Let there be light...and there was light....

I thought this was a very apt picture (from Deviantart.com) to start off my journey through Genesis. May God light up my path as I seek His wisdom in His words. I ought to live in the light, not in darkness. :D

Overview of Genesis

For modern readers Genesis might appear to be a strange book, beginning as it does with God and creation, and ending with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt! But that strangeness is evidence that even though it has integrity as a book in its own right (careful structure and organisation), it is at the same time intended to set the whole biblical story in motion. Indeed, its opening word (Bereshith = "in [the] beginning") both serves as its title and is suggestive as to what the book is about. Thus it tells of the beginning of God's story-- creation, human disobedience, and divine redemption-- while it also begins the Pentateuch, the story of God's choosing and making a covenant iwth a people through whom he would bless all peoples (Gen 12:2-3).

The narrative of Genesis itself comes in two basic parts : a "prehistory", the stories of creation, human origins, the fall of humanity, and the relentless progress of evil -- all against the backdrop og God's enduring patience and love -- the love of the beginning of redemption through Abraham and his seed, with focus on the stories of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. these stories are structured in part around a phrase that occurs ten times : "This is the account [genealogy/family history] of", a term which can refer both to "genealogies" proper (as with Shem, Ishmael, and Esau) ant to "family stories". You will see that the major stories of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph in each case come under the family story of the father (Terah, Issac, and Jacob).

The overall narrative of Genesis thus begins immediately after the prologue(1:1-2:3) with the first human family in the Garden of Eden and works successively from Adamn's family through Noah and Shem to Terah and Abraham and finally through Issac and Jacob(Israel) and thus to Joseph. At the same time, the family lines of the rejected sons(Cain, Ishmael, Esau) are also given so that the "chosen seed" and the "rejected brother" are set off in contrast (the one has a story, the other only a genealogy). Finally, watch for one further framing device that holds the major part of the book together : God's use of Noah to preserve human life during the great deluge and of Joseph to preserve human life during the great drought.