#14 Genesis 24-30

Though Isaac is the son of promise. His life gets less ink in the story than his sons Jacob and Esau. Great emphasis is placed on the fact that his wife was not taken from among the Canaanites, but from the relatives of Abraham. God providentially leads Abraham’s servant to a virgin named Rebeckah the daughter of Bethuel and the granddaughter of Nahor, who was Abraham’s brother. Presumably, she and her people either worshiped or were at least familiar with the God of Abraham since they had gone with Terra and Abraham when they left Ur in obedience to God’s call. This would explain why Abraham was so concerned that Isaac marry a woman from among these people and not the Canaanites among whom they dwelt. As is always the case in scripture, the issue was not one of racial purity, but one of faith.

Chapter twenty five records the death of Abraham and tells us of his numerous descendants from his second wife Keturah. It also mentions in passing that Abraham had other unnamed sons born to him by concubines. While Abraham gave gifts to all of these while he was living, the entirety of his inheritance went to Isaac at his death.

The matter of polygamy and concubinage is a difficult one for us to get a grip on. Clearly, it was never God’s intention that it should be so as Jesus reminds us that from the beginning God’s design was for one man and one woman. The main reason given for this is that marriage is intended to be a figure of Christ and the church (Eph 5:31-32). Great evils came into the world through the practice of multiple marriages. They were a trouble to the men, and undoubtedly a sorrow to the wives. They became the source of bitterest sibling rivalries. The fact that God tolerated it from his faithful servants is a tribute to His longsuffering and patience as He worked in history to bring about the salvation mankind so obviously needed.

Another key development in the story of the patriarchs is the bareness of their wives. Of course Sarah was barren and now we learn that Rebeckah was as well. This serves to highlight that the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, would not come as a consequence of their “natural fertility” but through God’s faithfulness to His word. He is the God that keeps promises. It is His delight to fulfill his promises in ways that test us and reveal that He is the one bringing them to pass.

When Rebeckah finally does conceive, they are twins. The oldest was Esau, but when he came forth, the younger one had hold of his heel, which signified his grasping and conniving nature which would later be realized in his taking for himself the rights and blessings reserved for his firstborn brother.

While the favoritism of Isaac and Rebeckah are instances of bad parenting, we need to see how God can even use the sins of His people to accomplish His purposes. Isaac favored his firstborn Esau and wanted God’s promises to be fulfilled through him. But, God had determined, even before they were born, that the older would serve the younger (Gen 25:23). Without approving of it, God over ruled Isaac’s plan to bless Esau through Rebeckah’s deception.

As a consequence of their deception Jacob is forced to flee from the face of Esau who was ready to kill him. Like his father, he will now find a wife, not from among the pagan Canaanites, but from among the people of Abraham. As Jacob runs, a most amazing even occurs at Bethel. As Jacob sleeps he has a vision of a ladder that reaches from earth to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. When he awakens he calls the place awesome and names it Bethel, meaning the gate of heaven. In John 1:51 Jesus alludes to this event and describes Himself as the ladder in Jacob’s dream. He is the true portal connecting God and man and by Him alone can men and angels traffic between heaven and earth.

While in exile, Jacob meets his match in Laban, who knows as many tricks as he does himself. In the end, Jacob prevails with the blessing of God and returns home with Leah and Rachel, the daughters of Laban.

#13 Genesis 18-21

The three angels who visit Abraham move on toward Sodom. God reveals to Abraham His intentions for the wicked cities on the plain. Abraham intercedes in behalf of the cities, no doubt with the well being of Lot in mind. God promises to save the city for the sake of only ten righteous souls, if they can be found. The fact that they were destroyed tells us how vile the city had become.

When the angels arrive in Sodom, Lot compels them to come under the protection of his roof and to not remain out in the city square as they were intending. When evening came, word of the three “men’s” arrival had spread about and men from every part of the city came to Lot’s house demanding that the visitors be sent out that they might have sex with them. Lot weakly resists and tries, astonishingly, to buy them off with his two daughters. The men of the city tell Lot that he is out of place in trying to judge them and threaten to punish him if he doesn’t comply with their demands.

This story exposes the modern myth of neutrality. People today want to pretend that a societies rules and regulations can be “value neutral,” but this is not possible. Morality will always be enforced in a society. The only question is whose morality will it be. By passing a judgement on the sexual advances of the men of Sodom, Job was treading dangerously close to a hate crime and was threatened with violence if he didn’t stop it.

