Genesis Study Teacher's Notes

Chapter One (And Introduction)

Intro & The Creation

Intro

The English title, Genesis, comes from the Greek translation (Septuagint, LXX) meaning “origins”; whereas, the Hebrew title is derived from the Bible’s very first word, translated “in the beginning.” Genesis serves to introduce the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the OT) and the entire Bible.

- If we did not have Genesis, what are some vital facts we would not know?

1. God has no origin, He has always been.

2. How the world came into being.

3. How did sin happen.

4. Who was the first person saved by grace/faith.

5. Israel's origin.

Author and Date

While 1) the author does not identify himself in Genesis and 2) Genesis ends almost 3 centuries before Moses was born, both the OT and the NT ascribe this composition to Moses, who is the fitting author in light of his educational background.

Background and Setting

The initial setting for Genesis is eternity past. God then, by willful act and divine Word, spoke all creation into existence, furnished it, and finally breathed life into a lump of dirt which He fashioned in His image to become Adam.

Historical and Theological Themes

(primeval history) reveals the origins of the universe, i.e., the beginnings of time and space and many of the firsts in human experience, such as marriage, family, the Fall, sin, redemption, judgment, and nations.

(patriarchal history) explained to Israel how they came into existence as a family whose ancestry could be traced to Eber (hence the “Hebrews”; ) and even more remotely to Shem, the son of Noah (hence the “Semites”; ).

established a primary focus on God’s promises to Abraham. God promised (1) land, (2) descendants (seed), and (3) blessing. This 3-fold promise became, in turn, the basis of the covenant with Abraham (). The rest of Scripture bears out the fulfillment of these promises.

Outline

Genesis by content is comprised of two basic sections:

1) Primitive history (Prolog) () and

2) Patriarchal history ().

Primitive history records 4 major events:

1) Creation (, );

2) the Fall ();

3) the Flood (); and

4) the Dispersion (Distribution of People) (, ).

Patriarchal history spotlights 4 great men:

1) Abraham (Sarah) ();

2) Isaac (Rebekah) ();

3) Jacob or Israel (Rachel) (); and

4) Joseph ().

- The Creation

1:1–2:3 This description of God creating heaven and earth is understood to be: 1) recent, i.e., thousands not millions of years ago; 2) ex nihilo, i.e., out of nothing; and 3) special, i.e., in 6 consecutive 24 hour periods called “days” and further distinguished as such by this phrase, “the evening and the morning.” Scripture does not support a creation date earlier than about 10,000 years ago. In the beginning. While God exists eternally (), this marked the beginning of the universe in time and space. In explaining Israel’s identity and purpose to her on the plains of Moab, God wanted His people to know about the origin of the world in which they found themselves. God. Elohim is a general term for deity and a name for the True God, though used also at times for pagan gods (31:30), angels (), men (), and judges (). Moses made no attempt to defend the existence of God, which is assumed, or explain what He was like in person and works which is treated elsewhere (cf. , ). Both are to be believed by faith (cf. , ). created. This word is used here of God’s creative activity alone, although it occasionally is used elsewhere of matter which already existed (). Context demands in no uncertain terms that this was a creation without preexisting material (as does other Scripture: cf. ; , , ; ; ; ). the heavens and the earth. All of God’s creation is incorporated into this summary statement which includes all 6, consecutive days of creation.

1:2 formless and void. This means “not finished in its shape and as yet uninhabited by creatures” (cf. , ; ). God would quickly (in 6 days) decorate His initial creation (1:2–2:3). deep. Sometimes referred to as primordial waters, this is the term used to describe the earth’s water-covered surface before the dry land emerged (1:9, 10). Jonah used this word to describe the watery abyss in which he found himself submerged (). Spirit of God. Not only did God the Holy Spirit participate in creation, but so did God the Son (cf. ; ; ).

1:3 God said. God effortlessly spoke light into existence (cf. ; ). This dispelled the darkness of v. 2. light. The greater and lesser lights (the sun and moon) were created later (1:14–19) on the fourth day. Here, God was the provider of light () and will in eternity future be the source of light (cf. ).

1:4 good. Good for the purposes it was intended to serve (cf. 1:31).

1:4, 5 divided … called. After the initial creation, God continued to complete His universe. Once God separated certain things, He then named them. Separating and naming were acts of dominion and served as a pattern for man, who would also name a portion of God’s creation over which God gave him dominion (2:19, 20).

