Genesis 1-3    Listen

Background on the Pentateuch
Who wrote these first five books of the Old Testament - the books we know as the Pentateuch? Traditionally it has been thought that Moses wrote these books. However, we aren't actually told in the scripture per se, although Jesus refers to Genesis as the "book of Moses" in Mark 12:26 (see notes). Jesus would know, don't you agree? Since we find the death of Moses recorded in some detail in Deuteronomy 34 (see notes), it is likely that he was assisted by his right-hand man, Joshua, in the writing of these five books. Further evidence of Joshua's participation in this effort is seen in the name of the Canaan city, "Ai." The Hebrew word "ai" actually means "heap of ruins." And...that's what Ai became in Joshua 8:28 (see notes) after Joshua was finished with it. In the first mention of Ai in Genesis 12:8 (see notes), it is preceded by the Hebrew definite article "h" and is translated "Hai." That would make the name, "THE heap of ruins." So, I think it's fairly obvious that Moses was assisted by his protege and successor, Joshua, in the writing of these five books.

How it all started (Genesis 1:1-2)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

It's amazing how much doctrine has surfaced over the years from a simple statement in verse 2. I first heard the "gap theory" over 30 years ago based upon an abuse of the Hebrew in verse 2. It is said that the phrase "And the earth was without form..." should be translated "And the earth became without form..." Folks that take this view say that there was a complete civilization that thrived and perished between verses 1 and 2. They maintain that this explains the discovery of very old fossils. Here's the biggest problem with that theory; there's nothing substantial to support it except a desire to compromise with the evolutionists.

Charles Ryrie includes this comment in the Ryrie Study Bible:

Some understand a "gap" of an indeterminate period of time between verses 1 and 2, and translate "became" rather than "was." Although the Hebrew word may mean "became" (as in 19:26), the construction of the clause does not support a consecutive statement describing something that happened subsequent to verse 1 ("and") but rather describing something included in verse 1 ("but"). In other words, the initial creation was formless and empty, a condition soon remedied.

Here's the deal on evolution in my thinking: God created everything in six days with the appearance of age - including man. Did Adam and Eve first appear as infants? No! They appeared to be full-grown adults; they were created with the appearance of age. So was the case with everything on earth. Sometimes this "gap theory" is referred to as the "old earth theory" as opposed to my view, the "new earth theory." The former theory proclaims the world to be millions of years old or more, the latter just thousands of years old.

Another verse used as support for this old-earth theory is Genesis 1:28 (KJV), "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth..." They argue that "replenish" means to put back what was there once before. Actually, the Hebrew word for "replenish" there is "maw-lay´," which is used 240 times in the Old Testament, yet it is only translated "replenish" two times. Usually it is translated "fill" (as in NKJV) or "fulfill" and holds no context whatsoever indicating that what's being filled was full before and later became empty. Dr. Henry Morris of the Institute for Creation Research has written a very fine article on this issue which may be accessed by clicking here.

Gap theorists aren't bad people; they're just people who (in my opinion) went too far in an attempt to appease the evolutionists. Many good Bible teachers take an old-earth position. However, one must read quite a bit into scripture to derive that position. Whether you are a new earther or an old earther, it's not a fundamental doctrine of our faith. Now, as far as appeasing the evolutionists, I'm convinced that they aren't just opposed to creation; they are opposed to God. Therefore, I'm relatively confident that, while the old earthers are looking for a compromise with the evolutionists, the evolutionists just want to bury our God. In the end, let's see who buries whom.

Six days of creation (Genesis 1:3-31)

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.
17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”
21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so.
25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.
30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so.
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

You will notice that days are rendered with the phrase "the evening and the morning." Thus, tomorrow's Jewish day is rendered to begin at sundown today. Even today, Jews observe the Sabbath day beginning at sundown on Friday. This rendering of a day is consistent throughout the Old Testament.

