Genesis Ch. 5: The First Family Tree

V. 1 The descendants of Adam (humankind).  Humans are made in God (elohiym)’s likeness.

According to Strong’s Eloheem means gods, goddess(es) or the supreme God.  It could also mean angels or judges.

H430

אלהים

'ĕlôhı̂ym

el-o-heem'

Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: - angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.

v. 2 God created male and female and blessed them and named them adam (man).

v. 3 Adam became the father of Seth when he was 130 years old.  Seth was according to his image and likeness.

Adam (Humanity) creates in his image just like God created (adam) humanity in His image.

v.4 Adam lived 800 years after the birth of Seth and then he fathered other sons and daughters.

v. 5 Adam dies at 930 years old.

v. 6 Seth became the father of Enosh at 105 years old.

v. 7 Seth lived 807 years after Enosh’s borth and had other sons and daughters.

v. 8 Seth died at 912 years old.

v. 9 Enosh became the father of Kenan at the age of 90.

v. 10 Enosh lived 815 years after the birth of Kenan and had other sons and daughters.

v. 11 Enosh died at 905 years old.

v. 12 Kenan became the father of Mahalalel at the age of 70.

v. 13 Kenan lived 840 years after the birth of Mahalalel and had other sons and daughters.

v. 14 Kenan died at 910 years old.

v. 15 Mahalalel fathered Jared when he was 65 years old.

v. 16  Mahalalel lived 830 years after the birth of Jared and had other sons and daughters.

v. 17 Mahalalel died at 895 years old.

v. 18 Jared fathered Enoch when he was 162 years old.

v. 19 Jared lived 800 years after the birth of Enoch and fathered other sons and daughters.

v. 20 Jared died at 962 years old.

v. 21Enoch became the father of Methuselah at 65 years old.

v. 22 Enoch walked with God after the birth of Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Enoch seems to be the first person to have a one on one relationship with God since Adam and Eve.

v. 23 All the days of Enoch was 365

v. 24 Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.

Does this mean that Enoch went into the spiritual realm without dying?  Is he the only human 

who has ever escaped death?

v. 25 Methuselah became the father of Lamech at 187 years old.

v. 26 Methuselah lived 782 years after the birth of Lamech and fathered other sons and daughters.

v. 27 Methuselah died at 969 years old.

Methuselah is the oldest person in the bible.

v. 28-29 Lamech fathered Noah at 182 years old.  On the birth of Noah Lamech said that Noah would bring them relief from their work and toil.

Noah was to bring a blessing to the people.  Out of the cursed land he was to bring rest to the hard working people.

v. 30 Lamech lived 595 years after the birth of Noah and had other sons and daughters

.

v. 31 Lamech died at 777 years old.

v. 33 Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth at 500 years old.

Genesis Chapter 4 Am I my brother's keeper?

Genesis Chapter 4 – Cain and Abel

v.1 Adam and Eve knew each other(had sex) and she conceived.  The fruit of this union was Cain. 

The name Cain comes from the Hebrew word qayin (kah-yin) which means to create.  The name Cain also resembles the verb in Hebrew which means to produce.

v.2 Eve gave birth to Abel.  Abel became a shepherd and Cain became a farmer.

The name Abel comes from the Hebrew word hebel (heh-bel) which means vanity or emptiness.  According to Strong’s, it could figuratively mean unsatisfactory.

v.3-5 Cain brought an offering of fruit to God.  Abel brought God a sacrifice of the first of his flock (their fat portions).  God preferred Abel’s offering over Cain’s.   God had no regard for Cain’s offering.  This made Cain furious and his face fell.

These three verses show the first instance of favoritism in the Bible.  Favoritism always produces a feeling of anger, hurt, and jealously.  These verses also make a distinction between their gifts.  Cain’s gift was a gift of fruit.  There was nothing distinguishable about his fruit.  Abel brought his best, his first, his finest, his fattest.

v.6-7 God asks Cain why his face has fallen.  God tells Cain that if he did well he would be accepted.  God also warns that if he does not do well that sin (with a desire for him) will lurk at the door but Cain must master it.

