January 1, Genesis 1-3:24

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  God saw that the light was good, and he 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 -- the first day.

     Genesis 1:3-5

I know we make a big deal about God creating light and dark (v. 3) before He created the Sun and Moon (v. 14) to rule them.  But what he was actually creating was a measure...a measure of time.

So why did he create time first?  

Perhaps time is our most important God-given resource.  It's also the one thing that creates a veil between Creator and created.  He sees all time and we just see the tip of the iceberg and only that of the iceberg we happen to be standing on.

The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a helper suitable for him."

     Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air.  He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.  So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

     But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

     Genesis 2:18-20

What if one of the animals had proven a suitable mate?  Why not man's best friend.  Or a big ol teddy bear or a 12-point buck?  Hey, don't laugh.  If snakes were talking, I'm sure a dog or a bear or a buck could carry on a worthwhile conversation.  Or, at least, as much of a conversation as a man is looking for.  (Can you imagine the cacophony of a world of talking animals?  I wonder how far the talking thing extended?  Mammals?  Birds?  Reptiles?  Insects?  Glad it came to an end before we began eating meat.  Just think how hard it would be to kill your dinner...if it was begging for mercy.)  Anyway, why not pick an animal?  Something incredibly loyal and lovable and selfless and serving and forgiving.  Something that didn't always argue over thermostat settings or which restaurant or movie to go to and was happy with whatever you decided.  

Hmmmmm.  Maybe our definition of suitable doesn't, well, suit.  Perhaps God wanted us to experience free choice or rather someone else having it.  Maybe suitable means challenging.  Maybe life's not meant to be easy and perfect and without everyday disagreements.   Suitable doesn't necessarily mean entirely compatible.   By nature, I think men and women are essentially incompatible.  And apparently that suited God.

And why didn't God just make Adam a woman without going through all of the animals first?  Can you imagine that audition?

God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.  He also made the stars.  God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.  And God saw that it was good.

     Gensis 1:16-18

God likes to call things "good."  That's it.  Good.  As a writer, I would have cracked the old thesaurus for something a bolder, more impactful and powerful.  Something with panache.  But God, you gotta love Him, goes with...good.  And when did good stop being good enough for us?  Where did we acquire our love of exaggeration and hyperbole?  Good's just not good enough.  We want awesome, amazing, extra-strength, ultra, extreme, to the max.  Even Pepsi has to come with vitamins (have you tasted the stuff?  It's not...good.)

The man said,

     "this is now bone of my bones

          and flesh of my flesh,

      she shall be called 'woman,'

          for she was taken out of man."

     Genesis 2:23

[21 versus, one snake and two sins later]

Adam named his wife Eve..."

     Genesis 3:20

I'm sure this has all got something to with the chronological shifts in the Genesis account...but have you ever notice that Eve doesn't have a name until after she sins?  The text just calls her woman up until then.  Did Adam just call her woman until after the fall?  Was it like when you got in trouble as a child and your mother yelled at you using your complete and entire name as it appeared on your birth certificate.  "Eve Mother of All the Living, is this your apple?!"

Ok, so much for my armchair theology and hermeneutics.  But, hey, the book is for the common folks, the fisherman, the leaper, the man blind from birth, the woman caught in the act of adultery.  We should all have our own take on the Bible.