Genesis (創世記)

Introduction

Genesis (創世記) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament). It is the first book of the first five books of the Old Testament also. These first five books are called the Torah.

Structure

Put simply, Genesis consists of two parts. The first part includes Gen 1-11 and it deals with the creation of the universe, the fall of humanity all the way up to the Tower of Babel. The second part (Gen 12-50) concerns how God establishes his own people Israel (Abraham and Isaac in chs. 12-26; Jacob in chs. 26-38; Joseph in chs. 37-50).

Themes

Primary Themes

Genesis 1

Genesis 1 gives the creation narrative. God created the universe and everything in it in six days (e.g. “And there was evening, and there was morning–the first day,” Gen 1:5). And the creation was “very good” to God.

The order of creation is as follows:

Day 1: Light
Day 2: Firmament
Day 3: Earth, Sea, Vegetation
Day 4: Sun, moon & stars
Day 5: Birds & sea animals
Day 6: Land animals & humans

Genesis 1:26-27 records the creation of man: Mankind was created in God’s image and likeness; so that they rule over the created world (v. 26): “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (v. 27).

GENESIS 2

[PCA Q] Discuss the life and significance of Adam including books and chapters: Adam was formed from the dust (Genesis 2:7); the first covenant: you are free to eat from any tree in the garden but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17); God’s steward of the created world (Genesis 2:20).

The garden
the tree of life vs. the tree of knowledge of good and evil: forbidden
Eve (Adam’s helper) created

GENESIS 3

The Fall; the Serpent: (1) not die; (2) eyes open; (3) be like God in knowing good and evil
They ate; nakedness; fig leaves; hid themselves
The Proto-gosple (Genesis 3:15): And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.
“for dust you are and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19)
[Q] Locate this event by book and chapter: Fall (Genesis 3)

Genesis 3:5 The serpent: eat it! Then (1) your eyes will be opened; (2) you will be like God, knowing good and evil

“the lure of the serpent was an invitation to experience that perpetual quest of human autonomy and freedom” [Bruce et al. Hard Sayings]

This shows that “the knowledge of good and evil is a divine prerogative” [Bruce et al. Hard Sayings]

“Rather than providing insights about theism to Eve, the serpent intends to place before her the possibility of being more than she is and more than God intended her to be” [Victor Hamilton commentary]

The serpent is promising her some sort of “divinity” [Calvin commentary]

BUT WHAT THEN HAPPENED?

Genesis 3:7 Then (1) the eyes of both of them were opened; (2) they knew that they were naked

So “the serpent’s promise of ‘eyes will be opened’ [actually] came true in its fashion … but it was a grotesque anticlimax to the dream of enlightenment” [Derek Kidner commentary]; i.e. what actually happened was that they became “sensible of their wretchedness” [Calvin commentary]; “so they both experienced the new knowledge of rebellion” [Logos]

“the couple now know that they are naked. This is hardly the knowledge for which they bargained” … “what was formerly understood to be a sign of a healthy relationship between the man and the woman (2:25) has now become something unpleasant and filled with shame” [Victor Hamilton commentary]

Genesis 3:22 the man has become like one of us – knowing good and evil; he might stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever

God is “taking away what he had given, would cause man to seek new assistance elsewhere” [Calvin commentary]

“Previously, direct communication with God was the source of life to Adam; but, from the moment in which he became alienated from God, it was necessary that he should recover life by the death of Christ, by whose life he then lived” [Calvin commentary]

“In short, God resolved to wrest out of the hands of man that which was the occasion or ground of confidence, lest he should form for himself a vain hope of the perpetuity of the life which he had lost” [Calvin Commentary]

GENESIS 4

Cain and Abel; Cain went out and lived in the land of Nod (east of Eden)
Cain – Enoch – Mehujael – Methushael – Lamech – Jabal; Jubal; Tubal-Cain
[PCA Q] Who built a city named Enoch? Cain
Adam/Eve – Seth – Enosh: “at that time people began to call on the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26)

