The words “see” and “hear” in Genesis speak to peace. When we forget these actions, or do them poorly, reality is hidden. Injustices are overlooked, the poor are not heard and the powerful take much. Peace cannot come. Likewise, if a person looks and hears, there is the possibility of peace. But only in real seeing and hearing can we build towards a peace that is real.
To see
And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:10
The importance of seeing is in the very beginning of creation told in Genesis, chapter one. At the end of each new day, with the exception of the second day when God made the sky to separate the waters above and below it, God looks and sees that his work is good.
Now the creation story could have just had God say, “and it was good.” But that is not what this story says. First God takes a look at the work and sees that the work is good. It is the act of seeing that establishes that it is real. It is not about thinking, it is about seeing.
“And God saw that it was good.” A sentence so simple we might skip over it. Missing the power of it. One sentence repeated six times in this story saying what a creator needs to do upon creating: To look to make sure that in the real world, what you created is in fact good. How often do we do that? How often are worlds built that aren’t good, just by our looking away. Refusing to see. How often do we say, “Oh, I am just fine” when we know there is something not right in us. Really looking at the impact of our actions on the world is one of the hardest things to do. And looking away from it, one of the easiest.
Consider the importance of a creator seeing what is real. Whether the creation is the universe, or a community, or a life.
On the sixth day God completes creation with the making of humans and the gift of food to all life that breathes. Then, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” Surely peace is possible.
To hear
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze…
Genesis 3:8
This is the first time in the Hebrew Bible that the act of hearing is told. The one earlier phrase that you get any sense of sound is in the second verse of Genesis at the very beginning of creation when “a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” But there was no living creature yet to hear.
And then God puts Adam and Eve in a garden and hearing enters creation. And what a knock-out-of-the-park this first telling is. Can’t you just hear the sound of the steps softened by the green under foot and the gentle breeze that only evening can bring? Written two thousand years ago and still speaks to us. But this is the beauty of this ancient book. We have all very simply known this moment told here. A moment of peace when we hear something greater than ourselves.
And that leads to another observation. The first sounds heard in the creation story are not big thunderbolt superhero sounds but quiet sounds. Definitely sounds that cannot be heard if you are making a lot of noise. They are sounds requiring your silence and attending to the sights and sounds of the real world around you.
To see and hear beyond Genesis
Some people think of God as outside reality. Rosy glasses stuff. But a close reading of the earliest writings show God rooted in reality. Demanding us to look at and listen to all of creation in its realness. There is never a time for covering our eyes or plugging our ears and yet, the rest of the Bible records us doing just that.
Take a deep dive with someone you know. The Bible is many things to many people. Which is the beauty of this old, old collection of testaments to the challenge and amazement of being a one-off human being. The Bible passes from hand to hand across human time and human space.
Share, with the hope that a story in the Bible will be a stepping stone to seeing and hearing another person’s insights into the questions the Bible demands that we ask.
Check out another posting on what the Bible says about seeing:
Amos 8:1-2 Looking deeper at America
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