Name and Purpose
The title, Genesis, means “beginning.” It is the title of the book in the Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT). This aptly describes a book that outlines the creation of the world and humanity (chs. 1–2) and goes on to describe the beginning of sin (ch. 3), the new creation (ch. 9), God’s plan for blessing the world (12:1–3), and how that plan begins with the family of Abraham (chs. 12–50). The Jewish title of the book, Bĕrē ʾ šît, is taken from the first word in the Hebrew text: “In the beginning.” It also emphasizes that the book is concerned with origins.
Genesis is the first of the five books of the Pentateuch (see Introduction to the Pentateuch). Unlike the other books of the Torah, Genesis contains almost all narrative and few legal commands. Its purpose is to trace the beginnings of the world, humanity, and sin and to draw a line across human history that identifies God’s work with Abraham and his family. Thus, the book provides the necessary background for the divinely chosen origins of God’s people Israel and for their situation in Egypt at the beginning of Exodus. It also introduces God as Creator, Judge, and Redeemer. It describes the fall into sin and looks forward to how God will resolve his separation from the people he loved and created.
Background and Author
Exod 17:14 and Deut 31:9, 24 attest to the composition of much of the first five books by Moses. Moses’ composition of Genesis was assumed until the advent of critical studies of the Bible that questioned its validity. Since then, scholars have argued for dividing Genesis into separate parts and dating them to different times. Multiple authors would then have written the book, some of them centuries after the time of Moses. However, it is now clear that many of the events of Genesis, when compared to examples of ancient Near Eastern texts, date to the period before Moses, ca. 2200–1500 BC, and not later.
1. The creation account of Genesis has been compared with the Babylonian Enuma Elish, a story about how the god Marduk defeats a monster and creates the other gods from her body. Archaeologists discovered this story in the library of an Assyrian king from the seventh century BC. But a closer parallel to Gen 1–11, with stories of the creation of humankind followed by a flood, with a family and animals surviving on an ark, appears much earlier in the eighteenth-century BC Atraḫasis Epic.
2. Many texts, including the Atraḫasis Epic, mention a worldwide flood. Most famous is the Gilgamesh Epic. The earliest text we have dates from the eighteenth century BC. It was copied in many places and times in the ancient Near East. Like Atraḫasis, Gilgamesh has parallels with the details of Gen 6–9. A god decides to preserve a family, people construct a ship and bring animals into an ark and close the door, and the flood destroys everything outside the ark. These similarities should not blind us to the teaching of Gen 6–9 that God used the flood to judge the world and save righteous Noah and all on the ark in order to make a covenant with them upon disembarking (8:20—9:17).
3. Personal names can also attest to an early date for Genesis. Some of the names in chs. 1–11 occur only in the earlier period of the ancient Near East. Methushael, Methuselah, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain appear only in the earlier second millennium BC, not later. In chs. 12–50 other names with forms such as Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, and Joseph appear frequently in the early second millennium BC, but much less in the later second millennium BC and hardly at all in the first millennium BC. How would the author(s) of Genesis have known how to use these names that are authentic to the early period and not the later?
4. Gen 14 describes a war involving international armies from across the ancient Near East. Many of the names of the invaders in 14:1, 9 occur only in the second millennium BC: Amraphel the Babylonian, Arioch the Hurrian (from northern Syria), and Tidal the Hittite (from modern Turkey). They do not appear later in the ancient Near Eastern texts. Only in this period (2000–1500 BC) was it possible for armies to move across the entire Holy Land with relative freedom as they do here. Only in this early period (the time of Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph) do the Elamites appear in texts as far west as they do in Gen 14.
5. Customs from the early second millennium BC recur later, but their concentration in Genesis is unique. Examples include the stipulation that a surrogate mother could be used in cases where the wife remains barren for a period of seven years (16:1–4) and the betrothal gift that allows the bridegroom to marry (34:12).
6. The city of Harran (11:31–32; 12:4; 27:43; 28:10; 29:4) appears in the accounts of Abram and his descendants. Ancient Near Eastern texts attest to the site as a well-populated city during the early second millennium BC, occupied by large tribal coalitions of Amorites.
