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Studies in Genesis
Genesis 'Beginnings'
This is the first book of the Bible, called Genesis
The Bible, all of it, is God's inspired Word. We, the church, have had possession of it for about 2000 years. That is, as a complete bible. The Old Testament was completed about 400 years before the time of Christ.
The Jews of today have several names for the Old Testament. One is Miqra', another is Tanakh. The word Torah, refers primarily to the first five books of the Bible but presently can also be used to describe the complete Old Testament. They do not use the title, Old Testament. Why? Because to do so is to imply that there is a New Testament and that it in some way supersedes the Old.
There have been periods of time, long periods of time during which the world did not have God's written word.
From Adam to Moses was about 2500 years. How did God speak to humans, and to which humans did God speak during this time?
According to the book of Genesis, God spoke to Adam. We will talk more about that later. We know that God spoke with Cain. We know God spoke in detail to Noah. He must have talked much with Enoch. We read that God also talked with Abraham and instructed him to leave his kindred and go to a land that God would show him. Other conversations are recorded between Abraham and God. And obviously God talked in great detail with Moses. Is this an impressive list? I don't think so. The population of the earth grew exponentially from Adam to the flood. Was God speaking regularly with millions of people? If He was, there is no record of it in the Bible. There would have been millions of people with no written word of God and probably no verbal encounters with Him. How were they to live and please their Creator? What could they possibly know of God? Most of us have no idea how privileged we are to have God's complete word.
All that to say .., the book of Genesis is verbally inspired of God and is accurate in every detail. Why do I need to emphasize that? Because we are about to read and discover things that the world in general flat out rejects and things that some Christians really struggle with.
The verbal inspiration of Scripture is a much larger topic than we have time and space to examine here. We are beginning with the premise: God inspired it. It is without error. It is complete. It is accurate.
Moses was the penman, the scribe. He actually was the writer of the first five books, the Pentateuch. Prior to his writing, there was virtually no written scripture at all. His was the first. Who was he? He started as a young Hebrew baby who was rescued from the sea by a Pharaoh's daughter. He was raised as an Egyptian but had been nursed by his own mother for a number of years. If we take a minimum number he would have been two or three when he was transferred to Pharaoh's court. But we read that he was old enough to have been well versed in Hebrew history. This period of time was likely designed to be some kind of pre-school for him. I would think he moved into Pharaoh's palace somewhere between five and seven years old.
God chose him to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian captivity and back to the land that God brought Abraham into. God did it by speaking to him … out of a burning bush in the desert.
The style of writing is kind of interesting. Nowhere is it mentioned that Moses is doing the writing. When the name Moses first comes into the story it is added as just another name. His death is recorded … obviously by someone else … but again, no mention of who was writing.
Moses begins by saying In the beginning God created, the heaven and the earth. So how does he know that? How could he describe six days of creation, giving clear details? The options … Adam knew the details and they were passed on to his children and their children for a thousand years. Then comes the flood. Only Noah is left to pass on the story. The population of the earth expands. Wickedness increases and the tower of Babel is created. We have not much of a record of Godly people between that time and the time that God calls Abraham. Eventually Jacob comes into the picture and the children of Israel come into being. They end up in Egypt. Moses is born. Moses had Hebrew basics passed down to him by his mother. When he writes, is he simply writing what he has heard and is imagining the rest? Or does God literally speak to him and supervise his writing?
Could God do that? Would God do that? What do we really know about God?
Book of Beginnings
Verse one begins with … in the beginning … God. Who is God?
In a seminary class called 'Systematic Theology' there is a section included which deals with what we call 'the attributes of God'. These are descriptive words used to sum up everything (or at least, most) of what we know about God.
As a side note it is interesting that Muslims have only one main attribute for God (Allah) and that is the he is unknowable. If you were a good Muslim and discovered something about Allah and it made you feel as though you were beginning to know him, you would not dare share that with another Muslim, and particularly not with a religious Muslim leader. For you to say you know something about Allah is sacrilege. You could be severely punished for saying you know something about Allah. In so doing you would be calling Allah's prophet (Muhammad) a liar since he declared Allah is, and always will remain unknowable.
To a certain degree we could agree. There are a few scripture passages which seem to indicate that God is unknowable.
Romans 11:33 ¶ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?"
35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
But this does not mean that God is unknowable. The following is one example which implies that presently we can be saying to neighbors and family members … “Know the Lord” and that ultimately we will know him well. The Muslim god remains unknowable throughout eternity.
Jeremiah 31:34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
In a study of Genesis (beginnings) that includes creation, one might think that the main attribute of God is omnipotence. He is referred to as The Almighty in scripture. But we will really miss out on who God is if we stop with Omnipotence. Let's look at a few of the other attributes.
