INTRODUCING GENESIS (1)

PMW 2025-050 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Title
Genesis is the first of the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch). The titles to the first five books of the Bible are actually the first words of the Hebrew text in each book. Thus, the Jews called the first book Bereshith, which is the first word in the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1. It means “by way of beginning, or in beginning.”

The title by which we today call this book is derived not from the first words of the Hebrew, but from its Septuagint title. The Septuagint title is directly transliterated as: Genesis. Each of the Greek titles of the Pentateuch summarize the subjects of the books, rather than presenting their first words. Had the ancient Greek translators used Genesis’s first words, it would have been called: En archē (“in beginning”). They apparently derived the title we use from Genesis 2:4a which reads: “This is the book of the generation [geneseos] of heaven and earth.” The Greek word means “origin, source, or generation.”

Author and Date
As noted in the “Introduction to the Pentateuch,” Moses apparently wrote all five of the books in the Pentateuch. And he wrote them in the order they appear in our modern Bibles (which is the order of the ancient Hebrew canon). Therefore, Genesis is its first volume.

We noted that Moses wrote the Pentateuch after the exodus from Egypt and before Israel entered the Promised Land. Therefore, Genesis itself was written sometime after 1446–1445 BC (the date of the exodus). This is as close as we can determine its date of composition with any confidence. Yet, if the Pentateuch was written as one book (see Josh. 8:31; 23:6 and “Introduction to the Pentateuch”), then it would have been written toward the end of Moses’s life. This would be necessary in that Deuteronomy is clearly written just before he dies (Deut. 34:1, 4–6; cp. Deut. 32:48–50).

Purpose
Genesis is a well-constructed historical work. It basically serves as the prologue to the record of Israel’s founding drama as a nation. In the Pentateuch she is being transformed from a small family into a great people and made ready to enter her own land to become a nation. This observation is based on the dominance of the family of Abraham in Genesis itself (chs. 12–50), on Israel’s ending up in Egypt where the drama begins (50:22–26), and on the narrative of the four books that chronologically follow Genesis (Exodus–Deuteronomy). Thus, after the foundational story-line established in Genesis, the main drama begins with Egypt’s maltreatment of Israel (Exo. 1:8–22), continues through her exodus from Egyptian bondage (Exo. 13), and leads ultimately to the border of the Promised Land (Deut. 34).

Creation according to the Scriptures
Ed. by P. Andrew Sandlin
This book is sub-titled: A Presuppositional Defense of Literal , Six-day Creation. It has chapters by R. J. Rushdoony, Andrew Sandlin, Kenneth Gentry, Cornelius Van Til, and others. It touches on historical, exegetical, theological, and philosophical implications of Six-day Creation.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

As the early narrative of Genesis unfolds, immediately after the creation account (chs. 1–2), Moses traces the start and development of man’s moral degeneration beginning with Adam’s sinning against God’s bounteous goodness in Eden (3:1–7). But the good God of creation reveals his gracious promise of redemption (3:15) even in the context of his judgment on man and the world (Gen. 3:14–19; cp. Rom. 5:12; 8:20).

The record of man’s fall quickly results in inter-family murder in the first generation (Cain slays Abel, 4:8). Then in fifteen verses it moves to Lamech’s joyful singing of his killing a man (4:23). Then after a genealogical list linking Adam (5:1) to Noah (5:30–32), the story continues by showing that man’s wickedness becomes “great on the earth” so that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (6:5; cp. 6:11–12). This results in God’s worldwide judgment through the flood (6:13; 7:4, 10–12, 17–21). Even after God’s gracious sparing of Noah and his family (6:8) while judging the rest of mankind (7:1–4), however, men attempt to maintain social unity for evil purposes (11:6). This in turn leads God to confounding their languages so as to divide and scatter them with a view to reducing their power (11:4–8).

God then turns to another individual, Abram (a.k.a. Abraham, Gen. 17:5; Neh. 9:7). He calls him out of a pagan home and environment (Gen. 12:1; cp. Josh. 24:2) and promises him great blessings (12:3; 13:14–17; 15:7, 18; 17:1–2; 26:2–6; 28:10–15). With the call of Abraham, Moses begins tracing his family’s development through Isaac (25:19–26:35) to Jacob (27:1–37:1), then on to Joseph (37:2–50:26).