1:5 first day. God established the pattern of creation in 7 days which constituted a complete week. “Day” can refer to: 1) the light portion of a 24 hour period (1:5, 14); 2) an extended period of time (2:4); or 3) the 24 hour period which basically refers to a full rotation of the earth on its axis, called evening and morning. This cannot mean an age, but only a day, reckoned by the Jews from sunset to sunset (vv. 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). “Day” with numerical adjectives in Hebrew always refers to a 24 hour period. Comparing the order of the week in with the creation week confirms this understanding of the time element. Such a cycle of light and dark means that the earth was rotating on its axis, so that there was a source of light on one side of the earth, though the sun was not yet created (v. 16).

1:6 firmament. The portion of God’s creation named “heavens,” that which man saw when he looked up, i.e., the atmospheric and stellar heaven.

1:7 under the firmament. Refers to subterranean reservoirs (cf. 7:11). above the firmament. This could possibly have been a canopy of water vapor which acted to make the earth like a hothouse, provided uniform temperature, inhibited mass air movements, caused mist to fall, and filtered out ultraviolet rays, thus extending life.

1:9, 10 dry land. This was caused by a tremendous, cataclysmic upheaval of the earth’s surface, and the rising and sinking of the land, which caused the waters to plunge into the low places, forming the seas, the continents and islands, the rivers and lakes (cf. ; ).

1:11 whose seed is in itself. The principle of reproduction that marks all life (cf. vv. 22, 24, 28).

1:11, 12 according to its kind. God set in motion a providential process whereby the vegetable kingdom could reproduce through seeds which would maintain each one’s unique characteristics. The same phrase is used to describe the perpetuating reproduction of animals within their created species (vv. 21, 24, 25), and indicates that evolution, which proposes reproduction across species lines, is a false explanation of origins.

1:14 lights. Cf. v. 16. For 3 days there had been light (v. 4) in the day as though there were a sun, and lesser light at night as though there were the moon and stars. God could have left it that way, but did not. He created the “lights, sun, moon, and stars,” not for light, but to serve as markers for signs, seasons, days, and years. signs. Certainly to include: 1) weather (, ); 2) testimony to God (, ; ; ) divine judgment (, ; ); and 4) navigation (, ). seasons. It is the earth’s movement in relation to the sun and moon that determines the seasons and the calendar.

1:15–19 two great lights … to divide the light from the darkness. It was God (not some other deity) who created the lights. Israel had originally come from Mesopotamia, where the celestial bodies were worshiped, and more recently from Egypt, where the sun was worshiped as a primary deity. God was revealing to them that the very stars, moons, and planets which Israel’s neighbors had worshiped were the products of His creation. Later, they became worshipers of the “host of heaven” (see note on ), which led to their being taken captive out of the Promised Land.

1:20 living creatures. These creatures, including the extraordinarily large ones, included all sorts of fish and mammals, even dinosaurs (see notes on ).

1:22 blessed. This is the first occurrence of the word “bless” in Scripture. God’s admonition to “be fruitful and multiply” was the substance of the blessing.

1:24, 25 cattle … beast. This probably represents all kinds of large, four-legged animals.

1:24 beast of the earth. Different from and larger than the clan of cattle, this would include dinosaurs like Behemoth (.).

1:26 Us … Our. The first clear indication of the triunity of God (cf. 3:22; 11:7). The very name of God, Elohim (1:1), is a plural form of El. man. The crowning point of creation, a living human, was made in God’s image to rule creation. Our image. This defined man’s unique relation to God. Man is a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes (cf. 9:6; ; ; ). In his rational life, he was like God in that he could reason and had intellect, will, and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God because he was good and sinless.

1:26–28 have dominion … subdue. This defined man’s unique relation to creation. Man was God’s representative in ruling over the creation. The command to rule separated him from the rest of living creation and defined his relationship as above the rest of creation (cf. ).

1:27 male and female. Cf. ; . While these two persons equally shared God’s image and together exercised dominion over creation, they were by divine design physically diverse in order to accomplish God’s mandate to multiply, i.e., neither one could reproduce offspring without the other.

1:28 blessed. This second blessing (cf. 1:22) involved reproduction and dominion. “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it …” God, having just created the universe, created His representative (dominion) and representation (cf. image and likeness). Man would fill the earth and oversee its operation. “Subdue” does not suggest a wild and unruly condition for the creation because God Himself pronounced it “good.” Rather, it speaks of a productive ordering of the earth and its inhabitants to yield its riches and accomplish God’s purposes.