In America today the “rights” of homosexuals are used to restrict the liberties of those who believe the practice to be wrong. Landlords, for instance, can be fined if they refuse to rent a property to a practicing homosexual. As Christians we should be prepared to suffer at the hands of a government whose morality and legal code departs more and more from the Biblical mores upon which it was based.

#12 Genesis 11:27-15:21

After the confusion of languages at Babel men fell into crass idolatry. One of the idolatrous cultures that developed was found in Ur of the Chaldees. Situated in modern Iraq, the people there worshiped the god Nannar. Among the inhabitants of Ur was a man named Terah who was the father of one of the most significant characters in the entire Bible and his name was Abram.

God promised Abram a new land, to make a great nation of Abram, to bless him and make him a blessing to others. God Himself will curse those who curse Abram and bless those who bless him. Most important, God promised to bless all nations that had been scattered across the face of the earth through Abram.

It would be easy to assume that when God appeared to Abram that he and his family were worshipers of the true God and that they were vexed by the idolatry surrounding them, but Joshua makes it clear that this was not the case. Josh 24:2 And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel:'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.

But God who is rich in mercy revealed Himself to Abram and called Him out of the land of his Fathers. The first stage of the journey took them to Haran where Abram was accompanied by his father. After Terah died Abram completed his journey from Haran and entered the land of Canaan.

Abram enters Canaan from the north, living as a nomadic pilgrim. Yet we should not think of him as having only a handful with him. In 14:14 we learn that there were 318 trained warriors that had been born in his household. Based on the number of warriors some scholars have projected that the entire company was around three thousand souls.

The first thing Abram does upon entering the promised land is establish alters at Shechem and Bethel. Later he will build a third at Negev. These alters are very meaningful. They were constructed at areas of religious significance to the Canaanites. They were located at strategic places from a geographic point of view. They were revisited by Joshua during the conquest of the land. It seems clear to me, that Abram’s alter building should be understood as a symbolic conquest of Canaan. In other words, Abram was claiming Canaan as God’s. He did this by establishing right worship. These were not just places where Abram would get off to have quiet time with God. They were public centers of worship that expressed Abram’s faith in the God who promised to give him the land.

Not only does Genesis give us a preview of the conquest of Joshua, but it also prefigures the sojourn of Israel in Egypt. When a famine arose in Canaan, Abram temporarily moved his household to Egypt where he represented Sarai as his sister. This occurs multiple times in the story and its repetition is clearly important. We typically refer to this partial deception as an instance of Abram’s lack of faith. This may be true, but it is clearly not the point the author wants us to take away. Nothing is said of God’s being angry with Abram. Instead, God blesses Abram and sends plagues on Pharaoh. The episode ends with Abram and Sarai being sent away from Egypt loaded down with spoil. Just as Abrams establishing alters in Canaan symbolizes the conquest. Abram’s spoiling of Egypt prefigures Israel’s deliverance. Upon his return to Canaan, Abram returned to Bethel and worship the Lord There.

Next there is tension with the house of Lot. Abram was very rich, both with gold & silver and with herds. His nephew Lot had also prospered and the situation got to the point where the herdsmen of the two houses began striving with each other. Abram continues to demonstrate his patience and offers Lot any portion of the land he wanted. Lot chose the well watered plain of Jordan. We should understand that all of Canaan was a good land then and yet some parts more desirable than others.  The plain of Jordan was so lush it was compared to the garden of Eden. Immediately after lot grasps after the best land God promised Abram that the entire land would be his. He invited Abram to walk through the whole land. All of it would belong to his descendants who would be like the dust of the earth. To this promise Abram responds by building another alter in Mamre. Each time God promises the land Abram responds by establishing a place of worship in the land.
Chedorlaomer  was the king of Elam, which was a regional power. The kings of Sodom, Gomorrah and three other cities had to pay tribute to him, but at last they revolted resulting in a war. Chedorlaomer came and soundly defeated the cities of the plain and took away all the spoil and took many of the people captive including Lot & his household. Abram took 318 men who were warriors who grew up in his household and along with some allies attacked Chedorlaomer at night. Here we see that Abram was a competent military man who quickly yet decisively defeated a superior army. Abram was a man of faith who patiently waited for God to fulfill his promise, but he reveals here that faith knows how to act when called upon. As Abram returns from the battle He is met by Melchizedek the king of Salem called a priest of God most high with bread, wine and blessing. Abram responds to by presenting him with a tithe of the spoils (Heb 7:4). Melchizedek is a priest of God most High and king of Salem. He is declared in Hebrews to be a type of Christ. The king of Sodom then tells Abram to return the people, but to keep all the spoils for himself. But Abram refuses to keep any of it lest it should be said that the king of Sodom made Abram great. He would inherit the land and all its fullness as a gift of God, and none of it as a gift of Sodom.

