LESSON 1In the Beginning

Teaching Material.—Genesis 1:1 to 2:3.

Pupil’s Reading.—Genesis 1:1-5.

Memory Text.—In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1.

Nehemiah 9:6; Job 12:7-10; 26:7-14; Psalms 19:1-6; 33:6-9; 74:16, 17; 90:2; 95:4, 5; 104:1-35; Jeremiah 51:15, 16; Amos 4:13; John 1:1-3; Revelation 4:11.

What, then, are the truths taught us in these chapters? The first is that there has been a creation, that things now existing have not just grown of themselves, but have been called into being by a presiding intelligence and an originating will. No attempt to account for the existence of the world in any other way has been successful. A great deal has in this generation been added to our knowledge of the efficiency of material causes to produce what we see around us; but when we ask what gives harmony to these material causes, and what guides them to the production of certain ends, and what originally produced them, the answer must still be, not matter but intelligence and purpose.—The Expositor’s Bible,Genesis,Marcus Dods.

The record is not a geological treatise, but a hymn of praise to God, magnifying his mighty works, indicating man’s high relation to him, and hallowing the weekly Sabbath, which is man’s day of rest.—The Handy Commentator,A. R. Payne Smith, Dean of Canterbury.

The cosmogony of Genesis shows, in opposition to the conceptions widely prevalent in antiquity, that the world was not self-originated; that it was called into existence, and brought gradually into its present state, at the will of a spiritual Being, prior to it, independent of it, and deliberately planning every stage of its progress. The spirituality, not less than the dignity, of the entire representation is indeed in marked contrast to the self-contradictory, grotesque speculations of which the ancient cosmogonies usually consist. “It sets God above the great complex world process, and yet closely linked with it, as a personal intelligence and will that rules, victoriously and without a rival.”—The Book of Genesis,S. R. Driver.

If anyone is in search of accurate information regarding the age of this earth, or its relation to the sun, moon, or stars, or regarding the exact order in which plants and animals have appeared upon it, he should go to recent textbooks in astronomy, geology, and paleontology. It is not the purpose of the writers of Scripture to impart physicalinstruction, or to enlarge the bounds of scientific knowledge. So far as the scientific or historical information imparted in these chapters is concerned, it is of little more value than the similar stories of other nations. And yet the student of these chapters can see a striking contrast between them and extrabiblical stories describing the same unknown ages handed down from prescientific centuries. Here comes to view the uniqueness of the Bible. The other traditions are of interest only as relics of a bygone past. Not so the biblical statements; they are and ever will be of inestimable value, not because of their scientific teaching, but because of the presence of sublime religious truth in the crude forms of primitive science. If anyone wishes to know what connection the world has with God, if he seeks to trace back all that now is to the very fountain-head of life, if he desires to discover some unifying principle, some illuminating purpose in the history of the earth, he may turn to these chapters as his safest and, indeed, only guide to the information he seeks.—The Christian View of the Old Testament,Frederick Carl Eiselen.

To present the thought of God as the Creator of all things, the rightful ruler of the universe, and to establish in the child an attitude of reverence toward God as Creator, and toward nature as his work.

The best possible preparation for the teaching of this lesson and the accomplishment of its aim is to saturate one’s mind with the God-permeated story of the creation in the lesson passage, and other Bible passages given, in which God stands preeminent as the almighty Creator of the universe.

In the Intermediate period, the four years that follow the Junior, it would be highly interesting, and instructive as well, to discuss with the class the various creation stories that are found in the writings of antiquity, and to compare them with the story as given in Genesis; but these children have not the historical background that would be necessary to enable them to appreciate such discussions. What they are most intensely interested in is the deeds of people. Not what people think or what they are, but what they do, attracts the Junior child; and in like manner it is not the attributes of the Deity, but his power manifested in the universe, creating, ruling, and overruling, that will hold the attention and minister to the spiritual needs of those we teach.

(Show a picture representing a person or persons in the act of prayer. The well-known Angelus is perhaps one of the best for this purpose. Question on it, and get from the children, if possible, the story of the call to prayer.)