Several of these begin with the prefix, Omni. For example:
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient.
Others include: God's Eternality, Love, Goodness, Holiness, Mercy, Grace, Righteousness, Justice, Immutability, Self-Existence, Transcendence, Sovereignty
Definitions:
Eternality - Without beginning or end.
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Titus 1:2 … a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
Love - I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Goodness – That which is received from God according to His nature.
Matthew 19:17 So He (Jesus) said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Holiness - Without sin. Isaiah 6:3 … Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!
Righteousness – fairness is His nature.
Righteous are You, O Lord, And upright are Your judgments. Psalm 145:17
The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. Isaiah 46:13
Mercy – The ability to show mercy to whom He wills.
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy.
Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Grace - His ability to show favor, not only those He deems to deserve it, but to those who do not.
Tit 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
Justice - Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
Immutability (unchanging)- 1Samuel 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."
Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.
Self-Existence - God is not dependent on any part of creation for His existence or His nature.
God does not have it in Him to go out of existence, just as we do not have it in us to live forever.
People may assume that God created human beings because He needed companionship and was lonely. This would mean that God is not entirely independent of creation. John 17:5, Jesus prays, “Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” There was love and communication between the Father and the Son long before creation. The 'glory' Jesus had with the Father is another way of referring to the sweet fellowship he enjoyed with the father in eternity past, before he ever made man.
Sharing the glory between the Father and Son provided a fellowship with no shortcomings
Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Transcendence – Above all
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
Sovereignty Over all. This is an attribute of God that has been argued by many in the past. The base meaning is that God is over all. He is the highest, the ultimate and the final authority.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of His will . .
This is a topic much to large to complete here, but we will give these scriptures to consider before we move on.
Omnipresent: Present everywhere, or the ability to be present everywhere.
Psalm 139:7 ¶ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Jeremiah 23:23 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?
24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
2Chronicles 2:6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
Omnipotent – All powerful. The ability to do anything (except sin)
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
Omniscient – All knowing. The ability to know anything.
Acts 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
In the beginning God created …
How well do we know our Creator God?
So with all of this in mind we will be looking at a Creating God who has done … what is the expression? … Mind blowing things. A God who has not changed. A God who is near and wants us to call on Him for fellowship and help
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
2Pe 1:3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
The Bible, all of it, is God's inspired Word. We, the church, have had possession of it for about 2000 years. That is, as a complete bible. The Old Testament was completed about 400 years before the time of Christ.
The Jews of today have several names for the Old Testament. One is Miqra', another is Tanakh. The word Torah, refers primarily to the first five books of the Bible but presently can also be used to describe the complete Old Testament. They do not use the title, Old Testament. Why? Because to do so is to imply that there is a New Testament and that it in some way supersedes the Old.
There have been periods of time, long periods of time during which the world did not have God's written word.
From Adam to Moses was about 2500 years. How did God speak to humans, and to which humans did God speak during this time?
According to the book of Genesis, God spoke to Adam. We will talk more about that later. We know that God spoke with Cain. We know God spoke in detail to Noah. He must have talked much with Enoch. We read that God also talked with Abraham and instructed him to leave his kindred and go to a land that God would show him. Other conversations are recorded between Abraham and God. And obviously God talked in great detail with Moses. Is this an impressive list? I don't think so. The population of the earth grew exponentially from Adam to the flood. Was God speaking regularly with millions of people? If He was, there is no record of it in the Bible. There would have been millions of people with no written word of God and probably no verbal encounters with Him. How were they to live and please their Creator? What could they possibly know of God? Most of us have no idea how privileged we are to have God's complete word.
All that to say .., the book of Genesis is verbally inspired of God and is accurate in every detail. Why do I need to emphasize that? Because we are about to read and discover things that the world in general flat out rejects and things that some Christians really struggle with.
The verbal inspiration of Scripture is a much larger topic than we have time and space to examine here. We are beginning with the premise: God inspired it. It is without error. It is complete. It is accurate.
Moses was the penman, the scribe. He actually was the writer of the first five books, the Pentateuch. Prior to his writing, there was virtually no written scripture at all. His was the first. Who was he? He started as a young Hebrew baby who was rescued from the sea by a Pharaoh's daughter. He was raised as an Egyptian but had been nursed by his own mother for a number of years. If we take a minimum number he would have been two or three when he was transferred to Pharaoh's court. But we read that he was old enough to have been well versed in Hebrew history. This period of time was likely designed to be some kind of pre-school for him. I would think he moved into Pharaoh's palace somewhere between five and seven years old.
