The Shape of Genesis – Part 2

The fractal nature of the Bible reveals that the entire book was planned in advance. Those who dispute its authenticity and divine origin have some explaining to do.

Read part 1.

The pattern of Day 1 is recapitulated in Days 1 to 7. That pattern is repeated in Genesis 2, but also inherent in Genesis 1 to 5. The pattern is repeated in the second of the seven sections of Genesis but with reference to the events of Day 2, the waters above and below. Discerning these patterns is not esoterica. They were built into the text to help us to interpret it, and also to reveal the mind of God through the way He does things. If we, as Christians, reject this sort of analysis, we are insisting on reading the Bible “through a glass darkly.” As we read the Bible, developing a sensitivity to its repeated waveform structure enables us to meet God face to face, to speak “mouth to mouth,” as we read the text aloud.

The events of the first five chapters of Genesis “precapitulate” the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. Adam is lifted up from the ground into the sanctuary as a human “firstfruits.” That is the “natural” harvest. But the next cycle is about the fruit that pleases God, a “spiritual” harvest of obedient faith. The entire cycle in this first sequence ends with a bitter harvest, a genealogy where almost every line ends in death.

TRANSCENDENCE
Day 1 – Adam (Genesis 1-5) Light & Darkness
(Creation – Initiation)

• The first five chapters of Genesis follow the fivefold pattern of biblical covenants, a process of qualification whereby the authority of God is transferred to a faithful man as God’s legal representative of heaven on earth. Of course, Adam failed to qualify. If he had been patient, what he stole he would have been given to him as a gift.¹For more discussion, see The Architecture of Salvation.
• Notice the chiastic nature of the process. It begins with the entire globe, then that pattern is recapitulated in the establishment of human authority. Genesis 2 is not a different story. It simply recapitulates the pattern of Genesis 1 because human beings are made of “world stuff.”²See Covenant Structure in Genesis 2. This leads to an ethical crux where God’s authority is challenged. Just as God divided between physical light and darkness, so Adam was to divide between ethical light and darkness. Of course, the serpent, as the first false teacher, presented himself as an angel of light.³For more discussion, see Babel Academy.  In architectural terms, the narrative then moves outward again to the consequences in society (in this case, negative ones), and finally to a precursor of what was in store for the globe. This Word-Land-Garden-Land-World journey explains the movements of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, which was fulfilled in Jesus’s journey into and out of the grave.⁴For more discussion, see The Shape of Leviticus. It is also the structure of the entire Bible, beginning with a global covenant, then moving to a social microcosm (Israel – sons of men), and finally to the fulfillment of the Law and the defeat of the serpent by Christ. That led to a “supernatural” social microcosm (the Church – sons of God). This is how we know that history’s end will entail the restoration of the entire creation.⁵Full preterists erroneously conflate the physical and social orders. AD70 was indeed “like the days of Noah” but in social terms. The land of Israel was a microcosmic sacrificial substitute for … Continue reading

• Although this initial covenant sequence is fivefold, it hints at the fractal expansion of the fivefold covenant pattern into the sevenfold creation pattern through its threefold ethical thesis in chapter 3.⁶For more discussion, see Covenant Structure in Genesis 3.
• Concerning structure, chapter 4 is even more fascinating. It has three layers which correspond to the three domains of the primeval order: Garden, Land, World.⁷See Covenant Structure in Genesis 4. This is worth noting here because we see similar uses of this construct not only in the ark of Noah itself (which had three levels) but also in the order of events after the flood.

The second of the seven major sections of Genesis also ends in a genealogy. It begins with a microcosm of the testing of Adam but in a more mature sense—Noah is the one selected from among all men to be the ultimate successor of the entire primeval world. In fractal terms, looking backwards the history of flood corresponds to the waters on Day 2, closing and reopening them. Looking forwards, this global, physical event is repeated in the parting of the waters of the Red Sea, which was primarily a local, social event, even though it obviously had physical attributes. This contrast of focus, on physical or social, explains why the flood was a vertical division of waters and the exodus was a horizontal division. All of this is found in the Tabernacle, with its three vertical domains (above, beside, below) and the horizontal division of the three offices in the central domain: priest, king, prophet. Together, these two axes are cruciform.

