Old Testament Survey

Lesson 2Genesis

We continue our survey of the Old Testament by beginning a study of Genesis. As a side note, it is important to have a solid chronology of events throughout the Old Testament. This will not only aid our understanding of what we are reading, but it will also help our deductive study as well. For example, in Lesson 1 once we learned the age of Isaac when his son was born, we could then deduce from that information how old Isaac was when he married—20 years old (because we knew from knowledge of the Bible that he prayed for 40 years for a child from the day he was married).

I also discussed the importance of developing your own chronology and how it is more important to have a chronology that ties together in the correct order – vs. trying to memorize a bunch of specific dates. I say this because there are several sources you can reference regarding Biblical chronology and different sources will ultimately provide you with different dates for various events. For example, my Bible, plus several reference books that I own, can have dates that vary by as much as 214 years. You may discover references with even greater variances than that. Don’t get hung up about these differences; they are not that germane to the big picture.

However, to remain consistent as we jointly explore these Old Testament survey lessons, I will be using the chronology and dating provided me during my seminary days at Trinity Theological Seminary.

Bible

In our last lesson, we looked at the birth of Abram occurring in 2166, his departure from Ur occurring in 2091 (when he was 75), and Isaac’s birth occurring in 2066 (when Abram was 100 years old). Jacob, Isaac’s son, moves to Egypt in 1876 B.C., which begins the sojourn of the Jews in Egypt. Genesis 47: 8-9, tells us that Jacob was 130 yrs old at that time (i.e., 1876 B.C.). Based on this information, we can determine that Jacob was born in 2006 B.C., when Abraham was 160 years old.

We also talked about the period preceding Abram -- that period of time between Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Seth, Noah, and Nimrod and the Tower of Babel -- and the fact that there is no precise way to date those events. Many try using the genealogy in the book of Genesis; however, for numerous reasons that genealogy will not result in accurate dating. As was pointed out in class, the real purpose of the genealogies in the Bible is to show us the lineage of Christ our redeemer; and it does that very accurately. Beyond that, we will not depend on it to a great extent to determine exact dates, since we have other biblical references and tools like the Assyrian Eponym List.

Finally, as we began our survey we committed to refreshing our memory in learning the books of the Old Testament in order. As we saw last week if you have a solid chronology in your mind, the books of the Old Testament actually fall into place pretty easily. Typically, it is our lack of understanding of the order of events, and importance of events, that keep us from completely learning the books of the Bible in order. For example, do you know who wrote the Book of Lamentations, and why? If you did, you would understand why it is placed next to Jeremiah -- and why Jeremiah follows Isaiah in the Major Prophets section of the Old Testament.

So put on your chronology hat once again as we begin a quick overview of the book of Genesis. I am certain that you are going to learn a few things from our Genesis study this week that you may not have known before.

  1. What is the dramatic significance of Genesis 3:15 with respect to history?
  2. Briefly explain the theories on the creation of the world and man listed below:
    1. Evolution
    2. Theistic Evolution
    3. Day/Age Theory
    4. Revelatory Day
    5. Gap Theory
    6. Biblical Model
  3. Using 1805 B.C. as the date of Joseph’s death, answer the following (see Acts 7:30-33, Deut 34:7, Exodus 2:1-3:2, Exodus 40:17):
    1. How old was Moses when led the people out of Egypt?
    2. When was Moses born?
    3. In what year did the departure occur and in what year did it end?
  4. Given that we know these dates we can also know the dates for many books in the Old Testament. Determine the dates for the events that occurred in the following books:
    1. The events in Joshua:
    2. The events in Judges:
    3. The events in 1 Samuel:
    4. The events in 2 Samuel:
    5. The events in 1 Kings:
    6. The events in 2 Kings:
    7. The events in 1 and 2 Chronicles:
    8. The events in Ezra:
    9. The events in Nehemiah:
    10. The events in Malachi:
  5. What were the names of Abram’s brothers? (Genesis 11:26)
  6. What can we apply to our lives today from the prayers and faith of Isaac in Genesis 25:21-26?
  7. Read Genesis 41:46, 45:6, 47:9, Chapters 29 and 30. From the information provided in these passages, plus the details behind the births of Jacob’s children, determine the following:
    1. The age of Jacob when he disguised himself and prevented Isaac from wrongfully giving the blessing to Esau:
    2. The age of Jacob when he married Leah:
    3. How old was Jacob when he moved to Egypt, and how old was his son Joseph at that time?
  8. Jacob was deeply in love with Rachel and worked fourteen years to have her as his wife. Who ended up being buried alongside Jacob when she also died? (see Genesis 49:31)
  9. Describe the personalities of Esau, Jacob and Laban; and identify which one goes on to become the father of the Edomites.
  10. Summarize the experiences of Joseph in Egypt.

Continuing our survey look at the Old Testament will fill us with a real sense of God’s purpose. As we build our chronology and our understanding of the people and events in the Old Testament, we can’t help but also see that it all fits perfectly together. Nothing God ever does is by accident -- it all has a specific purpose, even if that purpose isn’t known to us and stretches over hundreds or thousands of years. Ultimately, it accomplishes God’s will.

How exciting it is to be studying God’s only and Holy Word and seeing all that God reveals to us through it!

Thanks for studying with us, and have a great week everyone.

In Christ,

[2020]

Wes

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