1:29, 30 for food … for food. Prior to the curse (3:14–19), both mankind and beasts were vegetarians.

1:31 very good. What had been pronounced good individually (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25) was now called “very good” collectively. The words anticipated God’s conclusion that it was “not good” for a man to be alone (2:18), which occurred on the sixth day.

Chapter Two

The Creation of Man and Woman

I. The first Sabbath,

II. Further details concerning the manner of Creation,

III. The planting of the Garden of Eden, and its situation,

IV. Man is placed in the garden; Tree of Knowledge forbidden,

V. The Animals are named by Adam,

VI. The making of Woman, and the institution of Marriage,

I. The first Sabbath,

2:1–3 These words affirm that God had completed His work. Four times it is said that He finished His work, and 3 times it is said that this included all His work. Present processes in the universe reflect God sustaining that completed creation, not more creation.

2:2 completed … rested. God certainly did not rest due to weariness; but rather, establishing the pattern for man’s work cycle, He only modeled the need for rest, He needed no rest.

Later, the Sabbath ordinance of Moses found its basis in the creation week ().

The Sabbath was God’s sacred ordained day in the weekly cycle. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man …” () and stated that God “sanctified” or set apart the Sabbath day because He rested in it. Later, it was set aside for a day of worship in the Mosaic law.

makes it clear that the Mosaic “Sabbath” has no symbolic or ritual place in the New Covenant (age of grace).

The church began worshiping on the first day of the week to commemorate the resurrection of Christ ().

II. Further details concerning the manner of Creation,

II. Further details concerning the manner of Creation,

2:4–4:26 Gen, 2-4, Is the account of the heavens and the earth.

2:4 the account of. fills in details, especially of the sixth day, which were not included in .

How did Moses obtain this account, so different from the absurd fictions of the pagans?

Not from any human source, for man was not in existence to witness it.

Not from the light of reason, for though intellect can know the eternal power of the Godhead () and that God made all things, it cannot know how.

None but the Creator Himself could give this data and, therefore, it is through faith that one understands that the worlds were formed by the Word of God (read ).

2:4, 5 no plant of the field. Verses 4-5 gives a summary of days 1 and 2, before the vegetation of day 3.

2:6 mist used to rise. A very heavy mist or vapor which characterized the earth at the end of day two (cf. 1:6–8). The change in temperature between day and night was sufficient to cause daily evaporation from the bodies of water and condensation into dew and fog. This was in place on days 2 and 3, before the plants were created.

2:7–25 This is the account or details of day 6 (cf. 1:24–31).

2:7 formed. Many of the words used in this account of the creation of man picture a master craftsman at work shaping a work of art to which he gives life. This adds detail to the statement of fact in 1:27. Made from the ground, a man’s value is not in the physical components that form his body (about $160), but in the quality of life which forms his soul.

III. The planting of the Garden of Eden, and its situation,

2:8 garden … Eden. The Babylonians called the lush green land from which water flowed e-den-u; today, the term “oasis” describes such a place. This was a magnificent garden paradise, unlike any the world has seen since, where God fellowshiped with those He created in His image. The exact location of Eden is unknown; if “eastward” was used in relationship to where Moses was when he wrote, then it could have been in the area of Babylon, the Mesopotamian Valley. The Lord God planted it himself.

2:9 tree of life. A real tree, with special properties to sustain eternal life. It was placed in the center of the garden, where it must have been observed by Adam, and its fruit perhaps eaten by him, thus sustaining his life (2:16). Such a tree, symbolic of eternal life, will be in the new heavens and new earth (, ; see notes on , ). tree of the knowledge of good and evil It was perhaps given that title because it was a test of obedience by which our first parents were tried, whether they would be good or bad—obey God or disobey His command.

2:10 out of. That is to say “the source,” and likely refers to some great spring gushing up inside the garden from some subterranean reservoir. There was no rain at that time.

2:11-14 Read to get context then come back for details.

2:11 Pishon … Havilah. Locations are uncertain. This represents pre-Flood geography, now dramatically altered.

2:12 Bdellium. A gum resin. This refers more to appearance than color, i.e., it had the appearance of a pale resin.

2:13 Gihon … Cush. The river location is uncertain. Cush could be modern-day Ethiopia.

2:14 Tigris … Assyria. The post-Flood Tigris River runs NW to SE east of the city of Babylon through the Mesopotamian Valley. Euphrates. A river that runs parallel (NW to SE) to the Tigris and empties into the Persian Gulf after joining the Tigris.

