THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FORSCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR

LAKESIDE MINISTRIESGENESIS

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LESSON ONE

THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE AND OF MAN

IN THE BEGINNING (John 17:5)‘And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.’Let us go back to the very beginning when there was nothing, no heaven or Hell and no earth or even stars in what we call the universe. In this great void we find Elohim the God who is love, and Spirit and also invisible. He was complete and yet there was something missing in the sceme of things. Jesus gave us a clue, when He said, ‘But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.’ John 4:23. Solomon said that the heavens of heavens cannot contain God let alone this Temple that He had build. So what did God do?

1. The first things that God did was to created a being called the Memra, Logos, who we now know is the Word of God, the beginning of the creation of God as Revelation 3:14 tells us.

2. Now through this being called the Word, God begain to create heaven, angels, sheol [Hell], the stars and other bodies of worlds, and then finally He created the earth and mankind to dwell on it. Jn. 1:3, Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2

3. This being called the Word we find as John said, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…’ John 1:1, 2, 14 KJV

4. We call this being who is the Word of God, Yeshua, [Jesus] of Nazareth. Is it any wonder that He could describe what went on with the rich man and Lazarius after death, since He was the one who created this place of waiting for both the righteous and the unrighteous.

5. Jesus made a statement in Matthew 11:27 ‘…neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.’ When you look back through the history of the Bible you find:

(a) ‘And they heard the voice [Word] of the Lord God walking [not floating by] in the garden in the cool of this day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amonst the trees of the garden.’ Genesis 3:8 [You don’t hide from something invisible]. So they were hiding from the Word of God.

(b) ‘And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre…And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him…And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that things which I do; And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham:…’ Genesis 18:1, 2, 17, 33 KJV As we read further we find that two of the men went on to Sodom so then the third man stayed and talked to Abraham. [So again the Word is manifested to a man].

(c) ‘And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’ Exodus 3:5 And we find in the Book of Joshua chapter 5:13-15 that again a being appears to Joshua with a sword drawn and Joshua finds out that is is the captian of the Lord’s

host, and what does He say to Joshua, ‘loose your shoe from off your foot; for the place whereon you stand is holy. And Joshua did so.’

[Again we find the Word of God manifested to a man, for we see in Matthew 26:53 that Jesus speaking to Peter said, ‘Think you not that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? And let me draw your attention to Revelation 29:l3, 14 ‘And he was clothed with a vestgure dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.’ 6. We must remember that there is only One God not two or three or even seven. And this one God has

never been seen by man [John 6:46], because He fills the universe and is invisible to us. What all of these men say was the ‘Word of God’ who has been called Elohim, YHVH, Jehovah, Adonai Yeshua, Jesus.

7. Jesus tells us that ‘I and my Father are one.’ John 10:30 and also ‘…He that hath seen me hath seen the Father;…’ John 14:9 But we must also remember the word that Jesus said in John 14:28 ‘…for my Father is greater than I.’ And you must remember that when Thomas saw the resurrected Lord that he said, ‘…My Lord and my God.’ John 20:28 Now in case you are confused, God is our Father and there is only One of Him, Jesus is the manifestation of that One invisible God and that is way in Revelation 22:1 there is only one throne and it is shared by God [Father] and the Lamb [Son]. Paul the Learner

CREATION OF THE WORLD (Gen. 1:1-2:3)

Gen. 1:1 IN THE BEGINNING (Hebrew word here is BERESHITH)

In verse one is a majestic summary of the story of creation: God is the beginning, no, the Cause of all things. Truly this is a book of beginnings.

Gen. 1:1 GOD (Hebrew word here is ELOHIM)

There are various Hebrew terms used for the word God in the Bible. Most of these terms were employed also by the Canaanites, to designate their pagan gods. This is not surprising; since on settling in the Promised Land the Patriarchs and early Israelites made "the language of Canaan" their own (Isa. 19:18), the Hebrew language would naturally use the Canaanite vocabulary for terms designating their own Deity. It must be noted, however, that in the Bible these various terms, when used by the Israelites to designate their own Deity, refer to one and the same God, the sole God of Israel.

1. `EL The oldest Semitic term for God is `El (corresponding to Akkadian ilu (m), Canaanite `El or `IL, and Arabic `El as an element in personnel names). It is commonly thought that the term derived from a root `yl or `wl, meaning "TO BE POWERFUL" (cf. yesh le-el yadi, "It is in the power of my hand, "Gen. 31:29; cf. Deut. 28:32; Micah 2:1)

In the Bible `El is seldom used as the personal name of God, e.g., `El-`Elohei-Yisrael, "El, the God of (the Patriarch) Israel" (Gen. 33:20; cf. Ps. 146:5). Of special interest are the divine names of which El is the first element: `El `Elyon, `El `Olam, `El Shaddai, `El Ro'i, and `El Berit.

2. `EL `ELYON The Hebrew word `Elyon is an adjective meaning "HIGHER, UPPER," e.g., the "upper" pool Isa. 7:3) , the "upper" gate (2 Kings 15:35), and "highest," e.g., the "highest" of all the kings of the earth (Ps. 89:28). When used in reference to God, the word can rightly be translated as "MOST HIGH," (e.g., Deut. 32:8; Isa. 14:14; Ps. 9:3) or in parallelism with YHWH (e.g. Ps. 18:14; 21:8; 83:19). El (Num. 24:16; Ps. 107:11). and Shaddai (Ps. 91:1)

3. ‘EL ‘OLAM According to Genesis 21:33, "Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-Sheba, and invoked there the name of YHWH, the EVERLASTING GOD," is `El `Olam, literally, "the God of an indefinitely long time," The epithet is logical in the Context, which concerns a pact meant for all times.

4. `EL SHADDAI According to the literary source of the Pentateuch that the critics call the "Priestly Document," YHWH "appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as EL SHADDAI" (Ex. 6:3)

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The traditional English rendering of the obscure Hebrew term "EL SHADDAI" as "GOD ALMIGHTY' goes back to ancient times, The (LXX Septuagint) renders SHADDAI as PANTOKRATOR, "ALL-POWERFUL'; this is followed by the Vulgate's OMNIPOTENCE 'OMNIPOTENT." Apparently, this rendering is based on an ancient rabbinical interpretation, SHA, 'WHO,' and DAI, "ENOUGH," i.e., "HE WHO IS SELF-SUFFICIENT' (e.g., Hag. 1:2 'LORD OF HOSTS,'); thus, the Jewish translators Aquila and Symmachus in the early centuries CE translated SHADDAI by Greek HIKANOS, "sufficient, able."

In the Bible the full name, `EL SHADDAI, is used only in connection with Abraham (Gen. 17:1). Isaac (Gen. 28:3), and Jacob (Gen./ 35:11; 43:14; 48:3). The word SHADDAI alone occurs as God's name in the ancient oracles of Balaam (Num. 24:4,16).

5. `EL RO'I The divine name "EL RO'I occurs in Genesis 16:13. The name could mean either "THE GOD OF VISION" (who showed Himself to me). After Hagar was driven away by Sarai (Sarah) and fled into the western Negev, at a certain spring or well she had a vision of God, "and she called YHWH who spoke to her, 'You are 'EL RO'I" or it could also mean "THE GOD WHO SEES ME."

6. `EL BERIT The divine name "EL BERIT ("GOD OF THE COVENANT") occurs only in Judges 9:46, where mention is made of "the house (i.e., temple) of `EL BERIT" at Shechem.

7. `ELOHA, `ELOHIM The word `ELOHA "GOD" and its plural, `ELOHIM, is apparently a lengthened form of `EL (cf. Aramaic `ELAH, Arabic `ILAH). In the vast majority of cases, however, the plural form (`ELOHIM,) is treated as if it were a noun in the SINGULAR. The odd fact that Hebrew uses a plural noun to designate the sole God of Israel has been explained in various ways. It is not to be understood as a remnant of the polytheism of Abraham's ancestors, or hardly as a "plural of majesty" if there is such a thing in Hebrew. Some scholars take it as a plural that expresses an abstract idea (e.g. ZEKUNIM, "old age'; NE'URIM, "time of youth"), so that "ELOHIM would really mean "THE DIVINITY." More likely however, it came from Canaanite usage: the early Israelites would have taken over "ELOHIM as a singular noun just as they made their own the rest of the Canaanite language.

8. `ADONAI The Hebrew word 'ADON is correctly rendered in English as "LORD." Since GOD IS "LORD / 'ADON/ of all the earth" (Josh. 3:11), He is addressed and spoken of as "MY LORD" -in Hebrew, 'ADONAI (literally, "MY LORDS." In the plural in keeping with the plural form, "ELOHIM, and always with the "pausal" form of a long a at the end). Later, "ADONAI" was taken to be a name of God, the "LORD"

9. YHWH The personal name of the God of Israel is written in the Hebrew Bible with the four consonants YHWH and is referred to as the "Tetragrammation."

There are three types of "AZKAROTH" (names of God):

(1) The Name spelled YOD, HE', VAV, HE' called the EXPLICIT NAME(Ref. Yoma 66a and 69b) or the Tetragrammation (Kid 71a). (ref. THE TALMUD)

(2) The Name spelled "ALEF, DALET, NUM, YOD (viz. "ADONAY) called the Kinui, i.e. the Substitute for the Implicit Name (ref. Sot. 38a).

(3) Other names: `EYL, `ELOHEKHA, `ELOHIM, `ELOHEYKHEM, `EHYEH-ASHER-`EHYEH, SHADAY, Z'BA'OTH, which are described as "Names not to be erased" (ref. Sh'bu 35a), because it is forbidden to erase them. “Moses said to God, “when I come to the Israelites and say to them “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask Me, “what is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, "EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH,* "He continued, "Thus shall you say to the Israelites, 'EHYEH' sent me to you." Exodus 3:13,14 (THE TORAH)

* Meaning of Hebrew uncertain; variously translated: "I AM THAT I AM"; "I AM WHO I AM"; "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE"; etc.Note: When Christian scholars of Europe first began to study Hebrew, they did not understand what this really meant, and they introduced the hybrid named "JEHOVAH." In order to avoid pronouncing even the sacred name 'ADONAI for YHWH, the custom was later introduced of saying simply in Hebrew HA-SHEM (or Aramaic SHEMA.' "THE NAME") even in such

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an expression as "Blessed be he that comet in the name of YHWH" is generally ascribed to a sense of reverence. More precisely, it was caused by a misunderstanding of the Third Commandment (Ex. 20:7; Deut. 5:11) as meaning "Thou shalt not take the name of YHWH thy God in vain." Whereas it really means "You shall not swear falsely by the name of YHWH your God."

The true pronunciation of the name YHWH was never lost. Several early Greek writers of the Christian Church testify that the name was pronounced "YAHWEH." This is confirmed, at least for the vowel of the first syllable of the name, by the shorter form YAH, which is sometimes used in poetry (i.e., Ex. 15:2) and the -YAHU of --YAH that serves as the final syllable in very many Hebrew names. In the opinion of many scholars, YHWH is a verbal form of the root HWH, which is an older variant of the root HYH "TO BE." The vowel of the first syllable shows that the verb is used as a future-present causative HIPH'IL, and must therefore mean "He causes to be, He brings into existence." The explanation of the name as given in Exodus 3:14, EHEYEH-ASHER-EHEYEH, "I --AM-WHO-I-AM."

Up to this point in the lesson, we have dealt with Israel's concept of God's Name. Now we will deal with the Christian's concept of the name of God, which is JESUS, WHO IS THE CHRIST OF GOD, THE LIVING WORD OF GOD.

1. Jesus was in the form of God.2. God gave Jesus a name above all other names.3. Jesus will receive a New Name. (Ref. Phil. 2:6,9; Rev. 3:12)

Let us look at an Old Testament Scripture that proves that Jesus Christ is Lord Indeed."For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The MIGHTY GOD, The everlasting FATHER, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Isaiah 9:6,7 (ref. King James)

Let's view this passage of Scripture from some of the most ancient sources available to us.

1. "..........His NAME is called, Wonderful, counselor of the mighty God, of the everlasting Father, the “Prince of Peace” (Hebrew Publishing Co. 1915 Isaac Leeser)

2. "............And his name if called* *PELE-JOEZ-EL-GIBBOR-ABI-AD-SAR-SHALOM, That is, Wonderful in counsel is God the Mighty, the everlasting Father, the Ruler of peace." (The Masoretic Text 1965)

3. "............and his name has been called from of old, Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, He who lives for ever, theANOINTED ONE (or, MESSIAH)," (The Targum of Isaiah 1953)

4. "...........His name is called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty One, The EVERLASTING GOD, The Prince of Peace." (The Peshitta 1957)

5. "..........and his name if called THE MESSENGER OF GREAT COUNSEL." (LXX Septuagint 1954)

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21This JESUS (EE-AY-SOOCE' Greek or YEH-HO-SHOO'-AH Hebrew) MEANS JEHOVAH - SAVED and is indeed the salvation of God to a lost and a dying world.

We find that through the name of JESUS we have:

(a) Salvation Acts 4:12 (b) Healing Acts 4:12

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As to how the name of God affects you and me, note the following Scriptures:

1. It's a strong tower for our safety. Proverbs 18:102. What ever we do we must do in His Name. Col. 3:173. We take on His Name as His Children. Eph. 3:14,15

Genesis 1:1 CREATED * (Hebrew word here is BARA)

The Hebrew word is in the singular, thus precluding any ideal that its subject, ELOHIM, is to be understood in a plural sense. Man is spoken of as 'making' or 'forming,' but never as 'CREATING,' e.g. producing something out of nothing.

* NOTE: CREATED

From the Targum of Onkelos on this verse, "In the first times the Lord created the heavens and the earth." In the FIRST TIMES is BE KADMIN, "In antiquities." This expression, when used as here, in the plural, is sometimes put for "eternity." Compare Onkelos on Deut. 33:27, ELOHA DE-MILKADMIN, "the ETERNAL God," or "God who is from eternity," with the Targum Jonathan Ben Uzziel on Micah 5:2, "MESSIAH.......whose name is called (MILKADMIN) from eternity." Ref. John 1:1-14.

Questions:

1. According to the Scriptures who created all things?

Answer: Job 38:4-6 God said He did it.

John 1:1-3 The WORD (God) was the creative force.

Hebrews 1:2 The Son (God's Manifested Word) did it.

2. What was the first thing created by God?

Answer: Revelation 3:14 The WORD was the beginning of God's creation. Notice I did not say Jesus the son of God, who was born to redeem mankind from death.

Example:

GOD

WORD (The Theophines - Manifestation of the invisible God)

HEAVEN .......................................EARTH...................................................HELL

1. The Word walked with Abraham and Adam and spoke to Moses on the Mountain top.2. The Word became man (God was in Christ) in other words Jesus was perfect Man and Perfect God.3. The Man died on the Cross not God.4. The Ancient of Days of Daniel and Revelation is coming back to earth with His vesture dipped in blood and He Is called the WORD OF GOD. We know Him as Jesus the Son of the Living God. (Daniel 7:9-14 and Jn. 1:14; Revelation 1:13-18)

Genesis 1:1 HEAVEN (Hebrew word here is SHAMEH) and the EARTH (Hebrew word is ERETS)

The sky both the visible arches in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve (Heaven). To be firm; the (Earth).

