The Reading Of The Hebrew Bible

making him suffer. Job had always been true to the Lord's word and had never

13) The Creation of the World; the Garden of Eden; Adam and Eve; Original Sin; the Fall

In Genesis, God interacts with Adam by speaking to him face to face. Whether God was giving out instructions or punishment to Adam and Eve, he was always doing it on a personal level. The usual portrayal of God as an omniscient being is instead replaced as mentor to Adam and Eve who is trying to help them understand their existence. This close relationship is shown even when man does something wrong. The only rule that God gives to Adam is that he must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve go on to break the singular rule and be punished; but not to the extent most would think. Before partaking of the fruit God says that, "the day that you eat of it you shall die"(Genesis). Instead of dying, Adam and Eve are removed from the garden and go begin their lives. God punishes them for their actions, but also gives clothes and allows them to take the knowledge they have gained from the tree. Even after breaking the one rule that he has set for them, God allowed them to keep the knowledge they gained to begin mankind. This grace towards humanity is shown once again with Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abel's offering and not his own. Even with Cain having killed his own brother, God still does not punish Cain severally; "you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth"(Genesis). This punishment is especially seen as inadequate as Cain goes on to settle in Nod and have his own family. This mercy by God shows that he was unable to punish humanity even for the most serious of offenses. This lack of punishment shows God's sympathy for mankind because of his close relationship with them. This close relationship stems from God's close bond with mankind because of their similar image and knowledge. This relationship that began as two very similar beings, has further blossomed as God has given great responsibility to

     Job is a man very limited by God. As illustrated, he has only a negligible amount of agency to begin with. By the time God and Satan finish with him, he has virtually no control over his own life. The fragment of agency he does cling to is his ability to choose whether or not to curse God. No one, except himself, could prevent Job from cursing God. Yet, he refuses to curse God, even though He is responsible for his suffering.

The book of Genesis records the creation of the world and everything in it, as well the early relationship between God and humanity. God creates man, Adam, “from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7) and places him in a paradise on Earth called the garden of Eden, where he also places the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From the man, God creates a woman and tells them that they “may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil [they] shall not eat, for in the day that [they] eat of it [they] shall die (Genesis 2:16). Despite this warning, the woman, Eve, is eventually tempted to eat the fruit of the treat and convinces Adam to do the same, causing them to be cast out of the garden. Although Adam and Eve do have free will to do what they

Throughout the Book of Genesis, the idea of knowledge emerges throughout punishment. This theme is most apparent when Adam and Eve deceive God by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they do this, they are immediately given the ability to discern between right and wrong. The Bible states, "The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining knowledge" (Genesis 3:6). Promptly Adam and Eve gain knowledge and realize their nakedness as deity punishment.

His nature, however, is problematic to interpret. The God’s concepts in the book differ from the ones described in the New Testament. Here he is not charitable, merciful, and kind God, we used to know. He appears as omnipotent and even egoistic God with uncoherent speeches and deceptive appearances. At the end of the book He has a conversation not only with Job but with the whole Earth population. He requires them to comprehend the complexity of the universe, to admit their ignorance, and to appreciate the difficult work done by Him ruling the universe.

In the book of Job, the relationship between Job and God is

“Genesis” shows a similar situation through the use of Adam and Eve in the garden of eden. God plants the tree of knowledge in the middle of the garden and warns Adam and Eve to not eat from it, for if they do then they will die. The tree of knowledge was meant for the god alone which is emphasized by the serpent who tells Eve that “you will not die; for god knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”(15). Adam and Eve proceeds to take a bite from the apply and the serpent is proven to be correct as they do not die from the apple. However, god becomes so enraged that he cursed them and “put enmity between [man] and the women, and between [his] offspring and hers” and “greatly increase [women] pangs in childbearing”(15). Once again, his ability to punish and cause suffrage in such a large scope shows his grand power which is an indication of hierarchy. Exactly like Zeus, the god in “Genesis” wants to preserve this hierarchy which is why he grows so angry and punishes Adam and Eve. The tree of knowledge represents knowledge and power and God is

For the Jewish people, Jerusalem has long been regarded as a special city, chosen by God as he chose the people of Israel. The importance of Jerusalem in the Jewish religious tradition can be traced back to the Hebrew Bible, in which narratives describe the events which make the city sacred. However, these events alone do not make Jerusalem a sacred place; the biblical texts also work together to portray the importance and holiness of Yahweh, the God of Israel. The concept of sacredness is also highlighted by Mircea Eliade, who theorized about how a sacred place comes into existence. The biblical texts support Eliade 's ideas of the sacred by narrating repeated hierophanies and promises, working together to reveal the importance of the divine to the people of ancient Israel.

A man once said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one 's life for one 's friends” (John 15:13). This belief is shared by the tribes of Israel featured in the Hebrew Bible. This small nation requires each Israelite to be willing to die for the moral code and religious statutes handed down by their god, Yahweh. This ideal of selflessness is evident throughout the Hebrew Bible, but especially so in the stories of two midwives, the mother of Moses, and a prophet called Amos. Here, Israelites show the importance of being willing to sacrifice anything for their society in the forms of their community, their family, and their God.

In stark contrast to God’s presence in Genesis, the character of God in Job strays from the ideal perfection of the divine. The concept of the ideal manifested in Genesis is embodied in God’s moral, reasonable, and rational behavior. In Job, on the other hand, rather than being reasonable, methodical, and creating life, God displays more human characteristics and plays the role of both creator and destroyer. The book of Job begins with God’s boastful bargain with Satan, which subsequently leads God to allow the total destruction of Job’s family and livelihood. Job is even attacked physically with “loathsome sores… from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). In an uncharacteristically immoral decision, God gives Satan the power do

One conflicting theological view of the Hebrew Bible is in the creation story described in Genesis. Is there one story or two? Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 gives one account and Genesis 2:4-25 seemingly gives another account. Although both stories give and account of creation, they are different in their settings, characters and plot. The relationship between the two stories is the deity who is called the creator (Stanley, 205-206). Another theological view of the Hebrew Bible is that Yahweh did not have a wife, whereas archaeological and literary evidence suggests Yahweh was accompanied by a spouse. However, the editors of the Hebrew Bible reject this view (Stanley, 157). Another theological view is regarding the gender of Yahweh. The Hebrew Bible does

In both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, all of God’s actions and judgments are unambiguous and extreme. In fact, it almost seems as if he is unable to pass nuanced judgments or to act on a small scale. One of the main points of both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, and especially the Hebrew Bible, is to show God’s tremendous power, which both texts do well. For example, in the very first sentence of Genesis, the author establishes that “...God created the heavens and the earth (NIV, Gen 1)”, arguably the greatest act of power: any being could exhibit. However, God’s judgments are never in doubt and seem to fit into a polarized binary where God either tremendously favors a person, situation or action, or he very clearly despises

The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics,