Finding Artistic Meaning in Genesis

Genesis, chapter 1 is posted at the end of this post...

One of our devotional times during the Creativity Summit was focused on reading scripture to find artistic meaning. We all gathered into groups of about 5 people and jotted down what we found. Here are a couple of highlights from several of the group discussions:

First, the entirety of Chapter 1 is written poetically, even in our translated version. Something that will appeal to our technical readers: we noticed that God created the earth in a logical order...i.e. before creating animals or people, He created everything we would need to survive. The Lord created the earth to be beautiful and also functional.

v.1-2 - created something from nothing - made us think of starting with a blank canvas, ball of clay, or empty computer screen
v.3 - "let there be..." - God created with purpose, the earth was designed by Him with no randomness
v.4 - contrast - light and dark
v.5-12,27 - examples of composition and balance - day/night, earth/sky, water/land, fruit/seed, male/female...
v.10 - evaluation - "and God saw that it was good"
v.11 - variety - in creating plants, trees, fruits, etc...
v.15 - gradience - greater and lesser light, the sun and the moon
v.16-18 - more gradience - gave us light so that we could see His beauty, different types of lighting to experience His creation in different ways...ie, bright day, at sunset, at night, at sunrise, etc...
v.17 - an example of beauty, stars
v.21 - beauty through movement, creatures of the sea and sky
v.27 - "in his own image" - God created us to be creative
v.29 - variety in taste, types of food we can eat

There is much more to be found while reading through this chapter. I would love to hear from anyone reading this, what you can find involving artistic meaning in Chapter 1 (please leave a comment at the end of this post). It truly is a neat exercise to go through; if you have time, take a moment to read the verses below:

Genesis, chapter 1

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 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. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.