7. In 37:12–17, Joseph’s brothers graze the family’s flocks some 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) north of their home in Hebron. Only in the early second millennium BC do we have records of similar shepherds (Amorites in north Syria) grazing their flocks and herds more than a hundred miles (160 kilometers) from their homes, where their families remained. In the biblical account of later shepherds such as David, there is no mention of grazing in such distant pastures.
8. Benjamin is the only son of Jacob named after the family migrates south to the area of Bethlehem (35:16–19). This name is identical to the eighteenth-century BC southern tribal confederation in Syria known as the Binu-Yamina. The name refers to the south. Along with Asher and Zebulon, these proper names were known in the second millennium BC.
9. Joseph’s brothers sell him for 20 silver shekels (37:28). This price for a young male slave pertains only to the early second millennium BC.
These points provide evidence for the origin of the Genesis accounts early in the second millennium BC. How were they passed along to the time of Moses and later? We are not told. Perhaps this occurred through oral tradition among the decendants of Abraham. Alternatively, the discovery of a cuneiform tablet written in the early or middle second millennium BC and preserved in Hebron, where Abraham lived (13:18; 23:2), gives evidence of authorship in Abraham’s day and in one of his places of residence.
The evidence allows for the origins of the accounts preserved in much of Genesis to be dated to the early second millennium BC. It counters critical scholarship that attempts to date the Genesis narratives a thousand years later to the middle of the first millennium BC. Some scholars argue that the composition of Genesis became a means to tell stories about where some customs and names originated, e.g. why do Jews in the fifth century BC not eat the meat around the hip of an animal? Because their ancestor Jacob wrestled with someone who touched the socket of his hip and caused him to limp (32:25–32). This approach is sometimes called tradition history: although the event is recorded in the Bible, some critical scholars maintain that the account is a fabrication of a later author.
Another critical approach is to divide the biblical text into layers that form sources written at different times in Israel’s history. This is sometimes called source criticism or the Documentary Hypothesis. The sources reflect different concerns. Thus, 1:1—2:3 emphasizes the Sabbath (2:1–3), and priests wrote it in the fifth century BC because they were interested in enforcing laws such as the Sabbath. At another time, an individual who was interested in tracing God’s plan through history wrote 2:4–25 to emphasize that God was involved in the lives of people. This person created a history that extends beyond the Pentateuch and ultimately demonstrates how God chose David as king.
But note that in this example from the Documentary Hypothesis, Gen 1–2 do not need to be understood as coming from two separate writers. Instead, they represent two different emphases:
• 1:1—2:3 describes God as the creator of the cosmos. Its themes focus on God’s sovereignty as Lord over all: the importance of Sabbath rest, humanity’s rulership over creation, and the creation of abundant life.
• 2:4–25 emphasizes different themes: the creation of man, his home, his partner, and his work. At the beginning of all, God is both the transcendent Creator who is sovereign over all and the imminent Lord providing a world in full harmony with himself and the people he has created.
Thus, significant evidence exists for the antiquity of the book. Attestations of a single author from Israel’s earliest period are not explicit but can be inferred as providing the necessary background for the opening chapters of Exodus. Joseph dies in Gen 50 with his extended family blessed and living in Egypt. Exod 1:1–7 repeats this information and goes on to introduce Israel’s oppressed condition and the birth of its deliverer, Moses.
