Over the course of the next few weeks I will be explaining the books of the Bible. I will not only talk about the Old and the New Testament but also about the Apocrypha. First I will give a summary of the book and then I will go into more detail about the various situations such as Abel’s murder, the passover, the exodus, the day of pentecost, etc.
The first five books are called "The Books of Moses". These are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They were written by Moses.
Let's begin with the first book-Genesis. The word Genesis means "origin, beginning, creation". This is appropriate because not only is it the first book but it starts with the creation of the world. The wife of a former pastor of mine once said that she believed in the big bang theory, God said,"Let it be" and BANG it happened. The book of Genesis dates from 4004 BC-1500 BC. The first four chapters describe the creation of everything: time, land, grass, trees, stars, sun, moon, creatures of the sea, land, and air, humans, etc. It also tells how sin came in this world and why Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden. I hear people constantly saying Adam and Eve ate an apple. An apple is not mentioned. Chapter 3 verse 6 says "fruit". We will never know what type of fruit it was. It also could have been something sexual. There are references throughout the Bible to "the fruit of the womb" and "not spilling his seed". Sexual immorality seems to be the most rampant and accepted sin.
The first murder is also mentioned. Cain's offering was not accepted probably because he didn't give the best of what he had or he did it because he felt like he had to and not because he wanted to.
God shows His tender mercy and grace all the way back to the beginning of the world through these two stories. He is telling us that no matter how bad we are He is always willing to forgive us and set us back on the straight and narrow way.
Chapter 5 is a genealogy line. Always pay attention when these lines are mentioned. Sometimes they seem long, tedious, boring, irrelevant and hard to understand but they are there for a reason. Believe it or not they do clear up some confusion. I have often heard that the mark of Cain was that his skin color was changed to black and he is the father of the African race. That is impossibe. If you pay attention to Chapter 5 it says: Seth (Adam and Eve's son that was born after Cain killed Abel) had a son, Enos, who had a son, Cainan, who had a son, Mahalaleel, who had a son, Jared, who had a son, Enoch, who had a son, Methuselah, who had a son, Lamech, who had a son, Noah. Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives were the only humans saved during the flood. Since the rest of Adam's descendants that were still living died in the flood you can clearly see that we are all the descendants of Seth no matter what our race is.
Chapters 6-9 talk about the flood. Man had become very wicked and God was sorry He had created the human race. He said He was going to destroy everything He had created. However one man, Noah, found favor in His sight. He told Him to build an ark. Through God’s instructions Noah and his sons built the mighty ship. Every type of land and air creature was preserved. God sent them by twos and by sevens according to what they were, a male and his female. After 40 days and 40 nights, the rains stop and they were able to leave the ark after the water had dried up.
Chapter 10 is another genealogy record about Shem, Ham and Japheth’s descendants. Pay close attention because they are the fathers of tribes that you will read about later on. You might want to write this down in a notebook so you can refer back to it when you come across the Amorites, the Hivites, the Canaanites, etc. You might also want to make notes as to where they settled. That is also important to help you understand some of the countries and why God wanted them destroyed.
Chapter 11 is the story of Babel and and the birth of Abram (Abraham). Ham’s grandson, Nimrod and his people decided to build a tower so high that it would reach into heaven. When the tower was finished they would be able to ascend and descend heaven as they wished. God saw the trouble this would cause so He made everyone speak a different language. This put an end to the tower. It is called Babel because the people sounded to each other as if they were “babbling”. Since they could not understand each other they settled in different parts of the earth. Isn’t it amazing how many people today haven’t learned from that story? They think there are many ways to enter heaven or that they can get there through their own works instead of through God’s tender mercy and forgiveness of our sins.
Chapters 12-24 are about God’s promise to Abraham that he will be the father of a mighty nation, Israel. The births of Ishmael and Isaac are also found here. Ishmael is the father of Muslim nations such as Iran and Iraq. Isaac is the father of the Jewish nation of Israel. God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah was only for Isaac but because he misunderstood and had Ishmael by Hagar God made another promise that Ishmael would also create a great nation but it would not be the favored one that He originally promised. We also learn of Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah.
Abraham’s death, and the birth of Esau and Jacob are the focus of Chapter 25. Their childhood continues through Chapter 27.
In chapters 28-35 we learn of Jacob leaving his family home and marrying Leah and Rachel who are sisters. He has 12 sons by these two women. These 12 sons become the 12 tribes of Israel.
The Edomites are first mentioned in chapter 36. They are the descendants of Esau who was supposed to have been the father of the Israelites because he was the oldest. But, because he foolishly sold his birthright to his younger brother for a meal, he lost out on the great blessing of being in the line of the birth of Jesus. We need to be careful not to throw our heavenly blessings away so hastily. Satan will use everything he can to deceive us out of our birthright, our heavenly home. We don’t always realize the hurtful outcome of our actions that are done without the guidance and approval of our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Chapters 37-50 describe how the Israelites come to live in Egypt for 400 years. Joseph’s brothers throw him into a pit and leave him for dead. Then they go and tell their father that he is dead. In the meantime, the Midianites find him and sell him to the Ishmaelites. He becomes a slave in Egypt and eventually finds favor with pharaoh. A famine overtakes the land and because of the vision God has given Joseph, Egypt has plenty to see them through and enough to spare to others. Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy corn. Unbeknownst to the older 10, they entreat Joseph for corn. Instead of denying them in vengeance for what they did, he takes pity on them and gives them their corn. In time, he reveals himself and has his family brought to Egypt to be reunited with him and so they could prosper. Don’t give up when it seems like this world has you defeated. God will always take someone’s evil toward you and give you a blessing from it. Also, never return evil for evil. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
The first five books are called "The Books of Moses". These are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They were written by Moses.
