Genesis
Theistic evolution theory holds that God employed the natural cause-and-effect processes that are inbuilt in this planet to fulfill His creative objectives.
The dating of Adam is not that important. This is because the dating methods available are not accurate and most of them have limitations. Moreover, a Christian is to live by faith and not by sight. Therefore, for a Christian, scientific validation of Adams existence is not all that important.
According to Genesis 2 7, the soul originated when God breathed into the nostrils of man, which he had made from the dust of the ground, the breath of life.
Animals were created in after God proclaimed His word. The Bible does not record that the animals were made out of the dust of the ground however, it records that Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life (120 King James Version), and Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind (124). On the other hand, for man, it says, The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (27).
The principle that stands out for me in marriage is that it is a lifetime commitment. This is because Genesis 2 24 gives no hint of the possibility of a breakup after a couple has accepted the marriage vows. The term shall cleave emphasizes the fact that the union is for a lifetime. Moreover, the Lord Jesus himself said, What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder (Matthew 196).
In Genesis 126, the plural pronoun of us employed here is considered as one of the Old Testament suggestions of the doctrine of the Trinity, that is, one God exists in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The phrase the image of God indicates mans resemblance to his Creator and distinguishes him from the other creatures. This includes knowledge, righteousness, as well as holiness. Therefore, man bears a resemblance to God since he has both the rational nature and moral nature.
It is true that Adam and Eve and all the other animals were living on a vegetarian diet. This is evident Genesis 1 29-30, And God said, Behold I have given you every plant bearing seedI have given every green plant for food. Meat eating diet was introduced after the flood.
According to Genesis 2, the Garden of Eden is described to be situated on the eastern edge of the region referred to as Eden in which Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates rivers flowed through the regions of Havilah, Assyria, and Kush. This portrayal does not match any recognized place on this world however, some people have claimed that it is located somewhere between Najaf and Kufa in the Middle East.
In Genesis 128, God commissioned man to subdue the earth and have dominion over all the creatures in it. Dominion here means that man had the right to rule or control creatures, which were lower than himself. To subdue implies that man was to take advantage of the perfect world and use it to accomplish his needs.
Study Questions-Lesson Four (a)
It is true that it is impossible to understand the rest of the Bible without proper understanding of Genesis 3. This is because the chapter describes the fall of man from his perfect status that led to his alienation from God. The rest of the Bible describes the consequences of that fall and the coming of Jesus Christ to reinstate man back to his original position.
Lucifer fell from his exalted position when pride and arrogance clouded his mind and he refused to obey God. This is according to Ezekiel 2815 and Isaiah 1412-15.
When the serpent asked Eve the first question, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden (Gen 31). This statement was contrary to what God had said and it made Eve to doubt about the goodness and favor of God. That is, Eve doubted that God is too harsh and unkind. The second stage of the temptation in which Satan told Eve, For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened (Gen 35). This made Eve to doubt the word of God.
Therefore, she embraced the falsehood that in denying them to eat of the tree, God was keeping them from a wonderful experience, which was their right to enjoy (Geerhardus, 2006).
In Gen 35, gods means knowing both good and evil. I a sense, this had come true since God himself says, Behold man has become one of us, knowing both God and evil (Gen 322).
The temptation and the fall of man took place in three stages. In the first stage, the serpent made Eve to divorce the truth of the word of God, Yea, hath God said (Genesis 31). Second, the serpent made Eve to deny the eternal decree of God, Ye shall not surely die (Genesis 24). Lastly, by the statement ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 35) induced man to declare his independence from His Creator.
Some people claim that when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they ate a form of an apple. However, this misleading claim should be rejected because it arises from the misunderstanding of the Latin word malum. As an adjective, the word denotes evil while as a noun the word denotes an apple. However, the bible does not give the name of the forbidden fruit.
The depravity came about due to disobedience of the voice of God. He had said, you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2 17). However, man disobeyed this command, hence the depravity.
When Adam and Eve made fig leaves clothes, they were attempting to hide from each other and from God because of their disobedience.
The first virgin birth of Christ is mention in Genesis 315.
Gods grace is exhibited in this chapter in that despite the sin of man, God already had a plan in place to bring man back to his initial perfect position. This is exemplified in the promise of the coming of Christ in Genesis 315.
The term coats of skins imply that our original parents had acknowledged pardon and their reinstatement into communion with God.
It is not true that man having to work is part of the curse of God. This is because man was given the privilege to work even before the fall. He was to subdue the earth and have dominion over all the other creatures. However, after the fall, work became more burdensome.