Verse 26 causes a question to arise regarding the meaning of "Let us make man in our image..." Could this be a reference to the Godhead? Many scholars think so, and I'm comfortable with that view as well. However, that interpretation is not universally held among fundamental Bible scholars. For more information regarding the Godhead, see the notes on Colossians 1:15-24. Some scholars through the centuries have held that God was referring to angels when he uses the plural reference here. That would presuppose that the angels had a human form - the template of which God used to create man. It is true that when angels later show up on the scene in both the Old and New Testaments, they have the form of man. As a matter of fact, the "angel of the LORD" is seen numerous times in the Old Testament and appears as a man. I am convinced that those manifestations were pre-incarnate manifestations of Jesus himself. Therefore, I'm comfortable with the notion that the form of man was patterned after that of the angels, and of course, Jesus himself.

Perhaps this is a good time to introduce the usage of the word "God" in the Old Testament. The Jews have a concept in Hebrew that they call the "majestic plural." You see, the Hebrew suffix "im" is the standard for making a singular masculine noun plural. For example, "sus" is Hebrew for "horse," but "susim" is plural, making it "horses." As in English, verbs observe singular and plural in their forms as well. So, when "sus" ("horse") is used with a verb in Hebrew, we look for that verb to be in its singular form; when "susim" ("horses") is used in Hebrew, we look for the accompanying verb to be in its plural form. Such is not the case with the Hebrew word for "God" - "elohim." As you can see, it has the plural ending ("im"), but when it is used with a singular-form verb, we understand the word to be a singular reference to the ONE TRUE GOD. That's what the Hebrew linguists call the "majestic plural." Therefore, where Christians may see the Godhead in the plural usage of  "elohim" to denote the God of the universe, Jewish scholars do not.

Keeping the Sabbath Day predates the Law of Moses (Genesis 2:1-3)

1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

These three verses are significant throughout Jewish history. God rested on the sabbath (seventh) day. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew verb for "rested" there is "shabath," translated in the Old Testament as "sabbath" when used as a noun instead of as a verb. Verse 3 says that God "sanctified" that day. He literally set it apart as a special holy day. By the way, that's Saturday, not Sunday. It should be noted that Sabbath keeping was not first introduced by Moses. It dates all the way back to creation.

Life in Eden (Genesis 2:4-17)

4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground;
6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads.
11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush.
14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Our very first occurrence of "LORD" shows up in verse 4. Up to this point, God (Hebrew: "elohim") has been used alone. Here "elohim" is combined with the Hebrew word "Yahweh" aka "Jehovah" and translated "LORD" (all capitals) as it is elsewhere in the Old Testament. For additional information on the names of God, see the notes on Deuteronomy 10:17 (click here).

In verses 10-14, we're given a couple of hints about the location of the Garden of Eden - close to the intersection of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Based upon these verses, see the map to the right that speculates - a speculation as good as anyone's. This map places it under water in the Persian Gulf.

Verses 5-6 indicate that there was no rain in the garden, but a mist kept everything watered. As a matter of fact, there was no rain until the Noahic flood in Genesis 7 (see notes).

We see in verse 7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Here's a distinction between man and animals. Moreover, in 1:26-27 (see above) we see that man was created in God's own image.

Verse 9 tells us that there were two trees in the midst of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The instructions from verses 16 and 17 are clear: Eat from all the trees except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam had one commandment...just one!

Adam was alone (Genesis 2:18-25)

18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

So God created Eve from Adam's rib. The oft-quoted marriage-ceremony verse is found in verse 24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." We often refer to marriage as "leaving and cleaving." You will notice that this special relationship between a husband and a wife ("one flesh") is unparalleled in scripture except for our relationship with God himself. This one-flesh understanding of marriage and thus the result of sexual relations is referenced by Jesus in Matthew 19:5-6; Mark 10:8 (see notes) and by Paul again in Ephesians 5:31 (see notes).

I hate to do this, but let's put an end to an urban legend. I've always been told that women had one more pair of ribs than men. I was further told that it was because Adam gave up a pair for the creation of Eve. I may have even quoted this as fact at some point in time. As it turns out, male or female, everyone has 12 pairs of ribs.

