Following are some of my favorite footnotes from my Zondervan NIV Study Bible:
- Genesis 1:1-2:3
- “In the ancient Near East, most of the peoples had myths relating how the world came to be. Prevalent in those myths were accounts of how one of the gods triumphed over a fierce and powerful beast that represented disorder, then fashioned the ordered world that people knew, and finally was proclaimed by the other gods to be the divine “king” over the world he had created – a position ever subject to the forces of disorder.
- Over against all those pagan myths, the author of Genesis taught a radically new doctrine of creation: The one and only true God did not have to overcome a mighty cosmic champion of chaos but simply by a series of his royal creation decrees called into being the ordered world, the visible kingdom that those decrees continue to uphold and govern. The author teaches this doctrine of creation in the form of a narrative that recounts the story of God’s creative acts. The author narrates those acts from the perspective of one who was an eyewitness to events in God’s royal council chamber, where he issues his creative decrees. For a similar narrative perspective see Job 1:6-12, 2:1-6.”
Zondervan NIV Study Bible. Edited by Kenneth L. Barker, et.al. Zondervan, 2002.
© 2024 Angela Hormberg
You must be logged in to post a comment.