HIERARCHY
Day 2 – Noah (Genesis 6-11) Waters Above & Below
(Division – Delegation)

TRANSCENDENCE
(Genesis – Creation – Day 1 – Sabbath)
God chooses Noah from among the “god-men” (Genesis 6:1-8) – Ark

HIERARCHY
(Exodus – Division – Day 2 – Passover)
The command to build the ark (Genesis 6:9-17) – Veil

ETHICS: Priesthood
(Leviticus – Ascension – Day 3 – Firstfruits)
The promise and the obedience (Genesis 6:18-7:10) – Bronze Altar
The destruction of the world (Genesis 7:11-24) – Table

ETHICS: Kingdom
(Numbers – Testing – Day 4 – Pentecost)
God remembers Noah (Genesis 8:1-12) – Lampstand

ETHICS: Prophecy
(Deuteronomy – Maturity – Day 5 – Trumpets)
Noah’s fragrant offering and God’s promise (Genesis 8:13-33) – Incense

OATH/SANCTIONS
(Joshua – Conquest – Day 6 – Atonement) – Laver and Mediators
Priesthood (new Garden): Noah as two trees in the Sanctuary – food and sword (Genesis 9:1-7)
Kingdom (new Land): The Lord’s bow as a banner over the land – grain and grapes (Genesis 9:8-17)
Prophecy (new World): The judgment of the nations – bread and wine (Genesis 9:18-29)

SUCCESSION
(Judges – Glorification – Day 7 – Booths) – Rest and Rule
The nations of the new world (Genesis 10-11)

• Understanding the first step in this pattern as a cultural exposition of Adam’s personal sin is helpful. The serpent had promised that man could be like God, and this primeval kingdom was natural man at the height of his potential. The Cainite lineage, being kingly, was gifted with brains and brawn, circumventing the curses upon the land and the womb through cities and polygamy.⁸For more discussion, see Big Love: A History of Stolen Fruit. This high culture was envied by the priestly line of Seth, but intermarriage resulted in the dissolution of the priesthood and thus we can assume also to the end of mediatory sacrifices. Public, organized, institutionalized worship was wiped out. There was nobody “standing in the gap” between heaven and earth, parting the seas for the people of God. What distinguished Noah was not only his personal faith but also his faithful obedience. The fact that he and his sons were not polygamists is crucial to our understanding of why there were no children on the ark, only adult males and females—Adams and Eves. Instead of doing what was right in their own eyes, they waited for God to open the womb.
• The command to build the ark corresponds typologically—via shared structure—to the construction of the Tabernacle of Moses. Both houses had three levels which represented the “Creation temple” and served as a means of salvation—the ark by preserving life while the world was destroyed, and the Tabernacle by absorbing death so that the world might not be destroyed. As a mediator between heaven and earth, the ark had a door below (like the open fountains of the deep) and a window above (like the open windows of heaven). These also correspond to Israel’s journey “up” to the Promised Land from the bloodied doors of the houses in Goshen to the window of Rahab in the wall of Jericho.⁹For more discussion, see Zion as an Ascension.
• The covenant promise corresponds to the placement of the promises to Adam in the initial sevenfold pattern of qualification. It also corresponds to the commandment to honor one’s parents “with a promise” concerning the land and the womb (Ephesians 6:2).
• Interestingly, the destruction of the world is not the center of this Tabernacle pattern. Instead, it is the consumption of the world as bread and wine on a table. In this construct, the antediluvian world is the bloody Bronze Altar, a land filled with violence, and the postdiluvian world is the Altar of Incense. Thus, regarding purity, the Great Flood moved history itself from the altar outside the tent (the natural) to the altar inside the tent (the spiritual), via a ceremonial washing in the Laver. The Laver, being outside, was made of bronze, and thus visually represented a purifiying “lake of fire” in God’s presence. This not only corresponds to Jesus’ reference to the Laodicean Christians not being either hot or cold but lukewarm, but also indicates that the initial eruption of the fountains of the deep was water superheated by volcanic activity. The main point here is that the events of this “Day 3” step reverse what happened on the actual Day 3. Instead of the land rising from the deep and being populated with “firstfruits” flora, here it was wiped clean of all flesh and submerged. Note that the Ascension Offering in Leviticus 1 required blood to be splashed on the sides of the altar. The offering recapitulates the Creation Week in flesh and blood in order to “make all things new.” Another link with this “Table” imagery is the bread and wine given by Jesus to His disciples as an image of His imminent death which would bring, at least in legal terms, “the judgment of this world” (John 12:31).
• God “remembering” Noah does not mean that God had forgotten him. It means that the promise made earlier was due to be fulfilled. The “Pentecostal” referent here is the “wind” which alludes to the work of the Spirit of God. When the Lord came to visit Adam, He was not “walking in the cool of the day,” He was “going to-and-fro” like the flaming sword in the Spirit/wind of the Day. The same imagery is used of Jesus coming to destroy the Herods (the “Adam” of sin”) with the “breath” of His mouth, which is later described as a flaming sword. But that sword is two-edged. It comes to slay God’s enemies, but also to deliver His people. That is its purpose here. Day 4 concerns the rulers of the heavens, and here we have a blackbird and a white bird as Urim and Thummim, the two stones in the ephod of the High Priest.¹⁰For more discussion, see Stones and Fruit: Divination and Procreation.
• Noah makes a series of “ascension” offerings, and it makes sense to assume that these were the first offerings ever to be made by fire since this “new” world was an Altar of Incense. We see the same relationship between the Tabernacle of Moses and the “bridal” Tabernacle of David, between the Jewish Temple of Solomon and the “bridal” Jew-Gentile Empire-Temple of Ezekiel (during the era of Nehemiah and Esther). A resurrection body does not stink, like raw flesh (the Bronze Altar). It smells fragrant, like burial spices (the Incense Altar). It is at this point where we should realize that this entire sequence is a sacrifice. Noah is the one “chosen” from the herd. He is then set apart and “cut off,” in this case, socially. He is placed upon the Bronze Altar and given a promise. God then comes down to judge the world as holy fire, bowing the heavens so that His court above and the courts of men below become one. The old “breath” is extinguished and a new one takes its place (that was the plan for Adam, and also why Jesus breathed upon His disciples before sending the Spirit). There is a testimony of fragrant smoke, a savor that pleases God. And finally, there is reconciliation, rest and rule. This explains why the events follow the furniture of the Tabernacle, which in turn describe both the Creation Week and the pattern of sacrifice.

