Genesis

Author: Moses

Audience: God’s chosen people, the Israelites

Date: Between 1446 and 1406 bc

Theme: God creates the world and, after the world falls into sin, he enters into a special relationship with a people through whom he promises to bring redemption.

Introduction

Title

The first phrase in the Hebrew text of 1:1 is bereshith (“In [the] beginning”), which is also the Hebrew title of the book (books in ancient times customarily were named after their first word or two). The English title, Genesis, is Greek in origin and comes from the word genesis, which appears in the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT) in 2:4; 5:1. Depending on its context, the word can mean “birth,” “genealogy” or “history of origin.” In both its Hebrew and Greek forms, then, the traditional title of Genesis appropriately describes its content, since it is primarily a book of beginnings.

Author and Date of Writing

Historically, Jews and Christians alike have held that Moses was the author / compiler of the first five books of the OT. These books, known also as the Pentateuch (meaning “five-volumed book”), were referred to in Jewish tradition as the five fifths of the Law (of Moses). The Bible itself suggests Mosaic authorship of Genesis, since Ac 15:1 refers to circumcision as “the custom taught by Moses,” an allusion to Ge 17. However, a certain amount of later editorial updating does appear to be indicated (see, e.g., notes on 14:14; 36:31; 47:11).

The historical period during which Moses lived seems to be fixed with a fair degree of accuracy by 1 Kings. We are told that “the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel” was the same as “the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt” (1Ki 6:1). Since the former was c. 966 bc, the latter—and thus the date of the exodus—was c. 1446 (assuming that the 480 in 1Ki 6:1 is to be taken literally; see Introductions to Exodus: Chronology and Judges: Background). The 40-year period of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, which lasted from c. 1446 to c. 1406, would have been the most likely time for Moses to write the bulk of what is today known as the Pentateuch.

During the last three centuries many interpreters have claimed to find in the Pentateuch four underlying sources. The presumed documents, allegedly dating from the tenth to the fifth centuries bc, are called J (for Jahweh / Yahweh, the personal OT name for God), E (for Elohim, a generic name for God), D (for Deuteronomic) and P (for Priestly). Each of these documents is claimed to have its own characteristics and its own theology, said to contradict that of the other documents. The Pentateuch is thus depicted as a patchwork of stories, poems and laws. However, this view is not supported by conclusive evidence, and intensive archaeological and literary research has tended to undercut many of the arguments used to challenge Mosaic authorship.

Theological Theme and Message

Genesis speaks of beginnings—of the heavens and the earth, of light and darkness, of seas and skies, of land and vegetation, of sun and moon and stars, of sea and air and land animals, of human beings (made in God’s own image, the climax of his creative activity), of marriage and family, of society and civilization, of sin and redemption. The list could go on and on. A key word in Genesis is “account,” which also serves to divide the book into its ten major parts (see Literary Features and Literary Outline) and which includes such concepts as birth, genealogy and history.

The book of Genesis is foundational to the understanding of the rest of the Bible. It is supremely a book that speaks about relationships, highlighting those between God and his creation, between God and humankind, and between human beings. It is thoroughly monotheistic, taking for granted that there is only one God worthy of the name and opposing the ideas that there are many gods (polytheism), that there is no god at all (atheism) and that everything is divine (pantheism). It clearly teaches that the one true God is sovereign over all that exists (i.e., his entire creation), and that he often exercises his unlimited freedom to overturn human customs, traditions and plans. It introduces us to the way in which God initiates and makes covenants with his chosen people, pledging his love and faithfulness to them and calling them to promise theirs to him. It establishes sacrifice as the substitution of life for life (ch. 22). It gives us the first hint of God’s provision for redemption from the forces and consequences of evil (compare 3:15 with Ro 16:17–20) and contains the oldest and most profound statement concerning the significance of faith (15:6; see note there). More than half of Heb 11—a NT list of the faithful in the OT period—refers to characters in Genesis.

Literary Features

Genesis is divided into ten main sections, each identified by the word “account” (2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:1—repeated for emphasis at 36:9—and 37:2). The first five sections can be grouped together and, along with the introduction to the book as a whole (1:1—2:3), can be appropriately called “primeval history” (1:1—11:26). This introduction to the main story sketches the period from Adam to Abraham and tells about the ways of God with the human race as a whole. The last five sections constitute a much longer (but equally unified) account and relate the story of God’s dealings with the ancestors of his chosen people Israel (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and their families)—a section often called “patriarchal history” (11:27—50:26). This section is in turn composed of three narrative cycles (Abraham–Isaac, 11:27—25:11; Isaac–Jacob, 25:19—35:29; 37:1; Jacob–Joseph, 37:2—50:26), interspersed by the genealogies of Ishmael (25:12–18) and Esau (ch. 36).