After this the Lord came to Abram in a vision. This time promising him that his descendants would be as the stars of heaven and that his heir would not be Lot, nor Eliazar, but one born from his own body. Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. God then confirmed all His promises by taking a self-maladictory oath. Animals were cut in two and while Abram Slept and was overcome by horror and great darkness he saw a burning torch pass between the slain animals. Some scholars believe that this is God saying that He will be cut in two and die, before He will fail to keep His promises to Abram.

#11 Job Concluded

Posting will not be possible for the next three days as I’ll be away at camp for the weekend. So, here are my final thoughts on Job.

God has been patiently waiting off stage while the smartest men of the age put their minds to work on solving the great mystery of human suffering. He has let them have their say and now He moves in and addresses them.

He addresses them, but interestingly, He doesn’t address the problem of suffering. He doesn’t explain why this has happened to Job. He doesn’t tell the characters in this drama the back story of His wager with Satan. Instead, He declares His glory and defends His position as the loving, wise and all powerful Creator. In the end, Job is put to silence. He does not fill his mouth with arguments as he said he would, but puts his hands over his mouth and confesses that he has already said too much.

The friends of Job are told that they have said that about God which is not true and Job is obliged to offer prayers on their behalf. In the end. The problem of pain and suffering boils down to this. We either trust God or we don’t. In the midst of our deepest pain and unanswered grief we will either believe that God is both wise and good or we will not. This is the test of faith. It is the test that Jesus has shown us how to pass. May we follow in His footsteps through the garden of Gethsemane all the way to Calvary and in the end commit ourselves into the Father’s loving and capable hands.

# 10 Job Continued

I’m still struck by the self-description of Job in chapter thirty-one. It is an oath of innocence that Job swears to. He has put himself on the witness stand and is asking God to answer. Though Job is barking up the wrong tree in thinking that God has wrongfully punished Him, it is nevertheless an astonishing description of personal character.

a) Job Has Not Lusted: 31:1-4

b) Job Has Not Lied or Deceived: comparatively-8

c) Job Has Not Committed Adultery: 31:9-12

d) Job Has Not Failed to Help His Slaves: 31:13-15

e) Job Has Not Failed to Help the Poor and Needy: 31:16-23

f) Job Has Not Trusted in His Wealth: 31:24-25

g) Job Has Not Turned to Idolatry: 31:26-28

h) Job Has Not Treated His Enemies Unfairly: 31:29-30

i) Job Has Not Been Stingy: 31:31-32

j) Job Has Not Hidden His Sins: 31:33-34

k) Job Wishes God Would Hear Him: 31:35-37

l) Job Has Not Been Unfair to His Farm-workers 31:38-40

After Job’s final speech we are introduced to the intriguing commentary of one Elihu. A comparatively young man, he is confident that he alone has the answer to Job’s problem. Scholars differ as to the significance of this speech in the debate. Some suggest that Elihu’s answer is the correct one and that he alone gets it right. This position is bolstered by the fact that when God corrects the speeches of Job’s three older friends, he does not correct Elihu. The problem for me, is that I don’t see Elihu saying anything much different than what they said. He doesn’t seem to introduce anything new to the discussion.

As we wrap up the readings on the speeches it seems that we have heard the wisest men of the age, addressing the problem of human suffering and though they are very confident in their positions, they are wrong. They are wrong at least as far as it concerns the peculiar case of Job. This alone should, make us aware of the weakness of human reasoning.

A final thought on the speeches. I’ve wondered about why these men were so adamant in maintaining Job’s sinfulness as the cause of his misfortune. Could it be that there is some psychological mechanism that produces this line of argument? In other words, nobody wants to think that such a horrible calamity could befall them. Even the thought of losing one’s children, possessions and health is overwhelming. It is comforting to build up a theology that says, “that kind of tragedy only happens to those who do deeds of great wickedness, therefore I am safe from the threat of it happening to me.”  Just a thought. 