Structure
The book can be naturally divided into two parts: the world before Abram (chs. 1–11) and the world of Abraham and his descendants (chs. 12–50). Genealogies divide the book into subsections, each beginning with “the account of”: “the heavens and the earth” (2:4); “Adam’s family line” (5:1); “Noah and his family” (6:9); “Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons” (10:1); “Shem’s family line” (11:10); “Terah’s family line” (11:27); “the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael” (25:12); “the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac” (25:19); “the family line of Esau” (36:1, 9); and “Jacob’s family line” (37:2). The genealogies tend to form groups of two: Noah’s three sons and the line of Shem (chs. 10–11); Ishmael and Isaac (ch. 25); Esau and Jacob (ch. 36; 37:2, where Jacob’s line is mentioned). In each of these cases, the first of the two is identified and described principally by the names of the descendants. The second line of the doublet (Shem, Isaac, and Jacob) goes on to deal with a single line of descendants with much greater development of the narratives surrounding the key figures through whom God will work specific promises. This is also true of the two major divisions of the entire book: chs. 1–11 and chs. 12–50. The first part deals with the world as a whole. It ends with humanity’s failure in the tower of Babel and with the decision of God to work with a single descendant in Shem’s line and with his offspring. The story of the second part of the book of Genesis thus emerges out of ch. 11.
These two major divisions depict the following theological themes:
1. God chooses again and again to focus his attention on a single individual or family and to work through them to accomplish his purpose. He is revealed as a personal God who relates to his people in a manner that suggests intimacy.
2. The same God remains sovereign in each generation and for all the families of the earth. This is clear from ch. 10, which identifies all people of the known world by tracing their origins to Noah and his sons. Therefore, all bear God’s image (9:6).
3. The God who speaks the world into being in ch. 1 is the same God who saves Noah in chs. 6–9. He is the same God who calls Abram from his land and gives him promises of blessing (12:1–3). He is the same God who provides Isaac and sustains Abram/Abraham’s line through Jacob/Israel and his 12 sons in Egypt. This God remains alive and active in each generation from the beginning of creation until the present one.
Genesis and Science
The contemporary reader of Genesis should strive to read the text as it was originally intended to be read by the ancient reader—not to presume that one can carry into this ancient writing all the assumptions and questions that we might have today. This requires care and knowledge of the purpose for which Moses wrote the text. We should exercise care to read the Bible in a manner that remains sensitive to the literary clues and nuances that the writer intended. This approach is possible but requires study and the guidance of the Spirit of God.
The question of the age of the earth is not automatically resolved with the use of the seven days in 1:1—2:3. In 2:4, Moses uses the same Hebrew word for “day” to summarize all the work of creation: “In the day when God created the heavens and the earth.” Of course, this does not mean that the term “day” cannot refer to a 24-hour day in the seven days of creation. But it may also serve other purposes. For one, the use of days builds up to the final climactic seventh day of Sabbath rest. This forms one of the major theological emphases of the creation account. The Sabbath rest is built into creation and forms the goal of world history from its beginning. Another reason for the seven days may be connected with “the account of” in 2:4. While this term often precedes the genealogical lines, it can also fall in the midst of longer accounts of individuals and their families. This is true in the case of the last mention of this in Genesis, in the account of Jacob’s family line (37:2). Much of the story has already been told. The same may be true of 2:4. How do the heaven and earth have a “family line”? There are no parents or children, only the beginning of the human race. Using a metaphor in which the sun and moon bring forth the earth would only confuse the reader in a strictly monotheistic world where these created things have no personhood and should not be worshiped. Instead, the author may have used the sequence of days to parallel the sequences of generations in the later family lines. Each day prepares for and gives way to the next day just as each generation prepares for and gives way to the next generation. This emphasizes the logical development of God’s creation more than it pinpoints the chronological development.
A second area concerns the expression “according to its/their kind(s).” This describes the plants (1:11–12), the fish of the sea (1:21), the land creatures (1:24–25), and all these as well as the birds (7:14). It is sometimes taken to mean that the text must describe exact reproduction and cannot allow for the gradual development of various forms of species. However, in Ezek 47:10 this same phrase refers to fish “of many kinds.” If that is the case in Genesis, then it does not emphasize limitation of each life form to it specific species but emphasizes the diversity of each general life form: fish of many kinds, land creatures of many kinds, etc.
The role of Adam and Eve as the first human couple appears in chs. 2–4. While some may argue that these figures represent a symbolic or metaphoric story that has no relation to the early history of humanity, they must address the explicit presentation of the Hebrew text. The syntax of the text resembles that of later books such as 2 Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah. All readers understand that the authors of these books intended readers to accept them as history. The same should be true of a text such as ch. 3. Indeed, this becomes the witness of the memories of Genesis in the later biblical text (see Introduction: Genesis and History; Genesis and the New Testament).
