Genesis Part 001
The book of Genesis is the first of the five books that Moses wrote (known collectively as the Pentateuch or Torah). Genesis means "beginning." Genesis provides the basis for our understanding of the Creator God and sets the stage for the narratives of the rest of the Bible.
Originally when Moses (Authorship: Mark 12:26, John 1:45) put together what would later be known as the first five books of the Bible, it was all one large, unified scroll. Later it was separated into five individual books or what we know as Pentateuch (meaning “five scrolls”). It’s also known in the Jewish community as the “Torah” (meaning “instruction”). We will now focus on just the book of Genesis.
Genesis, which means “beginning,” gets its name from the very first words of the book, “In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1). It contains the “beginning” of many different major themes of the Bible. The book of Genesis is organized into 11 sections with each new section starting with the phrase “this is the account of…” (Genesis 6:9, New International Version, for example, where the genealogy of Noah is recorded).
All the events of Genesis took place long before Moses was born, so how did he record these events? We certainly know that God was directly involved in inspiring Moses in his work, but the Bible also seems to indicate that there were other sources that Moses used when crafting Genesis. Some of these documents appear to be named in the book of Genesis. For example, in Genesis 5:1, it states, “This is the book of the genealogy of Adam.” From the particular Hebrew wording used it appears that these passages are in fact family histories and genealogical records written either at or near the time of the events they describe. These records were then passed down from generation to generation and ultimately compiled in the book we know as Genesis.
The UCG Genesis Commentary states, “The different writing styles in each of these sections provides further evidence that they were written by different authors at different times and in different cultures.” The conclusion of biblical scholars is that Moses composed Genesis using information from these sources and left them in their different writing styles in order to maintain accuracy. It is believed that Moses wrote/compiled Genesis during the Israelites' 40 years of wandering.
Truly, Genesis is a book of beginnings. Its purpose is to chronicle origins. It records the origin of the universe, the earth, man, sin, gentile nations, the Israelite people, the covenants and social customs of the Israelites. While it is the first book of the portion of the Bible known as the Torah (often rendered as “the Law” in English), Genesis is not primarily a book of law per se—that is, it is mostly a historical narrative. (It should be realized that Torah can more generally mean “teaching” or “instruction.”)
Genesis deals with several themes. Like multicolored threads woven together into a fine tapestry, each of these themes is woven through the narrative of the entire book. The sovereignty of God, sin and its consequences, obedience and faith, redemption and forgiveness—all these and many other themes come through loud and clear in this marvelous book. We’ll see many of these themes continue throughout the entire Bible as well.
Tomorrow we will continue our deep dive into the first chapter of Genesis.
UYA Team | uya@ucg.org
United Young Adults (UYA) primarily serves the 18–32-year age group for the United Church of God. There are three main areas of contribution to the lives of the young adults: Promoting Spiritual Growth, Developing Meaningful Relationships and Making the Most of Your Talents. The Know Your Sword series is a daily expository message introducing God’s Word from a trusted perspective.
Please see the UCG Bible commentary for more information on Genesis 1:1-2:4
