Genesis
A. Where the Action Takes Place
The only place that can be fixed with any certainty is Mount Arart, where Noah’s Ark landed after the Great Flood. Then, Around 2100BC Abraham left Ur that was located in the Mesopotamian Valley to go to Canaan until around 1875BC when Joseph, then the vizier of Egypt resettled Israel in Goshen. For those that don’t know what avizier is The vizier was the highest official in ancient Egypt to serve the pharaoh (king) during the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms.
Date and Authorship
Moses is the author of the first five books of the Old Testament. These five books are also called the Torah and the Pentutach. The Torah is the book of Law and Pentutach means The Five Books. Most scholars agree the Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt around 1450BC.One of the most striking features of the Genesis narrative is the accuracy with which Moses related customs no longer practiced in his time. The rest of scripture and even Jesus Himelf view Genesis and Moses’s other books as God’s Word, an accurate and reliable account of what actually happened in ancient times. ( I refer you to Matt.19:4-6, John 8:56-58, and Rom 5:12-15)
We now come to our scripture which is the first chapter of Genesis. I am going to read the entire scripture, don’t worry, it is short chapter!
Chapter Summary
The key verse is 1:27
Genesis 1:27 King James Version (KJV)
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The personal application is that God has shared His image with you.
Chapter Summary
Here we see God exercising His creative power by simply speaking the universe into existence.Planet earth has His undivided attention. He carefully crafted His creation to support life and proceeds to populate it with living creatures. And then finally at last He creates mankind in His own image and them sets man to have dominion over His creation. This chapter emphasizes the power of our Creator and reminds us still human beings are His clear focus and loving concern.
The heart of this chapter is God’s revelation of Himself. God’s majestic name found at least 32 times and is usually the subject of some active verb.We are reminded that God is a Person, all knowing, all loving and ever present. She creation story just like creation itself reveals our God.