The Basics of: Genesis
First book in the Bible and the first basic to *maybe* not bore you to death.
One of the main purposes of this Substack is to supply you with the information you need to read the Bible confidently.
That doesn’t mean just reading it because you can, but reading the Bible because you want to and because you find it mildly interesting.
That is why I have walked you through how to find the Bible that is perfect for you, how to get started reading it, how to understand some of the language that you are about to read (including Hebrew slang) and then applying everything you already know into the art of prayer.
Now, it’s time to work our way through the Bible so you can use what you have learned thus far. However, a couple of ground rules I have to put in place prior to you continuing on this route:
You HAVE to read the introductions to the books in the Bible you bought. If you bought the cheapest Bible you could find and there is no introduction, that is a-okay. You can pretend these articles I’m writing are the introductions. If you bought a Bible that contains introductions, READ THEM. They are there for a reason.
Anything that is listed as “The Basics of” in this Substack are summaries. Once we get through all 66 books, I will go more in depth. Think of this as a more extensive series from the one sentence summaries I wrote back in “How to Bible 101: The First Date.”
Before we get down to business, it’s important that you understand how we even got the Bible that we have today.
All 66 books were collected and arranged by councils of rabbis, church leaders and theologians under careful consideration and authority. There are other books (*GASP*), but they are called “non-canonical” books. The Book of Jasher, Enoch and Acts of Solomon are included. All this means is that they were considered to be non-vital to the Bible. I think of it as more of a distraction than anything, but they are still interesting to read regardless. More on that much much later.
These 66 books, from Genesis to Revelation, were written by kings, prophets, leaders, and apostles in their original languages. I know what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking “please don’t bring this up again"…..too late.
What are the “original languages” of the Bible?
………
Bingo! Correct! Ancient Hebrew, ancient Aramaic, and Ancient Greek! Congratulations! NOW, NEVER FORGET IT.
Because the printing press had not been invented yet, special scribes were given the intense task of copying the Bible. Once the time came in 1455 to print the Bible, it was finally printed with ink and paper…in Latin.
Now, there is a large argument around if these scribes really did a decent job. I am here to tell you that they did. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the reliability of the copies of Old Testament material. What you are reading is pretty darn close (like 99.5% because of spelling variations) to what they read back in the day! To fast forward a bit, the Bible is now in over 2000 different languages.
Now, without further ado, let’s get to the basics of Genesis!
For the Jewish community, Genesis is called “Bereshit” (bear-uh-sheet), a direct translation of the first phrase in the Bible (“in the beginning”).
The Hebrew word for “generations”, as seen in Genesis 2:4, is the word “toldot.” When the Greek translation of the Old Testament was created, also called the Pentateuch (pronounced penta-took), they translated “toldot” into “genesis” and decided it would make a nice name for the first book of the Bible. Genesis translated means “origin” because that is quite literally what the book of Genesis is.
It is about the origins of the world, of mankind, of sin and of the Jewish people.
Quick Main Point Spiel from the Rev. Dr.: If there is any one thing you need to get out of this summary, it is this. The Old Testament is the history of the Jewish people. It is catered toward them because they were the chosen ones (*cue Obi-Wan yelling “YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!” to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith*), and because of that, the Bible is their history, their genealogical lines, their traditions…it is everything to them. Without understanding that, you will lose your momentum. This is the story of real people with real traditions and their story of thinking they lost God when God was right there the whole time.
Originally, most people believed Moses to be the one who ascribed Genesis (along with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), but there is no succinct proof of that. Does it matter? No. Let’s move on.
When reading Genesis, it is easiest to understand if you break it into two groups.
Genesis 1-10 is a primeval history. It is a huge chunk of time compressed.
Genesis 11-50 is a patriarchal history. It is a smaller chunk of time expanded.
In Genesis 1-10, we read about the creation of everything (including humans and the Garden), humans expressing their free will and leaving said Garden, the first instances of anger and jealousy (a.k.a Cain killing Abel), a genealogy from Adam to Noah, the big ol’ flood and then the genealogy from Noah.
This is a HUGE chunk of time. Between Adam and Noah are about 10 generations, so it’s a lot of information for only 10 chapters.
In Genesis 11-50, we get the extensive stories about Abraham and his children, and then the extensive story about Joseph.
This isn’t a HUGE chunk of time, by any means. These chapters have a lot of detail, sometimes to a fault, but are rich in history and conflict.
