Welcome to Genesis

Bible Survey

Genesis

• Title
  
  

The title of Genesis in the original Hebrew is Ber'eshit. Hebrew usually takes the first word of the book and names it after that. So the first word of Genesis is "In the beginning," and therefore the title is "In the beginning." Greek names this book Genesis, which mean beginning or birth. Latin (usually borrowing from Greek) also calls it Genesis. And English borrowing from those two also calls it Genesis.

• Author
  
  

The author of Genesis has been a great debate in the recent years. Here is where the chips fall. The text makes no claims of authorship. Jewish and Christian tradition attributes it to Moses as a part of the Pentateuch. The rest of the Bible attests to this traditional belief. However if you are German and a Biblical scholar and live in between 1800-1900 you might claim otherwise. As we saw in the last blog they believe in the JEDP Documentary Hypothesis Theory. And this theory is popularly taught on the History Channel, PBS, and most other popular level Biblical programs. However I have tried to show it is a load of manure. There is not that much behind it and it grows out of the arrogance and antisupernaturalism of the modern era. But it you want to believe it fine. But I believe it is a terrible theory and only feeds into man's pride.

• Date Written
  
  

The date that Genesis is written is hard to pin down since it is a historical narrative (history story) and really does not remove itself from that position. But if you believe that Moses wrote Genesis there are several choices you can choose from. Either he wrote it before the Exodus, while still in Egypt (1490 BC). Or he wrote it in his spare time in the wilderness (1425 BC). Or he wrote it towards the end of his life and towards the end of Israel's time in the wilderness (1407 BC).

• The Purpose
  

The purpose of the book to its original audience (the new Jewish nation leaving Egypt) is to remind the Israelites of their history as God's people and to give the foundation for their claims to the land that they were going to (Genesis 15:16; 46:4). The purpose for us today is to learn about all the foundational information from Genesis. Genesis tells us about the beginning of the world, what kind of God God is; The line of Abraham. Just read Hebrews 11 to learn about some of the characters that come from Genesis. On top of that there are great theological teachings in Genesis. There is one God, he created the world, man is in the image of God, the problem in the world is that sin entered in through us. God is holy and cannot stand sin. Man needs to be cleansed from sin in order to stand before God, man is saved by faith. God is sending someone who will bring creation back to a perfect Eden type state. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. One could go on and on about all the themes that begin in Genesis and find their fulfillment and further teaching throughout the Bible.

• The Main Players of Genesis:
  
• Adam (Genesis 1-5)
• First man
• Husband of Eve
• He caused the fall of mankind
• Noah (Genesis 6-9)
• A righteous man, he listened to God and built the ark
  
• Weathered the storm, faithful (Hebrews 11:7)
• Abraham (Genesis 12-25)
• Father of the nation of Israel (and Father of the everyone who has faith in God; Galatians 3:6-9)
• He was promised Land, Seed (a son), and to be a Blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:1-9; Genesis 17:1-8)
• He had a son when he was 100 (Genesis 21:1-5)
  
• Isaac (Genesis 18-35)
• Son of promise (Genesis 21:1-5)
• Offered as a sacrifice, almost (Genesis 22; Hebrews 11:17-20)
• Jacob/Israel (Genesis 25-49)
• The Wrestler (Genesis 25:19-34; 32:22-31)
• The Dreamer (Genesis 28:10-22)
• Israel; Father of 12 tribes
  
• Joseph (Genesis 30-50)
• A son of Jacob (Genesis 30:24)
• A Dreamer (Genesis 37:1-11)
• A righteous man (Genesis 39:8-10; Hebrews 11:22)
  
  
• Literary Elements
  

Genesis can be divided into two main sections. Genesis 1-11 has God focused on mankind in general. In chapters 12-50, God focuses in on one family and works through them, specifically the family of Abraham.

Genesis
Beginning of the Creation				Beginning of the Nation
Genesis 1-11				Genesis 12-50
Four pivotal events				Four pivotal people
Creation	Fall	Flood	Babel	Abraham	Isaac	Jacob	Joseph

• Theological Themes
  

Genesis contains many deep theological themes that create a foundation for the rest of the Bible. The first theme is God as the creator, creating the world ex nihilo, or out of nothing. Many of the other creation stories of this time have God or a god creation the world on accident, or by rearranging material that is already there. Jewish monotheism is the only Ancient Near Eastern religion that has God speaking creation into existence. Furthermore, in most other creation accounts, man is created by the gods as merely a slave worker, or as a plaything of the gods. The Bible is teh only account that has God caring about man and creating him in the very image of God. What special placement and treatment by the Creator.

Another theme is the impact of sin upon the world. God made man, gave him work, gave him a helpmate, and called him to obey his instructions. However man rebelled against God. This through man's world and all of creation into the wrong state (Romans 8:22). The evil that man first let into this world only grew over time. One of the following sins of the Bible is Cain killing his own brother Able. And it only continued to grow. Creation is indeed waiting for this world to be renewed and regenerated by the Redeemer.
This leads into the next theme. Everything went wrong. God though had already prepared a plan. He was going to send someone to fix the problems of this world and crush the serpant who helped bring this trouble in here (Genesis 3:15). God began working out his plan through covanents, or agreements. He made a covanent with Abraham and David that directly worked the redeemer into this world. Jesus is the fulfillment of this recreation plan.
Finally there is the idea of monotheism. Earlier nations all contained polytheism (think of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods systems). The strong message of Genesis is that there is one God. He reveals himself to Abraham and Abraham's ancestors continue this line of thinking down through their family. Today we do not have many who hold to polytheism, but it has been the dominant teaching throughout history.

• Issues of Debate

Creation is an obvious issue of debate here in the States. The Bible present a fairly clear picture of creation, it is out of nothing or ex nihilo. God did not take any pre-created matter and merely formed this world from it. Rather he spoke all into existence. However, then comes in the issue of evolution. There are several kinds of evolution, godless evolution (which is not a choice for any of those who might believe a smig of the Bible) and theistic evolution. Theistic evolution teaches that God used evolution to bring about all that we see. However, that is not the picture the Bible represents. And evolution itself is a theory, it is not a hard science (science by definition can be reproduced in the lab). I see no good reason to forfeit Biblical creation, for a theory that contains many holes. Also creation in and of itself is foundation for much of the Bible. God can demand obedience from us because he is the Creator and we are his creation. He also created us in his image, not merely using evolution to bring us about. These two fairly big teachings must be reconsidered or thrown out if evolution is considered an absolute truth. But because it is merely a theory, we can hang onto the implications of Creation in 7 days and a Creator who gives us his image and calls us to obedience.

• Christology

Christology is the teachings about the coming Messiah, or Christ. The first mention of the coming Messiah is in Genesis 3:15, where he is the one who will crush the serpants head. This is called the protoevangelium, which means the first (proto) message of the good news (evangelium). The coming one is also mentioned as the seed of Abraham. In Genesis 26:4 and in 28:14, he is the one who will bless all the nations.

Genesis 1:1