The Joseph account is emphasized because it shows how Abraham’s family ended up in Egypt where Israel was enslaved. Later Moses’s successor Joshua records God’s summary of Israel’s whole history (Josh. 24:1–13). He does this in exhorting her to “fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:14).

Moses wrote Genesis to instruct Israel regarding her divine election by sovereign calling; he did this to encourage her to obey her covenant-making God. By opening with the creation account, Moses is not simply providing interesting information about cosmic origins. Rather he is setting Israel in the context of universal history. Israel is related to the whole human race which began with a single pair, Adam and Eve. The two genealogies in Genesis 5:1–32 and 11:10–32 are designed to link Abraham back to Noah, then through Noah to Adam, the father of the human race. As we shall see, this is important for Israel to know who she is and why she exists.

We must understand that the Pentateuch was specifically revealed to a particular people at a particular time for a particular purpose. It was given to fifteenth century BC Israel, and it was given to prepare her for entering Canaan, the land promised to Abraham by God’s gracious covenant (Gen. 12:1, 7; 13:15, 17; 15:7; 26:3; 28:13; Exo. 6:8; 32:13; Lev 26:42; Deut. 1:8; 6:10; 30:20; 34:4). Moses reminds Israel that she was elected by God (Gen. 12:2–3; Exo. 19:4–6; Deut. 4:37; 7:6–8; 10:14–15; 14:2) so that she might be a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (12:3; 22:18; 18:18; 26:4; 28:14). She was called to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” in the world (Exo. 19:6). She was to keep God’s Law as an example to the nations that they might follow her, declaring: “surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4:6b). Thus, her calling was not due to God’s unconcern for the nations, but that she might be the conduit of his revelation and grace to them.

Four Views on the Book of Revelation
(ed. by Marvin Pate)

Helpful presentation of four approaches to Revelation. Ken Gentry writes the chapter on the preterist approach to Revelation, which provides a 50 page survey of Revelation .

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

In the books following Genesis Moses will emphasize that Israel’s God sovereignly delivered her as his chosen people by his great power: “Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today” (Deut. 4:37).

Israel must understand her God’s sovereignty so that she not fear the larger and stronger nations that she will encounter in the Promised Land (Deut. 7:1, 7). Therefore, Moses opens the Pentateuchal narrative with the revelation that her God created the entire world by his mere spoken word (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 24). Not only so, but God created a good and peaceable world (2:7–15; cp. 1:29–30) — not the corrupt, warring, dangerous world Israel then experienced. Her God was a good and gracious Lord, unlike the evil gods of the nations (Gen. 15:11; cp. Exo. 34:15–16; Deut. 12:31; 20:18).

Israel must understand that man was tested by God in Eden (2:16–17; 3:11) and failed (3:1–7), bringing sin into the human race. This historical account of Adam’s testing and fall are given to provide a warning to Israel that she will be tested and must not fail (Exo. 15:25; 16:4; 20:20; Deut. 8:2, 16; 13:3). Tragically she did not learn the lesson (Deut. 29:26; 31:16, 18; 32:16–17).

Moses was calling Israel to trust in the true God and reject the false gods of Canaan where she will soon be living (Exo. 20:3, 23; 23:13–32; 34:15–17; Num. 25:2; Deut. 6:14; 7:16; 8:19; 11:28; 13:2–13). As we will see below, the Genesis creation account is written partly as a polemic against the false gods and the creation myths of the surrounding world of Israel. Therefore, Moses exhorts her to “know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant” (Deut. 7:9). And she must understand that “there is no other God besides Him” (Deut. 4:35; cp. Exo. 8:10; 9:14; Deut. 4:39; 32:39; 33:26).

In fact, his sovereignty over the gods of the nations will be demonstrated by his overthrowing Egypt’s false gods in the judgments against Egypt: “I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD” (Exo. 12:12; cp. Exo. 18:11; Num. 33:4). As he informs Israel: “the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God” (Deut. 10:17).