Genesis and History
Modern journalism requires the testimony of independent sources to demonstrate the historical reliability of a report. We are not often blessed with multiple witnesses for Genesis. Nevertheless, evidence shows that the figures and events of chs. 12–50 fit into the world of the early second millennium BC and not a later time (see Introduction: Background and Author). If Gen 12–50 witnesses an authentic and ancient heritage in places where they can be tested, what can one say about the world of Genesis before Abram? As noted, some of the names in these genealogies are attested in the earliest sources for names of the West Semitic peoples, of whom Abram and his family formed a part.
Further, the occurrence of a divinely sent flood with universal impact on the human race is also preserved in some of the earliest texts recounting the primeval times (such as the eighteenth-century BC Old Babylonian Atraḫasis Epic). At times the detailed agreement of these accounts (see also the story in the Old Babylonian version of and in later versions of Gilgamesh) suggests more than an independent witness to an ancient event. It may imply borrowing from a common source.
When we examine the account of the Sumerian King List from ca. 2000 BC, we find two important features that Gen 1–11 also shares: (1) A flood ended the cities named from earlier times (cf. 4:17), but survivors rebuilt cities after the flood. (2) The kings who ruled before the flood reigned for unusually long periods of time, often more than 10,000 years. This may preserve a memory of the actual event recorded in Gen 5, where those in Seth’s line each lived for hundreds of years.
Examples such as these demonstrate the historical value of the early chapters of Genesis. They witness God’s ongoing presence and work among the people of the world, especially with the line of promise as traced through Seth and Shem. But this does not mean it is possible to date the specific times when these events took place. As is true of all human history, the Bible selects those events and peoples that serve its purposes in recounting the advance of God’s kingdom and his work on earth. It reports these accurately but does not provide a complete record. Thus, when 10:24 asserts that “Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,” this may mean that he was the grandfather or ancestor of Shelah. (Luke 3:35–36 inserts the name of Cainan between these two men in its genealogy.)
Genesis and Theology
God
While the key themes of creation, sin, judgment, and salvation permeate the book of Genesis, the first three chapters express this in the most concentrated way in Scripture. God asserts his lordship over the world by speaking it into existence and then pronouncing each day’s work as “good.” It is good in that it perfectly agrees with God’s will. “Very good” (1:31) signals the end of the creation work and God’s blessing upon it by setting apart the next and final day for rest (2:1–3). The end of ch. 2 shows God’s design in terms of the harmony of relationships among God, his creation, and Adam and Eve. When sin (which God’s holiness cannot tolerate) enters the human race, God punishes the couple with expulsion from his presence and from the garden (3:23–24). But he also provides a way to continue his relationship with them, and he promises that a time would come when he would deal the serpent a mortal blow (3:15). When violence on the earth increases, God sends the judgment of the flood (chs. 6–9). Although the human race seeks to advance without God, he disperses them across the earth (11:1–9).
Faith
God calls one man, Abram, to come away from his home and move to a land that God will show him. In doing so, God promises land, seed, and blessing for Abram and his offspring (12:1–3; 13:14–17). They will become instruments of blessing for everyone. As Abraham exercises faith, God is able to work through him and to magnify the promises and blessings. God not only promises offspring to Abraham (ch. 15), but he brings it about when Abraham and Sarah are far beyond the age to have children (21:1–5). Yet Abraham does not hold back when God demands that he sacrifice his son Isaac (ch. 22). With his knife raised, he was ready to kill his son, but the angel of the Lord intervenes, for now Abraham has demonstrated that he will trust God even with his most precious possession. For this reason God extends the promise beyond the land to occupation of the cities in the land (22:17). Abraham has trusted God and knows him to be just (18:25).