• • • The Day 6 step is itself a Tabernacle, with events that concern Noah as the world’s first qualified priest-king (one who can both offer sacrifices and execute murderers as a human “two-edged sword”), the protection of the dry land from another deluge (and the Lord hanging up his bow in contrast to the hunters Nimrod and Esau), and Noah’s prophetic word upon his sons after Ham’s attempt to steal the inheritance of the firstborn. As is noted by James B. Jordan, Noah is asleep behind what is later represented in the Tabernacle Veil, and his faithful sons, like the Levites, walked backwards to cover the Ark when it was time for Yahweh to awaken and be on the move.¹¹For more discussion, see Out of His Belly.

  Although it works through the Edenic “prophetic grid,” all three steps have a “carnal” twist: Man could now eat meat, symbolizing his new divine authority to judge; the domestic and wild animals were safe from global destruction; and the one who desired to exalt his son through theft would wind up serving his brothers.

  • Now, it might seem strange that the first step in this pattern was a mere eight verses and the final step is long enough to fill out two chapters. But remember that the Adamic sequence was only five chapters, the Noahic sequence is six chapters and the steps continue to grow in size throughout the book. The Bible Matrix pattern starts with one man and multiples him, so it is not strange that the text itself is shaped like a human ziggurat (from the top down) or a family tree (from the ground up). While the earlier steps are internally sevenfold, this final section is apparently comprised of seven larger parts. This not only explains its length, but also gives us the “liturgical” significance of the Tower of Babel, and the reason why the narrative is inserted within a genealogy. It is a false Incense Altar, a “going up” that is a counterfeit of the ascension offerings of Noah. The text of this narrative also works through the pattern of the Tabernacle.¹²For more discussion, see Nimrod in the Court of God. Satan’s strategy before the flood was to wipe out worship altogether. After the flood, it changed to counterfeit worship, which requires more wisdom to discern between good and evil.¹³For more discussion, see Altar of the Abyss. This Succession step, which corresponds to the final harvest festival in Israel’s calendar, an event where Israelites and Gentile believers were to be united in worship and celebration (picturing the Church of Christ) seems to be structured as follows:

  SUCCESSION – Glorification: The Table of the Nations

  TRANSCENDENCE
  1 Creation – the global people of the islands: The sons of Japheth (Sabbath)
  HIERARCHY
  2 Division – the ancestors of Egypt: the sons of Ham (Passover)
  ETHICS: Priesthood
  3 Ascension – the possessors of the land: the sons of Canaan (Firstfruits)
  ETHICS: Kingdom
  4 Testing – the sons of Shem, the Hebrews and their compromise (Pentecost)
  ETHICS: Prophecy
  5 Maturity – The Tower of Babel as a gathered, united “holy host” (Trumpets)
  OATH/SANCTIONS
  6 Conquest – the generations of Shem leading to Abram, the mediator (Atonement)
  SUCCESSION
  7 Glorification – The generations of Terah, leading to a prince and princess, Abram and his wife Sarai, whose womb is barren (Booths)
  • Once the placement of each of these sections is identified, their purpose is greatly clarified. The most important is obviously the fact that the entire sequence, in contrast to chapters 6-11, works from the nations that spread across the globe down to an “Adam” and “Eve” who need a fruitful land and a fruitful womb. Abram’s children would bear the curses on behalf of all nations. The very fact that his name means “exalted father” also keeps us reading to see what God will do now that He has focussed all of His attention once again on a single, barren womb. Would Abram and Sarai do what was right in their own eyes, or would they wait for God to open the womb?

  Finally, it must be noted that these two major literary “Days” also work together as a single “festal” sequence, one that explains why, in the genealogy in Genesis 5, everybody literally “dies” except for Enoch. Just as Adam was taken up to the Garden-Sanctuary in the initial sequence of worship, so also Enoch was “taken” as a holy firstfruits in the combined history of this primeval world.¹⁴See Why was Enoch Taken?

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