Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac can be a highly controversial topic, but let’s explore what is happening here. Abraham trusted that God would keep the promise to make a covenant nation of his descendants through his son Isaac, the promised son of his wife Sarah. If God were faithful to this promise, God couldn’t eliminate Isaac because the covenant couldn’t be fulfilled. Abraham trusted that God would be faithful to the promise, so he went forward with sacrificing him, knowing that Isaac couldn’t be taken forever or God would be a liar and covenant breaker.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Genesis
Writings, summaries, and commentary on the first Book of the Torah (the first five books of the bible).
The Story of Abraham Pt.2 (Genesis chapters 19-25)
This is part two of my look at the story of Abraham in Genesis chapters 19-25. You can read Part 1 featuring chapters 12-18 here.
Continue readingThe Story of Abraham Pt.1 (Genesis chapters 12-18)
This is part one of an overview of the story of Abraham. This will look over Genesis 12-18. Part two can be read here.
Continue readingWho is the Oldest Son?
An interesting translation discrepancy arises in Genesis 10:21 regarding the question of who was the oldest son of Noah, Shem or Japheth. It’s peculiar how some modern English versions of Genesis 10:21 state that Shem was the older brother of Japheth, while others, including the King James Version, claim that Japheth is the elder. The Hebrew text has the word gadol (גָּדֽוֹל), meaning “big” or “highest,” next to Japheth, whereas the NASB lexicon places it before Japheth, next to Shem. Which is it, Japhet or Shem? A similar issue arises with Abraham and his brothers; examining both will help us understand this.
Continue readingGenesis 4: Pre-Adamic Race Theory
There are ideas that a pre-Adamic group of humans existed before Adam and Eve. A lot of this may be an attempt to reconcile scripture with naturalism. Some of it is driven by a misunderstanding of the Torah’s laws on sexual relationships, specifically “incestuous” ones. Unfortunately, some have taken this concept to the extreme and suggest that only those of certain ethnic heritage are actual humans from Adam and Eve; meanwhile, other people groups are sub-human because they don’t come from Adam and Eve. This sounds like a syncretism with Darwinism being used to devalue some people as animals while others are seen as children of God.
Continue readingCreation Week Symmetry
There is symmetry between days 1-3 and days 4-6 of creation week. Genesis 1:1 is the initialization of the story of creation. Genesis 1:2 describes the initial state of the cosmos as without form and void. In Hebrew this is tohu va-bohu (תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔הוּ). Tohu means “lacking form and purpose, unordered, desolate”, and Bohu means “empty, uninhabited, wasteland”. The first three days were the solution to tohu by bringing organization to the unorganized, and the second set of three days was the solution to bohu, filling the organized spaces with inhabitants.
Continue readingOn the Construction of Genesis
Most devout Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that Moses wrote the entire Torah, including the book of Genesis. Genesis takes place approximately 200 years before the birth of Moses. So, how did he do it? Was he even literate? Did God reveal everything to him, or did he gather his information from human records?
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