The first book of the Bible which covers events from Creation to the start Israel's sojourn in Egypt.
4
votes
2answers
134 views
Did God make an idol?
In the decalogue God forbids the making and or worshipping of images in the form of anything in the created order.
And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of ...
4
votes
0answers
48 views
Just how overpriced was Efron's burial cave anyway?
In Genesis 23 Avraham pays 400 shekels to Efron for a burial cave for Sarah (and, later, other family members). This seems to be an enormous amount of money and Rashi suggests it's even worse than it ...
3
votes
1answer
29 views
Did 70 or 75 Hebrews go down to Egypt with Jacob?
Acts 7:14 states that "Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all." This seems to contradict Deut. 10:22, Ex. 1:5; and Gen. 46:27 ...
3
votes
2answers
73 views
Genesis 23 — Why does the Bible change the spelling of Ephron's name?
In Genesis 23, we learn that Sarah has died and Abraham is looking to acquire a grave for her. He approaches the children of Heth and meets Ephron the Hittite who, initially, offers his land (which ...
9
votes
1answer
119 views
Why is Genesis careful to record the exact dates of the flood?
Genesis 7:11 (NIV emphasis mine)
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates ...
7
votes
2answers
107 views
Did Abraham leave Haran before or after his father died?
Genesis 11:31-12-1 appears to indicate that Abram left Haran after his father Terah had died. (The author of the New Testament book of Acts certainly saw it that way.)
Terah took his son Abram and ...
7
votes
1answer
79 views
What does Genesis 3:16 literally say?
I've noticed that sometimes words are repeated in the hebrew text.
Gen 3:16 אֶֽל־ H413 to הָ·אִשָּׁ֣ה H802 Unto the woman אָמַ֗ר H559 he said הַרְבָּ֤ה H7235 I will greatly אַרְבֶּה֙ H7235 ...
9
votes
1answer
81 views
Genesis 3:12: What is the underlying Hebrew word translated into English as “with me” (in KJV)?
In Genesis 3:12, is the underlying Hebrew word, translated into English as "with me" (in the KJV), supposed to be Strong's H5978 as the HCSB and HiSB suggests, or Strong's H5973 as the KJV suggests?
...
8
votes
3answers
121 views
Who was Nimrod?
In the middle of an otherwise repetitive genealogy in Genesis 10, one man is especially singled out:
Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. He was a mighty hunter ...
7
votes
4answers
123 views
Before the Tower of Babel did all speak Hebrew as the original human language?
I find it fascinating that rabbinic literature suggests that Hebrew was the original human language. I have seen Christian authors also argue the same.
For example, from the Jewish Encyclopedia:
...
8
votes
3answers
124 views
Does Genesis contain a “death sandwich”?
Recently David Musgrave of Amridge University and Gordon Rugg of Keele University presented research that suggests the entire book of Genesis contains an inclusio on the words "life" and "death". ...
3
votes
4answers
136 views
Should The Creation Story in Genesis Be Understood as Metaphorical?
I have been lead to understand that the creation story of Genesis should be read as metaphorical and not literal. However, there seems to be abundant evidence that the ancients understood the story ...
0
votes
2answers
151 views
What is the “Light” of Genesis 1:3?
In Genesis 1:3 (ESV), it is written,
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
The Hebrew word which is translated into English as "light" is אֹור (or) (Strong's H216).
Is ...
7
votes
2answers
125 views
What is the “Water” of Genesis 1:2?
We read in the creation account:
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.—Genesis 1:2 ...
5
votes
1answer
58 views
Did Tamar marry a third time, and if so whom?
Genesis 38:26 says:
וַיַּכֵּר יְהוּדָה וַיֹּאמֶר צָדְקָה מִמֶּנִּי כִּי עַל כֵּן לֹא נְתַתִּיהָ לְשֵׁלָה בְנִי וְלֹא יָסַף עוֹד לְדַעְתָּהּ:
Then Judah recognized [them], and he said, "She is ...
6
votes
2answers
54 views
How did Yaakov hear about Dinah?
Genesis 34 tells about Shechem's rape of Dinah and the events that follow. 34:5 says that Yaakov heard ( שָׁמַע) about this (and didn't act immediately).