There is no elaborate argument in proof of the existence of God. The Holy Ghost could not enter upon anything of the kind. God reveals Himself. He makes Himself known by His works. Ref. Ps. 19:1; 145:10.

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"BERESHITH ELOHIM BARA SHAMEH ERETS." In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

As we see in Romans 4:17 ".......and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Up to this point God has done nothing as far as creating anything. We find this also in the following Scripture dealing with that which was created in the mind of God before or from the foundation of the earth.

1. Rev. 1:8 The Alpha and Omega (Christ) 2. John 1:1 The Word (Jesus-God manifested in Flesh) 3. Matthew 13:35 Things kept secret 4. Matthew 25:34 The kingdom prepared for you 5. John 17:24 The Father's love for His Son (Jesus) 6. Eph. 1:4 Us (The Church) in him (Jesus the Christ) 7. Heb. 4:3 Works were finished (God's Plans) 8. I Pet. 1:19,20 God's perfect lamb for you.9. Rev. 13:8 Lamb slain10. Rev. 17:8 The book of life

In Genesis 2:3, this distinction between creation in the mind of God and the actual creation itself is clearly shown when it says:"And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from ALL HIS work which God CREATED TO MAKE (margin). His creative plan was finished before the foundation of the world, but His work 'IS NOT YET DONE.' In the LXX (Septuagint) Genesis 2:3 is recorded as: "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He ceased from all his works which GOD BEGAN TO DO."

1:1: A tradition over two millennia old sees 1:1 as a complete sentence: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In the 11th century, the great Jewish commentator Rashi made a case that the verse functions as a temporal clause. This is, in fact, how some ancient Near Eastern creation stories begin – including the one that starts at 2:4b. Hence the translation, When God began to create heaven and earth.’

Jewish Study Bible.We are laying a foundation for our next Scripture, Genesis 1:2

Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."An excellent rendering of this verse in the LXX (Septuagint) "And the earth was INVISIBLE and unfurnished and there was darkness over this abyss."

1. Genesis 1:1................................... The Plan of God2. Genesis 1:2................................... The Plan put into operation3. Genesis 1:3 .................................. God creates light4. Genesis 1:4 .................................. God divided light from darkness5. Genesis 1:6-10..............................God forms the heavens, earth

At the time of the initial creation, there were no other planets, stars, or other material bodies in the universe; nor did any of them come into being until the fourth day. The earth itself originally had no form to it (Genesis 1:2); so this verse must speak essentially of the creation of the basic elements of matter, which thereafter were to be organized into other material bodies

HOW

These three elements of SPACE, MATTER, TIME, no one of which can have a meaningful existence without the other two. The term MATTER is understood to include ENERGY, and must function in both spaces and in time. "SPACE" is measurable and accessible to sense observance only in terms of the entities that exist and the events that happen in space, and these require both matter and time. The concept TIME likewise is meaningful only in terms of entities and events existing and transpiring during time which likewise require space and matter.

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In other words the Omniscient God called into existence the SPACE-MASS-TIME universe.

WHEN

The only possibility of obtaining anything approximating an exact chronology would have to lie in the Bible itself. Biblical data essentially cluster around the following framework:

l. Genesis 1 gives the time from the creation of the universe to the creation of human being. (Note human being was created with an age already as were trees and rocks, etc.)

2. Genesis 5 contains chronological data from the time of the first man to the great Flood.

3. Genesis 11 summaries the chronology from the Flood to Abraham, the founder of the Hebrew nation.

4. The historical books of the Old Testament (especially Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles) contain chronological data of the nation of Israel from the time of Abraham to the captivity.

5. The chronology of the captivity and restoration is obtained from certain of the prophetical books (specially Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel) and the post captivity historic books (Ezra and Nehemiah).

WHY

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: FOR thou hast created all things, and FOR THY PLEASURE THEY ARE AND WERE CREATED." Rev. 4:11

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Ps. 24:1

"Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?" Isa. 66:1

So we can assume that the earth is indeed the Lord's and He created it for His good pleasure and He calls it His footstool. He made it and it belongs to Him.

Genesis 1:2 'AND THE EARTH WAS.............'

It is significant that every verse in the first chapter of Genesis (Except Genesis 1:1) begins with the conjunction "AND" (Hebrew WAW). This structure clearly means that each statement is sequentially and chronologically connected to the verses before and after. Each action follows directly upon the action described in the verse preceding it. This pattern must apply to the first two verses, as well as to any other pair of verses in the chapter. Thus there seems no room for a chronological gap of any consequence between the first two verses of Genesis.The condition described in verse 2 follows immediately upon the creative act of verse 1.

"WITHOUT FORM AND VOID"

THE ESSENTIAL MEANING, THEREFORE, IS: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (or SPACE and MATTER), and the matter so created was at first unformed and uninhabited."

The created cosmos, as discussed earlier, was a tri-universe of TIME, SPACE, and MATTER. Initially there were no stars or planets, only the basic matter component of the space-matter-time continuum. The elements that were to be formed into the planet Earth were at first only elements, not yet formed but nevertheless comprising the basic matter- the "DUST" of the earth.

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"DARKNESS UPON THE FACE OF THE DEEP"

The idea that God, being Light, could not create a world in darkness is invalid, God Himself said: "I form the light, and create darkness...........(Isaiah 45:7). The physical universe, though created, was as yet neither formed nor ENERGIZED, and light is a form of energy. The absence of physical light means darkness, just as the absence of form and inhabitants means a universe in elemental form, not yet completed. No evil is implied in either case, merely incompleteness.

The "DEEP" (Hebrew word TEHOM) refers later to the waters of the ocean. Initially, however, the earth had no form; and similarly, this state must apply to the waters also. The picture presented is one of all the basic material elements sustained in a pervasive watery matrix throughout the darkness of space. The same picture is suggested in 2 Peter 3:5 "...The earth standing out of the water and in the water."

There is an important reference to the initial formless condition of this watery suspension in Proverbs 8:24,27: "When there were no depths (same word as 'deep'), I was brought forth...when he set a compass upon the face of the depth (or 'deep'). "This section of Proverbs 8 is a remarkable summary of the work of the Word of God,* which is the creative force of God on the first three days of creation.

* The Targums (paraphrases of the Hebrew Scriptures) furnish us with how "the Word" was employed in connection with God. In the Targum of Onkelos on the Pentateuch which is the oldest in date, the action of God is constantly though not consistently referred to "His Word" (MEMRA,) Thus it is said that "the Lord protected Noah by His WORD, when he entered the ark" (Gen. 7:16): that He "made a covenant between Abraham and His WORD" (Gen. 17:2); that the WORD of the Lord was with Ishmael in the wilderness (Gen. 21:20). At Bethel Jacob made a covenant that "the WORD of the Lord should be His God" (Gen. 28:21). Moses at Sinai "brought forth the people to meet the WORD of God" (Exod. 19:17). And in Deuteronomy the WORD of the Lord appears as a consuming fire talking to His people, and fighting for them against their enemies. (Deut. 3:2, 4:24)

Is it any wonder then, that John the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ would start off in the writing of The Gospel of John with this statement, "In the beginning was the WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD." (John 1:1)

The first sentence of the Gospel offers a perfect example of the stately symmetry by which the whole narrative is marked. The three clauses of which the whole narrative is marked. The three clauses of which it consists are set aside by side (...and...and...); the Subject (the WORD) is three times repeated; and the substantive verb three times occupies the same elative position. The symmetry of form corresponds with the exhaustiveness of the thought. The three clauses contain all that it is possible for person to realize as to the essential nature of the WORD in relation to TIME, and MODE OF BEING, and CHARACTER.

He was: (1) IN THE BEGINNING(2) WITH GOD(3) GOD

At the same time these three clauses answer to the three great moments of the Incarnation of the WORD declared in John 1:14. He who "was God, "BECAME FLESH: He who "was with God, "TABERNACLED AMONG US (Comp. I John 1:2): He who "was in the beginning," BECAME (in time).

Note: This force of IN THE BEGINNING is brought out by a comparison with the corresponding phrase in I John 1:1, FROM THE BEGINNING. The latter marks the activity of the WORD in time from the initial point: the former

emphasizes the existence of the WORD at the initial point and so before time.

It was He who existed before there was an "earth" or a "deep" (proverbs' 8:23,24), and it was He who "set a compass upon the face of the depth (deep)" (Proverbs 8:27). The word "compass" is the Hebrew word CHUG, which also occurs in Isaiah 40:22 ("...He sitteth upon the circle of the earth...") and in Job 22:14 ("....He walketh in the circuit of heaven..."). It is thus a striking

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reference to the earth's sphericity, specially referring to the shape of the ocean, the spherical form of whose surface is everywhere the standard of measurement in vertical-that is, from sea level.

The fact that this "compass" had to be "set" on the face of the deep shows that the face of the deep originally had no such sphericity-it was FORMLESS, exactly as intimated in Genesis 1:2. Elements of matter and molecules of water were present, but not yet energized. The force of GRAVITY was not yet functioning to draw such particles together into a coherent mass with a definite form. Neither were the ELECTROMAGNETIC forces yet in operation and everything was in darkness. The physical universe had come into existence, but everything was still and dark - NO FORM, NO MOTION, NO LIGHT.

"THE FACE OF THE WATERS"

This term is synonymous with "the face of the deep." Again the word "FACE" means "PRESENCE," and the thought is that the formless waters, like the formless earth, were essentially a "presence" rather than a cohesive body.Although the marvelous universe had been called into existence by the omniscient Creator, it had not yet been instilled with energy and set in motion. This must await the ENERGIZING ACTION OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD and the ACTIVATING POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD.

"THE SPIRIT OF GOD MOVED"

The word "SPIRIT" is the Hebrew word RUACH, which is also the word for "WIND" and "BREATH." (Note Genesis 2:7 Adam (dust of the earth) God's breath brought Life.) The context determines which is the correct meaning in any given instance. In Genesis 1:2, there is no doubt that the creative activity requires not a wind but the person of God Himself. Since the universe was everywhere in need of activation, that Force of God that is both omnipresent and energizing is appropriately mentioned as working in the creation at this point.

This activity of the Holy Spirit is called that of "MOVING" in the presence of the waters. The word "moved" is the Hebrew word RACHAPH and it occurs only three times in the Old Testament, the other two being translated "SHAKE" (Jeremiah 23:9) and "FLUTTERETH" (Deuteronomy 32:11), respectfully. Some commentators relate the word particularly to the hovering of a mother hen over her chicks. In any case, the idea seems to be mainly that of a RAPID BACK AND FORTH MOTION.In modern scientific terminology, the best translation would probably be "VIBRATED." If the universe is to be energized, there must be an ENERGIZER. If it is to be set in motion, there must be a PRIME MOVER.

It is significant that the transmission of energy in the operations OF THE COSMOS IS as WAVES:

(a) Light waves(b) Heat waves(c) Sound waves(d) etc.

In fact (except for the nuclear forces that are involved in the structure of matter itself), there are only two fundamental types of forces that operate on matter-the GRAVITATIONAL FORCES and the forces of the ELECTROMAGNETIC spectrum. All are associated with "FIELDS" of activity and with transmission by WAVE MOTION.

WAVES are typically rapid back and forth movements and they are normally produced by the vibrator motion of a wave generator of some kind. Energy cannot create itself. It is most appropriate that the first importation of energy to the universe is described as the "VIBRATING" movement of the spirit of God Himself.

As the outflowing energy from God's omnipresent Spirit began to flow outward and to permeate the cosmos, GRAVITATIONAL FORCES WERE ACTIVATED and water and earth particles came together to form a great SPHERE MOVING THROUGH SPACE. (Job 38:4-6) Other such particles would soon come together also to form SUN, MOON and STARS throughout the universe. There was now a "COMPASS" on the face of the deep, and the formless earth had assumed the beautiful form of a perfect sphere. It was now ready for LIGHT and HEAT and other forms of enlivening energy.

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There is another "moving" of the Spirit of God mentioned in the Bible. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were MOVED by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). Here the word "MOVED" is from the Greek word PHERO, which in fact is used in the LXX (Septuagint) as the translation of "moved" in Genesis 1:2. As the Holy Spirit energized the primeval universe, to bring form and life to God's creation, so He later empowered God's prophets, to bring beauty and spiritual life to His new creation, through the energizing Word that they inscripturated.

First the Spirit of God imparted motion and form to the inert and shapeless elements, and next would come the energy of light to dispel the darkness.

1:2: This clause describes things just before the process of creation began. To modern people, the opposite of the created order is “nothing,” that is, a vacuum. To the ancients, the opposite of the created order was something much worse than “nothing.” It was an active, malevolent force we can best term “chaos.” In this verse, chaos is envisioned as a dark, undifferentiated mass of water. In 1:9, God creates the day land (and the Seas, which can exist only when water is bounded by dry land). But in 1:1-2:3, water itself and darkness, too, are primordial (contrast Isa. 45:7). In the Midrash, Bar Kappara upholds the troubling notion that the Torah shows that God created the world out of pre-existent material.

But other rabbis worry that acknowledging this would cause people to liken God to a king who had built his palace on a garbage dump, thus arrogantly impugning His majesty (reference Gen. Rab. 1:5). In the ancient Near East, however, to say that a deity had subdued chaos is to give him the highest praise. [JSB]

Genesis 1:3-5

This is the first record of God speaking in the Bible. "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night." As though in anticipation of future misunderstanding, God carefully defined His terms! The very first time He used the word "day" (Hebrew YOM), He defined it as the "light," to distinguish it from the "darkness" called "night."

Such a cyclical light-dark arrangement clearly means that the earth was now rotating on its axis and that there was a source of light on one side of the earth corresponding to the sun, even though the sun was not yet made (Genesis 1:16). It is equally clear that the length of such days could only have been that of a normal solar day.

1:3-5: Since the sun is not created until the fourth day (1:14-19), the light of the first three days is of a different order from what we know. A Midrash teaches that when God saw the corruption of the generations of the flood and of the tower of Babel, He hid that primordial light away for the benefit of the righteous in the world-to-come (reference b. Hag. 12a). Other ancient Near Eastern myths imilarly assume the existence of light before the creation of the luminaries. [JSB]

Genesis 1:6-8

On the first day the earth was still of dominantly watery aspect. Other materials were in solution or suspension, presumably with the water mainly in the liquid state. Some of these waters were to be separated from the greater mass of waters, however, and placed high above the rotating globe, with a great space separating them from the waters below. The lower waters would provide the water base for living flesh and for earth processes, the upper waters would provide a sort of protective canopy ("a tent to dwell in") for earth's inhabitants, and the space between would provide an atmospheric reservoir to maintain the breath of life.

