The Beginnings
[Gen 1-11]
Creation
[Gen 1:1-2:4]
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God
gives
us
His
brief
and
precise
account
of
creation,
culminating
in
the
sixth
day
with
the
creation
of
a
man,
Adam,
and
the
forming of a woman, Eve, from one of Adam’s ribs, followed by the institute of marriage, ordained as part of His creative work.
On the seventh day God rested from His work, blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.
The narrative now continues from Gen 2:5 with an account of creation and events that followed from Adam’s viewpoint.
The fall
[Gen 2:5-3:24]
It
was
on
the
sixth
day
that
God
had
put
Adam
in
the
Garden
of
Eden
to
take
care
of
it.
Adam
is
able
to
eat
from
any
tree
in
the
garden
with
one
exception:
He
is
not
permitted
to
eat
from
the
tree
of
the
knowledge
of
good
and
evil
.
If
he
does,
then
his
death
will
surely
follow. It is after this that Eve is formed as a wife for Adam. God tells them they are to fill the earth with their descendants.
Soon
after,
Satan,
in
the
guise
of
a
serpent,
puts
doubt
in
Eve’s
mind
concerning
the
forbidden
tree
and
persuades
her
she
could
eat
from
it
after
all.
Eve
succumbs
then
persuades
Adam
to
do
the
same.
As
a
consequence
of
this
sin
(disobedience
of
God’s
word),
God
pronounces
three
curses,
one
each
for
Satan,
Eve
and
Adam.
The
curse
on
Satan
initiates
the
spiritual
warfare
that
continues
to
exist
between
him
and
God,
but
at
the
same
time
foretells
its
outcome.
The
woman
is
to
endure
pain
in
childbirth
and
is
reduced
to
being
subordinate to her husband, and man is henceforth to toil for his food.
Cain and Abel
[Gen 4]
Adam
and
Eve
have
two
sons,
Cain
and
Abel,
who
grow
to
be
a
shepherd
and
farmer
respectively.
When
they
offer
their
sacrifices
to
God,
Abel's
is
accepted
but
Cain's
rejected.
This
rejection
has
an
adverse
impact
on
Cain
which
eventually
leads
him
to
kill
his
brother.
He
is
consequently
banished
by
God
to
the
land
of
Nod,
East
of
Eden,
where
he
builds
a
city
named
after
his
son
Enoch.
His
great-
great-great grandson is Lamech, the first person recorded to violate God’s ordinance of marriage by taking more than one wife.
The generations of Adam
[Gen 5]
The
generations
of
Adam
are
the
genealogical
link
from
Adam
to
Noah
and
the
flood.
Of
the
descendants
of
Adam,
Enoch
(not
Cain’s
son)
is
a
righteous
man
who,
from
the
age
of
65,
preaches
the
coming
of
the
Lord’s
judgement.
He
is
spared
death
and
taken
to
heaven at the age of 365 years.
The flood
[Gen 6-9]
In
time,
mankind
becomes
contaminated
by
Nephilim,
the
hybrid
offspring
of
the
sons
of
God
(fallen
angels)
and
the
daughters
of
men,
and
grows
to
be
so
wicked
that
God
decides
to
destroy
the
earth’s
inhabitants
with
a
flood.
Noah
and
his
family
are
righteous
people
and
are
to
be
spared
this
fate,
so
God
instructs
Noah
to
build
an
ark
for
his
family
and
many
animals.
Following
the
death
of
Enoch’s
son Methuselah, the flood comes and drowns the whole earth.
After
the
flood
abates,
God
makes
a
covenant
with
Noah
never
again
to
destroy
the
earth
in
this
way,
and
gives
the
rainbow
as
a
reminder of this covenant.
Not
long
after,
Noah
plants
a
vineyard,
becomes
drunk
one
evening,
is
offended
by
his
son
Ham’s
behaviour
towards
him
and
so
foretells the fate of Ham’s offspring, Canaan:
a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren
.
The Table of Nations
[Gen 10]
From Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, we get all the nations of the earth. Abraham is descended from Shem.
The Tower of Babel
[Gen 11]
As
the
population
grows,
men
resist
spreading
throughout
the
earth
and
begin
to
build
the
tower
of
Babel,
thinking
it
will
establish
them in one place. But God confounds their language, causing them to divide and scatter abroad as He had originally intended.
Hierarchical Précis