INTRODUCING GENESIS (2)

PMW 2025-051 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is my second in a two-part, rather extensive series introducing Genesis. We now move on to consider its:

Genre
Moses was a gifted writer, as both the careful structure of Genesis as a whole and the exalted prose of Genesis 1 particularly testify. He was also quite capable of writing compelling poetry; in fact, and he did so frequently, both in Genesis (e.g., 2:23; 3:14–19; 12:1–3; 27:27–29; 49:2–27) and elsewhere (e.g., Exo. 15:1–8; Num. 6:24–26; Deut. 32:1–43; Psa. 90). But what is the basic genre of Genesis?

The content and structure of Genesis show that he wrote in narrative, historical prose. This is expected in that Israel possessed a factual, real-world oriented faith. As noted above, Genesis serves as the prologue to the Pentateuch. This is significant in that the Pentateuch is a lengthy narrative of the historical formation of Israel as a nation. Genesis would be useless for its purposes if we discount its historicity. Scholars do not doubt the basic historical nature of his genre in Exodus through Deuteronomy, even when they dispute its accuracy. And only a few scholars from critical schools of thought doubt his historical intent in Genesis 12–50. Nor do we have any evidence of a genre shift in the historical narratives from Genesis through the rest of the Pentateuch.
Genesis has a plot that leads the reader through its story-line development in historical fashion. The historically-rooted plot begins at the creation of the universe, the world, and man, the very foundation of history. Then it unfolds to the calling of Abraham, the expansion of his family, and eventually arrives at Israel’s sojourn in Egypt. Moses clearly wrote in a narrative prose style that assumed the historical character of the events he presented.

Thus, Moses carefully structured his material with an abundant use of waw-consecutives. The waw is the Hebrew letter that means “and.” This grammatical structure basically means “and then,” and therefore speaks of chronological development. Furthermore, his frequent use of genealogies speaks of historical descent: the ten toledoth (genealogy) markers (see above) developing his narrative demonstrate his clear historical intent. Israel’s history is not rooted in poetic myth but in historical fact. Consequently, it is not written in poetry but in prose.

Therefore, the Scriptures written after Genesis always deem the events within Genesis 1–11 to be historical facts. We may see this from many samples found in both Testaments. For example, 1 Chronicles 1:1; Job 31:33; and Hosea 6:7 mention Adam. First Chronicles 1 begins an extensive genealogy by citing from the Genesis genealogies beginning with Adam. Noah is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 1:4; Isaiah 54:9; and Eze. 14:14, 20. Psalm 104 is a hymn that follows the basic outline of Genesis 1 and mentions many of its elements in praising God as Creator.

As It Is Written: The Genesis Account Literal or Literary?
Book by Ken Gentry

Presents the exegetical evidence for Six-day Creation and against the Framework Hypothesis. Strong presentation and rebuttal to the Framework Hypothesis, while demonstrating and defending the Six-day Creation interpretation.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

In the New Testament Luke cites from the genealogy including Adam and his offspring (Luke 3:38). The creation narrative in Genesis 1 and 2 is cited by Jesus as history (Mark 10:6–8). He mentions the murder of Abel (Matt. 23:35), Noah and the Flood (Luke 17:26–29), and Sodom and its character and destruction (Matt. 10:15; 11:23–24).

Paul deals extensively with Adam (Rom. 5:12–21; 1 Cor. 15:22, 45). He mentions Eve’s creation after Adam (1 Tim. 2:13) and her deception by the serpent (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:13). John refers to Cain’s murder of Abel (1 John 3:12).

Other New Testament references to Genesis as history include Abraham’s history (Acts 7:3–5), Hagar (Gal. 4:22, 30), the age of Abraham and Sarah when she conceived (Rom. 4:19), Abraham’s willingness to offer up Isaac (Jms. 2:21), Sodom (2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7), Rebekah’s conception of twins (Rom. 9:10), the flood (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 3:6), Noah and the ark (Heb. 11:7; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5), and more.

Creation in Genesis
Undoubtedly the most debated portion of the Pentateuch is the creation narrative(s) in Genesis 1–2. But it is simultaneously the most important part in that all else in world history, redemptive history, and the Bible depends on it. In fact, this may be the reason it is so strongly challenged by critical scholars.

Here in the opening of Genesis, Moses gives an account of the origin of the entire universe, the world which man inhabits, and man himself. Nothing could be more important to man than these issues. But Moses’s creation account runs counter to the prevailing mythology of our day: evolution. Therefore, it is vigorously attacked as primitive, naive, and even absurd. The modern mind rejects the supernatural creation of an orderly universe by a wise, powerful, and orderly God as nonsense in favor of a chance explosion from nothing 13.8 billion years ago.

