Critical Intro to O.T.

Genesis

Genesis is the book that tells about the beginnings of

everything. God creates, man rebels, people become nation and the

Messiah is promised to come.

Genesis means origins, and the Hebrew word used means "in

the beginning." The book of Genesis covers a longer span of time

than any other book in the Bible.

According to tradition, Moses wrote the book of Genesis,

along with the entire Torah. There are some liberal scholars that

claim that Moses did not write the five books. The JEDP theory

claims that the book of Genesis was written by different people

at different times. Each letter (JEDP) stands for a different

group of people and a different time period in which that people

wrote.

There are mainly two parts to the book of Genesis. The first

is the primeval history, or the creation and the beginnings of

man. The second part is the Patriarchal narratives. This part

tells about the rise of the nation Israel.

The book of Genesis has many genres. The first part is very

structured. One can find a pattern simply by searching for the

words" these are the generations". Each time those words appear,





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it notes a new section.

What I found interesting was that in the Tower of Babble

narrative, the words in Hebrew rhyme. They go in an order so that

the listener can hear the rhythm. In a way it is like a Dr. Seuse

book. The rhythm and rhyme probably made it easy to memorize and

teach to children at a young age.

Genesis lays a foundation for the rest of the Bible. It explains

who God is and where people came from. It tells why were are

here, and why the Messiah had to come.

Without Genesis, the Bible would not be as clear and people

would not understand the relevance in everything that happened

later in history.

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