GENESIS 5

Adam to Noah: Adam – Seth – Enosh – Kenan – Mahalalel – Jared – Enoch – Methuselah – Lamech – Noah – Shem; Ham; Japheth
[PCA Q] Have we all descended from one ancestor Adam? How do we know? Genesis 5 begins with Adam’s genealogy; Adam lived a total of 930 years

GENESIS 6

Wickedness in the world; “they are mortal”
The Nephilim; the LORD “regretted”; will wipe them out
But Noah found favor
The Flood: Make an ark!
[Q] Locate this event by book and chapter: The Flood (Genesis 6-8)

GENESIS 7

Go into the ark: 7 pairs (clean animals); 1 pair (unclean)
[PCA Q] Noah: 600 years old when the floodwaters were on the earth: flood: 40 days and 40 nights; flooded the earth for 150 days

GENESIS 8

Noah sent out a raven; a dove; a freshly plucked olive leaf
Got out; built an altar: God: “never again will I destroy the world”
[PCA Q] the water had dried up from the earth by the 1st day of the 1st month of Noah’s 601st year (v. 13)
[PCA Q] the earth was completely dry by the 27th day of the 2nd month (v. 14)

GENESIS 9 – THE NOAHIDE COVENANT

Multiply; do not eat blood; respect human lives
My covenant with you: “Never again will I destroy”; a rainbow (cf. Psalm 104:8-9)
Shem; Ham; Japheth
Wine (drunk Noah); Ham was cursed

GENESIS 10

The Table of the Nations
The Japhethies
The Hamites
The Semites
“From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood” (Genesis 10:32)

GENESIS 11

The Tower of Babel
From Shem to Abram: Shem – ………….. – Nahor – Terah – Abram; Nahor; Haran

GENESIS 12 – THE CALL OF ABRAM

[Q] Discuss the life and significance of Abraham including books and chapters: Abraham appears in Genesis 12-25; Abrahamic Covenant: Genesis 12, 15
[Q] Locate this event by book and chapter: Promises to Abraham (Genesis 12, 15)
Abram: 75 years old; called by God (around 2,100 BC)
From Haran to Canaan; to Shechem; to Bethel; down to the Negev
Abram lied to Pharaoh in Egypt

GENESIS 13

Abram back from Egypt
Lot chose to go to the east (near Sodom)
Abram stayed in Canaan: the LORD: I will give you this land

GENESIS 14

Lot got abducted by king Kedolaomer
Lot was rescued by Abram and his 318 trained men
Melchizedek king of Salem blessed Abram
Abram gave him a tenth of everything

GENESIS 15 – THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

I will give you a son; Abraham believed
God’s covenant ceremony

GENESIS 16

Abram/Hagar – Ishmael: Abram was 86 years old

GENESIS 17 – THE COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION

[Q] Loate this event by book and chapter: Sign of Abrahamic covenant: Genesis 17: a sign of the covenant between me and you (Circumcision)
Abram: 99 years old
Abram -> Abraham (a father of many nations)
Sarai -> Sarah (the mother of nations)
Abraham laughed; the name “Issac” (he laughed)
Every male was circumcised

GENESIS 18

The 3 visitors when Abraham was sitting at the great trees of Mamre
They said: next year, Sarah will have a son; Sarah laughed
Abraham pleads for Sodom: what if 50 righteous people are found there?
(45 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10)

GENESIS 19

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed
The 2 angels in Lot’s house; destruction
Lot had 2 daughters: (1) Moab (Moabites); (2) BenAmmi (Amorites)

GENESIS 20

Abraham in the region of Negev
Abraham lied again to King Abimelech

GENESIS 21

Isaac born
Hagar and Ishmael were sent away
Ishmael settled in the Desert of Paran
Abraham and Abimelech made a treaty in Beersheba
Beersheba: “well of sevel” or “well of the oath”

GENESIS 22

Abraham tested

GENESIS 23

Sarah dies (127 years old) in Hebron (Kiriath Arba)
Abraham bought the field/cave in Machpelah from the Hittites

GENESIS 24

Abraham’s brothers: Nahor and Haran
Nahor’s son: Bethuel
Rebekah was Bethuel’s daughter; Rebekah’s brother was Laban

