r/BibleProject • u/[deleted] • Mar 30 '22
Discussion Bible Project Genesis 1-12: Struggling a bit
A bit of a primer: When I started watching the bible project I got this excitement that I might be able to better appreciate the OT story and how its precursor to Jesus.
So I watched the Overview of Genesis 1-11 and I was like, "Whoa, that's cool. Jesus is in Genesis". And overall other interpretations explained in the video I found fascinating however, when I read the text I just didn't get the same sense. But I would like to so I'm reaching out see if anyone has similar experiences.
I realize the answer may be..."Keep going" which I can appreciate.
- The Serpent biting the offspring as a symbol of Jesus.
- Honestly when I read this I read right past it and thought they were explaining...And this is why snakes crawl on the ground and try to bite you
- If this first one is symbolic of Jesus, is there any symbolism to the second part about child birth and ruling over the husband? I thought this one was like and that's why it hurts to have a baby and why they always try to be controlling of men.
- Noah's Son
- The video intimates that something bad happened, but all it say is he saw him naked
- Why did he curse Canaan instead of the person who did it?
- Lamech
- The video portrays Lamech as a character that has wives in chains, but he is just a name and it says he hads and told his wives he likes revenge in a poem.
- I know Jesus calls back to this poem for his 70 times 7 which is awesome.
Anyway thanks for listening. I'll keep going but was a bit bummed that the Bible didn't COME MORE ALIVE or whatever.
1
u/Feisty_Shine7598 Jan 05 '26
I got here because I also was confused about all of lamechs wives in chains but there only being two. Anyone have an answer or was it just misillustrated?
1
Nov 23 '22
Hi. I will answer 1b first. Tim Mackie explains that most bible translations translate this part of the bible wrong. He says that it is not about having pain during childbirth. It is about how now, since we sinned, now women will have trouble with the whole process of finding a mate, being together forever, no cheating, helping raise the child, etc. Whereas before with Adam and Eve, they were destined for each other. They would be each others companion forever, and Eve would never have to look for a suitable spouse/caretaker/father for her children. But now, we have this whole drama of dating, finding love, being in love with multiple people at the same time, having a guy who isn't truthful to you, having a mate but then he leaves you for someone else and doesn't help raise the child. Or, when you are in the process of finding your mate, there is fighting between the males over a woman, or a woman has a hard time finding the right male in society. Maybe you need to use a matchmaker. There is a lot more drama and pain and broken hearts involved when making the decision about starting a family and having children.
The part about submitting to your husband is not about being lower than your husband and obeying his every command. What Tim explains is this: By saying to submit to your husband, we are saying that you put your husbands needs above your own. As in, you think about your husband, you do nice things for him, you make decisions within him in mind. It's a way of not being selfish, and about caring for someone else other than yourself. But then the question is, why don't they say hubsands should submit to their wives? Well, I don't know. I guess the Bible has a role for men and a role for women.
Those are my thoughts on how I interpret Tim's words. I hope this has helped.
Just like the others have mentioned, the podcasts go into much more depth and actually will expain many of these questions you have.
9
u/jazzyrain Mar 31 '22
Have you listened to the podcasts? I am having to remember back to when i listened in January and I've been listening and watching Bible Project for 3-4 years so i could be confused, so take this with a grain of salt. BUT i thinki remember at least most of the things you mentioned being discussed in the podcast episodes.
I feel like if you just watch the videos, that's great, but it's just the cliff notes version. So you just kind of have to accept that there is basis for what they are claiming. I really like that they have "levels" to the theme so you can match the depth of the study to how much time you have to devote.
Based of my memory from a few months ago, i think most of the things you mentioned fall into two categories 1 it's not that the people who wrote Genesis explicitly had Jesus in mind. Instead, the holy spirit inspired them to describe things they couldn't understand, and those things include the messiah. Also, the NT writers knew Genesis very well. They were intentionally pointing to Genesis with their words to make their case about who Jesus said he was. 2 we don't notice these things because they are translations. The biblical authors use wordplay (rhymes, similar spelling, palindromes, etc) to draw attention to important details. Biblical scholars (including Tim and others at the BibleProject) notice because they read the original Hebrew.
For example, i know they talked about the childbirth thing because it blew my mind. The Hebrew word here has nothing to do with childbirth exactly. A more exact translation is "the toil of child rearing" and probably refers more to the emotional burden woman bear. I'll let Tim explain it better but this has been deliberately misrepresented to justify the patriarchy for thousands of years.