Blog 5: The Door
After six days of creation, His dividing to make inhabitable spaces in the first three days, and then filling those spaces with life in the latter three days (Gen. 1), God, having finished His work of restoring order, rested on His throne on the seventh day, blessed it, and sanctified a holy space of time filled with His Presence (Gen. 2:1-3). The seventh day had no “evening and morning” to give it a concluding persona.
Why does Genesis 1 end before including the seventh day? Why is the seventh day the start of Genesis 2? What should we make of the distinctive style of the six days of creation, contrasted with the pattern-breaking structure of the seventh day?
Genesis 1’s 434-word count illustrates a warrior King’s acts of delivering His three-tiered realm from darkness and chaos by dividing and blessing through judgment to sanctify it as His dwelling. The fourth Hebrew letter, dalet, דֶלֶת, which has a numerical value of 434, (4 + 30 + 400), represents a door–transition space from outside to inside the house. Often, the door symbolized the character of the household. The Hebrew words for “the judgment” of Elohim and “to sanctify” share the same numeric value as dalet, 434, (112 + 122 + 132 ). This suggests God’s acts of ordering through dividing and blessing in Genesis 1 lead to a door into the light of His Presence, Eden’s Sabbath (Genesis 2). God told Cain that a sin offering, lying at the door to Eden’s garden, would restore him to the rest of God’s Presence. This prefigures the Passover door marked with the blood of the Lamb. In Hebrew culture, judgment occurred at the door or gate, and the judge–often a refuge defending the oppressed–carried out justice. The judge was viewed as the door to life, offering shelter from death (Seekins, p. 162, 175). The Hebrew word picture for Eden, “to see the door of life” (עֵדֶן), creates a play on two Hebrew words: “to see the judge” (ע + דן) and “eternal life” (עד +נ). Ultimately, a door stands open to the throne room of God for judgment and sanctification through Yeshua (Rev. 4:1).
The fourth letter also connects to the fourth commandment, which is based on a seven-day Sabbath cycle established on the fourth day of creation. The words for “light” (maw-ore/meh-o-raw, Strong’s H3974, and ore, Strong’s H215) appear eight times in the fourth paragraph of creation (Gen. 1:14-19). The function of the fourth day’s lights is indicated eleven times by the prefix lamed (to/for): to separate, for signs, for appointed feasts, for days and years, for lights, to give light, to govern the day, to govern the night, to give light again, to rule, and to divide. The numbers four and eleven will be discussed later, as central to atonement and the Calculated Hebrew Calendar (CHC).
Genesis 2 describes the seventh day with the Creator King enthroned in its sacred space and the creation of His co-rulers in the fruitful garden of Eden, linking Genesis 1 and 2, making full the holy space of time.
Genesis 2 outline:
The three-fold seventh-day signature of creation, the King taking up residence (Gen. 2:1-3)
Day three of Genesis 1, no human formed (Gen. 2:4-6)
Man created to have dominion over the earth (Gen. 2:7)
Man put in the garden and given trees for food (Gen. 2:8-9)
Four rivers flow out of Eden to fructify the earth (Gen. 2:10-14)
Man put in the garden to tend and keep, not to eat from one tree (Gen. 2:15-17)
Day six of Genesis 1, no partner found (Gen. 2:18-20)
Woman built to rule in fruitfulness with the man (Gen. 2:21-22)
The man and woman govern with their King in Eden’s garden home (Gen. 2:23-25)
Just as God put the luminaries in the sky to give light upon the earth and to govern the day and the night, dividing the light and darkness, God also put human priests in the earthly garden to rule by His tree of life with its dividing rivers of life, the Holy Spirit, flowing out to all the earth.
With a backdrop of chaos in Genesis 1:2, God created and filled the heavens, waters, and earth, marking a door to Eden. Genesis 2 repeats the theme of created space and its population, but now priestly images occupy the space and time of holiness inside the door. Likewise, there is filled space and a door to Noah’s three-story ark and to the three-sectioned tabernacle and temple. And the bloody door of Passover also marks the entrance to YHWH’s three holyday seasons, spring, summer, and fall, during which He calls us to come before His Presence, justified.
Takeaway:
The unusual structure of Genesis 1 and 2’s chapter break points to a gateway for being justified and sanctified to enter God’s holy space, where human priests can enjoy living and ruling with His wisdom under His kingship. Chapter 2 presents the role of those who fill the Sabbath sacred space, taking His Holy Spirit’s wisdom into all the earth. Living in the presence of God, absorbing the light of His Presence, creates an abundant, infinite Eden Sabbath. In the next blog, the door’s identity will be linked to the sacrifice lying at the door.
Fun Factors:
The word count of Genesis 1 and 2 is 762, which equls the sum of four consecutive prime numbers: 181, 191, 193, and 197. These are the 42nd , 43rd , 44th , and 45th primes, as well as the 19th , 20th , and 21st Pythagorean primes.
181 = 102 + 92, 3 × 181 = 543, the value of “I AM who I AM”; 543 + 345 = 888, Greek for Jesus Christ; 345 = letter sum of Moses
191 = 3 × 43 – 1; 1091 stamps Israel’s deliverer and exodus with light (more on this in Blogs 42 and 43 Fun Factors) 193 = 122 + 72, 12 and 7 relate to the 19-year Metonic cycle’s common and leap years
197 = 142 + 12, 14 concerns the Passover, and 14 + 1 = 15 relates to the night of the exodus, Abib 15
762 = 6 × 127; 127 = Hebrew “King of Glory” of Psalm 24, opening the everlasting doors to take us into His residence
Genesis 1’s letter sum is 100099 which equals 31(502 + 272). Number 31 represents the divine name El, 50 symbolizes jubilee restoration, and 27 is linked to the Holy of Holies cube.
Genesis 2:1-3, the seventh day, 144 letter sum = 10502, the same as “And God finished” = 152.
Genesis 1 plus Genesis 2:1-3 (100099 + 10502) = 110601 = 32 × 12289; 12289 = 1082 + 252 and is the 1470th prime (1-4-7 × 10) and the 725th Pythagorean prime, 725 = 72 + 262
Squaring Genesis 1’s six days of creation added to a separate seventh, 62 + 12 = 37, the constant of 185 of God’s names and titles.