Musings from the Book of Genesis
Genesis is often considered the book of beginnings: the first book in the Pentateuch as the Greeks understood it, the first book in the Torah as the Hebrews understood it, or the first book of the books of Law/Instruction. The general themes captured include Creation of the World, Sin, Judgement, Evolution of Sin, The Effect of Sin, Covenants (Noah & Abraham), Family Dysfunction, Sin, More Sin, Increasing Sin, etc.
In the beginning, everything was empty. God hovered over it and, in the particular order below, made everything. God made:
Light (Day) and Darkness (Night).
The expanse that separated the waters from the waters (Heaven & Sky).
Split the waters under heaven into waters and dry land (Earth & Vegetation).
Solar system and great lights (Sun & Moon).
Animals in water and air.
Animals on land and humans (Man & Woman).
Rest
Side note: Do you remember being taught in school that humans evolved from apes or humans branched off from a primate ancestor? Well, aside from the reality that even science disproves these claims, it’s an unbiblical representation of God’s creation and science perverting God’s work. I believe as revealed in Genesis, Adam and Eve were created by God into full-grown adults at once and we all decended from them. I’ve attached a few helpful resources on creation/evolution theories in the footnote 1.
Genesis captures the origin of everything, including sin. From Adam’s fall in chapter 3, we see a curse on all mankind. God then express His attributes of Mercy and Grace in the promise of the seed and in sending Adam and Eve out of the garden, which starts the story of redemption. And all the subsequent chapters from 4 to 50 show God making and keeping unconditional covenants (Adamic, Noahic, and Abrahamic), and the depths of the depraved state of all mankind, capturing the story of redemption and the emergence of that seed (Christ Jesus).
Genesis tells us about the triune God. It tells us that God self-sufficiently existed before anything else (completely independent, uncreated, and relies on nothing outside Himself). God created all things. God has a law that man violated, which caused us to suffer a curse. Man needed constant blood sacrifice to appease their creator God for their sins. And there is a Saviour coming who man desperately needs to pay the penalty for their sins. The stories of Abraham and all his descendants capture the hostility of sin and its immense consequences. God be praised for His many mercies, and for not leaving us to ourselves and for creating a means for us to be reunited with Him.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” —Genesis 3:15
In the chart below, I tried to document some of the attributes of God I see reflected through each chapter of Genesis. While this is an inexhaustive list, it attempts to capture who God is as reflected through the history of redemption, showing how God has never changed, even in our age now, showing the same attributes.