IV. Man is placed in the garden; Tree of Knowledge forbidden,

2:15 cultivate it and keep it. Work was an important and dignified part of representing the image of God and serving Him, even before the Fall. God had created man in and gave him a soul, the eternal part of man.

2:16 any tree, a BUT is coming.

2:17 surely die. To “die” has the basic idea of separation. It can mean (1) spiritual separation, (2) physical separation, and/or (3) eternal separation.

At the moment of their sin, Adam and Eve died spiritually, but because God was merciful they did not die physically until later (Adam lived 930 years 5:5).

There is no reason given for this prohibition, other than it was a test. There was nothing magical about that tree, but eating from it after it had been forbidden by God would indeed give man the knowledge of evil—since evil can be defined as disobeying God. Man already had the knowledge of good, it was all around him. ()

V. The Animals are named by Adam,

2:18 not good. When God saw His creation as very good (1:31), He viewed it as the perfect outcome to His creative plan. However, in observing man’s state as not good, He was commenting on his incompleteness before the end of the sixth day because the woman, Adam’s counterpart, had not yet been created. The words of this verse emphasize man’s need for a companion, a helper, and an equal. He was incomplete without someone to complement him in fulfilling the task of (1) filling the earth, (2) multiplying on the earth, and (3) taking dominion over the earth. This points to Adam’s in-ad-e-qua-cy, not Eve’s insufficiency (cf. ). Woman was made by God to meet man’s de-fic-ien-cy.

2:19 out of the ground. This was not a new creation of animals. They were created before man on the 5th and 6th days (1:20–25). Here the Lord God was calling attention to the fact that He created them “out of the ground” as He did man, but man, who was a living soul in the image of God was to name them, signifying his rule over them. what he would call them. Man had a vast intelligence in order to name all animals. He was not a primitive cave man.

2:20 gave names to. Naming is an act of discerning something about the creature so as to appropriately identify it and also an act of leadership or authority over that which was named. There is no kinship with any animal since none was a fitting companion for Adam.

VI. The making of Woman, and the institution of Marriage,

2:21 one of his ribs. This could also be “sides,” including surrounding flesh (“flesh of my flesh,” v. 23). Divine surgery by the Creator presented no problems. This would also imply the first act of healing in Scripture "closed up".

2.22 God had taken from Adam a rib and flesh and brought back to Adam a woman. It had to be a pain in his side for a while. We should keep in mind that her position is beside man and not behind or in front of him. Also, Adam was created but Eve was fashioned (built) from Adam, existing creation.

QUES: What are your thoughts about that?

2:23 bone of my bones. Adam’s poem focuses on naming the delight of his heart in this newly found companion. The man names her “woman” because she had her source in him (the root of the word “woman” is “soft”). She truly was made of bone from his bones and flesh from his flesh.

2:24 leave … be joined to. The marital relationship was established as the first human institution. The responsibility to honor one’s parents () does not cease with leaving and the union of husband with wife, but does represent the inauguration of a new and primary responsibility.

“Joined” carries the sense of a permanent or indissoluble union, so that divorce was not considered (cf. 2:16).

“One flesh” speaks of a complete unity of parts making a whole, e.g., one cluster, many grapes () or one God in 3 persons (); thus this marital union was complete and whole with two people.

This also implies their sexual completeness. One man and one woman constitute the pair to reproduce. The “one flesh” is primarily seen in the child born to that union, the one perfect result of the union of two (1 + 1 = 1). Permanent monogamy was and continues to be God’s design and law for marriage.

2:25 both naked and were not ashamed. With no knowledge of evil before the Fall, even nakedness was shameless and innocent. They found their complete gratification in the joy of their one union and their service to God. With no inward principle of evil at work the solicitation to sin had to come from without, and it did.

