Emunahאֱמוּנָה · Hebrew : Faith
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Genesis

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Part One: Chapters 1-11 - God & the World

The first part of Genesis are primarily about disorder and chaos and its counterpart, beauty and order. We learn that Humans are created in God’s Image. Human beings are a reflection of God’s character, are the representatives of His rule, are a blessing because they harness the ability to rule over creation in partnership with God.

Notes:

The Fall (Chapters 3-5)

  • Chapter 3: The snake is introduced without a proper introduction. The snake lies and gives Adam and Eve the room to choose autonomy.
  • Casualties of the Fall: Human relationships suffer, intimacy between human and God is lost, and God doles out punishments. The snake is condemned to slither on the ground on its belly for all of eternity and Human beings are not allowed in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve are forced out and Angels are to stand guard to prevent them entering in again. This is the first and only mention of a secondary tree, The Tree of Life.
  • Chapters 3-11: Follows the continuation of the downward spiral of humanity. The story of Cain and Abel and the punishment and also grace that God gives Cain despite murdering his own brother. Lamech is mentioned and it seems to be the first mention of polyamory as Lamech is said to have two wives.

The Flood (Chapters 6-9)

  • Chapter 6: God is angry with the wickedness of humans and promises to wipe all of creation but Noah finds favor.
  • Chapters 6-9: Follows Noah’s building of the Ark and the instructions given to him to save his lineage and animals. The Flood. Noah is alluded to as the “New Adam” because the world is now a blank slate after the flood. However, we also see a repeat of the fall of man in a different way. One day, Noah gets drunk in his tent and one of his sons comes in and hurts him. It’s more so the fact that his son, Ham saw his father naked and this was a sin, a shameful thing to witness of a man’s father. So again, we see “the fall of man” as feelings of shame and embarrassment are renewed when a person’s nakedness is revealed. Noah curses Ham’s son, Canaan, as a result.

The Tower of Babel (Chapter 11)

  • Chapter 11: The story of Babylon. This story represents the image of human rebellion. Because the people of Babel wanted to build a tower to reach the heavens, God is displeased and causes them to communicate in different languages which eventually leads to God dispersing them among the earth.

“The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil…. But Noah found favor with the Lord.” Gen. 6:5;8

Part Two: Chapters 12-50 - God & Israel

The second part of Genesis is about the lineage of the Israelites. We start the second portion of Genesis with Abram and all that God does to bring him into the fold of his plan, making a promise to him to make Abram the father of many nations. The promise that God gives to Abram is one that alludes to the people of Babel who tried to build a tower and make themselves great. The second part of Genesis is a constant reassurance that what was lost in the Garden due to deception will once again be found through a descendant of Abram that is promised to reunite the people to God allowing for his presence to once again flow through and abound in human beings, giving them their rightful place as God’s partner over the earth.

Notes:

Abraham's Covenant (Chapters 12-25a)

  • Chapters 15-18: The Lord makes a covenant with Abram. Not only does God promise that Abram will be the father of many nations, but He does so while Abram is struggling with Sarai with infertility and he ends up sleeping with Haggar, resulting in the birth of his first born son Ishmael.
  • Chapters 19-20: Recount the destruction of Sodom of Gomorrah, which had been incredibly wicked. The story of Lot’s daughters sleeping with him in order to produce heirs as their betrothed’s had dies in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
  • Chapter 21: Isaac is born. God’s sign of covenant doesn’t come until after Sarai and Abram have their names changed to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah ends up pregnant and gives birth to Isaac. God instructs Abraham to circumcise Isaac eight days after birth as a sign of his promise. Haggar and Ishmael are sent away from Abraham as an instruction from the Lord.
  • Chapter 22: God tests Abraham and instructs him to sacrifice Isaac on the top of the mountain. This is the first demonstration of Jesus we get in the Old Testament. Abraham is allowed to spare Isaac’s life as he has proved his faithfulness and loyalty to the Lord.
  • Chapters 23-26: The deaths of Abraham and Sarah, the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, and the births of their sons, Jacob and Esau.

“Then God said to him, ‘This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of a multitude of nations! What’s more, I am changing your name. it will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!” Gen. 17:3-6

Isaac & Jacob (Chapters 25b-36)

  • Chapter 27-28: Jacob lives up to the meaning of his name, “Deceiver,” by stealing his brothers birthright. Because of his deception, he ends up running away from home and ends up running into his mother’s relative, Laban.
  • Chapter 29: Jacob instantly falls in love with Rachel but Laban makes Jacob work for him for seven years in order to marry. Laban, however, chooses to deceive Jacob by sending Leah to Jacob and allowing them to consummate the marriage. Jacob, outraged, confronts Laban. Laban tells Jacob he did what he did in the name of tradition and eventually convinces Jacob to work another seven years to marry Rachel and Laban makes good on his promise.
  • Chapters 30-31: Shows the competitiveness between the sisters in having children. God saw that Jacob loved Rachel more so he made it possible for Leah to have children but withheld Rachel from having children until Jacob cherished his first wife. Eventually, Rachel’s struggles and disappointment make it to God’s ears and he permits her to have children. When the women can no longer conceive, they send their maids to bed Jacob to have surrogate children. This causes even more dissension. Eventually it carries over into a dispute between Laban and Jacob which leads to Jacob running away, again, but this time with his wives and kids. The two men eventually come to an agreement and leave each other on good terms.
  • Chapter 32: Jacob wrestles with an Angel of God. Because of Jacob’s determination, God honors him with the same promise he made to Abraham, assuring him that he will father many nations and the his descendants will be God’s chosen people. God then changes Jacob’s name to Israel which means “Wrestles with God.”
  • Chapters 33-36: recounts the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, the rape of his daughter Dinah, Jacob’s son’s, the descendants of Esau, and Rachel’s death.

