The Story of the Bible

Five thousand years ago a story, which told of the creation of this world in seven days was common among all the people of western Asia. And this was the Jewish version of it.

They vaguely attributed the making of the land and of the sea and of the trees and the flowers and the birds and of man and woman to their different gods.

But it happened that the Jews were the first among all people to recognize the existence of One Single God. Afterwards, when we come to talk of the days of Moses, we shall tell you how this came about.

In the beginning, however, the particular Semitic tribe, which later was to develop into the Jewish nation, worshipped several divinities, just as all their neighbours had done before them for countless ages.

The stories of the creation, however, which we find in the Old Testament, were written more than a thousand years after the death of Moses, when the idea of One god had been accepted by the Jews as an absolutely established fact, and when doubt of His Existence meant exile or death.

You will now understand how the poet who gave unto the Hebrew people their final version of the beginning of all things, came to describe the gigantic labour of creation as the sudden expression of one single and all-mighty will, and as the work of their own tribal God, whom they called Jehovah, or the Ruler of the High Heavens.

And this is how the story was told to worshippers in the temple.

In the beginning, this earth floated through space in somber silence and darkness. There was no land, but the endless waters of the deep ocean covered our vast empires. Then the Spirit of Jehovah came brooding over the sea, contemplating mighty things. And Jehovah said: “here be light,” and the first rays of dawn appeared amidst the darkness. “This,” Jehovah said. “I shall call the Day.”

   But soon the flickering light came to an end and all was as it had been before. “And this,” Jehovah said, “shall be called the Night.” Then he rested from his labours, and so ended the first of all days.

   Then Jehovah said: “Let there be a heaven, which shall spread its vast dome across the waters below, that there may be a place for the clouds and for the winds which blow across the sea.” This was done. Once more there was an evening and a morning, and there was and end to the second day.

   Then Jehovah said: “Let there be land amidst the waters.” At once the rugged mountains showed their dripping heads above the surface of the ocean, and soon they arose mightily towards the high Heavens and at their feet the plains and the valleys spread far and wide. Then Jehovah said: “Let the land be fertile with plants which bear seeds, and with trees that bear flowers and fruit.” And the earth was green with a soft carpet of grass, and the trees and the shrubs enjoyed the soft caress of the early dawn. And once more the morning was followed by eventide , and so the labour of the third day came to an end.

   Then Jehovah said: “Let the Heavens be filled with stars that the seasons and the days and the years may be marked. And let the day be ruled by the sun, but the night shall be a time of rest, when only the silent moon shall show the belated wanderer across the desert the true road to shelter.” This too was done, and so ended the fourth day.

Then Jehovah said: “ Let the water be full of fishes and the sky be full of birds.” And he made the mighty whale and the tiny minnows and the ostrich and the sparrow, and he gave them the earth and the ocean as their dwelling place and told them to increase, that they and little minnows and little whales and ostriches and sparrows might enjoy the blessings of life. And that night, when the birds tucked their tired heads underneath their wings and when the fishes steered into the darkness of the deep sea, there was an end to the fifth day.

Then Jehovah said: “It is not enough, Let the would also be full of creatures that creep and such as walk on legs.” And he made the cows and the tigers and all the beasts we know unto this earth. And when this was done, Jehovah took some of the dust of the soil, and he moulded it into and image, resembling Himself, and he gave it life, and he called it man, and he placed it at the head of all creations. So ended the labour of the sixth day, and Jehovah was contented with what he had wrought and on the seventh day he rested from his work.

Then came the eighth day, and Man found himself amidst his now kingdom. His name was Adam, and he lived in a garden filled with lovely flowers, and with peaceful animals who came and brought their kittens and their puppies, so that he might play with them and forget his loneliness. But even so, Man was not happy. For al other creatures had been given the companionship of their own kind, but Man was alone. Therefore, Jehovah took a rib from Adam’s body and out of it created Eve. Then Adam and Eve wandered forth to explore their home, which was called Paradise.

At last they came to a mighty tree and there Jehovah spoke to them and said: “Listen, for this is very important. Of the fruit of all the trees in this garden you may eat to your hearts’ content. But this is the tee that gives forth the knowledge of Good and Evil. When Man eats the fruit from this tree, he begins to understand the righteousness or the wickedness of his own acts. That means an end to all peace of his soul. Therefore, you must leave the fruit of this tree alone, or accept the consequences, which are very terrible.”

Adam and Eve listened and promised that they would obey. Soon afterwards, Adam fell asleep, but Eve remained awake and began to wonder. Suddenly there was a rustling in the grass, and behold! There was a crafty old serpent.

In those days the animals spoke a language which could be understood by man, and so the serpent had no difficulty in telling Eve how he had overheard the words of Jehovah, and how foolish she would be if she were to take them seriously. Eve thought so too. When the serpent handed her the fruit of the tree, she ate some, and when Adam woke up, she gave him what was left.

Then Jehovah was very angry. At once he drove both Adam and Eve from Paradise, and they went forth into the world to make a living as best they could.

In due course of time they had two children. They were both boys. The name of the elder was Cain, but the younger was called Abel.

They made themselves useful about the house. Cain worked in the fields and Abel tended his father’s sheep. Of course they quarreled as brothers are apt to quarrel.

One day, they both brought offerings to Jehovah. Abel had killed a lamb, and Cain had placed some grain upon the rude stone altar which they had built as a place for worship.

Children are apt to be jealous of each other, and they like to brag about their own virtues.

The wood on Able’ s altar was burning merrily, but Cain had trouble with his flint.

