The Hidden Meaning in the 7 Days of Creation
A subtle lesson on the meaning of your life
Genesis 1 has a subtle, hidden structure.
It is one that reveals itself upon a close, attentive read.
And one that sets aside modern cultural debates for the richness of praising God for His intentional act of creation, a good and ordered cosmos.
And guess what?
You are part of this creation, and you are part of what is good.
A deeper reading of Genesis 1 invites you to see yourself as part of beautiful story.
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The Structure of Genesis 1
Christians understand that the first chapter of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, merits a close, attentive read. Recall that the Bible is read in four senses—literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical—and these senses layer upon each other to provide you phenomenal depths to even simple passages; yet, the literal sense (e.g., the author’s intent, the genre, the historical setting, etc.) is the foundation upon which the other senses are built. If the literal is slanted, the entire edifice of biblical interpretation stands askew.
As such, if you want to know a biblical passage, you must understand the literal first—and this includes the basic grammatical and rhetorical structure of the text.
Why?
Because it can reveal to you the author’s intent.
What does this have to do with Genesis 1?
Genesis 1 is one of the most structured passages in the entire Bible—but many miss it. You must slow down and appreciate the formulaic aspect, the repetitions, the structure, and even the seeming contradictions.
They are all invitations to a deeper read—with deeper spiritual rewards.
Revisiting the Creation Story
The first chapter of Genesis has a preamble and then six days of creation with the seventh day being at the beginning of Genesis chapter two.
Here is an outline and the full biblical passage:
1. Preamble (Gen 1:1-2)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
2. Day One: Light (Gen 1:3-5)
And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
3. Day Two: Air & Water (Gen 1:6-8)
And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
4. Day Three: Earth & Sea (Gen 1:9-13)
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
5. Day Four: Sun, Moon, & Stars (Gen 1:14-19)
And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
6. Day Five: Birds & Sea Creatures (Gen 1:20-23)
And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the firmament of the heavens.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
7. Day Six: Land Animals & Man (Gen 1:24-31)
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
8. Day Seven: Rest (Gen 2:1-4a)
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
This outline provides a lattice work upon which your attentive read can grow and develop. Always read slowly (and even aloud!) and pause to note details.
Always ask why.
Pushing Back on Genesis 1
Christians understand that to be a good reader of Scripture you must question the text. You push into the biblical narratives to ensure you are mining the depths offered to you and not simply receiving shallow, cultural reflections.
Remember—many people think they know the Bible stories but few read their Bible.
The nuance and details in the Holy Scriptures are lost amongst the broad cultural retellings, especially since most people learn the biblical narratives as children—and thus absorb a child’s understanding.
In fact, many people have a third to fourth grade education in the Bible.
But the Bible offers so much more.
So, what are some questions you could ask about Genesis 1?
First, you could note that the waters are not created as part of the seven days, but rather the creation narrative begins with the Spirit of God fluttering upon the watery depths. Why?
Second, it is common to question why light (day one) is created far before the sun, moon, and stars (day four).
Third, similarly, plants (day three) are created prior to their nourishment, the sun (day four) though light exists already.
These questions are not to prove the Bible wrong, but rather the assumption is that the biblical author, Moses, who is inspired by God, has an intention in writing Genesis 1 in this order—but these intentions will never be discovered if you shy away from asking questions about the biblical text.
Seeming contradictions, that can seem impious to some to observe, can actually be signposts to deeper, more fruitful read of God’s word.
Another very important question you should ask yourself is why the text is so structured. It is a very formulaic, poetic passage—that should solicit questions in your mind. Only a few passages in Holy Scripture are written in this manner. Why?
Another very important question is why Genesis then immediately has another creation story. Genesis 2-5 provides another creation account that is far less formulaic and tells the narrative of the creation of Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind.
The fact Moses gives you two immediate creation narratives is a good question.
In fact, it is not even clear that the literal order of creation in Genesis 1 and the second creation narrative in Genesis 2-5 are the same. In the second narrative, it seems that God creates Adam prior to creating plants.
In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground—then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Gen 2:4-7).
A flat, vapid read would jump immediately to the Bible having contradictions and thus it is not the infallible, inspired word of God—but Christians know better. The default assumption cannot be that the biblical authors are dumb and unaware of the difficulties of the texts they are writing and then placing within the collection of sacred texts.
Again, Christians assume an intentionality on the part of the human author, inspired by God, and that means receiving Scripture as a student receives from a teacher—the same method if you were reading Homer or any other great text.
Humility is key to being a good reader of the Bible—or any great text.
So, here, an apparent contradiction should rather make you ask why the biblical author elected to place two narratives on creation side-by-side.
As with all things, you judge whether a thing is good or bad according to its purpose (telos). A good knife is sharp, because you understand its purpose is to cut.
What is the purpose of Genesis 1?
Is that purpose distinct from Genesis 2-5?
A better understanding of the literal, the author’s intent, as implied by the subtleties of the verses, may help you distinguish the purpose and meaning of Genesis 1.
It is the structure of the first chapter of Genesis that is the key.
A hidden structure that communicates a beautiful truth about the glory of God.
A hidden structure that can show you that a close, attentive read of the Bible can change your life.