Ancient Near Eastern culture placed a priority on the firstborn son. The Genesis narrative, by contrast, frequently concentrates on the life of the son born later; e.g., Seth over Cain, Shem over Japheth (but see NIV text note on 10:21), Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Judah and Joseph over their brothers, and Ephraim over Manasseh. Such an emphasis on God’s choice rather than human choice is perhaps the most obvious literary and theological characteristic of the book of Genesis as a whole. It strikingly underscores the fact that the people of God are not the product of natural human developments but are the result of God’s sovereign and gracious intrusion in human history. He brings out of the fallen human race a new humanity consecrated to himself, called and destined to be the people of his kingdom and the channel of his blessing to the whole earth.

Numbers with symbolic significance figure prominently in Genesis. The number ten, in addition to being the number of sections into which Genesis is divided, is also the number of names appearing in the genealogies of chs. 5 and 11 (see note on 5:5). The number seven also occurs frequently. The Hebrew text of 1:1 consists of exactly seven words and that of 1:2 of exactly 14 (twice seven). There are seven days of creation, seven names in the genealogy of ch. 4 (see note on 4:17–18; see also 4:15,24; 5:31), various sevens in the flood story, 70 descendants of Noah’s sons (ch. 10), a sevenfold promise to Abram (12:2–3), seven years of abundance and then seven of famine in Egypt (ch. 41), and 70 descendants of Jacob (ch. 46). Other significant numbers, such as 12 and 40, are used with similar frequency.

The book of Genesis is basically prose narrative, punctuated here and there by brief poems (the longest is the so-called Blessing of Jacob in 49:2–27). Much of the prose has a lyrical quality and uses the full range of figures of speech and other devices that characterize the world’s finest epic literature: vertical and horizontal parallelism between the two sets of three days in the creation account (see note on 1:11); the ebb and flow of sin and judgment in ch. 3 (the serpent, woman and man sin successively; God questions them in reverse order; then he judges them in the original order); the powerful monotony of “and then he died” at the end of paragraphs in ch. 5; the climactic hinge effect of the phrase “But God remembered Noah” (8:1) at the midpoint of the flood story; the hourglass structure of the account of the tower of Babel in 11:1–9 (narrative in vv. 1–2,8–9; discourse in vv. 3–4,6–7; v. 5 acting as transition); the macabre pun in 40:19 (see 40:13); the alternation between brief accounts about firstborn sons and lengthy accounts about younger sons.

These literary devices add interest to the narrative and provide interpretive signals to which the reader should pay close attention. It is no coincidence that many of the subjects and themes of the first three chapters of Genesis are reflected in the last three chapters of Revelation. We can only marvel at the superintending influence of the Lord himself, who assures us that “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2Ti 3:16) and that its writers “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2Pe 1:21).

The book of Genesis is foundational to the understanding of the rest of the Bible. It is supremely a book that speaks about relationships, highlighting those between God and his creation, between God and humankind, and between human beings.

Outlines

Literary Outline:

I. Introduction (1:1—2:3)

II. Body (2:4—50:26)

A. “The account of the heavens and the earth” (2:4—4:26)

B. “The written account of Adam’s family line” (5:1—6:8)

C. “The account of Noah” (6:9—9:29)

D. “The account of Shem, Ham and Japheth” (10:1—11:9)

E. “The account of Shem’s family line” (11:10–26)

F. “The account of Terah’s family line” (11:27—25:11)

G. “The account of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael” (25:12–18)

H. “The account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac” (25:19—35:29)

I. “The account of the family line of Esau” (36:1—37:1)

J. “The account of Jacob’s family line” (37:2—50:26)

Thematic Outline

I. The Primeval History (chs. 1–11)

A. The Story of Creation (1:1—2:3)

1. Summary statement (looking forward; 1:1)

2. The particulars (1:2—2:3)

a. The condition of the earth (1:2)

b. The days (1:3—2:3)

(1). The first day (1:3–5)

(2). The second day (1:6–8)

(3). The third day (1:9–13)

(4). The fourth day (1:14–19)

(5). The fifth day (1:20–23)

(6). The sixth day (1:24–31)

(7). The seventh day (2:1–3)

c. Summary statement (looking back; 2:1)

d. The seventh day (2:2–3)

B. The Probation and Fall of Humanity (2:4—3:24)

1. Human felicity (2:4–25)

a. Prologue (2:4–6)

b. The making of the man (2:7)

c. The earthly paradise and test (2:8–17)

d. The making of the woman (2:18–25)

2. Humans’ fall and expulsion (ch. 3)

a. Temptation and disobedience (3:1–7)

b. Confrontation (3:8–13)

c. Sentence (3:14–19)

d. The naming of Eve (3:20)

e. The coverings of skin (3:21)

f. Paradise lost (3:22–24)

C. Humanity Under Sin and Death (4:1—6:8)

1. The murder of Abel (4:1–15)

2. The family of Cain (4:16–24)

3. Seth replaces Abel (4:25–26)

4. The family of Seth (ch. 5)

5. The approaching crisis (6:1–8)

a. Sons of God and daughters of humans (6:1–3)

b. The Nephilim (6:4)

c. Sin full-grown (6:5–8)

