(If you're looking for another fun all-ages storytelling with the Bible, check out The Children's Illustrated Bible!)
This is meant to be a fun reading (with some commentary) for all ages through Scripture. Please do not take this as a substitute for reading through the Bible on your own.
Our story begins, at the start of the Book of Genesis, with an ellipsis, a “. . .”. This is a sign that this story does not begin with the beginning of God, if such a thing is possible. It does not signify when God first thought of creating anything, if such a thing can exist in time. It does not even signify when God first prepared the raw materials to create the universe, if that is how such things work. This “…” merely signifies that there were things that occurred before our world was created, yet we are simply starting at its beginning, for “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
God set aside the work of creation in a week. How this measures in our time, we do not know. Yet God’s work mirrors our work in our week. It is in this week that God made:
- On Day One, God made light and separated it from the darkness. The light was named “Day” and the darkness “night”. Thus there was morning, and night. Thus, the creation of the markers of our daily cycle, ended the first day.
- On Day Two, God made a dome called “Sky”, distinct from the waters.
- On Day Three, God separated the waters from each other with land. This in turn led to the creation of the seas. Plants, in turn, filled the earth.
- On Day Four, God created lights in the sky: the stars. God then marked two huge lights, the greater to rule over the day, and the lesser to rule over the night. The greater light being the Sun and the lesser being the Moon.
- On Day Five, God created the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky. God commanded that they be fruitful and multiply.
- On Day Six, God created all the creatures that inhabit the land. Finally, God created, in God’s own likeness, humanity, both male and female. God gave people dominion, that is care, over all other creatures. God also told the people to be fruitful and multiply. This command was given to all of humanity, not one group of individuals or another. It is a reminder that all of us, married or single, with or without children, having biological or adopted kin, are responsible in raising up the next generation after us.
After each day, God saw the Divine work to be good, as we all hope to see our work be in our own work week. On Day Seven, God rested, a reminder to us to rest from our labours that we might be refreshed and take our Sabbath with our Lord.
Yet there is another story of how all things were made, and because all stories told in true honor of our Lord are Holy, it too is shared here.
This story starts with the creation of the first person out of the dust and continues with God creating all things for this person. God even makes a garden for this person, a place named Eden. God told this human creation that all fruits of the trees were up for grabs, except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for if one were to eat of it, on that day thereof, that person would surely die.
God saw that it was not good for the person to be alone, so God made other creatures to be helpers for the human. Yet nothing seemed to quite fit. Then one day, God put the man into a deep sleep, and took a rib from the man to form it into another person, a woman. God gave the woman to the man that they might be companions and cling to one another.
In these days, which is most certainly foreshadowing, the man and woman had no need for clothes, yet unlike us were not ashamed of this fact.
It is here that the serpent enters the story. It suddenly appears, directing questions to the woman. Firstly, it wonders if the man and woman cannot, in fact, eat from any tree in the garden. It is here the woman gives a curious answer, for she adds to what the man was first told. Not only does she say they may eat of any tree, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (which she merely proclaims is the tree in the midst of the garden), she adds that neither can they touch it. This addition seems to be something the man added in telling her what God initially told him, though there is no way of knowing for certain.
The reason that they cannot eat, perhaps even touch, the tree in the middle is that if they do so, they will die. The serpent assures the woman this is not so. It suggests that God's command is because if they eat of the tree, then their eyes shall be open, and they shall be like God, knowing good and evil.
With these words, desire is stirred up, for the fruit (of what kind, we know not. It could be an apple as readily as something else) is such as to make one wise. So the woman takes the fruit and gives it to her husband, who, as we learn in the Good Book, was with her the whole time, though he did not deign to speak up. And with that said, or rather not said, they eat.
The first thing eating of the fruit reveals is that the man and woman are naked, that is, they are without clothes. There was no need of them before, yet somehow the added knowledge of evil, the loss of innocence perhaps, makes clothes necessary for them. So the man and woman fasten leaves together to cover themselves.
Now God is always present, and God was certainly present in Eden. The man and woman hear God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Because they knew in their hearts that they had done wrong, they did what most people do in such a situation: they hid.
Yet God knew they were there and called out "Where are you?" The man then admits, "I hid from you, because I was naked." God immediately asks who told the man he was naked and immediately gets at the heart of the matter: did the man eat of the tree?
Here starts 'the blame game'. The man blames the woman, pointing out that it was God who gave her to him. The woman then blames the serpent. The serpent, curiously, blames no one else.
God then lays out the consequences of these actions. First, the serpent will now crawl on its belly. There will also be conflict between the serpent and the woman as well as the woman's children. The child of the woman will strike the head of the serpent as the serpent strikes the heal of the child.
God then speaks to the woman. Giving birth will now be a painful act for her. God also mentions that the equality in relationship between her and the man has now been corrupted.
Because the man disobeyed the command to eat the fruit, God now declares he too will face hardship. He will now till the land for his food, and it will be grave and difficult. God then reminds the man that he is now mortal and as God made him from the dust, so to the dust man shall return.
Now the man's name comes from the Hebrew word for what he is: a man or Adam. It is only here, as they leave the Garden that Adam names his wife Eve since she is the mother of all.
While mankind can no longer live in the Garden as a consequence of their action, and is driven out with an armed angel to guard Eden from here on out, God is still merciful. The Lord makes garments for Adam and Eve as they leave Paradise for the rest of the world.
And their story doesn't end there. Adam and Eve start a family, first with Cain and then his brother Abel. Each boy brings an offering to the Lord. Cain offers the fruits of the earth he has tilled. Abel offers of the lambs of his flock. God finds favor with Abel's gift, though not with Cain's, and Cain is, perhaps sympathetically, upset. Yet God tries to cheer him up. He gives Cain the hope that he can try again. He also warns Cain not to give in to sin.
Unfortunately Cain does not listen. He kills his brother instead. Much like with his parents, God approaches Cain with a question, "Where is your brother?" Cain responds "Am I my brother's keeper?"
The simple answer might be yes, but God points to the obviousness of what has happened. The consequence is that Cain will no longer be able to be a tiller of the soil. He will now be a fugitive.
Cain has an interesting response. He claims this punishment is too much for him to bear. Though Adam and Eve were the first, there are mysteriously others in the world who Cain worries will kill him. God, again out of mercy, gives Cain a mark, Cain's Mark, so that all who meet him will know not to kill him. Then Cain goes and finds a place to live in Nod, East of Eden. From there, Cain makes his own family and builds a city.