Through all of this — and more could be said! — we see the extreme importance and the great value of Genesis for the whole rest of Scripture.

Importance
We have noted that both the Hebrew and Greek titles mean “beginning,” which is quite appropriate to the book’s subject matter. Genesis presents the beginning of the most basic elements of the biblical story: the world, man, family, sin, salvation, the nations, and Israel. Its first three chapters establish the key elements of Scriptures grand narrative: creation, transgression, and redemption. It is thus the most important book in Scripture since all the other books and their basic message depend on these basic elements.

Even the ministry of Jesus depends on Genesis. This is because he is a descendant of Adam (Luke 3:23, 38) who comes into the world (John 11:27) through Israel (Matthew 1:1) to secure salvation (John 1:29) for sinners (Luke 5:32) with the goal of reaching the nations (Matthew 28:19).

Genesis opens by presenting the being, nature, and power of God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (1:1). Old Testament scholar E. J. Young noted of this verse: “It is a very simple statement, and yet it is, perhaps, as profound a statement as ever has been written.” Here in the first words of God’s objective self-revelation, he is immediately presented as a personal being who already exists. Not only so but he inherently possesses enormous power and great wisdom sufficient to create the entire orderly universe. Genesis does not open by presenting the origin of God; rather it opens with the unargued presupposition of the eternal God as the foundation of all reality.

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God Gave Wine (by Ken Gentry)

A biblical defense of moderate alcohol consumption. Considers all key biblical passages and engages the leading objections.

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In its first chapter Genesis also presents the origin, value, and dignity of man. Man is a created being, created in time and on earth by the immediate action of God. He is not the result of warring gods creating slaves to bring them food (as per many of the Ancient Near East creation myths) nor of an exploding chance-oriented universe (as per modern evolutionary mythology). Rather he is God’s highest creature, possessing great value and high dignity as the very image of God himself (1:26–28).

Genesis’s third chapter brings us quickly to Adam’s sin and fall (3:1–7). Adam disobeyed God (3:11) and therefore was subjected to God’s curse (3:14–19, 22–24). This passage not only impacts the whole rest of Scripture but is also important for explaining why the world is in its current condition of sin, chaos, and death. God did not create it that way; man has caused his own woes. Whereas Genesis opens with God creating life in teeming abundance (1:20–25) with man as God’s image (1:26–29; 2:7) living in a glorious garden (2:8–15), it ends with the statement: “in a coffin in Egypt” (50:26).

In the very context of man’s fall, God graciously and mercifully promises redemption by means of the first promise of the gospel (3:15). The history of redemption begins with a real man at the very fountain of history itself. Not only so, but both the fall of Adam and the promise of redemption are important for setting up Israel’s history and mission: God intends to bless the world through Abraham (12:3). This sets in motion the eschatological hope of all of Scripture. God’s victory over all men and nations will come about due to Abraham’s ultimate seed, Jesus Christ. He will effect redemption (Gal. 3:16) and bring all men to himself (John 12:32) by means of the great commission (Matt. 28:18–20).

Structure
The most basic logical divisions in the historical narrative of Genesis are:

1. Primordial history. This covers the unique, unrepeatable creation era (chs. 1–2). It ends with the temptation and fall of Adam into sin.

2. Primeval history. This covers the earliest days of man from the original sin and fall by Adam. It then traces the spread of sin in the early human race (chs. 3–11) showing sin’s disastrous consequences. This primeval history results in God’s judgment and the dispersion of the nations (see especially 11:1–9).

3. Patriarchal history. This covers the appearance of Abraham and the development of the twelve tribes of Israel (chs. 12–50). The story of the people of Israel will dominate Genesis 12 through the conclusion of the Pentateuch (Deut. 34).

Moses, however, specifically provides an outline based on a toledoth formula. The Hebrew word toledoth derives from the verb yalad which means “to father, to give birth to.” The word toledoth is best translated as “generations.” It refers to that which is born of someone or produced by something, i.e., it introduces the offspring, product, or results of the progenitor.

