The Story - The Beginning

 
"I love to tell the story of unseen things above / Of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love / I love to tell the story, because I know 'tis true / it satisfies my longings as nothing else can do."

- Katherine Hankey, "I Love to Tell the Story"
 

 

The Bible is, at its root, a story book. 

Yes, it contains laws. Yes, it contains long and dry geneologies that—face it—most of us skim. But throughout all 66 books of it, there's a vast and intricate narrative being woven, that we can see if we just pay attention. 

It starts by introducing its main character. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Right away, we see our focus. God is the point of this tale; he's whose actions we'll be following througout the book. 

Next, our setting is introduced. We had a bit of that in the first sentence, but it goes into more detail in the rest of the chapter. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. We see a powerful opening image: out of the darkness, the light springs, by the power of God's almighty word. 

And we get a little bit of foreshadowing there. 

The light continues to grow, taking on shape and illuminating the world that God's making. We see Day and Night come into existence, and we see the Earth and the Seas. The stars in the heavens appear; they divide Day and Night and they give light to the earth. Plants grow from the earth, and suddenly there's life in this new world—but only one kind, so God makes the animals, too. 

But something's still missing from this perfect setting. Animals and plants are all well and good, but for a proper story, we need something more. And so, at the end of the very first chapter of this book we're reading, God creates something new. 

He creates the man. 

The man is named Adam. He is made of the dust of the earth, combined with the breath of life. It's poignant imagery; we are nothing but dirt without God's breath of life.

We get another little bit of foreshadowing after the six days of creation. God has finished all his work, and on the seventh day he rests. And he makes the seventh day holy. 

 

Now, we're on to the second chapter. The introduction has successfully set up our characters (God and man) and our setting (the earth, newly made). There's still one more to add before we can get on with our conflict, and she'll fulfill a very important function for Adam—companionship. 

A woman, of the same kind as the man, is formed from Adam's rib. The Lord takes it out of him, and makes it into the woman. Adam wakes and sees her, and is so overcome with joy that he sings; saying that she is "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh". Another powerful image, especially since it is both literally and metaphorically true. The woman is named Eve, and she is Adam's wife. 

There's one more thing. The garden in which Adam and Eve live is full of fruit trees, and they're all for Adam and Eve. 

All but one. God tells the man that he may not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

 

So, we've seen the setup. God: the focus. The world: created by God. Adam and Eve: husband and wife, placed by God to take dominion over the garden. And the promise: the garden is for you, except for the one tree. 

The next element of a story is conflict. And that comes in full force just one chapter later.