Now that you know something about how the Bible is formatted, let's learn about some of the stories in the Pentateuch starting with Genesis, which means the book of beginnings. The Old Testament deals with a lot of stories so it is advisable to read those mentioned in this course as well as other stories in the Old Testament.
Creation
The Creation is found in Genesis 1. God created everything in six days and rested on the seventh day. On the sixth day, He created a man and he was called Adam. God gave him a helpmate who was named Eve after they sinned. Up until then, she didn't need a name. She was not named until Genesis 3:20. She was called "woman" before then.
Adam and Eve
God placed the man and woman in the Garden of Eden and they had everything they needed. God gave them only one command. They were not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was in the middle of the garden. However, they could eat from the other trees. They were naked and innocent because no sin had entered the world.
People misquote the Bible and say it was an apple that Eve ate, but the Bible never said it was an apple. It merely said it was the fruit of the tree that the woman ate. Remember, she was not named before the Fall. (That's what the first sin in the Bible was called The Fall).
A talking serpent beguiled the woman and provoked her to disobey God and to eat from the tree. He challenged what God had told them and said they wouldn't die. The woman ate and gave the man some to eat. After they had eaten, their eyes were opened and they saw they were naked and they became ashamed. They covered themselves in fig leaves to hide their private parts, but that was not acceptable to God. God killed an animal and covered the man and woman in the skin of the slain animal. It was the first blood sacrifice in the Bible.
After they disobeyed God, they were separated from God in their relationship with Him. He had to banish them from the Garden of Eden so they would not continue in their disobedience. Outside of the garden, they had to endure punishment for their misbehavior.
The talking serpent who used to stand up straight was punished by having to crawl on its belly. The woman would endure labor pains in childbirth, and the man was to work from the sweat of his brow for the rest of his life.
Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain became jealous of his brother and killed him. Adam and Eve had another son named Seth.
Things to Know
--God created everything.
--After God created man, he commanded him to name the animals. When the man saw that there was no animal that looked like him, God created the woman to be his helpmate.
--Because of their disobedience, sin entered that world through them which affects all of today.
-- There were consequences because of their sin.
-- Notice I constantly said "the man" and "the woman." That's because "Adam" is not really a name. It means man. The woman was not named until after they had sinned and their eyes were open and they were no longer connected. She was not named Eve until Genesis 3:20. Up until then, there was no need for a name because she and the man were so connected that one knew what the other needed without having to call each other by a name.
--After their disobedience, they were separated from God and from each other. In other words, ideally, we were not meant to have names and we were not meant to wear clothes.
Noah and the Ark
Another story is found in Genesis 6-9 about Noah. God commanded him to build an ark at the time when it didn't rain from above as it does today. God gave Noah the exact stipulations and Noah and his family built the ark. The people made fun of Noah for building an ark when there was no chance of rain. As soon as the ark was finished and Noah had put two animals of each kind inside the ark, the rain came from above for the first time and it rained for forty days and forty night. The only people who were saved were Noah and his family, which included his wife, three sons, and their wives. It was a total of eight people who were saved. Afterward, the earth had to be populated again. That's why eight is regarded as the number of new beginnings.
God made a covenant with Noah that He would not destroy the world again with water. He put a rainbow in the sky as a sign to remind people of that promise.
Tower of Babel
Between the Great Flood and the story of the patriarch Abram, there is a story that explains how so many different languages came into the world. Before the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9, all the descendants of Noah spoke the same language with a common speech. Today, there are thousands of different languages in the world.
The people were speaking a single language and moving eastward when they stopped at the land of Shinar after God told them to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. This was in disobedience to God because he told them to keep moving, but after 130 years they hadn't done what God had told them to do.
Even though there was a whole group of people, all of them agreed to be disobedient. Not one of them reminded the others of God's instruction. Not one of them suggested they should continue. The entire group agreed to stay together and disobey God.
They decided to build a tower to heaven which was against God's will. Therefore God confused their speech and scattered them over the face of the earth. That’s why we have the word “babble” which means "confused speech." That’s the reason we have a minimum of 6,700 languages in the world today.
Abraham and Sarah
This story starts in Genesis 12. Get to know about Abram because he is talked about throughout the Bible. Abram's name was changed to Abraham. When God had an encounter with most people He changed their name.
Abram became the father of many nations. Therefore, he is an important figure in the Bible. Abram was 75 years old when God promised him a son. By faith, Abram believed God even though his wife was old and barren. When God told Sarai she would have a son in her old age, she laughed.
As time passed and no son was born, Sarai asked her husband to sleep with her handmaid so she could bear a son. Hagar did have a son named Ishmael, but that was not the son of promise. When Abraham turned 100 years old and Sarah turned 90, God opened up her womb and they received the son of promise and named him Isaac which means "laughter."
Then Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away from home, and they ended up in the desert without supplies. God miraculous provided water for them. They were saved, but they never went back to Abraham.
The war is still going on today because of Sarah's impatience. People in the Middle East favor the side of Ishmael while Christians and some Jews favor the side of Isaac.
When Isaac was still a lad, God tested Abraham's faith by telling him to take his son of promise to Mt. Moriah and sacrifice him. Abraham was faithful and obeyed God even though God had told him earlier that he would be the father of many nations. If he sacrificed his only son, how could that be? Abraham did as he was told and took Isaac to the mountain and laid him on the altar. Just as the knife was coming down, God stopped the sacrifice and provided a ram in the bushes to be sacrificed instead. That's because something had to be sacrificed to fulfill God's word.
When Isaac turned 40 years old, his father decided it was time for him to marry. At that time it was permissible to marry relatives instead of pagans. Isaac's cousin Rebekah was chosen. She gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn and should have inherited everything, but one day he came in from hunting and was hungry. He exchanged his birthright for a bowl of stew that Jacob was cooking. Therefore, Jacob goes down in biblical history being in the line of the genealogy instead of Esau.
After cheating his brother out of his birthright Jacob flees to his uncle where he prospers and earns his two wives, Rachel and Leah. Jacob's name is changed to Israel, and by his wives and their handmaidens he had twelve sons who become the twelve tribes of Israel, and a daughter, Dinah.
The Story of Joseph
The story of Joseph is found in Genesis Chapters 37 through 50. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. His brothers become jealous and sold him into slavery in Egypt when he was 17 years old.
Joseph had the gift of interpreting dreams. When he interpreted Pharaoh's dreams, he was made second in charge in Egypt. What the brothers did for evil, God did it for good for Joseph when he was 30 years old.
When there was a famine in the land where Joseph's father and brothers were, they had to go to Egypt to get grain. They did not recognize Joseph because he was darker from living in Egypt for 13 years. Besides, he was dressed in Egyptians royal clothes. Joseph wept when he recognized them. Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and sent for his father. Therefore, Joseph's family moved to Egypt where they stayed.
It was through Joseph that the Hebrews ended up in Egypt.
|
|