GENESIS 25

Abraham remarried and had more children
[PCA Q] Who was Keturah? Abraham’s new wife
Abraham dies (175 years old): also buried in the same cave (GENESIS 23)
Ishmael’s sons
Isaac-Rebekah’s twin sons: Esau “hairy” vs. Jacob “heel grabber” (“deceiver”)
[PCA Q] How old was Isaac when Esau and Jacob was born? He was 60.
Esau despised his birth right

GENESIS 26

Isaac and Abimelek (King of the Philistines in Gerar)
famine
God told Isaac to not go down to Egypt; so Isaac stayed in Gerar
God’s covenantal blessing (Genesis 26:3-4)
Isaac lied to Abimelek
Isaac became rich in Gerar
The disputed wells: “Esek” and “Sitnath”
The good well without disputes: “Rehoboth” (meaning: ‘room’): Notw the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land
Isaac went up to Beersheba
the LORD’s blessing (24)
Isaac made a treaty with Abimelek

GENESIS 27

Jacob steals Esau’s blessing

GENESIS 28

Jacob flees to Laban
From Beersheba –> spent a night; had a dream; God’s blessing –> named “Bethel”
[PCA Q] After a dream. How much did Jacob vow to give to God? 10% (If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey … I will give you a tenth, vv. 20-22)

GENESIS 29-30

Jacob arrives in Paddan Aram
Laban’s daughters: Leah and Rachel

[Q] Discuss the life and significance of Joseph including books and chapters: Genesis 29-50

GENESIS 31

Jacob flees from Laban
Laban pursues Jacob
Jacob and Laban make a treaty: Mizpah “watchtower”

GENESIS 32

The angels of God appear to Jacob: Jacob name the place “Mahanaim” (two camps)
The news of Esau coming: Jacob’s anxiety
Jacob wrestles with God
The socket of his hip was wrenched
Jacob is renamed “Israel” (he struggles with God)
the Place was named “Peniel”
[Q] Loate this event by book and chapter: Jacobe wrestling with God: Genesis 32

GENESIS 33

Jacob meets Esau
Jacob moves from Succoth to Shechem
There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel (20): ‘mighty is the God of Israel’

GENESIS 34

Dinah
Simeon and Levi’s revenge

GENESIS 35

God to Jacob: Go up to Bethel
He renamed Jacob to “Israel” again
Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin (son of my right hand): Ben-Oni (son of my trouble)
Reuben slept with Bilhah
Jacobs 12 sons: cf. Gen 35; 1 Chronicles 2-7
Isaac dies

GENESIS 36

Esau’s descendants: the Edomites

GENESIS 37

Joseph: 17 years old
Joseph’s dreams
Joseph was sold by his brothers; but Reuben tried to salvage him
Joseph to Potiphar’s house

GENESIS 38 (Judah and Tamar)

Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law
But they had twin sons: Perez (‘breaking out’) and Zerah (‘scarlet’)

GENESIS 39

Joseph and Potiphar’s wife

GENESIS 40

The cupbearer’s dream: a vine with 3 branches
Joseph’s interpretation: you will be restored in 3 days
The baker’s dream: 3 baskets but eatend by birds
Joseph’s interpreation: you will be dead in 3 days

GENESIS 41

Two full years passed
Pharaoh’s dream (1): 7 sleek and fat cows vs. 7 ugly and gaunt cows
Pharaoh’s dream (2): 7 healthy/good grain heads vs. 7 thin/scorched grain heads
Joseph’s interpretation
Joseph’s ascent: his two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim

GENESIS 42

Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt
Simeon put into prison

GENESIS 43

Benjamin

GENESIS 44

A silver cup in a sack
Judah tried to save Benjamin

GENESIS 45

Joseph makes hmself known

GENESIS 46

Jacob goes to Egypt

GENESIS 47

Pharaoh meets Jacob

GENESIS 48

Jacob blessed Manasseh (left hand) and Ephraim (right hand)

GENESIS 49

Jacob blesses his 12 sons
Jacob dies

GENESIS 50

Joseph reassures his brothers
Joseph dies: 110 years old