Culture & Context: Genesis

Welcome to Culture and Context, a blog that will flesh out the context of the PATH journal and other content that we study here at True North.

Genesis! The first book of the Bible, filled with stories that almost everyone knows, even non-believers. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the ark...I learned all of those stories as a child, even though my family only occasionally attended church.

So many people begin their reading of the Bible with great intentions and they start with Genesis. I’m glad that the Year 1 PATH Journal began in John, to get us into the good habit of SOAP journaling and Bible reading. People sometimes avoid the Old Testament, thinking that it is not relevant to us today or too intimidating to read. Do not be afraid of the Old Testament; it is filled with exciting and beautiful stories of God’s people, His fallible, messy and sinful people, the people that He loved and rescued time after time. WE are those people and God rescued us by sending Jesus. We can learn a lot by reading the history of God’s people.

The most exciting part of the Old Testament? It is filled with more 300 fulfilled prophecies about Jesus! He is present in Genesis, as we shall see.

The word Genesis is a form of the Greek word that means origin or beginning, and this Greek name came from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the first five books of the Bible. The Hebrew name for Genesis is B’resheet, taken from the first three words of the book: in the beginning.

David Stern, editor of the Complete Jewish Bible, writes:

“Genesis is indeed the book of beginnings, from the creation of the universe through the patriarchal era of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s sons...Genesis reveals the divine origin and election of Isra’el.”

(Just as an aside- reading Genesis and the rest of the Bible in the Complete Jewish Bible gives you a real feeling of immersion in the Jewish worldview.)

The first five books of the Bible are known as The Torah (the law) or the Pentateuch (five volumes). Moses is generally accepted as the author of Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch. How do we know this? Moses obeyed God’s command to “write the Words of the Lord” (Exodus 17:14; 34:27; 24:4; Num. 33:2; Deut. 31:9). David referred to these books as the law of Moses (1 Kings 2:3). 2 Chronicles 34:14 reads

“While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given through Moses.”

There are many ways to outline Bible books, including Genesis. I believe the simplest division for Genesis is in two parts- pre-patriarchy and the patriarchy. The patriarchs are the biblical fathers- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The pre-patriarchal portion of Genesis tells the story of creation, Adam and his family, Noah and the flood, and the tower of Babel. The patriarchal portion first tells us the story of Abraham and his sons Ishmael and Isaac, then the stories of Isaac’s twin sons Jacob and Esau. Jacob had twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph, and the twelve tribes of Israel come from Jacob’s twelve sons. Some highlights:

• Pre-Patriarchy (chapters 1-11)

  • Creation of the earth and man (1:1-2:25)

  • The fall of man (chapter 3)

  • The first murder and spread of godlessness (chapter 4)

  • Noah and the flood, and God’s covenant with Noah to never again destroy the earth with a flood (6:1-9:17)

  • A table of nations (chapter 10)

  • The Tower of Babel (chapter 11)

• The Patriarchy

  • Abram (later Abraham (11:27-25:10)

  • Abraham’s sons

    • Ishmael

    • Isaac (21:1-28:5)

  • Isaac’s sons (25:19-37:1)

    • Esau (his lineage is outlined in chapter 36)

    • Jacob: father of 12 sons, including Joseph

  • Joseph (37:2-50:26)

Why should we read Genesis? Genesis is the story of creation and mankind. It teaches us about sin and God’s plan of salvation. It grounds us historically as it tells the story of real people and God’s covenants with those people as they navigated life. It addresses issues that we still deal with today, like evil in the world, nation-building and family dynamics. Genesis teaches us about the Eastern way of family life as God worked through extended families and preserved their genealogies in writing.

The story of Jesus begins in Genesis. When Adam and Eve sinned, God put His plan for our redemption in place when He spoke to the serpent, Satan:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring  a and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” - Gen. 3:15, NIV

Genesis 3:15 is referred to as the “first Gospel” because it tells the good news that good will destroy evil. Jesus will crush Satan! He first disarmed Satan by His death and resurrection, robbing Satan of his ability to eternally separate us from God. Jesus will one day completely destroy Satan- we can be certain of this victory in the future, when Jesus binds Satan and casts him into the lake of fire. We will read all about that in Revelation!

If you want to take a deeper dive into Genesis, be sure to check out Adam Fink’s serial blog about Genesis. He has been studying Genesis for years and has fresh insights and a fresh approach to this first book of Scripture.

Works-cited and Resources

• Driver, S. R. (1914). An introduction to the literature of the Old Testament. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

• Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale House Publishers.\

• Ross, A. P. (1985). Genesis. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Victor Books.

• Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible: an English version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’rit Hadashah (New Testament) (1st ed.). Jewish New Testament Publications.

• The New International Version. (2011). Zondervan.

• The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2025). Crossway Bibles.

• Walvoord, J. F., & Zuck, R. B., Dallas Theological Seminary. (1985). The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Victor Books.