05 Observations on the overview of Genesis

Observations on the overview of Genesis

Generations There are 13 passages in Genesis that have the Hebrew word tôlĕdôt. This word is translated “account” or “generation” and is defined as:

[תּוֹלֵדוֹת] n.f.pl. generations, esp. in genealogies = account of a man and his descendants — a.account of men and their descendants; successive generations (in) of families; genealogical divisions, by parentage. b. metaph. תּוֹלְדוֹת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ lit. begettings of heaven and earth, i.e. account of heaven and earth and that which proceeded from them.¹ It is used in the following verses in the book of Genesis:

“This is theaccountof the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.” (Gen 2:4)

“This is the book of thegenerationsof Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.” (Gen 5:1)

“These arethe records ofthegenerationsof Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.” (Gen 6:9)

“Now these arethe records ofthegenerationsof Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood.” (Gen 10:1)

“These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to theirgenealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.” (Gen 10:32)

“These arethe records ofthegenerationsof Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;” (Gen 11:10)

“Now these arethe records ofthegenerationsof Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.” (Gen 11:27)

“Now these arethe records ofthegenerationsof Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham;and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam” (Gen 25:12-13)

“Now these arethe records ofthegenerationsof Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham became the father of Isaac;” (Gen 25:19) “Now these arethe records ofthegenerationsof Esau (that is, Edom).” (Gen 36:1)

“These then arethe records ofthegenerationsof Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.” (Gen 36:9)

“These arethe records ofthegenerationsof Jacob.Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he wasstilla youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.” (Gen 37:2)

Overall sense The overall sense of Genesis is that it is a historical account that primarily follows the history from creation to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the patriarchs of Israel. God included the information that He wanted us to have according to His Divine purposes just as any author includes the information that serves his purposes. (Is 45:9-12) It establishes the reasons for

• The existence of everything.

• The worship of God.

• The attributes of God.

• Suffering, death and Evil.

• Genders.

• Marriage.

• Weeds and toiling.

• Relationships between men and women.

• Different people groups and languages.

• Knowledge of good and evil.

• Reproduction of plants and animals.

• Judgement for evil.

• Death penalty for murder.

While there is a bit of information on other peoples or events, this is not the primary focus. The “table of nations” in Genesis 10, 11 primarily provides us with the ancestorial lineage from Noah to Abraham. It also includes a couple of generations of Japheth’s descendants. There is a bit more information on the descendants of Ham, since these were the ones that were the primary people that they would be interacting with.

It would appear that one of the purposes of Genesis is to relate the truth about creation, God and all that we see around us, while refuting the false belief systems of the nations around them. It also provides the background for the future nation of Israel and some detail on their ancestors. God’s covenant with Abraham is the basis for the other books of Moses.

Type of literature The whole of Genesis is written as a historical narrative account as is evidenced by all the records of the generations and the information provided in them. Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3 is also written is the same fashion by providing the account of creation itself. Reading this as anything but a historical narrative is not good hermeneutics.

1 - Richard Whitaker et al., The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament: From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, Based on the Lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius (Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906).