Genesis is the first book of the bible and gives an account of the creation of the word. Tradition holds that Moses wrote Genesis sometime between 1446 and 1406 BC. The word "genesis" is Greek in origin and comes from the word "geneseos." Geneseos means "genealogy," "birth," or "history of origin," depending on the context in which it's used. In Hebrew, the title is bereshith, which means, "in the beginning," which is also the first words of the book. In ancient times books were commonly named after the first word or two.
Narrative and Structure
The narrative of Genesis begins with the creation of the universe and all that it contains. From this broad view it moves to human beings and God's role for them in the world. It then narrows down from all the nations of man to one nation- Israel.
Genesis is divided into ten sections. The first five sections are a historical account of the beginning of the world. Scholars identify this first chunk as a "primeval history." It details the period from Adam to Abraham and the interactions between God and the human race.
The last five sections are longer and relate the story of God's dealings with the ancestors of His chosen people. This chunk is considered to be a "patriarchal history." In the New International Version (NIV), the sections are identified by the word, "account."
Themes and Message
Themes found in Genesis include beginnings, marriage and family, society and civilization, and sin and redemption. It highlights relationships, especially those between God and creation, between God and man, and between humans.
Numbers also play a significant role in Genesis. The number seven appears frequently. In Hebrew, chapter 1:1 consists of seven words, and 1:2, 14 words- twice seven. There are seven days of creation, seven names in the genealogy of chapter 4, various sevens in the story of the flood, 70 descendants of Noah, seven years of abundance and seven years of famine, and more. Numbers 10, 12, and 40 also appear frequently.
Genesis teaches that there is one true God who is sovereign over all creation. Often he will use his divine right to overturn or correct human customs. Genesis introduces how God makes covenants with his chosen people, and establishes sacrifice as a way to temporarily cover sin.
21 comments
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Gilles Levesque
I love the basic overview of Genesis Now as a new Minister I will study this much more closely.
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Sharon McMann-Morelli
I also will study mor
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L. Michael Black
In the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis, chapter 5, verse 2, it reads: Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called THEIR NAME ADAM, in the day when they were created.
MAN: There are three most commonly used words in Hebrew for the word: MAN. The one used most of the time is the same word for ADAM, which means ‘human being’. This word applies to a male or female.
According to the beliefs of the Jews, the female was given very little importance, so that religious scholars assumed that the word Adam always applied to the male.
In ancient times if a female gave birth to 5 daughters and no son, she was still considered to be a virgin. Today Orthodox Jews still believe in the same way. Their type of mentality has been buried alive in ignorance since the beginning of their religion.
If both the male and female are called “ADAM” in the Old Testament, and Adam means first man, then “MAN” would have to be defined by some means other than his external body parts – such as someone with a penis.
The second most commonly used word (for man) is the word ‘eesh’ which indicated a male because the female, once again, was not considered as being important. This Hebrew word was used to represent the characteristics of a human being and applied to both sexes.
The third word used was, (en—cshe’ ) and means a mortal, or again any human being as in ‘mankind’. It is interesting that the word used for ‘man’ and ‘male’ can be found only 8x in the 5 books of Moses, and 4x in the rest of the Old Testament or 12x in the O.T. This illustrates why the word for ‘man’ could not be defined l,562x in both the Old and New Testaments combined.
However, it is interesting to note that the 3rd word comes from the verb (aw—nash’ ) which means to be weak as when one is sick or ill at ease (disease) and implies spiritually to be confused, uncertain, doubtful, or the intellect that is at a very low level of awareness. It is this 3rd word that best exemplifies a ‘man’, or any male or female who allows the beliefs of others to dominate and control their lives.
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Michael J K
Where did you get your study guides? I would like to study more to gain a clearer understanding of the old and new testament.
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L. Michael Black
Greetings, Michael J.K., There is no 'simple' response to your question. My research of the KJV bible has been ongoing for more than thirty years, through three continents and a ton of people. To begin, there exists a universal language, one which is identical in every land, among every people and encompasses every level of mental awareness. The universal language is ARITHMETIC ( and numbers). My 1st clue came from dreams containing numbers, which evolved into messages. I also learned that the scientific community has attempted to communicate with alien life forms for 50 years using numbers. My system of Gramatica works with the English language only and assigns numbers 1 through 26 to every letter of the English alphabet: a = 1; z = 26. The use of "STRONG'S Concordance of the KJV' is the key factor because the KJV is the translation of Hebrew and Greek (writings) and Strongs' features Hebrew and Greek dictionaries. Every word has a number, every word has a reflection. Every word in KJV not defined in Strongs is "UNDEFINED" therefore was injected from the 'dualistic' minds of the 47 translators appointed by King James II. The number for "OF GOD" is 47. The KJV is a metaphorical document written in code and speaks to the triune mentality of the highest level of awareness available to humankind. Thus far I have retranslated a large portion of KJV into the Spiritual Language of Enlightened Humanity which will soon be published under the title of "Sovereignty Over Self".
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Michael J K
Thank you, I will look for your book when it is published.
