In the twelfth chapter, God promises to bless Abraham, bless his allies, curse his enemies, and eventually, bless the world through him (12:1–3).
The next four books tell the story of how these descendants become a nation and make their move toward claiming their promised land.Īs you read or study the book of Genesis, pay special attention to any mentions of “covenant,” “promise,” and “swear”-especially when God’s the one talking. For 38 of Genesis’ 50 chapters, the story follows Abraham’s family as God begins fulfilling the first part of that promise: Abraham has eight children, who have children of their own, and so on and so forth. God promises the childless Abraham that he will be the father of nations, that his descendants will have a land, and that the world will be blessed through them. Genesis has a lot of these agreements, including God’s covenant with the post-flood world (Genesis 9:1–17) and his covenants with Abraham (Genesis 15, 17).Ĭovenant is what moves the story forward in Genesis. Covenants usually involve promises, conditions, blessings for keeping the covenant, and curses for breaking it. Let’s take a quick tour of Genesis’ foundational themes: CovenantĪ covenant is a solemn, binding agreement that makes two or more parties one (you can get a more in-depth definition here). See Bible verse art for each of the other books of the Bible. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. In fact, if the main thrust of Genesis were summed up in one verse, it would be these words that God said to Abraham: Specifically, it’s the story of the promises God made to humans-promises that God begins to carry out through the rest of the Bible. But the story of Genesis is really all about setting the stage for the rest of the Pentateuch: it’s the long, long prologue to Israel’s beginnings as a nation.
GENESIS 1 BIBLE STUDY FULL
The book of Genesis is full of stories we know from Sunday school, like Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, and Jacob’s Ladder. His brothers sell him into slavery, but through his God-given wisdom, he ascends to the position of second-in-command over all Egypt. He is also able to interpret other people’s dreams. Joseph-Jacob’s favorite son, who has prophetic dreams of greatness. He has twelve sons, which the twelve tribes of Israel trace their lineage back to. Jacob tricks his father and brother, finagling his way into receiving a special blessing. God makes a covenant (a special binding agreement) with Abraham-which is where Israel’s story as a nation truly begins. Abraham journeys through the land of Canaan, which God promises to give to Abraham’s descendants. God is still at work to bring the world back to “very good” status again-and chooses to begin this work through a man God names Abraham.Ībraham (formerly Abram)-a Mesopotamian whom God chooses as the patriarch of a special nation. The humans rebel against God, bringing a curse on the world and growing so violent that God destroys everyone but Noah and his family. God makes all things “very good,” but when both humans and divine beings rebel against God, the world slips back into chaos. God (Yahweh)-the creator of heaven and earth, including the humans Adam and Eve. But in terms of getting an overview of the book, these four characters are the most important ones to know about: If you want a look at the most-mentioned characters in Genesis, Adrien pulled the nerdy data together here. That means there are a lot of characters in Genesis. Genesis is the second-longest book of the Bible (after Jeremiah). The Torah is Israel’s origin story: it’s the history of how the nation of Israel got its population, its land, and its religion. It’s the first installment in the five-part Torah (or Pentateuch), which is the foundational work of the Old Testament. On its own, the book of Genesis reads like a string of epic stories: a semi-tragic saga of a world that just keeps going wrong, despite its Creator’s intentions. The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and opens with one of the most famous first sentences of any literary work: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” It’s where we find the famous stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the ark, Abraham and Isaac, and a well-dressed dreamer named Joseph.
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