Toledoth is a most appropriate structuring device for Genesis in that it is the book of beginnings — a book that emphasizes a divine command to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (1:28a). The toledoth series highlights the development of history from creation (the 2:4 toledoth introduces what becomes of the creation of the universe) to Abraham (actually his father Terah, who brings Abraham into history, 11:27). Then it follows the generations from Abraham (Terah) to his grandson Jacob (37:2). The toledoth always appears at the head of a list to show that what follows derives from what preceded.
The following are the ten toledoth markers pushing the story ahead in Genesis. They lead the reader from the creation of the world and mankind to Egypt where we find Israel (which is the main focus of the Pentateuch).

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Summary for the case for the continuing relevance of God’s Law. A helpful summary of the argument from Greg L. Bahnsen’s Theonomy in Christian Ethics.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

1. Genesis 2:4: The toledoth of the heavens and the earth (2:4–4:26)
2. Genesis 5:1: The toledoth of Adam (5:1–6:8)
3. Genesis 6:9: The toledoth of Noah (6:9–9:29)
4. Genesis 10:1: The toledoth of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (10:1–11:9)
5. Genesis 11:10: The toledoth of Shem (11:10–26)
6. Genesis 11:27: The toledoth of Terah (father of Abraham) (11:27–25:11)
7. Genesis 25:12: The toledoth of Ishmael (25:12–18)
8. Genesis 25:19: The toledoth of Isaac (25:19–35:29)
9. Genesis 36:1: The toledoth of Esau (36:1–37:1)
10. Genesis 37:2: The toledoth of Jacob/Israel (37:2–50:26)

In this structure we must note that Moses is carefully presenting Abraham as the center point of the series. Five toledoths lead up to the Shem (just before the next one which introduces Abraham’s father, Terah). Then five toledoths follow from Terah (Abraham’s father) through to Jacob and his offspring. This focus on exactly ten generation-sets divided at Abraham demonstrates Israel’s relationship to the nations because of Adam. This serves to underscore the significance of her calling to the nations.

We should also notice the second set of toledoths from Terah (Abraham) to Jacob-Israel (32:28; 35:10) is carefully structured to drive home the point of God’s sovereign election. That is, in the second set of five toledoths, the entries that are the first (#6: Terah/Abraham), middle (#8: Isaac), and last (#10: Jacob/Israel) are the longest: Terah-Abraham covers Genesis 11:27–25:11; Isaac covers Genesis 25:19–35:29; and Jacob/Israel covers Genesis 37:2–50:26. The second (#7: Ishmael) and fourth (#9: Esau) are much shorter: Ishmael is only seven verses long (25:12–18) and Esau only forty-four verses long (36:1–37:1). Moses is emphasizing that God’s sovereign election flows from Abraham through Isaac to Jacob, while setting aside Ishmael and Esau.

In primeval history (chs. 3–11) Moses shows the devastating consequences of sin which gives rise to the necessity of the calling of Abraham as an agent of God’s blessing in the world (12:1–3). Though sin corrupts man’s genealogical development from Adam to Abraham, Moses provides rays of hope along the way: with Seth “men began to call upon the name of the LORD” (4:26); Enoch “walked with God” (5:22); Noah “found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (6:8–9); and Noah blessed Shem saying, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem” (9:26). Then patriarchal history is introduced with God establishing his covenant with Abraham (12:2–3).

We may employ Moses’s toledoth formula for outlining Genesis:
I. The Creation of the heavens and the earth (1:1–2:3)
II. Genealogy of the heavens and the earth (2:4–4:26)
III. Genealogy of Adam (5:1–6:8)
IV. Genealogy of Noah’s life (6:9–9:29)
V. Genealogy of Noah’s sons (10:1–11:9)
VI. Genealogy of Shem (11:10–26)
VII. Genealogy of Terah (11:27–25:11)
VIII. Genealogy of Ishmael (25:12–18)
IX. Genealogy of Isaac (25:19–35:29)
X. Generation of Esau (36:1–37:1)
XI. Generation of Jacob/Israel (37:2–50:26)

To be continued.