Study Questions-Lesson Four (b)
The use of the waw consecutive normally describes a consecutive action, that is, every happening indicates that some action followed the other in a real time sequence.
The qal stem of the term bara is commonly used in the OT to mean the aspect of creating out of nothing.
The Hebrew words jatsar and asah seem to be interchangeable with bara.
The main thought of the Gap theory hold that there is a gap of undefined time between the first and the second verses of the book of Genesis in order to harmonize scientific claims with the Bible.
However, the Gap theory is not consistent with the evidence given in the Bible. This is because it allows for death and suffering before man fell into sin, which is against the word of God, and the placing of the fall of Satan within this period is against the description that everything God created was very good.
The Bible holds the position that creation took six literal days while the Babylonian position is that it took several years.
The two views are similar in that they accept the creative works of God.
A day is interpreted to be composed of 24 hours. A day can also be interpreted to start from sunset to sunset the following day.
Some interpret the day other than the 24-hour day in line with the creation account, and the evening and the morning.
Davis holds the position that canopy that the floodwaters may have originated from canopy. On the other hand, Ham claim that they came from an extraterrestrial source.
The ancient oriental view gave names according to events and places.
The creation story illustrates that God is a God of order. That is, the happenings in the first three days of creation prepared the ground for the creation of the creatures in the second three days of creation. For example, the air and the water were to be used by the creatures.
God makes use of threes in the day the fourth day of creation when he commanded different signs for seasons, days, and years.
During the first five days of creation, creation was being effected by divine incantation. However, the formula structure changed with the creation of man since He formed man of the dust of the ground.
Study Questions Lesson Five
In Genesis 41, the word knew means to go to bed with. Gods grace is evident in chapter 4 from the sacrifice that Abel offered. It is impossible for sin to be forgiven without the shading of blood. Abels sacrifice signifying the sacrifice that God offered through the death of His Son to redeem humankind from sin.
John 844 fits into the life of Cain since he murdered his brother. 1 John 312 illustrates that Cain murdered his brother because of his wickedness. Hebrews 114 indicates that Abels faith enabled him to offer an excellent sacrifice than that of his brother. Hebrews 1224 implies that Abels death was a type of Christs death.
A careful review of Genesis 417 in the original Hebrew language points out that Cain may have married his sister or niece.
The patriarchs lived for a long time because the conditions at that time were optimized for their existence. For example, the atmosphere was much cleaner and their mostly vegetarian diet was much healthy to eat. Moreover, they lived before God reduced the days of man to one hundred and twenty years (Gen 6 3).
Genesis 101 says, Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth Here, their birth order is reversed since the arrangement is according to the structure of their blessings. However, Shem was the youngest (Gen 1021), and Japheth was the eldest (Gen (924).
According to Genesis 527, Methuselah lived the highest number of years on this world. He died at 969 years.
The flood took place because God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of his thought was evil continually (Genesis 6 5).
The sons of God in Genesis 61 may refer to a mysterious description of sons of Seth. This is the line of the people of God from Adam to Noah. On the other hand, it may refer to fallen angels.
The word nepilim refers to giants.
The phrase the Lord repented is an anthropomorphic language. It speaks of God as though He were a man however, in reality, according to 1 Sam 1529, He does not repent. He never changes His mind. Therefore, the phrase means that He simply changed His attitude toward the human race because of increased wickedness.
According to Genesis 6 9, Noah was a just man and perfect before God.
Study Questions-Lesson Six
The ark was made of gopher wood and its length was three hundred cubits, breath fifty cubits, and height thirty cubits (Genesis 6 15).
Genesis 6 9 describes Noah as a just and perfect man, 622 says that he obeyed the commandments of God, 71-5 describes him as righteous, 716 says that he obeyed the directions God gave him on how the animals were to enter the ark, and 815-18 says that he obeyed Gods word to go out of the ark.
The reason for the universal flood that stands out for me is the extreme degree of wickedness that existed then. It reached an extent that God became sorry why He had created man.
Noah and his family stayed in the ark for three hundred and seventy seven days.
According to Genesis 711-13, he entered the ark during the six hundredth year of his life and he left it the second month of the following year (Genesis 814-15). Initially, he had been told to get into the ark one week before the flood.
By man shall his blood be shed refers to the fact that he will have to be killed by another human being.
God made a covenant not to destroy the world with water again. That is why He made the rainbow to signify this government.
The curse of Canaan included his descendants. In Joshua 1610, it is recorded that the Canaanites are serving under forced labor. This is in line with the curse that Noah had made to his son Ham.
Yes, it would change how people view the Bible. This is because, the account of the Bible would be believed by most people as true.
