Chapter 1. Beginning

The first book of the Holy Scriptures – the Book of Genesis – covers the period from the creation of the world to the migration of the patriarch Jacob and his sons to Egypt and ends with the death of Jacob and his burial and the death of Joseph.

The book can be divided into three large sections. The first section is the creation of the world, which is described in the first two chapters. The second is the history of the first world, beginning with the fall of man and ending with the destruction of this first world in the flood (chapters 3-8). The third period is the history of the patriarchal church, as St. Philaret of Moscow calls it, which began after the flood, which, in fact, covers the entire remaining part, that is, from the end of the eighth to the fiftieth chapter of the Book of Genesis. Here we first talk about the life of people after the flood, from Noah to Abraham, and then we talk about the origin and education of the chosen people. This last section contains four parts devoted to the patriarch Abraham, his son Isaac, grandson Jacob, and great-grandson Joseph.

In this chapter, we will look at the events described in the book of Genesis from the creation of the world and the Fall to the renewal of the world by the waters of the Flood.

1.1. The Biblical Story of the Creation of the World

The narrative of the book of Genesis begins with a description of the creation of the world: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I will not analyze in detail the composition of each day of creation, since extensive and accessible literature is devoted to this. I focus on the most important issues.

First of all, it is necessary to note the very word "created" (Hebrew bara). "Bereshit bara Elohim," this passage begins in Hebrew. The word "bereshit" except Gen. 1:1 occurs 4 more times in Scripture (Jeremiah 26:1, 27:1, 28:1, 49:34) in the same context: "in the beginning of the reign."

In the sense of "created" here we use a verb which in Scripture is never again applied to any human action, that is, within the framework of the linguistic means available to us, we are thus indoctrinated with the idea that something completely new really happened, and it is in this that we see an indication of creation out of nothing. And in the Greek text, the verb "pio" is used to denote creation, a verb that is also used to denote poetic creation: God is represented here as the Creator, as the composer, as the poet, the artist who creates this world.

The words: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" remind us of the first verses of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word," and then it says: "All things were by Him, and without Him there was nothing, if they were" (John 1:1, 3). We have the right, and the Old Testament allows us, to see not an accident in the sameness of this name, because there are more direct indications in other Old Testament books of the direct participation of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity – the hypostatic Wisdom of God in creation. Thus, in the Book of Proverbs, in the eighth chapter, we can read the following: "The Lord had me as the beginning of His way, before His creatures, from the beginning; I was anointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the existence of the earth. I was born when the abyss did not yet exist, – this is spoken from the person of Wisdom – when there were no springs abounding in water. I was born before the mountains were erected, before the hills, before He had yet created the earth, nor the fields, nor the primordial specks of dust of the universe. When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When He drew a circular line on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He gave a statute to the sea, that the waters should not overstep its boundaries, when He laid the foundations of the earth, then I was an artist with Him, and I was a joy all the day, rejoicing before Him all the time, rejoicing in His earthly circle, and my joy was with the children of men" (Proverbs 8:  22–31). And that is why it is no accident that in the prologue of the Gospel of John we see the indication: "all things were created by the Word of God." In addition, the expression "in the beginning" shows that, according to the word of St. Maximus the Confessor, "the time from the creation of the world and the earth is numbered." Thus, "God created the world not in eternity and not in time, but together with time" [13, p. 17], which is the changeability of being.

"And the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the waters" (Gen. 1:2). These words speak of the Holy Spirit, testifying to the participation of all the Persons of the Holy Trinity in the work of creation.

In addition to the first verses of the Book of Genesis, a number of texts of the Holy Scriptures speak of the creation of the world. One of the most important indications is contained in the second book of Maccabees, where it is said that everything was created by God out of nothing. A mother speaks of this to her children when, strengthening them in the face of persecutors, she invites them to look at all created things and to know that "God created all things out of nothing" (2 Mac. 7:28). Then, in the book of Psalms, we can see in Psalm 103 a very poetic description. I quote in a Russian translation, unaccustomed to the ear: "You clothe yourself with light like a robe, you stretch out the heavens like a tent; Thou hast built Thy palaces on high over the waters, Thou hast made the clouds Thy chariot, Thou hast walked on the wings of the wind" (Psalm 103:2-3), etc. "By Him He commanded and was, and by that speech was created," – the same is said in the Psalms. "By the word of the Lord the heavens are established, and by the spirit of His mouth is all their power" (Psalm 32:6).

Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos writes: "According to St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, on the first day, that is, on Sunday, the creation of the world and creation began, since on this day light was created. On Sunday, with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the re-creation of creation began, and on Sunday, with the descent of the Holy Spirit, it was completed. All creation was created by the Father with the participation of the Son and the Holy Spirit; renewed by the Son with the Father's good pleasure and with the help of the Holy Spirit; but is completed by the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and sent into the world through the Son" [24, pp. 357-358].

In the first verses of the Book of Genesis, a certain sequence of the creation of the world is also indicated, and the non-divinity of creation and the absence of theogony (the origin of the gods), which we encounter in various pagan religions, are emphasized in a fundamental way[4]: there is no struggle between the gods, the birth of the world, the devouring of some gods by others, etc. Everything is created by the simple saying of God: "And God said, Let it be... and so it was." In particular, it emphasizes, for example, the non-divinity of the luminaries and their functional purpose, that they are placed for illumination and for the separation of night and day.

The remarkably symmetrical narrative of creation closes its circle, as it were, leading us to man, created from the earth, but, unlike the originally created one, which has no image or form, he is created in the image of God [20]. This narrative of the book of Genesis immediately points us to man's unique place in the world. He is, as it were, a divine seal with which the creation is sealed, which is "very good" (Gen. 1:31).