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L. Michael Black
ATTENTION Anyone having A Burning Desire for Spiritual Enlightenment:
Because this dialogue, Books of the Bible, if pursued, will take us into what many will classify as dangerous territory, which can become 'treacherous' when you don’t agree with a different point of view, here are few key points to keep in mind. Point 1: an OPEN MIND is needed to LEARN and/or ABSORB any new information. Point 2: ancient scriptures were written in Hebrew which has no capital letters. There were no proper nouns. Without proper nouns there were no names of people, places, or things. Point 3: when the New Testament was written in Greek certain Hebrew words were capitalized when translated. These became names, such as: Adam and Eve, Moses, Noah, Joshua, Jonah, Joseph, Jacob, Jesus, Jehovah, Jerusalem, and Jews, to name a few. Point 4: Every speaker of a language has, in his or her head, a set of rules for using that language. Point 5: In the human experience no topic brings forth more disagreement, animosity, pain and suffering as discussions about religious beliefs. Politics is the second, but nowhere close to the discord created by confrontations over religion. Point 6: The first Bible translated into English, the King James Version, is said to be the word of God. Today, there are in excess of 600 different Bibles written in English. Why? Point 7: There is little doubt that religion is dogmatic. Dogma in the wrong hands will always be a dangerous and risky thing. Religion is not an intellectual game. Its purpose is to save the land and the people from suffering.
In conclusion: THE REAL MESSIAH, OR ONE'S SAVIOR IS COMMON SENSE – IT comes only from within and never from anything outside of ourselves, which the entity called "Christ" MADE WHEN HE SPOKE TO THE PEOPLE. People followed him not for free fish and bread but because he made sense.
However, common sense is also the adversary of religious and political beliefs, which support duplicity and corruption. Why do you think the “Christ” was framed and persecuted by religious leaders and put to death through political law even though Pontius Pilate said: (Book of Luke 23:22) 'And he said to them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. '
The most misunderstood Book of the Bible and the one given the greatest amount of effort by theologians and scholars is the Book of Revelations. Do you know why this is so?
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Charles Lee
There is no such book in the Bible called Revelations. Do you mean The Revelation?
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Reverend Alia
You took the words right out of my mouth, it must have been why you were blessed by Thee... One wild bat straight out of Heaven! Thank you my fellow Truth seeker, God Bless you! Many Thanks and Many Blessings to you my Dear Brother in Faitb
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Reverend Alia
I did not address my reply, what an oversight! Many thanks to the learned L. Michael Black
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Dawn
Genisis is origionally the Jewish/Hebrew Bible. The whole Old Testement is the Jewish/Hebrew bible. This was their story of the beginning of their nation not the rest of the nations beginnings.
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Lewis
That's right, they called it the Tanakh, and Genesis largely focuses on the Nation of Israel. But chapters 10 and 11 give an account of the spread of the nations; how the sons of Japeth, Ham, and Shem spread out and settled down in different areas. Then at the Tower of Babel their languages are confused, and "From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the Earth." (11:8) It then goes into the family genealogy of Abraham, and their destiny as God's people.
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D King
Amen Dawn!! How did you come by this understanding? Would that all who study G-ds' word would have this knowledge.
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Reverend Alia
If one does not possess this knowledge as well as much more ancient knowledge which is provided in scripture and doctrine which predates Christianity yet was incorporated into it (as the result of continual genocide commited by Christian gundamentalist dictators, such as Constantine who spred 'God's Love' via murder and introduced an altered doctrine, -think Enoch and Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the limitation if not annihilation of doctrinal input by women-, to the world to suit his own narcissistic desires. What a sad and tragic irony to persecute and kill in the name of a God, Jesus, who was persecuted and killed yet preached love and unity, forgiveness and compassion, acceptance)... Well, then they are not truly of the study of the origins of humanity, nor of the study of faith and the true expansion of knowledge, attainment of enlightenment nor truly in service of God. They are instead reciting dogma to suit their own desires. How many Constantines are alive today and judging me for my belief and acceptance of truths they will not accept and would rather I wasn't aware of. Your ignorance is forgiven, but neither your idealogy nor methodology is accepted by nor incorporated into the workings of a truly civilised mind. God Bless you Dawn, and all others who persue Truth with open eyes, an open mind and an open heart...
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L. Michael Black
You should know that Job is the first "book" of the bible.
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Lewis
Why do you say Job is the first book of the Bible?
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walter combs
Job is the 'oldest book of the bible', not the first book. It uses the name for God 'El Shaddai' which pre-dates any of the names for God found in Genesis. Genesis is listed as the first book of the bible because it is the 'book of beginnings'.
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L. Michael Black
Thank you for correcting my statement. Job is the oldest Book.
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Carina Artalejo
I loved, amazing to learn the important contest for genesis wowwww.
This is an awesome synopsis of the depths of genesis and how it details the importance of each chapter pertaining to relationships and how one coincides with another.
I agree. This is excellent and helps put things in to perspective of where or how things came about to be in the Christian Bible. Thank you for the message.