The
Book of Genesis
A. The Title of the Book - The First Book of Moses Called the Book of Genesis
1. It is called the First Book of Moses because God used Moses to write five books in your Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy - the first book being Genesis.
2. The first book of the Bible is the foundational book for the Bible - it is the cornerstone upon which EVERYTHING written in the Bible is based. In other words, the Bible would have no “leg” to stand upon without it. This will be demonstrated throughout our study.
B. The Author: Moses
1. God first commanded Moses to write a book (Exodus 17:14; 34:27), and he did write it and keep it up to date (Ex 24:5-7; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9) as they traveled in the wilderness for 40 years.
2. The book that he wrote was called the Book of the Law of Moses (Dt 30:10; 31:24-26; Joshua 1:8; 8:30-35; 23:6)
3. Jesus Christ said that the first five books of the Bible called the Law were written exclusively by Moses (notice how that in Mark 12:26, Christ refers to Exodus 3, and that in Mark 7:10, Christ refers to Ex 20:12 and 21:7).
4. Many critics of the Bible have a hard time believing in one author because they do not believe what the Bible says about itself, and rather spend their time attempting to uncover who the “real” author was - so as to discredit the Bible as supernatural. The problem with their thesis is that any Bible-believer knows that Moses really wasn’t the author of Genesis - GOD WAS (2 Tim 3:16)!
C. The Date of Writing: somewhere around 1600 B.C.
1. Put into perspective
a. Creation occurs around 4004 BC
b. The Flood occurs 2600 BC
c. Abraham arrives in the Promised Land in about 2000 BC
d. Moses leads Israel out of Egypt around 1600 BC
2. Moses writes Genesis under the inspiration (supernatural direction) of the Holy Spirit (2Tim 3:16)
3. He wrote it while leading Israel through the Wilderness
4. He wrote all of the first five books of the Old Testament, which God called collectively, “The Law”
D. Moses’ audience - Primarily directed to a Jewish (descendants of Abraham) audience
1. The Book of Genesis is in no way an exhaustive study of the world’s religions, or science, or history, etc., but rather is a revelation of the one and true God, and His dealings with mankind.
2. This Book is distinctly Jewish in nature because:
a. God used the Jews to give us
1) His Son – the Messiah
2) Salvation (John 4:22; Gen 49:10; Zech 8:23)
3) His Word (Rom 9:3-5)
4) His unfailing promises – when you look at the Jews, you are looking at a people-group that God has made many promises to, and cannot break – and therefore, the whole world learns about the character of GOD, instead of just the failures of man!
E. It’s Language – Hebrew
1. In English, we have 26 letters
2. In Hebrew, there are only 22 letters
3. Hebrew is a language that is almost 5,000 years old – the oldest language still surviving
4. It is read from right to left
5. The Hebrew Alphabet looks like the following (there are five letters that have two forms – that’s why there are 27 totals letters given below):
6. The text of the Old Testament looks like what follows on the next 3 pages – the English on the left is that of the King James Bible, while the one on the right is another translation.
7. Remember, it is read from right to left!
F. Its Importance and Significance
1. It is the Foundation of the Bible. Just as the Book of the Revelation is the Capstone of the Bible.
2. Without it, none of the major themes of the Bible make any sense.
G. Its Theme - "Beginnings"
1. The beginning of Sin
2. The beginning of Life and Death
3. The origin of Languages
4. The beginnings of music, the arts, and creativity
5. The origin of the races – God started off with one race (Adam and Eve). We now have three main variations in the race – through Noah via Shem, Ham, and Japeth
6. It shows us:
a. The first day – of time
b. The first wedding – Adam and Eve
c. The first job – gardening
d. The first sin – of doubting God’s word
e. The first lie – of Satan to Eve
f. The first death – spiritually of Adam and Eve, and of physically of Able
g. The first argument – between Adam and God
h. The first promise – for redemption through the Messiah
i. The first birth – Cain
j. The first murder – of Able
k. The first city – the city of Enoch, the son of Cain
l. The first rapture – of Enoch – the g-g-g-g-g-son of Seth
m. The first rain – at the Flood
n. The first rainbow – after the Flood
o. The First Dispensation – Innocence
p. The first Covenant – Adamic
q. The first Empire – Babylon
r. The first cult – Babylonian religion
A.
It
is Authentic
1.
It is the Word of God – God was THERE
2.
It was written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost
3.
Jesus, and the Apostles quote from Genesis
a.
Matthew 1 refers to all the people from Abraham through to Jesus,
starting back in Genesis 11
b.
Jesus Himself quotes in Matthew 19:4 from Genesis 2:24 to prove monogamy,
and against divorce!
c.
Jesus refers in Mark 10:6, to Adam and Eve at the beginning of the
creation in Genesis 2:18-23.
B.
It
is Accurate
1.
Scientifically
– Describes:
a.
Creation itself
b.
Time – the science of time – linear, and yet with outside forces
c.
Laws of physics – entropy, gravity
d.
The miracle of life – not a product of random occurrences
e.
Cataclysmic geology – produced by the flood
2.
Historically
a.
History before the flood
b.
World-wide flood – cataclysmic disaster
c.
Origin of all people groups and base languages
3.
Prophetically
a.
There are 56 specific prophecies in the book of Genesis
b.
Over half of them already came true
c.
Over half of the rest deal with the Messiah
4.
Explicitly
– to the finest detail
a.
God is general about some things: creation of the innumerable stars
b.
God is specific about how sin crept in and how the human heart is messed
up
c.
It shows which one we should be more interested in
C.
It
is Applicable
1.
Nothing has changed in 6,000 years of history
2.
