Genesis¶

• Table of contents
• Genesis
  • 1-2
  • 3-4
  • 5-8
  • 9-11
  • 12-14
  • 15-17
  • 18-20
  • 21-23
  • 24
  • 25-26
  • 27-28
  • 29-30
  • 31
  • 32-33
  • 34-35
  • 36
  • 37-38
  • 39-40

1-2¶

Observations

• There is no proof for the existence of God, but rather authoritative proclamation of His sovereign creative acts. The Bible is much more kerygmatic than apologetic in nature, from its beginning onward. That is not to say there is no apologetic, but it is clearly secondary.

• God's Word is the instrument of His creative work. cf. Psalm 33.6, John 1.1-3, Col. 1.16-17, Heb. 1.2 et al.

k: which Word is Christ. He is the power, the means, of creation, which is not to say, as Athanasius pointed out in On the Incarnation, that God is a weak old man who needs something else. Christ, however, is begotten, but not in time. Dr. Leithart says that the Arians declared that just as an earthly father-son relationship is within time, so also is the heavenly. This is forcing the paradigm on its head, however. Christ is begotten outside of time, as part of the foundational/blueprint father-son scenario, which is to say that he IS begotten every second, if seconds existed in untemporality.

The Days of Creation

1. Light
2. Heaven
3. Earth
4. Celestial Lights
5. Creatures of Sea and Sky
6. Man and creatures of Land
7. Rest

Questions

• Why is there no proof for the existence of God? What are the implications of this?

k: Because this is not the function of divine revelation, re. Aquinas and WCF 1. (more later...)

a: And doing so would elevate human reason to the supreme position of arbiter of Truth, i.e. the axiom or first principle

k: I don't really get how that necessarily follows. God is, and logic is an essential portion of his orderly nature. In other words, just because an author (inspired) used both "scripture and sound reason" in his argument, doesn't mean that he gives both an equal footing. E.G. Paul does not give an apologetic for God's existence, for (as I said) this is not the function of divine special revelation, as an apologetic for this basic principle of the world has already been given in divine natural revelation, the light of reason, et al. Paul does, however, give an apologetic that is supplicatory on an issue such as the incarnation, which is directly relevant and foundational to man's salvation, which is the purpose of Holy Scripture.

a: It has to do with authority, in the primitive sense of the term. We can discuss more in person.

• Do these chapters give any indication that they are merely myth or metaphor? Why is this important?

• How are these 2 chapters foundational for all of Scripture?

a: God as sovereign creator, Man as His earthly regent, dominion mandate, marriage as the first human institution

3-4¶

• Temptation can always be boiled down to lies, explicit or implicit. In this case of the first temptation, it was blatant.

k: Agreed, and this is why God demands such violent action against it. "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; if your eye, pluck it out and cast it from you." Lust and temptation promise pleasure which they never deliver. Something C.S. points out is the stark contrast between honest desire for godly pleasure, and sinful lust for the other kind. In the grip of lust, all real pleasures loose their taste to us, and if we enjoy something as it was made to be enjoyed, we will be far away from the temptation to evil. In the passage I mentioned above, I don't believe that the Christ is being figurative, as some have said. He is being intensely literal. It is not, however, our appendages which cause us to sin, but our heart, and it is this which must be attacked and destroyed with savagery.

• The Proto-evangelium in Genesis 3.15. The first gospel promise in Scripture.

• When caught in sin, our first response is usually to blame someone else.

k: And Adam does this twice in the same phrase: "this woman which you have given to me..."

• Cain did not murder Abel because of any wrong Abel had done to him. Cain's problem was with himself.

5-8¶

• The genealogies of Scripture are important. Here they show the line of the chosen seed, who will one day bruise the serpent's head, from Adam to Seth to Noah.

• This is clearly an historical chronicle, not a myth or fable.

• Enoch lived 300 years, and he did not see death. Thus was a type of the redeemed for whom Christ has removed the sting of death, about whom he himself prophesied (Jude 1.14)

• Enoch walked with God, and God took Him. Noah walked with God, and God delivered him through his obedience to improbable and irrational commands.

k: similar to how Abraham was justified through his faith that God would even raise Isaac up from the dead.

• Noah, in the chosen line, becomes the Savior of humanity and indeed creation itself, and thus is a type of Christ and His salvation, as Peter says in 1 Peter 3.20-21 and 2 Peter 2.5

• Like the dominion mandate, the promise of the Noahic covenant is to all humanity

k: as Noah is a type of Christ, so is the Noahic covenant (sealed with the blood of sacrifice) a type of Christ's death, to which God responds "neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done."

