REL 199 Notes Weeks 2 and 3: Gen 1-11

Genesis

What does the word Genesis mean?  Are there any alternatives to this title in Judaism?

• Genesis – Greek for “birth” or “origin”
• The word genesis itself was used for the first book of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament when the Septuagint (Gk. meaning “seventy”) was compiled by the Greeks.  The name continued to be used in the Latin Vulgate (latin meaning “common”) Bible and English translations.
• Jewish tradition refers to Genesis as Bereshith (Heb. literally means “in the beginning”)
  • Bereshith is the first phrase from Genesis

Gen. 1-11: The Primeval History and Origins

Is the number 7 in the creation myth just a random number?  What about the order things were created?

• The number 7 appears numerous times throughout the Bible as it is the divine number of completion.  Numerology and numeric patterns are found in abundance in the Bible.  See also Gen. 7:2-4 and Leviticus 23:1-44, 16:14, 8:31-36
• The number 7 also has more subtle appearances from a Hebrew standpoint, such that Gen. 1:1 contains 7 Hebrew words and Gen. 1:2 contains 14.  Verses about the 7^th day contain 35.
• This may sound farfetched, but compare scientific creation to the creation in Gen. 1.  Subtract the god variable from Genesis and throw in a little bit of physics and science into Gen. 1.  You might be surprised… see Coogan pg. 6.

Describe the creation of Earth and life in Gen. 1

• The earth, and everything around it, according to Gen. 1, was created in six days and YHWH rested on the last day.  The order of creation is as follows:
  • Day 1 – Light
  • Day 2 – Dome
  • Day 3 – Land and Plants
  • Day 4 – Heavenly Bodies
  • Day 5 – Aquatic Creatures and Birds
  • Day 6 – Land Animals and Humans
• There’s also an underlying pattern in the creation: where the light lies, so do the heavenly bodies; where the dome lies, so do the aquatic creatures and birds; where land and plants lie, so do the land animals and humans.  The places where creations would reside were created first and the creations created second, but in the same succession as their residences (with the exception of plants).
• The final day resulted in a day of rest, the Sabbath (Heb. Shabbat meaning “to rest”).

Describe Adam and Eve’s Creation in Gen. 2

• Adam is a Hebrew word that translates to dust, man, or mankind.  The word is derived from adamah meaning earth
• Eve translates to living one from Hebrew
• According to Genesis, Adam and Eve were the first humans on the earth
• Adam was created from the “dust of the earth” and YHWH “blew into his nostrils the breath of life”. (Gen. 2: 7)
• Eve was created when YHWH “cast a deep sleep on upon the man; and, while he slept,  He took one of his (Adam’s) ribs… And the LORD God fashioned the rib He had taken from the man into a woman; and he brought her to the man”. (Gen. 2:21-22)
• YHWH is described in an anthropomorphic sense, meaning that he has the characteristics of a human
• Difference in world; Gen. 1 is a watery chaos while Gen. 2 is a rainless landscape

Describe the events in the Garden of Eden in Gen. 3

• The serpent is introduced in this story as “the shrewdest of all wild beasts that the LORD God had made”.
• Serpent questions Eve about what God said about eating from trees in the garden
• Eve tells serpent that all of the trees with fruit can be eaten from, except the one in the middle of the garden, otherwise God said that Adam and Eve would die.
• Serpent tells Eve this isn’t true, instead it will give knowledge of good and bad
• Eve ate, and then gave some of the fruit to Adam
• God finds out when Adam tells Him of his nakedness
• God punishes man by cursing the earth, putting an hostility between he and wife and offspring
• God punishes woman by suffering through childbirth, menstruation, urge toward husband, husband rules over wife
• God also forces Adam to work hard for their food, tilling the ground until he returns to the ground from whence he came

Do you see any recurring themes or ideas in Gen. 3?

• Androcentricism – where males dominate over females in society
  • Woman is blamed for man’s fall
  • Women are punished for child bearing
  • Women are dependent on men
  • References to the ground or earth
• Adam came from the ground, and as for his punishment, he must work the ground to produce food, even though there are many challenges in farming
• Adam must farm and work hard for food “until you return to the ground for from it you were taken” (Gen. 3:19).

Describe the events in Gen. 4 with Cain and Abel

• Cain was the oldest son and Abel was the younger
• Cain and Abel brought offerings to God
  • Cain brought fruit
  • Abel brought the best sheep from his flock
  • God like Abel’s offering more than Cain’s
• Cain killed Abel
  • Cain lied to God about Abel’s whereabouts
  • God found out about the murder
  • Cain was cursed more than the ground; unable to yield crops and to become a ceaseless wanderer
  • If anyone were to kill Cain, 7 times more punishment than Cain
  • God put a mark on Cain to let everyone know who he was
• Cain settled in Nod, east of Eden
  • Married and had children
• Adam and Eve conceive Seth

What are some of the patterns and issues noted in this chapter?

• Favor over a younger son (see also Gen. 17:20-21, Gen. 25:23[j],  1 Sam 16:6-23
• Sibling rivalries
• Lifestyles
  • Preference taken over shepherds than farmers
• Who was Cain’s wife?

Gen. 5 Genealogy

For a more complex and in depth genealogy from Genesis, visit here.

Describe the events in the story of Noah (Gen. 6-10)

• Brief intro about Nephilim, see Coogan and Other Notes
• God becomes angry with “man’s wickedness on the earth” and had the intention of destroying the inhabitants on earth with a flood
• Noah was favored by God and asked him to make an ark out of gopher wood
  • Size was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits tall
  • Ark was to store two of each animal, one male one female
  • Clean animals were given an exception: 7 pairs instead of 1
• The flood was to last 40 days and 40 nights and begin on the 7th day
• Flood lasted longer than 40 days?? (Gen. 7:24 and 8:1). 8:6 says otherwise
• Noah waited 14 days before he left the ark after the 40 days
  • Sent out a raven to fly to and fro until the waters dried up
  • Send out a dove twice to see if the water levels decreased
• Noah built an alter for God, and God blessed him with a covenant: the rainbow
  • The rainbow signifies that God will never create a great flood to destroy the earth again
• Noah was first to create a vineyard
  • Became drunk and Ham, father of Canaan, “saw his father’s nakedness” (Gen. 10:22)
  • Shem and Japtheth took a cloth, walked backwards, and “covered their father’s nakedness” without seeing their father (Gen. 10:23)
• Noah cursed Canaan after finding out about what Ham did
• Chapter 10 covers genealogies

What was the Tower of Babel noted in the beginning of Gen. 11? What happened after it was destroyed?

• The Tower of Babel was a tower that reached the sky
• Everyone spoke the same language before and during its construction
• God became angry and created different languages for people on earth and everyone was scattered along the earth

Source

Coogan, Michael D. The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. N.p.: Oxford University Press, USA, 2005. Print.

Enjoy the notes.  As always, if there are any questions, drop me an email.