Chapter Three

The Fall and Its Outcomes

I. Temptation,

A. The Tempter (Satan), vs. 1, 4 & 5

B. The Target (The Woman), vs. 1, 4 & 5

C. The Tactic or Scheme (Lies), v. 4

D. The Tragedy or Results (Sin), v. 6

II. Condemnation,

A. Internal (within man) (vv. 7–13).

B. External (all of creation) (vv. 14–19).

C. Eternal (for all time) (v. 15).

III. Salvation,

I. Temptation,

A. The Tempter (Satan), ;

B. The Target (The Woman), ;

C. The Tactic or Scheme (Lies),

D. The Tragedy or Results (Sin),

3:1 the serpent. (A close look.) Serpent means “snake.” The apostle John identified this creature as Satan in () as did Paul in (). The serpent, a manifestation of Satan, appears for the first time before the Fall of man. The rebellion of Satan, therefore, had occurred sometime after 1:31 (when everything in creation was good), but before 3:1. For a possible description of Satan’s dazzling beauty let's look at (hold your place and turn there). For Satan’s motivation to challenge God’s authority let us read . For Jesus' purpose in coming as Messiah let's read . Satan, being a fallen archangel and, thus, a supernatural spirit, had possessed the body of a snake in its pre-Fall form. To see his for post-Fall form look at 3:14.

more crafty. This carries the idea of deceitfulness.

to the woman. She was the object of his attack, being the weaker one and needing the protection of her husband. Satan found her alone and unfortified by Adam’s experience and counsel. Though sinless, she was temptable and seducible. If this was not true then the tree of knowledge would have been useless.

Has God said …? In effect Satan said, “Is it true that God has restricted you from the delights of this place? This is not like one who is truly good and kind. There must be some mistake.” He planted doubt as to her understanding of God’s will, appearing as an angel of light to lead her to the supposed true interpretation. She received him without fear or surprise, but as some credible messenger from heaven with the true understanding. This was possible because of his cunning and guile.

3:2-3 You shall not eat. In her answer, Eve blamed the great liberty that they had; with only one exception, they could eat all the fruit.

3:3 or touch it. An addition to the original prohibition as recorded (). Adam may have so instructed her for her protection. Or maybe she was stretching the truth to further blame God.

3:4, 5 will not die. Satan, emboldened by her openness to him, spoke this direct lie. This lie actually led her and Adam to spiritual death (separation from God). We know now that Satan is a liar and murderer from the beginning this came through Jesus' words in . His lies always promise great benefits (as in v. 5). Eve experienced this result—she and Adam did know good and evil. But they missed one fact, they would know good and evil through their personal corruption, while God knows it in perfect holiness.

3:6 good … delight … desirable. (Good-food-taste-physical, delight-sight-spiritual, desirable-wisdom-pride-emotional) She decided that Satan was telling the truth and she had misunderstood God, but she didn’t know what she was doing. It was not overt rebellion against God, but seduction and deception to make her believe her act was the right thing to do (later we see v. 13). The NT confirms that Eve was deceived (; ).

he ate. A direct transgression without deception. Adam should have spoke to Eve about her disobedience to God but the only sound he made was "crunch".

II. Condemnation,

A. Internal (with in man) ()

With sin came condemnation and it was first evident inside Adam and Eve. Their nature had changed and they were no longer innocent but guilty of sin and disobeying God. This same fallen nature will be born in all humans that will come after them. It will take the power of the Gospel through Jesus' blood to break sin's hold on mankind.

3:7 opened … knew … sewed. The "not ashamed" noted in 2:25 had been replaced by guilt and shame, and from then on they had to rely on their conscience to distinguish between good and their newly acquired capacity to see and know evil.

The results, of their sin were anticlimactic. The promise of divine enlightenment did not come about. They both ate and saw, but they were spoiled by so doing. They were ill at ease with one another (mistrust and alienation) and they were ill at ease with God (fearful and hiding from Him). Satan’s promises never come true. Wisdom is never attained by disobeying God’s Word. Instead the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ().

Ques: Were they blind before? No.

Ques: Did they not know that they were naked? No, they knew.

Ques: Why d0 they want to cover their nakedness? They were ashamed of their nakedness.

3:8 hid themselves. God appeared, as before, in tones of goodness and kindness, walking in some visible form (perhaps Shekinah light as He later appeared to Moses). He came not in fury, but in the same way He had walked with Adam and Eve before. But now, the heart of man is different and so is the relationship he had with God.

They heard and they hid. They heard the sound of a loving God and attempted to hid from Him who knows ALL things. The condemned man's first interaction with God was an act of futility.

Ques: Did God know where they were? Yes.

3:9 “Where are you?” This question was God’s way of bringing man to the point of explaining why he was hiding, rather than expressing ignorance about man’s location. Shame, remorse, confusion, guilt, and fear all led to their covert behavior. There was no place to hide; there never is with the omniscient God. Read .

