Genesis

 Genesis

Context:

1.     What do you see in this book that tells about the Original Reader?

The original readers were the Israelites who were brought out of Egypt. Genesis provides them with information about their heritage and where they came from. It identifies who their fathers were (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s twelve sons) and tells where they came from. (Gen 12:1-9) The Israelites were a people who became slaves of Egypt and they needed to know who they were, where they came from and how God was working in their lives. Gen 15:13

2.     What do you see in this book that tells you about the author?

The author of Genesis is Moses. He had to have lived after Joseph died because Genesis ends with describing the death of Joseph. The author is also someone who had a good understanding of Israelite and Egyptian culture seeing as he describes many detailed stories of Israelite history throughout the book. He also refers several times to matters of Egyptian practice and culture. (Gen 15:9-18; 38:8-10; 43:32; 46:33,34; 50:2,3,26)

3.     What are the main themes, and repeated ideas in this book, and what is a one

Sentence summary of the “main idea”?

The main theme in Genesis is the revealing of the identity of the Israelite people and the revealing of God’s sovereign redemption in the midst of their mistakes. There is a theme throughout the book of Genesis of God making covenants with His people. He promises to send the Messiah to redeem them (Gen 3:15), that He will never flood the earth again (Gen 9:8-17), that he will give Abraham a son through Sarah (Gen 17:15-21; 18:10) and promises to make Abraham a great nation and give his descendants the land of Canaan (Gen 12:1-3, 13:14-17). He also confirms this promise to Isaac and Jacob who are heirs of the same promise. (Gen 26:2-5,23,24; 28:13-15)

            There is also a pattern throughout the book of God’s people trying to take matters into their own hands instead of trusting in God and relying on his promises and timing. (Gen 16:1-4, Gen 20, 26:6-16; 27: 1-41; 30:1-13)

            Also, there is consistent sexual sin being committed throughout the book, (Gen 19:30-38; Gen 34, 35:22, Gen 38, 39)

4.     What is the primary reason this book was written?

Genesis was written so that the Israelite people would know who they were and where they came from. After having been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, they would have been hopeless and considered themselves as a lower class. They also would have had “good reason” to believe their God was weaker than the Egyptians gods. They had a slave mindset and mentality with no reason to hope to be anything better. They needed to learn who they were, who their God was and the hope and identity that comes through him. Gen 49 also gives an identity to the future 12 tribes of Israel.

Theme Tracing:

1.     What does this book show about the character and nature of God?

The first thing mentioned about God is that He is a creator. (Gen 1:1). He created the entire universe but Genesis also describes Him as a Creator through revealing the story that He is creating with the Israelite people. God’s sovereignty is also seen throughout the book because no matter how many mistakes God’s people make, His will is still accomplished (i.e. Abraham, Hagar and Isaac). This also points to the fact that God is a very redemptive God. Over and over He is continuing to redeem and use people who have fallen and made mistakes (Gen 3:15, Gen 18:17-Gen 19:29; Gen 38 and 49:10)

2.     What does this book show about God’s redemptive plan for mankind?

God’s plan is always accomplished despite the failings of mankind. Throughout Genesis stories are mentioned of the failings of the Israelite fathers. Adam and Eve ate the fruit, Abraham tried on his own to have a child, Jacob tricked his father, Abraham and Isaac lied about their wives, Judah committed sexual sin with his daughter in law and Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. Yet despite all of that, God’s will and His plan were still accomplished. He is big enough to redeem all of the failings of mankind and still bring good from it. 

Application:

1.     Personal Application

I was impacted with the realization of how frequently God actually speaks to His people and how involved He is. You find Him constantly telling His people what is going to happen in the future. He promised the Messiah (Gen 3:15), He told Noah about the flood. He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they would be a great nation and inherit Canaan, He promised Abraham a son, He prophesied the Israelites living as slaves in Egypt (Gen 15:13-16), He told Hagar she would have a son (Gen 16:11,12), He told Abraham he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, (Gen 18:18-33) He told Rebekah that she would have twins and the younger would serve the older (Gen 25:21-26) He gave dreams to Joseph and Pharaoh of the future. He told what would happen to the twelve tribes (Gen 49), The book even closes with God restating His promise to bring the Israelites to the Promised Land. I never realized before how active God actually is and how often He actually was speaking to His people in this book. It is just confirmation to me that I can believe that God is actually frequently speaking to me. Right now I feel like God has been giving me a lot of revelation in life and this is just a reminder that yes I can believe it is Him because He does speak a LOT because He likes to and He sees and hears me (Gen 16:11-14)