Friday, January 15, 2010

Random Average Paper Time

This was for Bible as Lit class. I should have worked harder in that class.

Emerald Guildner
Professor Walker
English 350
10/5/09
The Lord God Himself

The ever famous creation story has been retold in many ways in all different cultures. Genesis chapters one and two seem to be two different versions of the same event. The translation of Genesis to the King James Version is what I have found to give the most insight when held up against the translation in the Pearl of Great Price. The translations of these passages are important in understanding a people’s interpretation of the creation. In the King James Version, there is a third person narrator whose name we do not know. In the Pearl of Great Price we can see one of the most interesting revelations about the creation. We know from chapter one that the account is revealed to and taken down by Moses himself. This builds trust in the reader and gives the account more credibility. Chapters two through four of Moses is written in the first person, with God as the speaker. The fall of Adam and Eve becomes much more emotional and profound to the reader in Moses because this narration switches to the usual outsider quoting God as soon as they leave the Garden of Eden.

The background given in the Pearl of Great Price helps the reader contextualize why we have the creation story in the first place, and who has written it down. Chapter two begins “And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this heaven, and this earth” (2:1). This preface does not exist in Genesis. It dives right into “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The Pearl of Great Price provides more background, but this does more than simply provide extra information. It enhances the effectiveness of the story to make a person trust and believe the narrative. Even if a reader understands that Genesis is a book of Moses, the King James version is more distant because it does not include the same kind of introduction as the book of Moses from the Pearl of Great Price.

The most important difference between the two narratives is the use of God’s own voice in the Pearl of Great Price. The story begins: And the earth was without form, and void; and I caused darkness to come up upon the face of the deep; and my spirit moved upon the face of the water; for I am God. (Moses 2:2). This much more personal account not only draws the reader into the story in the first place, but establishes authority in the writer and in God himself. God is able to speak with Moses, and God is able to tell his own story. He does tell his own story because man could not possibly understand completely enough to find words himself for it. The reader is more invested when reading that “I, God, saw the light; and that light was good”, than “God saw the light, that it was good”. God not only did the creating, but he created his story as well. This also makes Moses sound more respectful of God’s creations. In giving God a voice, he is also giving god authority and reverence. The constant repetition of “I, the Lord God” in Moses is also helping the reader remember God and his position in the heavens and in the creation of mankind.

The nearness of God to Adam and Eve is enhanced by the use of God’s first person voice. The fall of Adam and Eve is made more intense by the change to third person when they are banished from God’s presence. This change happens in Moses chapter five. Adam and Eve have eaten the forbidden fruit. God continues on with his story saying “after I, the Lord God, had driven them out, that Adam began to till the earth…as I the Lord had commanded him” (Moses 5:1). This is the last time the narrative is written with “I the Lord”. Adam and Eve no longer were able to communicate with God in the same way, walking and talking in person with him. The reader more fully feels what they felt while reading the story from the book of Moses because the reader also becomes cut off. God is no longer personally narrating his story. The next time we see God in the story is in verse four: And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, an they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not; for they were shut out from his presence”. To be cut off from the Lord is the worst state to be in. This version not only shows the reader that Adam and Eve were cut off, but that mankind is cut off, no longer able to have the story given to them in God’s own voice.

The version of the creation given in Moses is one of the only places in scripture, besides the Doctrine and Covenants, that we see the Lord speaking to us in the first person in scripture. On a spiritual level, this emphasizes that all of mankind is in a fallen state. It makes us yearn for the direct voice of the Lord. It makes us more acutely aware of the fact that we do not dwell in the presence on the Lord. However, it also gives us hope because it gives us a taste of the Lord’s voice. It shows us that we used to be in God’s presence and that our current state is not a permanent one. It gives the reader a goal, to work towards having the Lord’s first person voice in their life eventually back again.

1 comment:

Brently said...

"An english teacher, an english teacher...If only you'd been an english teacher." If that doesn't make sense ask Natalie. She'll know. Very good insights all presented so well...did I really expect anything less?!?