The sweet sound of the bell borne on the evening breeze from the steeple of the village church comes to the field where the workers are busy with their tasks. What do they do as they hear it? To whom are they speaking when they bow their heads?

Let us think for a moment of another scene. It is in another country far away from this, and the people look very different from those in our picture, but they too are bowing, not simply the head but the whole body, for they are kneeling and their heads are bowed to the earth. What do you think they are doing? Yes, they are praying, but to what? As we look toward the east we see that the sun is just rising above the horizon, and it is the sun that those people are worshiping. In that country and in others we could find people who worship the moon in the same way, and the reason why these things are done is that all people everywhere have a desire in their hearts to worship, and these people have taken the things that they see which seem to them to be the most wonderful and have made gods out of them. They know nothing about this greatest Book in all the world, which you and I know and love, and so they do not know of the great and good God to whom you and I pray, and whom we call our Father.

If we could see those people and talk with them what would we wish to tell them? It seems to me that for these people, the first story to tell from God’s Word would be the first story in that Book, one that we have heard, perhaps, many times, but which we never tire of hearing, and which we are to hear once more to-day.

It seems strange, does it not? to think of a time when there was no earth; but there was such a time and there our story for to-day begins. All was black darkness where this world now is, but God was in his heaven,for in his Word we read, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” So in the eternity of long, long ago God lived and ruled, and he was thinking of a people whom he would make in his own image to be his children, and of the home that he would make for them. Then it was that from the great black space of the universe darkness fell away, for God said, “Let there be light: and there was light. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.” Under the almighty hand of the Creator, at his command, this planet that we call the earth began to swing in its orbit, but it was wrapped in vapors until God spoke again saying, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” At his words the clouds gathered together above, separating themselves from the waters upon the earth, “and God called the firmament Heaven.” (From this point try reading the story from the Bible, but have it so thoroughly in mind that if you find the attention of the pupils wavering in any degree you can return to the other method. Whether you read or tell the story of the six days, have the pupils open their Bibles and read with you the first three verses of the second chapter.)

“In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:11).

What a beautiful story it is, and how glad we are to know that all the wonders of the earth and sky and sea are the handiwork of our Father! “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

The unwearied sun, from day to day,Does his Creator’s power display,And publishes to every landThe work of an almighty hand.Soon as the evening shades prevail,The moon takes up the wondrous tale,And nightly, to the listening earth,Repeats the story of her birth;While all the stars that round her burn,And all the planets in their turn,Confirm the tidings as they roll,And spread the truth from pole to pole.

The unwearied sun, from day to day,

Does his Creator’s power display,

And publishes to every land

The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail,

The moon takes up the wondrous tale,

And nightly, to the listening earth,

Repeats the story of her birth;

While all the stars that round her burn,

And all the planets in their turn,

Confirm the tidings as they roll,

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

This is what the poet has said about the moon, sun, and stars in the heavens, and then he says that though there is no voice or sound that we can hear, still they truly sing and always of God their Creator. This is the way that the poet has told the story to us:

What though in solemn silence allMove round the dark terrestrial ball?What though no real voice nor soundAmid the radiant orbs be found?In reason’s ear they all rejoice,And utter forth a glorious voice;Forever singing as they shine,“The hand that made us is divine.”—Joseph Addison.

What though in solemn silence all

Move round the dark terrestrial ball?

What though no real voice nor sound

Amid the radiant orbs be found?

In reason’s ear they all rejoice,

And utter forth a glorious voice;

Forever singing as they shine,

“The hand that made us is divine.”

—Joseph Addison.

The most wonderful thing of it all is that though our God is so great he tells us in his Word that we may speak to him in prayer. That is the meaning of the Angelus bell calling to prayer every day, and it is the meaning of other bells which on one day in the week ring sweet and clear, not as a call to prayer in the midst of work or play, but as a call to worship on the day that is holy, set apart from the duties of the week, and made a day of loving service and praise to our God.

If you have not already done so, read carefully the comments and suggestions on page 22, concerning the necessity for helping the children to start the work in their books correctly. Read what is said on page 26 about promotion requirements and let your pupils know at the beginning of their work how important it is for them to do regularly what is asked of them in the Work Book if they wish to earn an honorable promotion at the end of the year.

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