The 1st Book of the Pentateuch

Written by Moses

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. (Genesis 9:1-17)

GENESIS The name "Genesis" comes from a Greek word meaning "beginning." This word was the title of the book in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Hebrew name for Genesis was 'b rë shith', "in the beginning." The Hebrews often identified the books of the Old Testament by the first word of the text. In this way when a scroll was unrolled they were able to tell immediately which book it contained. Aside from Genesis, there are no other writings that inform us of the events which predated Moses. The first part of the book describes the key events in the early history of man. The remainder of the book records the history of the patriarchs. Genesis was written in a prescientific age and was not meant to be a scientific document. Consequently, only divine inspiration can account for the perfect accuracy of its technical information. In Genesis, it is made clear that all things were designed and created by God and continue to operate within the boundaries of His purpose. Although the human race departed from God's original plan, God has lovingly provided a way for men to be reconciled to Him. Though the Book of Genesis contains no express record as to who wrote the book, there are no logical reasons for denying that Moses is the author, not only of Genesis, but of all five books of the Pentateuch. The unity of the Pentateuch is attested to in various portions of the Old Testament, as well as in portions of the New Testament.   Even the opening phrase of the Book of Exodus, "Now these are the names," provides clear evidence to that unity. The Hebrew prefix that is translated "now" is the common form of the conjunction in Hebrew (most often translated "and" or "but") and indicates that there was some other book which preceded the Book of Exodus. Jesus refers to Moses as an author of Scripture in Luke 16:31; 24:44; and John 5:46, 47. ln John 7:23, the New Testament refers to circumcision as a part of the Law of Moses (see Gen. 17:12; Ex. 12:48; Lev. 12:3). It has also been suggested that Moses made use of certain documents and oral traditions to write the book. Certain terms have been cited as proof of the previous authorship of certain portions. For instance, the term 'tol dôth' (8435) generations, is said to be used to identify the author or the possessor of certain portions (Gen. 6:9, 11:27). The "looking over" or "familiarity with" other writings is not unheard of among the biblical writers, nor is it contrary to biblical inspiration (see Luke 1:1 -4). However, it must be remembered that the actual writing of the Book of Genesis was done by Moses, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Book of Genesis is an appropriate introduction to the entire Bible. It provides answers for the universal questions of the origin of all living things, the universe, sin, and evil in the world. More than half of human history is covered in its fifty chapters. However, the Book of Genesis is not merely the introductory book of the Pentateuch, but rather the foundation of it, of the whole Old Testament, yea of the whole of the Scriptures. Without the Book of Genesis, what would be known of the creation of the universe, the fall of man, the judgment of God, or the promise of redemption?   Since God is invisible, man may know of Him only through His works, which are seen in nature, revealed in Scripture, and accomplished in the life of the believer. And how deficient would our knowledge of God be without this book! Are not "his eternal power and Godhead" displayed in His creation (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20)? Yet the creation, in all that it portrays of the divine Creator, is not sufficient in its instruction to provide man with the knowledge necessary to attain salvation. At this point as well, however, the Book of Genesis lays the foundation of all the Scripture.   For the book is not limited to the account of creation, but rather emphasizes the fact that the world was founded by God, that man was created in righteousness and true holiness, but that man fell by his own disobedience, and therefore was cursed by God.   Furthermore, the first promise of a Redeemer, by whom the curse of death would be vanquished, is found in this book (Gen. 3:15, 16). The remainder of the Book of Genesis is in fact the first chapter of the history of redemption, in which God chose the seed of Abraham to be the line of the Messiah and the heirs of the promise (Gen. 12:1-3; Matt. 1:17; Gal. 3:6 -9, 29). [Source for Introduction of chapter: Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible KJV edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN 37422]