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1:6-8: The word translated expanse refers to a piece of metal that has been hammered flat. Here, the function of the sky is to separage the waters above (which fall as rain) from the subterranean waters (which rise as springs; see 7:11). [JSB]

Genesis 1:9-13

It was in this THIRD CREATIVE DAY that "He strengthened the fountains of the deep; and gave to the sea His decree, that the water should not pass His commandment." Proverbs 8:28,29, "And shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb. When He made the clouds a garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." Job 38:4-11

And God called the dry land (Hebrew ERETS), to be firm, the earth. The gathering of the waters called he (Hebrew YAM), To Roar, Sea's. It was the master planner speaking but now we find the ACTUAL MOMENT OF CREATION OF THE EARTH AND SEAS IN THE THIRD DAY.

Genesis 1:14-19

The Hebrew word signifies sources of light; hence, 'luminaries' would be a better translation. These LIGHTS were for SIGNS. To help man locate his position when moving over the surface of the earth: they were primitive man's compass. They were also for SEASONS. To regulate the calendar. The 'seasons' are spring, summer, autumn, and winter; also seed-time and harvest.

1:16: The sun and moon are created only on the fourth day and are not named, but referred to only as the greater light and the lesser light: This may be an implicit polemic against the worship of astral bodies (see 2 Kings 23:5). [JSB]

SIGNS - THE STARS ALSOIn the first mention of the heavenly bodies, the purpose of the Creator is clearly stated. Gen. 1:14-19 reveals the fact that they were created, not only "to divide the day from the night, and to give light upon the earth"; but, they were set "for SIGNS, and for SEASONS, and for days and years".

First Book . THE REDEEMER . (His first coming)

A VIRGO The prophecy of the promises seed.

B. LIBRA The Redeemer's work (grace).

B. SCORPIO The Redeemer's conflict.

A SAGITTARIUS The prophecy fulfilled.

Second Book THE REDEEMED .(His work and its result)

C. CAPRICORNUS The prophecy of deliverance.

D. AQUARIUS Results of work bestowed.

D. PISCES Results of work enjoyed.

C. ARIES The prophesied deliverance fulfilled.

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Third Book . THE REDEEMER .(His Second Coming)

E. TAURUS The prophecy of coming judgment.

F. GEMINI The Redeemer's reign in glory.

F. CANCER The Redeemer's possession safe.

E. LEO The prophecy of triumph fulfilled.

Each of the four chapters in each of these three Books consists of three sections; and each section is represented by a Constellation. There are thus thirty-six (3x12) Constellations, which, with the twelve Signs, make forty-eight (4x12) in all.

THE FIRST BOOK The Redeemer. "The sufferings of Christ."

I. VIRGO (A). The prophecy of the promised seed.

1. COMA - (The desired). The woman and child the desired of all nations (in the most ancient Zodiacs).

2. CENTAURUS - (with two natures). The despised sin-offering.

3. BOOTES. - The coming One with branch.

` II. LIBRA (B). The Redeemer's atoning work.

1. CRUX. - The Cross endured.

2. LUPUS. - The Victim slain.

3. CORONA. - The Crown bestowed.

III. SCORPIO (B). The Redeemer's conflict

1. SERPENTS. - Assaulting the man's heel.

2. OPHIUCHUS. - The man grasping the serpent.

3. HERCULES. - The mighty man victorious.

IV. SAGITTARIUS (A). The Redeemer's triumph

1. LYRA. - Praise prepared for the Conqueror.

2. ARA. - Fire prepared for His enemies.

3. DRACO. - The dragon cast down.

THE SECOND BOOK The Redeemed. “The work and the results”

I CAPRICORNUS (C). The result of the Redeemer's sufferings.

1. SAGITTA. - The arrow of God sent forth.

2. AQUILA. - The smitten One falling.

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3. DELPHINUS. - The dead One rising again.

II. AQUARIUS (D). The Blessings insured

1. PISCIS AUSTRALIS. - The blessings bestowed.

2. PEGASUS. - The blessings quickly coming.

3. CYGNUS. - The Blesser surely returning.

III. PISCES (D). The Blessings in abeyance

1. THE BAND. - The Great enemy. "CETUS."

2. ANDROMEDA. - The redeemed in bondage.

3. CEPHEUS. - The Deliverer coming to loosen.

IV. ARIES (C). The Blessings consummated

1. CASSIOPEIA. - The captive delivered.

2. CETUS. - The great enemy bound.

3. PERSEUS. - The "Breaker" delivering

THE THIRD BOOK The Redeemer. "The glory that should follow."

I. TAURUS (E). Messiah coming to rule.

1. ORION. - The Redeemer breaking forth as Light.

2. ERIDANUS. - Wrath breaking forth as a flood.

3. AURIGA. - Safety for His redeemed in the day of wrath.

II. GEMINI (F). Messiah as Prince of princes.

1. LEPUS. - The enemy trodden under foot.

2. CANIS MAJOR. - The coming glorious Prince.

3. CANIS MINOR. - The exalted Redeemer.

III. CANCER (F). Messiah's redeemed possessions.

1. URSA MINOR. - The lesser sheepfold.

2. URSA MAJOR. - The fold and the flock.

3. ARGO. - The pilgrim's arrival at home.

IV. LEO (E). Messiah's consummated triumph.

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1. HYDRA. - The old serpent destroyed.

2. CRATER. - The cup of wrath poured out.

3. CORVUS. - The birds of prey devouring.

For further information on this subject see Page 20 of this section.It will be noted that the modern names are used, but only for the purposes of readier identification. The Hebrew and Arabic names of these, and of the principle stars contained in them, are full of truth, and eloquent in their teaching. These names are taken from the ZODIAC OF DENDERAH.

LIVING CREATURES

Having made the atmosphere and hydrosphere on the second day, and then the lithosphere and biosphere on the third day, God next proceeded to make animal life for the atmosphere and hydrosphere on the fifth day, and then animal life for the lithosphere and biosphere on the sixth day. All the necessities for living creatures were present on the earth by this time: light, air, water, soil, chemicals, plants, fruits, and so forth. One deficiency yet remained -- the earth was still “void” of inhabitants, however, God had “formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18); and the fifth and sixth days were to be devoted to this final work of creation.

Genesis 1:20-23

The Hebrew word sherets, which is rendered by “moving creature” in the Authorized Version, is actually translated “creeping thing” in the eleven other places where it occurs. It seems to be essentially synonymous with remes, which is also translated “creeping thing (Genesis 1:24, etc).” As used in Genesis 1:20, however, it evidently refers to all kinds of marine animals: invertebrates, vertebrates, reptiles.

The word “life: occurs for the first time in this verse (Hebrew nephesh). Actually, this is the word also for “soul,” and is frequently used to refer to both the soul of man and the life of animals.God blessed them. No blessing was bestowed upon the vegetation, as its growth is dependent upon sun and rain, and not upon its own volition

1:21: A similar point can be made about the creation of the great sea monsters on the fifth day. In some ancient myths – and biblical texts as well (see Psalms 74:12-17; Job 26:5-14) – creation results from the slaying of a sea monster. Isaiah 27:1 uses the same word to describe the frightening sea monster that the Lord will kill at the end of time. [JSB]

Genesis 1:24-31Earth bring forth. *Rashi states on this verse ‘The seeds and possibility of life implanted within her on the first day of Creation.’

*Rashi. Rabbi Solomon Ben Isaac of Troyes (1040-1105). French Bible exegete and greatest commentator of the Talmud.

LET US MAKE MAN. Mankind is described as in a special sense created by God Himself. To enhance the dignity of this last work and to mark the fact that man differs in kind from the animals, Scripture represents God as deliberating over the making of the human species states Abarbanel. (or, Abrabanel), Dan Isaac (1437-1509). Spanish exegete and statesman.

It is not ‘let man be created’ or ‘let man be made’, but ‘let us make man’. is the Hebrew idiomatic way of expressing deliberation, as in Genesis 11:7; or, it is the plural of Majesty, royal commands being conveyed in the first person plural, as in Exra 4:18.

Man. Hebrew ‘ Adam.’ The word is used here, as frequently in the Bible, in the sense of ‘human being’. It is derived from adamah ‘earth’, to signify that man is earth-born.

Continuing on the thought of Man please turn to Genesis 2:7. The Hebrew word for formed, is from the same Hebrew root word Yatzar, as is used of the potter molding clay into a vessel, possibly to remind us that man is ‘as clay in the hands of the potter’.

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In our image, after our likeness. Man is made in the ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ of God (note if you will verse 27 speaks of image but not of likeness) See Psalms 17:15. It’s just a thought. We see then that man’s character was to be potentially Divine. ‘God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity’ (Wisdom of Solomon 2:23). Man alone among living creatures is gifted, like his Creator, with moral freedom and will. He is capable of knowing and loving God, and of holding spiritual communion with Him; and man alone can guide his actions in accordance with Reason. ‘On this account he is said to have been made in the form and likeness of the Almighty God’ Because man is endowed with Reason, he can subdue his impulses in the service of moral and religious ideals, and is born to bear rule over Nature. Ref. Psalms 8

1:26-28: The plural construction (Let us…) most likely reflects a setting in the divine council (cf. 1 Kings 22:19-22; Isaiah chapter 6; Job chapters 1-2): God the King announces to His cabinet of subordinate deities, though He alone retains the power of decision.

1. The Midrash manifests considerable uneasiness with God’s proposal to create something so capable of evil as human beings are.

2. Playing on Psalms 1:6, one Midrash reports that God told his ministering angels only of “the way of the righteous” and hid from them “the way of the wicked” (Gen. Rab. 8:4).

3. Another one reports that while the angels were debating the proposal among themselves, God took the matter in hand. “Why are you debating?” He asked them. “Man has already been created!” (Gen. Rab. 8:5). [JSB]

Note: Since others have listed there understanding of the creative process, I felt it is only right that I bring you mine. God set’s a pattern and continues that pattern throughout recorded history, so let’s look at one of these patterns ‘’Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.’ John 5:19 KJV. So during the ministry of Yeshua [Jesus] says His Father did the work first [God calls things that are not as if they were] and then seeing this He followed His Father’s instructions and did the work. Well since as the Word of God the beginning of the creation of God, could he not say, ‘Let US make man…’

Paul the Learner

Whereas the earth and the waters (at God’s command) bring forth the plants, fish, birds, and other animals (1:12, 20, 24), humankind has a different origin and a different charater. In the ancient Near East, the king was often said to be the “image” of the god and thus to act with divine authority. So here, the creation of humanity in God’s image and likeness carries with it a commission to rule over the animal kingdom (1:26b, 28b; cf. Psalms 8:4-9). Some have seen in that commission a license for ecological irresponsibility. The fact is, however, that the Tanakh [Old Testament] presents humanity not as the owner of nature but as its steward, strictly accountable to its true Owner (see Lev. 25:23-24).

This theology is one source of the important institutions of the sabbatical and jubilee years (see Exodus 23:10-11; Lev. Chapter 25). Whereas the next account of human origins (Gen. 2:4b-24) speaks of God’s creation of one male from whom one female subsequently emerges, Gen. chapter 1 seems to speak of groups of men and women created simultaneously. The division of humankind into two sexes is closely associated with the divine mandate to Be fertile and increase. In Jewish law, this is a positive commandment, although it is obligatory only on Jewish men, not women (b. Yebam. 65b).

1:29-30: Humankind, animals, and birds all seem originally meant to be neither vegetarians nor carnivores, but frugivores, eating the seeds of plants and trees. [JSB]

Note: 1. ‘Let the waters bring forth…’ Gen. 1:20 Could this be the creation of dinasors etc. 4th day. 2. ‘Let the earth bring forth…’ Gen. 1:24 The creation of what we have today. 5th day.

Paul the Learner

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How long is a day? If in God’s sight, a thousand years = 1 day. Then that would means that we are now living in what is called the 6th day and of course you know what is going to happen on the 7th day.

1. God finishes His work completely – Rev. 22.2. God rests from His work. Paul the Learner

Male and Female. General statement; man and woman, both alike, are in their spiritual nature akin to God.Note the following Structures:

Gen. 2:4-25 MAN BEFORE THE FALL

Gen. 2:4,5 The earth for man and woman.Gen. 2:24,25 Man and woman for the earth

Gen. 2:5 For the ground, no manGen. 2:18 For the man, no woman SEE THE PATTERN GOD SET UP

Gen. 2:6 The ground and vegetable creationGen. 2:19,20 The ground and animate creation

Gen. 2:7 The formation of man.Gen. 2:20-23 The formation of woman.

Gen. 2:8 The GardenGen. 2:15 The Garden

Gen. 2:9 The TreesGen. 2:16,17 The Trees

The Torah was not originally divided into chapters. Such division originated in the Middle Ages; and, because of its convenience, found its way into the Printed Hebrew Text. Sometimes, as here in Genesis 2:1-3 (The Sabbath), the division is misleading. Thus, the next three verses belong to the preceding chapter, and form its worthy and incomparable conclusion.

2:1-3: In the Jewish liturgy, this passage serves as an introduction to the Kiddush, the prayer over wine to sanctify the Sabbath that is recited just before the first meal of the holy day, on Friday night (see Exodus 20:8-11). It also appears in the traditional Friday evening service. The passage is characterized by the type of repetition that suggests it might have served as a liturgy already in antiquity. [JSB]

Genesis 2:4-3 The beginning of the Human race

THE GARDEN OF EDENChapter 2 is not another account of Creation. No mention is made in it of the formation of the dry land, the sea, the sun, moon or stars. It is nothing else but the sequel of the preceding chapter. In Chapter one, man is considered as part of the general scheme of created things. Chapter two supplements the brief mention of the creation of man in v. 27 of the last chapter, by describing the formation of man and woman and their first dwelling place, as preliminary to this Temptation, and the consequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden in Chapter three. Only such details as are indispensable for the understanding of that event are given.

2:4 Lord God.

Hebrew Adonay Elohim. The two most important Names of the Deity are here used. ‘LORD’ is the usual English translation of Adonay. Adonay is the prescribed traditional reading of the Divine expressed in the four Hebrew letters Y H W H which is never pronounced as written. This Divine Name is spoken of as the Tetragrammation. In the first chapter of Geneses, which

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treats of the universe as a whole, Elohim (‘God’) is used; but in the second chapter which begins the story of man, that Divine Name is no longer used alone, but together with Adonay.

[General Information – 2:4-25: The creation of Adam and Eve.]Whereas 1:1-2:3 presented a majestic God – centered scenario of creation, 2:4-25 presents a very different but equally profound story of origins. This second account of creation is centered more on human beings and familiar human experiences, and even its deity is conceived in more anthropomorphic [human] terms. Source critics attribute the two accounts to different documents ([P] Priestly source of the Torah and [J] Jahwist or Yahwist source of the Torah, respectively) later combined into the Torah we now have. The classical Jewish tradition tends to harmonize the discrepancies by intertwining the stories, using the details of one to fill in the details of the other. Even on the source-critical reading, however, the contrast and interaction of the two creation accounts offer a richer understanding of the relationship of God to humankind than we would have if the accounts were read in isolation from each other.

