Bible Study, Part 2

Creation of Light (אוֹר)
By Gustave Doré

Genesis, Chapter 2 |
Sunday – June 28, 2026

In the previous part of this series I covered Genesis chapter 1, and in this part I intend to cover chapter 2 consisting of 25 verses. Again, I must reiterate from the previous post that I am relying on a certain Biblical source, namely the Catholic New Revised Standard (NRSV-CE), and while any Bible should be adequate for this study there are certain and often subtle differences and nuances to be taken into account whenever a study of this kind is considered, and if you are indeed relying on another published form of the Bible then you are responsible for keeping track of each verse of each chapter and the possibility that your particular Bible may not align in every word with the words of every verse mentioned and/or quoted in this study. I should also point out that I may or may not quote certain verses from the Bible, in this case Genesis Chapter 2, depending on the situation, as for the most part it would not be fitting to quote each verse as doing so would simply take too much space and time and it would also be quite redundant. I also need to point out that whenever I quote the Bible and brackets appear, "[text]", that this indicates some kind of inclusion or change that I have made that was not included originally in the NRSV-CE version of the Bible, and further yet brackets with dots in them, "[...]", indicates that I have either quoted in the middle of a passage and that some portion of the sentence belonging to a previous verse has not been included or that the passage proceeds after my quotation but that I have not included that particular passage. Indeed, I intend to follow a basic structure in each of these Bible study posts: that is I will cover certain parts of each chapter that have a common theme, and often I will break each of these parts down into separate sections, but keep in mind that there are no hard rules as far as this Bible Study is concerned.

    Again, the purpose of this study is for me to enable the readers of this blog to get closer to the source, and if you are not happy with this presentation of the Bible, then you may complain in the comment section or simply go somewhere else, but what I intend to not do in this study is to adhere to the false teachings and pseudo-principles of the various fundamentalist sects of Christianity, read "My Views on Fundamentalism", as I hold that the word of God is qualified, thus requiring a certain level of qualified reading that simply is not available to the masses, read as well "Democracy". I should also point out that I intend to continue to refer to God, from this point onward, as Yahweh (יהוה) for reasons of historical accuracy and because the name Yahweh is universal, whereas God is merely an English term that is affected by the parochialism and moors of that language; really the English term/name "God" has not survived the test of time as has the Hebrew term/name/title Yahweh, alternatively Jehovah (יְהֹוָה). I should also point out that this study so far is concerned with the early chapters of the Bible and as the God (Yahweh) in the old testament is first of all the God of Covenant Israel (בְּרִיתוֹת) it is also more accurate to refer to God simply as Yahweh; Covenant Israel is not to be confused with the modern nation-state of Israel (מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל), namely The State of Israel.

    Genesis 2:1 – 6: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day [Yahweh] finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So [Yahweh] blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it [Yahweh] rested from all the work that he had done in creation. [...] These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. [...]". Something that I failed to point out in the first post of this series, linked to above, is the fact that a certain cyclical theme is woven into existence already by Yahweh marked by each day of the seven day week, and whenever one considers in more detail each day of the creation closer, it becomes clear that each day is released from the day that came before, or rather that each day proceeds from the day before, and while this may seem quite obvious it is actually something that is rather taken for granted by most people as opposed to something that is actually understood for what it is, from an overriding cosmological point of view: really, if each day proceeds from the day before, it would be quite accurate to assume that each day is contained within the principles of the preceding day, which is also to assert the superiority of Monday, the first breath, and the first step, really the first life; it is also to say that as time goes on the world proceeds downwards from higher principles to lower principles, even on a daily basis, and if we are allowed to carry the mechanism of the week further yet, it should become clear that this the first week in creation not only contained the principles of each day within it but also the principles of each week proceeding from it, and really the principles of all of the creation, if creation is understood as something that proceeds from the first breath, or the first light depending on your perspective, again here we should consider the necessity of opposition such as was pointed out in the previous post in this series when it came to the light and to the shadow. Again, this opposition is never equal, it is rather something that must follow from pure potential (essence) transformed continuously to substance, from higher principle to lower principle that shadow must exist. It is also significant then, that Yahweh marked the seventh day as hallow (sacred), as new Monday proceeds from the seventh day of the week, the last day of the cycle; really as the Sun sets on the old and the Moon rises above the last day before the new Monday the cycle is complete and the light towers above the shadow, which is why the shadow always hits the ground first, read "Hierarchy".

