GENESIS

SECTION ONE - ADAM

CREATION  OF  MAN
Genesis 1:20 -5:32

The Fifth Day
Genesis 1:20-23

Having made the atmosphere and hydrosphere on the second day, and then the lithosphere and biosphere on the third day, God next proceeded to make animal life for the atmosphere and hydrosphere on the fifth day, and then animal life for the lithosphere and biosphere on the sixth day. All the necessities for living creatures were present on the earth by this time: light, air, water, soil, chemicals, plants, fruits, and so forth. One deficiency yet remained — the earth was still "void" of inhabitants, however, God had "formed it to be inhabited" (Isaiah 45:18); and the fifth and sixth days were to be devoted to this final work of creation.

LIVING CREATURES

MOVING

sherets

The Hebrew word sherets, which is rendered by "moving creature" in the Authorized Version, is actually translated "creeping thing" in the eleven other places where it occurs. It seems to be essentially synonymous with remes, which is also translated "creeping thing (Genesis 1:24, etc)." As used in Genesis 1:20, however, it evidently refers to all kinds of marine animals: invertebrates, vertebrates, reptiles.

Brown-Driver-Briggs translates it: "Teeming or swarming things, creepers, swarmers; used of insects, animals, small reptiles, quadrupeds

CREATURE

nephesh

LIFE

The word translated "creature"  in the King James version is actually  "life".

According to Brown-Driver-Briggs, it is "a soulself,, life, a creature, a person, an appetite, a mind, a living being, a desire, an emotion, a passion."

The word occurs for the first time in this verse. Actually, this is the word also for "soul," and is frequently used to refer to both the soul of man and the life of animals.

According to Brown-Driver-Briggs:

God blessed them. No blessing was bestowed upon the vegetation, as its growth is dependent upon sun and rain, and not upon its own volition. No blessing was bestowed upon the vegetation, as its growth is dependent upon sun and rain, and not upon its own volition

The Sixth Day
Genesis 1:24-31

Earth bring forth. *Rashi states on this verse ‘The seeds and possibility of life implanted within her on the first day of Creation.’

* Rashi. Rabbi Solomon Ben Isaac of Troyes (1040-1105). French Bible exegete and greatest commentator of the Talmud.

LET US MAKE MAN

Mankind is described as in a special sense created by God Himself. To enhance the dignity of this last work and to mark the fact that man differs in kind from the animals, Scripture represents God as deliberating over the making of the human species states Abarbanel. (or, Abrabanel), Dan Isaac (1437-1509). Spanish exegete and statesman.

It is not ‘let man be created’ or ‘let man be made’, but ‘let us make man’. is the Hebrew idiomatic way of expressing deliberation, as in Genesis 11:7; or, it is the plural of Majesty, royal commands being conveyed in the first person plural, as in Exra 4:18.

Man

‘Adam’

The word is used here, as frequently in the Bible, in the sense of ‘human being’. It is derived from adamah ‘earth’, to signify that man is earth-born.

        Strong’s Definition: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)

Continuing on the thought of Man reference Genesis 2:7. The Hebrew word for formed, is from the same Hebrew root word Yatzar, as is used of the potter molding clay into a vessel, possibly to remind us that man is ‘as clay in the hands of the potter’.

Man is made in the ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ of God (note: verse 27 speaks of image but not of likeness)
See Psalms 17:15.

We see then that man’s character was to be potentially Divine. ‘God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity’ (Wisdom of Solomon 2:23).

‘On this account he is said to have been made in the form and likeness of the Almighty God’ Because man is endowed with Reason, he can subdue his impulses in the service of moral and religious ideals, and is born to bear rule over Nature. Ref. Psalms 8

Male and Female

A general statement; man and woman, both alike, are in their spiritual nature akin to God.

