Overview: Creation and Ancient History (Genesis 1-11)
2022-11-28
The first 11 chapters of Genesis are distinct from the rest of Genesis because they deal with God as creator of all things and His institutions that were established for humankind. Because of this, it is one of the most important sections of the Bible. It establishes that God created the world, He created humankind in His image, how the first humans sinned or rebelled against God, and how God promised a Savior that would save them from sin and all its effects. The rest of the Bible is commentary and fulfillment of these foundations.
Recall that these summaries are far from complete.
God Created All
There is no introduction to God. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). The implication is that God always was, but the universe had a beginning. God is holy; He is fully distinct and exalted over all there is. He created the entire universe out of nothing and in an orderly fashion in six days, and it was without flaw. On the sixth day, He created human beings who were to have dominion over the creation. Since God is the highest authority, creating the universe for His own purposes and glory, He delegated some of His authority to humankind to be the earth’s caretakers and rulers.
God created everything to be very good. He rested on the seventh day because there was nothing left to create.
The First Humans in Eden
The first man Adam was placed in a perfect Garden watered by a river that divided into four heads. He was permitted to eat of every tree except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eating from that tree would result in death. He was allowed to eat from the tree of life. After giving these commands, Adam was given a wife, Eve, created from his own bone.
Marriage was ordained that day. This institution foreshadows Christ and the Church. “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24). “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32).
The Fall of Humankind
The serpent, who we know to be Satan (a spirit being who rebelled against God) from future Scriptures (Revelation 12:9), deceived Eve, leading her to believe God was holding something back from them. He told her that the tree of knowledge would make them wise. She was deceived and ate, but she gave to Adam, who outright rebelled. When they ate of the fruit, they immediately experienced shame and fear, and they eventually died many years later. This affected the entire human race to be born after them, and it explains why suffering and death is common to all of humankind. The world itself was affected, growing thistles and thorns with natural disasters and a general decomposing of all nature. More on this here.
The Savior
When God came to Adam and Eve, He pronounced judgment on them, including specific effects of their rebellion. However, because of the graciousness of God, He promised a Savior who would be the seed of the woman. Speaking to the serpent, God said, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This is the first promise of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of a virgin, who died for the sins of humankind, but in return delivered the deathblow to Satan and his works.
Out of Eden
Because of their sin, Adam and Eve were thrust from the paradise. They had many children, two of which were Cain and Abel. Abel trusted in the Lord’s promise, seen in his proper offering of sacrifice, but wicked Cain killed his brother. The murderer, though condemned to a life of a vagabond, created a city and his own civilization in Nod. Later, Seth was born to Adam and Eve, and was righteous like his deceased brother, whose descendants began to “call upon the name of the LORD” (Genesis 4:26). His righteous line held to the hope of the coming Savior, while the rest built their civilization and became increasingly violent.
One notable descendant, Enoch, walked so closely with God, that God took him directly to heaven before dying. This gives hope to all who seek the Lord that they will be saved from death.
Noah
The world became so violent that the Lord decided to destroy the world by a worldwide flood. Noah, a descendant of Seth, found grace with God, and God told him to build a giant boat that would protect him from the flood. He built it to specification, and brought his family on board, and was delivered from the flooding wrath of God poured out onto the earth. God promised never to destroy the world with a flood again, with the reminder of the rainbow in the sky.
The Tower of Babel
After Noah and his family left the ark when the flood waters were gone, they were commanded to spread abroad across the earth. They did not do it. Within a few generations, the population had grown a lot. They decided to build a Tower that would reach heaven to make a name for themselves, an act of rebellion. “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).
God saw this, so He forced them across the face of the earth by confusing their language, for previously, humanity only had a common language.