Excavating the Foundations
One Introductory Study on the Structure of Genesis
by David Gooding
Genesis is a book full of vibrant details and intricate narratives—but how can we understand it as a whole? David Gooding shows how the historical record comes in three creation stories followed by the stories of three great patriarchs. Each section of the overall narrative presents unforgettable men and women whose lives are characterized by mistakes and successes, broken promises and fulfilled dreams. Seeing the big picture of Genesis, with its inspiring events and warnings, prepares us to engage more deeply with the book.
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An Introductory Study on the Structure of Genesis
Genesis appears to be a sizeable book; it has fifty chapters. But from another point of view, it is easily comprehensible. It is composed of three creation stories: creation is told to us from three distinct points of view. After other details, it tells the story of three great patriarchs, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. On each occasion we shall observe that what happened to the son of the patriarch is both interesting and different.
The first patriarch was Abraham, and what happened to the promised seed is that Abraham’s son was sacrificed and laid upon an altar. When Isaac himself became patriarch he fathered two sons, Esau and Jacob. The record is given largely to Jacob and what happened to him. He was so devious in his business arrangements that he had to flee from home to escape being murdered by his older brother. He went and visited his relatives in a distant country, worked for his father-in-law (having married two of his daughters), but fell out with him over his wages and ran for his life. Eventually he got back into the land, though not without fear and trepidation because Esau was still alive. When Jacob heard that Esau was coming to meet him he was filled with fear, if not with panic, because he could not help remembering what he had done to Esau. Jacob’s sons were named prayerfully by their mothers, and it is the names of those boys that shall go on the gates of the eternal city. It is worth remembering this when we read of those women and their sons.
One of the more famous sons was Joseph. He was rejected by his brothers, sold into Egypt, lied against by the woman who employed him and put into prison. When he was brought out from prison he rose to be the saviour, not only of Egypt but of the surrounding countries that were dependent upon Egypt for their supply of grain.
So, the book of Genesis is a literary whole. It begins with Adam, who was appointed by God his Creator to be the administrator of the then known world. He was put in the garden to till it and to keep it. God said to Adam, ‘See what can be done with this world. Make it your home, but be aware that there’s a big world outside and you could make a garden of that too.’ The book of Genesis begins with Adam, the administrator of the earth as God made it, and ends with Joseph, the most famous and biggest administrator in the Old Testament. But even the first book of the Bible, by the time it is finished, puts before us an administrator so wonderful and glorious that we are driven to think of our blessed Lord. Like Christ, Joseph was rejected by his Jewish brethren, sold into Egypt, slandered and put in prison. By God’s preservation he was brought out and became the saviour of the then world; so Joseph builds a picture in advance of our Lord.
Genesis tells us the story of our first forefathers; and how Adam brought upon us the fatal consequences of his sin. Some would call us fanciful for seeing in Adam himself a picture of our blessed Lord. Adam was the first man—our Lord Jesus, what was he? Adam was to be the administrator of the then earth—our Lord will be not only the counterpart to Joseph, but the administrator of the whole heavens and earth. If this should seem like a fairy story to us, we had better pull up our socks and notice that when Christ reigns there will be vacancies in his administration to be filled by those who have been faithful to him in the various tasks he has given them to do until he returns. Thus, the book of Genesis outlines man’s first history on this earth.
Three Creation Stories
Of course, there is more to Genesis than that. But now I shall need to justify my claim that there are three creation stories. It is commonly said, and many students, alas, are taught it in their theological faculties, that there are two stories of creation in Genesis, and these contradict each other. That is not so, of course, and we shouldn’t begin by supposing that they do. If this is God’s inspired word, then the fact that there are three creation stories at the beginning of Genesis should prompt us to ask: from what point of view is each creation story told?
It is commonly said that the story of the flood that we get in the third creation story borrows a lot from the mythologies of the ancient world, so let me recommend a book which helps to dispel this notion. It is On the Reliability of the Old Testament by K. A. Kitchen, a very learned man1. He was a professor of Egyptology in Liverpool University, and not only does he have knowledge of Egyptian but many other curious languages, and is notorious for the ramifications of his studies. In this book particularly, he aims to show the reliability of the Old Testament, and what he does is to start with the period in Israel when they were ruled by kings. He includes some very interesting photographs of the seals of office that were given to some of the kings’ second in command. These photographs show that those people actually existed. So, he works his way back from the kingdom period and down through the patriarchs in the book of Genesis.
