A Summary of Genesis, Part 1
Genesis
Using the English Standard Version
Check out Paul Holland's teaching on Genesis, here is an example.
"In the beginning, God..."(1:1)- the Supreme Almighty - created all that we know, see and yet to know and see, in six days. On the seventh day He rested. "Our image" is generally understood as God - the Father, Jesus - The Son, and the Holy Spirit. God created man and woman, called the man Adam and Adam called his wife Eve (mother of all living; 3:20).
God placed them in a garden of Eden and gave man control over everything, except the Tree of Knowledge. It is generally understood that God created in mankind "free-will" as Eve took a fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, disobeying God. Adam then partook of that same fruit. They were deceived by a serpent that is Satan. Adam and Eve immediately knew they had sinned against God. God punishes Adam and Eve and condemns Satan, promising "he shall bruise your head"(3:15) - a death blow to Satan, generally understood to be the coming, teaching, death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah - Jesus of Nazareth.
Adam and Eve have children and two of their names are Cain and Abel. The two sons give an offering to God with Seth giving his best and Cain not giving his best. God was pleased with Abel's offering and displeased with Cain's. Cain becomes angry and kills his brother. God confronts Cain asking him where his brother was. Cain's response "...am I my brother's keeper?" (4:9) was not the answer God was looking for. God punishes Cain by sending him away but promises to protect him by cursing anyone who may kill him. Cain has a son, Enoch, and builds a city naming it after him and has many descendants.
Mankind begins to call upon the Lord.
Adam and Eve had more sons and daughters, but the most recognizable will be Seth. Seth has a son and calls him Enosh. Through genealogy listed, Noah is born from Seth's line. It is possible that Cain's descendants are "the daughters of man' listed before the flood and Seth's line is "the sons of God"(6:2). Adam lived 930 years before he passed. Methuselah, grandfather of Noah, lived 969 years.
We see in the Creation, in Adam and Eve's sin, and in Cain's sin that God is All Powerful, All Knowing, and in All Places.
The world became increasingly corrupt and God moved to destroy it. Noah was found to be righteous and God gives him instructions to build an ark (Faith and action) so that He might save him and his family - Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God tells Noah that he will destroy the earth by a flood; water pouring from the sky as it never had before. God instructs Noah to save animals and also tells him how many to save. Males and females of the animals were saved so that they would be able to repopulate the earth after the waters subsided. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. God saved he and his family, as He promised, and destroyed the earth, as He promised. It rained for 40 days and the water stayed for 150 days.
After Noah, his family, and the animals were able to leave the ark, Noah made an altar and offered burnt offerings to God. God makes a covenant with Noah stating that He will never again destroy the earth and man in the same manner. God creates a rainbow as a reminder. God tells Noah to be fruitful and multiply. Ham is cursed by Noah after he looks on his father's nakedness (Noah was a farmer and had planted a vineyard and became drunk) and does not cover him but runs and tells his brothers. Noah lived 950 years.
In genealogies listed, Ham is the father of Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. The Canaanites will later be who the Israelites fight to inherit the Promised Land. Cush fathered Nimrod, who is talked of often in some religious circles. Nimrod established Babel (among others), moved, then established Nineveh.
In more genealogies listed, the other two of Noah's sons had many descendants. All men in the earth spoke the same language. The Tower of Babel was built, for the purpose of reaching the heavens, and the Lord created different languages and dispersed mankind over the whole earth. One of Shem's descendants is notable: Abram.
Abram had a wife named Sarai, who was barren. Abram moved with his father to Haran and settled, coming from Ur of the Chaldeans. God calls Abram to leave Haran and he obeys the Lord, without knowing where he was going (Faith and action). As Abram was traveling, he comes to a land that is inhabited by the Canaanites, God promises Abram that he will give his descendants the land he is in. Abram builds and altar there, as he does other places in the future. Abram travels to Egypt, to the Negeb, then back toward Bethel and Ai. Abram and Lot (Abram's nephew, who had been traveling with him) were tremendously blessed and there arose some contention with their possessions. They separated, with Lot taking the Jordan Valley and Abram in Hebron. Lot cast his tent near Sodom. The Lord considered the men of Sodom to be great sinners.
After their separation, the Lord made a covenant with Abram that the land he could see (Canaan, that was currently inhabited by another people) would be his offspring's and that his descendants would be so numerous that they would be "as the dust of the earth" (12:16).
Part 2 (Ch. 14) will start with the compassion of Abraham and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
We at The Word hope this series helps with your journey with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. We urge you to read the Scripture, praying for understanding and aid in application of what you study. May God bless you.
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