Incidentally, it would appear that all of this took place on day 6 of creation. That conclusion is derived from the wording of Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Enter: That pesky Satan (Genesis 3:1-6)

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Hey Eve! Are you talking to a snake? Satan took the form of the serpent here - an animal described as the most "cunning" in the garden. All indications are that his form was nothing like what we see today; his current form was as a result of the curse in verse 14. Eve only had one command from God - that tree-of-knowledge restriction. But wait! When Satan challenges her to eat of that tree, Eve misquotes God's command to Adam regarding the tree. God had told Adam nothing about touching the tree - just eating from it (Genesis 2:17). Maybe Adam thought it best to just tell Eve not even to touch it, or maybe Eve was exaggerating God's command to make it seem ridiculous. Whatever the circumstances, Eve broke the only commandment God had given them. But wait! There's more. She also gave Adam to eat, and he partook also. The Apostle Paul makes an interesting distinction here in I Timothy 2:13-14 (see notes) "For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression." Eve was deceived; Adam just plain ol' disobeyed.

There's a doctrine going around (it's been around for nearly a century) that's picking up some steam lately because of a contemporary television Bible teacher's promotion of it. That doctrine is that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not a piece of fruit at all. It is maintained that the fruit was simply a metaphor for sexual relations between a man and a woman for the purpose of pleasure. It is further taught that, though Cain and Abel were twins, Cain was the offspring of the serpent (Satan) and Abel was the offspring of Adam. There is no basis in scripture for such a doctrine. We are told that it was fruit; who am I to alter the passage to make it something else. The Old Testament is not shy of explicit accounts of sexual relations. If that had been the activity between Adam, Eve and the serpent, the scripture would have plainly told us so. Genesis says it was fruit; IT WAS FRUIT!

Enter: God - with some bad news! (Genesis 3:7-24)

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
16 To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it’:
‘Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Here's the problem. After they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they had a rush of realization: "Yikes! We're naked!" They heard God approaching and hid themselves from him in shame (like you can really hide from God). Why did you do it, Adam? Here's Adam's amusing reply in verse 12, "Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.'" Well, that is true all right. So, why did you eat, Eve? She replied, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Eve was deceived; Adam just blatantly disobeyed...and then tried to pass the buck to Eve as an excuse.

Now for the resulting curses:

1. The serpent won't be such an attractive animal anymore (that certainly came true).
2. An animosity will exist between the serpent and the woman (Eve).
3. An animosity will exist between the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of Eve.
4. Childbirth will be hard from now on.
5. Adam shall rule over Eve (men shall rule over women).
6. Adam (and all men) will toil very hard for food.
7. Forget about physical immortality.

Many scholars see a promise of the Messiah in verse 15. If we look beyond the actual animal that Satan used (the serpent) and see this as a struggle between evil (Satan) and mankind (the offspring of the woman), then certainly we know that Christ does overcome Satan (Revelation 20:1-10, see notes). I'm just not sure that this is what is implied here, but I certainly have no problem with those who teach verse 15 as a prophecy of the Messiah.

Here we find the first occasion of animal sacrifice on behalf of man. That's assuming, of course, that the animals in verse 21 gave up their skins somewhat begrudgingly.

At this point, the only thing left to do is to drive Adam and Eve from the garden and block their return. Verse 22 is a curious verse. It is implied that had Adam and Eve been able to continue to eat of the fruit from the tree of life, they would have been immortal. The major consequence of the sin Adam and Eve committed is that all mankind from that day until this is born with an Adamic nature (aka carnal man, flesh) - a propensity to disobey God and a destiny to physically die.

The Apostle Paul makes reference to the sin nature in Romans 5:14 (see notes), I Corinthians 15:22 (see notes), I Corinthians 15:45 (see notes) and I Timothy 2:13-14 (see notes). It is because of this Adamic sin nature that mankind requires a Savior - Jesus Christ. Physical immortality appears to be the original plan in the garden; spiritual immortality is the plan of God now through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.