These are my personal notes after reading the book of Genesis. Be sure to check out the external link at the bottom to find out more about something not necessarily mentioned in this chapter, but usually on many people’s minds. But, read my stuff first!
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GENESIS
Author: Moses, written 1450-1410 B.C.
Genesis time period: Creation (undated) - 1805 B.C.
Where was the light on Day 1- 3? God created earth’s sun and moon on the 4th day.
Can God, or the Holy Spirit, emit pure light?
Jesus was at the beginning of creation as God’s son, a physical representation of what we humans were to be modeled after on the 6th day. So, Jesus was there, perhaps in the exact form that the Twelve Disciples and thousands of others saw him in years later as he grew up and began to preach Salvation to the world. So, if this is the case, is Jesus technically the first human? Or is it more like when a manufacturer will make a prototype out of expensive materials to show investors, but then when it comes time to mass produce, the product is made of some other, less costly pieces? The product is still a modern marvel, but never as good as the original.
The fall of angels, of Satan and 1/3 of heaven, happened either during the early creation of Eden, or before. Either way, it happened before the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because its name implies there is such a thing as “evil.”
“Doing evil.” Shorten those two words to read “d-evil.”
Being tempted is not a sin. We have not sinned until we give in to temptation.
Temptation can come in the form of thoughts. If these thoughts are quickly discarded, or run from, then we have not sinned. It is when we dwell on, or act out, the thoughts and temptations that is becomes sin. Paul tells us to run from the things that produce evil thoughts.
A guilty conscience is God’s warning bell that we’ve done something wrong and need to ask for His forgiveness.
How long did Cain and Abel live, how many offspring must they have had, before Abel was killed? Because Cain pleads with God not to cast him out as a homeless wonderer because he is afraid someone will kill him? What “someone?” His sons? His grandkids? Certainly not his father, Adam, or his mother, Eve. Other brothers and sisters of his? Did Abel have no children, ergo, no personal lineage?
Adam and Eve had a multitude of children. They were charged with filling the earth with them. Cain must have feared other brothers and sisters, or their children, would seek revenge for him killing Abel.
The only odd thing is that Eve is overjoyed with the birth of Seth, whom she assumes was granted to her by God to replace Abel. This implies that 1) Eve had no other children, at least other boys; or 2) that none of them was capable, or good enough, to replace Abel until Seth arrived; or 3) Seth was the next born son after Abel was killed.
It appears Abel never had children of his own.
People lived to upwards of 900 years near the beginning. These lengths of time are contributed to either actually meaning family dynasties lasting that long, not an individual, or that it was literally how long the person lived, citing no cosmic radiation from the absence of rain and sunlight reflection that causes rapid aging, coupled with the notion that God allowed them to live longer to allow for more procreation.
Enoch was “taken” to be with God. If he was literally taken, human body and all, that would mean there are two physical people in Heaven, Enoch and Jesus.
The word “taken” sparks to mind the idea of alien abduction. Did anyone see Enoch get taken? I wonder what their scene descriptions would be if they did. At this point in my studies - which is novice, at best - I am toying with the idea that aliens are more likely demons, maybe sometimes angels, rather than little green men from Mars. Cave drawings and ancient secular scrolls and manuscripts claiming people from the stars came down and interacted with our ancestors could very well could’ve been angels carrying messages, or demons on the prowl. Perhaps Enoch was “abducted” by an angel?
Nephilites were the offspring of “sons of God” and mortal women. They were the heroes and famous warriors of the time. They were considered giants. Are these “sons of God” the angels, or fallen demons?
Angels or demons do not reproduce, so “sons of God” might not be referring to them. Another theory is that these “sons” were descendants of Seth who intermarried with Cain’s descendents. This may have weakened the good influence of the bloodline and created a wicked lineage.
Goliath was thought to be a Nephilite. Some scholars believe them to have been nine or ten feet tall.
After the flood, God told Noah that the rules were pretty much “an eye for an eye.” If someone kills another human, they must be killed by yet another human.