I have said that there are three creation stories, so let me try to justify that if I can. First of all, Genesis 1 and verse 1 begins the first creation story: ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep’ (Gen 1:1–2). Thus begins the first creation story.
Now look at chapter 2 and verse 4: ‘These are the generations ...’. The Hebrew word here means an account of, histories of, and not just generations: ‘These are the histories of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORDGod made the earth and the heavens.’ This is the second creation story.
Then chapter 5 begins with, ‘This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man Adam when they were created’ (vv. 1–2). Three creation stories, therefore: the third one is long because it will involve the flood and the consequences of that flood.
It is for us, of course, to discover by the Lord’s help what those three creation stories are about. Why hasn’t the Holy Spirit combined them into one convenient story? Why are there three? Just as we find in the Gospels, there is not one Gospel, but four, each presenting our Lord from a different point of view, so also in the three creation stories of Genesis, creation is dealt with from a distinct point of view. It is thus left to us to discover what that point of view is.
The first creation story
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Gen 1:1–5)
Of course we know now what the ancients didn’t know. They often wondered, particularly the pagan nations, where the sun went to when it went down. Where did it go to? We know that the earth twizzles around on its axis. We have a while each day with the sunlight beaming on us, and then we are twizzled around so that we look out into the darkness—day and night. It provokes us to ask, why did God arrange it that way? So the first creation story is marked by details as to how God has organized our world. Why do you think he organized it so that we get twelve hours, more or less, facing the sun, and then, whether we want it or not, we are twizzled out into the darkness?
Some will say, ‘It’s for your health. If you don’t learn to sleep, you’ll go mad.’ Health could be part of the reason, of course. It is interesting that modern English has the same idiom as the ancient Hebrew. Genesis 1, the first creation story, tells us of the ‘days’ in which God did things. I don’t stop to discuss whether they were days of twenty-four hours or not; that is for the moment beside the point. It records the various days. On the first day, ‘God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day’ (vv. 3–5). Wait a minute; the Hebrew is using the word ‘day’ in two different senses, isn’t it? The evening and the morning were the first day; and yet it says that he called the light ‘day’, and the darkness he called ‘night’. Yes, but Hebrew has what we have in English.
Your Aunt Matilda is coming from America, and I say, ‘How is she coming, by aircraft or ship?’
You say, ‘By aircraft, of course.’
‘When is she coming?’
‘She’s coming on Thursday.’
‘But is she coming on daylight Thursday, or overnight Thursday?’
We’re using the word ‘day’ in two different senses, aren’t we? So, the first day, twenty-four hours presumably, was divided between light and darkness. The word ‘day’ is saying the obvious, which everybody has known since youth; but why do you think God has organized it that way? Would you have organized earth’s light like that? It can be very inconvenient if you’re digging the garden and the daylight fades on you, and you have to pack up before it’s finished. Why has God organized it thus? The medics will tell us it’s because you need to rest while it’s dark and recover from the day’s activities, and be refreshed in mind and body for the next day. That’s a very good explanation; but why didn’t God make us so that we didn’t need it?
What is this alternation between day and night? If you’re doing your garden or something and the night overtakes you, you can’t work. ‘The sun has set’, we say. We have no control over it. Our lighting system, which is so vital and fundamental to our existence and to our work, is not in our earth or near our earth. It is ninety million miles outside, and at the very beginning Genesis 1 is pointing out to us that the light that is necessary for life is not in our world. You have to look out from our world to the sun and to the moon. Perhaps you begin to see what I mean by saying that the first creation story has to do with the organizing of our world: how it is organized, and why therefore it is organized.
The second creation story
‘These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground—then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden . . . and there he put the man whom he had formed. (2:4–8).
