As stated in the introduction to the Bible, there are three major groups of books known as Historical, Poetic/Letters, and Prophetic. As the Old Testament begins, there is a sub-group of books that many recognize as the books of law or the Pentateuch. These five books, though they fit within the Historical group, are very important to understanding the Bible as they contain many of the keys to reiterated and quoted statements later on. Within these five books – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – we see the revelation of God to man in creation, the fall of man in sin, the genealogy of man from Adam to Abraham, and through Abraham’s family we see the unveiling of God’s plan of salvation. These books also proclaim the numerous laws God gave to man as His chosen people – namely this exists within the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

The Pentateuch is also called the Torah and these five books are believed to be written by Moses on his (and the people of Israel) journey to Canaan, the Promised Land. Though we do not know for certain, it is thought that Moses composed Genesis from a number of other ancient documents handed down from his forefathers as Genesis ends approximately 300 years prior to Moses. What we do know for certain, however, is that whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch from prior historical records or completely through direct revelation from God, the composition and complete work was without mistake the wish of God and breathed out by God.

Genesis itself is composed of 11 sub-books (a.k.a: accounts, generations, documents) that begin with what is known as the Creation Hymn and extend through three generations after Abraham. The first six sub-books (Genesis 1:1 – 11:26) cover the period from creation to approximately 2000 B.C. The last five sub-books cover the time period from approximately 2000 B.C. until about 1800 B.C. Genesis follows the existence of Humans on Earth from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden through to Abraham’s descendants in Egypt. In following the reading plan of the ESV Daily Reading Bible, to date we have completed the first set of sub-books within Genesis and are ready to discuss this section. Assuming you have read through these sections according to the reading plan (and if not, I highly encourage you to do so), I will not reiterate all things stated but identify some of those that stuck out to me. I will also encourage you to post a comment with the items that stuck out to you and we can engage in any discussion related to the given section of each post.

The first two chapters of the Bible describe how God created all things – “… the heavens and the earth.” Within these two chapters we see that God created all things according to their kind and clearly defines the principle of creation by God refuting the belief that all living creatures morphed out of one another through evolution. We see that from the very beginning God was present in all of the world and the existence of a God and a spirit are evident in verse 2 where it states “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This also lends to the belief that the whole earth was covered with water and is reinforced through verse 9 where the “waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” As we have read and most have been taught for many years God created all things in seven days with the seventh day being the Sabbath. An interesting note is that each of the six days of creation are comprised of the same structure in which there is: an announcement where “God said …” followed by the command “… let there be …” followed by a report “… and it was so …” followed by an evaluation “… it was good …” followed by an indication of the time “… there was evening, and there was morning – the Xth day.” Another interesting note about the six days of creation is that they exist in pairs in which the first of each pair is created and later populated by the second day in the pair. Day one is the creation of light and dark and then populated by day and night (the great lights – greater light to rule the day and lesser light to rule the night) on the fourth day. Day two is the creation of sea and sky which is then populated by the creatures of water and air on day five. Lastly, day three is the creation of dry land and fertile earth followed by the creatures of the land and humans who populated it on day six. Again we are reaffirmed in the existence of God in varied form when He says in verse 26 “let us make man …” (emphasis added). Through these passages it is well documented that God gave His blessing with His command to “… be fruitful and increase in number …” and that God was pleased with His creation. They are wonderful examples of how God demonstrates His image and divine characteristics in all of His creation.

Some find it difficult to wrap their heads around the first two chapters of Genesis as they seem to contradict themselves or lend to confusion. I find it to be supplemental and not in contradiction to the first chapter as it begins with a reference to the earth and the desolate nature of the earth expressed in the early part of the third day (1:9). I believe the second chapter of Genesis then provides us some details about the creation of Man that were omitted in the first chapter. Why this omission occurred I am not sure but I believe that God wants to demonstrate how great of a creation man and woman are as a separate account rather than it being buried in the first chapter among the creation of the world. In the creation of man (from the dust of the earth), God says “… Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created us in His image, He granted us the ability to think, to feel, to choose (free will). God created man in His image and granted man the power to create and to rule which is demonstrated in the commandment of Adam to name the animals and to be fruitful and multiply. Clearly demonstrated, we as humans have been created in God’s image and share a relationship with Him that no other animal does. This in an of itself lends to the responsibility of how we should treat each other but that may be for a later discussion.

