Genesis
Genesis, the first book of the law of Moses, is the book of beginnings. The time covered by this book, excluding the period left unspecified in the first two verses, is some 2,316 years. This exceeds the total time period covered by the remaining portion of Scripture—both Old and New Testaments. The book may be divided into five distinct periods:
1. In the beginning (ch. 1:12). 2. From the Adamic creation to the fall (ch. 1:33). 3. From the fall to the flood (ch. 47). 4. From the flood to the call of Abraham (ch. 811). 5. The lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (ch. 12-50).
Genesis 1:2 tells us that the earth was “without form [waste], and void,” and yet in Isaiah 45:18 we find that “God . . . created it not in vain [waste]” —exactly the same word in the original as that found in Genesis 1:2. The time that transpired from the creation of the heavens and the earth until we find it waste and void is not specified, and neither are we told what transpired during that time.
Within the pages of this wonderful book we find all the great principles of God’s relationship with man. Here lie the great foundations for the remainder of Scripture. It is no wonder that Satan would attempt to undermine the contents of this book, throwing doubts upon its authenticity.
If we consider the ages of the patriarchs, we find some interesting points for our consideration. Adam lived 930 years (Gen. 5:5). During his lifetime he would have had opportunity to commune with Enoch, Methuselah and Lamech. Noah, the son of Lamech and a contemporary of Methuselah, lived for 950 years, 350 years of that after the flood (Gen. 9:28-29). During this period he may have talked with Nahor and Terah, Abraham’s grandfather and father.
It was by eyewitness account that the knowledge of God, of His creation, the fall, His remedy, and His judgment were passed down. How solemn to read: “When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. . . . Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom. 1:21, 32).
Exodus
Genesis closes with the children of Israel and their households in the land of Egypt and Joseph’s words of faith: “God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence” (Gen. 50:25).
His words are fulfilled in Exodus when the children of Israel are brought up out of the land of Egypt, through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. (Numbers covers the remaining thirty-eight years of their forty years’ wandering in the wilderness, bringing them to the Jordan, while Deuteronomy records the last words of Moses before they entered the land of Canaan.)
While the record of these events is historic, we would lose very much if that were all we saw. The Old Testament is full of vitally important moral instruction for believers today. These Scriptures were a “shadow of good things to come” (Heb. 10:1), examples or types for us (1 Cor. 10:6), “written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11).
In Exodus we have redemption and, as a result, relationship to Jehovah, the Redeemer. In Genesis we read of Elohim, the Creator (Gen. 1:1). God introduces Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai, God Almighty (Gen. 17:1). But in Exodus we have, “I AM THAT I AM” (Ex. 3:14). This is Jehovah, the eternally existing One—speaking of relationship—and it was by this name that Israel was to know God. “I will take you to Me for a people. . . . Ye shall know that I, Jehovah your God, am He who bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Ex. 6:67 JND).
Exodus may be divided as follows: 1. Israel in Egypt (ch. 16). 2. The ten plagues of Egypt (ch. 7-12). 3. The exodus: The passover to the Red Sea (ch. 12-14). 4. The song of redemption (ch. 15). 5. The Red Sea to Mt. Sinai (ch. 16-19). 6. The law and the pattern for the tabernacle (ch. 20-40).
In the passover we see the blood of the lamb meeting the claims of God as judge. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Ex. 12:13). In the Red Sea we see that salvation is not merely safety from wrath to come, but a complete victory over the power of sin (Ex. 14:30). The lamb is a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7), and the blood is the foundation of everything.
N. Simon