How does this not create a domino effect that eventually wipes out the human race - again? If one person kills someone, they will be killed by a third person, but then that third person is now a murderer and, by definition, must be killed by a fourth person who will then be a murderer and so on. Unless, God ordains the murder of a murderer and pardons the executioner? Confusing stuff.
Melchizedek, first mentioned priest/king in the Bible. Not Jewish, but worshiped God. Abraham (Abram) had conquered the evil kings - saving Lot in the process - and returned with Melchizedek’s servants and possessions to give to him. He also offered a 10th of all the other goods he recovered. The king refused and asked only for his people to be returned, offering Abraham all the possessions, but Abraham did not take them, thinking the king could then say he was the one who made Abraham rich, not God. King Melchizedek assured Abraham that he, too, knew that is was God who won the war against the evil kings. Some scholars believe that King Melchizedek, who was only seen in all of recorded history during this one encounter, was actually Jesus long before the days of the manger story and Jerusalem.
Beer-lahai-roi, “Well of the Living One who sees me.” Where an angel of the Lord found Hagar and convinced her to return to Abram and Sarai, and told her that she would have a son named Ishmael (“God hears”) and that she would have more descendents than she could count. The well was located between Kadesh and Bered.
El-Shaddai (“God Almighty”)
El-Olam (“Eternal God”)
Yahweh-Yireh (“the Lord will provide”)
Sarah died at the age of 127 and was buried in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (Hebron.) Abraham bought it and the surrounding field from Ephron, son of Zohar, a Hittite, for 400 pieces of silver (shekels) as a permanent burial place for his people.
When Rebekah saw Isaac walking in the fields, she followed two ORIENTAL customs: she dismounted her camel to show respect, and placed a veil over her face as a bride.
If an Oriental custom made it all the way to the Middle East, where is the mention of Oriental people, travelers, etc in the Bible? They must have inter-mingled for a long period of time if their customs remained.
Before Abraham died, he sent the sons of his concubines, and possibly those of his second wife, Keturah, to the east, leaving Isaac as his sole heir.
Perhaps the sons sent to the east further developed the far Asian nations, although by Rebekah’s acknowledgment of Oriental culture, people were already there by this time. Who’s descendants were they?
Jacob’s name was changed to Israel which means “he struggles with God.”
Rebekah sent Esau into the tent to be blessed by a near-blind Isaac, thus attempting to fulfill God’s promise that Esau would be the family leader. She took matters into her own hands and did not wait for God’s plan to unfold.
How do we know that this wasn’t God’s plan unfolding? God knew she would do this. Her actions brought about the same result, yet she has been chastised for this action. How do we know when to act and when to sit and wait? Are we not tools of God, helping to bring about His will and the events He says are to come? How then is acting in the best intentions towards what we were already told would happen be bad?
It’s when we push up the timeline of God’s plan by way of selfish, or deceptive, practices that should be chastised. His plan will work out, with or without, our help. We should prepare for the things He promises, not force them to happen. By that preparation, we are showing our faith and actually helping set the stages for positive change.
Bethel (“House of God”)
Jacob, upon being left alone in his camp after sending many gifts towards Esau, and his family and possessions across the river the other direction, was met by an angel (the Bible literally says “God”) and wrestled with him. Because the angel could not best Jacob, he was renamed Israel, “One who wrestles with God,” “He Struggles with God” or “God Fights.”
Why did Esau bring an army of 400 men to meet Jacob if he never intended him any harm? Did he have a change of heart along the way? Last minute?
El-Elohe-Israel (“God, the God of Israel”)
Rachel died giving birth to Ben-oni (“son of my sorrow”), but Jacob renamed him Benjamin (“son of my right hand.”) Rachel was buried on the way to Ephrath/Bethlehem. The stone monument that Jacob placed there can still be seen today.
Joseph was sold to Ishmaelite traders into Egypt by his jealous older brothers.
Obviously, his brothers did him wrong, but that “wrong” saved Egypt from famine and brought the knowledge of God into a sinful country, quite possibly changing peoples lives forever. Is that not the definition of a “necessary evil?” Joseph had to go into Egypt. Does God not use people for the ultimate, long-term good when the immediate, short-term good looks more like evil? We are limited in our understanding of Him and his reasons. Clearly the brothers’ goal was not to do any sort of good and they had no idea their actions would result in a positive outcome, it was God who knew. However, had the brothers not done this, would the rest of the story’s bullet points ever had happened?
