Genesis Exegesis

STUDY OUTLINE OF GENESIS

TITLE OF THE BOOK

The title Genesis, which is Greek, means “origin,” and the first word in the Hebrew
means “beginning,” words which indicate bot the scope and the limits of the book.

As to Scope, Genesis tells us the beginning of everything, except God.

As to Limit, it is only the beginning; there is no finality.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

The Jews always ascribed it to Moses (when he was 80 years old) – this was confirmed
by Christ in John 5:46, 47. Moses probably wrote it after the name Jehovah had been
revealed to Him (Exodus 3:14; 4:2, 3) since he uses it so often.

The Bible is not the earliest revelation from God. There were the oral traditions
passed down from family to family, and later included in the Scripture. These
oral teachings were just as inspired of God as the written teachings.

PURPOSE OF THE BOOK

To prepare for the story of God’s dealings with the Hebrew people, from whom the
Saviour of the world was to come. All is made to converge and taper to that fact.
Much that would have been interesting, but irrelevant, is dropped out of view or
mentioned in the slightest manner.

The Bible is not a book of geology, biology, ethnology, archaeology – it is a
religious  book, a record of God’s revelation to man.

DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK

Genesis divides itself naturally by the recurring phrase, “These are the generations.”

    1)      Of the heavens and earth (2:4)

    2)      Of Adam (5:1)

    3)      Of Noah (6:9)

    4)      Of Noah’s sons (10:1)

    5)      Of Shem (11:10)

    6)      Of Terah (11:27)

    7)      Of Ishmael (25:12)

    8)      Of Isaac (25:19)

    9)      Of Esau (36:1)

    10)   Of Jacob (37:2)

At each division our attention is fixed on a narrowing area, until from the creation
of the heavens and the earth it is left with one sad object of contemplation – 
an enslaved race and “a coffin in Egypt.”

The fact that God created denies:

-          Atheism (no God)

-          Polytheism (many gods)

-          Fatalism (chance)

-          Evolution (becoming)

-          Pantheism (God and the universe are identical)

-          Materialism (eternity of matter)

There are two major divisions in Genesis. The call and response of Abraham constitute
a new departure in the story, and mark off the two main parts of the book – the first
part covering chapters 1-11, and the second part chapters 12-50.

In the first division we have four significant events; in the second division we
have four significant persons. Our study outline will revolve around these.

STUDY OUTLINE: THE FOUNDATIONS OF REDEMPTION


I. Primeval History (1-11)

    Four Significant Events:

    1)      The Creation                      Divine Sovereignty in the physical 
                                              creation
                                              God’s eternal priority

    2)      The Fall                          Divine Sovereignty in human probation
                                              God’s moral authority

    3)      The Flood                         Divine Sovereignty in historical
                                              retribution
                                              God’s judicial severity

    4)      The Babel Tower                   Divine Sovereignty in racial 
                                              distribution
                                              God’s governmental supremacy

II. Patriarchal History (12-50)

    Four Significant Persons:

    1)      Abraham             God’s Call

    2)      Isaac               God’s Choice

    3)      Jacob               God’s Care

    4)      Joseph              God’s Control

THE FALL

I. The Fall of Man

    A. Satan’s Temptation to Eve

    Temptation came to Eve in solitariness. The temptation was permitted for 
    innocence to become righteousness. But Satan could only tempt – not force.
       1. Changed the Word of God
       2. Added to the Word of God
       3. Subtracted from the Word of God (“lest…maybe”)

    B. The Nature of the Temptation (1 John 2:16)

    The tree was a sign of the rule of God over man.
        1. To the appetite – the bread question
        2. Beautiful to the eyes
        3. Pride of life – “become as gods”

    C. The Effects of Sin

    The first principle of sin: the fallen tries to get someone else to fall.
       1. Guilt – they knew something had happened
       2. Fear 
       3. Flight
       4. Defense – fig leaf covering
       5. Attack – “the woman thou gavest me”

II. The Curses

    A. On Man: external, objective, in the realm of productivity
       1. Toil – before, work was effortless
       2. Tears
       3. Sweat

