Genesis, Book of

Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. The basic premise of this book is to recount the stories of the Hebrew patriarchs and their covenant relationship with God. The Book of Genesis connects the God of the patriarchs with the beginning of time as the creator of the universe.

The book is a book of beginnings, as its Hebrew title suggestsbr'st meaning “In the beginning.” The name “Genesis” comes from the transliteration of the Greek for the first word of the book, which means “origins.” Both titles appropriately describe the contents of the Book of Genesis. The book tells of the creation of the universe, the dawn of humanity, the origin of sin, and the beginning of the Hebrew people.

The book centers around the promise God gave to Abram (renamed Abraham, Gen 17:5), which is to make him the father of a multitude of people who would become a nation (12:1–3) living in a specific land (13:14–15). This promise divides the book into two sections. The first part (chapters 1–11) explains how the world came to be, why it is the way it is at the time of Abraham, and that God was involved the entire time. Time [Page 566]passes quickly in these chapters through genealogies that connect the stories of creation, the introduction of sin, the flood account, and God's promise to Abram. This section contains two stories of God creating the world, each having a different sequence of events. In the first account (1:1–2:3) God made light and separated it from darkness. Next he made the heavens, sea, and land, then the plants, then the sun, moon, and stars, and then he created the birds, fish, and land animals. Finally, God created humans, both male and female. This event completed Creation. In the second Creation account (2:4–25), God made the heavens and Earth and then he created a man named Adam. Next, God created Eden, an idyllic garden full of plants, where he placed Adam. Afterward, God created animals and birds and finally he made a woman whom Adam named Eve.

While Eve lived in the garden, a serpent had a conversation with her and deceived her. Adam supported her and silently consented. They yielded to temptation by eating forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thereby introduced sin into the world. Sin quickly spread throughout Creation and intensified, as demonstrated in fratricide among Adam and Eve's two sons, Cain and Abel. During 10 long generations sin increased to such an intolerable point that God sent a flood to destroy the world with the exception of a righteous man, Noah, and his family. Noah built an ark that saved him from the destruction of the flood. After the flood, one of Noah's sons sins, an indication that the flood did not rid the world of this problem; thus God would have to find another solution. This dilemma leads to the promise to Abram, the next attempt at the problem of sin. Genealogies following the flood story provide an explanation for all the different people groups, nations, and languages in the world at the time of Abram and set the stage for Abram's appearance.

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