Copyright©2006 by Daniel B. Sedory
One of the most important facts to be aware of concerning the first few chapters of Genesis is its brevity! The words in these paragraphs are merely a summary of all that actually occurred at that time. For those who use computers to display data for an audience, you can think of Genesis chapters 1 through 3 as a Power Point presentation of these events! Each verse in chapter 1 is just a bullet point summary of God's acts during each day of Creation. Other aspects which are just as important to keep in mind are: When was Genesis written, for whom and why? We see no reason, in spite of the claims of various documentary hypotheses, to question the wide-spread early acceptance of Moses as its author; and presume he obtained all the facts recorded in Genesis 1-3 directly from God, also including many details found in chapters 4 through 11 (assuming Abram had records of his immediate anscestors and only a general knowledge of Noah and the Flood). Although there was a span of about three centuries from Abraham's time to that of Moses, there still could have been some family records and possibly oral histories for Moses to incorporate into Genesis as God saw fit. Moses himself lived ca. 1525 to 1405 BCE; and we assume a date of approximately 1445 BCE for both the composition of Genesis and Israel's Exodus from Egypt. This makes even the account of the Flood (Genesis 6:13 through 8:22) at least one thousand years after the fact; let alone the Creation of life on earth! We point this out to emphasize all the early accounts in Genesis were far removed from those for whom the book was written: the nation of Israel. And the reason for writing the book: to explain who their God was, the Creator of the whole Universe; not just one of many false gods, as they encountered in Egypt. This helps us to understand why most of its contents are concerned with the birth of the nation of Israel: Abraham (12:1 - 25:11), Isaac (25:19 - 35:29) and Jacob (37:2 - 50:26; including Israel's move to Egypt through the death of Joseph).
Bullet points for early chapters of Genesis [Quotations from NET Bible]
This page is still under construction !!!
Last Update: 29 December, 2006.