2:4: The Jewish textual tradition places a major break between 2:3 and 2:4, rather than in the middle of v. 4, where many modern interpreters put it, and for good reason. If the latter verse, or even its first half (2:4a), is read with 1:1-2:3, then several of the multiples of seven in 1:1-2:3, disappear. Most likely, 2:4a is an editorial linkage between the two accounts of creation. 4 ‘Such is the story of heaven and earth when they were created. When the Lord God made earth and heaven – 5 when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, Tanakh text

2:5-6: For the first time, we see the Tetragrammation (YHVH) or the four – letter proper name of the God of Israel, the pronunciation of which rabbinic law forbids categorically. The name is conventionally rendered in English as “Lord” and in Hebrew as “Adonai” (in prayer and in liturgical reading of Scripture) or “ha-Shem” (in other contexts). The use of this name is one of several features that case source critics to attribute this second creation account to the [J] source. Note that the expression “heaven and earth” (1:1; 2:4a) now appears in the reverse order (“Earth and heaven”), as befits the more earth-centered character of this story.

Whereas in the first account of creation the primordial problem was too much water, requiring God to split the waters and create dry land (1:6-7; 9-10), here the problem is too little water. The variation may reflect the difference between the situation in Babylonia, in which the saline waters of the sea threatened human life, and a setting in the land of Israel, where a deficiency of water was (and is) a constant threat. [JSB]

2:7 Formed.

The Hebrew is from the same root, Yatzar, as is used of the potter molding clay into a vessel, possibly to remind us that man is ‘as clay in the hands of the potter’. The Rabbis point to the fact that in this verse the word for ‘Formed’ (Hebrew Vayyitzer) is written with Two Yods, whereas in v. 19 when relating the creation of animals, it has only One Yod. (Yod is a Hebrew Letter). Man alone, they declare, is endowed with both a Yetzer Tob (A good inclination) and a Yetzer Ra (An evil inclination); whereas animals have no moral discrimination or moral conflict. Another explanation is, man alone is a citizen of two worlds; he is both of the earth (Sand of the sea) and of heaven (Stars of Heaven). Ecc. 12:7, Hebrews 11:10; 2 Peter 3:13

A living soul.The term may mean nothing more that ‘living entity’. The Targum, however, renders it by ‘a speaking spirit’; in other words a person endowed with the faculty of both thinking and also expressing his thoughts in speech.

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2:7: Here, man has a lowlier origin than in the parallel in 1:26-28. He is created not in the image of God but from the dust of the earth. But he also has a closer and more intimate relationship with his Creator, who blows the breath of life into him, transforming that lowly, earth-bound creature into a living being. In this understanding, the human being is not an amalgam of perishable body and immortal soul, but a phychopysical unity who depends on God for life itself. [JSB]

2:8-11: The root of Eden denotes fertility. Where the wondrously fertile garden was thought to have been located (if a realistic location was ever conceived) is unclear The Tigris and Euphrates are the two great rivers of Mesopotamia (now found in modern Iraq). But the Pishon is unidentified, and the only Gihon in the Bible is a spring in Jerusalem (1 Kiongs 1:33, 38). Adam is conceived as a farmer, and work – albeit in an exceedingly easys form, given the miraculous fertility of Eden – is part of the divine plan. [JSB]

THE FIRST JOB2:15,16 TO DRESS IT AND TO KEEP IT

In other words to till it and to guard it from running wild. Not indolence but congenial work is man’s Divinely allotted portion. The first man was not to taste of anything until he had done some work. (See 2 Thess. 3:10).

2:17 Thou shalt not eat.

Man’s most sacred privilege is freedom of will, the ability to obey or to disobey his Maker. This sharp limitation of self-gratification, this ‘dietary law’, was to test the use he would make of his freedom; and it thus begins the moral discipline of man, Unlike the beast, man has also a spiritual life, which demands the subordination of man’s desires to the law of God. The will of God revealed in His Law is the one truly eternal and unfailing guide as to what constitutes good and evil and not man’s instincts, or even his reason, which in the hour of temptation often calls darkness light and light darkness.

2:16-17: Knowledge of good and bad may be a merism, a figure of speech in which polar opposites denote a totality (like heaven and earth in 1:1). But knowledge can have an experiential, not only an intellectual, sense in biblical Hebrew and “good and bad” can mean either “weal and woe” or “moral good and moral evil.” The forbidden tree offers an experience that is both pleasant and painful; it awakens those who partake of it to the higher knowledge and to the pain that both come with moral choice. [JSB]

Creation of Woman 2:18-25

2:18 It is not good.

From this verse we can see that marriage is indeed a Divine institution, a holy estate in which alone man alone can live his true and complete life.

2:21 One of his ribs.

Woman was not formed from the dust of the earth, but from man’s own body. ‘We have here a wonderfully conveyed allegory designed to set forth the moral and social relation of the sexes to each other, the dependence of woman upon man, her close relationship to him, and the foundation existing in nature for the attachment springing up between them. See Eph. 5:22-25

2:24 Shall a man leave.

The Biblical idea is the monogamy marriage; a man shall cleave ‘to his wife’, not to his wives.

2:18-24: Man’s fulfillment requires companionship. As a Talmudic rabbi observes about v. 18, “Even though a man has several sons, it is forbidden to him to be without a wife” (b. Yebam. 61b). The Lord’s creation of woman from man emphasizes the close connection between them and lays the ground work for the understanding of marriage (and its association with procreation) in v. 24. The creation of the woman after the

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man and from a part of his body need not imply the subordination of women to men. According to Ramban (Nahmanides, a great 13th century Spanish rabbi), the point of v. 24 is that men are to be different from the males of the animal world, who mate and move on to the next partner. A man “wishes [his wife] to be with him always.”

Promiscuity is thus a degradation of God’s intentions in creating human beings male and female. It is interesting that although polygamy is amply attested in the Tanakh, v. 24 indicates that the ideal, Edenic condition is monogamy (see also Malachi 2:14-16; Proverbs 5:15-23). [JSB]

Note: Let’s ask the creator about this question. ‘They said unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He said unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.’ Matthew 19:7, 8 spoken by the Word of God who made Adam and Eve in the beginning. Paul the Learner

MythologyANCIENT NEAR EASTERN MYTHOLOGY AND THE OLD TESTAMENT Cf. Genesis 1:1-2:3 Mythology in the ancient world was like science in our modern world—it was their explanation of how the world came into being and how it worked. The mythological approach attempted to identify function as a consequence of purpose. The gods had purposes, and their activiteis were the causes of what humans experienced as effects. In contrast, our modern scientific approach identifies function as a consequence of sturcture and attempts to understand cause and effect based on natural laws thaat are linked to the structure, the composite parts, of a phenomenon. Because our scientific worldview is keenly interested in structure, we often go to the biblical account looking for information on structure. In this area, however, the biblical worldview is much more like its ancient Near Eastern counterparts in that it views function as a consequence of purpose. That is what Gen. 1 is all about—it has very little interest in structures. This is only one of many areas where understanding ancient Near Eastern culture, literature and worldview can help us understand the Bible.

Many parallels can be identified between ancient Near Eastern mythology and Old Testament passages and concepts. This is not to suggest that the Old Testament is to be considered simply as another example of ancient mythology or as being dependent on that literature. Mythology is a window to culture. It reflects the worldview and values of the culture that forged it. Many of the writings we find in the Old Testament performed the same function for ancient Israelite culture that mythology did for other cultures—they provided a literary mechanism for preserving and transmitting their worldview and values. Israel was part of a larger cultural complex that existed across the ancient Near East. There are many aspects of that cultural complex that it shared with its neighbors, though each individual culture had its distinguishing features. When we seek to understand the culture and literature of Israel, we rightly expect to find help in the larger cultural arena, from mythology, wisdom writings, legal documents and royal inscriptions.

The community of faith need not fear the use of such methods to inform us of the common cultural heritage of the Near East. Neither the theological message of the text nor its status as God’s Word is jeopardized by these comparative studies. In fact, since revelation involves effective communication, we would expect that whenever possible God would use known and familiar elements to communicate to his people. Identification of similarities as well as differences can provide important background for a proper understanding of the text. This book has only the task of giving information and cannot engage in detailed discussion of how each individual similarity or difference can be explained. Some of that type of discussion can be found in John Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural Context (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987).(From IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.)

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THE TRIAL OF MAN’S FREEDOMTHE SERPENT 3:1-8

3:1 Serpent.The Hebrew word for “Serpent” is Nachash from Nachash, to hiss, mutter, whisper, as do enchanters.

SECTION TWO3:1B-3: His question is tricky and does not admit of a yes-or-no answer. The woman, who has never heard the commandment directly (2:16-17), paraphrases it closely. Why she adds the prohibition on touching the fruit is unclear.

1. A Talmudic rabbi sees here an illustration of the dictum that “he who adds [to God’s words] subtracts [from them]” (b. Sanh. 29a).

2. Another rabbinic source presents a more complicated explanation. In relaying the prohibition to his wife, Adam has obeyed the rabbinic principle that one should “make a [protective] hedge for the Torah” (m. ‘Avot 1:1).

Tragically, this praiseworthy act gave the snake his opening. He “touched the tree with his hands and his feet, and shook it until its fruits dropped to the ground,” [a tradition] thus undermining the credibility of God’s entire commandment in the woman’s mind (‘Avot. R. Nat. A. 1). [JSB]

3:4-5: The serpent impugns God’s motives, attributing the command to jealousy. Whereas in the first creation account human beings are God-like creatures exercising dominion (1:26-28), here their ambition to be like God or like divine beings is the root of their expulsion from Eden. [JSB]

3:6: The fatal progression in the woman’s mind begins with the physical (eating), moves to the aesthetic (a delight to the eyes), and culminates in the intellectual (a source of wisdom). The progression may reflect the process of rationalization to which she succumbed just before she engaged in humanity’s first act of disobedience. [JSB]

3:7: As the serpent had predicted (v. 5), their eyes are opened, and they have enhanced knowledge (v. 7). [JSB]

THE SENTENCE 3:9-213:9 Where art thou?

Is the call which, after every sin, resounds in the ears of the man who seeks to deceive others as well as himself concerning his sin.

[General Information – 3:8-17:] But with the new knowledge comes the shame of nudity that they had lacked in their childlike innocence (vv. 10-11; cf. 2:25), a symbol of a much more encompassing sense of guilt and an ominous estrangement between God and the primal couple. The man lamely attempts to pass the buck to his wife, and thus also to the God who put her at his side (v. 12). She, with more credibility, blames the serpent (b. 13).

3:14-19: The Lord God [Jehovah Elohim] then reverses the order and punishes the malefactors in the order of their misdeeds.

1. The serpent is to lose his legs, slither in the dirt, and suffer from the hostility of human beings (vv. 14-15).

2. The woman will suffer pain in childbirth, experience sexual desire for her husband, yet be subordinate to him (v. 16)

3. The man, for having obeyed her rather than God, will toil over unproductive soil all the days of his life, until the ground from which he was taken reabsorbs him (vv. 17-19; cf. 2:7).

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The primal couple have left the magical garden of their childhood and their innocence and entered into the harsh world of adulthood and its painful realities. [JSB]

3:20-21: God’s clothing the naked indicates that His anger was not the last word in the divine-human relationship. The Jewish ethical tradition finds in this unmerited kindness a paradigm for human behavior, as well. “Great are acts of kindness,” a Talmudic rabbi remarks, “for the Torah begins with an act of kindness and ends with an act of kindness” – it begins with God’s clothing the naked and ends with His burying the dead (Moses) (Deut. 34:6) (b. Sot. 14a). [JSB]

3:24 Every way.In the Hebrew not Natah (aside), Savav (about), Sug (back), Panah (toward), but Haphak (which means, every way), effectually preserving the way.

Keep.

Preserve, so that man should not “live forever” in his fallen condition, but only in Christ. Ref. I John 5:11,12.

3:22-24: Neither the first nor the second account of creation portrays humankind as created immortal. Nor does the punishment of v. 19, which speaks of Adam’s returning to the ground from which he was taken, mean that he would have lived forever, had it not been for his disobedience. In this passage, the Lord, alarmed at the very real, God-like status that the man has suddenly attained, resolves to deny him the opportunity to make himself immortal and banishes him from the garden in which the tree of life was found. The cherubim are supernatural beings who sometimes act as protectors of sacred items or places (e.g. Exodus 25:17-22; 1 Kings 8:6-7).

The stance of jealousy about His status and anxiety about human beings’ acquiring immortality is not the only one taken by the God of Israel. Proverbs 3:18 asserts that the tree of life, in the form of Wisdom (therein personified as a woman), remains available to “those who grasp her.” The Rabbis identified wisdom with Torah and could therefore cite Proverbs 3:18 in support of their characteristic affirmation that Torah “gives life to those who practice it, in this world and in the world-to-come” (m. ‘Avot 6:7). In Judaism, the estrangement caused by the innate human appetite for evil does not require an act of messianic redemption to be healed. [JSB]

Note: I believe that the apostle Paul who was a Pharisee of the Pharisee’s and of the law blameless found that just the study of Torah and keeping the law was not enough to clean the human appetite for evil. Listen to his words:

1. ‘What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.’ Romans 7:7 KJV

2. ‘But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.’ Romans 7:8 KJV

3. ‘And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.’ Romans 7:104. ‘For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.’ Romans 7:115. ‘For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.’ Romans 7:146. ‘For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.’ Rom. 7:157. ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall delivere me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through

Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.’ Romans 7:24, 25 Paul the Learner

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Rather, the practice and study of Torah renew intimacy with the God of Israel and lead to eternal life. “The Holy One [Blessed be He] created the Evil Inclination; He created Torah as its antidote.” (b. B. Bat. 16a). [JSB]

‘For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.’ Romans 2:12CAIN, SETH, AND THEIR DESCENDANTS Genesis 4,5This narrative describes the spread of sin, issuing in violence and death!

4:3 An Offering.This is the first mention of worship found in Scripture. The religious instinct is part of man’s nature, and sacrifice is the earliest outward expression of that form of worship. Its purpose was to express acknowledgment of His bounty to the Giver of all.

[General Information – 4:1-16: The first murder.] This story of the Lord’s preference for the younger brother and the older brother’s resentment and exile looks both back to the episode in the garden of Eden and forward to other stories of mysterious divine preference, sibling rivalry, and exile later in the book of Genesis (chapters 21, 27, 37). [JSB]

4:1: The verb translated knew may have the sense of “had known” in the context. Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, 11th century] thinks the conception of Cain occurred in the garden of Eden before his parents had sinned. [JSB]

4:3-5: The Torah does not say why the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. Perhaps we are to infer that Abel offered his with greater devotion (the choicest of the firstlings as opposed to the fruit of the soil). Alternately, the episode may evidence the high regard for shepherds and the pastoral life manifest, for example, in the early life of national heroes such as Joseph, Moses, and David. Like Abel, however, all the latter – and many others chosen by God in the Tanakh (e.g. Isaac, Jacob, and Solomon) – were younger brothers. The story of Cain and Abel thus demonstrates a theme wide-spread in the Tanakh: The difference between God’s will and human conventions, such as primogeniture [the state or fact of being the first born]. In this text, the emphasis falls, however, not on the reasons for God’s preference, but on Cain’s fatal and culpable refusal to reconcile himself to it. [JSB]

[1]. (52) ‘Adam and Eve had two sons; the elder of them was named Cain; which name, when it is interpreted, signifies a possession. The younger was Abel, which signifies sorrow. They had also daughters.’ Josephus

[2]. Note: John’s account of the reason why God accepted the sacrifice of Abel, and rejected that of Cain; as also why Cain slew Abel, on account of that his acceptance with God, - is because “Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:12.