The lessons that people learned then, we need to learn again
A. A Simple Outline Of The Book
1. The Creation (Chapters 1,2)
2. The Fall (Chapter 3)
3. The First Sixteen Hundred Years (Chapter 4 and 5)
4. Noah - The Flood, His Family, and Failure (Chapters 6 through 9)
5. Babel and the Dispersion of the Nations (Chapters 10 and 11)
6. Abraham (Chapters 12 through 23)
7. Isaac (Chapters 24 through 26)
8. Jacob and Esau (Chapters 27 through 36)
9. The Twelve Sons of Jacob - Joseph in Particular (Ch 37 through 50)
B. Some Facts about Genesis
1. It contains 50 chapters
2. It was written in Hebrew
3. It starts with God, and a perfect creation in chapters 1,2, and 3.
4. It ends with a coffin in chapter 50.
C. The Twelve Most Important Figures in the Book of Genesis
1. God – the entire trinity
2. The Devil – Satan – that old Serpent
3. Adam & Eve
4. Cain & Abel
5. Seth – Godly line (Gen 4:25-26)
6. Enoch – the Rapture
7. Noah
8. Nimrod – the originator of the Babylonian empire and religion
9. Abraham
10. Isaac
11. Jacob – also known as Israel
12. The Twelve Tribes – twelve sons of Jacob
D. The Eight Important Places of Genesis
1. The three heavens
2. Eden
3. The Mountains of Ararat – where the ark rested after the flood
4. Ur of the Chaldees
5. Babylon – central point of all demonic activity
6. The plain of Shinar (Gen 10:10; 11:2) – the first United Nations
7. Canaan – which is really, “the Promised Land”
8. Egypt
E.
The Doctrinal Fundamentals Taught in the first twelve chapters of Genesis
1. Creation – a supernatural, instantaneous act of God
2. The Existence and Character of God
3. The Rapture (Gen 5) – the ability of God to move someone from earth to Heaven
4. The wages of sin (Gen 3, 4, 5) – which is death
5. The curses of this life (Gen 3 and 4) – childbirth pains, low yield production of crops, entropy, fighting to stay ahead of death, the sinful nature passed upon all descendants, the woman being in subjection under her father, and then her husband, the need for governments to control its people.
6. The Resurrection from the dead
7. Eternal Life
8. The three families of earth – Shem (Orientals), Ham (Negroes) and Japheth (Europeans, Gen 9, and 10)
9. The origination and purpose of multiple languages (Gen 11; Acts 17:26,27)
10. The fathers of all foundation nations (Gen 10 and 11)
11. The Messiah, who He will be, why He will come, and how He will come
12. The world consists of only two religions – Those Working their way to eternal life, and those who obtain it only by God’s Grace (Gen 4)
13. God does and will punish sin (as He did with the Flood, in Sodom, etc.)
14. God’s grace is shown to sinners who trust God’s provided substitute (Abraham sacrificing Isaac) - the death of the Messiah in the place of the sinner
15. The calling out of the Church (Israel) – out of Egypt (type of the world)
16. God has clear laws about what is right and wrong – they are not up to individual opinions and interpretations
17. God expects man to take responsibility for his own messes – we have to have governments and courts that are LAW-based to maintain justice
F. Additional Study Materials
1. A good Bible Atlas
2. Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible, by Dr. H. L. Wilmington, Tyndale House Publishers
3. The Bible Believer’s Commentary on Genesis, by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman
IV.
Conclusion
A.
Requirements
for this course
1.
A basic
outline of each chapter – typed, and submitted to Pastor Craig on a weekly
basis
2.
A set of 10
questions, along with their answers for each chapter – typed, and submitted to
Pastor Craig on a weekly basis
B.
A final Test
at the end of the course – consisting of the questions submitted
C.
To do well in
this course, you need to do the following:
1.
Read ahead
before each Wednesday evening study
2.
Be at every
Wednesday evening study
3.
Take notes
during the Bible Study
4.
Do your
course work (write up your questions) every week – do not let it slide for
weeks on end
V.
An Example of an Outline of a Chapter of Genesis
Genesis
Chapter One
The
Creation
A.
Creation of the Universe (Gen 1:1-2)
B.
Creation of Light (Gen 1:3-6)
C.
Creation of the Atmosphere (Gen 1:7-8)
D.
Creation of Land (Gen 1:9-10)
E.
Creation of Trees, Grass and Herbs (Gen 1:11-13)
F.
Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars (Gen 1:14-19)
G.
Creation of Sea Life, and Birds (Gen 1:20-23)
H.
Creation of Land Life (Gen 1:24,25)
I.
Creation of Adam and Eve (Gen 1:26-28)
J.
The Dominion of Adam and Eve (Gen 1:29-30)
K.
God’s Pleasure in His Creation (Gen 1:31)
An
Example of Questions from Each Chapter
1.
What did Satan do to get Adam to deliberately disobey God?
2.
Give a reason why each “day” as described in Genesis chapter 1 is 24
hours long.
3.
What kind of animals were created at the same time as the fish?
4.
Where is Eden?
5.
As far as their relationship with God, Adam and Eve were not saved, or
lost – they were in what state?
VI.
Some Questions
A. Who is the human author of the Book of Genesis?
B. Give one Scripture in the Old Testament that proves who wrote Genesis.
C. Give one Scripture in the New Testament that proves who wrote Genesis
D. Give the approximate date of the writing of Genesis
E. What does the word Genesis mean?
F. How many chapters are in the Book of Genesis?
G. List 6 of the 12 most important people in the Book of Genesis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
H. Give a simple outline of the Book of Genesis (9 basic events that are presented in the Book):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.