Up until now (in the readings) all was created and all was good and harmonious. In fact, God declares that what He has created is Good (and very good on the sixth day). Also, it is here that we see the first recognition of human relationship in which “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” It is also here that we see a human relationship which causes the disruption and destruction of the harmony created by God. I find this interesting and though there is a little reading between the lines, I believe that it is the moment when Adam chooses to focus on his wife over what God has told him that the fall of man is seen. I think this is true in our lives today. As we focus on acceptance of our friends, accomplishments, material possessions, and all the items used to garner friendships and human power we fail to stay focused on God. In doing so, we compromise the greatness that God created within us as we are in His image. It is through the fall of Adam and Eve that we see the separation of humanity not only from God but from one another. In being cast out from the Garden of Eden we see that we have become separated from the tree of life in verses 22 through 24 of chapter 3. We are shown the tree of life in which implies that immortality is dependent upon something outside of ourselves. From this point forward all life must now end in death and the snowball effect begins.

As we continue through the reading we are introduced to Cain and Abel as the descendants of Adam and Eve. We are told of a story where Cain brings an offering to the Lord and which Abel does as well. In this story we see that the offering brought by Abel is acceptable while Cain’s offering was not. Through this passage I feel that the reason Abel’s offering was acceptable is because is was an offering made in faith and his actions were righteous whereby Cain’s offering appears to have occurred out of a sense of obligation. In either case, it is important to note that Cain, through the murder of Abel, was cast out from the land and allowed to establish a town and multiply. It is shown through this chapter that Cain’s family was corrupt and at odds with God as polygamy soon followed murder (verse 19 in Chapter 4). This is in clear contrast to God’s order that one man and one woman are to become one flesh.

So God blessed Adam and Eve with another son whom they named Seth. We follow the genealogy of Adam through ten generations spanning approximately 1556 years. Throughout this genealogy we see that there is a family of many descendants that are pleasing to God. Some persons of note are Enoch who is the only one to date (in the reading) to have “walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” The only other person in the Bible to have been taken up by God without having to die was Elijah which we’ll get to in 2 Kings 2. Additionally, if you are to do the calculations, we see that Methuselah (whom is the oldest person named in the bible at 969 years) is the only one to bridge the gap from Adam to Noah’s descendants (Shem, Ham, Japheth). This is extremely important in that estimates of the development of writing having been after the time of Adam, we can only assume that the stories of Adam were revealed by God or passed down by word of mouth. Methuselah is the only link from the Garden of Eden to the post flood world and can be the only one to have passed down these stories from Adam to Noah and Shem.

As man continued to multiply and became numerous we see the unspeakable wickedness of the world propagate. It is in chapter 6 that we see the decision of God to bring the flood. Just before the announcement in verse 2 we see that “… the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.” This is an interesting verse in that it clearly separates the “sons of God” from the “daughters of man.” Here it is believed that the sons of God are those that follow the genealogy of Adam through Noah and are pleasing to God where as the daughters of man are believed to be from Cain’s family. Thus the wickedness and destruction has once again permeated God’s blessed line. It is here that God declares the righteousness of Noah and his sons and the Bible identifies their favor in God’s eyes. So God commmunicates with Noah and tells Noah of His plan and commands Noah to build the ark. Here it is noted that 1 cubit is the equivalent of the modern day 18 inches or 45 centimeters and therefore the ark would have been approximately the size of a modern day ocean liner and the largest sea vessel built for at least five millennia (450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high). It is identified that during this time man had been settled along the banks of rivers and seas which may have lended nicely to the trade of boat building. The ark is also estimated by modern day experts to have had the capacity for 7000 species of animals. I think it is important to note that there were seven pairs of all “clean animals” and only one pair of the others taken in the ark with Noah. Though we don’t clearly have a definition of which animals were “clean” or not, it is important to note this for later on in the story of the ark we see that Noah and his sons provide an offering to the lord with the clean animals. Had they only taken a pair, these animals would not have multiplied. Noah, with complete faith and in the face of certain ridicule during the time, built the ark as the Lord had commanded him to. Of course, with such a large task, Noah and his three sons alone may not have completed this task. Instead, it can be deciphered that perhaps due to Noah’s lineage (great grandson of Enoch – who was certainly recognized as favorable to the Lord), Noah may have been a well known and powerful man. It’s possible that Noah was a ruler of some city or maybe he employed many men to help them build the ark and gather all the animals and food. Though this is not clearly noted, we do know that Noah accomplished a great task with unmoveable faith.

