The Old Testament: The Epic Of Eden By Sandra L. Richter
2683 Words11 Pages
Reading the Old Testament can be discouraging to many people because of the lack of knowledge of the culture and context of the time period. In many cases, the Old Testament is always passed up for the New Testament so Sandra L. Richter, author of The Epic of Eden, has provided an illustration on how many people today can better understand the Old Testament and its importance. Richter compares people’s knowledge of Old Testament to that of a dysfunctional closet; everything is there, but it is all so messy and unorganized that the reader does not know how to use it. I believe that Richter is on to something that could change the Old Testament for many readers, if they are willing. The process to understand the Old Testament does take some…show more content… These characters are: Adam, because he represents the fall of man and thus redemption is birthed; Noah, because he was critical to redemptive history in the story of the flood; Abraham, because of his covenant with God to make the nation of Israel; Moses, because he serves as God’s means of bringing redemption to the Israelites in Egypt; and David, because of his simple confidence and loyalty to God that made him a great leader for Israel in a time of chaos and…show more content… The first being the “gap” or reconstruction theory that basically states there was a gap between verse 1 and 2 that takes into account the war in heaven where Satan was cast to earth. The next theory is the geological era theory, which states that the 6 days aren’t necessarily days, but in fact they are eras of undefined time. There are those, however, who believe in the literal or “twenty-four-hour-day” theory, which believes that God created the world in six literal twenty-four hour days. Lastly, there is the framework theory that states the week was used as a literary device, similarly to a scrapbook made after a vacation; it focuses on organizing based on themes and not on chronology. I think the best interpretation of Genesis 1-3 happens to be the framework theory just because of the fact that it tries to reveal the character of God. The structure shows how the birds and fish rule over the seas and skies, while the animals rule over the land and vegetation, and then humanity rules over all of these, but the most important day is the seventh day because it reveals how God rules over them all. Genesis reveals to the readers what God is like and this is one of the only reasons that I could think of that would explain the importance of these details being included in the introduction of the