He didn't hear it from Dinah because she ...
5
votes
1answer
63 views
Is there something significant about Avram's tactics in rescuing Lot?
Genesis 14 describes the war of four kings against five kings and the capture of Lot, and then describes how Avram mounted a rescue mission:
וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָם, כִּי נִשְׁבָּה אָחִיו; וַיָּרֶק ...
2
votes
2answers
61 views
Under Christian exegesis, where should the Messianic application begin and end in Jacob's blessing to Judah?
In Jacob' blessing to Judah (Genesis 49:9-12) both ancient Rabbinic and ancient Christian commentators have assigned the Messiah to be 'him' (in Hebrew 'Shiloh'). However, starting at 'Binding his ...
0
votes
0answers
32 views
Before the fall of man [closed]
What would happen if Adam and Eve did not disobey God?
On the other side, is this question valid for this site?
3
votes
2answers
106 views
Ya'akov's prophecy regarding his son, Yosef (Gen. 49:24)
Here is the KJV translation of Genesis 49:24:
But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty [God] of Jacob; (from thence [is] the shepherd, ...
4
votes
2answers
185 views
What does 'Dominon' mean in Genesis?
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and ...
4
votes
2answers
103 views
What is the significance of the verb בנה in Genesis 2:22?
And YHVH God built a woman with the rib that he took from the man, and He brought her to the man.
וַיִּבֶן יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶֽת־הַצֵּלָע אֲשֶׁר־לָקַח מִן־הָאָדָם לְאִשָּׁה וַיְבִאֶהָ ...
7
votes
3answers
300 views
How are we to take the fact that Lot offered his daughters for rape?
In Genesis two angels visited Sodom and Gomorrah to check what's what. The residents of the town wanted to rape the angels (who had visited the most virtuous man in the town, Lot). Lot to protect the ...
3
votes
1answer
117 views
Is the name Israel intended to be ambiguous?
Jacob is renamed Israel by God as explained in this passage:
Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he ...
7
votes
2answers
820 views
Is “breath of life” in Genesis 2:7 is the same as spirit?
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
What is the meaning of "breath of life" ...
2
votes
3answers
312 views
Differences in Genesis creation stories
It is sometimes depicted that the basic argument to read "the creation story" (Genesis 1) as a non literal story are modern science and the evolution theory. But I believe that the biggest problem ...
9
votes
4answers
159 views
On what basis is the name “Ephraim” given the etymology of “ash heap”?
The name Ephraim seems to commonly be given two etymologies, one referring to an "ash heap" and the other referring to "fruitfulness". Example I can understand the fruitfulness etymology linking ...
10
votes
4answers
600 views
What was Noah thinking when he sent a raven from the ark?
In tablet 11 of the epic of Gilgamesh, after Utnapishtim's ark lodges on a rock, he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven, in that order. The first two birds return when they fail to find a resting ...
3
votes
1answer
84 views
Is the territory of the Negeb considered part of the wilderness?
Genesis 13:1 and 20:1 both record Abraham traveling to a region called the Negeb (or Negev depending on the English translation).
13:1 - So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
How does Pharaoh know to summon Abram?
In the first story about Abram after his calling, he goes down to Egypt because of a famine and Pharaoh takes Abram's wife Sarai into his household. As a result God inflicts Pharaoh with plagues.
...
5
votes
1answer
76 views
Was Ishmael a teenager or a child when he and Hagar were sent away by Sarah?
When Sarah sent Hagar and Ishmael away in Genesis 21, Ishmael is referred to several times as a child:
15When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she ...
5
votes
2answers
158 views
Is there external historic or scientific evidence of a particular flood that corresponds to the Genesis 7 account?
Some have posited that the flood account in Genesis 7 corresponds to the flooding of the Mediterranean basin, others have suggested it may correspond to the refilling of the black sea.
My question is ...
5
votes
1answer
171 views
What is the significance of Methuselah's name?
I've heard that Methuselah's name was given to him by Enoch in response to a prophecy concerning the flood. Since he seems to have died in the year of the flood (according to the Masoretic and ...
7
votes
2answers
514 views
Did Adam and Eve not have sex in the Garden of Eden?
