A while ago I was reading an obscure book called 'Principia: or the Three Octaves of Creation' by Alfred Kennion (1890) and it struck me that he was on to something. In describing the historical cosmogony of our world in just 144 hours, the structure and literary form of Genesis one are perfect. This God-breathed, historic account of cosmogony contains divine words (commands), divine works (and it was so, and God made etc.) and divine seals (and God saw that it was good). Pondering this pattern, it struck me that there were nine 'words' and seven 'seals' in the creation account. The whole pattern was like a strange-loop octave.
Now, it is common to present Genesis one according to the schemata of 'six days', and the literary framework hypothesis does just that - suggesting that days 1-3 parallel days 3-6. When studied carefully, this hypothesis is found to be incorrect. To better understand the symmetric order of the chapter, the chiastic (X-shaped, ring shaped, concentric) pattern should rather revolve around God Himself - and the Royal words, works and seals of this Trinitarian, God-centred, covenantal account which He has graciously provided us:
A (-1(0) 1) ‘Let there be light’ (Wave-particles, quantum strangeness)
(0 (1) 2) ‘Let there be an expansion…’ (Space without light-bearers)
(1 (2) 3) ‘Let the waters be gathered…and…dry appear’ (Three earth spheres)
(2 (3) 4) ‘Let the earth vegetate with vegetation…’ (Two 0D-sessile baramins)
B (3 (4) 5) ‘Let there be light-bearers in the expansion…’ (Space complete)
(4 (5) 6) ‘Let the waters swarm forth swarms’ (Two 3D-locomotory baramins)
(5 (6) 7) ‘Let the earth swarm forth swarms’ (Three 2D-locomotory baramins)
(6 (7) 8) ‘Let us make Man in our image…’ (Man without temple covenant)
A' (7 (8) 9) ‘Observe, I have given you…’ (Covenant of works)
The mid-point of this A-B-A structure is here seen to be the light-bearers - for signs, seasons, days and lights in space, upon the Earth. This mid-point also contains a smaller chiasm.
Tune in later to find out what this symmetry implies for the structure and form of the cosmos itself...