This verse reveals that God approves of things done well.  Half hearted, effortless sacrifices are not sacrifices at all.  God disregarded Cain’s sacrifice.  It meant nothing to God since it meant nothing to Cain.

v.8 Cain asked his brother to go into the field with him and Cain killed Abel.

This is the first murder in the Bible.  This is also the first of many battles between brothers.  I find it interesting that Cain (creation) killed Abel (vanity/emptiness).

v.9 God asked Cain where his brother was.  Cain lied and said that he did not know.  He is not his brother’s keeper.

Contrary to popular belief, this is the first lie of the bible.  Cain denied knowing where his brother was and became defensive and replied that he was not the keeper of his brother.

v.10 God asked Cain what he had done.  God said that Abel’s blood crying out from the ground.

v.11-12 God cursed Cain from tilling the ground because he spilled his brother’s blood in it.  God made Cain a fugitive and a wanderer.

v.13-14 Cain said that his punishment was greater than he could bear.  Because he can no longer farm and is a fugitive and wanderer, he is afraid that he will be killed.

v.15 God put a mark on protection on Cain so that anyone whoever murders him will suffer vengeance 7 times over.

Although Cain took Abel’s life, God protected Cain’s life.  The mark is not described.

v.16 Cain left and settled in Nod (land of wandering), east of Eden.

v.17 Cain knew (had sex with) his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.  Cain then built a city which he named Enoch, after his son.

Where did Cain’s wife come from?  This could not be his sister because at this point, Adam and Eve are only reported to have two children (Cain and Abel).  They were not reported to have other sons and daughters until after the birth of Seth.  See Gen.5:4.  This means that there were other people on the earth.

v.18 Shows the generations from Enoch to Lamech.

v.19 Lamech takes two wives (Adah and Zillah).

This is the first instance of polygamy in the Bible.

v.20 Adah gave birth to Jabal who is the ancestor of tent dwellers and livestock owners.

v.21 Jabal’s bother Jubal was the ancestor of musicians (lyre and pipe players).

v.22 Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain who was the ancestor of bronze and iron workers.  She also gave birth to his sister Naamah.

v.23 Lamech tells his wives that he has killed a man for wounding him.

This is the second murder in the Bible.

v.24 Lamech says that if Cain is avenged sevenfold surly he will be avenged seventy-seven fold.

Maybe Lamech feels that his life is more sacred than Cain’s because Lamech killed in self defense whereas Cain killed out of jealousy.

v.25 Adam and Eve had Seth.  Eve said that God gave her another child because Abel was killed.

v. 26 Seth’s son was Enosh.  At this time in history, people started to invoke the name of Yahweh.

Genesis Ch. 3: Did the Snake and the Woman Get a Bad Rep?

Genesis Chapter 3 tells the story of “the fall.” 

v. 1 The serpent is described as the craftiest (sensible, shrewd, prudent, or subtle) of God’s creatures. 

The serpent is not characterized as being evil, maybe cunning but not evil.   A matter of fact, in verse 31 of Chapter 1 says, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”  I’m assuming that this includes the serpent.  Of course, if chapter 3 was written by the same author as chapter 2, maybe the idea of everything being created good does not apply.

The serpent approaches the woman and asks her, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

v.2-3 The woman tells the serpent what God forbad; her and the man are not to eat or touch the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden.  God tells them if they eat the forbidden fruit they will die.

V. 4-5  The serpent tells the women that she will not die but will be like God(s) (knowing good and evil).

Technically the snake was not lying.  The woman did not die when she ate. (This verse gives argument over whether Adam and Eve were created immortal and now potentially made mortal by the decision to eat the fruit).  The woman did receive knowledge of good and evil which made her more divine. See v. 22.

V. 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eye (the word used here indicates yearning, desirability or lust), and would make her wise. (She craved wisdom.) She ate and gave it to her husband (who was with her the entire time) and he ate too. 