Questions

• k: "And the LORD was sorry that he made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart." What does this mean?

a: I would say it means exactly what it says, with the comprehension that God accommodates the language of Scripture to human understanding. It clearly does not mean that God was surprised by the Fall. The Lord also says that he "takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (Ezek. 33.11). But that does not mean that it does not fall under His sovereign decree. We must take it, and all of such statements of Scripture at face value, and not minimize them or explain them away by theological extrapolation.

9-11¶

• Reiteration of the dominion mandate to mankind, in the persons of Noah and his 3 sons (Genesis 9.1, 9.7)

• Meat is authorized as food, but not with the blood

• Capital punishment for murder, since man bears the image of God (Genesis 9.6)

• The line of the holy seed continues through Shem (Genesis 9.26, 10-21-29, 11.10-26) "Eber" (Genesis 10.21) is likely the word from which we get "Hebrew"

• k: The Babelites wish to make a name for themselves: instead of taking the lamb's blood for their's (his power, his name), they say "come, let us make our name.

• The end of chapter 11 is the transition from the history of all mankind, to the specific history of the chosen line in Abraham.

Questions

• k: How is Genesis 9:6 not a pacifist declaration? Is it speaking specifically to murder?

a: It is a specific response to the sin of murder, prevalent before the judgment of the flood, beginning with Cain. It is a divine sanction for the civil magistrate to bear the sword to execute God's decreed justice and equity among mankind. As such it is a merciful act of God to restrain evil.

12-14¶

• One the great messianic promises in Gen. 12.3

• Abram is an example of faith when he obeys God to go somewhere he does not know. (Heb. 11.8)

• His first act in the new land is to worship. He sacrificed, and he called on the name of the Lord (Genesis 13.4)

• Abram exhibited godly character in not choosing "the best" for himself, but entrusting himself to God. Just as Paul instructs in 1 Cor. 6.7 God blessed him richly as result, while Lot who chose what appeared better sufflered great loss and grief. Cf. Mark 10.29-30

k: this is always the nature of sin and temptation, which offers its right hand, and stabs one in the back with its left, cf. "3-4" study.

• Melchizedek, priest of El Elyon (God Most High) is a strong type of Christ, being King of Peace and King of Righteousness, without father or mother. See Hebrews 7.1-20

k: what does this mean, that he had no father or mother?

a: His geneaology is not recorded, unlike Noah's, Abraham's, et al.

15-17¶

• The first statement of Justification by Faith in Scripture, here in Genesis 15.6

• God's judgment of sin is not always immediate, but is often "stored up" e.g. Genesis 15.16. We should bear that in mind as our nation continues to apostasize.

• Man's way of "helping God" fulfill his word (Hagar), did not solve the problem, and created others

• Genesis is full of different names of God, e.g. the El Elyon (God Most High) of Melchizedek. Here are 2 more: El Roi (God who sees me) Genesis 16.13, and El Shaddai (God Almighty) Genesis 17.1

• God establishes His covenant with Abraham, and lays down the principal of covenant succession (Genesis 17.7-8)

18-20¶

• God appears to Abraham in the form of 3 men. (Genesis 18.1-2). He recognized and addressed the men as "the Lord." This is a mysterious manifestation of the Trinity, follow the creation narrative's "Let us make man..."

• Fundamental statement of faith of Genesis 18.25. God is just, and will do right.

• Living in the midst of the wicked brings Lot to grief and loss. cf. 2 Peter 2.7-8. This stands as a warning forever not only against perversion and sin, but against associating too closely with the wicked.

21-23¶

• As always, the Lord fulfills His Word, however unlikely that may seem to human reasoning. cf. Zacharias in Luke 1.

• In Hebrew, "sheva" the word for "seven" means oath, or something binding, and indicates something completed or perfected. There is meaning in the number 7 which sheds light on other portions of Scripture, e.g. Revelation 1.4, 3.1

• Another name of God

• The Hebrew in Genesis 22.8 is blessedly, and I believe intentionally ambiguous. God will provide for Himself the Lamb of sacrifice, and God will provide Himself as the Lamb of sacrifice.

24¶

• k: Abraham stresses that his servant must not take Isaac (the chosen seed) back to the land of his fathers.

• k: Rebekah is blessed with the same promise that Abraham is given: "may your thousands of children posses the gate of your enemies."

25-26¶

• God's choice is not always according to custom; he often chooses the younger over the older.

27-28¶

• The messianic promise made first to Abraham is now repeated to Jacob, as it was to Jacob his father (Genesis 28.14)

29-30¶

• But when Jacob chooses the younger, he is foiled in his plan. God's plan works over and above men's less than perfect choices.

• 12 patriarchs from 4 women

31¶

• Whom God chooses to bless, no scheme of men can curse

32-33¶

• Jacob demonstrates a holy zeal in wrestling with God, one to emulate. Jesus teaches the same, that we are to importune Him, to "ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking." (Matt. 7.7)

34-35¶

36¶

37-38¶

39-40¶