Grace
Isaac also receives the promise from God (26:3, 24). God exercises his sovereignty in granting to Isaac’s son Jacob the birthright, even though this overturns custom. Esau is the firstborn but God favors Jacob (25:21–34; 27:1–30). He chooses to bless Jacob with the promises given to his father and grandfather (28:13–15). Jacob’s time with his uncle Laban involves one trick after another in which Laban seeks to get the better of Jacob and to profit by him (chs. 29–30). Nevertheless, God blesses Jacob at every step so that Jacob gains much wealth and a large family. God protects him from the anger of both his uncle Laban and his brother Esau. He confirms Jacob’s blessing by changing Jacob’s name to Israel (32:28). In his later life, however, Jacob would see his own sons trick him (ch. 37) as they sell their brother Joseph into slavery and return home to tell their father that a wild animal killed him.
While God has worked with Abraham and Isaac through direct visits and has spoken with Jacob in dreams, he chooses to work behind the scenes with Joseph. Although God gives Joseph (a younger son of Jacob) the ability to interpret dreams, Joseph does not enjoy direct appearances from God. Whether resisting the temptation of Potiphar’s wife or languishing in prison, Joseph serves responsibly, and God rewards him for it. Eventually, through his skill in interpreting dreams, Joseph is able to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh, who raises Joseph to second in command over Egypt (ch. 41). As Joseph gathers grain during the years of plenty, he is able to sell it in the famine years. He later reveals himself to his brothers and delivers his family from famine in Canaan, but that is only part of his work. God enables Joseph to provide grain for all of Canaan and Egypt (47:13–26), thereby preserving alive both the Egyptians who would later enslave Israel and the Canaanites who would lead Israel away from God. Joseph recognizes all of this. While his brothers meant to harm him, God worked it out for the good of Joseph and for the saving of many lives (50:19–20). God took his promise to Abraham to bless the nations of the world through him (12:2–3) and embodies it in Joseph as much as any of his predecessors.
Humanity
Three theological themes play important roles in the lives of major characters in Genesis: the image of God, the spread of sin, and the covenant. These three themes relate to the doctrine of humanity.
God creates humans in his image in 1:26–28. Although he commands them to reproduce like the plants and animals, he reserves a unique role for the human race. God appoints them, as those created in his image, to be leaders and rulers of his finished creation: God places the man in the Garden of Eden to take care to it, i.e., to maximize its life-giving potential (2:15). God reaffirms this image after the initial sin of Adam and Eve and the judgment of the flood (5:1; 9:6), and it becomes the basis for the prohibition of violence against and murder of others (9:6). As human society grows, God calls out Abram and his successors so that they reflect this image throughout the world and thereby bless the nations around them: Abram/Abraham gives Melchizedek, the king of Salem, a tenth of all he had with him (14:20). Later, Abraham intercedes for Sodom and Gomorrah (18:20–33). Jacob enriches Laban while working for him (30:27, 30; 31:38–41). God uses Joseph to bless Potiphar and the prison warden through his administrative skills (39:2–5, 22–23). God provides Joseph with the opportunity to collect grain during years of bountiful harvests and to sell it during a famine (41:48–49, 56–57). Joseph’s provision for the starving multitudes leads to the salvation of his own family, of Egypt, and of Canaan (47:13–27). Joseph confesses that God accomplished the salvation of many lives (50:20). In this manner, the blessing of God was reflected through the lives of those who bore God’s image faithfully.
In opposition to the work of God in the world, the spread of sin becomes a major theme in Genesis. Human sin begins in the Garden of Eden when the man and woman follow their own desires rather than the will of God (3:1–7). It grows as Cain murders his brother (4:1–8) and his descendant Lamech kills out of vengeance (4:23–24). Finally, there comes a time when evil controls every thought of every person, with the exception of Noah (6:5, 8). Violence has corrupted the earth (6:11). The flood wipes out that sinful generation, but it does not end the rebellion in the hearts of people. Righteous Noah became drunk, and his son saw his nakedness (9:20–22). The builders of the tower of Babel thought only of themselves and their glory (11:1–8). Even Abram lies about Sarai his wife, bringing about diseases in Pharaoh’s household (12:10–20; cf. Abraham and Abimelek in ch. 20 and Isaac and Abimelek in 26:7–11). Abram’s nephew Lot chooses the well-watered but wicked land around Sodom (13:10–13) and, like Noah, became drunk and was seduced by his own daughters (19:30–38). God judges the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of that plain. He destroys them with fire when not even ten righteous can be found in Sodom (18:20—19:29). The deception of Jacob and Laban (chs. 29–31) and the betrayal of Joseph by his brothers (37:12–28) provide further examples of sin.
