Apples Everywhere

Enuma Elish

“When on high the heaven had not been named ... ” -- about Tiamat and Apsu and celebrating the victorious, conquering and reigning god Marduk, the ancient Mesopotamian/Babylonian creation epic from earlier Sumerian creation mythology -- and our own later, corrective, “In the beginning when Elohim created the heavens and the earth ...” focusing on our One God -- will be our topic in adult Sunday school class this week.

We have been discussing Genesis chapters 2, 3 and 4, the ancient campfire stories of how Yahweh made a human to till the ground in the Garden, then split the human in two to be male and female company for each other; then the droll story of how Nachash the wiley serpent came between the naked humans and led them to disobey Yahweh, causing us to be thrown out of the pleasant Garden so that we now have to struggle to make a living; then how human sin grew to fratricidal murder. 

Next we would be discussing the story of how the humans became more and more wicked in sin, eventually causing the Creator to throw up His hands in anger and disgust, drown the whole lot of them, and start over with the one righteous man Noah and his family. I say we would be because that’s not quite what we’re going to do. We’re going to backtrack and have a go at Genesis chapter 1, our story in which Elohim creates heaven and earth in six days and then on the seventh day commissions for Self and us the Sabbath, a time of refreshment and rest.

We are “taking the break” and going back to Genesis 1 before talking about The Flood Story that begins in Genesis 5, because The Flood Story as we have it is a continuation that is a melding, like shuffling cards, of two stories, one involving God as called Elohim and the other involving God as called Yahweh. So, we need to backtrack and get it all together before tackling The Flood Story with Noah and the Ark.

Everyone is invited and welcome. We meet in the parish library, the building at the east end of the brick path, at 9:15 o’clock, between worship services, every Sunday morning. Do come, bless The Lord with your love for his Word, and get your applecart of certainties upset. 

TW+