Genesis
Summary[i]
Genesis is the book of beginnings.
It records not only the beginning of the heavens and the earth, and of plant,
animal, and human life, but also of all human institutions and relationships. Typically,
it speaks of the new birth, the new creation, where all was chaos and ruin.
With Genesis begins also that progressive self-revelation of God which
culminates in Christ. The three primary names of Deity, Elohim, Jehovah, and
Adonai, and the five most important of the compound names, occur in Genesis;
and that in an ordered progression which could not be changed without
confusion. The problem of sin as affecting man's condition in the earth and his
relation to God, and the divine solution of that problem are here in essence.
Of the eight great covenants which condition human life and the divine
redemption, four, the Edenic, Adamic, Noahic, and Abrahamic Covenants are in
this book; and these are the fundamental covenants to which the other four, the
Mosaic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenants, are related chiefly as adding
detail or development. Genesis enters into the very structure of the New
Testament, in which it is quoted above sixty times in seventeen books. In a
profound sense, therefore, the roots of all subsequent revelation are planted
deep in Genesis, and whoever would truly comprehend that revelation must begin
here. The inspiration of Genesis and it character as a divine revelation are
authenticated by the testimony of Christ (Mat_19:4-6;
Mat_24:37-39; Mar_10:4-9; Luk_11:49-51;
Luk_17:26-29; Luk_17:32; Joh_1:5;
Joh_7:21-23; Joh_8:44; Joh_8:56).
Genesis is in five chief
divisions:
1. Creation
(Genesis 1:1 - 2:25)
2. The fall and redemption (Genesis 3:1-4; 3:7).
3. The Diverse Seeds, Cain and Seth, to the
Flood (Genesis 4:8 - 7:24).
4. The Flood to Babel (Genesis 8:1 - 11:9).
5. From the call of Abram to the death of Joseph
(Genesis 11:10 - 50:26).
The events recorded in Genesis cover a period of 2,315 years (Ussher).