Creation summary. As we read the creation account it becomes quickly obvious that it is a summary of God’s creative action, not a detailed presentation. For instance, though it is clear that God created the waters (since he created everything, 1:1), they are simply mentioned as existing in Genesis 1:2. Nor does it cover each of the plant or animal species, providing only a representative sampling of a few general classes of each. Nor are we told when the angels were created, though later in Genesis 3 the presence of a fallen angel appears.

Furthermore, the creation account is not a scientific account. It does not mention the electromagnetic properties of light or its speed in a vacuum (1:3), the rotation of the earth on its axis or its angular momentum (1:5, 8, 13), the hydrogen bonding process in water molecules or the gaseous components of the atmosphere (1:6), the operations of plate tectonics or the earth’s lithospheric flexure (1:9), the nature of photosynthesis or the respiration process in plant metabolism (1:11–12), the gravitational mechanics of the elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun or the differential force of gravity on a spherical body such as the moon (1:14), and so forth. It does not present these scientific facts; nor does it intend to do so; nor does it need to do so.

Nevertheless, though the creation narrative does not present science, it does present history. That is, it presents literal, historical facts regarding the main features of creation, the order in which they were created, and the amount of time involved in their creation. It is therefore like the resurrection accounts of Jesus: they present historical facts but not scientific explanations. They do not discuss the renewal of his brain stem activity, how the primary flaccidity of his body’s muscles was overcome, the beginning of the contraction and relaxation of his myocardium, the re-starting of independent respiration, the re-ignition of the metabolism processes, and so forth at his resurrection.

Yet, the Genesis creation account does report the God-created nature of reality (1:1) caused by God’s rational fiats (1:2, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, etc.), its predictable recurring patterns of light and darkness (1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31), the orderly nature of plant and animal reproduction (1:11–12, 21, 24–25), the divinely effected separations of creational features (1:4, 6, 7, 14, 18), the regularity of its seasons and years (1:14), the prospect of human control over creation (1:28), and so forth.

Reformed Eschatology in the Writings of Geerhardus Vos
Ed. by Ken Gentry and Bill Boney
This is a collection of several key eschatological studies by the renowned Reformed theologian Geehardus Vos. We have modernized Vos’ grammar and syntax and updated his layout style according to modern publishing conventions (shorter sentences and paragraphs). We did this without changing any of Vos’ arguments.

For more information on this new Vos work or to order it, see:
https://www.kennethgentry.com/reformed-eschatology-in-the-writings-of-geerhardus-vos/

Therefore, the Genesis creation account establishes the necessary pre-conditions of intelligibility and therefore the very foundations of science itself. The Genesis account of creation is not a science book, but it does make science possible.

Creation allusions. The creation account is not simply mentioned in Genesis 1–2 then forgotten. Ex nihilo creation by God is important to the whole biblical record and is frequently mentioned later. God is often called the “Creator” (Eccl. 12:1; Isa. 27:11; 40:28; 43:1, 15; Rom. 1:25; 1 Pet. 4:19). The fact of the six-day time-frame of creation is noted in Exodus 20:11 and 31:17, and Psalm 104 is a song of praise to God which follows each of the six days of Creation.
We see a few samples of the clear allusions to the creation account in the following verses.

Genesis 1:3, 6–7, 9, etc. = Psalm 33:8, 9; 148:5 (creation by spoken word)
Genesis 1:3 = 2 Corinthians 4:6 (creation of light from out of darkness)
Genesis 1:9 = Psalm 33:7; 104:8–9; Proverbs 8:29 (gathering of waters)
Genesis 1:14 = Psalm 74:16; 136:7 (sun created for light)
Genesis 1:14 = Psalm 104:19 (moon for seasons)
Genesis 1:16 = Psalm 136:7–9 (great lights to rule day and night)
Genesis 1:27 = Matthew 19:4; Mark 10:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9 (image of God)
Genesis 1:28 = Psalm 8:6–8 (man to subdue the earth)
Genesis 2:7 = Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1 Corinthians 15:47; Job 33:4; 1 Corinthians 15:45 (man returns to dust)
Genesis 2:8 = Genesis 13:10; Isaiah 51:3; Ezekiel 28:13; Joel 2:3 (garden of Eden)
Genesis 2:9 = Ezekiel 31:8–9 (trees in Eden)
Genesis 2:9 = Proverbs 3:18; 11:30; Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19 (tree of life)
Genesis 2:21–22 = 1 Timothy 2:13; 1 Corinthians 11:8–9 (man created before woman)
Genesis 2:24 = Matthew 19:4–6; 1 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 5:31 (two become one flesh)
So then, creation not only opens Scripture, it impacts it from beginning to end.