3:10 sound of You or Your voice. The sound of 3:8, which probably was God calling for Adam and Eve as He walked through the garden. Adam responded with the language of fear and sorrow, but not confession. I would say that Adam never hid from God before and I find it amusing that Adam is doing all the talking here while Eve remains silent. Too bad it's too late for her to "shut up" now.

Ques: Adam was afraid, do you think he had been afraid before when God came to fellowship with him? No. Why now? Sin and nakedness.

3:11 Who told you ... Have you eaten. Two leading questions from God. Adam’s sin was evidenced by his new knowledge of the evil of nakedness, but God still waited for Adam to confess to what God knew they had done.

The basic reluctance of sinful people to admit their iniquity is established here. Repentance is still the issue, (1) when sinners refuse to repent, they suffer judgment, (2) when they do repent, they receive forgiveness.

Ques: Who told Adam he was naked? His conscience told him he was naked and that is was wrong to be that way. He now knew about evil and he could even feel the effects of evil.

3:12 The woman whom You gave. Adam pitifully put the responsibility on God for giving him Eve. That only magnified the tragedy in that Adam had knowingly transgressed God’s prohibition, but still would not be open and confess his sin, taking full responsibility for his action, which was not made under deception (). Eve gave it to him and he ate (). Mankind has been passing the buck since then.

3:13 The serpent deceived me. The woman’s desperate effort to pass the blame to the serpent, which was partially true (), did not relieve her of the responsibility for her dis-trust and disobedience toward God.

Ques: What do you think was God's purpose for asking all the questions that He know the answer? To get Adam and Eve to think about their sin and to repent.

B. External (all of creation) ().

Not only did the condemnation of sin take hold of man on the inside but it also placed a curse on the creation outside of mankind. He would now live in a world not of lush beauty but of thorns and thistles. He will now work and eat by the sweat of his brow.

C. Eternal (for all time) ().

Condemnation came on the inside of mankind and on the outside of mankind and it came to stay. The pleasures enjoyed in the garden would never return to mankind in his current state. It will take the love and the power of God to bring mankind back to the full fellowship he enjoyed with God in the garden before he sinned. One day though man will be changed in a twinkling of an eye and the earth will be made new as it was before and man and God will live together.

3:14 to the serpent. The cattle and all the rest of creation were cursed as a result of Adam and Eve’s eating, but the serpent was uniquely cursed by being made to slither on its belly. It probably had legs before this curse. Now snakes represent all that is revolting, disgusting, and low. They are branded with shame and avoided with fear. (I hate snakes and I refuse to watch them in movies!)

3:15 After cursing the (1) physical serpent (v. 14), God turned to the (2) spiritual serpent, the lying seducer, Satan, and cursed him (v. 15).

bruise you on the head … bruise Him on the heel. This the “first gospel” is prophetic of the struggle and its outcome between “your seed” (Satan and unbelievers, who are called the Devil’s children in [read]) and her seed (that is Christ, a descendant of Eve, and those in Him [us]), which began in the garden.

He. In the midst of the curse passage, a message of hope shone forth—the woman’s offspring called “He” is Christ, who will one day defeat the Serpent. Satan could only “bruise” Christ’s heel (cause Him to suffer [the cross]), while Christ will bruise Satan’s head (destroy him with a fatal blow [lake of fire]).

3:16 pain in childbirth. This is a constant reminder that a woman gave birth to sin in the human race and passes it on to all her children. She can be delivered from this curse by raising godly children who will bless her and not cause her pain by living an ungodly life.

Why do you think it is harder to raise godly children now than in years before? In our current time there are more social options that draw young people into sinful acts.

Your desire … he will rule. Just as the woman and her Seed will engage in a war with the serpent, i.e., Satan and his seed (v. 15), because of sin and the curse, the man and the woman will face struggles in their own relationship. Sin has turned the harmonious system of God-ordained roles into distasteful struggles of self-will. Lifelong companions, husbands and wives, will need God’s help in getting along as a result. The woman’s desire will be to lord it over her husband, but the husband will rule by divine design ().

Would you agree that the woman’s movement of today is a direct rebellion against the command of God that the man will rule over the woman? yes

3:17 Because you have listened. The reason given for the curse on the ground and human death is that man turned his back on the voice of God, to follow his wife in eating that from which God had ordered him to abstain. The woman sinned because she (1) acted independently of her husband, (2) scorning his leadership, (3) counsel, and (4) protection. The man sinned because he (1) abandoned his leadership roles and (2) followed the wishes of his wife. In both cases, God’s intended roles were reversed. [The ordained order is: God over man and man over woman. Man obeys God and woman obeys man. Then they both are obeying God.]