Let's begin with the first book-Genesis. The word Genesis means "origin, beginning, creation". This is appropriate because not only is it the first book but it starts with the creation of the world. The wife of a former pastor of mine once said that she believed in the big bang theory, God said,"Let it be" and BANG it happened. The book of Genesis dates from 4004 BC-1500 BC. The first four chapters describe the creation of everything: time, land, grass, trees, stars, sun, moon, creatures of the sea, land, and air, humans, etc. It also tells how sin came in this world and why Adam and Eve were thrown out of Eden. I hear people constantly saying Adam and Eve ate an apple. An apple is not mentioned. Chapter 3 verse 6 says "fruit". We will never know what type of fruit it was. It also could have been something sexual. There are references throughout the Bible to "the fruit of the womb" and "not spilling his seed". Sexual immorality seems to be the most rampant and accepted sin.
The first murder is also mentioned. Cain's offering was not accepted probably because he didn't give the best of what he had or he did it because he felt like he had to and not because he wanted to.
God shows His tender mercy and grace all the way back to the beginning of the world through these two stories. He is telling us that no matter how bad we are He is always willing to forgive us and set us back on the straight and narrow way.
Chapter 5 is a genealogy line. Always pay attention when these lines are mentioned. Sometimes they seem long, tedious, boring, irrelevant and hard to understand but they are there for a reason. Believe it or not they do clear up some confusion. I have often heard that the mark of Cain was that his skin color was changed to black and he is the father of the African race. That is impossibe. If you pay attention to Chapter 5 it says: Seth (Adam and Eve's son that was born after Cain killed Abel) had a son, Enos, who had a son, Cainan, who had a son, Mahalaleel, who had a son, Jared, who had a son, Enoch, who had a son, Methuselah, who had a son, Lamech, who had a son, Noah. Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives were the only humans saved during the flood. Since the rest of Adam's descendants that were still living died in the flood you can clearly see that we are all the descendants of Seth no matter what our race is.
Chapters 6-9 talk about the flood. Man had become very wicked and God was sorry He had created the human race. He said He was going to destroy everything He had created. However one man, Noah, found favor in His sight. He told Him to build an ark. Through God’s instructions Noah and his sons built the mighty ship. Every type of land and air creature was preserved. God sent them by twos and by sevens according to what they were, a male and his female. After 40 days and 40 nights, the rains stop and they were able to leave the ark after the water had dried up.
Chapter 10 is another genealogy record about Shem, Ham and Japheth’s descendants. Pay close attention because they are the fathers of tribes that you will read about later on. You might want to write this down in a notebook so you can refer back to it when you come across the Amorites, the Hivites, the Canaanites, etc. You might also want to make notes as to where they settled. That is also important to help you understand some of the countries and why God wanted them destroyed.
Chapter 11 is the story of Babel and and the birth of Abram (Abraham). Ham’s grandson, Nimrod and his people decided to build a tower so high that it would reach into heaven. When the tower was finished they would be able to ascend and descend heaven as they wished. God saw the trouble this would cause so He made everyone speak a different language. This put an end to the tower. It is called Babel because the people sounded to each other as if they were “babbling”. Since they could not understand each other they settled in different parts of the earth. Isn’t it amazing how many people today haven’t learned from that story? They think there are many ways to enter heaven or that they can get there through their own works instead of through God’s tender mercy and forgiveness of our sins.
Chapters 12-24 are about God’s promise to Abraham that he will be the father of a mighty nation, Israel. The births of Ishmael and Isaac are also found here. Ishmael is the father of Muslim nations such as Iran and Iraq. Isaac is the father of the Jewish nation of Israel. God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah was only for Isaac but because he misunderstood and had Ishmael by Hagar God made another promise that Ishmael would also create a great nation but it would not be the favored one that He originally promised. We also learn of Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah.
Abraham’s death, and the birth of Esau and Jacob are the focus of Chapter 25. Their childhood continues through Chapter 27.
In chapters 28-35 we learn of Jacob leaving his family home and marrying Leah and Rachel who are sisters. He has 12 sons by these two women. These 12 sons become the 12 tribes of Israel.
The Edomites are first mentioned in chapter 36. They are the descendants of Esau who was supposed to have been the father of the Israelites because he was the oldest. But, because he foolishly sold his birthright to his younger brother for a meal, he lost out on the great blessing of being in the line of the birth of Jesus. We need to be careful not to throw our heavenly blessings away so hastily. Satan will use everything he can to deceive us out of our birthright, our heavenly home. We don’t always realize the hurtful outcome of our actions that are done without the guidance and approval of our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Chapters 37-50 describe how the Israelites come to live in Egypt for 400 years. Joseph’s brothers throw him into a pit and leave him for dead. Then they go and tell their father that he is dead. In the meantime, the Midianites find him and sell him to the Ishmaelites. He becomes a slave in Egypt and eventually finds favor with pharaoh. A famine overtakes the land and because of the vision God has given Joseph, Egypt has plenty to see them through and enough to spare to others. Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy corn. Unbeknownst to the older 10, they entreat Joseph for corn. Instead of denying them in vengeance for what they did, he takes pity on them and gives them their corn. In time, he reveals himself and has his family brought to Egypt to be reunited with him and so they could prosper. Don’t give up when it seems like this world has you defeated. God will always take someone’s evil toward you and give you a blessing from it. Also, never return evil for evil. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.