heavenly rulers, you meet their corrupted versions in the Exodus story of Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. So they have to be brought down in the flood so that a new creation can emerge, a new Eden can emerge. And that's the, yeah, this flood motif too of just the chaotic waters being unleashed to deal with that. That's right. In Genesis 6. Correct.

Yeah. And then you see it here in Exodus. That's right. Yeah. 14. So God promised never to destroy the whole cosmos. Ha, ha, ha. But apparently that doesn't keep God from bringing local floods.

Yeah, like here at the sea, you know, to take out the human and spiritual bad guys. Okay. All right, well. That's a lot. There was a lot of... If someone just jumped into this podcast for the first time, deep into the pool. Yeah, that's a lot. There was a lot of someone just jumped into this podcast for the first time Deep into the pool. Yeah, it's yeah, that's a lot, but if you've been listening

Falling along. Yeah, yeah, you're trying to scratch and submit some things and yeah, it makes me want to Chase some ideas down further. Mm-hmm. Yeah, thank you Tim. Yeah. thank you everybody for your great questions, really thoughtful. Again, every question that we choose to read out loud represents usually anywhere from three to five to 10 questions that were very similar to it. So we're trying to group them all together and respond in the time that we have. So thanks, you guys.

There was one other thing that we wanted to address. Actually, I think a couple of episodes ago, we were talking about trying to be rulers of time. And we had a discussion about, I said something to the degree of, I noticed that in my life every five to seven years, I get this like, I start something and it seems like it comes with some sort of culmination Yeah, and then you just five or seven years or something about that time period. That's right. That's right It's enough time for something significant to happen Yeah, and then you said and that's about how long we've been at the Bible

That's how long a bit of our project and it feels like something significant has happened Yeah, yeah very significant way more than we anticipated and I think we said, and now we're gonna go off and think about what's next. And it actually, that comment spun some people out because I think imaginations went off thinking, we were gonna go do something else and not do this project anymore. So if that was you listening to that conversation

and you were like, what are they going to do? Is the project going to continue? Yes, we're going to continue this project. We love this project. It's been such a wonderful thing to be able to do this. I mean, really amazing. Yeah. Yeah. We have lots of more video content planned. Yeah, lots of videos planned for years. We've got a calendar that goes out years. Tons of other ideas. There was a big shift in the organization like brought on an executive director this year.

And it's just grown to become something that feels different. It's into a new season. And it's exciting. Yeah, it is exciting. And it's allowing me and you to kind of rethink and refocus on what we put our thoughts to and just some more freedom. So there's a lot going on. We're really excited about all of it. Yeah. And don't worry. Yeah, we're not going anywhere.

We're not going anywhere. Yeah, we are trying to work from a place of rest and joy. worry. Yeah, we're not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. Yeah, we are trying to work from a place of rest and joy. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So thanks. Thanks for being part of this with us. Yes.

Hi, this is Jeremy Laduke. I'm from Salem, Oregon, and I first heard about the Bible project on Facebook. Hi, this is Caroline Saito. I'm from Honolulu, Hawaii. Hello, this is Hector Martinez. I am from Mexico Veracruz. My name is Hector Martinez. I also do the Mexico Veracruz. My favorite thing about the Bible project is it brings the Bible to life. We believe the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus.

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