"Your name will no longer be Jacob," the man told him. "From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won…. Jacob named the place Penial (which means "face of God", for he said, "I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared." Gen. 32:28;30

Joseph & His Brothers (Chapters 37-50)

  • Chapter 37: We get a look at Jacob’s descendants, but we also learn of Jacob’s treatment towards his sons. His most beloved son was his oldest from his now deceased wife Rachel, Joseph. Joseph ends up having dreams of prominence over his brothers and this angers his older brothers. Even more so when Jacob gifts Joseph a colorful jacket. So they plot to murder him. Reuben convinces his brothers to throw him into a pit to avoid killing him. Judah convinces his brothers to sell him into slavery instead. The brothers agree and they send him off. At the end of the chapter, Joseph ends up being sold to Potiphar’s house.
  • Chapters 38-41: Recounts some of the struggles with Jacob’s other son’s and simultaneously giving us an inside look to Joseph’s time as a Hebrew Slave. He prospers in Potiphar’s house but Potiphar’s wife accuses him of sexual assault which lands him in prison. While in prison, he prospers under the warden which lends him the opportunity to interpret dreams for some of the men in prison with him. But this does not guarantee him a way out of prison, despite one of the men returning to his position in the palace. He stays in prison a full two more years before God give Pharaoh a dream that only Joseph can interpret. This gets Joseph out of prison and put directly under Pharaoh himself, granting him favor and prosperity for his faithfulness to God.
  • Chapters 42-46: Famine in Egypt. Jacob’s other ten son’s see Joseph for the first time, although when they see him, they do no recognize him. Joseph, instantly recognizing his brothers, decides to omit his identity to see what has become of them. His grief is palpable but they do not seem to notice because Joseph’s sole goal is to see his youngest brother Benjamin again after so many years. Joseph puts the brothers to a series of tests and limits in order to see his brother and when he finally lays eyes on Benjamin again, he loses it and in Chapter 45 reveals to them his true identity. The other eleven brothers are shocked that he survived after everything they put him through, and Joseph, having found favor with Pharaoh convinces his brothers and Pharaoh to move them all to Egypt.
  • Chapters 47-48: An image of reconciliation unlike anything that had been done before in the previous years. Jacob, nearing his deathbed, doles out blessings to Pharaoh and his son’s, but particularly, Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Again, we see the image of the younger son ruling over the oldest, though Joseph is displeased by this when his sons are on the receiving end of what he himself had dreamed of in his teen years.
  • Chapter 49: Jacob blesses all his son’s, including Manasseh and Ephraim in his blessings. To Judah, Jacob gives a heavy blessing of ruling over his brother’s, accepting the praise of his brother’s and comparing him to that of a lion. In his blessing, Jacob alludes to Jesus being a descendant of the tribe of Judah.
  • Chapter 50: Ends with Pharaoh assuring Joseph that the people of Egypt will leave the Israelites be in the land they have settled in and that the people of Egypt will also respect everything Joseph has done in Egypt. Additionally, Joseph ends up reassuring his own brothers that he feels bitterness or resentment towards them for what they did because God used all that he had been through for this very purpose. Then Joseph dies and the Israelites are left in Egypt, thus beginning their 430 year suffering of slavery.

“But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. he brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, Don’t be afraid.” Gen. 50:19-20

Key Memory Verses

Reflection Questions

Recall

  • Setting

    • No clear setting given, however, the book of Genesis was written to help the Israelites better understand their history

  • Author

    • Moses is the likely author of Genesis. Moses was the most educated (Egyptian education) and qualified (Burning bush, Ten commandments) to author the first book of the bible

  • Meanings/Message

    • The Chosen People, Blessings and Curses, Good and Evil, God’s Plan, and God’s Rule

Outline

  • 1:1-2:3 - Creation
  • 2:4-4:26 - What Happened to the Creation
  • 5:1-6:8 - The Account of Adam’s Descendants
  • 6:9-9:29 - The Account of Noah’s Family
  • 10:1-11:9 - The Account of Noah’s Sons
  • 11:10-26 - The Account of Shem’s Descendants
  • 11:27-25:11 - The Account of Terah’s Descendants
  • 25:12-18 - The Account of Ishmael’s Descendants
  • 25:19-35:29 - The Account of Isaac’s Descendants
  • 36:1-37:1 - The Account of Esau’s Descendants
  • 37:2-50:26 - The Account of Jacob’s Descendants
Chapter Summaries