Note the following Structures:

The Torah was not originally divided into chapters. Such division originated in the Middle Ages; and, because of its convenience, found its way into the Printed Hebrew Text. Sometimes, as here in Genesis 2:1-3 (The Sabbath), the division is misleading. Thus, the next three verses belong to the preceding chapter, and form its worthy and incomparable conclusion.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

Chapter 2 is not another account of Creation. No mention is made in chapter 2 of the formation of dry land, the sea, the sun, moon or stars. It is the sequel of the preceding chapter.

Vs 4	Lord God		YaHWeH   Elohiym

LORD -

The Tetragrammation YHWH appears without its own vowels, and its exact pronunciation is debated (Jehovah, Yehovah, Yahweh, Yahweh). The Hebrew text does insert the vowels for 'Adonay, and Jewish students and scholars read  'Adonay'  whenever they see the Tetragrammation. This use of the word occurs 6,828 times. The word appears in every period of biblical Hebrew.

The divine name YHWH appears only in the Bible. God chose it as His personal name by which He related specifically to His chosen or covenant people. Its first appearance in the biblical record is here in Gen. 2:4. Apparently Adam knew Him by this personal or covenant name from the beginning, and began (along with all other pious persons) to call upon (formally worship) the name of YHWH, "the Lord" (Gen. 4:26).

The covenant Name found a fuller expression and application when God revealed Himself to Abraham (Gen. 12:8), promising redemption in the form of national existence. This promise became reality through Moses, to whom God explained that He was not only the "God who exists" but the "God who effects His will": "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord [YHWH] God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." (Exod. 3:15-17)
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)  
(Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

Vs 7    Formed

Yatzar

(Vayyitzer)

Yatzar, as is used of the potter molding clay into a vessel, possibly to remind us that man is ‘as clay in the hands of the potter’. The Rabbis point to the fact that in this verse the word for ‘Formed’ (Hebrew Vayyitzer) is written with Two Yods, whereas in v. 19 when relating the creation of animals, it has only One Yod. (Yod is a Hebrew Letter). Man alone, they declare, is endowed with both a Yetzer Tob (A good inclination) and a Yetzer Ra (An evil inclination); whereas animals have no moral discrimination or moral conflict. Another explanation is, man alone is a citizen of two worlds; he is both of the earth (Sand of the sea) and of heaven (Stars of Heaven). Ecc. 12:7, Hebrews 11:10; 2 Peter 3:13

A living soul

The term may mean nothing more than ‘living entity’. The Targum, however, renders it by ‘a speaking spirit’; in other words a person endowed with the faculty of both thinking and also expressing his thoughts in speech.

Vs 15,16      TO DRESS IT AND TO KEEP IT

In other words to till it and to guard it from running wild. Not indolence but congenial work is man’s Divinely allotted portion. The first man was not to taste of anything until he had done some work. (See 2 Thess. 3:10).

Man’s most sacred privilege is freedom of will, the ability to obey or to disobey his Maker. This sharp limitation of self-gratification, this ‘dietary law’, was to test the use he would make of his freedom; and it thus begins the moral discipline of man. Unlike the beast, man has also a spiritual life, which demands the subordination of man’s desires to the law of God. The will of God revealed in His Law is the one truly eternal and unfailing guide as to what constitutes good and evil and not man’s instincts, or even his reason, which in the hour of temptation often calls darkness light and light darkness.

2:18-25    Creation of Woman

From this verse we can see that marriage is indeed a Divine institution, a holy estate in which alone, man cannot live his true and complete life.

Woman was not formed from the dust of the earth, but from man’s own body. ‘We have here a wonderfully conveyed allegory designed to set forth the moral and social relation of the sexes to each other, the dependence of woman upon man, her close relationship to him, and the foundation existing in nature for the attachment springing up between them. See Eph. 5:22-25

Vs 24   Shall a man leave   Shall a man leave

The Biblical idea is the monogamous marriage; a man shall cleave  ‘to his wife’,  not to his wives.

THE TRIAL OF MAN’S FREEDOM

Genesis  3:1-8    THE SERPENT

Vs 1  Serpent..

