CST100 CA

CST100 Critical Assignment An Introduction to Genesis By Giselle Govea Submitted to Dr. Joe Due by Day 3 of Week 8 - No Exceptions Introductory Issues When you first open your bible you will see the book of Genesis a fan-favorite book in the Bible

amongst lots of people. This book is found in the Old Testament. Moses is the name you traditionally hear when thinking of the author of the book Genesis. Even though, through reading the book the author is not really mentioned anywhere in Genesis. However, it has been believed that the Christians and Jews may have come together and thought collectively that maybe Moses was the possible author of this wonderful book. Moses was known to be the adoptive son of the Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses was very well educated in Egyptian wisdom and understanding, which he had passed down through the first five books of the Old Testament, The Torah. As stated previously, the book of Genesis is thought to be the first book written, making it a historical literary work that was thought to have been composed between the years 1450 -1400 BC, it has been believed to have been written for the Jewish people. “God made everything, then to worship anything within creation as if it were God is bound to demean him, because, by definition, it is less than him. God alone is worthy of worship. Our duty as his creatures is to submit to him as our king and give him the glory that rightly belongs to him” (Robert, 2012). Despite humanity’s disobedience, God’s original intention for creation remains the main goal of the cosmic restoration, completed in Jesus Christ, and the rest of the redemptive history chronicles this process. Literary Structure • “In the beginning...” (Genesis 1:1) ⁃ God has created the heavens, the world, and mankind. He designed the first humankind to be a replica of his image and sent them to Earth to take charge. ⁃ He formed a man and female and blessed them, giving them a beautiful garden that was filled with good and evil (temptations). • Adam (2:4-4:8) ⁃ There was an offering that was made to God but only one person, (Abel) was accepted, because of this Cain attacked his brother and killed him ⁃ Cain lied to God about his brother and in the end God sent him away for what he had done • Adam to Noah (5:1-6:8) ⁃ God had regarded mankind’s earthly deterioration as bad and decided to command Noah to build an ark to protect him ⁃ Demonstrates God’s ability to be able to convey lessons and to be able to develop belief. • Noah’s descendants (6:9-10:1) ⁃ Noah’s family went into the ark with the animals and had to deal with a flood ⁃ Canaan was cursed • Descendants of Noah’s sons (10:1-11:9) ⁃ Includes clans, languages, countries, and nations ⁃ The Babel Tower • Shem’s descendants (11:10-26) • Terah (11:27-25:18) ⁃ Death of Abraham ⁃ the covenant with Abraham

God Almighty (El Shaddai) says He will do, He does”(Brown, 2020). This is shown in Genesis 6:7, “So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them”(ESV, 2016), Genesis 15:3, “And Abraham said, ‘behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir”(ESV, 2016), Genesis 18:32, “Then he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there’. He answered, ‘For the sake of ten I will not destroy it”(ESV, 2016), and lastly Genesis 46:3, “Then he said, ‘I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation”(ESV, 2016). One of God’s many promises to Abraham was that his sons would have no choice but to serve an outside country for at least 400 years, and God would severely punish that country and provide Israel with various amounts of substances in the fourth generation that were recognized to be way more significantly relevant to Israel. A great example of this would be Genesis 15:13-14 “Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward, they shall come out with great possessions” (ESV, 2016). “The literal fulfillment of this promise in every detail demonstrates God’s faithfulness to His promises. In view of God’s history of faithfulness to His word, the Israelites could be confident about the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring them into Canaan. Just as God had superintended circumstances to accomplish His word to their fathers, so He would again for them”(Brown, 2020). 2. The Sinaitic Covenant’s Importance During their meeting at Mt. Sinai, God had proposed to Israel through Moses saying, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel”(Exodus 19:5-6). The creation of a Kingdom of priests by God was very crucial for Israel’s understanding of God’s redemptive goal. Genesis has recorded God’s many efforts to call men to salvation, with grace extended through Noah but rejected. God had specifically chosen Abram as the father of people who would bring many blessings to the world, and the Israelites were specifically chosen as the heirs of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and last but not least Jacob. 3. The Righteousness That Flows From Faith The book of the Covenant is an extent from Exodus 19-23, it was the first written revelation to Israel, excluding many individual regenerations and serving as a national constitution. “Although the sacrificial system implicitly required faith, it nowhere stated explicitly that acceptance before God is only through faith. The record of Abraham’s justification by faith (15:6) provides the balance to the external righteousness required by the law. Beyond how to be justified before God, Genesis reveals that God is willing to come into personal fellowship with men” (Brown, 2020). In the midst of a highly complex ceremonialism in which the people could only publicly approach God through the Levitical priests, the accounts of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have shown the probability of having a personal relationship with God. Personal Reflection In my opinion, Genesis is rated one of my top three books in the Bible, which is one of the many reasons I decided to talk about it. When going through Bible study classes the book of Genesis was always the first book we talked about and I have so many memories about reading it over and

over. I started reading the Bible at a very young age and I believe that reading it at a young age is an amazing opportunity. Now that I am older and reading the Bible again, I am able to get a deeper understanding of what it is saying. Even reading it again for this assignment there were important factors I missed that I didn’t see the first time reading the book. It marks the birth story of the heavens, earth, mankind, and the Jewish people. It tells us how God was able to create and give us everything that was excellent. I believe Genesis was able to teach me that my faith comes from only one source: what God has to say to us. We are known to be full of God’s word, and that is something that will never change as life goes on. Living by trust in God means being able to live by the word. You have everything you ever need within you as long as you have one simple thing, trust. Genesis has also taught me that God is capable of doing anything. And that if you put all your faith in God’s word, nothing you do can be impossible. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God Sid, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light” (ESV, Genesis 1:1-3). In Genesis 1:1-3, the phrase light can be found, however not the same light as the moon or sun. God describes how light and light are not considered the same thing and the light of God’s magnificence was represented in those verses. The essence of God can be embodied in our creative form, revealing all the potential we have within us. In order for us or anyone to be able to enter God’s Kingdom, we must be able to repent, follow Jesus’s plan for us, and most importantly put all of our faith in Jesus Christ, as half a relationship with God and Jesus is not possible. Bibliography Brown, P. (2020, April 24). Theological themes of Genesis . Holy Joys. https://holyjoys.org/theological-themes-of-genesis/ ESV study bible . (2016). . Crossway. Roberts, V. (2012). God’s big picture: Tracing the storyline of the Bible . IVP Books, an imprint of InterVarsity Press. Seri-Levi, A. (2017, January 12). Torah portion of the week: When, where and why was Genesis written? . Haaretz.com. https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/portion-of-the- week/2017-01-12/ty-article/torah-portion-when-where-and-why-was-genesis- written/0000017f-f0a9-d8a1-a5ff-f0ab3c5c0000?_amp=true&v=1698272938426 What happened after Noah’s flood? Ark Encounter. (n.d.). https://arkencounter.com/flood/after/