[3] ‘If you do your work well, is it not remitted to you? And if you do not do your work well, your sin unto the day of judgment is reserved, when it will be exacted of you, if you convert not: but if you convert, it is remitted to you.’ My words taken from the Targum of Onkelos Page 42 Gen. 4

[4] 16. ‘And unto Cain and his offering the Lord did not turn, and he did not incline to it, for he had brought from the inferior fruit of the ground before the Lord, and Cain was jealous against his brother Abel on account of this, and he sought a pretext to slay him.’ The Book of Jasher page 2 chapter 1

[5] 4:1-7. sacrifices of Cain and Abel. The sacrifices of Cain and Abel are not depicted as addressing sin or seeking atonement. The word used designates them very generally as “gifts”—a word that is most closely

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associated with the grain offering later in Lev 2. They appear to be intended to express gratitude to God for his bounty. Therefore it is appropriate that Cain should bring an offering from the produce that he grew, for blood would not be mandatory in such an offering. It should be noted that Genesis does not preserve any record of God requesting such offerings, though he approved of it as a means of expressing thanks. Gratitude is not expressed, however, when the gift is grudgingly given, as is likely the case with Cain. [IVP Commentary]

4:7 Sin lies.

Sin is compared to a ravenous beast lying in wait for its prey. It crouches at the entrance of the house, to spring upon its victim as soon as the door is opened. By harboring feelings of vexation, Cain opened the door of his heart to the evil passions of envy, anger, violence, which eventually ended in the murder of his brother.

4:7: The end of the verse is strikingly reminiscent of the words of God to Eve in 3:16, just as Cain’s punishment in 4:11-12 recalls Adam’s in 3:17-19. It is possible that the story of Cain and Abel itself once served as an account of primal sin and the expulsion from paradise. [JSB]

4:9: The Lord’s question to Cain recalls that to Adam in 3:9. In both cases, He asks about more than location. Cain’s flippant answer offends against the Torah’s ethic of responsibility for one’s kinsman and neighbor (e. g. Lev. 19:16; Deut. 21:1-9). [JSB]

4:13 My Punishment.

The Hebrew word means both the consequences of a sin, which is the punishment as well as the sin itself. The Targum renders this passage ‘mine iniquity is too great to be pardoned’. The Hebrew word translated ‘than I can bear’ can also be rendered ‘to be forgiven’. This could be thought of as a question, ‘Is my iniquity too great to be forgiven?’

4:15 Set a Sign for Cain.

According to the Rabbis, Cain was a repentant sinner. God, therefore, reassured him that he would not be regarded as a common, intentional murderer. God’s mercy to the guilty who repents (Romans 10:9,10) of his sin is infinitely greater than that of man.

4:13-15: Although murder is a capital offense in biblical law (e.g. Exodus 21:12), the Lord yields to Cain’s plea and protects him from the fate he inflicted on Abel. The irony is pungent: The man who could not tolerate God’s inscrutable grace now benefits from it. A Midrash sees Cain as the first penitent and attributes his pardon to his repentance (Gen. Rab. 22:13). [JSB]

DESCENDANTS OF CAIN Genesis 4:17-24

4:17 His Wife.The marriage of brother and sister (Genesis 5:4) was quite common in primitive times, but the Hebrew people looked upon it with such discuss (See Leviticus 18:9) that Scripture makes no reference to the identity of the wife in this passage.

4:19 Two Wives.This is especially mentioned, as it was a departure from the idea expounded in Genesis 2:14

4:22 Naamah.The words mean, ‘pleasant, gracious.’ Jewish legend states she became the wife of Noah.

4:23,24 A Triumphal Song.On the invention of the weapons mentioned in the preceding verse, Lamech possibly committed an act of involuntary homicide on some young person. He turns to his wives and says boastfully:

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‘See! I have taken a man’s life, though he only inflicted a bruise on me. Should the necessity arise, I feel ableto lay low any assailant that crosses my path. If Cain, though unarmed, was promised a sevenfold vengeanceon a foe, I, equipped with the weapons invented by Tubal-Cain, will be able to exact a vengeance very muchgreater!’

This heathen song marks the growth of the spirit of Cain.

4:26 ENOSH

In Hebrew poetry, Enosh means ‘man’, TO CALL UPON. Then men began to pray to God; or, once more call upon God under the name of ADONAY , Lord, which seems to have been forgotten among the descendants of the son of Adam, Cain.

[General Information – 4:17-26: The growth of culture.] This highly compressed passage may be an epitome of well-known legends that have not survived. The emergence of occupations and thechnologies that it records is reminiscent of the Mesopotamian tradition about the pre-flood sages who founded the basic institutions of civilization. The culminating v. 26 speaks of what is, in the Jewish view, the most important of these: the proper worship of the true God. This comes not from the line of Cain, but from Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth. The poem of Lamech in vv. 23-24 continues the dark theme of violence associated with his ancestor Cain and attests to the increasing evil of the human race. [JSB ]

4:11-12. nomadic lifestyle. The wandering nomadic lifestyle to which Cain is doomed represents one of the principal economic/social divisions in ancient society. Once animals had been domesticated, around 8000 B.C., herding and pastoral nomadism became a major economic pursuit for tribes and villages. Generally, herding was part of a mixed village economy, including agriculture and trade. However, some groups concentrated more of their efforts on taking sheep and goats to new pasture as the seasons changed. These seminomadic herdsmen followed particular migration routes which provided adequate water for their animals as well as grazing.

Contracts were sometimes made with villages along the route for grazing in harvested fields. These herdsmen occasionally clashed with settled communities over water rights or because of raiding. Governments tried to control nomadic groups within their area, but these attempts were not usually successful over long periods of time. The result is the composition of stories which describe the conflict between herders and farmers as they compete for use of the land.

4:15. mark of Cain. The Hebrew word used here does not denote a tatoo or mutilation inflicted on a felon or slave (referred to in the Laws of *Eshnunna and the Code of *Hammurabi ). It best compares to the mark of divine protection placed on the foreheads of the innocents in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 9:4-6. It may be an external marking that would cause others to treat him with respect or caution. However, it may represent a sign from God to Cain that he would not be harmed and people would not attack him.

Eshnunna: Mesopotamian city in the Diyala region east of modern Baghdad, which produced a short-lived kingdom between 2100 and 2000 B.C. and a law code which contains some parallels to Hammurabi's code and biblical law.

Hammurabi: Babylonian king (1792 B.C. - 1750 B.C.) who compiled a law code that has a number of parallels with biblical law.

The Line of Cain4:17. city building. Because the founding of a city is tied so intimately to the founding of a nation or people in the ancient world, stories about the founder and the circumstances surrounding its founding are a part of the basic heritage of the inhabitants. These stories generally include a description of the natural resources which

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attracted the builder (water supply, grazing and crop land, natural defenses), the special attributes of the builder (unusual strength and/or wisdom) and the guidance of the patron god. Cities were constructed along or near rivers or springs. They served as focal points for trade, culture and religious activity for a much larger region and thus eventually became political centers or city states. The organization required to build them and then to keep their mud-brick and stone walls in repair helped generate the development of assemblies of elders and monarchies to rule them.

4:19. polygamy. The practice of a man marrying more than one wife is known as polygamy. This custom was based on several factors: (1) an imbalance in the number of males and females, (2) the need to produce large numbers of children to work herds and/or fields, (3) the desire to increase the prestige and wealth of a household through multiple marriage contracts and (4) the high rate of death of females in childbirth. Polygamy was most common among pastoral nomadic groups and in rural farming communities, where it was important that every female be attached to a household and be productive. Monarchs also practiced polygamy, primarily as a means of making alliances with powerful families or other nations. In such situations the wives might also end up as hostages if the political relationship soured.

4:20. animal domestication. Raising livestock is the first stage in animal domestication, which involves human control of breeding, food supply and territory. Sheep and goats were the first livestock to be domesticated, with the evidence extending back to the ninth millennium B.C. Larger cattle came a bit later, and evidence for pig domestication begins in the seventh millennium.

4:21. musical instruments. Musical instruments were among the first inventions of early humans. In Egypt the earliest end-blown flutes date to the fourth millennium B.C. A number of harps and lyres as well as a pair of silver flutes were found in the royal cemetery at *Ur dating to the early part of the third millennium. Flutes made of bone or pottery date back at least to the fourth millennium. Musical instruments provided entertainment as well as background rhythm for dances and *ritual performances, such as processions or *cultic dramas. Other than simple percussion instruments (drums and rattles), the most common instruments used in the ancient Near East were harps and lyres. Examples have been found in excavated tombs and painted on the walls of temples and palaces. They are described in literature as a means of soothing the spirit, invoking the gods to speak and providing the cadence for a marching army. Musicians had their own guilds and were highly respected.

4:22. ancient metal technology. As part of the account of the emergence of crafts and technology in the genealogy of Cain, it is appropriate that the origin of metalworking would be mentioned. *Assyrian texts mention Tabal and Musku as the early metalworking regions in the Taurus Mountains (of eastern Turkey). Copper tools, weapons and implements began to be smelted and forged in the fourth millennium B.C. Subsequently, alloys of copper, principally bronze, were introduced in the early third millennium as sources of tin were discovered outside the Near East and trade routes expanded to bring them to Egypt and Mesopotamia. Iron, a metal which requires much higher temperatures and skin bellows (portrayed in the Egyptian Beni Hasan tomb paintings) to refine and work, was the last to be introduced, toward the end of the second millennium B.C. *Hittite smiths seem to have been the first to exploit it, and then the technology spread east and south. Meteorite iron was cold-forged for centuries prior to its smelting. That would not represent as large an industry as the forging of terrestrial deposits, but it would explain some of the early references to iron prior to the *Iron Age . (From IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved

DESCENDANTS OF SETH Genesis 5

5:1 This is the Book.

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The Hebrew SEFER does not always mean a volume; it may be used of any written document. Rabbinic tradition states the Torah is not one continuous work, written at one definite moment. ‘The Torah was given to Moses in separate scrolls. The formula, ‘These are the generations,’ which occurs ten times in Genesis, each time beginning a new section, would mark the beginning of such scrolls or ‘book’. This explains why some sections, as this Chapter, have introductory verses WHICH RECALLS or SUMMARIZE FACTS MENTIONED IN EARLIER SECTIONS.

[General Information – 5:1-32: The ten generations from Adam to Noah.] This genealogy can be seen, in part, as the parallel to the list in 4:17-26. Note the similarity or identity of many of the names in the two genealogies: Cain / Kenan, Enoch / Enoch, Irad / Jared, Mehujael / Mehalalel, / Methusalah, Lamech / Lamech. Even if these figure were originally thought to be descendants of Cain, chapter 5 treats them all as descendants of Seth. Cain’s line will not survive the flood, and the people Israel will emerge from the lineage of the younger son’s replacement (4:25), not from that of the murderous first-born son of Adam. [JSB]

Note: the pattern1. Cain – Seth2. Ishmael – Isaac 3. Esau – Jacob4. Reuben – Judah5. Israel – The Church made up of both Jews and Gentiles Paul the Learner

5:1-3: The ostensibly natural process of procreation has high theological import: It continues the creation of human beings in God’s likeness (1:26-28) [JSB]

5:5: The enormous life spans of Adam and his antediluvian descendants find a parallel in the Sumerian King List, a very ancient Mesopotamian text, in which the pre-flood kings rule much longer than those who came afterward (the longest reign was 65,000 years). The underlying conception is that things proceeded on a grander scale in those days. These life spans are thus akin to the biblical allusions to primordial giants or heroes (e.g. 6:4; Deut. 2:20-21). [JSB]

The Line of Seth5:1. the account of (toledoth). This chapter begins by introducing “the written account of Adam’s line”—just as 2:4 had referred to the account of the heavens and earth. Genesis uses this label eleven times throughout the book. Earlier translations used the word “generations” in place of “account.” In other places in the Bible this word is most often associated with genealogies. Some believe that in Genesis they indicate written sources that the author used in compiling the book. Alter-natively, they could simply be understood as introducing the people and events that “eventuated” from the named individual. In any case they serve as convenient division markers between the sections of the book.

5:1-32. importance of genealogies. Genealogies represent continuity and relationship. Often in the ancient Near East they are used for purposes of power and prestige. Linear genealogies start at point A (the creation of Adam and Eve, for example) and end at point B (Noah and the flood). Their intention is to bridge a gap between major events. Alternatively they can be vertical, tracing the descendants of a single family (Esau in Ge 36:1-5,9-43).

1. In the case of linear genealogies, the actual amount of time represented by these successive generations does not seem to be as important as the sense of completion or adherence to a purpose (such as the charge to be fertile and fill the earth).

2. Vertical genealogies focus on establishing legitimacy for membership in the family or tribe (as in the case of the Levitical genealogies in Ezr 2).

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Mesopotamian sources do not offer many genealogies, but most of those that are known are linear in nature. Most of these are either of royal or scribal families, and most are only three generations, with none more than twelve. Egyptian genealogies are mostly of priestly families and are likewise linear. They extend to as many as seventeen generations but are not common until the first millennium B.C. Genealogies are often formatted to suit a literary purpose.

So, for instance, the genealogies between Adam and Noah, and Noah and Abraham, are each set up to contain ten members, with the last having three sons. Comparing biblical genealogies to one another shows that there are often several generations skipped in any particular presentation. This type of telescoping also occurs in *Assyrian genealogical records. Thus we need not think that the genealogy’s purpose is to represent every generation, as our modern family trees attempt to do. [IVP]

5:22 WALKED WITH GOD

Enoch “walked with God” and was a prophet of God. As such, he preached against the godlessness of his generation in fearsome, thundering words: (See Jude 14,15) The climax of Enoch’s testimony was an event all but unique in history. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him” (Hebrews 11:5).

Nearly twenty-five centuries later, another prophet, Elijah, was similarly taken into heaven without dying (2 Kings 2:11). It is significant that Enoch prophesied about midway between Adam and Abraham, and Elijah about midway between Abraham and Christ, and that both ministered in times of deep apostasy.

