Genesis: a 12-week study

Week 4: The Downward Spiral of Sin(Genesis 2:4–3:24)

REVIEW: Genesis coverage Week 1: Overview Week 2, 2B: Creation (1:1–2:3)

Far above view of creation Humanity created as rulers / representatives of God

Week 3, 3B: Humanity’s Purpose and Failure (2:4–3:24) Close up view of Eden as the garden sanctuary of God Adam & Eve as priests Sin brings judgment Grace brings redemption

Week 4: The Downward Spiral of Sin (4:1–11:26) Earth filled with the long-term consequences of sin

Sin Spreads: Brothers Cain & Abel(Genesis 4)

Abel offered the firstborn of the flock. (peace) Cain offered the fruit of the ground. (consecration) Both offerings are part the later sacrificial system of

the Old Testament temple. (Deuteronomy 15:19-23, 26:2)

God favors Abel’s offering, which is likely more costly and a greater (whole-hearted) sacrifice for him to make.

God doesn’t just look at the offering, He looks at the heart. Cain’s responses to God show the evil intent of his heart. (1 John 3:12, Hebrews 11:4)

Notice that both Cain & Abel had to establish their own relationship to God, even though their parents knew God. God comes to each of us individually.

God’s Grace: Warning of Sin(Genesis 4)

Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for (or “against”) you, but you must rule over it.”

Adam & Eve were to rule over the beasts of the field, and failed in their temptation with the serpent. Now sin is “crouching” like a beast in Cain’s life, and God warns to “rule over it.” God gives power to conquer sin.

Sin’s Consequence: Hostility(Genesis 4)

Gen 3:16 Your desire shall be for (or “against”) your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Gen 4:7 sin … Its desire is for (or “against”) you, but you must rule over it.”

These are the only two verses in Genesis where this Hebrew word for “desire” is mentioned. Mentioned in connection with temptation and sin Desiring and ruling are in conflict Breakdown of husband-wife relationship Breakdown of sibling relationship

After The Fall, family relationships become vulnerable to being ruled by the hostility of sin.

Hostility is part of fallen human nature. Too many people blame God for the evil in the world, when they fail to understand the true fallen nature of humanity.

Peace is a supernatural fruit of the Spirit.

Sin curses the Ground(Genesis 4) Cain’s offering came out of the ground. Cain’s brother’s blood went into the ground. God cursed Cain’s ability to produce crops from the

ground. He will no longer be able to farm and will have to wander to gather food.

Cursing the ground is an echo of Adam’s curse. Cain becomes a wandering fugitive. Even the land he goes

to becomes known as the land of “Nod” which means “wandering”.

God is no longer mentioned with Cain. This seems to hold true of Cain’s offspring as well. Although Cain is the first-born son, it seems that his line hasn’t taken up the call to “bruise the head” of the serpent and reverse the curse of sin by living a righteous life.

Sin affects the fertility of the ground. Romans 8:19-20 …creation waits for eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly…

George Otis Jr.’s documentary “Transformations” records how crop yields in Almolonga, Guatemala and elsewhere multiplied following local revival.

God’s Grace: Mercy in JudgmentSin’s Consequence: Broken Families

Mercy: God puts a mark on Cain to protect him. Even though murder is punishable by death under the later Mosaic law, God protects Cain from being killed, and includes a “sevenfold” penalty against anyone who takes Cain’s life.

Who would kill Cain? No one is there except Adam & Eve and any other children they might have had.

This is a family feud. Lamech, Cain’s offspring 7 generations later killed a

young man for striking him. Sin’s downward spiral grows as Cain’s offspring are ungodly.

Family drama is another evidence of The Fall of humanity and the death and broken relationships that sin has brought into the world.

Too many families repeat the same arguments and the same problems for years and years, a consequence and evidence of The Fall.

God’s Grace: Hope for the Future(Genesis 4)

Gen 4:25–26. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.

Cain’s family failed in the call to “bruise the head of the serpent”. With the birth of Seth, we see a hope of the future Messiah coming from Seth’s descendants as they “call upon the name of the LORD”.

Why these families?(Genesis 4)

Out of all the families in the earth, why are these families mentioned? In ancient Jewish culture, a special blessing would

pass to the firstborn. In Genesis, notice that when the firstborn isn’t blessed, there’s a need to explain why the blessing passed to a younger sibling.

