The Great Gospel of John
Volume 4
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus near Caesarea Philippi (cont.)
- Chapter 161 -
Cyrenius criticizes the Mosaic history of Creation.
1
(Cyrenius:) "Nevertheless, I still cannot really befriend myself with Moses. It must contain many extraordinary great and true things; but who, except You understand what he has written?
2
Especially his history of creation is kept in the dark! At one place it says: 'Let us make people, an image equal to us, who rule over the fish in the sea, over the birds under the sky, over the cattle and over the whole earth and over the worms, creeping on the earth!' And God created man according to His image, to the image of God He created him; and created a male and a female. And God blessed them and said to them: 'Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth and submit it to you and rule over the fish in the sea, over the birds under the sky and over all animals creeping on the earth!' And God said: 'Look here. I have given you all kind of herbs, which seeds itself on the whole earth, and all kind of fertile trees, which seed themselves for you as food, and all animals on earth and all birds under the sky and all the worms living on earth, so that they eat all kind of green herbs!' And it happened like this. And God looked at everything what He has made, and see, everything was very good! And from the evening and the morning became the sixth day.'
3
With this text one should regard the history of creation as concluded; only, this is by far not the case! Later, after God the Lord looked at His creation and found everything very good, Moses again let God create the first human from clay or lump of earth and let God breathe a soul through the nose in him, and man would be perfectly completed; it only seems that God has forgotten, that a man must also have a woman!
4
In the earlier text it says, however: 'And God created a man and a woman'; but now, later, Moses leaves Adam alone for a long time and only then, in a deep sleep, lets God create the first woman from his rib! Now, who can connect this in a sensible manner, apparently understands more than me!
5
According to the first text, God immediately indicates to Adam and Eve, that they should rule over the whole earth and all creatures on it. He blessed them immediately; since it says: 'And God blessed them.' And therefore He also must have blessed the earth and its creatures; since it also is written, that God Himself found everything as very good, what He has created. However, what God regards Himself as very good, can impossibly other then already be highly blessed by the contentment of God!
6
Thus, in the first text the whole earth and the first human couple appears as blessed in the highest degree! However, in the after text everything becomes a completely different outlook: The earth has only one inhabitable garden, which of course must be pretty large, since in its centre four of Asia's largest rivers originating. There the first man was made by God from clay and a living soul was breathed into his nostrils; he saw and named the trees and herbs, the fish in the sea, the birds under the sky and all walking and creeping animals on earth.
7
The insects, flies, bees, wasps, hornets, butterflies, and a great number of the smaller inhabitants of the air, which one cannot call worms, just like many of the countless inhabitants of the sea, except for the fish, Moses seems to have forgotten; since he talks in the air rather than under the sky, only about birds, and in the sea only about fish. This is also a little strange!
8
But lets leave it at that; since under the word 'birds', in the broadest sense one can finally understand everything living in the air, and under the general concept 'fish', all the animals living in the water. But if Moses also has stretched the given concepts so widely, as it is necessary for his correct understanding, this I could not maintain at all!
9
Nevertheless, as it may be, with that one I still could go along; but how he in the preceding text on the sixth day of creation let God create, just after God's call 'Let us create people according to the image of God!', a man and a woman, but in the after text God has formed the man from clay long before, and the woman only very much later from the rib of the man, the whole earth also by far appears more unblessed, and there is no mentioning of a blessing of the first human couple, to the contrary by threatening them with death and cursing of the whole earth they are forbidden to eat the fruit from a certain tree, and as it happened that after violation of this commandment the earth in all seriousness was cursed and shall only carry thorns and thistles, and in addition that he must die and that he will be earning his bread with sweat in his face, - yes, here not the slightest trace of any blessing and the mentioned highest contentment of the completed works of God as stated in the preceding text, is visible! Yes, You our most divine friend, this surely is also a Doctrina dura (hard lesson to comprehend), and even with the best intentions one cannot find your way around!
10
Frankly said: What You, o Lord, are and what You teach, I believe more than rock fast; but with the somewhat strongly confused Moses, stay away from me! If it is possible for You to enlighten me about it, it is appreciated; but if this is for the time being and according to You order not possible, at least for me, I couldn't care less! I and all of us have a perfect light from You and therefore can easily get along without the after light of Moses. To what use is a teaching to us, if we cannot understand it in its primordial truth?! Better one comprehensible teaching word, than ten-thousand words which nobody understands!"