Genesis

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One of the Books of the Bible in the Pentateuch in the Old Testament.

(The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 39)

Genesis Outline, Genesis Summary

God created the world and saw that it was good, but human sin spoiled it. God introduces His plan for redemption through Jesus to Adam and Eve and calls Abraham to father a nation through whom the whole world would be blessed. Even through the patriarchs and Israel go through hardships and periods of forgetting the Lord, God is a faithful deliverer and keeps His promises.

(The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 41)

Etymology

"Gene" = beginnings, origins. The name comes from the Greek translation. The Hebrew name is "In the Beginning," using the first phrase in the book.

(Mr. Johnson's Bible Class, FaithQuest - Student Edition (DP) by Sharon Berry and Ollie Gibbs (2008). Pages 21, The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 39.)

History

The first 11 chapters were originally orally passed down.

(Mr. Johnson's Bible Class, FaithQuest - Student Edition (DP) by Sharon Berry and Ollie Gibbs (2008). Pages 21.)

The Pentateuch as a whole is similar to legal codes and treaties of the time period, particularly suzerainty treaties of the 2nd millennium. The opening chapters of Genesis are like the preamble and the rest of Genesis leading into Exodus is like the historical prologue.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Literature in Bible Times by Milton C. Fisher, Page 99-101.)

Structure

There is a contrast between the pace and style of the first eleven chapters vs the rest of Genesis.

Chapters 1-11 cover Creation.

They are formal, tightly structured, and highly selective and concentrated in content. They also have the heavy, somber tone and almost symmetrical structure of the literature of the Mesopotamian culture out of which Abraham came.

Liberal scholars suppose some facts were simply lost and were inaccessible to Moses, but those who recognize the divine inspiration of Scripture believe it was God's purpose to emphasize His redemptive plan for his elect and the world at large, inasmuch as that plan was to be effected through the seed of Abraham. Therefore, information expands as we get into the heart of the Abrahamic story.

The dual account of Creation in Genesis 1-2 can be explained by their apparent covenant orientation of the material. The first covenant sign God designed for his creatures, to express their recognition of him as Creator, was the Sabbath--to which the six creative days of the first chapter point. Chapter 2, in turn, leads up to that most essential covenant relationship on earth, the marriage bond.

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Literature in Bible Times by Milton C. Fisher, Page 98-101.)

12-50 cover Abraham and the Patriarchs.

They are greatly detailed.

They partake of the more sensitive and bright flavor of Egyptian creativity. Moses was well trained in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action" (Acts 7:22).

(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Literature in Bible Times by Milton C. Fisher, Page 98-99; Mr. Johnson's Bible Class, FaithQuest - Student Edition (DP) by Sharon Berry and Ollie Gibbs (2008). Pages 21.)

Manuscripts

List

  • Cosmogeny
  • Gap Theory
  • Protoevangelium

Topics

Figures

(-im is a plural form, so maybe some of these represent people groups)

Peoples

Places

Other

Verses