God’s redeeming love and grace are always at work in the midst of this sin. Juxtaposed against some of the greatest descriptions of sin and judgment appear the two major covenants that Genesis describes. The term “covenant” (Hebrew bĕrît) implies a relationship with God. Through a covenant God seeks to recreate the loving relationship that he had with Adam and Eve before human sin destroyed it. The term for “covenant” first occurs in 6:18, where God promises Noah that he will establish a covenant that will benefit all life. God confirms its establishment in 9:9, 11. The promise is that God will never again destroy the entire world with a flood. In 12:1–3, God begins to create a covenant with Abram (see Introduction: Genesis and Theology [Faith]). Abram believes God when God says that Abram will father a great nation (15:6). God makes the most solemn promise possible (15:1–21). He instructs Abram to divide the carcasses of various animals. At that point, Abram falls into a deep sleep, and in a dream God symbolically passes between the carcasses. In doing so, God swears by his own life that if his promises do not come true, he will be killed just like the animals were. The sign of the first covenant with Noah was the rainbow (9:13). The sign of the covenant God makes with Abraham is circumcision (17:11). This sign is related to the great increase in numbers that God promises he will give to Abraham and to his descendants (17:1–8).
Genesis and the New Testament
Genesis lays the foundation for salvation history. It is no surprise, therefore, that the text has numerous connections with the NT. Four stand out. First, Paul repeatedly describes the sin and judgments of Gen 3 and applies them to the redeeming work of Christ. This is clearest in Rom 5:12–21: the sin and death that one man’s (Adam’s) transgression brought contrasts with the justification, righteousness, and life that one man (Jesus Christ) brings through his sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Jesus is a second Adam, succeeding where the first Adam failed.
Second, Gen 14:18–20 is a brief account about Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem who blesses Abram by God Most High and receives from Abram a tithe of what Abram had captured. This account forms the background for designating the Messianic king of Ps 110 as one who is also a priest “in the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110:4). The NT book of Hebrews mentions Melchizedek nine times to connect Jesus’ priestly ministry with the order of Melchizedek (Heb 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1, 10, 11, 15, 17). Because Abram gave a tithe to Melchizedek, so did all his descendants. This included Aaron and the priestly line of the tribe of Levi. Thus, this line of priests honored Melchizedek as superior. Jesus, the Messianic king, is in this priesthood (Ps 110), and therefore his priesthood surpasses that of Aaron and his line.
A third focus for the appearance of Genesis in the NT is the book of Revelation. The first book in the Bible describes how the serpent deceives the woman, and how her offspring consequently struggles with the serpent (Gen 3:1–15), and the last book describes how the serpent seeks to destroy the woman and her child (Rev 12:1–17). The serpent is ultimately defeated and is explicitly identified as Satan in the NT (Rev 20:2). The first Eden had an abundance of water and a tree of life that gave life to those who ate its fruit (Gen 2:10–14; 3:22). The new Eden of the restored world, the new Jerusalem, will have the river of the water of life with the tree of life growing on both sides of the river. The leaves of the tree will heal the nations (Rev 22:1–3). The curse of the ground (Gen 3:17) will no longer be present (Rev 22:3). Instead, the bounty of the Garden of Eden will return.