Judah, one of Joseph’s older brothers, met and married a Canaanite woman, daughter of Shua. She bore him three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Er was slated to marry a woman named Tamar, but was considered “a wicked man in the Lord’s sight” so the Lord “took his life.” Onan was then tapped to marry her and make her pregnant, so, according to custom, provide his deceased brother with an heir. However, Onan refused to give help to produce a child that would not be his own heir, so he had sex with the woman, but “spilled the semen on the ground.” The Lord thought it was evil that Onan would not give his brother an heir “so the Lord took Onan’s life, too.”
Joseph went from slave to prisoner to ruler of Egypt. Because of his faith and trust in God, the Pharoah named him Zaphenath-paneah (“God speaks and lives”) and made him second-in-command of all Egypt. This, of course, after Joseph, will God’s help, interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams about 7 good years and 7 bad years of crops. Joseph suggested that storehouse 1/5 of everything for the first 7 years so they would have enough for the last 7 years that will produce little to no food. People from all over Egypt came to Joseph during those famine years to purchase grains and food, because a famine had struck the known world.
Without God’s help, the nation of Egypt would have crumbled. Even if they don’t believe in God, wouldn’t the record books show a man of God, Joseph, is the one responsible for the famine avoidance situation? Surely, that fact alone would allow for thoughts of the one true God’s existence for those who still don’t believe. The Bible is a history book, full of facts. Egypt surviving because of a man and his faith in God is a FACT. God saved a nation of pagans. That’s love for His creation right there.
Joseph married Asenath wore bore him two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim.
Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy grain, not knowing that he was the man in charge, nor recognizing him when they were dealing with him at first. His younger brother, Benjamin was not among them. He had a plan: accuse them of being spies and told them that in order to prove they were who they said they were, they had to present to him their younger brother. He allowed them to go home and fetch Benjamin, keeping one brother, Simeon, in jail as collateral. Upon hearing this news, Jacob, their father, was unnerved. He did not want his youngest son to be killed as he believe Joseph was and refused for some time to go along with the plan. Finally, the grain the brothers had returned home with was gone and they convinced their father to allow Benjamin to travel with them in order to buy more grain, for if they showed back up in Egypt without him, they feared they’d all die. When they arrived back before Joseph and he saw that Benjamin was still alive, he prepared a feast.
At the feast, Benjamin received five times as much food as his other brothers. Upon Joseph’s revealing of his true identity to his brothers, Pharoah invited all the brothers and their father, Jacob, to live in Egypt and have every need attended to. They were given new clothes, but Benjamin received five changes of clothes and 300 pieces of silver (shekels.)
Jacob and his entire family settled in Goshen in the northeastern part of Egypt.
On his deathbed, Jacob gave a blessing, or curse depending on who it was, and a prophecy to each of his sons. He cursed Reuben for sleeping with his concubine and defiling his “marriage couch.” He cursed Simeon and Levi who were cruel. But, he blessed Judah, most likely for his change of heart and willingness to give his life up for Benjamin, and told him that his descendants would be prosperous and “the scepter will not depart Judah nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants until the coming of the one to it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.” (Also translated as “until Shiloh comes.”) “Shiloh” may refer to “Messiah” since it means “sent.” Messiah = Jesus.
Jesus was born unto Judah’s line of descendants.
Abraham (Abram) > Isaac > Jacob > Joseph
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As I finished Genesis, I thought, “Wow. And so it begins…and, oh wait, what about the dinosaurs? Where they on the Ark? What’s the deal?”
After a little research, I found an awesome article on that very topic. Seriously click this link and read about it >>> Answers in Genesis: Dinosaurs. <<<
(The Bible I am reading is the New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. This is the one I have referred to as the "SuperBible." My notes are my own, but I do borrow some of the intellect and wisdom from this version's scholars.)
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