In the first few chapters of Genesis, we see God create Adam and Eve and then tell them to reproduce.
Genesis 1:28 (NLT)
28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill ...
7
votes
1answer
179 views
Is LXX “Enoch pleased God” a reasonable idiomatic translation of Hebrew “Enoch walked with God”?
The Septuagint translates the Hebrew phrase
וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ חֲנֹוךְ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים
"Enoch walked with God," from Genesis 5:22 as
εὐηρέστησεν δὲ ενωχ τῷ θεῷ
"Enoch pleased God." I would have ...
6
votes
2answers
333 views
What does “invoke the name of the LORD” mean in Genesis?
The phrase "call upon the name of the LORD" turns up occasionally in Genesis:
Genesis 12:8 (ESV)
8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with ...
4
votes
1answer
162 views
Who did Lamech kill?
I also asked this here, but I think it fix better in Biblical Hermeneutics after thinking about it.
Genesis 4:23-24 NIV
23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of ...
4
votes
3answers
494 views
Jewish interpretation of Genesis 1:26?
I am under the impression that the Trinity is a Christian idea, and that the Jews did not view God as "three in one and one in three". How, then, was the following passage interpreted by the people ...
2
votes
2answers
313 views
Meaning of Daniel 2:43
One view of Genesis 6:1-4 is that fallen angels mated with human women to produce the giants of old, the Nephilim.
In Luke 17:26, Jesus said that "...as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be ...
-1
votes
2answers
463 views
Was Adam created as complete man containing both male and female?
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. KJV 1:27
Is there any truth that Lilith was Adam's first wife?
Was Adam created as ...
2
votes
2answers
70 views
Can Enoch's hermeneutical approach be determined?
This is related to Jack's hemeneutical approaches
And follows Abel's hermeneutic
Enoch is the second on the list of faithful. Can we determine a plausible hermeneutic that explains Enoch's 'pleasing ...
2
votes
2answers
330 views
Where did Abel get the idea to sacrifice sheep?
The purpose of this question is to examine if Abel's hermeneutic principles can be reversed out of the text. The presupposition is that Abel had access to the information contained in Genesis 1-3. ...
3
votes
2answers
160 views
Did Lot or the men of Sodom recognize Lot's visitors as angels?
When the two angels arrive in Sodom in Genesis 19, Lot seems to immediately recognize them as such. He bows down to them, calls them "My lords", and invites them into "your servant's house." When the ...
3
votes
2answers
209 views
Is “wept on his neck” a Hebrew idiom?
In a number of places, the English Standard Version uses a phrase like "wept on his neck," e.g.
Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. —Genesis ...
5
votes
1answer
926 views
Isaac's Blessing of His Sons
Let's first mention several verses of the Book of Genesis:
Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. (Gen. 25:28)
When Esau was forty years old, he married ...
1
vote
3answers
220 views
What does Cain say to Abel in Genesis 4:8?
The Masoretic version of Genesis 4:8 reads as follows:
וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן, אֶל-הֶבֶל אָחִיו; וַיְהִי בִּהְיוֹתָם בַּשָּׂדֶה, וַיָּקָם קַיִן אֶל-הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיַּהַרְגֵהוּ.
And Cain said to his ...
-2
votes
1answer
230 views
Was Abimelech a granny chaser?
Continuing the response to the meta call for contradiction.
In Genesis Chapter 20 we find the following sister/wife story:
And Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev, and he ...
4
votes
2answers
205 views
Did Noah take two doves, or fourteen?
Continuing the response to the meta call for contradiction.
In Genesis 6:18 we read the following:
And I will make my covenant with you: and those that come on the ark, you and your sons and your ...
4
votes
2answers
501 views
Why is Isaac called Abraham's only son? [duplicate]
Continuing the response to the meta call for contradiction.
In Genesis 22, we find the following passage:
And it was after these events that the God tested Abraham; and said to him "Abraham", who ...
1
vote
2answers
209 views
Why is Beer-Sheva' called Beer-Sheva'?
There is a place in Israel called Be-er-Sheva', which is given two different stories to justify the name. The word Be-er means well, as in a well of water, and the word Sheva means "seven" or more ...