5:21-23: Significantly, Enoch occupies the seventh position and lives only 365 years (suggesting a connection with the solar cycle). Like Noah (6:9), he walked with God, though the meaning of the statement that God took him is unclear. Rashi thinks it means that God caused his death prematurely to spare him from sinning. It is possible that Enoch’s earthly life, like Elijah (2 Kings 2:11-12), ended without death. [JSB]

4 ‘And the sons of men went and they served other Gods, and they forgot the Lord who had created them in the earth: and in those days the sons of men made images of brass and iron, wood and stone, and they bowed down and served them. 5 And every man made his God and they bowed down to them, and the sons of men forsook the Lord all the days of Enosh [Enoch] and his children; and the anger of the Lord was kindled on account of their works and abominations which they did in the earth. 6 And the Lord caused the waters of the river Gihon to overwhelm them, and he destroyed and consumed them, and he destroyed the third part of the earth; and notwithstanding this, the sons of men did not turn from their evil ways, and their hands were yet extended to do evil in the sight of the Lord.’ The book of Jasher page 4 Chapter 2 [Remember Jasher is not scripture]

Note: Jasher is not talking about the Great Flood of the earth. Paul the Learner

5:29: The allusion to 3:17 is one of several indications that Noah is the new Adam – a righteous antidote to the wickedness of the father of universal mankind. Remarked an early rabbi, “When a righteous person comes into the world, goodness comes into the world” (b. Sanh. 113b). [JSB]

5:31: The suspicious figure of 777 is undoubtedly related to (the Cainite) Lamech’s mention of “sevenfold” and “seventy – sevenfold” in 4:24. [JSB]

THE GROWING CORRUPTION OF MANKIND Genesis 6:1-8

6:2 Sons of God.

Is the literal translation of the Hebrew phrase BENEY ELOHIM. The SONS OF GOD are those who serve God and obey Him, those nourished and brought up in the love of Him as their Father and Benefactor (compare Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 14:1;

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Isaiah 1:2; Hosea 2:1). It is quite in accord with Biblical usage that those who adhered to the true worship of God (the children of SETH) are called ‘sons of God’; and that, in contrast to these, the daughters of the line of CAIN should be spoken of as ‘daughters of men’.

6:1-4 Problems of intermarriage

These scriptures would then point out the calamitous consequences to mankind when the pious sons of Seth merged with those who had developed a Godless civilization and who, with all their progress in arts and inventions, had ended in depravity and despair. Through intermarriage, the Son of Seth sink to the level of the ungodly race; and likewise deserved the doom that, with the exception of one family, was to overtake mankind. These verses are thus the first warning in the Torah against intermarriage with idolaters, Compare I Corinthians 7:39 (ONLY IN THE LORD).

Note: Three stories about this time in history from the Book of Jasher:1. ‘Enosh lived ninety years and he begat Cainan; and Canan grew up and he was forty years old, and he

became wise and had knowledge and skill in all wisdom and he reigned over all the sons of men, and he led the sons of men to wisdom and knowledge; for Cainan was a very wise man and had understanding in all wisdom, and with his wisdom he ruled over spirits and demons; and Canain knew by his wisdom that God would destroy the sons of men for having sinned upon earth, and that the Lord would in the latter days bring upon them the waters of the flood. And in those days Cainan wrote upon tablets of stone, what was to take place in time to come, and he put them in his treasures.’ The Book of Jasher page 4 – 10 chapter 2

2. For in those days the sons of men began to trespass against God, and to transgress the commandments which he had commanded to Adam, to be fruitful and multiply in the earth. And some of the sons of men caused their wives to drink a draught that would render them barren, in order that they might retain their figures and whereby their beautiful appearance might not fade. The Book of Jasher page 5 chapter 2

3. And Lamech was old and advanced in years, and his eyes were dim that he could not see, and Tubal Cain, his son, was leading him, and it was one day that Lamech went into the field, Cain the son of Adam advanced towards them; for Lamech was very old and could not see much, and Tubal Cain his son was very young. And Tubal Cain told his father to draw his bow, and with the arrows he smote Cain, who was yet far off, and he slew him, for he appeared to them to be an animal. And the arrows entered Cain’s body although he was distant from them, and he fell to the ground and died. And the Lord requited Cain’s evil according to his wickedness, which he had done to his brother Abel, according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken. The Book of Jasher page 5

Note The missing book of the Bible:1. The Book of Jasher quoted in Joshua and 2nd Samuel.2. The Book of the Covenant, (Exodus 24:7) a collection of the injunctions and institutions God gave

Moses.3. The Book of the Law, (Deut. 31:9) same explanations as #2.4. The Book of the wars of the Lord (Num. 21:14). Missing but Dr. Lightfoot thinks that Moses refers to a

book of his own composing (Exodus 17:14). But it is probably talking about the Book of Judges.5. The acts of David the King, written in the Book of Samuel the Seer.6. The Book of Nathan the Prophet which contain the acts of Solomon.7. The Book of Gad the Seer.8. The Book of Abijah the Shulamite.9. The acts of Rehoboam in the Book of Shemaiah the Prophet.10. The acts of Jehoshaphat in the Book of Jehu. Paul the Learner

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You must remember that because a book has a famious name that doesn’t mean that that person wrote it. In the New testament research I have found the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Phillip which is taken from the Gnostic sect of Egypt and was never written by either man. Josephus records conversations taking place between Joseph and Potipher’s wife which I believe he made up to make the story complete. Many times history is written according to the belief of the writer. Only SCRIPTURE IS TRUE. Paul the Learner

‘WHEN THIS WORLD IS DESTROYED MY WORD WILL STAND’

The Sons of God and the Daughters of Men6:2. sons of God. The term “sons of God” is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to refer to angels, but the idea of sonship to God is also portrayed corporately for the Israelites and individually for kings. In the ancient Near East kings were commonly understood as having a filial relationship to deity and were often considered to have been engendered by deity.

6:3. 120 years. The limitation of 120 years most likely refers to a reduction of the life span of humans, since it is in the context of a statement about mortality. While the verse is notoriously difficult to translate, modern con-sensus is moving toward translating it “My spirit will not remain in man forever,” thus affirming mortality. Just as the offense can be understood in light of information from the Gilgamesh Epic, so this statement may refer to the never-ending quest for immortality; a quest such as is at the core of the Gilgamesh Epic. Though Gilgamesh lived after the flood, these elements of the narrative resonate with universal human experience. A wisdom text from the town of Emar cites 120 years as the most years given to humans by the gods.

6:4. Nephilim. Nephilim is not an ethnic designation but a description of a particular type of individual. In Num. 13:33 they are identified, along with the descendants of Anak, as some of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The latter are described as giants, but there is no reason to consider the Nephilim to be giants. It is more likely that the term describes heroic warriors, perhaps the ancient equivalent of knights errant. (From IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.)

6:1-8: The prelude to the flood.6:1-4: This brief narrative reads like a condensation of a much longer well – known myth. It records yet another breach of the all-important boundary between the divine and the human (vv. 1-2) and explains why human beings no longer attain to the great ages of their primordial forebears (v. 3). It also explains the origin of the Nephilim (v. 4), the preternatural giants that Israelite tradition thought once dwelt in the land (Num. 13:31-33).[JSB]

Note: In the Tanakh Hebrew Text we find this verse, ‘It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth – when the divine beings [sons of God] cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown.’ Genesis 6:4

This subject of angels having sex with humans has been around for thousands of years, now I want to settle the matter once and for all. In order to do this I must go back to the beginning when the Word of God, the creative force of our Father created angels. Now listen to His statement which closes the matter as far as I am concerned.

‘For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven.’ Mark 12:25 KJV There are no male or female angels only angels without sex.

Paul the Learner6:4 Nephilim.

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Or, ‘giants.’ They existed before the intermarriages took place. The mention of Nephilim in Numbers 13:33, is no reason to assume that they survived the Flood. The excited imagination of the Sjpies expresses its terror at the men of great stature whom they saw at Hebron, by saying that they must be the old antediluvian giants.

6:5 Wickedness of man.

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

6:5-8: Whereas in chapter 1 God seven times “saw” what He had made and pronounced it “good,” this passage reports that He saw how great was man’s wickedness and regretted that He had made man. The flood narrative that ensues, a characteristically Israelite adaptation of a well-known and widespread Mesopotamian story, emphasizes human immorality as the provocation for the cataclysm. Most strikingly, narrator depicts God’s heart as saddened. The sudden mention of Noah (v. 8) – whose Hebrew name (“n-h”) is “favor” (“h-n”) spelled backwards – indicates that human perversion and divine grief will not be the last word. [JSB]

Now another story from the book of Jasher.‘And the soul of Enoch was wrapped up in the instruction of the Lord, in knowledge and in understanding; and he wisely retired from the sons of men. And secreted himself from them for many days. And it was at the expiration of many years, whilst he was serving the Lord, and praying before him in his house, that an angel of the Lord called to him from Heaven, and he said, here am I. And he said, rise, go forth from thy house and from the place where thou doest hide thyself, and appear to the sons of men, in order that thou mayst teach them the way in which they should go, and the work which they must accomplish to enter in the ways of God.

And all the sons of men then assembled to him, for all who desired this thing went to Enoch, and Enoch reigned over the sons of men according to the word of the Lord, and they came and bowed to him and they heard his word. And the spirit of God was upon Enoch, and he taught all his men the wisdom of God and his ways. And the sons of men served the Lord all the days of Enoch, and they came to hear his wisdom. And Enoch reigned over the sons of men two hundred and forty three years, and he did justice and righteousness with all his people, and he led them in the ways of the Lord, and all they asked hi about the Lord he told them.

And at that time the sons of men were with Enoch, and Enoch was speaking to them, and they lifted up their eyes and the likeness of a great horse descending from heaven, and the horse paced in the air. …it was upon the seventh day that Enoch ascended into heaven in a whirlwind, with horses and chariots of fire.’

There is more to this story but I wanted you to see something positive during that period of earth’s history as far as tradition goes, for only God knows for sure if this is truth or someone’s imagination. Paul the Learner

6:9-9:17: The flood: corruption, destruction, re-creation, covenant.6:9-10: The mention of Noah’s righteousness and blamelessness serves as a counterpoint to the reports of human wickedness and lawlessness that both precede andfollow it (vv. 1-7, 11-13).

6:8: The favor that Noah found…with the Lord derives, in part or in whole, from his lonely role as the one moral man in an immoral society. As such, he also serves as the one who provides relief from the Lord’s curse, as his father predicted when he name him (5:29) [JSB]

6:11-16: The word translated ark occurs only in the flood story of Genesis and in the account of Moses’ mother’s effort to save her baby by putting him in the Nile in Exodus 2:3 (where the term is rendered “basket”). Noah foreshadows Moses, even as Moses, removed from the water, foreshadows the people of Israel, whom he leads to safety through the death-dealing sea that drawns their oppressors (Exodus chapters

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14-15). The great biblical tale of redemption occurs first in a shorter, universal form, then in a longer, particularistic one. [JSB]

The Flood6:13. violence as cause of flood. In the Atrahasis Epic’s account of the flood the reason that the gods decide to send the flood is the “noise” of mankind. This is not necessarily different from the biblical reason in that “noise” can be the result of violence.

Abel’s blood cries out from the ground (4:10) and the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great (Gen. 18:20). The noise could be generated either by the number of petitions being made to the gods to respond to the violence and bloodshed or by the victims who cry out in their distress.

6:14. gopher wood. Gopher is the Hebrew word translated “cypress wood” in the NIV. This is an unknown type of material, although it undoubtedly refers to some sort of coniferous tree thought to possess great strength and durability. Cypress was often used by shipbuilders in the ancient Near East. Similarly, the cedars of Lebanon were prized by the Egyptians for the construction of their barques for transport on the Nile, for instance in the eleventh century B.C. Diary of *Wenamon .

Wenamon: a priest of the Egyptian god Amon (c. 1100 B.C.), sent as an envoy to obtain logs for the royal barge from the rulers of Syria and the Phoenician coast. His mission was delayed by the weak stature of Egypt at that time and the chaotic political conditions following the invasion of the Sea Peoples.

6:14. boats in the ancient world. Prior to the invention of seaworthy vessels that could carry sailors and cargo through the heavy seas of the Mediterranean, most boats were made of skin or reeds and were designed to sail through marshes or along the river bank. They were used for fishing or hunting and would not have been more than ten feet in length. True sailing ships, with a length of 170 feet, are first depicted in Old Kingdom Egyptian art (c. 2500 B.C.) and are described in *Ugaritic (1600 B.C. - 1200 B.C.) and Phoenician (1000 B.C. - 500 B.C.) texts. Remains of shipwrecks from the mid-second millennium (*Late Bronze Age ) have also been found in the Mediterranean. They still generally navigated within sight of land, with trips to Crete and Cyprus as well as the ports along the coasts of Egypt, the Persian Gulf and Asia Minor.

Ugarit: northern Syrian seaport city which controlled the Mediterranean carrying trade from approximately 1600 to 1200 B.C., when it was destroyed by the Sea Peoples. Several Ugaritic epic stories have been discovered that help illumine biblical stories from the ancestral and settlement periods. Ugaritic culture is thought to approximate Canaanite culture. [IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament]

6:14-16: The cubit being roughly one and a half feet, the ark measures about 150 m x 25m x 15m (450 ft x 75 ft x 45 ft.). Unlike other ancient boats, it is entirely enclosed, with the exception of the opening for daylight (v. 16). Covered inside and out with pitch (v. 14) to protect its passengers from the cataclysm, the ark symbolizes the tender mercies and protective grace with which God envelopes the righteous even in the harshest circumstances. [JSB]

6:14-16. size of the ark. Based on a measurement of one cubit equaling eighteen inches or forty-five centimeters, the ark Noah constructs is approximately 450 feet (135 meters) long, 75 feet (22 meters) wide, and 45 feet (13 meters) deep. If it had a flat bottom, the total surface capacity would be about three times that of the tabernacle (100 by 50 cubits in Ex 27:9-13), with a displacement of 43,000 tons. In comparison, the ark constructed by *Utnapishtim in the *Babylonian version of the *Gilgamesh Epic is either a cube or ziggurat-shaped (120 by 120 by 120 cubits), with a displacement of three or four times that of the Genesis ark. Noah’s ark was not designed to be navigated—no rudder or sail is mentioned. Thus the fate of the company

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aboard was left in the hands of God. Although *Utnapishtim does employ a navigator, the shape of his ark may be magical, since he could not depend on the gods to preserve him.

Utnapishtim: hero of the flood story in the Gilgamesh Epic.Gilgamesh: Sumerian king of Uruk, who is the prototypical hero of Mesopotamian literature. His epic contains a quest for the secret of immortality and a flood story. [IVP]

Flood AccountsANCIENT NEAR EASTERN FLOOD ACCOUNTSThe most significant ancient Near Eastern flood accounts are found in the Atrahasis Epic and the Gilgamesh Epic. In these accounts the chief god, Enlil, becomes angry at mankind (the Atrahasis Epic portrays him as disturbed over the “noise” of mankind, see comment on Gen 6:13) and, after trying unsuccessfully to remedy the situation by reducing the population through things like drought and disease, persuades the divine assembly to approve a flood for the total elimination of mankind. The god Ea manages to forewarn one loyal worshipper, a king who is instructed to build a boat that will preserve not only him and his family, but representatives skilled in the various arts of civilization. The other people of the city are told that the gods are angry with the king and he must leave them. The pitchcovered boat has seven stories shaped either as a cube or, more likely, a ziggurat (see comment on Gen 11:4). The storm lasts seven days and nights after which the boat comes to rest on Mt. Nisir. Birds are sent out to determine the time of leaving the ark. Sacrifices are made for which the gods are very thankful since they have been deprived of food (sacrifices) since the flood began.