Common questions surrounding Genesis:
(Genesis 1-2) Was Creation really only in 7 days? Like 24 hour days?
Excellent question. Nobody knows. It’s important to consider that if God is eternal, a day for Him is probably not like a standard day for us. Our creation story is worded that way because the ancient people needed to understand clearly. Even today, it is a simple story to read. The amount of time it took God to create doesn’t matter. What does matter is the order in which He created, and what He created, and for WHOM He created everything. Don’t get too obsessed with the tiny details. The Bible was written in a manner that is so simple that even us idiots can understand it.
(Genesis 2) Why did God even put a forbidden tree in the Garden?
Keep in mind that God is all-knowing. He created humans knowing that they would leave His sanctuary. He created humans knowing that they would make some of the worst choices ever, like murder. He created mankind anyway. A good and gracious God is the one that gives us a choice. If we were all robots, life would not be worth living. In order to understand the beauty of life and the beauty of life with God, we have to be free to make the choices that see the destruction of life and destruction without God by our side. A bit extreme, but true. He put the tree of life AND the tree of knowledge of good and evil to give them a choice. An important note: God never cursed the man or the woman when they ate from that tree. He cursed the snake and the dirt…so stop thinking God has it out for you. He doesn’t. He likes you.
(Genesis 7) We were taught in Sunday school that the flood covered the ENTIRE earth. Is that true?
The word used for “earth” in Genesis 7 is the word “eres” meaning land or earth. What is important to realize is that the ancient people did not understand there was a land outside of their own. They had no giant world map, they didn’t know North America existed or Finland or Australia. They knew that they existed and that their enemies existed. It would have made no sense for them to believe that the entire “earth” flooded because they didn’t know that there was an “earth” outside their own “land.” We can then assume that it was all the land that they knew, which has been geologically proven time and time again. If it was the entire earth, that would be just as cool, but we will never know the expanse of that event until we die. Either option is fine with me!
(Genesis 15) What in the heck is a covenant and why the HECK does it matter so much to Abraham to have descendants?
A covenant is another word for a promise or a pledge. It mattered to Abraham in the same way that as soon as a parent’s child gets married, they look forward to grandkids. Wanting descendants is a very simple and engrained desire in our hearts. To be remembered, to be held in tradition, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. God’s covenant with Abraham was exactly that. Abraham was being promised to be remembered in his generations to follow (all of Israel’s descendants), which happened…because we are STILL talking about him. He must be a total ego-maniac now.
(Genesis 19) Why did God turn Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt?
It was a specific instruction that once Lot and his family left Sodom and Gomorrah to NOT turn around and look at the destruction. And guess what she did? She turned around and looked. Now, there is an excellent chance that she left them and went back out of doubt or denial. What I find the most interesting is that in the region they were in, the land was high in sodium, potash, magnesium, calcium chlorides and bromide, so when Sodom and Gomorrah got destroyed, there is a strong possibility that some kind of earthquake essentially let these noxious gases loose, causing it to rain brimstone and fire (literally), which then led to Lot’s wife actually becoming a pillar of salt. Crazy….and painful.
(Genesis 37) Why were Joseph’s brothers so jealous of him that they sold him into slavery?
We read in chapter 37 that Joseph’s dad gives him, and him alone, a pretty expensive coat. Strike one. Joseph has a dream where he has ruling power over his brothers and tells them about it. Strike two. Joseph then has ANOTHER dream about the sun, moon and stars all bowing down to him and tells them about it. Strike three. This is a very standard case of “the baby in the family gets everything,” though I don’t recommend selling your baby sibling into slavery just because your dad gives them a little extra attention. If you are a baby in the family, use this story for your own good and don’t tell your siblings that one day they will bow down to you. It obviously will not go well.
(Genesis 49) What was up with Jacob giving all of his sons death-bed announcements?
It was a very normal thing in this time for the patriarch of the family, i.e. Jacob, to give death-bed announcements. They were statements about the future of his sons. If you read before this, Jacob’s sons sold their brother (Jacob’s youngest son, Joseph) into slavery after deciding not to kill him. Jacob was obviously still upset about it, as anyone would be. He was easier on Reuben, Judah and Zebulun…especially if you read what Jacob said about the rest of them. He obviously said nice things to Joseph because of the calling on his life, but yes, this was normal. And still is today, but in a less intense way.
And there you have it. A quick 10 minute summary of Genesis.
Go read with confidence. Thanks for being here.