3:17 Cursed is the ground because of you. God cursed the object of man’s labor and made it only yielding his food through hard work.

3:18 He will now eat of the plants of the field and not of the garden as before. Sin took him down and diminished his life style. He gave up the life giving blessings of the garden for the curse ridden wilderness or field.

3:19 return to the ground. I.e., to die. Man, by sin, became mortal. Although he did not die the moment he ate (by God’s mercy), he was changed immediately and became liable to all the sufferings and miseries of life, to death, and to the pains of hell forever. Adam lived 930 years (5:5). A lot of time to regret one moment of disobedience to God and to mourn the death of a son by the hand of another son.

3:19 For you are dust. Man will return to dust and become the serpent’s prey again (serpent eats dust, 3:14). So much for ambitions and for divinity! Man may attempt to be like God, but he is "just dust".

Chapter Four

Cain & Able

Cain is the chief actor in this chapter, and his character and conduct are revealed in four different aspects.

I. The Worshiper, "Cain Worshiped without Faith"

II. The Murderer, "Cain Murdered without Love for His Brother Abel"

III. The Wanderer, "Cain Wandered without God's Guidance"

IV. The Builder, "Cain Built a City but not a Godly Family"

In the story of Cain and Abel the seed of the woman met the seed of the serpent.

- (God speaking) And I will put enmity

Between you (the serpent) and the woman,

And between your seed (Cain) and her seed (Abel);

Cain fell to the prey of the crouching evil (Satan) and eventually went out to form a godless society and rejecting God’s way. The “way of Cain” is (1) a lack of faith which shows itself in envy of God’s dealings with the righteous, (2) in murderous acts, (3) in denial of responsibility, and (4) in refusal to accept God’s punishment.

What Jude said about the "way of Cain":

- Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

(The fate of Korah and his followers [250 men and their families].)

31 As he (Moses) finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open;

32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.

33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

This may be the fate of evil Hollywood! But I think God will move the godly first.

I. The Worshiper, "Cain Worshiped without Faith"

God’s promise in and Adam’s faith in are both seen in . Eve brought new life into the world, and she thought her child was the promised Seed. But the nature of rebellious mankind unfolds in the person of Cain who had an auspicious beginning as the child of hope. Abel, however, seems to be lined up with God’s original purpose for man, that is, to have dominion over life (); he kept the flocks.

4:1 man had relations with his wife Eve. The act of sexual intercourse was considered to be the only means by which God Himself gave children. He was acknowledged as the sovereign giver of all life.

Cain was the first born. Eve considered him to be the promised Seed from God but through his actions we will know better.

4:2 Again, she gave birth. Some think the boys may have been twins, since no time element intervenes between verses one and two (vv. 1, 2), but this cannot be confirmed in other scriptures.

keeper of flocks … tiller of the ground. Both occupations were respectable; in fact, most people lived through a combination of both. God’s focus was not on their vocation, but on the nature of their respective offerings.

“Cain” means “acquired”—the baby boy was looked upon as a gift from God. Abel means “vanity, vapor”—it suggests the futility of life apart from God, or perhaps Eve’s disappointment that Cain was not the promised Seed (Christ). From the very beginning, we see a division of work: as Cain is identified with the ground, Abel with the flock. God had already cursed the ground (), so Cain is identified with that curse. God had covered the nakedness of man and woman with animal skin so Abel was identified with with God's forgiveness.

4:3 in the course of time. Some time has pasted since Cain and Abel are now working and providing for themselves. God considered them to be men.

fruit of the ground. Just produce in general.

4:4 firstlings … fat portions. The best of Abel's animals, that is the first fruits of his possessions.

4:4, 5 Abel’s offering was acceptable (see below ), not just because it was an animal, nor just because it was the very best of what he had, nor even that it was the culmination of a zealous heart for God.

But, Abel's sacrifice was made “by faith;” this faith rested in God, not only as the Creator and the God of providence, but especially in God as the great Redeemer. On account of that “faith” which looked forward to the great atoning sacrifice, Abel’s offering was accepted by God. Cain’s offering had no such reference, and therefore was rejected. Abel was the first martyr, as he was the first of our race to die.

The writer of Hebrews gives us more light:

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

Abel may be dead today but he still speaks through the faith he had in God.