God chose him to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian captivity and back to the land that God brought Abraham into. God did it by speaking to him … out of a burning bush in the desert.
The style of writing is kind of interesting. Nowhere is it mentioned that Moses is doing the writing. When the name Moses first comes into the story it is added as just another name. His death is recorded … obviously by someone else … but again, no mention of who was writing.
Moses begins by saying In the beginning God created, the heaven and the earth. So how does he know that? How could he describe six days of creation, giving clear details? The options … Adam knew the details and they were passed on to his children and their children for a thousand years. Then comes the flood. Only Noah is left to pass on the story. The population of the earth expands. Wickedness increases and the tower of Babel is created. We have not much of a record of Godly people between that time and the time that God calls Abraham. Eventually Jacob comes into the picture and the children of Israel come into being. They end up in Egypt. Moses is born. Moses had Hebrew basics passed down to him by his mother. When he writes, is he simply writing what he has heard and is imagining the rest? Or does God literally speak to him and supervise his writing?
Could God do that? Would God do that? What do we really know about God?
Book of Beginnings
Verse one begins with … in the beginning … God. Who is God?
In a seminary class called 'Systematic Theology' there is a section included which deals with what we call 'the attributes of God'. These are descriptive words used to sum up everything (or at least, most) of what we know about God.
As a side note it is interesting that Muslims have only one main attribute for God (Allah) and that is the he is unknowable. If you were a good Muslim and discovered something about Allah and it made you feel as though you were beginning to know him, you would not dare share that with another Muslim, and particularly not with a religious Muslim leader. For you to say you know something about Allah is sacrilege. You could be severely punished for saying you know something about Allah. In so doing you would be calling Allah's prophet (Muhammad) a liar since he declared Allah is, and always will remain unknowable.
To a certain degree we could agree. There are a few scripture passages which seem to indicate that God is unknowable.
Romans 11:33 ¶ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?"
35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
But this does not mean that God is unknowable. The following is one example which implies that presently we can be saying to neighbors and family members … “Know the Lord” and that ultimately we will know him well. The Muslim god remains unknowable throughout eternity.
Jeremiah 31:34 "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
In a study of Genesis (beginnings) that includes creation, one might think that the main attribute of God is omnipotence. He is referred to as The Almighty in scripture. But we will really miss out on who God is if we stop with Omnipotence. Let's look at a few of the other attributes.
Several of these begin with the prefix, Omni. For example:
Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient.
Others include: God's Eternality, Love, Goodness, Holiness, Mercy, Grace, Righteousness, Justice, Immutability, Self-Existence, Transcendence, Sovereignty
Definitions:
Eternality - Without beginning or end.
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Titus 1:2 … a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
Love - I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Goodness – That which is received from God according to His nature.
Matthew 19:17 So He (Jesus) said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Holiness - Without sin. Isaiah 6:3 … Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!
Righteousness – fairness is His nature.
Righteous are You, O Lord, And upright are Your judgments. Psalm 145:17
The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. Isaiah 46:13
Mercy – The ability to show mercy to whom He wills.
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy.
Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Grace - His ability to show favor, not only those He deems to deserve it, but to those who do not.
Tit 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
Justice - Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.
Immutability (unchanging)- 1Samuel 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."
Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.
Self-Existence - God is not dependent on any part of creation for His existence or His nature.
God does not have it in Him to go out of existence, just as we do not have it in us to live forever.
People may assume that God created human beings because He needed companionship and was lonely. This would mean that God is not entirely independent of creation. John 17:5, Jesus prays, “Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” There was love and communication between the Father and the Son long before creation. The 'glory' Jesus had with the Father is another way of referring to the sweet fellowship he enjoyed with the father in eternity past, before he ever made man.
Sharing the glory between the Father and Son provided a fellowship with no shortcomings
Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Transcendence – Above all
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me,
Sovereignty Over all. This is an attribute of God that has been argued by many in the past. The base meaning is that God is over all. He is the highest, the ultimate and the final authority.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of His will . .
This is a topic much to large to complete here, but we will give these scriptures to consider before we move on.
Omnipresent: Present everywhere, or the ability to be present everywhere.
Psalm 139:7 ¶ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Jeremiah 23:23 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?
24 Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD.
2Chronicles 2:6 But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him? Who then am I to build a temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices before him?
Omnipotent – All powerful. The ability to do anything (except sin)
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
Omniscient – All knowing. The ability to know anything.
Acts 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
In the beginning God created …
How well do we know our Creator God?
So with all of this in mind we will be looking at a Creating God who has done … what is the expression? … Mind blowing things. A God who has not changed. A God who is near and wants us to call on Him for fellowship and help
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
2Pe 1:3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,