To give and to heal in Genesis is about love. Genesis introduces us to a Creator who gives extravagantly and heals generously. Something that humanity can find difficult to do. When we take a deep dive into the origin stories of the power of gifts and healing, confidence can return.
To give
God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. Genesis 1:29-30
The first chapter of the first book of the Hebrew Bible. Thirty-two times does God act with creation. God creates, makes, blesses, sees and speaks. But their last act before seeing that everything was very good was to give.
God gave to everything with breath food to eat. Green plants, promising no breath is lost to feed another. There is no death in the beginning.
To heal
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. Genesis 20:17-18
Abimelech is King Abimelech of Gerar where Abraham and the Hebrew people were aliens. And it is to this king, and not a Hebrew, that the earliest stories of the Hebrews first use the word heal.
The image we have of the God of the Hebrew Bible is one of vengence but here we see the breadth of healing that is possible.
Give and heal beyond Genesis
In the Creation story of Genesis there is no speaking of love. Instead God makes and gives to creation. As humans move out of the garden, expressions of love are made. Love between people and a love for God.
Might it be something to note that for the first Creator, it is the acts of loving in giving and healing, rather than the naming, that was told?
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