Project Description

2013/03

A Look at the book of Genesis

What a vast field of study is presented to us in the first book of the Bible! Genesis has 50 chapters. It covers a period of at least 2,300 years. In terms of our own lifetime, an equal period of history would not only reach back to include the activities of the apostles and the early ministry of our Lord but also border on the days of Malachi!

Yet God has been pleased to compress these two millennia, for the most part, into the small compass of a few chapters. Genesis chronicles momentous events from that primeval age and uses them as a basis for the unfolding of the plan of redemption. This we will come to see in the analysis of the Book.

Different outlines, of course, have been suggested. Frequently Genesis has been taken as THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS. Indeed this is how it came by its title, which is derived from the Septuagint. This Greek version of the OT Scriptures, thought to be the work of 70 scholars (hence the symbol LXX), was written in Alexandria, 300 BC. The name Genesis indicates “generation” or “origin.” (See Matthew 1:1, where ‘genesis’, the Greek word, is translated “generation”). Chapter one, appropriately, opens with the words, “In the Beginning“. This suggests a host of useful topical subjects for Bible Study. Creation, Divine revelation, temptation, Satan’s work among’ men, sin, death, promise, prayer, marriage, family Worship, redemption, prophecy – all of these and more have their beginnings in the chapters which follow.

Some relate the beginnings of Genesis to the 11 distinct “generations” which occur, making 12 parts to the Book in all. You can locate these by looking up the references: 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12, 19; 36:1, 9; 37:2. Above all, the student should not fail to note how all the beginnings of Genesis have their antithetical climax in the book of Revelation – a marvellous testimony to the absolute and Divine unity of Scripture.

A TWO-FOLD ANALYSIS

I prefer a straightforward division of the book into two parts:

(i) Genesis 1-11 is largely introductory and lays the foundation for the greater part of the book, and for the rest of Scripture. These are fundamental chapters. Therefore it need be no surprise that they have been subject to Satanic assault, especially chapters I, 3, 6 and 7.

(ii) Genesis 12-50 demonstrates that the book is not only historical but also biographical. The narratives of Genesis focus on five principal characters: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. These five figures fully illustrate God’s dealings with men. In Adam, there is the promise of the sinners redemption; in Noah, the finding of grace; in Abraham, the giving of the covenant for the land. With Jacob, the history marks the appearance of a particular and peculiar people, and Joseph’s life reveals indisputably the preservation of that people. And, the doctrines of grace are exemplified here: ADAM, reflecting total depravity; NOAH, irresistible grace; ABRAHAM, unconditional election; JACOB, particular redemption; and JOSEPH, the preservation of the saints of God. (cf Genesis 6:5-7; 6:8; Isaiah 51:2; Genesis 48:16; 50:20).

ABRAHAM, THE FRIEND OF GOD

Of the five central characters, the last three share greater prominence, occupying approximately four-fifths of the entire book. This corresponds to chapters 12-50, the second division in the outline.

Abraham, however, has a prominence that continues through the rest of the Bible, something immediately discernable in the New Testament. He holds a supreme position as the friend of God and the father of the faithful (James 2:21,23; Galatians 3:7,29). In Genesis, more chapters are devoted to the life of this one man than to the narrative of creation, the fall, the antediluvian period and the flood combined! Even chapters 1-11 prepare the way for his coming. These chapters, in round figures, account for 2,000 years of the Genesis history, while the remaining 39 chapters concentrate on 300 years.

Moreover, ‘Abraham’s chapters’ pertain to the last 100 years of his 175-year life span. The scientists and educators of this age would certainly change the emphasis in Genesis if they could. For them, those 100 years would merit little attention, while the 2,000 years so hurriedly passed over by the inspired pen would receive a detailed treatment, perhaps expanding into as many volumes.

THE DESIGN OF THE AUTHOR

Thankfully Genesis, in common with all Scripture, has a Divine origin. It derives from One who says “My thoughts are not your thoughts” (see Isaiah 55: 8, 9). No, the first words of this first book sum up the origin of the Bible and the supernatural perfection of its message: “In the beginning GOD…”

Resembling a miniature Bible, these words lie equally at the back of the creation of this universe, and at the back of the whole scheme of redemption and our eventual salvation. All true scholarship, all true Bible study, all sound investigation, thinking and doing, can build only on this sublime foundation – in the beginning, God!

No other explanation for the genesis of life, or of the world, will stand. The same goes for the Bible, starting with Genesis itself. There is no other way to account for its origin but in the first four words of the opening chapter.

Dr. John Douglas