I find it interesting that Adam did not interrupt the conversation between the serpent and the woman.  He just stood there and followed her lead. He said nothing, did nothing, and prevented nothing. Did the snake approach the woman because he knew that Adam would follow her lead?  Was she easier to reason with? Was the serpent appealing to her vanity by offering her wisdom?  Was the snake simply trying to tell her how to become a god?

v. 7 Both of their eyes were “opened” and they became aware of their nakedness so they made themselves underwear out of fig leaves. 

I assume that before this revelation of nudity, they were living in a state of purity where their sexuality was not viewed as something alarming but as a natural state of being.  Opened eyes could be representative of perversity, shame or simply sexual potency or awareness.

v. 8 The man and woman heard God walking and hid themselves in the trees.

v. 9 God asked the man where he was.

v. 10 The man answered that he heard God in the garden and hid himself because he was afraid and naked.

v.11 God asked him who told him he was naked and if he had eaten the forbidden fruit.

v. 12 The man tells God that the woman gave him the fruit and he ate.

This is the beginning of the blame game and the lack of taking responsibility for one’s own actions.

v. 13 God asks the woman what did she do and she blames the snake. She accuses the serpent of tricking her into eating. 

The word tricked (נשׁא, nâshâ') here means to beguile, lead astray or to seduce. The serpent tempted her.

v. 14-15 God curses the serpent and makes him crawl upon his belly for the rest of its life. God makes the serpent and humans enemies forever. 

God does not question the serpent as he did the man and woman. God automatically knows that the serpent is guilty.

v. 16 God tells the woman that she will have painful childbirth and that her desire will be for her husband and he will rule over her.

Maybe this is the reason why women are so loving and forgiving towards men regardless of their many indiscretions.  It is also a down fall that someone who is created equally in God’s image is made to submit.

v. 17-19 God tells the man that because he listened to his wife he will have to work all the days of his life.

v. 20 The man names his wife Eve because she is the mother of all the living.

v. 21 God made them clothes out of animal skins and clothed them.

v. 22 Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.’  

Who is God talking to? Doesn’t this prove that man and woman wasn’t made immortal from the beginning? The serpent was not lying.  The woman and man did become like God. If they would have eaten the other fruit they would also be immortal. God did not want eternal life for the man and the woman.  God did not want the man and woman to know good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil is divine knowledge.

v. 23 God sent them out of Eden to till the ground form which he was taken.

v. 24 God drove them out of Eden (pleasure, delight) and placed cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the tree of life.  

Genesis Chapter 2

*When you see information in parenthesis, it means that I am giving you the Strong’s English definition for the translated Hebrew word or an alternate translation of the word/phrase.

The first part of chapter 2 of Genesis concludes the creation story in chapter 1.  In vs. 1-3 God rests on the 7^th day and blessed that day of rest.  This is the first Sabbath. 

Another version of the creation story is in chapter 2.  The order of creation is totally different than chapter 1.

vs. 4-6 There were no plants on earth because it had not rained.  Humans were not there to farm the land.  A stream of water nourished the earth.

v.7 Man was formed out of the dust of the ground and God breathed life into him.

v.8 The garden of Eden (delight, fertility, or pleasure) was created.

v. 9 Plants came to life including the tree of knowledge and good and evil and the tree of life.

v. 10-14 Talks about the rivers flowing out of Eden into the surrounding lands.  Each land is identified by their precious jewels.

v. 15-17 God puts man in the garden and forbids him to eat from the tree of knowledge and good and evil. God tells him that the result will be death.

v.18 God says that man needs a companion.

v. 19-20 God makes animals and man names them.  None of the animals are suitable partners.

I find it problematic that God creates animals as a potential companion for man.  If God is an intelligent creator, wouldn’t he know that man and animals aren’t partners?  This contradicts the notion that God is all knowing.   These verses make God seem like a like he doesn’t know what he’s doing; unlike God in chapter 1 who is in charge of every aspect of his intelligent design.  Maybe this version of the story was written by a different writer or maybe it was a part of a different oral tradition.

vs. 21-23 God puts the man to sleep and forms the woman out of his rib (side).  Woman (ishsha) Man (ish)

v. 24 Man and woman becomes one flesh again through marriage.

v. The man and woman were naked and unashamed.

