What was Moses' most important point in writing the Creation narrative? What was the most important principle he was trying to convey?
The opening lines of Genesis set the tone for the entire Bible. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Before we address the deep division over the rest of Genesis 1-2 (the Creation narrative) and the numerous theories advanced even in Christian circles to explain those chapters, let us take some time on this most significant opening phrase.
The central theme of the Torah revolves around the supremacy of God. It was Moses’ task to show that God was at work from the very beginning of the cosmos and that leading the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land was part of the Creator’s unfolding plan. In order to make his case, Moses took his readers back to the very beginning of the universe itself.
Today, many dispute the credibility of Genesis in light of scientific discoveries and studies which indicate incremental, gradual evolution of the cosmos and human life. Traditional monotheists as well as those who see Genesis as allegory are unanimous, however, on the central moral of Genesis 1:1, which can be summed up as “God did it.” No matter the methodology or the timeline, God is responsible for the creation of the universe and for the presence of human life on earth.
The skepticism confronting Moses was not all that different than what monotheists face today. There were numerous myths in circulation in the ancient world – myths that purported to explain the cosmos. And there were many who simply ignored the issue. They just carried on their lives regardless of which gods or how many were responsible for creation. Moses’ Creation narrative was intended to unite Israel in gratitude and submission to the Creator, the great “I AM,” the God that Moses claimed to represent.
Moses was telling the children of Israel (and, by extension, all those who would listen) that no one was an accident. The creation of the cosmos was not the result of some argument between gods or some cosmic anomaly. We are here because God wants us to be here. And this same God now wanted to liberate the Hebrews and set them up as a chosen nation in the new “Promised Land.”
Monotheists today, whether conservative or liberal, can and should unite under the same banner that Moses held out, at the time, for the Hebrew nation. God is responsible for our existence and for the existence of all life in the universe.
However one wishes to understand or interpret Genesis, let no one be mistaken on the Big Picture: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