The Atrahasis Epic is dated to the early second millennium B.C. The Gilgamesh Epic came into its present form during the second half of the second millennium, but used materials that were already in circulation at the end of the third millennium. From the short summary above one can detect a number of similarities as well as a number of differences. There is no reason to doubt that the ancient Near Eastern accounts and Genesis refer to the same flood. This would certainly account for the similarities. The differences exist because each culture is viewing the flood through its own theology and worldview. (IVP Bible Background Commentary)

6:17-22: Further introduction and a pledge.6:18: This verse records the first mention of covenant (“berît”) in the Tanakh. In the ancient Near East, a covenant was an agreement that the parties swore before the gods, and expected the gods to enforce. In this case, God is Himself a party to the covenant, which is more like a pledge than an agreement or contract (this was sometimes the case in the ancient Near East as well). The covenant with Noah will receive longer treatment in 9:1-17. [JSB]

6:19-20: This contradicts 7:2, in which the Lord instructs Noah to take seven pairs of the clean animals and two of the unclean (“clean” and “unclean” refer to ritual categories and not to hygiene; the terminology of “pure” and “impure” would be less misleading). Critical scholars explain the contradiction by attributing 6:19-20 to the Priestly source [P] but 7:2 to the [J]. Only the latter reports Noah’s sacrifice when he emerges from the ark (8:20-21). If there were only one pair of each animal, this sacrifice would lead to the counter productive result that the species offered would thereby become extinct.

The source-critical explanation receives corroboration from the use of God in 6:9-22 but “Lord” in 7:1-5, and from the rest of the flood story, which suggests that two slightly differing stories have been interwoven. Traditional commentators have other explanations, for example,

1. That two in 6:19 means “at least two” (Rashi) 2. Or that a pair of each species would come of their own accord,

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3. But Noah would later have to capture seven of the “clean” species to use for the sacrifice (Ramban). [JSB]

THE FALL OF MAN GENESIS 3 (GOING BACK TO THE FALL OF MAN)

The problem of the existence of evil in a world created by a holy, loving God is one that has exercised the minds and hearts of philosophers and theologians through the ages. If God is omnipotent and holy, why does He permit such things? How, indeed, could evil ever have appeared at all?

THE CREATION OF EVILWho created evil?“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7Why did God create evil?“…..Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death” Jeremiah 21:8

God gives each person a choice between life or death, we make the choice of where we will spend eternity.

When did God create evil?It is obvious that in Genesis 3:1 that there is more to this event than a mere fable of a talking snake. The Bible later identifies that “old serpent” as none other than the devil himself (Revelation 12:9; 20:2), who has led an agelong angelic rebellion against God and His plans for mankind.Lucifer (the devil) is spoken of in Isaiah 14:12-15 also in Ezekiel 28:11-19He was perfect in his ways (Ezekiel 28:15), just as was everything else God had created (Genesis 1:31); and he continued thus for some time after man’s creation.

Soon after this, however, Lucifer’s “heart was lifted up” because of his beauty and he corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness (Lucifer means day-star) Ezekiel 28:17. Though God has assured him that He had created him, he somehow began to doubt God’s word and deceived himself into thinking he himself could become God. “…I will be like the Most High,” he said in his heart (Isaiah 14:14), evidently thinking that he and God were similar beings and that, therefore, he might lead a successful rebellion and overthrow Him. Perhaps, he may have reasoned, neither he nor God was really “created,” but all of the angels, as well as God Himself, had just arisen by some natural process from the primeval chaos. All had developed (or “evolved”) out of prior materials and it was only an accident of priority of time that placed him, with all his wisdom and beauty, beneath God in the angelic hierarchy.Because “iniquity was found in him” (Ezekiel 28:15), Satan fell “as lightning falls from heaven” (Luke 10:18). God “cast him to the ground” (Ezekiel 28:17) and ultimately he will be “brought down to hell” (Isaiah 14:15; Matthew 25:41).

The approach of Satan (through the serpent) to the woman was a masterpiece of effective subtlety. Catching her when she was alone, without Adam to counsel and warn her, probably one day when she was admiring the beautiful fruit trees in the garden, he first insinuated something which neither she nor Adam had even imagined before, namely, that it was possible for a creature to question God’s Word, “Yea, hath God said?” In other words, “ Did God really say such a thing as that!” This was probley just after the creation of Eve.She said, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,” whereas God had said they could freely eat of all the trees. God had told them they should not partake of only one tree in the midst of the garden; but Eve said that He added, “neither shall ye touch it.” God had not forbidden them to touch the fruit, of course. It is always dangerous to alter God’s Word.

Notice the progression:1. Yea, hath God said?2. Ye shall not surely die:3. Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

CHART I THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN

Cain Enoch Irad Mehujael Methusael Lamech - 1st wife Adah bare Jabal and Jubal2nd wife Zillah bare Tubal-Cain & Daughter Naamah

Built first city. 2nd murderer.1st polygamist.

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1st murdererThe above are most probably contemporary with the following sons of Adam.

Abel 1st Martyr

Seth Enos Cainan Mahalaleel Jared Enoch MethuselahLamech Noah

When Adam was 130 years old, Seth was born to him.

CHART 2

ADAM (red) 6th day 130 yrs. 800 yrs. 930 yrs.

Seth (compensation) x 105 yrs. 807 yrs. 912 yrs.

Enos (mortal) x 100 yrs. 805 yrs. 905 yrs.

Cainah (acquisition) x 70 yrs. 830 yrs. 910 yrs.

Mahalalel (God is splendor) x 65 yrs. 830 yrs. 895 yrs.

Jared (descending) x 162 yrs. 800 yrs. 962 yrs.

Enoch (teacher) walked with God x 65 yrs. 300 yrs. 365 yrs Taken to heaven by God

Methuselah (death comes at his rest) x 187 yrs 782 yrs. 969 yrs.

Lamech (over thrower) x 182 yrs. 595 yrs. 777 yrs.

NOAH (rest or comfort) x 500 yrs 100 yrs.Noah was born 126 years after Adams death.Noah was born 12 years after Seths death.

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

John 5:39There is a golden thread through out the Scriptures that show Christ and His church as the following will demonstrate:

TYPES AND SHADOWS1. ADAM AND EVE CHRIST AND THE CHURCH

(1) Adam fell into a deep sleep (1) Christ died on the cross.(2) Eve taken from adam’s wounded side (2) Church exists because of His wounds.(3) Adam’s body became his bride (3) Church is Christ’s body also Bride.(4) Adam and Eve become one at marriage (4) At Rapture Church & Christ are one.(5) Human pair shared government of earth (5) Church & Christ rule and reign.

2. EVE’S FALL BELIEVERS BACKSLIDING(1) Looked: Saw tree was good (1) Sees world & attractions.(2) Lusted: Desired to make one wise (2) Begins to long after world.(3) Accepted: Took the fruit thereof (3) Fails to see harm in the world.(4) Partook: Did eat (4) Partakes of pleasure of world.(5) Shared: Gave to her husband with her (5) Others effected with our sin

Note how we blame others for our failures”“Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (God speaking)

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Reply:1. “…..The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Genesis 3:12A. It’s all your fault God.B. It’s all the fault of the woman.

THE STARS ALSO CONTINUED.

To many people this information is quite boring, but I want you to put yourself in the place of a man who lives before the Scriptures were compiled and who wanted to impart the wonderful story of Redemption of God to fallen mankind, to his son in hopes that this story will continue down through time until the Coming One will take him home and restore unto the earth the glory and majesty that once was in that day before sin broke that fellowship between a good and wonderful God and mankind.

“Look up in the sky son, I want to tell you a wonderful and true story that my father told me years ago”

It will be noted that the modern names are used, but only for the purposes of readier identification. Some of these names were given in ignorance, by those who had lost the primitive signification of the twelve Signs and of the thirty-six Constellations.The Hebrew and Arabic names of these, and of the principal stars contained in them, are full of truth, and eloquent in their teaching. Thus:

VIRGO: THE FIRST BOOK “Look up here my Son”1. The meaning is (the Virgin).2. Here we have the star Al Zimach. The Hebrew word Zemach, the meaning (the branch) (Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah

23:5,6; Zech. 3:8;6:12).3. All the other stars have the same meanings.

COMA.1. Meaning (The Desired) (Hag. 2:7; Num. 24:17).2. The Egyptian word Shes-nu which means (the desired son).

CENTAURUS.1. The word is Al-Beze meaning (the despised) (Isaiah 53:3).

BOOTES.1. The Hebrew word is Bo’ and its meaning is (to come). (Psalms 96:13).2. Hebrew Arcturus (Job 9:9 = He cometh).3. Egyptian word Smat, meaning (one who rules).

LIBRA: “Look over here my Son”

1. Was anciently called (the Altar) In the Accadian this word is Tulki.2. The two bright stars are to-day called in Arabie Zuben al Genubi meaning (the price which is deficient ).3. And Zuben al Chemali which means (the price which covers).

CRUX.1. The Hebrew word karath which means (to cut off) (Daniel 9:26).

LUPUS.1. The Greek name Thera which means (a beast).2. The Latin is Victima.3. The Hebrew word is Zabah which means (slain).4. In the Zodiac of Denderah the word is Sura which means (a lamb).

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CORONA 1. The Hebrew word is atarah which means (a royal crown).2. The Arabic word is Al iclil meaning (a jewel).3. Its brightest star is Al phena meaning (the shining one).

SCORPIO: “Look over here my Son”1. This word in the Hebrew is ‘akrab (Psalms 91:13).2. The Coptic name is Isidis which means (the attack of the enemy).3. The Arabic name is Al phena which is (the wounding of the coming One).4. The brightest star is Antares (The Arabic meaning is wounding).5. The Hebrew name is Lezuth which is (perverseness).

SERPENS1. The brightest star is called in the Hebrew ‘anak which means (encompassing).2. Hebrew kelalah which is (the accursed).3. The Arabic is Al hay, which meaning is (the reptile).

OPHIUCHUS1. This word is from the Arabic Afeichus which is (the serpent held).2. The brightest star is Ras al hagus which meaning is (the head of him who holds).3. Other names are Megeras meaning (contending).4. In the Zodiac of Denderah he is Aph-bau meaning (the chief who cometh).5. Other stars are Triophas (dtreading under foot).6. Also Saiph (bruised).7. And Carnebas (bruised).

HERCULES1. In the Zodiac of Denderah this is called Bau (who cometh).2. The Arabic is Al giscale which means (the strong one).3. The brightest star is Ras al Gethi (the head of him who bruises).

SAGITTARIUS: “Look there my Son”1. Hebrew kesheth (meaning an archer) Genesis 21:20.2. The brightest star in the Hebrew is channun (meaning the gracious one) Psalms 45:2.3. The next star in the Accadian language is Nun-ki (meaning Prince of the earth).4. The next in the Zodiac of Denderah, Pi-maere (meaning graciousness, and Knem, He conquers).

LYRA (Psalms 65:1)1. The brightest star is Vega (meaning He shall be exalted).2. In the Zodiac of Denderah Fent-kar (meaning the serpent ruled). Originally an eagle, from confusion between

the Hebrew words nesher, and shir (meaning song, or music).

ARA1. Its meaning is an altar upside down, pointing to Tartarus (Isaiah 63:4,5).2. Arabian word Al mugamra (meaning the completing or finishing) (Psalms 21:9-12

DRACO. This ends the first book.1. The meaning is the dragon cast down. CETUS ends the second book. (meaning Leviathan bound.) HYDRA

ends the third book. (meaning the old serpent destroyed).

2. Draco means trodden on. (Psalms 91:13; 74:12-14; Isaiah 27:1).3. In Zodiac of Denderah it is a serpent under the fore-feet of Sagitariius and called Her-fent (the meaning the

serpent accursed).

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4. The brightest star called Thuban ( which means the subtil).

CAPRICORNUS: THE SECOND BOOK “And over here my Son”1. The meaning of the word is (the goat of atonement).2. In the Zodiac of Denderah and Esneh the word is Hu-penius which means (the place of the sacrifice).3. In the Hebrew the word is Gedi, which means (the kid, ) or the word Gad’a, (meaning to cut off).4. The brightest star is Al-gedi which means (the kid).5. The next brightest star is Deneb al gedi which means (the sacrifice of the kid).

SAGITTA (Psalms 38:2; Isaiah 53:4,5)1. The meaning is (the arrow).2. The Hebrew word is Shamad, which means (destroying).

AQUILA1. The meaning is (the eagle, pierced and wounded and falling).2. The brightest star is Al tair which means (wounding).3. All the others are similar.

DELPHINUS1. Meaning (always a fish full of life, the head upwards. 2. The Hebrew word is Dalaph (meaning the pouring out of water) Arabian is Dalaph (coming quickly).

AQUARIUS: “And again my Son over here”

1. In the Zodiac of Denderah he has two urns. The fish seems to have come out of one of them.2. The Hebrew name is Dali which means (water-urn or bucket) (Num. 24:7).3. The Brightest star is Sa’ad al Melik (the record of the pouring forth).4. The next star is Sa’ad al Sund (who goeth and returneth (see Isaiah 32:1,2; 35:1,6; 41:18; 44:2-6; 51:3).

PISCIS AUSTRALIS1. The southern fish.2. The Arabic is Fom al haut (the mouth of the fish).3. The Zodiac of Denderah is Aar which means (a stream)

PEGASUS 1. Meaning is (The winged horse).2. Zodiac of Denderah is Pe and ka (Peka, or pega).3. Hebrew word is pehah which means (the chief, and su, a horse; name thus come down).4. The brightest star is Markab , Hebrew is merhak which means (returning from afar).

CYGNUS1. In the Zodiac of Denderah the word is Tes-ark which means (this from afar).2. Another meaning is (A mighty bird, not falling dead like Aquila).3. The brightest star is Deneb which means (the Judge).4. It is also called Adige (flying swiftly).5. The second star is called Al Bireo which means (flying quickly).6. Two other stars are Azel (who goes and returns quickly,) and Fafage (gloriouly shining forth)

PISCES: “Look up their my Son”

1. The Egyptian name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Pe-cot Orion or Pisces Hori (the fishes).2. Another meaning is (swarms or multitudes) of Him Who cometh.3. The Hebrew word is Dagi m, (the fishes) Gen. 48:16).4. The Syric name is Nuno which means (lengthened out in posterity) See Isa. 53:10; Ps. 33:12;37:22

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5. Note the two fishes (the earthly and heavenly callings) one fish horizontal, the other looking upward.6. 113 stars much of the same magnitude.7. The brightest star is Okda which means (the united)8. The next brightest star is in the Arabic Al samaca (the upheld). Isa. 41:8-10

THE BAND1. The Egyptian name is U-or which means (He cometh binding them together) (Hos. 11:4).2. Also (breaking the band which binds them to their old enemy Cetus.

