Law · Old Testament
Genesis
Creation to c. 1805 BC
- Section
- Law · Old Testament
- Events span
- Creation to c. 1805 BC
- Written
- c. 1446–1406 BC
- Author
- Moses
Genesis is the book of beginnings: the creation of the world, humanity's fall into sin, the flood, and God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, the family through whom he sets out to bless every nation.
Historical setting: Not yet a nation: the story of one family, from Abraham to Jacob's twelve sons, ending with seventy Israelites resettled in Egypt.
Key themes
- Creation
- Covenant
- Sin and judgment
- Promise and blessing
- God's sovereignty over history
Key events
Primeval History (Genesis 1–11)
Dates before Abraham are reckoned from the genealogies in the traditional (Ussher) chronology; the Septuagint's figures run centuries longer. Scripture gives no date for Genesis 1:1 itself, and readers who hold a gap or old-earth view place creation, the flood, and the span before Adam far earlier.
- God creates the heavens and the earth in six days and rests on the seventh
- God forms Adam from the dust and Eve from his side, placing them in the garden of Eden
- The serpent tempts Eve; Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit and are driven from Eden (the fall)
- Cain murders his brother Abel and is sent out as a restless wanderer
- The genealogy from Adam to Noah, including Enoch, who "walked with God," and Methuselah
- Seeing humanity's wickedness, God sends a flood; Noah builds the ark and is spared with his family and the animals
- God makes a covenant with Noah never to flood the earth again and sets the rainbow as its sign
- Humanity builds the tower of Babel; God confuses their language and scatters them over the earth
Abraham (Genesis 12–25)
- God calls Abram to leave Haran for Canaan, promising to make him a great nation and a blessing to all peoples
- Abram and Lot part ways; Lot settles near Sodom
- Abram rescues the captured Lot and is blessed by Melchizedek, king of Salem
- God cuts a covenant with Abram, promising descendants as numerous as the stars
- Sarai gives her servant Hagar to Abram, and Ishmael is born
- God renames them Abraham and Sarah and gives circumcision as the sign of the covenant
- Three visitors promise Sarah a son within the year; Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom
- God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah; Lot escapes, but his wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt
- Isaac is born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age; Hagar and Ishmael are sent away
- God tests Abraham, commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, then provides a ram in his place
- Sarah dies; Abraham buys the cave of Machpelah as a burial place
- Abraham's servant finds Rebekah at a well as a wife for Isaac
- Abraham dies at 175 and is buried by Isaac and Ishmael
Isaac & Jacob (Genesis 25–36)
- Rebekah bears twins, Esau and Jacob; Esau sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew
- Isaac repeats Abraham's lie about his wife, reopens the wells, and God reaffirms the covenant with him
- Jacob disguises himself to steal Esau's blessing from the blind Isaac, then flees toward Haran
- At Bethel, Jacob dreams of a stairway to heaven and God renews the covenant promise to him
- Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Leah before Rachel; over the years Jacob fathers eleven sons and a daughter
- Jacob flees Laban with his family and flocks; the two make a covenant at Mizpah
- Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel and is renamed Israel
- Jacob and Esau meet again and are reconciled
- Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin as Jacob returns to Bethel and Hebron
Joseph (Genesis 37–50)
- Jacob favors Joseph; his jealous brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt and fake his death
- Joseph refuses Potiphar's wife, is falsely accused, and is thrown into prison
- In prison Joseph interprets the dreams of Pharaoh's cupbearer and baker
- Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dreams of coming famine and is made governor over all Egypt
- Driven by famine, Joseph's brothers come to Egypt to buy grain and do not recognize him
- Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives them, seeing God at work in it all
- Jacob and his household of seventy move to Egypt and settle in the land of Goshen
- Jacob blesses his twelve sons and Joseph's two sons, then dies and is buried in Canaan
- "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good" — Joseph reassures his brothers, then dies at 110
Key lessons
- God made everything good and made humanity in his own image, giving every person dignity and every part of creation a purpose. Gen 1:26–27
- Sin fractures what God made good, and its damage spreads from the garden to the family to the nations, yet God pursues and clothes sinners rather than abandoning them. Gen 3
- God’s plan to bless the whole world runs through covenant promises kept to flawed people whose faith, not their record, is credited to them as righteousness. Gen 15:6
- God’s purposes stand even through human evil: what Joseph’s brothers meant for harm, God meant for good and for the saving of many lives. Gen 50:20
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Critical scholarship view
Where mainstream critical scholarship dates or attributes this book differently from the traditional view above.
- Written
- c. 950–500 BC, compiled from earlier sources
- Author
- A composite of the J, E, and P sources, compiled after the exile