The second creation story is somewhat different. The man breaks God’s conditions, and is turned out of the garden to till the soil from which he was taken (3:17-19). Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain, who was a tiller of the ground, murdered his brother (4:8). God said to Cain, ‘Cain, you can go’: ‘You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth’ (v. 12). You say, ‘That sounds to me like a great option: he was free now to do as he liked’. No he wasn’t. According to Genesis and the second creation story, he was bereft of the very reason for which he was made. I can’t imagine a more grievous thing than to lose the very purpose of your existence. Why exist? It will be one of the horrors of hell.
The third creation story
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived for 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. (Gen 5:1–5)
I have been asked to leave most of the third creation story for discussion. Look at the end of verse 8: ‘and he died’; verse 11: ‘and he died’; verse 14: ‘and he died’. Dying was a new thing for Adam. What did it mean? What did it imply? It is an issue to be faced even today, isn’t it? What will my death mean to me? What does death mean?
So the three creation stories deal with different aspects of creation.
Three Patriarchs: Abraham, Jacob and Joseph
Abraham
Abraham believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness. (15:6)
The three major patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their sons tell us another story. Abraham and his experience of the birth of Ishmael, and the birth of Isaac. When he and Sarah were sizeably elderly, God made a promise to Abraham: ‘in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed’ (Gen 22:18). For a long time, his wife could not bear a child. They were reduced to using their slave girl, and she produced Ishmael. ‘No,’ said God, ‘that wasn’t what I had in mind.’ What a trial of faith it was.
In Abraham we find lessons that are absolutely basic to our present relationship with God and to salvation. The New Testament takes up the story, pointing out that we’re saved by faith and we’re meant to go on to live by faith, rather than to introduce the slavish notion of being saved by works. There’s more to it than that, of course. In those days, fathers were particularly concerned about who their sons married, and they organized the whole arrangement. The story is told at great length of how Abraham provided a wife for his son, his beloved Isaac. God had once asked Abraham to offer him on the altar, and Abraham rose to the occasion. Just as he lifted the knife, the angel of the Lord intervened, and said, ‘. . . now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me’ (22:12). So chapter 15 tells us that Abraham was justified by faith and chapter 22 tells us he was justified by his works; and so Genesis keeps the balance in our doctrinal system.
Jacob
Is he not rightly named Jacob? (27:36)
Your name shall be no longer called Jacob, but Israel (32:28)
What is Jacob about? Well, he’s not so much another repeat lesson in how we are to be justified. In Jacob, we meet the businessman. Suppose you are a very wealthy businessman. You’re sitting in your great office, and in comes a poor man who has failed in business. He asks you to buy a painting that he has because this is his hope of getting some money. You go and look at the painting and see at once that it’s a Renoir worth a million pounds. The poor man who’s about to be bankrupt says, ‘What will you give me for it?’ Would you say, ‘I’ll give you ten thousand pounds’? ‘Well, that’s how business works.’ Is it not a matter that concerns our Christian faith? In Jacob we learn the lesson about whether God minds how we conduct our business life.
Jacob had robbed Esau of the birthright and escaped, and he’d made good. He had two wives, and their handmaids as well, and he could no longer stay with Laban, his father-in-law, because all the shops in that part of the world were ‘Jacob’s shops’. He’d managed to transfer most of his father-in-law’s balance to his own bank account. In the end his brothers-in-law couldn’t stick it anymore, and he had to run for his life. So there he was, running for his life to escape Laban, and he hears the news that Esau is coming. What now?
This was the occasion when he wrestled with the angel (see Gen 32). You see, God blessed Jacob; but if Jacob thought that the way to blessing was by stealing and perverse business deals, he had yet to be taught. When he heard that Esau was coming, being the brave man he was, Jacob sent his wives across first, and there was no end of sheep and stock and so on. As he thought about what would happen, there came a man who wrestled with him until the daylight (v. 24). It was God incarnate of course, breaking Jacob, touching his thigh so he could no longer wrestle and had to learn to depend. He was given the new name Israel and came back to Canaan lame. There his sons committed unspeakable atrocities—the return of Israel in modern times has likewise not been without its complications, in the way that the Israelis have treated the local population.
Jacob, therefore, is not just a repeat of justification by faith, but how true faith in God should be applied to our business lives, our marriages and so forth. Like Jacob, we too may have to face what we’ve done in the past, regrettable though that might be.