D. The World Under Judgment (6:9—8:14)

1. One man in step with God (6:9–12)

2. The ark commissioned (6:13–22)

3. The order to embark (7:1–5)

4. The awaited flood (7:6–24)

5. The flood waters recede (8:1–14)

E. Renewal and Repeopling (A New Start; 8:15—10:32)

1. The new commission (8:15–19)

2. The accepted sacrifice (8:20–22)

3. The new decrees (9:1–7)

4. The universal covenant (9:8–17)

5. The destinies of Shem, Ham and Japheth (9:18–29)

6. The family of nations (ch. 10)

a. Introduction (10:1)

b. Japheth (10:2–5)

c. Ham (10:6–20)

d. Shem (10:21–31)

e. Concluding summary (10:32)

F. End and Beginning: Babel and Canaan (ch. 11)

1. Babel (11:1–9)

2. Toward the chosen people (11:10–26)

3. Toward the promised land (11:27–32)

II. Patriarchal History

A. Abraham Under Call and Promise (chs. 12–20)

1. Abraham follows the call (12:1–9)

2. Abraham in Egypt (12:10–20)

3. The parting from Lot (ch. 13)

4. The battle of the kings and the meeting with Melchizedek (ch. 14)

5. The faith of Abraham and the confirming covenant (ch. 15)

6. The birth of Ishmael (16:1–6)

7. Hagar and the angel (16:7–16)

8. The covenant reaffirmed and sealed (ch. 17)

a. The prelude (17:1–3)

b. The promises (“As for me…”; 17:4–8)

c. The stipulations (“As for you…”; 17:9–14)

d. Sarah named for her part (17:15–22)

e. Abraham and his household circumcised (17:23–27)

9. The visit to Abraham (18:1–15)

10. Abraham pleads for Sodom (18:16–33)

11. The judgment of Sodom (19:1–29)

12. Epilogue: Lot and his daughters (19:30–38)

13. Abraham deceives Abimelech (ch. 20)

B. Isaac and the Further Tests of Faith (chs. 21–26)

1. The birth of Isaac (21:1–7)

2. The expulsion of Ishmael (21:8–21)

3. The pact with Abimelech (21:22–34)

4. The offering of Isaac (22:1–19)

5. The twelve children of Nahor (22:20–24)

6. The family burial place (ch. 23)

7. The chosen bride for Isaac (ch. 24)

8. The peoples arising from Abraham (ch. 25)

9. Isaac deceives Abimelech (26:1–11)

10. Isaac’s fluctuating fortunes (26:12–22)

11. The covenant at Beersheba (26:23–35)

12. Esau’s Hittite wives (26:34–35)

C. Jacob and the Emergence of Israel (chs. 27–36)

1. Jacob seizes the blessing (ch. 27)

2. Jacob is sent to Mesopotamia (28:1–9)

3. Jacob’s dream and vow (28:10–22)

4. Jacob and the daughters of Laban (29:1–30)

5. Jacob’s children (from Reuben to Joseph; 29:31—30:24)

6. Jacob outdoes Laban (30:25–34)

7. Jacob’s flight from Laban (31:1–21)

8. Pursuit and confrontation (31:22–42)

9. The parting covenant with Laban (31:43–55)

10. Vision (foreboding and wrestling; ch. 32)

11. The meeting with Esau (33:1–17)

12. Massacre at Shechem (33:18—34:31)

13. To Bethel again (35:1–15)

14. The death of Rachel (35:16–20)

15. Reuben’s immoral act (35:21–22a)

16. The twelve sons of Jacob (35:22b–26)

17. The death of Isaac (35:27–29)

18. The descendants of Esau (ch. 36)

D. Joseph and the Migration to Egypt (chs. 37–50)

1. Joseph hated by his jealous brothers (37:1–11)

2. Joseph at his brothers’ mercy (37:12–24)

3. Joseph sold into Egypt (37:25–36)

4. Judah and his family succession (ch. 38)

5. Joseph under test (ch. 39)

6. The dreams of the cupbearer and baker (ch. 40)

7. Pharaoh’s dream and Joseph’s interpretation and promotion (41:1–45)

8. Joseph begins his administration (41:46–57)

9. Joseph’s brothers seek grain in Egypt (ch. 42)

10. The second visit to Egypt (ch. 43)

11. The arrest of Benjamin (44:1–17)

12. Judah’s intercession (44:18–34)

13. Joseph makes himself known (45:1–15)

14. Pharaoh sends for Jacob (45:16–28)

15. God’s blessing on the journey (46:1–7)

16. Jacob’s family of seventy (46:8–27)

17. Joseph and his father reunited (46:28–34)

18. Joseph’s family before Pharaoh (47:1–12)

19. Joseph’s economic policy (47:13–27)

20. Jacob names his burial place (47:28–31)

21. Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh (ch. 48)

22. Jacob’s blessing of the twelve sons (49:1–28)

23. The death of Jacob (49:29—50:23)

24. Jacob’s burial (50:4–13)

25. Joseph reassures his brothers (50:14–21)

26. The death of Joseph (50:22–26)

Outline adapted from Genesis by Derek Kidner. Copyright © 1967 by The Tyndale Press.