Introduction
“1 Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3) This is one of the most significant events in the Bible and in the history of the world. It leads you into the very heart of what this most famous book in the world is all about. The God of the Bible speaks to people individually, in this case to a man named Abram, who lived in what today is called Iraq. And this God starts something amazingly global with something unbelievably insignificant: by separating one unknown man, Abram, from his environment, God started a process, which would later become beneficial and a blessing for all mankind. This is what the Bible is about: The God, who created everything, works with and through simple individuals to bring about great blessing for all those, who listen to him. You also can become part of this movement, if you allow the God of the Bible to touch your heart and to use you in his global agenda of blessing and helping.
This Bible passage, which we quoted above, is from the first of the 66 books of the Bible, called Genesis. In this short course we want to help you discover this foundational text, which commences the Bible. Currently more than 5 billion Bibles are in circulation worldwide. No other book influences more people worldwide than the Bible. And here we want to help you find access to the Bible by focusing on its first book Genesis.
Each lesson in this course concentrates on one chapter of Genesis, which has a total of 50 chapters, by giving a summarizing title for each chapter. Since Genesis and most of the Bible is about God’s history in and with the world, which he created, we give a date for the events, which each chapter of Genesis describes. This is followed by an overview on the content of this chapter. The main part in each of the following lessons is a simple description of what each chapter of Genesis teaches, to help you discover the contents of this incredibly important book of the Bible. This is followed by a short prayer and a question to help you reflect on what you discovered when reading our discovery text. And finally for each chapter of Genesis we show you how its verses have been taken up in the Christian New Testament, either through direct quotations from Genesis or by allusions to statements in Genesis. So come with us and allow us to lead you with the help of this booklet into the beginning of God’s breathtaking history with all of mankind.
Before we start, let us look at the place of the book of Genesis in the overall structure of the Bible:
a) The Bible (about 1200 pages long) has two main divisions: the Old Testament and the New Testament. Each of these two divisions is about a covenant or a contract, which God concluded with humans. The Old Testament, or old covenant, is based on a contract with God’s chosen people, the Sons of Jacob, also called the Israelites, which God concluded through his servant Moses. The New Testament, or new covenant, is based on a contract with all mankind, which God concluded through his Son Jesus Christ, whom he sent into our world. Our book of Genesis, which we explore here, begins the Old Testament, and has incredibly deep relevance and meaning for the New Testament too.
b) The Old Testament (about 900 pages long) is the Bible of the Jews. It has four parts: the Torah of Moses (dealing with the Foundation of Israel), the History of Israel, the Psalms and Proverbs (containing the Songs and Wisdom of Israel) and the Prophets of Israel. Our book of Genesis also begins the Torah of Moses, which is the foundation of the Bible of the Jews, called Old Testament by us Christians.
c) The Torah of Moses (about 220 pages long) is the most venerated text of the Jews. The word “Torah” in Hebrew literally means an authoritative teaching or instruction. It contains five books: Genesis (the prehistory of the Israelites and of the world as a whole), Exodus (the formation of the Israelites as a people worshiping the LORD, the God of Abraham), Leviticus (prescriptions of God about how to worship him through sacrifices and a holy life), Numbers (the conquest of the first part of the land of Canaan, which God had promised Abraham as an eternal possession), and Deuteronomy (a summarizing repetition of God’s commandments to the Israelites before they conquered the main part of the promised land of Canaan). From this you can see that our book Genesis, which we explore in this course, also begins the Torah of Moses.
d) The book of Genesis (around 60 pages long) is divided in this course into the following six sections:
PRAYER: We adore you and worship you, God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob for your amazing history of creating your chosen people, the Sons of Jacob, through whom you want to bless all of mankind. Thank you that much later you sent your Son Jesus Christ and allowed him to be born from his Israelite mother Mary to become a Savior and Lord not only of your chosen people of Israel, but also of all mankind. Thank you for choosing what is small and insignificant to bring blessing to many. We open up to your work of blessing by exploring the first book recording your breathtaking history in and with our whole world. Amen.
NOTE: The following chronology and the chronologies at the end of the four booklets of this Exploratory Bible Course are taken from the German book: Karl-Heinz Vandheiden, Bibel-Chronik. Die Bibel im historischen Kontext. (2021, Christliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Dillenburg , 847 pages long)