The Hebrew word for "Serpent" is Nachash from Nachash, to hiss, mutter, whisper, as do enchanters.

Vs 9-21    THE SENTENCE

Where art thou? This the call which, after every sin, resounds in the ears of the man who seeks to deceive others as well as himself concerning his sin.

In the Hebrew it is not Natah (aside), Savav (about), Sug (back), or Panah (toward),  but Haphak   =   every way , effectually preserving the way.

Keep    Preserve, so that man should not "live forever" in his fallen condition, but only in Christ.   Ref. I John 5:11,12.

This narrative describes the spread of sin, issuing in violence and death!

This is the first mention of worship found in Scripture. The religious instinct is part of man’s nature, and sacrifice is the earliest outward expression of that form of worship. Its purpose was to express acknowledgment of His bounty to the Giver of all.

Sin is compared to a ravenous beast lying in wait for its prey. It crouches at the entrance of the house, to spring upon its victim as soon as the door is opened. By harboring feelings of vexation, Cain opened the door of his heart to the evil passions of envy, anger, violence, which eventually ended in the murder of his brother.

The Hebrew word means both the consequences of a sin, which is the punishment as well as the sin itself.

The Targum renders this passage ‘mine iniquity is too great to be pardoned’.

The Hebrew word translated ‘than I can bear’ can also be rendered ‘to be forgiven’. This could be thought of as a question, ‘Is my iniquity too great to be forgiven?’

According to the Rabbis, Cain was a repentant sinner. God, therefore, reassured him that he would not be regarded as a common, intentional murderer. God’s mercy to the guilty who repents (Romans 10:9,10) of his sin is infinitely greater than that of man.

The marriage of brother and sister (Genesis 5:4) was quite common in primitive times, but the Hebrew people looked upon it with such disgust  (See Leviticus 18:9)  that Scripture makes no reference to the identity of the wife in this passage.

This is especially mentioned, as it was a departure from the idea expounded in Genesis 2:14

The words mean, ‘pleasant, gracious.’ Jewish legend states she became the wife of Noah.

On the invention of the weapons mentioned in the preceding verse, Lamech possibly committed an act of involuntary homicide on some young person. He turns to his wives and says boastfully:

This heathen song marks the heritage of the spirit of Cain.

In Hebrew poetry, Enosh means ‘man’, TO CALL UPON. Then men began to pray to God; or, once more call upon God under the name of  ADONAY ADONAY, Lord, which seems to have been forgotten among the descendants of the son of Adam, Cain.

The Hebrew   CEPHER   does not always mean a volume; it may be used of any written document. Rabbinic tradition states the Torah is not one continuous work, written at one definite moment. ‘The Torah was given to Moses in separate scrolls. The formula, ‘These are the generations,’ which occurs ten times in Genesis, each time beginning a new section, would mark the beginning of such scrolls or ‘book’. This explains why some sections, as this Chapter, have introductory verses WHICH RECALL or SUMMARIZE FACTS MENTIONED IN EARLIER SECTIONS.

Enoch "walked with God" and was a prophet of God. As such, he preached against the godlessness of his generation in fearsome, thundering words: (See Jude 14,15). The climax of Enoch’s testimony was an event all but unique in history. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him" (Hebrews 11:5).

Nearly twenty-five centuries later, another prophet, Elijah, was similarly taken into heaven without dying (2 Kings 2:11). It is significant that Enoch prophesied about midway between Adam and Abraham, and Elijah about midway between Abraham and Christ, and that both ministered in times of deep apostasy.

This is the literal translation of the Hebrew phrase BENEY ELOHIM.

The SONS OF GOD are those who serve God and obey Him, those nourished and brought up in the love of Him as their Father and Benefactor (compare Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 14:1; Isaiah 1:2; Hosea 2:1). It is quite in accord with Biblical usage that those who adhered to the true worship of God (the children of SETH) are called ‘sons of God’; and that, in contrast to these, the daughters of the line of CAIN should be spoken of as ‘daughters of men’.