#9 Job Continued

In Chapter thirty one Job concludes his last speech. In this chapter we have the masculine counterpart to Proverbs thirty one - a description of the ideal man. Undoubtedly this was an accurate description of the man Job and should be laid along side God’s description of him in chapter one. Here he is put forward as one who reverences God and loves his fellow man. Yet, in the closing verses of the chapter we see Job falter in his analysis of the situation. He refers to God as his accuser. Of course, we know that it was Satan that accused and that was the immediate cause of his suffering. God allowed it in order to demonstrate the true greatness of Job.

#8 Job Continued

Job knows that his redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh will I see God (19:25). This is a remarkable statement that may suggest not only that Job was aware of life after death, but of a bodily resurrection to follow at some point in the future.

The argument between Job and his friends continue and grow more extreme and acrimonious as they go. New thoughts are introduced as they go. For instance in chapter twenty, Zophar admits that the wicked may at times prosper, but only for a little while before God destroys them. This is what he thinks has happened to Job. Job replies in the next speech that he knows of evil men who spend all their earthly years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace (21:13). For Job, this observation is sufficient to explode Zophar’s argument. He concludes by saying, So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!

In Chapter twenty two Eliphaz makes terrible accusations against Job. He charges him with stealing from the poor and from abusing widows and orphans. Job doesn’t even answer this. Instead he returns to making direct address to God. He wishes he knew where to find God. He wants to approach him and fill his mouth with arguments for the Almighty and see what God would have to say for Himself. This is one of the times where Job has clearly crossed the line. Though it is not the line of blasphemy or cursing God, but it is a line of presumption. When God does reveal Himself to Job at the end of the book, we will find Job far less prepared to fill his mouth with arguments than he thought.

Bildad makes a short speech in chapter twenty five that doesn’t address Job. It seems by this point that communication has completely broken down. They are all speaking past each other and making no attempt to listen or respond to one another’s points. This is what often happens in arguments and as a side point, we should avoid this error when discussing controversial matters with each other.

In Chapter twenty six Job launches into his longest speech which continues through chapter thirty one. In it Job makes some excellent observations. He seeks after wisdom and acknowledges that it is the gift of God and that no man has discovered it’s fullness. There are mysteries that lie beyond the edge of the map of human reckoning. Neither Job, nor his three friends have been able to discover what is going on with Job. The wisest men of that age, applying themselves to problem of Job’s suffering were utterly unable to provide a right explanation of the problem. We would do well to understand that there is much we do not understand and the simple explanations we often resort to are often not the whole of the matter.

#7 Job continued

Job’s suffering continues unabated. It is heartbreaking to read his descriptions of sorrow and pain. As his friends continue their relentless assault on his character, Job continues to insist on his innocence.

Job thinks he is going to die soon and has no thought of surviving his illness. As he thinks about death, he seems to have mixed notions of what awaits him there. At times he sees it as a shadowy place of unconsciousness.

If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,'
and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,'
where then is my hope?
Who can see any hope for me?
Will it go down to the gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust? (Job 17:13-16).

At other moments he holds out hope that after death there will be a conscious life and that there will even be a resurrection of the body.

If a man dies, will he live again? 
All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature you have made (Job 14:14).

Another interesting feature of this section is in 16:19-21, “Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.” This remark is profoundly Christian and reveals the deep longing in a hurting and accused man’s soul for someone who stand beside him as his advocate before God. How blessed we are to live in the age when we know with perfect confidence that such and advocate exists in Heaven!

#6 Job 3:1-10:22

 

Summary:

Job breaks the silence with his first speech. He wishes he had never been born or that he had died in childbirth. Eliphaz responds to this by laying out the basic argument that he and his friends will employ throughout the book. In 4:7 he asks, “who, being innocent has ever perished?” The idea that an innocent man could be destroyed like Job was being destroyed was inconceivable to these men. The argument can be laid out in the form of a syllogism:
                                   
Major Premise: Only great sinners suffer calamity.
Minor Premise: Job has suffered calamity.
Conclusion: Job is a great sinner.

Job denies that he has committed any great evil and reproves his friends for their accusation. He also asks that God would take his life from him before he should be so overwhelmed by his suffering that he deny the Holy One (6:8-10). Why should he continue living, when all prospects for recovery and success are gone.

Bildad is next to speak. He chastises Job for falsely accusing God of perverting justice. His words must have cut deeply. He tells Job that his children were killed, because of their sin and that if only Job would see that his life can be recovered if only he will confess his great transgression and repent.

Job’s response includes a plea for a mediator to stand between himself and God. He longs for someone who could relate to both and stand up for him in the court of heaven. How blessed we are to live in the age when that great mediator between God and man has come. The God-Man, Jesus, our great High Priest who ever lives to intercede in our behalf.