ANDROMEDA1. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Set, which means (seated as a queen).2. Also the word Sirco (the chained).3. The brightest star is Al Phiratz which means (the broken down).4. The next brightest star is Mirach which means (the weak).5. The next brightest star is Al amok which is Arabic meaning (struck down). Isa. 54:11-14; 51:21-

52:3.

CEPHUS 1. The meaning is (The King).2. In the Zodiac of Denderah the word is Pe-ku-hor which means (this one cometh to rule).3. The word Cepheus is a Greek word from the Hebrew Zemah meaning (The Branch).4. The Ethiopian name is Hyh meaning (a king).5. The brightest star is Al Deramin which means (coming quickly).6. The next brightest star is Al Rai’ which means (who bruises or breaks). Jer. 31:1

ARIES: THE LAST OF THE SECOND BOOK “Up there my Son”

1 The meaning is (The ram or Lamb full of vigor).2. Also another meaning is (Not falling in death like Capricornus).3. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Tametouris Ammon (the reign or rule of Ammon).4. The Hebrew name is Taleh (the lamb).5. The Arabic name is Al Hamel (the sheep).6. The Syric name is Amroo, as in John 1:29.7. The Accadian name was Bar-ziggar which means the altar making right or sacrifice of

Righteousness.8. The brightest star is El nath, or El natik which means (wounded, or slain).9. The next brightest star is Al Sharatan meaning (the bruised, or wounded) See Rev. 5:9-12

CASSIOPEIA1. Meaning (The enthroned woman).2. The Arabic name is El seder which means (the freed).3. In the Zodiac of Denderah this word is Set which means (seated as queen).4. The Arabic word is Ruchba meaning (the enthroned).5. The brightest star is Schedir meaning (the freed).6. The next brightest star is called Kaph from Hebrew meaning (the branch). See Isa. 54:5-8; 62:3-5.

CETUS1. Meaning is (the sea monster). The great enemy bound. See Rev. 20:10 also Rev. 20:1-32. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Knem which means (subdued).3. The brightest star is called Menkar which means (the enemy chained).4. The next brightest star is Diphda, or Deneb Kaitos which means (overthrown, or thrust down).5. Another star is called Mira meaning (the rebel). Job 41:1-10; Isa. 51:22,23; 26:21-27:1

PERSEUS

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1. Meaning is (The Breaker).2. The Hebrew word is Perez, the Greek word is Perses, or Perseus. Rom. 16:12; Mic. 2:12,133. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Kar Knem meaning (he who fights and subdues).4. The brightest star is called Mirfak meaning (who helps).5. The next brightest star is called Al Genib meaning (who carries away).6. The next star is called Athik which means (who breaks).

TAURUS THE THIRD BOOK “look up here my Son”1. The meaning is (Messiah coming in judgment).2. In the Chaldian language this name is Tor. Hence, the Arabic Al Thaur.3. The Greek name is Tauros.4. While the Latin version uses the word Taurus.5. The common Hebrew name is Shur which means (coming and ruling).6. Also the other Hebrew word Re’ em which means (pre-eminence).7. The brightest star is called Al Debaran which means (the leader or Governor).8. The next brightest star is El nath (wounded or slain).9. The group Pleiades is K imah meaning (heap or accumulation). Job 9:9; Amos 5:810. A bright star is called Al Cyone meaning (the centre).11. The Hebrew and Syrian name is Succoth meaning (booths) See Israel Feast’s 12. Another group is called Hyades meaning (the congregated). Deut. 33:17;Isa. 13:11-15

ORION1. Meaning is The coming Prince. Light breaking forth, through the Redeemer.2. In the Zodiac of Denderah the word is Ha-ga-t (this is He Who triumphs).3. The word Orion in the Hebrew is ‘Or, meaning (light; or coming forth as light) Job

38:314. The Hebrew word Kesil which means (a strong one) is Orion in Job 9:9; Amos 5:85. The brightest star is called Betelgeuz meaning (the coming of the Branch) Mal. 3:26. The next brightest star is called Rigel or Rigol meaning (the foot of him that crusheth).7. The next is Bellatrix meaning (swiftly destroying).8. Another star is called Al Nitak meaning (the wounded One).9. Many others with names of cumulative meanings. See Isa. 42:13,14; 60:1-

ERIDANU1. The meaning is (The river of judgment).2. In the Zodiac of Denderah this word is called Peh-ta-t meaning (the mouth of the river).3. The brightest star is called Achernar meaning (the after part of the river).4. Other names (going forth), (flowing on) to the lower regions of the south. Dan. 7:9-11

Ps. 97:3-5; 50:3; Hab. 3:5; Isa. 30:27-33; Nah. 1:5,6; Isa. 66:15,16; 2 Thess. 1:7,8

AURIG1. Meaning (The Shepherd). Isa. 40:10,11; Ezek. 34:222. Another meaning is (Charioteer).3. The brightest star is Alioth meaning (a she-goat).4. The Modern Latin name is Capella meaning the same thing (a she-goat).5. The Next Menkilinon (band of goats;bound, never lost again) John 10:116. In the Zodiac of Denderah, the shepherd carries a scepter (Trun), the top with a goat, and

the bottom with a cross. Mal. 4:1-3; Ps. 37:38-40GEMINI

1. Meaning (The Twins).2. Name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Clusus, or Claustrum Hori (the place of Him Who

cometh.)

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3. The old Coptic name was Pi-Mahi which means (the united).4. The Hebrew word is Thaumim (from ta’ am) meaning double.5. The root word is used in Exodus 26:24 (twinned together).6. The brightest star is Apollo meaning (ruler or judge).7. The next star is called Hercules (who cometh to labor and suffer).8. Another star is Al Henah meaning (hurt, wounded) See Isaiah 4:2; 32:1,2;Jer.

23:5,6;33:14,15.

SECTION THREE

LEPUS THE THIRD BOOK CONTINUED1. Meaning (the enemy trodden under foot).2. In the Zodiac of Denderah the name is Bashti-beki (falling confounded).3. Another meaning is chased eternally.4. The brightest star is called Arnebo meaning (the enemy of Him Who cometh).5. Other stars are Nibal (the mad); Rakis, (the bound); Sugia, (the deceiver). See Isa. 63:3,4

CANIS MAJOR1. The word here is Sirius, meaning (the Prince). Also the name of the brightest star.2. In the Zodiac of Denderah it is the word Apes meaning (the head).3. In the Persian Planisphere the meaning is (a wolf). The Hebrew word is Ze’eb.4. The brightest star is called Sirius meaning (the Prince).5. The Persian word is Tistrya or Tistar meaning (the chieftain).6. The next star is called Mirzam meaning (the prince).7. Another star is Wesen meaning (the shining).8. Another star is called Adhara meaning (the glorious).9. Many other similar names See Isa. 49:24-26; 59:19,20; 53:12).

CANCER1. The meaning is (The Crab). Messiah’s possessions held fast.2. In the Zodiac of Denderah and Esneh it is (a sacred beetle) Not its name.3. Its name there given is Klaria meaning (cattle-folds).4. The Arabic name is called Al Sarta’n meaning (He Who holds or binds together) Gen. 49:115. The Greek name is Karkinos meaning (encircling).6. This is the same in the Lat. Cancer, from the Arabic Khan meaning (an Inn), and Ker, or Cer

meaning (encircling).7. In the ancient Accadian language this word is Su-kul-na (the seizure, or possessor of seed).8. A bright cluster of stars is called Praesepe (a multitude or offspring).9. The brightest star is called Tegmine meaning (holding).10. Another star is called Acubene meaning (the sheltering or hiding-place).11. Another star is called Ma’alaph meaning (assembled thousands).12. North and south of Praesepe are two bright stars called Assellus North and Assellus South: their

sign is called the two asses, thus connecting it with Cancer, which is the sign of Issachar (See Gen. 49:14; Num. 2:5).

URSA MINOR1. This is called The little Bear meaning (the lesser sheep-fold).2. The brightest star of Ursa Minor is called Dubheh (a herd).3. The Arabic name is Dubah meaning (cattle).4. The Hebrew word is Dober (a fold, from the word dobe’ meaning rest or security, this word

is rendered “strength” in Deut. 33:25. All points to this scripture found in Judges 5:16.5. The brightest star is Al riccdaba (the turned or ridden on, denoting it as the Polar star.6. The Greeks called this star Kunosoura (Cynosure, but this word is Accadian).

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7. An-nas-sur-ra (high in rising); or (high in heavenly position).8. The next bright star is called Kochab (waiting Him Who cometh).

URSA MAJOR1. This is called The great Bear (the Fold and the Flock) See Obadiah 17-19 Israel restored.2. In the book of Job 9:9 and 38:31,32 it is called ‘Ash and her offspring.. In the American

Version its called Arcturus and her sons. In the Revised Version its called the Bear and his train (margion., sons).

3. The Arabs still call it Al Naish or Annaish (assembled together as in a fold).4. The brightest star is called Dubhe meaning (a flock), which gives its name to the two

constellations.5. The next star is Merach meaning (the flock) Arabic meaning is (purchased).6. The next is Phaeda or Pharda meaning (numbered or guarded). See Psalms 147:47. Another star is called Benet Naish (daughters of the assembly).8. Another star is Al Kaid (the assembled).9. Many others of the same names. See Ezekiel 34:12-16 God’s flock will be restored.

ARGO1. This is called The Ship meaning (the Pilgrims, safe at home).2. In the Egyptian Planisphere (a polar projection of the celestial sphere and the stars on a plane

with adjustable circles or other appendages for showing celestial phenomena for any given time) there are two ships (like the two folds). They occupy one-half of the south meridiams.

3. The brightest star is called Canopus meaning (the possession of Him Who cometh).4. Other names are Sephina (the multitude). And Tureis (the possession). Also Asmidiska

meaning (the released who travel). See Jer. 30:10,11; Isa. 60:4-9. A restoration is coming

LEO1. Meaning The Lion. Messiah’s consummated triumph.2. In the Zodiac of Denderah it is Pi Mentikeon meaning (the pouring out of Divine wrath).3. The three constellations crystallize this great truth:

Hydra - the old serpent destroyed.Crater - the cup of wrath poured out on him.Corvus - the bird of prey devouring him.

4. The zodiac of Denderah picture exhibits all four in one.5. The Syrian name is Aryo meaning (the rending lion).6. The Arabic is Al Asad meaning (the lion leaping forth as a flame).7. The brightest star is called Regulus (treading under foot [as the picture shows].8. The next star is called Denebola meaning (the Judge or Lord Who cometh).9. The next star is Al Giebha meaning (the exaltation).10. Another star is Zosma meaning (shining forth).11. See Gen. 49:8,9; Num. 24:8,9; Amos 4:4,8; Isa. 42:13.

HYDRA THE ENDING OF THE THIRD BOOK1. The meaning is (The Old Serpent). The word Hydra is (he is abhorred).2. The brightest star is called Cor Hydra (the heart of Hydra).3. Its ancient name is Al phard meaning (the put away).4. Another star is called Al Drian (the abhorred).5. Another star is called Minchar al Sugia meaning (the piercing of the deceiver).Rev. 19:20-21

CRATER1. Meaning The Cup [of wrath poured out]. See Ps. 75:8;11:6; Rev. 14:10; 16:19.2. The constellation has thirteen stars (Thirteen denotes rebellion, apostasy, defection,

disintegration, revolution. The first occurrence fixes this (Gen. 14:4); and the second confirms it (Gen. 17:25).

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CORVUS1. Meaning The Raven. The birds of prey devouring.2. The name in the Zodiac of Denderah is Her-na (the enemy breaking up).3. There are nine stars (Nine denotes Finality of judgment. It is 3 x 3, the product of Divine

completeness. The number nine, or its factors or multiples, is seen in all cases when judgment is the subject).

4. The brightest star is called Chiba (Num. 23:8 accursed).5. Another star is Minchar al Gorab meaning (the raven tearing to pieces).

“Thus this ends the study of the Scriptures written in the Stars of Heaven my son. This is the story they tell forth. This is the speech they utter. This is the knowledge they show forth. There is no articulate speech or voice; and no words are heard; but, their sayings have gone out into all the world”

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” Psalms 19:1-6

The stars were all named by God (Ps. 147:4). Most of these names have been lost; but over 100 are preserved through the Arabic and Hebrew, and are used by astronomers today, though their meaning is unknown to them. Jewish tradition, preserved by *Josephus, assures us that this Bible astronomy was invented by Adam,. Seth, and Enoch. We see evidence of it as early as Gen. 11:4, where we read of the Tower of Babel having “his top with the heavens”. There is nothing about the wrongly supplied italics “may reach unto”. The words, doubtless, refer to the signs of the Zodiac, pictured at the top of the Tower, like the Zodiacs in the Temples of Denderah, and Esneh in Egypt. We have to remember that our written Scriptures began with Moses, say in 1490 BC: and thus, for more than 2,500 years, the revelation of the hope which God gave in Gen. 3:15 was preserved in the naming of the stars and their grouping in signs and Constellations. In later years, when Israel came into the possession of the written “Scriptures of truth”, there was no longer any need for the more ancient writing in the heavens. Hence, the original teaching gradually faded away, and the heathen, out of the smattering they had heard by tradition, evolved their cosmogonies and mythologies. Ps. 19 contains a vivid reference to these two Books of revelation. That is why there is the very sudden change of subject at verse 7. In this Psalm the first half, all the terms are literary, in the latter half they are all astronomical, thus welding the two portions of the Psalm into one harmonious whole.

*Josephus Antiquities of the Jews Chapter II Page 27 Kregel PublicationsSee also Lesson Two Pages 24-26 of this study.

6:17. archaeological evidences of flood. There is presently no convincing archaeological evidence of the biblical flood.

1. The examination of silt levels at the *Sumerian cities of *Ur , Kish, Shuruppak, *Lagash and *Uruk (all of which have occupation levels at least as early as 2800 B.C.) are from different periods and do not reflect a single massive flood that inundated them all at the same time. Similarly, the city of Jericho, which has been continuously occupied since 7000 B.C., has no flood deposits whatsoever.

2. Climatological studies have indicated that the period from 4500 to 3500 B.C. was significantly wetter in this region, but that offers little to go on.

3. The search for the remains of Noah’s ark have centered on the Turkish peak of Agri Dagh (17,000 feet) near Lake Van. However, no one mountain within the Ararat range is mentioned in the biblical account, and fragments of wood that have been carbon-14 dated from this mountain have proven to come from no earlier than the fifth century A.D.

(From IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.)

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Well then is the story of Noah and the flood only a fable? Again let us ask the one who shut the door of the ark.1. ‘But as the days of No’e [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that No’e entere into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.’ Matthew 24:37-39 KJV Yeshua [Jesus] says it was all true so do I.

Paul the LearnerSee also Hebrews 11:7; 1 Peter 3:20 and 2 Peter 2:5.

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