These scriptures would then point out the calamitous consequences to mankind when the pious sons of Seth merged with those who had developed a Godless civilization and who, with all their progress in arts and inventions, had ended in depravity and despair. Through intermarriage, the Son of Seth sink to the level of the ungodly race; and likewise deserved the doom that, with the exception of one family, was to overtake mankind. These verses are thus the first warning in the Torah against intermarriage with idolaters, Compare I Corinthians 7:39 (ONLY IN THE LORD).

Vs 4    GIANTS      Nephilim

They existed before the intermarriages took place. The mention of Nephilim in Numbers 13:33, is no reason to assume that they survived the Flood. The excited imagination of the Spies expresses its terror at the men of great stature whom they saw at Hebron, by saying that they must be the old antediluvian giants.

"And God saw that the  wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

The problem of the existence of evil in a world created by a holy, loving God is one that has exercised the minds and hearts of philosophers and theologians through the ages. If God is omnipotent and holy, why does He permit such things? How, indeed, could evil ever have appeared at all?

Question:    Who created evil?
Answer:    "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil:  I the Lord do all these things." Isaiah 45:7

Question:    Why did God create evil?
Answer: "…..Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death" Jeremiah 21:8

God gives each person a choice between life or death, we make the choice of where we will spend eternity.

Question:    When did God create evil?
Answer:    
It is obvious that in Genesis 3:1 that there is more to this event than a mere fable of a talking snake. The Bible later identifies that "old serpent" as none other than the devil himself (Revelation 12:9; 20:2), who has led an agelong angelic rebellion against God and His plans for mankind. Lucifer (the devil) is spoken of in Isaiah 14:12-15 also in Ezekiel 28:11-19. He was perfect in his ways (Ezekiel 28:15),  just as was everything else God had created (Genesis 1:31); and he continued thus for some time after man’s creation.

Soon after this, however, Lucifer’s "heart was lifted up" because of his beauty and he corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness (Lucifer means day-star) Ezekiel 28:17. Though God has assured him that He had created him, he somehow began to doubt God’s word and deceived himself into thinking he himself could become God. "…I will be like the Most High," he said in his heart (Isaiah 14:14), evidently thinking that he and God were similar beings and that, therefore, he might lead a successful rebellion and overthrow Him. Perhaps, he may have reasoned, neither he nor God was really "created," but all of the angels, as well as God Himself, had just arisen by some natural process from the primeval chaos. All had developed (or "evolved") out of prior materials and it was only an accident of priority of time that placed him, with all his wisdom and beauty, beneath God in the angelic hierarchy.

Because "iniquity was found in him" (Ezekiel 28:15), Satan fell "as lightning falls from heaven" (Luke 10:18). God "cast him to the ground" (Ezekiel 28:17) and ultimately he will be "brought down to hell" (Isaiah 14:15; Matthew 25:41).

The approach of Satan (through the serpent) to the woman was a masterpiece of effective subtlety. Catching her when she was alone, without Adam to counsel and warn her, probably one day when she was admiring the beautiful fruit trees in the garden, he first insinuated something which neither she nor Adam had even imagined before, namely, that it was possible for a creature to question God’s Word, "Yea, hath God said?" In other words, " Did God really say such a thing as that!" This was probably just after the creation of Eve.

She said, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden," whereas God had said they could freely eat of all the trees. God had told them they should not partake of only one tree in the midst of the garden; but Eve said that He added, "neither shall ye touch it." God had not forbidden them to touch the fruit, of course. It is always dangerous to alter God’s Word.

Notice the progression:
    Yea, hath God said?
    Ye shall not surely die:
    Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

GENEALOGY   CHART  I

ADAM

THE GOLDEN THREAD

There is a golden thread throughout the Scriptures that show Christ and His church

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself."
Luke 24:27

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
and they are they which testify of me."

Note:    how we blame others for our failures -

God said to Adam:  
"Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"

Adam replied to God:
"…..The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12

"It’s all your fault, God."
"It’s all the woman’s fault ."