The day came for the flood and as the Lord opened the valve for the water to come the Bible in verse 16 of chapter 7 states “And the Lord shut him in.” I think this statement is profound in that it is in line with every other teaching in the Bible that we can not save ourselves but are dependant upon God. Though Noah and his sons and the many men they may have employed could potentially have closed the door to the ark, it is pclear that the Lord shut them in and saved them from the massive waters. The flood waters began on the 17th day of the 2nd month of the 600th year of Noah’s life. This is of importance because it draws a parallel to our modern definition of a day. The waters prevailed for 150 days and then subsided. The Bible indicates that after 150 days it was the 17th day of the 7th month of the 600th year of Noah’s life which would have been a modern day 5 months. 150 days in 5 months gives an average of 30 days per month and therefore gives an indication that one day in Noah’s life is the same as one day in ours. Once the waters had abated or receeded the ark came to rest on a range of mountains and though I do not know the significance, a raven was sent forth and did not return. However, the dove did return and then returned a second time carrying an olive leave. I’m not sure if this has some correlation to whether a dove is clean and a raven is not or what the significance is, however I find it to be significant. It was then that Noah remained in the ark until the Lord commanded him to “Go out from the ark…” which demonstrates Noah’s everlasting faith in the Lord. Noah knew there was land and vegetation but did not leave until told to do so.

The covenant with Noah is shown through a rainbow. The rainbow has then been a sign of God’s covenant with mankind that God will never again destroy all life through a flood. So again, humans were allowed to prosper and multiply. Throughout the remaining text, the descendants of Noah are identified until we reach the birth of Abram. One interesting point during this text is the story of Noah and the encounter of his son Ham with Noah’s nakedness. Through the disparity between the way Ham reacts to his fathers nakedness and that of Noah’s other sons Shem and Japheth we see a little foreshadowing that may relate (in a similar manner to that of previously cast out Cain’s settlement) to how the many and vast nations to form may interact. Noah curses Ham and blesses Shem and Japheth for their behavior. In doing so, we also are introduced to the fact that Ham is the “father of Canaan” and it is important to note that since the book of Genesis was written during the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the land of Canaan (the Promised Land) this is of profound implication. God had cursed the Canaanites through Noah and therefore the Israelites could advance without fear as they encountered the Canaanites. Further comfort was found in the blessing of Noah on Shem and Japheth as verse 26 indicates “Blessed be the Lord, God of Shem!” that God was walking with Moses and the Israelites (as descendants of Shem) on their journey. Shem lived from 98 years before the flood until 150 years after the birth of Abraham.

The last item to note in this post, covering the first six sub-books of Genesis (leading up to today’s reading in the reading plan), is on the “Tower of Babel.” All the people of the land were common to one another, speaking the same language and building their own kingdom. In verse 4 of chapter 11 they begin work on a task of their own choosing: “… Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (emphasis added). The purpose behind this tower was similar to Adam and Eve in chapter 4. They wanted to be autonomous and grab divine power. They wanted to transcend their human limitations and this displeased God. God recognized that together they could accomplish most anything and this greived God so God came down and confused “… their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” God “… dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth …” so that the kingdom man was creating would never exclude God’s kingdom.

ESV Daily Reading Bible Halley’s Bible Handbook