Joseph
Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. (49:22)
Joseph comes at the end. What a story it is, as poor old Jacob comes down to Canaan to get the food necessary to save his life. He’s introduced by his glorious son Joseph to the pharaoh, and Jacob blesses Pharaoh. The lesser is blessed by the greater, you know, so says Scripture (see Heb 7:7).
Pharaoh was blessed by Jacob because of Jacob’s son, Joseph. The solution to our world’s problems will be found in Jacob’s Son, our blessed Lord, our Joseph who is yet to rule.
In these scattered remarks there might be an odd thought among them that would encourage you in your excavations in the book of Genesis.
Let’s pray
We thank thee, Father, for thy word; for those men and women through whose mistakes thou dost warn us, and whose successes we are to follow. Grant thy blessing on thy word, we pray, and help us to live according to it and according to thy desire, so that we might please thee and be of benefit to others. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
1 K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.
Study Notes
I. The First Creation Story (1:1–2:3)
- Creation, not all at once, but in a progressive series of creative acts: and God said (1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). Creation by the word of God.
- Not only creation but organization (1:4–5, 7–8, 9–10, 14–18, 26–28).
- Creation as distinct from subsequent maintenance and development (2:1–3).
- The pinnacle of the series: man, made in God’s image, to be God’s ‘viceroy’ (1:26–29).
II. The Second Creation Story (2:4–4:26)
The Generations of A. The Heavens; B. The Earth (2:4)
- Unifying theme: the ground (2:5–7, 9, 19; 3:17, 19, 23; 4:2–3, 10–12, 14).
- Man’s substance: out of the ground (2:5–7; 3:19).
- Man’s function: to till the ground (2:5, 15; 3:23).
- The curse upon Adam: ‘cursed is the ground because of you; . . . till you return to the ground’ (3:17–19, 23).
- The curse upon Cain: ‘you are cursed from the ground’: Cain forfeits his raison d’etre (4:11).
- NB: the difference between the curse pronounced on Adam and that pronounced on Cain:
- Adam: ‘cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you . . . By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground . . .’ (3:17–19).
- Cain: ‘Now you are cursed from the ground . . . When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. . . . Cain said to the LORD, . . . “Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden’ (4:11–14).
- Descriptions of what life means:
- man’s ‘basic materials’: a material body and a non-material soul (2:7)
- function, employment, work (2:5, 15)
- aesthetic sense (2:8–9)
- potential knowledge of moral values (2:9)
- ability to sin and moral responsibility to God (2:16–17)
- relationship to animals (2:19)
- faculty of language (2:19–20)
- man-woman relationship (2:18–25)
- music (4:21)
- metal-work (4:22)
- lyric (4:23–24)
- The meaning of ‘life’ and ‘death’; the fall, its effect and consequences; sacrifice and the values it protects.
III. The Third Creation Story (5:1–9:29)
The Generations of A. Adam (5:1–6:8); B. Noah (6:9–9:29)
- Begins: This is the book of the generations of MAN
- Hebrew adam means:
- The name of the species i.e. man, human being
- The name of the first male human being, Adam
- In 5:1–2 adam = human being. NB. ‘he blessed them and named them Man (adam) when they were created.’
- So in 6:1–7:
- ‘man began to multiply’ (6:1)
- ‘daughters of man’ = female human beings (6:2, 4)
- ‘My Spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh’ (6:3)
- ‘the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth’ (6:6)
- ‘I will blot out man . . . man and animals’ (6:7)
- Hebrew adam means:
- The development of the human race from Adam:
- man’s constitution: spirit and flesh (6:3)
- man’s perversion (6:1–6)
- the nature and effect of man’s destruction by water (6:13; 7:23)
- the means of man’s salvation: the ark (6:13; 7:23)
- cf. the leading terms of 1 Peter 3:17–4:6: flesh and spirit
- The new beginning for the human race in Noah (6:9):
- sacrifice: the basis of security (8:15–22)
- the new mandate (8:15–9:17)
- the covenant and its token rainbow (9:8–17)
- Noah’s indiscretion (9:20–29)
The section ends with the death of Noah (9:29)
IV. The Rise of the Hebrew Nation from Among the Gentiles (10:1–25:11)
The Generations of A. The Sons of Noah (10:1–11:9) and of Shem (11:10–26); B. Terah (11:27–25:11)
- Nimrod and the great and famous cities: Babel, Erech, Accad, Calneh, Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, Resen (10:8–12). The building of the city and tower of Babel (11:1–9).