Creation and sovereignty. As noted earlier, Moses did not provide the creation narrative as a matter of mere human interest, as if he were simply filling out Israel’s knowledge base. Rather this revelation is given to Moses for Israel as something vitally important to her in her current historical circumstances. The creation narrative is given for practical reasons.

First, it explains that only one God exists. “In the beginning God” (1:1a). This is important in that Israel must remember that the singular, true and living God recently delivered her from a polytheistic land, Egypt (Exo. 12:12; 18:11). This understanding will be crucial as God soon will lead her into another polytheistic environment: Canaan (Deut. 4:28; 31:20). She must never forget that God alone is granting her the land he promised to her forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: “See, the LORD your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deut. 1:21; cp. Deut. 6:10–14).

Despite the temptations Israel will endure in the land, her creed must always be true to the God of creation: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Deut. 6:4).

Second, it indicates that God is distinct from creation. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (1:1). The phrase “the heavens and the earth” is a merism for the totality of all created things. The Canaanites saw the sun, moon, and stars, which Israel’s God had created (1:14–19), as deities themselves: “beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven” (Deut. 4:19; cp. Deut. 17:3).

Later, God will speak to Israel through Isaiah: “Lift up your eyes on high / And see who has created these stars, / The One who leads forth their host by number” (Isa. 40:26a). As Paul would eventually express the problem: “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom. 1:25). Contrary to the Egyptian and Canaanite worldviews, the true and living God of Israel is transcendent, being above and distinct from creation as its absolute Creator.

Third, it demonstrates the great power of God. “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years’” (1:14). God created the sun, moon, and stars whom the Canaanites worshiped (Deut. 4:19; 17:3). The name “Elohim” is mentioned thirty-two times in Genesis 1; it is a name that emphasizes “might, power.” The creation narrative emphasizes God’s absolute sovereignty. Every verse in Genesis 1 has God as active, except for four, which simply report the passing of evening and morning (1:13, 15, 19, 23).

Predestination Made Easy
(by Ken Gentry)
A thoroughly biblical, extremely practical, and impressively clear presentation of
the doctrine of absolute predestination.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

Therefore, Israel must understand God’s great sovereignty in creation so that she might serve only him (Deut. 3:24; 10:17). Her God is absolutely superior to the competing, warring gods of Canaan. Israel needs to understand this as she enters a land possessed by peoples mightier than she. “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven” (Deut. 9:1; cp. 11:23). Later she will sing his praises for this: “For He spoke, and it was done; / He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psa. 33:9; cp. 33:6; 148:5).
God alone is Creator, by his own power: “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made earth and heaven” (Gen. 2:4; cp. Rev. 4:11). Israel needs to recognize that “the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome” (Deut. 10:17a). Consequently, he must be revered as “the Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD” (Josh. 22:22a).

Fourth, it proves that God is a God of order and peace. “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (2:2–3). Creation does not come about by a struggle between warring gods. The creation account explains that as each step of creation is completed, God declares it “good”: “God saw that it was good” (1:10; cp. 1:4, 12, 18, 21, 25). Thus, at the end of creation week, God could declare: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (1:31).

Fifth, it shows that God is over history as its Ruler. God is the one who created the mighty sun, the glorious moon, and the innumerable stars that govern night and day: “God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness” (1:17–18).

Thus, God is the absolute sovereign who must be feared, obeyed, and served in Canaan. “Then the LORD said to me, ‘Arise, proceed on your journey ahead of the people, that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’ Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 10:11–12). Israel’s God is not extraneous to life, but the very Governor of it.

Sixth, it proves that Israel is related to the nations. Israel is elected by God and called for his special purpose: “The LORD said to Abram, / ‘Go forth from your country, / And from your relatives / And from your father’s house, / To the land which I will show you; / And I will make you a great nation, / And I will bless you, / And make your name great; / And so you shall be a blessing; / And I will bless those who bless you, / And the one who curses you I will curse. / And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed’” (12:1–3). Yet, she must not discount the nations as valuable in God’s sight.

Moses explains that all men are descended from Adam and Eve, the single pair whom God created in Eden. “God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (1:28). The first genealogy of Scripture is designed to specifically link the early human race back to Adam: “this is the book of the generations of Adam” (5:1). Knowing her relationship to the nations and God’s creative sovereignty over them should encourage her in her noble task.

Creation myths. Critical scholars see the Genesis creation account as rooted in ancient Near Eastern creation myths, such as Enuma Elish (Babylonian), the Atrahasis Epic (Akkadian), the Gilgamesh Epic (Akkadian), the Chaoskampf Myth (Canaan), and others. They often point to Enuma Elish as its specific source. The Enuma Elish myth was discovered in 1849 on clay tablets in Nineveh (modern Mosul, Iraq) and was quickly linked to Moses’s account due to certain similarities.

