Introduction to Genesis

Genesis is the first book of the Bible and is foundational for understanding all of the rest of Scripture as well as life in general.  The way one understands Genesis will determine much about how Scripture will be interpreted as well as how one will respond to the claims of science as compared to the narrative of Scripture.  I take a literal approach to the interpretation of Scripture and prefer to make science adapt to the claims of Scripture as opposed to making Scripture adapt to the claims of science.  As a whole the book divides into two main sections each of which divides into four sub-sections.

FOUR EVENTS:

Creation: Our entire world view will be shaped by this account of creation.  If man evolved from nothing over billions of years as science claims than we will live and die and that is it.  However, since we and the rest of the world was created by God; we are responsible to Him and He has authority over us.  The very purpose of our existence is determined by this passage.  We are created in His image to reflect His glory in our lives and reproduce His image over the entire planet.  He establishes the functions of man to be stewards of the earth and establishes the foundation of the family.

Fall: The source of evil in the world is one of the many mysteries of Scripture that we have a hard time explaining to our own satisfaction.  If God created everything good then where did evil come from?  The answer is found in the reality that God is more glorified by His creation because they have the ability to choose to obey Him or not.  The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man are very difficult for us to reconcile because one seems to annul the other.  However, the Scripture teaches both very clearly.  We must accept the fact that God is MUCH higher than we are and we will not be able to explain Him perfectly or confine Him to our theological boxes.  God gave Adam and Eve clear instructions not to eat of only one fruit.  Satan started out by casting doubt on God’s Word, denied God’s Word, denounced God’s character and deceived Adam and Eve into sinning.  We clearly see the reality of the fall of man into sin Cain’s murder of Able and the subsequent death in every generation.

Flood: Universalism is a theory of science that claims that the circumstances of the earth are constant and so all of their observations are based on this theory.  The layers of sediment on the earth, age of fossils and rate of erosion are all used by science to argue a very old earth.  The flood is the Bible’s account of how all of these things happened in a relatively short period of time.  The conditions on this planet were radically altered by the flood.  Life expectancies were greatly reduced.  The reason for the flood was the unchecked evil in the heart of man.  God demonstrated His willingness to judge all of mankind as well as His ability to save those who trust and obey Him.  This is a foreshadowing of the truth that one day all of mankind will be judged.  He has provided a means of escaping His judgment in the form of an ark during the flood and through faith in His son.  Man would do well to trust in God’s provision.

Babel: Even after the flood it is clear that the heart of man is still evil as he refuses to obey God and spread throughout the earth as was commanded and instead decides to build a tower to stay together and possibly to escape from future floods.  God had promised not to flood the earth again and had commanded them to multiply and fill the earth.  When they disobeyed God again; He confused their languages so that they could not communicate with one another and they were spread out to fill the earth as God had originally commanded.  The diversity of languages and cultures today demonstrates the creativity of God.

FOUR MEN:

Abraham: Abraham, like all men, was a very flawed character.  At times we see his faith in the Lord shinning forth like a beacon of light in the black of night.  Other times he seems spineless and his sinfulness is on full display.  He was a man chosen by God through which to start a nation by which all the nations would be blessed.  God’s choice, as always was based solely on God’s grace and not on Abraham’s merit.  Abraham simply believed God and was counted as righteous because of his faith.  That faith allowed him to leave his homeland, rescue his nephew Lot, tithe to the priest Melchizedeck, be willing to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, intercede with God and wait for God to fulfill His promise.  However, there were times in his life where the flaws of sin overshadowed his faith and he, lied about his wife being his sister, fathered a child with his wife’s servant in an attempt to “help” God fulfill His promises, question and doubt God.  In Abraham we see clearly that faith and obedience walk hand in hand while the company of doubt is sin.    

Isaac: Isaac is the character about whom we are told the least.  Perhaps his greatest contributions were his submission to his father willingly laying down on an altar to give his life and the story of how God provided a wife to whom he apparently was faithful all the days of his life.  However, he too was corrupted by sin and followed the example of his father in lying about the identity of his wife in order to protect himself from powerful kings.  He gave birth to twin sons that were constantly at conflict with one another.  God’s rejection of Esau and choosing of Jacob is one of the mysteries of Scripture that we must simply leave in the hands of God.  We should not question why God rejects anyone, but marvel at why God elects anyone.

Jacob: In Jacob we see a man who was full of passions and pursued his desires with all of his heart even if by questionable means.  He was a conniving man who manipulated his brother and father to gain the birthright and blessing of the elder son even though he was younger.  His marriages were the result of his falling prey to the deceiving of his uncle and the ensuing competition between his sister wives was constant.  All of Jacob’s sons no matter whom the mother were include in the tribes of Israel which causes us to wonder even more at the ways of the Lord.  He manipulated his way into his father-in-laws riches and returned to the land of Canaan a very wealthy man.  Jacob provides us with a clear example of how not to do marriage and the raising of children.  Perhaps the greatest lesson we learn from his life is from his encounters with God and his insistence with God for blessings.  His passion for the blessings of God and desire to attain them through all means necessary stands as an example of how we should value the promises of God.      

Joseph: Joseph is one of those rare characters of Scripture that has few if any flaws.  Certainly we can question the wisdom and integrity of his bragging to his brothers about his dreams of grandeur.  We wonder about his political influence in Egypt reducing the nation to slaves of Pharaoh.  His apparent possession of divination cups causes us to wonder about how Egyptian idolatry might have influenced him more than we might imagine.  However, we see in his character obedience to his father and commitment to doing what was right that followed him in every circumstance of life.  He did everything with excellence and was uncompromising in his commitment to be faithful even in the face of great temptation and tribulation.  He was a faithful son, a faithful slave, a faithful prisoner and a faithful prime minister.  He did not allow the treachery of his brothers, the false accusations of his owner’s wife or the negligence of his fellow inmates to fill his heart with bitterness towards men or God.  This character allows him to be used of God to rescue his brothers and their families even though they had been so terrible to him.  His life truly was an example of faithfulness and forgiveness.