We see this theme of the greater blessing passing to a younger sibling again with Ishmael and Isaac, and also with Esau and Jacob.

We can’t assume that the ways of our culture are the ways of God. God has His own ways. God blesses those who follow Him regardless of their status in this world. The descendants of these families lead to the Messiah to come.

Genesis Families & Jesus Genealogy

Adam’s Family (including Seth, 4:1-6:9) Noah's Family (6:9—9:29) Families of Shem, Ham and Japheth (10:1—11:9) Shem's Family (11:10–26) Terah's Family (11:27—25:11) Abraham’s Family: his son Ishmael (25:12–18) Abraham’s Family: his son Isaac (25:19—35:29) Esau's Family (36:1—37:1) Jacob's Family (37:2—50:26) Luke 3:34-38 Jesus…the son (as was supposed) of

Joseph…David…Jacob…Isaac…Abraham… Terah…Shem…Noah…Seth…Adam, the son of God.

The family line that traces through Genesis is the family of Jesus!

Significance of the 7th Generation

Seth’s 7th generation is Enoch. Seth is righteous. Enoch is righteousness magnified. He never died. He was taken

alive to God. Cain’s 7th generation is Lamech.

Cain is a murderer. He killed a grown man. Lamech is a murderer magnified. He killed a young man.

Matthew 1:17 …Abraham to David…fourteen generations, …David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, …the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. These 3 sets of 14 generations are also 6 sets of 7 generations. Jesus begins the 7th set of 7 generations. Abraham was a blessing to

the nations. Jesus is God’s blessing magnified many times over to all nations.

The genealogies of the Bible are more than just lists of names. There is meaning and significance in the lists.

The Generations of Adam(Genesis 5)

Gen 5:1–2. This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created.

The word “generations” is “genesis” in the Greek Old Testament of early Christians.

The English words “Adam”, “man”, and “Man” all come from the Hebrew “adam”. “adam” as a proper name for the first man Adam “adam” as a common noun for a “male” “adam” as a generic noun for human being (male or female)

Matthew 1:1 This is the book of the generations of Jesus Christ. Notice how this parallels the language of Genesis in describing

Adam.

The Flood and Life Span(Genesis 5)

This genealogy is unusual, in that it mentions “he died” for each person except Enoch.

People living before the flood lived much longer than those living after the flood. Adam 930, Seth 912, Enosh 905, Kenan 910,

Mahalalel 895, Jared 962, Enoch 365 (God took him), Methuselah 969, Lamech 777, Noah 950

Shem 600, Arpachshad 438, Shelah 433, Eber 464, Peleg 239, Serug 230, Nahor 148, Terah 205

The Flood and Life Span(Genesis 5)

This genealogy is unusual, in that it mentions “he died” for each person except Enoch.

People living before the flood lived much longer than those living after the flood. Adam 930, Seth 912, Enosh 905, Kenan 910, Mahalalel 895,

Jared 962, Enoch 365 (God took him), Methuselah 969, Lamech 777, Noah 950

Shem 600, Arpachshad 438, Shelah 433, Eber 464, Peleg 239, Serug 230, Nahor 148, Terah 205

From the dates given, it is possible to conclude that Methuselah died in The Flood.

Enoch’s walk with God makes him an early example of faith (Heb 11:5-6). His being taken without dying anticipates the eternal resurrection life give in Christ (Rom 8:11).

Noah and The Flood(Genesis 6)

Gen 6:5–6 (ESV) 5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Gen 6:13–14. (ESV) 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark…

Even in the Old Testament, thoughts of the heart count. The earth is supposed to be filled with the image of God, but instead

is filled with violence. God is grieved by the need for judgment. If the violent animals also disappeared, could those be dinosaurs? The word translated as “earth” could be translated as either “earth” or

“land”. Linguistically, this could refer to either a planetary flood or to a regional flood.

Man hadn’t yet spread to all parts of the earth yet, as we learn later at the Tower of Babel.

External Evidence of The Flood(Genesis 6)

China’s ancient “Book of Documents”mentions a flood that rose to the heavensand drowned all living things.

The Chinese language bears some ancient evidence for knowledge of the flood. The Chinese character for “boat” contains the pictures for “vessel” with “8” and “mouth”. There were 8 people on Noah’s ark, the first mention of a boat in Genesis.

