Introduction to the Book of Genesis

 

You will never find another book like the book of Genesis.  If you are serious about Bible Study, learning what the Bible teaches, whether you are a Christian or not, you will find it difficult to understand the rest of the Old Testament and most of the New Testament until you get a clear understanding of Genesis.  The first words you will read express the great value of this exciting Old Testament book: “In the beginning God.”  The book of Genesis takes us backward beyond recorded history, and by revelation divulges the beginning, both of the universe, of the human race and in fact all life.  The driving force of the Genesis message is that in order to understand who we are and where we came from, we must begin with God.  There are really only two ways to understand beginnings.  (1) A person can see everything as the product of random chance operating in an impersonal universe.  Science is now finally coming to see that the world could not have just happened by some big bang, there had to be a creator being to design and put everything together the way it is.  (2) On the other hand, a person can see the creation as the craftsman-like work of a Person.  Genesis confidently affirms this second position.  Genesis maps out the Creation of the universe to a personal God.  It reveals human beings as inimitable, special creations of this God.  It explains the derivation of sin and evil.  It affirms man’s moral responsibility, and lays an underpinning for a doctrine of redemption.  Genesis explains the start of the Hebrews: a people chosen by God to serve as a channel of blessing for the whole world.  Out of the ordinary promises had been given to Abraham, the father of the chosen race, and those promises are the confirmation that God has a continuing purpose for human beings, and He is working out this purpose in history.  The book of Genesis lays the groundwork for understanding all Scripture.  The entire Bible speaks from the context that we find defined in this first book.  God is.  God cares individually about human beings.  God cannot and will not wink at sin but must and will judge sin, but God has also set in motion a method that brings, even sinners back to Him.  In a splendid plan for the benefit of our race, God set this in motion in the call of Abraham.  In this call of Abraham and God’s promises to him, God has revealed the wonder of His endless, redeeming love.

 

Date and Authorship

 

Genesis is the first of five books attributed to Moses.  The great lawgiver, whom God used to break bonds of slavery in Egypt, led the Hebrew people to the very edge of Canaan.  On the way, Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai to receive the laws that shaped the lifestyle of God’s Old Testament people.  While the date of the Exodus is disputed, most conservative scholars agree with tradition and believe Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt about 1450 B.C. Moses led the Hebrew people for some 40 years, and recorded in five books of storyline and legislation the revelations he received from the Lord.  Most scholars agree that Moses relied on stories that were told and retold by Israelites in Egypt.  It is also possible that he even relied on written sources, for his stories of the patriarchs.  Yet one of the most remarkable features of the Genesis account is the accuracy with which Moses connected customs no longer practiced by the people in his time.  There is no doubt that the rest of Scripture, and Christ Himself, viewed Genesis and Moses’ other books as God’s Word, a completely accurate and consistent account of what actually happened in ancient times.

 

Matt. 19:4-6  “4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?  6 Wherefore, they are no more twain, but one flesh.  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

 

 John 8:56-58 “56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.  57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”  

 

 Romans 5:12-15 “12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift.  For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”

 

Chapter Summary

Lesson 1: Genesis 1.1 "Creation's God"

Lesson 2 - Genesis 1.1 "God and Origin"

Lesson 3 - Genesis 1.1 "The God Who Created Everything - Or - Chance"

Lesson 4 - Genesis 1.1-3 "God Creating Earth (and the rocks)"

Lesson 5 - Genesis 1.3-5 "Day 1 - God and the Light"

Lesson 6 - Genesis 1:6-8 "Day 2 - God and the Atmosphere"

Lesson 7 - Genesis 1:9-13 "Day 3 - From Shining Seas to Sinking Seeds"

Lesson 8 - Genesis 1:14-19 "Day 4 - The Creation of the Heavenly Bodies"

Lesson 9 - Genesis 1:20-23 "Day 5 - The Creation of the Fish and the Fowl"

Lesson 10 - Genesis 1:24-26 "Day 6 - The Creation of Monkeys and Men"

Lesson 11 - Genesis 1:24-25 "Day 6 - The Creation of all Creatures Great and Small"