Genesis Studies

GENESIS 18 Read Genesis 18:1-33 In the first part of the chapter Abraham is visited by three men (v2). However, it is clear to the reader that one of these is God himself. We know this because in Verse 1 we are told that, ‘The LORD appeared to Abraham’. Whenever we see the word ‘LORD’ […]

GENESIS 17 Read Genesis 17:1-27 In this chapter we return to the subject of covenant which was started in Chapter 15. We had the interlude with Abram and Sarai doubting God’s promises and taking matters into their own hands. This episode was probably placed where it was to show that the covenant arrangement between God […]

GENESIS 16 Read Genesis 16:1-16 In Chapter 15 we saw the establishment of the covenant between God and Abram, but that story is not over. It continues in Chapter 17. Meanwhile, we have this chapter about the birth of Abram’s son, Ishmael and the subsequent events. Why doesn’t the Bible finish the story of the […]

GENESIS 15 Read Genesis 15:1-21 We have seen that on several occasions that God came to Abram and made promises of land and descendants to him. In this chapter God reiterates those promises and crystallises them in a formal way by what is known as a covenant. A covenant is an agreement cast in almost […]

GENESIS 14 Read Genesis 14:1-24 The consequences of Lot’s choice to head east for good grazing for his flocks and herds now start to unravel. Generally, in the Bible, heading east means trouble. The judgement on Cain after he killed his brother was to be exiled east of Eden, and when Adam and Eve were […]

GENESIS 13 Read Genesis 13:1-18 Having been sent away from Egypt by Pharaoh; Abram and his family returned to the area of Bethel, where he had been before. We read that he had become wealthy both in terms of money and livestock. At this point we are introduced to Lot, Abram’s nephew, who was evidently […]

GENESIS 12 (Part 2) Read Genesis 12:10-20 As soon as we read about God’s promise of land to Abram’s descendants, we see that Abram leaves that Promised Land. This is the first of several occasions on which we have a kind of tension in the Old Testament narrative. God has promised the land to his […]

GENESIS 12 (Part 1) Read Genesis 12:1-9 The redemption story starts with God calling Abraham, known as Abram at the time. He originally lived in Ur of the Chaldes in what is modern day Iraq. At the end of Chapter 11 we are told that Abram’s father, Terah, took his family to Haran and they […]

GENESIS 11 Read Genesis 11:1-32 Chapter 11 is another well-known story and staple of the Sunday School, the Tower of Babel. We might be forgiven for asking the question, “What’s the problem here?” It looks like we have the beginnings of a technical civilisation making a city, crafting bricks and mortar and with them building […]

GENESIS 10 Read Genesis 10:1-32 Chapter 10 is easily overlooked as it is one of those chapters that just seem to be a list of names, one of these genealogies that are scattered throughout the Old Testament. However, it does serve a function in setting us up for the Tower of Babel story in Genesis […]

GENESIS 9 Read Genesis 9:1-29 The chapter starts with God blessing Noah and his family and restating the command of Genesis 1:28 to mankind to “be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (v1), thus consolidating the idea that this is a new creation or a re-creation. The difference is that in Chapter […]

GENESIS 8 Read Genesis 8:1-22 Chapter 8 continues the story and brings us to the end of the flood. It starts with the curious phrase, “But God remembered Noah”. The Hebrew word used here has a wider range of meaning than the English translation ‘remember’. It is not that God had forgotten all about Noah […]

GENESIS 7 Read Genesis 7:1-24 With all the preparations complete, Chapter 7 takes us to the flood itself. The Lord instructs Noah to go into the ark with his family. Once again, we see that it is God who takes the initiative in his plan of salvation. Noah’s role is to be obedient, and that […]

Read Genesis 6:5-22 The theme of increasing sin continues. In Verse 5 we are told that mankind’s wickedness had become great and that their thoughts were only evil all the time. This overwhelming sinfulness in his created world grieved God to the extent that he resolved to destroy it completely. This is where we meet […]

GENESIS 5 Read Genesis 5:1-6:4 The next major event in Genesis is the flood, but before that we have a genealogy from Adam to Noah. This sets the scene for what is to come and we see the same sort of pattern in the New Testament. At the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew and […]

GENESIS 4 Read Genesis 4:1-26 After sin has come into the world in Chapter 3, we now see the escalation of sin with the first murder. Adam and Eve had children, Cain and Abel. Cain worked the soil and Abel kept flocks. The problem came when they both offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God. Abel […]

GENESIS 3 Read Genesis 3:1-24 In the previous chapter we saw how the relationship between God and mankind should be. The man and the woman were living alongside God in the Garden of Eden in perfect harmony, the ideal state, as God intended. It soon fell apart when we see sin coming into the world, […]

GENESIS 2 Read Genesis 2:4-25 We now get a bit more detail about the creation of mankind, first with Adam. We read that God formed the first man from the ‘dust of the ground’. The word ‘ground’ in Hebrew is adamah, so Adam is made from the adamah, his very name reflects his origin. God […]

GENESIS 1 Read Genesis 1:1-2:3 The Book of Genesis is foundational to the Bible and it gives us the basic knowledge for a lot of what is to come in both the Old and New Testaments. The very first words, ‘In the beginning ‘, set the tone. Some religions, particularly some of the eastern ones, […]