Genesis Introduction

Genesis (Beginning).  The opening book of the Bible, describing the creation of heaven and earth (Genesis 1), human origins and fall (2-3), population increase (4-5), the flood judgment (6-9), and the rise of nations (10-11).  The rest of the book narrates the lives of Abraham (12-23), Isaac (24-26), Jacob (27-36), and Joseph (37-50).  [Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary]

The traditional belief is that the author of the first five books of the Bible was Moses with the opening chapters of Genesis having been handed down in the form of oral traditions.  The closing chapter of Deuteronomy which records the death and burial of Moses may well have been the work of Moses' successor, Joshua.  In Greek, the first five books of the Bible are called the "Pentateuch" [penta means five and teuchos means scrolls].  The Jews call the first five books "the Law" or "Torah" [Hebrew].

The word genesis means "the beginnining."  Chapters 1 and 2 lay down the origins of the world.  Chapters 3 through 5 lay down the origins of the human race and the human condition.  The first six chapters of Genesis focus on three events:  1) the creation, 2) the fall of man, and 3) the flood.

In Chapter 6, the focus of Genesis changes from three major events to five major people.  These five are 1) Noah, 2) Abraham, 3) Isaac, 4) Jacob, and 5) Joseph.  These men experienced great failures, deep hurts, and great successes. 

Abraham was a man who always needed somebody to come and deliver something to him that he needed.  His is the story of a man whose need was continually supplied by God.  Isaac was a man who had another kind of need.  He was in need of a motivator so God prodded him repeatedly to get him moving into the place God wanted him to be.  Jacob was a man who was in continual need of a protector.  Throughout his life, he needed someone to come and rescue him.  Joseph too had a need.  His was for a deliverer.  Joseph's story is how God continually delivered him and it is his story that closes the book of Genesis in chapter 50.

At the beginning of Genesis, God creates the world by dividing it into a system of doubles—the sun and the moon, light and dark, the land and the sea, and male and female. When Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, and when Cain kills his brother Abel, good and evil enter the world. From this point on, the Old Testament writers describe the world as a place of binary opposites, or sets of two basic opposing forces. These forces include positive and negative, good and bad, and lesser and greater.

Beginning in Genesis and continuing throughout the Bible, mankind rebels against God and God offers redemption.  The secret of life is a personal relationship with God who wants to have fellowship and a living relationship with those He has so lovingly created.  This is the theme that begins in Genesis and it is also the concluding note sounded in the book of Revelation.  From beginning to end, the Bible teaches us how to experience this relationship with God, our Father.