- The call of Abram, the promise to make a nation of him, and the purpose of it: in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (12:1–3; 18:18; 22:18).
- The promised seed (12:7; 15:1–6; 18:10–18): the birth (21:1–7), sacrifice (22:1–19) and marriage (ch. 24) of the promised seed. The covenants made with Abram and his seed, of inheritance (15:7–21), and later of circumcision (17:1–27).
- The three major areas in Abraham’s training and testing:
- Chs. 12–15: The choice between ‘goods’ and ‘life’; the denial of Sarah, the choice of Lot, the capture and recovery of Lot, the ministry of Melchizedek, justification by faith and the covenanted inheritance.
- Chs. 16–19: Faith in the promise or the works of the flesh? The taking of Hagar instead of Sarah and the birth of Ishmael; the covenant of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of faith; the renewal of the promise; Lot’s experience in Sodom, its destruction and Lot’s rescue.
- Chs. 20–24: The search for security; the second denial of Sarah; the birth of the promised seed, and the expulsion of the bondwoman and her son; Abraham’s oath granting security to the Philistine and his son; justification by works and God’s oath granting security to Abraham and his son; the purchase of a burial-ground for Sarah; the second ‘calling-out’ from the Gentiles–a bride for Isaac.
The section ends with the death of Abraham (25:8–11)
V. The Maintenance of the Hebrews’ Vision and their Development into Israelites (25:12–35:29)
The Generations of A. Ishmael (25:12–18); B. Isaac (25:19–35:29)
- The pre-natal struggle of Esau and Jacob; Jacob’s election; Esau despises and sells his birthright (25:20–34); Isaac’s struggle to maintain himself in the land, his denial of Rebekah, the fight for water, the renewal of the promise (ch. 26); Isaac’s blessing of Jacob, Jacob’s deception, Esau’s anger, the nature of blessing (ch. 27).
- Three periods in Jacob’s life:
- In the land of promise (25:19–27:34).
- Out of the land among the Gentiles (28:1–31:55).
- Back again in the land (32:1–35:29) but still attended by many difficulties in his relations with the surrounding tribes.
- The subject-matter of Jacob’s training: leaving home to make a future for himself; the vision of the house of God and of the gate of heaven; marriage-deals; the birth and naming of his children; the need to amass capital; trade-secrets, their use and abuse; the jealousy and anger of the Gentiles; Jacob’s flight; problem of reconciliation with Esau; wrestling with the angel, the vision of the face of God, Jacob becomes Israel; the abuse of religion by Jacob’s sons.
The section ends with the death of Isaac (35:28–29)
VI. The Development of Israel’s Sons into a Nation. They Become a Blessing to the Gentiles Through Joseph the Saviour of the Egyptians and of the Hebrews (36:1–50:26)
The Generations of A. Esau (36:1–8, 9–43); B. Jacob (37:2–50:26)
- The welding of Jacob’s twelve sons into a nation. Unlike what it was with Abraham and his sons, it was not a question of taking one of Jacob’s sons and discarding the rest, but of taking all twelve of his sons and welding them into a cohering nation. At first the brothers’ treacherous jealousy against Joseph and his dreams of administrative supremacy, and the irresponsibility of Judah (ch. 38)—head of the tribe destined to bear the royal sceptre—and his mercenary attitude (37:25–27) threatened to divide and scatter Jacob’s sons before they could be developed into one nation. But they are preserved, re-united and made a blessing to the nations through Joseph’s innocent suffering and Judah’s readiness to suffer vicariously (44:18–34).
- Jacob’s rediscovery of Joseph, and his recovery of his sons Simeon and Benjamin. The preservation of the twelve sons and their families, the beginning of their multiplication into a nation in Egypt, and the maintenance of their prophetic hope in their future destiny. The section ends with the deaths of Jacob (49:33–50:13); and of Joseph (50:26)