Thought Questions:

• Is there any truth to the arguments of Job’s friends?  Would God allow such suffering to come upon the perfectly innocent?
• To what extent is the argument that God is doing this to Job, which seems to be the view of Job and his friends, correct? Are there any other agents involved?
• Though the arguments that are being made are inaccurate, are they stupid or illogical?
  

#5 Job 1:1-7:21

Overview:

Job is described as a great and godly man who has been greatly blessed by God. He is a man of feeling who loves his family and serves as their patriarch and priest. 

Satan appears in the courtroom of heaven when God brings up the subject of Job. Satan is not impressed. Job only serves God for the stuff he gets out of the relationship. He is accusing Job. He is saying that Job’s religion is entirely and mercenary affair and that if the blessings are removed, Job will cease serving God.

In order to prove that Job’s faith is real, he allows Satan to take away his earthly blessings. Job passes the test when upon hearing of the loss of all of his children and livestock, he blesses the name of God.

Satan tells God to take of the gloves and let him strike Job’s body and he will curse God to His face. Once more, God reveals his trust in Job and allows the accuser to afflict Job with horrible sores all over his body. Job’s wife tells him to curse God and die, but Job holds fast to his integrity and asks rhetorically, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

Job’s three friends arrive. Though they will say things in the days to come that are rather disturbing. It is worth pointing out that they began very well. They came to him when others were leaving him. They came out of the desire to comfort their friend. When they saw him they wept with him. And, when they did say some hard things, they said it to his face, not behind his back.

Questions to Ponder:

• Can material blessings be a sign of God’s favor? 
• Does the loss of material well being indicate God’s disfavor? 
• What does the word Satan mean? 
• How does this story show the significance of the name Satan? 
• What was Satan doing on earth? 
• What was Satan doing in Heaven?

#4 Gen 10:1-11:26; 1Chron 1:5-27

Summary:

Chapter ten concerns itself with the offspring of Noah’s three sons and the seventy ancient nations that sprang from them. In Chapter eleven we encounter another “fall” of man at the tower of Babel. The story of Babel is structured chaistically, which means that the second half of the story corresponds to the first half, in reverse order. This is a common literary structure in the Bible.

A. The whole earth has one language (v.1)
    B. Settled there (v.2)
        C. Said to one another (v. 3)
            D. Come, let us build a city and tower (v.4)
                E. Lord Came Down (v. 5)
            D’. City and tower that man had built (v. 5)
        C’. Confuse their speech (v.7)
    B’. Scattered from there (v.8)
A’. Confused the language of the whole earth (v. 9).

The whole story turns on the Lord coming down. This teaches us that God is the decisive actor in the history of the world. Man proposes, but God disposes. The men who settled in Babylon (meaning the Gate of God) aspired to build a mountain that would reach the heavens. This would not only make them famous and earn them a reputation for greatness throughout the world, but would also be a point of contact between heaven and earth.

There is humor in this story because the men who thought they were building a tower into the heavens. God responds by saying, let us go down and see what they are doing. Their ambitious plans were no where close to accomplishing their objective. God puts a stop to the building by confusing their language and so Babylon (the gate of God) becomes Babel (confusion) and the people are scattered. Later we will learn that a true point of contact between heaven and earth will be established in dramatic fashion. However, it will not be built from earth to heaven, but will be a ladder let down from heaven to earth. Jesus is the true and living way and no one comes to the Father except by Him.

Questions to ponder:

• Where was the tower of Babel being built and does this explain why they built a tower instead of climbing a mountain?
• Which of Noah’s sons did Abram descend from?
  

#3 Gen 7:1-9:29

Summary:

Noah obeyed all that the Lord commanded him regarding the construction of the ark. God brought to him seven pair of clean animals, and two pair of unclean animals. Noah and the seven family members with him were shut up in the ark as the Lord closed the door Himself. Then the great catastrophe of salvation began. For forty days and nights the rains fell and the fountains opened till the entire globe was inundated with water. The waters began receding and God sent a wind over the earth. The word for wind here is the same word used for Spirit in 1:2 where the Spirit or Wind of God was hovering over the deep at creation. This means that God is remaking the post-diluvian world. We will see this concept later in the story of the Bible. At last the Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat. After a total of one year and ten days, Noah and all his host disembarked.