A final focus of Genesis in the NT appears in John 1:1–4, which consciously imitates the opening verses of Genesis. Theses verses refer to the Word, or Christ, who was present at the beginning and involved in the creation of the world. This parallels Gen 1:1 and identifies Jesus Christ with God and the Creator of the world. The light was present in Christ (John 1:4–5), parallel to the creation of light in Gen 1:3. Finally, the Gospel of John emphasizes life (see notes on John 1:1–18; 1:4), modeling one of the great themes of Gen 1, God’s creation of abundant life and his blessing of that life.
Outline
I. The Primeval History (1:1—11:26)
A. In the Beginning (1:1—2:3)
B. Adam and Eve (2:4–25)
C. The Fall (3:1–24)
D. Cain and Abel (4:1–26)
E. From Adam to Noah (5:1–32)
F. Wickedness in the World (6:1–8)
G. Noah and the Flood (6:9—8:22)
H. God’s Covenant With Noah (9:1–17)
I. The Sons of Noah (9:18–29)
J. The Table of Nations (10:1–32)
K. The Tower of Babel (11:1–9)
L. From Shem to Abram (11:10–26)
II. The Family of Abraham (11:27—25:18)
A. Abram’s Family (11:27–32)
B. The Call of Abram (12:1–9)
C. Abram in Egypt (12:10–20)
D. Abram and Lot Separate (13:1–18)
E. Abram Rescues Lot (14:1–24)
F. The Lord’s Covenant With Abram (15:1–21)
G. Hagar and Ishmael (16:1–16)
H. The Covenant of Circumcision (17:1–27)
I. The Three Visitors (18:1–15)
J. Abraham Pleads for Sodom (18:16–33)
K. Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed (19:1–29)
L. Lot and His Daughters (19:30–38)
M. Abraham and Abimelek (20:1–18)
N. The Birth of Isaac (21:1–7)
O. Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away (21:8–21)
P. The Treaty at Beersheba (21:22–34)
Q. Abraham Tested (22:1–19)
R. Nahor’s Sons (22:20–24)
S. The Death of Sarah (23:1–20)
T. Isaac and Rebekah (24:1–67)
U. The Death of Abraham (25:1–11)
V. Ishmael’s Sons (25:12–18)
III. The Family of Isaac (25:19—36:43)
A. Jacob and Esau (25:19–34)
B. Isaac and Abimelek (26:1–33)
C. Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing (26:34—28:9)
D. Jacob’s Dream at Bethel (28:10–22)
E. Jacob Arrives in Paddan Aram (29:1–14)
F. Jacob Marries Leah and Rachel (29:15–30)
G. Jacob’s Children (29:31—30:24)
H. Jacob’s Flocks Increase (30:25–43)
I. Jacob Flees From Laban (31:1–21)
J. Laban Pursues Jacob (31:22–55)
K. Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau (32:1–21)
L. Jacob Wrestles With God (32:22–32)
M. Jacob Meets Esau (33:1–20)
N. Dinah and the Shechemites (34:1–31)
O. Jacob Returns to Bethel (35:1–15)
P. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac (35:16–29)
Q. Esau’s Descendants (36:1–30)
R. The Rulers of Edom (36:31–43)
IV. The Family of Jacob (37:1—50:26)
A. Joseph’s Dreams (37:1–11)
B. Joseph Sold by His Brothers (37:12–36)
C. Judah and Tamar (38:1–30)
D. Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (39:1–23)
E. The Cupbearer and the Baker (40:1–23)
F. Pharaoh’s Dreams (41:1–40)
G. Joseph in Charge of Egypt (41:41–57)
H. Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt (42:1–38)
I. The Second Journey to Egypt (43:1–34)
J. A Silver Cup in a Sack (44:1–34)
K. Joseph Makes Himself Known (45:1–28)
L. Jacob Goes to Egypt (46:1—47:12)
M. Joseph and the Famine (47:13–31)
N. Manasseh and Ephraim (48:1–22)
O. Jacob Blesses His Sons (49:1–28)
P. The Death of Jacob (49:29—50:14)
Q. Joseph Reassures His Brothers (50:15–21)
R. The Death of Joseph (50:22–26)
The Atrahasis Epic, ca. seventeenth century BC, contains stories of creation and the flood in a sequence similar to that of Genesis.
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