Ancient records outside the Bible also mention longer life spans for those living before the flood, such as the Sumerian King list naming kings who reigned for over 1000 years.

The Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh also mentions a flood where animals are saved on a boat. Although they falsely attribute the reason for the flood to their local gods, this extra biblical story gives other ancient evidence that the flood was a well known historical event.

In Search of Noah’s Ark is a 1976 film about finding an ark in Turkey.

Punishment, Grace, Echo of Eden(Genesis 7-9)

God created the heavens and the earth, and He begins a sort of “re-creation” through the flood.

God accepts responsibility: the LORD shut Noah in the ark. Gen 7:16 (Noah didn’t shut the door.)

God allowed 7 pairs of the “clean” animals, some of which were used as a sacrifice later.

God makes a covenant with Noah with the covenant sign of the rainbow, never to flood the earth again. (Gen 9:8-17)

God commands Noah to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1, 7), an echo of the blessing and command given to Adam.

Tragically, Noah demonstrates his own fall in his own garden, getting drunk in his vineyard and passing out naked in his tent. An echo of the sin of Adam in God’s garden and the nakedness of Adam that needed to be covered after his fall.

Ham failed to cover Noah, so Noah curses Ham’s son Canaan. Many of Ham’s descendants later become Israel’s enemies. Later in history, it is Canaan’s descendants that are conquered by the Israelites.

Shem and Japheth covered Noah and were blessed. Noah becomes an echo of Adam, both in becoming the father of all

those alive and in the perpetuation of sin in the earth.

Filling the Earth after the Flood(Genesis 10)

Noah’s sons were fruitful and multiplied through various regions of the earth. Japheth: coastland peoples (Mediterranean and Europe) Ham: mostly Africa (Egypt, etc.) and the middle east near

Africa, Nimrod migrates to Mesopotamia, Canaan settles around modern Israel.

Shem: mostly Middle East, becoming Arabian tribes and later the Israelites. The term “Semitic” comes from “Shem”. Shem’s great-grandson Eber is where the word “Hebrew” comes from. Abram/Abraham comes from the Shem/Eber line.

All nations are included in God’s plan. While God singles out Abram, God says that all nations will be blessed through him. Jesus comes from Abram (Shem’s line).

Descendant of Japheth (red), Ham (blue), and Shem (green)

Locations of various tribes according to ancient historian Flavius Josephus.

Y-chromosome DNA (male) and Mitochondrial DNA (female) maps

Geneticists have traced both Y-chromosome DNA maps and Mitochondrial DNA maps back to the middle east. This is where the Bible says Noah’s sons left to fill the earth.

The Bible accurately portrays the history of nations.

As archaeologist William Albright noted, "it [the Bible] remains an astonishingly accurate document...and shows such remarkably 'modern' understanding of the ethnic and linguistic situation in the modern world, in spite of all its complexity, that scholars never fail to be impressed with it's knowledge of the subject."

Tower of Babel(Genesis 11)

From the description of the tower construction materials and from archeological knowledge of the area, the “tower” was likely a ziggurat. However, Hebrew doesn’t have it’s own word for ziggurat.

A ziggurat is a pyramidal, stepped temple tower characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia between 2200 and 500 BC.

It was built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick. It had no internal chambers and was usually square or rectangular.

Some 25 ziggurats are known, located in Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria. The best-preserved ziggurat is at Ur, and the largest is at Elam.

Since these towers typically had a shrine at the top, part of the sin may have been the dedication of the tower to another god (likely Marduk, the god of creation and destiny associated with Babylon).

The legendary Tower of Babel has been associated with the ziggurat of the great temple of Marduk in Babylon. “Babel” is translated “Babylon” or “Babylonia” in other books of the Bible. Here it may be left as “Babel” to keep the association with the root meaning “to confuse”. As punishment for building the tower, God confuses the speech of the builders. (Gen 11:9)

Confusing the speech of sinful people is an act of grace to limit wickedness. Jeremiah foretold that Marduk (Heb. Merodach, Jer 50:2) would be put to shame for

his inability to keep Babylon from destruction.

Discussion

Cain & Abel Noah & The Flood Noah & His Sons (Shem, Ham,

Japheth) The Tower of Babel Questions

How does sin spread? How does God punish sin? How is God’s grace shown? What truths are shown through all these

families?