Book Overview: Genesis

This is the first "book overview" in a series of 66. The point of these is to provide details about each book in the Bible, the supposed author and date written, a summary of the book, and an overview of key passages. I plan on doing all of the books, from Genesis to Revelation. These overviews will not go into explicit detail about each verse, this is not a guide, but it is more of a description and highlights of the events. This is not to say you should not read these books on your own, the very reason I am writing these is to get people to want to read more.

Also, these posts are NOT the lessons I usually do. I will be doing these overviews in tandem with the lessons. Meaning, I may post these overviews in between a series or before/after posts, but these are not the same style, these are to be overviews.Now, the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis is the first book of God's Word, and tells the true history of the world, from the literal six day Creation (around 6000 years ago) to a Global Flood sent to wipe out the corruption, to the Dispersion and Confusion of Languages at the Tower of Babel.

This is the first Book Overview in a series of 66 Books. These overviews are written so that it may provide readers with details about the book, things that they may have missed, and will hopefully peak your interest so that you will read the book, the entire Bible in fact, as God wants us to do. Now, onto the Book of Genesis. 

Title: Genesis (English), Γένεσις, (Greek, meaning "birth", "origin") בְּרֵאשִׁית, B'reishit (Hebrew). It is called "Genesis," for it tells of the Beginning of everything, of Creation. 

Authorship: There is a long tradition that says that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The last chapter in Deuteronomy, however, is written by Joshua - it tells of the death of Moses. Many have tried to disprove the authorship, but all signs point to Mosaic Authorship. It is generally accepted that Moses was the author of Genesis, though secular historians believe it was written by "J." Jesus himself refers to Moses as the author of the law on several occasions.

Written: Genesis was probably written during the 40-Year Period that Israel was in the desert. This occurred between 1445-1405 BC, if the dates in 1st Kings are to be taken literally. It is generally recognized that Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, called the Pentateuch in Hebrew, during these 40 Years.

Summary: "Genesis records the creation of the world by God, the sin of man, and the earliest parts of God's plan to redeem man." (NIV)
Overview: Genesis 1-11 covers The Creation of The Universe, of our Solar System, and of things of the Earth - including Man, and the true, literal History of Man from Creation to the Global Flood to the Dispersion at Babel. (Chapters 1-2) It includes the fall of humanity, (Chapter 3-4) the great flood, (Chapters 6-9) the Tower of Babel (Chapter 11 tells of how we came to speak different languages and spread across the Earth). Chapters 12-50 covers the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. (Chapter 19 records the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah)

Genesis 1-2 Records the Creation of everything, in six, literal, 24-hour days. (Genesis 1-2, Exodus 20:11, Mark 10:6) Though many attempt to fit millions of years into these six days of creation, it is evident from a clear reading that God is indicating six, literal days. 

Genesis 3 records the Fall of Man. Without a literal fall of man, we would have no need for a savior. Sin entered the world through one man, corrupting the entire universe. Since Lucifer tempted Eve who in turn tempted Adam, God's perfect Creation fell to sin, therefore necessitating a Savior. That is why, 4000 years later, God sent his son Jesus Christ into the world, and at the age of about 33, the Creator, having entered into his Creation, died - and three days later, rose again. By trusting in him and accepting him as Lord and Savior, as well as asking forgiveness for sins, we can be saved. (Romans 10:9, 1st John 1:9)

Genesis 4-5 gives the account of Cain and Abel and the first murder. Having murdered his brother, Cain takes his wife, goes out, builds a city, and his offspring continue the chain, one building tubes of bronze, and achieving other technological marvels. Genesis 5 shows the genealogy from Adam to Noah.

Genesis 6-9 gives the account of Noah and his family, the Ark, and the Global Flood that wiped out all things not on the ark. This true event occurred sometime between 2348-2302 BC. Though highly criticized, as the first eleven chapters of Genesis usually are, there is much evidence to support a worldwide flood.

Genesis 10, "The Table of Nations," shows how man spread out from Noah's three sons.

Genesis 11 gives the true account of the Dispersion at Babel. Under a man named Nimrod, everyone gathered in one place (disobeying God's command to spread out and multiply) to build a tower. Some say they built it so that if another Flood was sent, they would be safe, while others believe it was built so that man could "ascend to heaven," become higher than God - as Lucifer tried to do. God came down and confused their languages - just as the evidence of linguistics shows, and we now speak different languages. We find through different Flood Legends, that a Tower, a dispersion, is mentioned. If we look at different nations that developed around the time of the Dispersion, we see that the closer a nation was to Babel (i.e., Babylon) it developed sooner, and the farther away, (i.e., Egypt and Greece) developed later, and their legends were a bit farther from the truth. Most scholars agree that the Tower of Babel was a Ziggurat.

*Points - Since the Israelites came to live in Egypt with Joseph, they became slaves, and were not freed until several centuries later, when the prophecy of a man who would save them from Egypt - Moses, arrived on the scene. Genesis includes Genealogies, from Adam to Noah, and on to Joseph. In fact, God told Abraham about the future enslavement of his people in Genesis 15:13-16, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here..." We see this prophecy fulfilled in Exodus-Joshua.

Many recall that all of us come from Adam (whose name means, Man) and Eve (whose name means, living). It is less thought of that we all come from Noah. Since Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives were the only people on the Ark, we all come from one of the three sons of Noah: Ham, Shem, and Japheth.

In Chapter 18, there were three visitors who visited Abraham and Sarah to tell them they were going to have a child. When the visitors said this to Abraham, Sarah laughed, and they revealed their identity when they said, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?," and her laughter was replaced by fear. Why three? Some believe them to be The Trinity - God The Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Spirit (The Holy Spirit). However, the Father tells Moses in Exodus that no man can see his face and live - so the three visitors were likely Jesus and two angels, perhaps Michael and Gabriel.

Jacob's dream of the stairway to heaven, involving the angels ascending and descending the stairs, can be found in Chapter 28. In Chapter 32, Jacob unknowingly wrestles with God the Son. Jacob's lifetime struggle against God culminates in this literal brawl. Like Jacob, many of us fight with God, (though we do not literally wrestle with him,) and we do not win in the end - God always wins. Like Jacob, after the fight, we "hold him in new faith." (NIV) Jacob then goes and makes an altar to not the God of his fathers, but to HIS God, the God of Israel.

Joseph's words of God's promise, "God will not fail to... take you from here to the land which he promised," (Genesis 50:24) is a promise of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.

The story of Joseph can be found in Chapters 37-50, from being sold into slavery by his brothers, to serving, to prison, then becoming Pharaoh's right hand man, now called Zaphenath-Paneah, (Genesis 41:45) and saving Egypt and the surrounding lands from the Famine, to finally reuniting with his family, and bringing the Israelites to live in Egypt with him

 

Next Overview: The Book of Exodus

Recommended Entries Related to Genesis:

• Dinosaurs of the Bible (Series)
• Was The Earth Created in Six Literal Days?
• Is Joseph In Egyptian History?
• Who Was "Cain's Wife?"
• Why Do We Speak So Many Different Languages?
• Science in Brief: Did People Really Live to Be Almost 1000?
• Do Genesis 1 and 2 Contradict Each Other?
• Satan and the Origin of Evil
• Evidence for a Young Creation (Series)
• Was the Genesis Flood Local?
• Did God Use Evolution?
• What Were the Waters From the Flood?