This transcript was autogenerated so may not be an exact representation of the complete content of the talk

 Genesis has been called by some “The book of beginnings,” All who approach it recognise it as an indispensable introduction to the entire Bible. In Genesis we find the seed plot of the whole Bible. Many commentators both ancient and modern say it is the most important book in the Bible” 

 Before looking at the text itself it is important to say something about these first five books of the Bible usually referred to as the Pentateuch.  Hebrew was the mother tongue of the Israelite people and was the original language of the Old Testament. During the third century BC this Hebrew Old Testament was beginning to be translated into Greek, this translation being known as the Septuagint (often written with the Greek numeral LXX (70), this was because it was named after 'the seventy' Hebrew and Greek scholars who translated it. Originally these first five books were one long text, but they were put into their present five-volume form so that they could fit conveniently on to five manageable sized scrolls of parchment and it from there we get the word Pentateuch which simply means five scrolls.

 The name of the first scroll was titled Genesis and that title is taken from this early translation of the Old Testament by those 70 scholars I mentioned earlier. The title takes its name from the Hebrew word for “beginnings.” Genesis means “birth, or origin.” This is because it records the beginning of the earth, man, sin and Israel.

 The Bible itself says Genesis was written by Moses
 Four sources within the text of the bible make that claim.

 1                 Pentateuch itself claims Moses is its author (Ex. 17:14, 24:4, 7, 34:27; Num. 33:1-2; Deut. 31:29).

2                 Other Old Testament books testify to the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (Josh. 1:7, 8, 8:32, 34, 22:5; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 21:8; Ezra 6:18; Dan. 9:11-13; Mal. 4:4).

3                 The New Testament also confirms the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (Mt. 19:8; Mk. 12:26; Jn. 5:46, 47, 7:19; Rom. 10:15).

4                 Jewish and Christian tradition both claim Moses wrote it.

 If one assumes that Moses was the main author of Genesis or at least compiled from his writing and teaching, then the material would obviously have had to have been originally written during his lifetime.  Bible experts believe he probably wrote it between Egypt and Sinai initially to the exodus generation, who no doubt, had many questions. They probably wanted to know things like, “Where did we come from? How did we get to Egypt? Why is Moses leading us out of Egypt? Where is he taking us? Why is he taking us there?”

The main subject of the book is the election of God, the main message being God, is the Creator of the universe, he chose the Patriarchs and their descendants to give them the land of Israel and bless the world through them, but they ended up in Egypt. The purpose of Genesis at the time of its writing was to inform the Israelites in the wilderness about God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (that they would get the land of Canaan) and to explain how they ended up in their current predicament (stuck in Egypt).

The book's chief concern, however, is not just the physical origins of humanity and God’s people, but more so about the relationship God desires to have with the people he created to who inhabit his earth. How Adam and Eve, though sinless when created, fell into sin, and the evil consequences of their sin passed on to the entire human race that was descended from them. Rebellious humanity deserved, and received, God's judgment, but that judgment was always mixed with mercy. God did not destroy the human life he had created. Rather he worked through it to provide a way of salvation available to all. His way was to choose one man (Abraham), from whom he would build a nation (Israel), through which he would make his will know, and then eventually produce the Saviour of the world (Jesus).

The book of Genesis not only shows how human beings rebelled against God and fell under his judgment, but it shows also how God began to carry out his plan for their salvation fully revealed in the New Testament through Jesus. Bearing all that in mind we will in the next podcast turn to the main text beginning in Ch 1 Vs 1.