Study Question 7
Genesis 10 and 11 are considered as significant chapters because they describe events that led to scattering of people upon the face of the earth.
False.
Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10 9).
True
True
Genesis 11 begin by stating that the whole world spoke one language.
Hebrew
Ziggurats were buildings constructed on a raised ground, which resembled the Egyptian pyramids.
God judged the people for building the tower because they were trying to compete Him.
At Pentecost, the Spirit of God in the form of tongues descended upon the apostles and they went to various places to preach the word. Similarly, when God went down to see how the tower was being constructed, he dispersed the people after confusing their language.
True
Abrahams father was a moon worshipper.
The idea of one blood in todays society reminds all people that they have a common ancestry.
Study Question 8
Abraham was seventy-five years old when he entered Canaan.
The mentioned of Nahor is important because it gives the family background of Abraham.
False
Sarai is Abrahams half-sister
She was barren
When Haran died, Lot was left under the custody of Abraham.
112 years
He was not well received in Egypt and he was ultimately forced out.
He defeated the Palestines.
Abram means, Exalted father.
Abraham means father of a multitude or many nations
There is no significant difference between Davies dates for Abraham and the notes.
Glueck believe that Abraham existed during the period because of the customs that were evident then.
Study Question 9
Sin, consequences
Illustrate
Accurate carbon dating has put these accounts in Genesis to be about six thousand years ago.
Nanna, Kasdim, or Tell el-Mukayyar.
It was a demonstration of faith on his part.
He will make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great (Genesis 12 2).
Bethel is where Jesus Christ was going to be born.
The promise is in jeopardy because of lack of obedience to the commandments of God.
Melchizadek refers to Jesus Christ. This is because the depiction of His righteousness can only be equated to that of Christ.
I hold the view that He is Jesus Christ. This is because He also exemplifies the description in Hebrews 7 1, 9-11, 15-21.
The significant of Abrahams victory means that God was with him since he was fighting for him.
Study Questions-10
Genesis 15 is an important chapter because it outlines Gods covenant with Abraham. After this, God remembered that particular covenant in several sections of the Bible.
True
He guided him, he worshipped him.
He was afraid that he might be killed because of his wife.
He told him to sacrifice his only son, which he obeyed.
Abraham believed in the Lord, and it was counted for him for righteousness, Genesis 15 6. He took the Lord at His word and he never doubted.
Circumcision sealed the covenant between God and Abraham. It was important because it was to be a sign throughout all the generations.
Davis asserts that Israel will reach the full boundary in the land when they will have claimed all the promises given to them by God.
In Chapter 16, the promise is in jeopardy because Abraham chased Hagar and Ishmael away yet he was not having a child.
The Angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ.
Ishmael means, God will hear (Genesis 1611).
Chart
El Shaddai means, God Almighty.
The sign of the covenant is circumcision.
Abraham thought that it was impossible to have a child at his old age, hence the laughter.
The Lesson Davies alludes to is that we are supposed to trust in God always and take Him at His word.
Study Questions-Lesson Eleven
Genesis 18 represents Gods caring character while Genesis 19 portrays that He does not tolerate sin when it has reached an extreme level.
Abraham welcomed the three visitors wholeheartedly to his home.
Sarahs laughter was that of disbelief.
The Lord evaluated Abraham according to how he had obeyed his commandments.
Intercessory prayer is particularly effective when the sin of someone can prevent his or her prayer from being answered.
Sexual sin was rampant in Sodom.
God destroyed Sodom by raining sulfur on the city.
Sodom has been located in the southeast Dead Sea in a place called Bab edh-Dhra.
In the New Testament, Sodom is depicted as being idolatrous.
Lot is described to be living a righteous life amidst the immoral people.
Moabites and Ammonites are the people who fought with Abrahams army and were defeated.
God blessed Lot he obeyed Him while he was in the immoral city of Sodom.
Study Questions-Lesson Twelve
It is though the Gerar was possibly situated approximately ten miles from Gaza, north of Beersheba. It was Abrahams central location.
True. Genesis 20 1 records that and Abimelech king of Gerar sent
The life of Abraham and that of his wife are at risk.
Genesis 20 7 refers to Abraham as a prophet, which means that he is a man of God.
Ishmael did not respond positively to the birth of Isaac because he thought he was the heir of the promise.
Though Abraham was righteous, he was also still susceptible to sin.
The promise is jeopardized again in chapter 21 because at one hundred years is when Abraham is getting his first child.
God tested Abraham in order to test his faith in Him and find out whether he believed in the promises He had given.
The best explanation is derived from the fact that God wanted to test his faith in Him.
Abraham believed that God was even able to raise Isaack from the dead so as to fulfill his promises to him.