Some of the significant similarities between the Enuma Elish and Genesis accounts include: (1) Enuma Elish is recorded on seven separate tablets, and Genesis apportions its account into seven days. (2) Creation results from divine activity in both. (3) Both present a similar order of creation events, with water and darkness at the beginning (1:2). (4) The Hebrew word tehom (“deep”) in Genesis 1:2 seems related to the name of the ocean goddess Tiamat. (5) The naming of portions of creation is important in both accounts. (6) Both include the act of a separating of the heavens and the earth. (7) The “sea monsters” of Genesis 1:21 parallels the sea monsters in the Enuma myth. (8) Man is created by divine activity (1:28).

Thine Is the Kingdom
(ed. by Ken Gentry)

Contributors lay the scriptural foundation for a biblically-based, hope-filled postmillennial eschatology, while showing what it means to be postmillennial in the real world.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

Consider the following responses to the similarities.

First, the historical expectation. We would expect some similarities to appear in ancient creation myths. This is because the Genesis account is a record of the original, true creation process. It would have been passed down to Adam’s descendants, though eventually it would have been corrupted due to sin and the increasing distance from the events.

Second, the polemical function. Moses seems to be presenting the creation account in a polemical fashion, setting the true origin of the world over against pagan conceptions. This would explain certain similarities. For instance, the Hebrew word tehom (1:2) is somewhat similar to the name of the goddess Tiamat. Yet, Moses specifically de-personifies it. What is more, the tehom in Genesis does not resist God, but is clearly under his Spirit’s control. In addition, the great “sea monsters” (Heb., tannin) of Genesis are not fearsome and destructive as in Enuma, but are a part of God’s “good” creation (1:21).

Moses refuses to name the sun (Heb., shemesh) and moon (Heb., yareah) because their names were the names of gods worshiped in Canaan. As a put-down he simply calls them the “greater light” and the “lesser light” (1:16). He also mentions the luminaries’s creation in reverse order, mentioning the sun and moon first. In Enuma the stars are given priority as special objects of worship and are followed by the sun and moon. Moses emphasizes the creation of the sun and moon, but mentions the stars as if an aside: “he created the stars also” (1:16). Besides all this, Moses’ emphasis on God’s creating these stellar lights clashes with Enuma’s presenting them as uncreated gods.

Third, the literary differences. The two accounts are not as similar in the fundamentals as critics suggest. The three most significant differences are: (1) Genesis is monotheistic, whereas Enuma is polytheistic. (2) In the Enuma myth the gods are not above and distinct from nature, but are a part of nature. (3) The Genesis creation process is orderly and peaceful, while the Enuma account involves struggle, war, and chaos. In fact, the Genesis creation proceeds by God’s orderly fiats, whereas the pagan account involves magical incantations that sometimes fail.

Though the creation events follow a similar order, the order is not exact. For instance, in Enuma light is not created before the sun (contra 1:3, 24). The Genesis account of the creation of light is rather stark and counter-intuitive.

In the myth, the heavens and the earth are formed on the fourth tablet, rather than in the first three days as per Genesis. In fact, in Enuma the sun is not created at all, and the creation of vegetation and animals is not mentioned, whereas in Genesis the whole world and all things in it are created. The pagan account has man created as a slave to the gods, rather than as the highest act of creation designed for fellowship with God.

The differences between the pagan conceptions of creation and the Mosaic account are fundamentally different. Compared to Enuma Elish and the other ancient Near Eastern myths, Moses presented to Israel a radical way of conceiving the world’s origin and man’s role in it. As Reformed Old Testament scholar E. J. Young (1907–1968) noted: “Genesis 1 is monumental in character, and exhibits a stately cadence of grandeur as it reveals the sovereign Creator uttering His will, and that will coming to immediate fulfillment.” Whereas the tale in Enuma is altogether bizarre.

The Mosaic account of creation is historical; and it is necessary to the message of Genesis. Israel’s God is sovereign and must be obeyed for he created history and governs it. Moses shows God’s sovereignty through his creating the world (chs. 1–2), his judging sin by cursing the world and life (chs. 3), his cursing it and beginning anew in Noah’s day (chs. 6–9), his confounding the nations by separating their languages (chs. 11), his gracious calling of Abraham to establish a distinct people to minister to the world (chs. 12), and his protection of Israel from destruction through famine (chs. 41–50). In his next book he will record Israel’s experience of God’s sovereignty as he redeems her from bondage to mighty Egypt by plagues and miracles (Exo. 7–15), the miraculous provision of manna (Exo. 16) and water from the rock (Exo. 17), and more.

The historical account of Israel (the focus of the entire Old Testament beginning in ch. 12) needs an historical account of her origins. So Moses traces her origins back through Noah to Adam.