Cain thought that Abel was laughing at him. Abel said no, he was just standing by and looking on.

Cain asked him to go away. Abel said no, why should he? Then Cain hit Abel, and killed him.

Cain was terribly frightened and ran away.

But Jehovah, who knew what had happened, found him hiding in some bushes. He asked him where his brother was. Cain, in a surly mood, would not answer. How should he know? He was not supposed to be looking after his brother, was he?

But of course, this lie did not do him any good. Just as Jehovah had driven Adam and Eve from Paradise because they had disobeyed his will, so he now forced Cain to run away from home, and although he lived for many years, his father and mother never saw him again.

As for Adam and Eve, their lives were very unhappy. Their younger son was dead and their older boy had run away.

They had many more children and they died when they were very old and bent down with endless years of toil and misfortune.

Gradually the children and the grandchildren of Adam and Eve began to populate the earth. They went east and they went west and they went northwards into the mountains and they lost themselves amidst the sandy wastes of the southern desert.

But the crime of Cain had set its mark upon the early race. Forever the hand of man was lifted against his neighbour. People murdered each other and they stole each other’s sheep. It was not safe for a girl to leave her home, lest she be kidnapped by the boys of the neighbouring villages.

The world was in a sad state. A false start had been made. It was necessary to begin all over again. Perhaps a new generation would prove to be more obedient to the will of Jehovah.

In those days there lived a man called Noah. He was the grandson of Methuselah (who lived to be so terribly old) and he was a descendant of Seth, a younger brother of Cain and Abel, who was born after the family tragedy had taken place.

Noah was a good man who tried to be at peace with his conscience and with his fellow men. If the human race had to begin once more, Noah would make a very good ancestor.

Jehovah therefore decided to kill all other people, but to spare Noah. He came to Noah and told him to build a ship. The vessel was to be four hundred and fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide and it was to have a depth of forty-three feet.

Noah and his faithful workmen cut down the mighty cypress trees and laid the keel and built the sides and covered them with pitch, that the hold might be dry. When the third deck had been finished, a roof was built. It was made of heavy timber, to withstand the violence of the rain that was to pour down upon this wicked earth.

Then Noah and his household, his three sons and their wives, made ready for the voyage. They went into the fields and into the mountains and gathered all the animals they could find that they might have beasts for food and for sacrifices when they should return to dry land.

A whole week they hunted. And then the Ark (for so the ship was called) was full of the noise of strange creatures who did not like their cramped quarters and who bit at the bars of their cages.

On the evening of the seventh day, Noah and his family went on board.

Late that night, it began to rain. It rained for forty nights and for forty days. At the end of this time, the whole earth was covered with water, and Noah and his fellow travelers in the Ark were the only living ones to survive this terrible deluge.

Then however, Jehovah had mercy. A violent wind swept the clouds away. Once more the rays of the sun rested upon the turbulent waves as they had done when the world was first created.

Carefully Noah opened a window and peered out. But his ship floated peacefully in the midst of an endless ocean and no land was in sight.

Noah sent out a raven, but the bird came back. Next he sent out a pigeon. Pigeons can fly longer than almost any other bird, but the poor thing could not find a single branch upon which to rest its feet, and it came back to the ark and Noah took it and put it back into its cage.

He waited a week, and once more he set the pigeon free. It was gone all day, but in the evening it returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak. Apparently, the waters were receding .

Another week went by before Noah released the pigeon for the third time. It did not return, and this was a good sign. Soon afterwards the Ark landed on top of Mount Ararat, in the country. Which is now called <country-region wst="on">Armenia</country-region>.

The next day Noah went ashore. At once he took some stones and built an altar and killed a number of his animals and made a sacrifice. And behold, the sky was bright with the colours of a mighty rainbow. It was a sign of Jehovah to his faithful servant. It was a promise of future happiness.

Then Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their wives, went forth and once more they became farmers and shepherds and lived peacefully among their children and their flocks.

But it is very doubtful whether the danger through which they had just passed had taught them a lesson. For it happened that Noah, who possessed a vineyard, had made himself a very pleasant wine, and when he had partaken thereof, more than was wise, he became drunken, and behaved after the fashion of such people.

Two of his sons felt sorry for their old father, and were quite decent about it. But the third one, called Ham, laughed loudly.

When Noah awoke from his sleep, he was exceedingly angry and he drove Ham away from his house, and the Jews believed that he went to Africa and became the first ancestor of the Negro race, for which they felt a great and most unjust contempt.

Thereafter, we don’t hear much about Noah. One of his descendants, called Nimrod, achieved fame as a hunter, but the Bible does not tell what became of Shem and Japheth.

Their sons, however, did something. Which greatly displeased Jehovah. For a while, so it seems, they moved into the valley of the Euphrates, where afterwards the city of Babylon was built. They liked to live in this fertile region and they decided to build a very high tower, which should serve as a rallying point to all the tribes of their own race. They baked bricks and they laid the foundations for a huge structure.

But Jehovah did not want them to remain for ever in one spot. The whole world had to be populated, not just one little valley.

While the people were busy as bees upon their Babylonian tower, Jehovah suddenly made them all speak different dialects. They forgot their own common tongue and a babble of voices arose on the scaffolding.

You cannot build a house when the workmen and the foremen and the architects suddenly begin to speak Chinese and Dutch and Russian and Polynesian. So the people gave up the idea of a single nation, clustered around the feet of a single tower, and within a short time they had spread to the uttermost corners of the earth.

This, in a few words, is the story of the beginning of the world.