At Mt. Moriah, Isaack willingly allowed his father to sacrifice him. However, before he could sacrifice him, the Lord provided a lamb to be slaughtered.
Ephron feared the influence of Abraham.
This encounter affects the authority of the scripture in that God himself who does not allow human sacrifice, instructed Abraham to sacrifice his only son.
Machpelah and Hebron.
The burial land was highly valued. This shows the kind of care Abraham had for his wife and future descendants who would be buried in the same place.
Study Questions-Lesson Twelve (b)
Eliezer was Abrahams trusted servant who was sent to look for Isaack a son.
The location of the city of Nahor gives the indication that Eliezer went to the relatives of Abraham so as to bring a wife to Isaack.
He asked God for guidance and he followed his masters instructions.
Rebekahs brother and mother made a decision for her to go with Eliezer.
Isaack was forty years while Ishmael forty-eight years.
The mentioning of Ishmael and his sons tell us that God is no respecter of persons and he keeps his promises.
The phrase, the elder shall serve the younger tells us those who obey God will be more successful than those who do not obey him.
The patriarchal custom of the birthright allowed the first born in a family to enjoy all benefits upon the death of the parents.
Esau did not pay much esteem to his birthright that is why he cheaply sold it out.
If parents see that their children are competing for supremacy in the house, they should try to settle such matters early enough before it is too late.
When famine hit the land, Isaac went to look for food in a nearby land.
The Bible includes the weaknesses of some characters in order to enable us learn from their mistakes. This will make us avoid repeating the same mistakes they did.
Deception is not good. After deceiving his brother and fleeing from him, Jacob lived a restless life. He never lived a peaceful life and later even his own children deceived him regarding the whereabouts of his beloved son, Joseph.
Isaacs promise to Esau that he will live by the sword makes the most sense to me. This is because after this he said in his heart that he would kill his brother.
No, she never saw him again.
Patriarchs monotheism holds the belief on the existence of one God.
Study QuestionsLesson Fourteen
Jacob saw angels ascending and descending in a vision at Bethel. It meant that God was going to fulfill the promise he had made to Abraham through him.
Bethel means God appeared unto him (Gen 35 15)
No, he did not. He only worked for him for twenty-one years before living.
The children of Jacob were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulum, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
These are the children Jacob had because they include the others he got from his wives handmaids.
Laban changed his attitude towards Jacob because he was seeing him becoming successful day by day.
Teraphim refer to household gods like the ones Rachel stole from his father.
Jacob wrestled with an angel of the Lord.
Israel means, he wrestled with God.
Peniel means, face of God.
Jacob went with his household at Bethel, after putting away all their foreign gods. At Bethel Deborah, Rebekahs nurse passed on. God appeared to him one night and He changed his name to Israel.
The descendants of Esau are included in chapter 36 to show how God had blessed Esau.
Study Questions-Lesson Fifteen
True
J
acob gave him a very expensive good-looking cloth.
The basic theme of Josephs dreams is that God will use him to fulfill His purposes.
The coat dipped in goats blood was a lie. Jacob had used the same trick to get blessings from his father.
Joseph is thought to have entered Egypt at 22 years old.
Levirate marriage refers to an ancient Hebrew custom that involved marriage with a brothers widow.
Joseph refused Potiphars wife because he did not want to be against God and against his master, Potiphar.
The butlers dream turned out negatively.
Joseph interpreted Pharaohs dreams.
In the royal court, Joseph was second in command to Pharaoh
Joseph tests of his brothers were intended to make them repent of the evil they had done.
God will never forsake those who stand for him.
Study QuestionsLesson Sixteen
The verses prophesied the coming of the Israelites to the land of Egypt.
All the household of Jacob went to Egypt during the severe famine period.
In Genesis 4142, And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Josephs hand. This signifies that he served as a native Egyptian King.
The land of Raameses is believed to be the land of Goshen, which Joseph gave his father and his brethren as a dwelling place during the famine.
Although he was an Egyptian ruler, he recognized his roots.
True
False
The tribe of Levi was given the responsibility of being priests in the house of the Lord.
In Genesis 4910, Shiloh refers to the man of rest. It prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ from the tribe of Judah.
When Jacob died, Joseph brothers thought that he would repay them for the wrong they did to him.
He assured them that it was Gods purpose for him to be where he was and not to worry.
Hebrews 1122 mentions that Joseph hoped for a day that the Israelites would leave Egypt and go back to their land that is why he gave a commandment concerning his bones.
Genesis starts with the start of life, Adam and Eve are created, and it ends with the end of life, Joseph dies.
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