God repronounces a blessing upon creation and commands the animals and man to be fruitful and multiply. Though man’s sin and the flood had greatly complicated things, God’s original mandate for the world continues to be the same. God promises to never bring such a devastating curse upon the earth again. In Chapter nine the Lord introduces new developments that would make such a wholesale destruction unnecessary. One of the new developments is the institution of capitol punishment for murderers. This is a means of restraining wicked men from doing whatever they want. God hangs His bow in the sky as a sign of His covenant with all the earth never to bring this kind of destruction upon it again.

The story ends with the sad episode of Ham looking upon the nakedness of his father Noah. Because of this his descendants through Canaan were cursed to be inferior to the children of Shem and Japheth.

Thought Questions:

• What do you think went through Noah’s mind as the flood waters began to fall? What do you think went through the minds of those outside?
• The first thing we are told that Noah did when coming out of the ark was offer sacrifice. What significance do we see in this?
• What reasons are given for capitol punishment?
• What does God promise to do when He sees the rainbow?
  

#2 Gen 3:1-6:22; 1Chron 1:1-4

The story of man’s sinfulness grows darker as the sin of envy takes root in the heart of Cain. The first man born of woman takes the life of his good brother in a brutal premeditated murder. As a consequence he is driven even further from the presence of God and from the good land of Eden into the eastern land of Nod.

The evil and corruption continues in the line of Cain as his descendant Lamech becomes the first polygamist. This wicked man also commits murder, but unlike Cain, shows absolutely no remorse, but instead writes a song to boast of his sin (4:23-24).  We also see the development of civilization taking place. Music, husbandry and various forms of craftsmanship develop. We should not think of early man as a knuckle dragging cave dweller. The first generations of mankind were intelligent and immediately began developing culture and civilization.

Coterminous with Cain’s descendants were the descendants of Seth. These men were more godly and called upon the Lord. We are given the lineage of Adam to Noah through Seth in chapter five. The emphasis here seems to be the fact that man bears God’s image through the fruitfulness of having children. God has a son (Adam) and Adam and his offspring also have sons. We also see that no matter how long a man may live, he still dies.

The wickedness of man came to a head when the sons of God began to marry the daughters of men. This is a difficult passage with two basic interpretations possible. Most commentators have taken the sons of God to mean angels of one sort or another and the daughters of men to be human women. Others believe the sons of God simply refer to the line of Seth and the daughters of men the line of Cain. In either case the wickedness of mankind became deep and broad. God looked at the mess and declared it incorrigible. One hundred and twenty years later God destroyed the world and everything in it. The only thing spared was Noah, his family and the animals with him.


Thought Questions:

• Why Did Cain Kill Abel (1John 3:12)?
  
• What would be the punishment on anyone who killed Cain ?
• What did Lamech boastfully claim would come upon anyone who avenged him ?
• Who were the sons of God and who are the daughters of men?
• How many of each kind of animal did Noah put on the ark?  
• Was the ark big enough to house this many animals?
  

#1 Gen 1:1-3:24

Introduction:

These three chapters form the basis of the entire Bible. Without some knowledge of the creation and the fall, the rest of scripture cannot be understood.

Here we are introduced to our Creator God. We have a factual and, I believe, literal explanation of creation, but it is also an extremely abbreviated account that is arranged, not so much to satisfy our modern scientific curiosities, but to reveal important truths about God, man and the creation we are a part of.

Summary & Observations:

It is clear that the object of creation was to provide God's image bearer with a home. Mankind is the focal point of God's creation.

Man and woman together bear the image of God.

Mankind's primary tasks as God's image bearer were to tend and keep the garden, to exercise dominion over all creation, and to fill the earth with God's image bearers.

The whole earth in its wonder and bounty is set before the man and woman. The only prohibition is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A serpent enters the garden and deceives the woman. She eats the forbidden fruit and gives it to her husband who follows her in disobedience to God.


Questions To Consider:

1. Cid God use pre-existing materials to make the world (Gen 1:1; Col 1:16,17) ?
   
2. Can you think of other instances in which God's Spirit "hovers" (Gen 8:1; Matt 3:16)?
3. Do you see any significance in the order in which things are created?
4. What is God's evaluation of the creation?
5. How does mankind bear God's image? (think not only in terms of nouns, but verbs)
6. What does it mean to rule or exercise dominion over the creation?
7. What is involved in tending and keeping the garden?
8. What is the serpent's line of attack. What thoughts and feelings is he trying to illicit?
9. Where was Adam while Eve talked with the serpent?
10. What was immediate the result of their sin?
11. Who does God confront first, second and last?