What is the function of the Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle? And how does it relate to the creation week in general and the third day in particular? In the creation week, there are seven days and ten creative words. Precisely ten times God speaks (“and God said…”). Just as the seven creation days form a key literary structure which shapes and helps us interpret later passages in the Bible, so also do the ten creative words of God help us understand later tenfold patterns in scripture. The most famous tenfold set is of course the Ten Commandments- or literally the Ten Words. We have discussed at length the robust theology of the Divine Logos that is apparent throughout Genesis 1. God creates through His Word, and the elevation of the world takes place through the calling forth of creatures who can exist in a nearer and nearer relation to God through that Word- culminating in Man, the Image of God, who is capable of calling back the Name of the God who endowed Man with His Name (cf. Genesis 4:26, 5:1-2, 12:2, 12:8, etc.). It is in that relation that the entire creation is gathered up into God through the instrumentality of Man. Genesis 5:1-2 places the relation of sonship in clear relation with the idea of being an image. Just as God created Adam in His Image, so also is Seth begotten as the Image of Adam. The reason that Seth in particular is identified as generated in Adam’s image is because Seth is the heir of the family name. It was in the days of Seth and his son Enosh that men began to call upon the “Name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:25-26) and Seth is thus designated as the perpetuation of Adam’s lineage. One acquires an inheritance by virtue of one’s standing in the family name- this is why God promises Abraham a great Name in the context of a covenant granting him an inheritance. Adam was created in the Image of God as His viceregent and heir of the world (Genesis 1:26-28). And Seth carries forth the lineage which bears the promise- a promise fulfilled in the days of Noah, who builds the ark as a world by divine instruction and brings kingship down from heaven as heir of the world (Genesis 6:12-22, 9:1-7).
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