Genesis tells us about the beginning of everything, except God. The Bible does not attempt to prove that there is a God. It takes this fact as self-evident. Almost every subject of importance has its roots in Genesis. Just as the giant oak tree once lay dormant in the tiny acorn, so the great truths revealed in the Bible lie latent in Genesis. Genesis is an easy book to analyze. It can be summed up in just eight words: Creation, Fall, Flood, Babel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The primeval history of the human race is in Genesis 1:1-11:9. The patriarchal history of the Hebrew race is in Genesis 11:10-50:26.
God's wisdom is shown in the Creation in that He made everything fitting and ready for his creature man to appear upon the scene. This "man" that was created was made "in the image of God" as a perfect being (Genesis 1:26). The third chapter relates how he fell: The serpent tempted Eve, and Eve tempted Adam. Eve was deceived and Adam was disobedient. This first sin separated man from God. The second sin (the murder of Abel) separated man from man. Sin, sorrow, suffering, and death came about as a result of our first parents' transgression. In Genesis 3:15 God made provision for the redemption of man through the seed of the woman. This is the first promise of a redeemer. Christ came to restore both lost relationships through the work of the Cross.
Mankind had become so worldly-minded (Genesis chapter 6), that their wickedness reached even to Heaven itself, calling for judgment. The flood was God's response to man's unrepentant wickedness. The warnings were sounded long and loud and provision was made for man's salvation. These warnings were unheeded by all of mankind (except Noah's family) and they perished in the flood of waters. With the end of the flood mankind was given another chance. However, it did not take very long for man to incur the wrath of God again. Chapter 11 reveals that shortly after the flood the beginning of nations occurs. Such a dispersion of races began when God showed that he was displeased with the building of the tower of Babel. The building of the tower probably was an attempt by man to build a "one, united, world society" in which there was no room for God. It ended in judgment with the confounding of tongues and the scattering of the human family across the face of the earth.
By the time of Abraham, idolatry had spread over the entire earth. Abraham obeyed the call of God to distance himself from his family and idolatry (Genesis 12:1). God had selected Abraham and offered great promises to him and his posterity. Abraham's life ended in Canaan in a tomb, but God still kept His promise -- for God had previously revealed to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-21 that the fullness of the Promise would not be fulfilled until a far and future date. The promises were confirmed again in Isaac and Jacob. And we cannot forget Joseph. This young lad, the favorite of his father, but hated by his brethren, was sold into slavery in Egypt. But, God was with him. In later times a severe famine occurred in all the land, and this occasioned the movement of the Hebrew nation into Egypt. Joseph had been miraculously elevated to the high place of "prime minister" of all of Egypt, and being in such position, was able to induce the Pharaoh to allow his father and brethren to settle in the best area in lower Egypt - the land of Goshen. Thus, Joseph became the "savior", or God's instrument of salvation, of the Hebrew race. In the 49th chapter we notice Jacob, as he was dying, foretelling the future history of his sons. With this, we close the record of Genesis.
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