    Genesis 1:7 – 20: "[...] then [Yahweh] formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And [Yahweh] planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground [Yahweh] made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. [...]". Again, here we can note the motif of the first breath and the first life (human life) and that further still man came before any other life, any other creature and that all creatures were created with man in view, and that this is why nature is, for the most part, pleasant. This is also why man was given dominion over all creatures, and this is also why man gave the name to each creature. While many people may point out that according to profane science none of this could possibly have taken place, it should be clear that man is still the highest form of life and that no other creature can hold dominion over the land, a point that few people can disregard, at least if they have any ounce of honest integrity. Really, the point of the Genesis is to give a creation account, not to prove anything in that mendacious tradition of negativism, for here we are provided with knowledge in the affirmative. And apropos knowledge, we must quickly return to the leitmotif of hierarchy and of good and bad, for Genesis makes it perfectly clear that out of knowledge good and bad proceeds, something that I will continue to cover in greater detail later in this study, but again the motif of the light (the higher) and the shadow (the lesser) will be returned to throughout in this study and is really something that one must consider as very significant in all the major metaphysical traditions of the world, read essence vs. substance. Also, another subtle yet significant passage is: "...the tree of life also in the midst of the garden...", something that must be understood as life being the overriding principle of everything, which again may appear quite obvious but really points us towards that primordial principle from which everything else proceeds. Also, verses 10 through 14 should also be understood in the context of the aforementioned leitmotif: it is clear today where the rivers Tigris and Euphrates flow, which makes them human and timely, as rivers always follows a certain flow, whereas Pishon and Gihon are now lost to history, as is much of the ancient world, as are their streams, read "The End of History". Therefore, it would be prudent to consider the story of the four rivers of creation in the context of ever shrinking knowledge in the face of narrow-minded materialism; really, knowledge requires learning, but if there is no basin in which knowledge may flow out of, there can be no real wisdom, and if there are no rivers for to empty the basin there can be no real wisdom.

    Finally, Genesis 2:20 & 21 – 25: "[...] So [Yahweh] caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that [Yahweh] had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man [...]". Genesis 2:24: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. [...]". This last passage of Genesis 2 is often misunderstood by moderns who complain about equality, but the fact is that women, in accordance with Genesis, proceed from men—again here we must continue to observe the leitmotif of higher and lesser—and is primarily conceived of as a helper, but notice as well in the last verse, Genesis 2:25, that men and women are not ashamed of each other when they are both naked, or rather that they felt no shame in the company the naked and primordial body, which they represented as one flesh, again in accordance with Genesis 2:24 which is why men and women complement each other, and while moderns continue to lament the evils of this passage they obviously miss the point: women proceed from men and men proceed from Yahweh, which in no way makes women lesser in the metaphysical sense, but it does account for certain and primordial modalities as they pertain to men and women, read "Gender Roles", and these modalities are really sacred and ordained in the truest sense of the word, something that most men know innately, unless they have allowed themselves to become completely solidified. Really, the primordial body—the one flesh of man and woman, the unity of the Heaven and the Earth—is really what matters here and this is also why marriage in the Christian tradition is considered sacred and may not be polluted with modern notions of extension and continually growing contingencies for the law of Yahweh is not only final but absolute, but again note the stark and important difference between marriage in the real sense and in the sense of the law, read "The Law of The Land".

    You have reached the end of this part of the Bible, or rather my examination of the Bible. For more on this series, follow the label "Bible Study series". If you are interested in me, read my "About me page" and my "Who Am I" post.

Reginald Drax (AKA, M. C. Dutt) – June 28, 2026.