READING 1; GENESIS 1-1 – 2:2  Priestly Tradition  God is the main actor  1.Announcement: “And God said … ”  2.Command: “Let there be … ”  3.Report: “And it was so … ”  4.Evaluation: “And God saw that it was good … ”  5.Temporal framework: “It was evening, it was morning

Day 1 Light Day 2 Sky, separating the upper and lower waters Day 3 Earth and vegetation Day 4 Heavenly lights Day 5 Birds and fish Day 6 Land animals and humanity

 Ancient Middle East Time begins with Sunset  Sun & Moon were deities  “Adam” = Hebrew plural word for humanity

 One of many creation accounts  God is creator  Order out of chaos  High point: last “animal is man  Unlike others, made in God’s image  Man & woman together  7 th day “dynamic” day of YHWH

Reading 2: Genesis 22:1-18  Elohist Tradition  Abraham’s great faith  Human sacrifice in other cultures

 Abraham & Sarah  Pattern:  God chooses  Prone to failure  God remains faithful  Abraham “transformed”

READING 3: EXODUS 14:15-15:1  God as “Divine Warrior”  Yahwist Tradition:  God as angel  God as column of cloud  Priestly Tradition: Moses stretches out his hand

o Common story: good over evil o Israel fear: fickle nature of trust o God prevails o God is revealed o Order of nature o Water brings forth life o Water is destructive o Hebrew people are witness o Similar to resurrection witness

READING 4: ISAIAH 54:5-14  2 nd Isaiah: people in exile  1 st theme: Zion is the wife of Yahweh  “abandoned” wife (Hosea) welcomed back  2 nd theme: the waters of the Noah flood  Covenant promise

o Imagery of sentinels that see the Lord o Message of pre-exile prophets continued o God confronts Israel over disobedience o Invites back to right relationship o Proper order of things o Result: glorious future

READING 5: ISAIAH 55:1-11  3 rd Isaiah: Invitation to the feast (Wisdom)  Restored people to assume witness role of David  New Messiah = King Cyrus of Persia

o Holy festival: everything is free o All are invited o New role as witness (not dominate) o Old Testament theology maintained o God is just & righteous o God is also merciful

READING 6: BARUCH 3:9-15; 32-4:4 o Setting = poem o Wisdom = Fear of the Lord o Obedience to the will of Yahweh o Praise of Wisdom = Praise of Yahweh o Wisdom is presonified (as in other passages ) o Wisdom = Law of the Pentateuch

o Baruch scribe of Jeremiah o Written much later (post exile) o Not part of Jewish Canon (or protestant Bible) o Message: learn what knowledge is o Understand the course of life o Experience o Wisdom will come to show you the way o Following the Law

READING 7: EXEKIEL 36:16-17A,  Cause of exile = defilement of a women  Need for preservation of holiness will end exile  God will accomplish this by: o Cleansing the people of their sins & idols o Give them a new heart & spirit o Animate that heart with the divine spirit

 New life vision of new temple  Common belief in societies:  Act leads to consequence  Theme of Ezekiel:  Israel has been continually unfaithful  God responds by bringing Israel back  God is creator & ruler of all