The Story (Top, Clockwise)

The First Day: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” -- Genesis 1:3-5

The Second Day: “And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.” -- Genesis 1: 6-8

The Third Day:  “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so…And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.” Genesis 1: 9-13

The Fourth Day: “And God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon and earth.’ And it was so. God made the two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser to rule night – and the stars…And God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.” --Genesis 1: 14-19

The Fifth Day: “And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good…And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”--Genesis 1: 20-23

The Sixth Day: “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them…God saw everything that he had made and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”-- Genesis 1: 24-31

The image of the sixth petal comes from the second Hebrew creation story preserved in Genesis 2: “Then Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.”-- Genesis 2: 7

And the Seventh Day: “And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested it from all the work that he had done in creation.”-- Genesis 2: 2, 3

The Symbols (From the top, clockwise)

The Basket in the Reeds
The basket in the reeds recalls the story of the infant Moses, who along with all the other Hebrew children, was threatened with extinction by Pharaoh’s edict. When Moses’ mother could no longer hide the child safely, “she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river’ (Exodus 2:3). From there he was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter in whose household Moses was raised to become a respected leader. The basket is a sign of divine providence at work, causing the evil design of humanity to serve God’s purpose.

The Serpent on the Pole
The book of Numbers records how the people of Israel, while in Edom on their way to the land of promise, were bitten by fiery serpents as a consequence of their impatience with God and Moses. After Moses’ intercession the Lord said to him: “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live” (21:8). The symbol becomes a sign of God’s grace even in the midst of God’s displeasure.

Early Christians saw the pole on which Moses lifted the serpent an “anticipatory cross,” which came to be known as the Tau Cross, shaped like the Greek letter T. The parallelism was reinforced by Jesus’ saying in John’s gospel: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (3:14)

The Stone Tablets
According to Deuteronomy, when God and the people of Israel entered into covenant with each other at Sinai, Yahweh wrote upon two tables of stone the “Ten Words” (or commandments) which summarized the covenant responsibilities of Israel. God gave them to Moses, who then shared them with the people. The tablets represent the instruction or law of God. The first tablets Moses broke before the p people upon discovery of the molten calf (Deuteronomy 9). After Moses’ intercession, a second set of tablets was similarly written and was placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 10). The commandments, which constitute the fundamental moral law for both Jews and Christians, may be found in Exodus 20:12-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-12.

The Burning Bush
The burning bush is a symbol of the call of Moses to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of the Egyptians. At the time, Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law when he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. “There an angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet I was not consumed...When Yahweh saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, “Here I am.’ (Exodus 3:2, 4)

The bush also has been used as a symbol of the annunciation to Mary of the coming of Jesus to deliver the world from the bondage of sin. The bush is a reminder of the ways in which God calls people in the midst of everyday living.

The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant symbolizes both Hebrew worship and the presence of God. The ark was a portable wooden chest which served to guide Israel in wandering (Numbers 10:37), to lead in war (Numbers 10:35-36) and to be a medium for oracles (I Samuel 3). It was regarded as a throne-seat above which Yahweh was invisibly enthroned (I Samuel 4:4). Constructed by Moses himself, according to tradition (Deuteronomy 10:3) it was stationed at Shiloh during the days of the tribal confederacy, and was eventually brought by David to Jerusalem (II Samuel 6). Inside of the ark were stored the stone tablets, Aaron’s rod, and a jar of the manna, the “bread” of the wilderness, all reminders of the grace and providence of God through the wilderness experience.

The Scroll
The scroll is the book of the Hebrew people upon which was written the words of the Torah (the five books of Moses), as well as the writings of the prophets and historians of Israel. The scroll is a symbol of the written testimony of God’s word to the covenant community.

The Star of David
The six-pointed star of David represents the covenant which God made with King David as recorded in II Samuel: “Thus says Yahweh of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel…When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you…and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (7:8, 12, 13). From that promise sprang the hope that God would send that one in David’s lineage to establish that eternal kingdom.

Said the angel Gabriel to Mary of the son whom she was to bear: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32, 33)

The Menorah
The seven-branched candlestick, called the Menorah by the Jewish people, is still used commonly in synagogues. Instructions for the crafting of the original seven-branched golden candlestick are given in Exodus 25:31-40. Its purpose was to illumine the interior of the holy place. The significance of the seven lights is variously interpreted to represent the seven days of creation or the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, seven being the number of perfection and completeness.