II. The Murderer, "Cain Murdered without Love for His Brother Abel"

4:6 angry. Rather than being repentant for his sinful disobedience, he was hostile toward God, whom he could not kill, and jealous of his brother, whom he could kill (read ).

4:7 do well … will not your countenance be lifted up. God reminded Cain that if he had obeyed God and offered the animal sacrifices God had required, his sacrifices would have been acceptable. It wasn’t personal preference on God’s part, or disdain for Cain’s vocation, or the quality of his produce that caused God to reject his sacrifice. We must conclude that it was the absence of Cain's faith in God.

sin is crouching at the door. God told Cain that if he chose not to obey His commands, ever-present sin, crouched and waiting to pounce like a lion, would fulfill its desire to overpower him.

Ques: Have you ever experience this in your life? Yes, I have. Sin is ever present and ready to pounce on me and in moments of weakness it does.

but you must master it. This is the hardest task that a Christian faces in his walk with God. Paul speaks on this in

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,

13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

4:8 Cain told Abel his brother. The question is what did Cain say to his brother Able. Since we are not told the exact words we have to observe the events to determine what may have been said by Cain. It had to be either what the Lord God said to him in the foregoing verses, or he spoke to him in a kind and friendly manner, and thereby got him to take a walk in the field with him.

killed him. The first murder in Scripture. Cain (1) rejected the wisdom spoken to him by God Himself, (2) rejected doing well, (3) refused to repent, and thus (4) crouching sin pounced on him and turned him into a killer. (read ).

There are several references to Abel in the New Testament. Our Savior speaks of him as “righteous” ().

III. The Wanderer, "Cain Wandered without God's Guidance"

4:9 Am I my brother’s keeper? Cain’s sarcasm was a play on words, based on the fact that Abel was the “keeper” of sheep. Lying was the third sin resulting from Cain’s attitude of indifference to God’s commands. Sin was ruling over him (v. 7). (other sins 1. lack of faith, v. 5; 2. murder, v. 8)

4:10 voice … blood. A figure of speech to indicate that Abel’s death was well known to God.

4:11 cursed from the ground. A second curse came from God affecting the productivity of the soil that Cain would till. To a farmer like Cain, this curse was severe, and meant that Cain would all his life be a wanderer, “a fugitive and a vagabond” (vv. 12, 14).

4:14 whoever finds me will kill me. This shows that the population of the earth was, by then, greatly increased. As a wanderer and scavenger in an agricultural world, Cain would be easy prey for those who wanted his life.

4:15 sign. While not described here, it involved some sort of identifiable sign that he was under divine protection which was mercifully given to Cain by God. At the same time, the mark that saved him was the lifelong sign of his shame.

4:16 Nod. An unknown location. The word can be translated "exile" or "land of exile".

IV. The Builder, "Cain Built a City but not a Godly Family"

4:17 Cain had relations with his wife. Cain’s wife obviously was one of Adam’s later daughters (5:4). By Moses’ time, this kind of close marriage was forbidden (), because of genetic decay.

Enoch. His name means “initiation,” and was symbolic of the new city where Cain would try to mitigate his curse. This Enoch was not the man who God took to heaven without him dying first ().

Who is the father of the man who lived the longest and he never died? Enoch

4:19 two wives. No reason is given on Lamech’s part for the first recorded instance of bigamy. He led the Cainites in open rebellion against God (cf. 2:24) by his violation of marriage law.

4:20 Jabal. He invented tents and the nomadic life of herdsmen so common in the Middle East and elsewhere.

4:21 Jubal. He invented both stringed and wind instruments.

4:22 Tubal-cain. He invented metallurgy.

4:23, 24 Lamech killed someone in self-defense. He told his wives that they need not fear any harm coming to them for the killing because if anyone tried to retaliate, he would retaliate and kill them. He thought that if God promised 7-fold vengeance on anyone killing Cain, He would give 77-fold vengeance on anyone attacking Lamech.

4:25 Seth. With Cain removed as the older brother and heir of the family blessing, and with Abel dead, God graciously gave Adam and Eve a godly son through whom the seed of redemption (3:15) would be passed all the way to Jesus Christ ().

4:26 men began to call on the name of the Lord. As men realized their inherent sinfulness with no human means to appease God’s righteous indignation and wrath over their multiplied iniquities, they turned to God for mercy and grace in hopes of a restored personal relationship.

Chapter Five

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Chapter Six

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Chapter Seven

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Chapter Eight

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Chapter Nine

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Chapter Ten

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Chapter Eleven

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