THE INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF GENESIS
Author: Traditionally, both Jews and Christians believe Moses is the author and compiler of Genesis and each of the five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch …
Date: Genesis was written during Israel’s forty years of wandering the wilderness, this was during the time between them crossing the Red Sea and their entrance into Canaan …
Major Theme – “The early history of man and of Israel … GENESIS, which means “ORIGIN”, is divided into two parts … The first is the account of the creation of the world and the beginning of humans with Adam and Eve, and the history of their descendants … The second part of Genesis concerns the early history of Israel, starting with the three patriarchs of the Hebrews, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve tribes that were their descendants … God created all things good, and although His creation rebelled and sinned against Him, he still loves and cares for His people …
Background: Genesis covers the longest time span of any book in the Bible, stretching from the creation of the world to the coming of the Hebrews to Egypt … The first three chapters of Genesis are reflected in the last three Chapters of Revelation, the Alpha and Omega of writings “given by inspiration of God” – (2Timothy 3:16) …
The History of Creation
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness [a]was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. [b]So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a [c]firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So, the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great [d]lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living [e]creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the [f]firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over [g]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that [h]moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is [i]life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So, the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
1:1: God the Father made heaven and earth … “I believe in One God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth “– (Creed) …
1:2: The Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit – (BasilG; EphS) … He proceeds from the Father, and is “the Lord and Giver of Life” – (Creed) … Since He is Lord, He is coequal with the Father, and His Coworker in making heaven and earth …
1:3: God the Father spoke to His word and Only-Begotten Son, through whom He made the light – (AthanG) … Since the Son, too, is Lord, He is coequal with the Father, and is His Coworker in making heaven and earth …
1:4-25: Since the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit made heaven and earth, they also made everything mentioned in the verses …
1:26-30: The Holy Trinity also made man … God the Father is speaking to God the Son – (JohnChr), and He uses the personal pronouns US AND OUR … These pronouns indicate three distinct Persons … The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit …
The word IMAGE is in singular, and shows the three distinct Persons of the Holy Trinity are one in nature and are undivided … For it does not say, “Our images” – (HilryP) … Therefore, the Holy Trinity is one undivided nature in Three Persons – natures …
Man is not one in nature with the Holy Trinity … But he was made in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity; and he was made male and female … Therefore, the dignity of each man and each woman is this image and likeness …
1:31: Everything God has made, including man, is VERY GOOD, because God is good … Nothing He made is therefore evil in itself … So then, human nature is good in itself … But sin is a free will – (Choice – a way of life we all chose to participate in …) and is also in contrary both to God’s nature and human nature …
The Garden of Eden
2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the [a]history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Life in God’s Garden
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel;[b] it is the one which goes toward the east of [c]Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took [d]the man and put him in the garden of Eden to [e]tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you[f] shall surely die.”
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to [g]Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He [h]made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called [i]Woman, Because she was taken out of [j]Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be[k] joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2 Study & Read – (vv. 1-25)
2:1-3: God finished the making of heaven and earth for man’s sake … He rested from His creative activity on the seventh day to show His love and providential care for man, and to invite man to enjoy this Sabbath-rest … For as Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath “– (Mark 2:27) … Man failed to keep this Sabbath – rest … But Jesus fulfilled it for man by resting in the tomb on Great and Holy Saturday, after He said on the cross, “it is finished” – (John 19:30) … For He (Christ) destroyed sin and death, and rose again on the first day of the week … Through His saving work on man’s behalf, He is man’s Sabbath-rest, and now He invites all to find rest in Himself – (Matthew 11:28-30) …
2:4: Here the Book of Genesis refers to itself by name …
2:7: God formed Adam’s body out of dust from the ground … The breath life is the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life – (The Creed) … God breathed the breath of life into man’s body, and he became a living soul … Therefore, Adam was a living soul because he possessed a body, a soul, and the grace of the Holy Spirit …
After Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus breathed on His disciples, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” – (John 20:22) … For man failed to keep the grace of the Spirit, but through His Resurrection Jesus supplies His disciples with the life-giving grace of the Spirit … A disciple’s responsibility is to live by this grace …
2:8-17: God gave man a place and a law – (AthanG) … The place was Paradise, and the law was the commandment given in Genesis 2:16-17 … Man was to obey this commandment through the grace of God the Word … if he was obedient, he would enjoy the blessings of Paradise … But if he were to disobey the commandment, he would die and his body would decay in the grave – (“die by death”, AthanG) …
2:18-25: God, not man, established the law of marriage; therefore, marriage is holy … In the marriage union, the husband and wife become one flesh – (v. 24), which St. Paul calls “a great mystery” – (Ephesians 5:32) … This mystery is so great and wonderful that a man will leave his father and mother with their blessing, and be joined to a woman in marriage … In this joining, he will be devoted to her with sacrificial love and devotion, and she to him …
This great mystery points to the greater mystery: The marriage of Christ and His Bride, the Church – (Ephesians 5:22-33) … For He left His Father and became Man to seek a bride … He loved His bride and gave Himself for her … And in his divine vision of the new heaven and new earth, the Apostle John saw this Bride, the “New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” – (Revelation 21:1-2) …
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