A Brief Look at Genesis

To study Genesis in terms of its literary and historical content is not to say that we are in any way being irreverent in our reading of this part of the Old Testament. In other words, it is possible to read Genesis in both a spirit of appreciation for its position as the opening exegetical narrative of the Bible and as a document that reflects literary and historical realities and influences during the time when it was being written down. This paper examines some of the contemporary sources that influenced the two sets of writers who recorded the events of Genesis.

Genesis, the first book of the Christian Old Testament in the Bible, was written around the 5th century B.C. Genesis is also a creation story featuring God and his creation of Adam and Eve. The title Genesis means “beginning” in the Hebrew language.

Throughout Genesis 1-11, one of the main subjects covered is the natural world. Genesis 1 in particular provides crucial information for understanding the origin of the natural world. In the first verse of the entire Bible (Genesis 1:1), the reader is immediately told that “God created the heavens and the earth.” Additionally, the reader is informed that “there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31), showing that God’s work of creation took six days. Because I believe that God created the world in six literal days, the foundation of my worldview is entirely different than the foundation of an atheist’s worldview. When I look at the world around me, I do not view everything around me as the product of random chance and evolution; instead, I see everything around me as the handiwork of God.

One similarity that is present between the Theogony and Genesis is that both have women in a central role when it comes to the pitfalls of man. In Genesis it is Eve who eats the fruit from the Garden of Eden and eventually forces God to banish them from the Garden. In the Theogony, it is made clear that by the creation of Pandora from Zeus that the race of women is considered a curse to men and an “infestation” that is evil for them (Theogony ln, 375-385). In a similar vein to the above example, another major similarity is how in both creation stories, the deity plays an active role in shaping the lives of man through intervention or punishment. In Genesis, God does this by creating other wildlife as helpmates which Adam then names, by creating Eve, and also eventually punishing man for disobeying the order to not eat from the Garden. In the Theogony,

accept his offering for it was all that he had and did not know how to

The passage that I choose to write about was Genesis chapter 1 verses 1-5. I choose this passage because I was interested in studying how God supposedly created the earth and turned darkness into a world full of life and spirit. Genesis 1 begins by saying “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”(NKJV) I think that the purpose of this verse is to summarize the things that God would do in the future. This text tells us that God existed before the heavens and the earth. We also learn that before God started to create, the earth was empty, dark, and lifeless. The text also represents the beginning of everything earthly by saying God will create life on earth and in

To truly comprehend a biblical passage, it is important to have knowledge of the ‘hermeneutics which enables an understanding of the locus of meaning and the principles of bible interpretation’ . The audience needs to have a clear interpretation of the biblical passage which includes ‘content and unity of the whole of Scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out’ , this supports the argument that all worlds of the text are equally important. ‘Biblical passages are often taken out of context and interpreted to support a particular viewpoint of justify a particular action’ . It is imperative to note that ‘in order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their

Robert states in chapter one that “Genesis 1-2, the first two chapters of the bible show us God’s original, perfect creation” (27). In this chapter he goes into depth about the creation of the world. Roberts gives us four truths about creation.

While the author of Genesis is never actually named, it is believed that Moses wrote the book of Genesis. In Acts 7:22 Luke recaps that Moses was trained in the “wisdom of the Egyptians” and was the only one who was prepared to integrate and understand the manuscripts and oral narratives in the Pentateuch. Only Moses was qualified enough to be given the task of writing Israel’s

“Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are” Genesis 13:14. The word genesis is the dawning of creation, and the biblical book of Genesis is the book that brings fourth the creation of our planet and the life that resides. Genesis also describes the descent of Adam and Eve and unveils the foundation that sin builds upon. Genesis introduces the origin of the holy land, Israel, and inception of holy covenants promised by the holy trinity; the son, the father, and the holy spirit. Genesis communicates the definite events of one of the most contended controversies of our current philosophical climate, the origin of all things existing. This holy book of creation faces several critical issues, such as stylistic variation, and

Genesis is the first book of the Bible.  It begins with the story of God’s creation of the universe.    The Lord is the Almighty Creator of the world, skies, heavens, seas, animals, man, and woman.  He governs the universe and develops relationships with man.  Throughout Genesis, God acknowledges the fact that human beings make mistakes, and accepts their imperfection.  Throughout Genesis, God changes from one who does not tolerate disobedience, to one who shows clemency.  Early on in Genesis, God punishes Adam and Eve for disobedience.  After making the mistake of flooding the world, the Lord realizes that even He is not perfect, and does not allow Jacob’s deceit of his father to taint his future.

The book of Genesis is often referred to as the book of beginnings. Genesis is the first book that begins the Old Testament, it is also the first book of the entire Bible. The Lord also began the world in the book of Genesis, He made the heavens and the earth, man and woman. In Genesis chapters one through eleven, the Bible teaches us stories that most of us have grown up hearing in Sunday School such as the creation account, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood and the tower of Babel. In this book of beginnings, we are shown some of Gods characteristics; we see that God is love and He showed His love by creating us and the world, on the other extreme, we also see the wrath of God. Through these teachings, we are able to see that God ultimately in control and holds everything in His balance. The stories of Genesis aren’t just stories; they are real life accounts that can help build and shape a worldview on things regarding the natural world, human identity, human relationships and civilization.

Did you know that the Holy Bible was written over 3500 years ago ("When Was the Bible Written?" - Biblica. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2016.)? In Genesis 1-4, by God this book was written over thousands ago. This story in the Bible is about one great God putting everything we know into existing and creating human however one of the human named Cain gets jealous of his younger brother Abel and kills him. Ultimately, the story portrays the relationship between creation story, jealousies, love, murder and punishment in mankind. In return of God’s creation being jealous, God states the punishment upon Cain however, God still shows love by letting Cain Know that if anybody body tries to kill will suffer sevenfold vengeance (The Norton Anthology World

Genesis is the first of the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, written in Hebrew in Israel, interweaving many genres including myth, epic and history.

Genesis teaches us many things in regards to the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization. Genesis is the book that describes the beginning of the known world. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, which we refer to as the Sabbath. It tells the story of how animals and plants came to be. It tells us how we as the human race came to be. It also gives us an insight into relationships and the human race and cohabiting the earth.