    B. On Woman: internal, in her nature
       1.Woman sorrow
           a. Physiological disorder
           b. Psychological disturbance
       2. Mother pain – cursed in the realm of the highest and noblest; shows the 
       enormousness of  sin
       3. Wife subjection – home is to be the center of her joys and affections

    C. On Satan
       1. Degradation – crawl (formerly a flying serpent); only skeletal animal that 
       crawls
       2. Dust – what happens to the serpent outwardly happens to the devil inwardly;
       a prophecy of the death of the devil
       3. Enmity
          a. Personal – between devil and woman
          b. Racial or social – saved and lost, Abel and Cain
          c. Spiritual – between the seed of woman, Christ, and himself

THE TYPE TEACHING OF GENESIS

I. Old Testament Types in General

    A. Persons
       1. Adam (Romans 5:14)
       2. Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:3)

    B. Objects
       1. “That rock…was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4)
       2. The first Tabernacle (Hebrews 9:8, 9)

    C. Events
       1. Noah saved by water (1 Peter 3:21)
       2. Abraham and Isaac (Hebrews 11:9)

    D. Script
       1. 1 Corinthians 10:6 – types
       2. 1 Corinthians 10:11
       3. Hebrews 10:1

    E. Value of Typology – has fallen into disrepute
       1. Gives the Old Testament wonderful new wealth of meaning
       2. Furnishes proof of Divine Inspiration
       3. A form of prophecy

    F. Principles of Interpretation
       1. No doctrine or theory should ever be built upon a type or types independently
       of direct teaching elsewhere in Scripture. Types are meant to amplify doctrine,
       not to originate it. They are illuminative, not foundational.
       2. The parallelism between type and antitype should not be pressed to fanciful
       extremes. They are not meant to be exact replicas.

    G. Definition of Types
    Any person, object, event or institution Divinely adapted to represent some 
    spiritual reality, or to prefigure some person or truth to be later revealed.
    God has been pleased to invest certain events, persons, etc. with a
    prefigurative meaning, so that besides having a real relationship with
    their own times they have had a significance reaching far forward
    into the future.

II. Types in Genesis

    A. Persons
    Adam – Christ

 
    B. The Flood Survivors – A Type of the Church
       1. Chosen (6:18; Ephesians 1:4)
       2. Called (7:1; Romans 8:30)
       3. Believers (7:4, 7; Hebrews 11)
       4. Separated
       5. Sealed (7:16; Ephesians 1:13)
       6. Risen (7:17-19)
       7. Rewarded (8:15-19 possessed a new world)

    C. Joseph, a Type of Christ
    The life of Joseph is in three periods. He is the most complete single type of
    Christ anywhere in the Bible. 

      1. The Beloved Son
          a. Preeminent in the love of the father (37:3; Matthew 3:17)
          b. Preeminent in filial honor (37:3; John 3:35; 5:36, 37)
          c. Preeminent in the Divine purposes (his dreams were prophetic 37:5-11;
          Hebrews 1:2; Ephesians 1:9, 10)
          d. Preeminent as the father’s messenger (37:13, 14; Luke 4:18; 
          Hebrews 1:1, 2)

    2. The Rejected Servant
          a. Hated (37:4; John 15:24)
          b. Sold by his brethren to Gentiles; stripped of his coat
          c. Suffering (37:23, 24)
          d. Dead (in intent and figure; he was accounted dead 37:31-34)

    3.The Exalted Savior
          a. Exalted as the wisdom and power of God to salvation (41:38, 39; 
          new name 41:45; becomes world’s bread supplier 41:57; administrator
          of affairs 41:40)
          b. Exalted to the right hand of the throne (41:39-44; given Gentile
          bride 41:45)
          c. Exalted among his own brethren (42:6; 43:26; revealed to repentant 
          brethren 45; becomes special succourer of Israel 47:11, 12; consummates
          wonderful divine plan 45:5-9; becomes virtually resurrected 45:28) 
          d. Exalted to an everlasting preeminence (49:26; Scripture levels not
          one charge against Joseph, although more space is given to him than
          any other person in Genesis. His exaltation was both a vindication
          and a reward.)

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