This is symbolic of being free from sin, depravity, and sexual insecurity.  They were nude and free; bathing in natural love and divine union with each other and God.  They were innocent.

Genesis Chapter 1

Genesis is the first book of the bible and the first book in the Pentateuch (1^st five books of the bible).  It is a part of the Torah and the Christian Old Testament.  Genesis is Greek for “origin” or “birth”.  It is called Bereshit, in the Torah, which means “in the beginning.”  The writer(s) of Genesis is unknown but tradition attributes authorship to Moses.  It is speculated to be written around the 8-10^th century BCE.

*When you see information in parenthesis, it means that I am giving you the Strong’s English definition for the translated Hebrew word or an alternate translation of the word/phrase.

Genesis 1:1 begins with God creating the earth (or when God began to create). 

V.2 says that the earth was a formless (empty, confused, chaotic) void (waste) and darkness (obscurity, secret place) covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God (or the spirit of God or a mighty wind) swept over the face of the waters.

Is God creating from nothing or is God bringing order from chaos?  The original words are ambiguous in this.  What is happening in the chaos?

v. 3 God commanded that light be and it became.  

God begins his creations in vs. 4-31

Day 1-God created night and day.

Day 2-God separated water from sky.

Day 3-God creates dry land, seas, and vegetation.

Day 4- God creates the sun, moon, and stars.

I find day 4 interesting because this makes the earth the center of all creation and the rest of the universe is an afterthought.  According to this, the heavenly bodies were placed just to give light to the earth and to measure time.  If this is to be taken as literal, this may contribute to why people may not believe there is life on other planets.

The sun, moon, and stars, are unnamed because the neighboring people worshiped the heavenly bodies.  The writer(s) of Genesis wanted to ensure that the heavenly bodies were not emphasized.

Day 5- God created the sea creatures and birds.

Day 6- God created the land animals and humans.

v.26 God says let’s make man in our image and likeness. 

Who is “us” and “our”?  Is it the trinity?  Is it a heavenly council including God and God’s angels?  Is this a polytheistic writer?  The word used in this text is Elohim (God or gods).

v.27 God created male and female in his image.  Man and woman were created together.  They were created equal.

v.28 God tells man and woman to be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth, and have dominion over all living creatures. 

Sex is blessed act.  This contradicts America’s Puritanical ideas about sex being dirty.  Heterosexual sex is actually the first commandment God gives to humanity and all living creatures.  Procreation is vital to survival.

Vs. 29-30 God gives humans and beasts vegetation for food.   This can support the argument that a vegetarian diet is the diet of a perfect world.

v. 31 All creation is good. 

Everything that God made is good in its natural state.  Nothing or no one is created to be a catalyst for evil.  Everything that God made at this point is completely good.

Journey Through the Bible

The Bible has always been fascinating to me.   It is no surprise that is the bestselling book of all time. It reveals God’s love and mercy to humanity.  The bible is full of adventure, poetry, rich narratives, blood thirsty wars, family struggle, drama, betrayal, jealousy, lust, excitement, sacrifice, romance, history, and love.  The bible is better than any movie Hollywood could create and more interesting than any novel.  The bible is a source of inspiration, enlightenment, motivation, and life lessons.  Most of all, it a guide book for this life and the next.

I would like to read the bible with you.  I want to examine each book, look into the history of the people, and contemplate on the wording, the imagery, and the underlining stories.  I seek to read without an agenda (if that is possible) and see the bible in a new light.  My heart will be open and I will try to destroy all of my embedded theology while I read with fresh eyes.  I will share with you my questions, thoughts, struggles, insights, and revelations.  And, I welcome you to read along with me and share where you are too.  Let us begin our journey together on http://rockandtreeministries.blogspot.com/.  Log in frequently to see new entries and please feel free to share! 

References for this blog series:
Oremus Bible Browser. February 10, 2011. http://bible.oremus.org/ (accessed April 5, 2013).

Strong, James. The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990.

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Prod. E-Sword.

The MacArthur Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1997.

The Nelson Study Bible New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997.

The New Interpreters Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha . Nashville: Abingdon, 2003.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with The Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.