The first book of the Bible which covers events from Creation to the start Israel's sojourn in Egypt.
7
votes
3answers
293 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
116 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 ...
2
votes
4answers
4k views
Why does God say he only revealed his name, Yahweh, to Moses?
Responding the the meta call for contradiction In Exodus 6:2 we find the following quote:
And God spoke to Moses and said to him
I am Yahweh. And I showed to Abraham, to Isaac, and to ...
9
votes
4answers
154 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
163 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 ...
11
votes
4answers
303 views
Is there an English equivalent for Nephilim of Genesis 6:4?
Genesis 6:4 (NIV)Emphasis added
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes ...
12
votes
3answers
405 views
Does the original Hebrew support the NLT of Genesis 6:3?
Genesis 6:3 refers to when God set humans' lifespans to (approximately) 120 years. However, the NLT (the translation I prefer) has a slightly different translation for the 120-years part.
Genesis ...
7
votes
2answers
520 views
Who did Cain marry?
A man marrying his sister is clearly a sin:
If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a ...
10
votes
2answers
499 views
Why does the Scripture say that Abraham sacrificed his “only-begotten son”?
Why does the Scripture say that Abraham sacrificed his "only-begotten son" (Heb. 11:17, Gen. 22:2) despite the fact that Isaac had a step-brother Ishmael who was 14 years older than Isaac and was in ...
3
votes
1answer
86 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 ...
12
votes
3answers
687 views
What was Eve's role in relation to Adam?
The role of Eve in relation to Adam is dramatically changed by the interpretation of the sections I have bolded below, from Genesis 2:18:
The verse as most people learned it:
And the Lord God ...
7
votes
1answer
177 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
1k views
Why did Abraham stop at ten in Genesis 18:32?
Genesis 18:16-33 recounts the story, "Abraham Pleads for Sodom" (NIV). When conversing with God, Abraham asks God if He would destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people in it. God replies No, ...
6
votes
3answers
527 views
Was Moses the probable author of Genesis?
I've been operating under the assumption that Moses was the author the book of Genesis (or at least the recorder of a bunch of oral traditions).
This document suggests a different view. ...
13
votes
3answers
453 views
Does Gen 1:1 refer to day 1 or the entire 6 days of creation?
A natural reading of Gen 1:1 with it's immediate context is that it is part of the first day of creation
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and ...
6
votes
2answers
330 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 ...
5
votes
7answers
573 views
How did mankind's way of relating to God change in Genesis 4:26?
At the end of Chapter 4 of Genesis there is a statement in verse 26, "It was then that men began to invoke the Lord by name." Other translations have "call on the name" or "worship the LORD by name". ...
9
votes
2answers
746 views
What is the significance of “east” in the Scriptures?
There seems to be some significance to the east in the Scriptures.
The garden is planted in the east of Eden
Cherubim are stationed on the east side of the Garden of Eden
Parts of the burnt offering ...
4
votes
1answer
161 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 ...
9
votes
4answers
266 views
What is the relationship between the “Adversary” in Job and the serpent in Genesis?
An individual named the Adversary appears in Job 1:6-12 (NJPS):
One day the divine beings presented themselves before the Lord, and the Adversary came along with them. The Lord said to the ...
4
votes
3answers
491 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
308 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
452 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 ...
9
votes
2answers
136 views
Why was a chapter division placed at the end of Genesis 1, rather than between 2:3 and 2:4?
It's pretty well universally accepted that Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 represent one view of the story of creation and 2:3 - 25 a second.
And yet, when Stephen Langton instituted his chapter scheme in the ...
2
votes
2answers
324 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. ...
2
votes
2answers
352 views
Is El-Shaddai “Sky God” where Sky==Breasts?
I found the name "El-Shaddai" mysterious, but while going over Genesis, found the following passage (Gen 49) Wikisource translation
From the god of your fathers, and he will help you, and the ...
1
vote
2answers
202 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 ...
6
votes
2answers
2k views
Jacob's name is Israel. So why is he still called Jacob?
When born, Jacob is given the name "Jacob" meaning, "trickster, supplanter, heel grabber." After he wrestles at Jabbok, he is renamed "Israel" meaning "strives with God." However, after this ...
6
votes
4answers
540 views
What is the tree of life in Proverbs 11:30?
While reading through Proverbs, I found a somewhat startling verse:
Proverbs 11:30 (NIV)
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and the one who is wise saves lives.
My immediate ...
8
votes
3answers
174 views
How to interpret Genesis 25:1-2?
In Genesis 25:1-2 we see:
"Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him
Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah".
But even before that in Genesis 17 it says:
...
5
votes
1answer
133 views
Should we read Melchizedek in Genesis 14 to be metaphorical?
Genesis 14:17-20 (NJPS):
When he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh, which is the Valley of the King. And ...
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 ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
What does it mean when God separated light from darkness?
Genesis 1:4 NIV
God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
God separated the light from the darkness.
I don't get this part.
Does it mean that light and ...
2
votes
4answers
388 views
Which hermeneutical approaches support a literal interpretation of the Creation account?
I had always been told that a day meant 24 hours, but a systematic theology textbook I read disputed that pretty well. (Please do not address this item in particular. This isn't the question I'm ...
14
votes
4answers
620 views
Does Genesis's creation account depict creation “ex nihilo”?
I had once heard that one of the remarkable thing about the creation account in Genesis, as compared to the other creation accounts of the cultures of the surrounding area is that God creates the ...
7
votes
4answers
361 views
Why didn't Joseph try to contact his father from Egypt?
Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by
him; and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" And there
stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto ...
6
votes
1answer
155 views
Is the ESV rendering “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever” in Genesis 6:3 accurate?
I am reading through Genesis in the ESV for the first time and was struck by some unfamiliar wording in Genesis 6:3. It reads: "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days ...
5
votes
1answer
908 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
219 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 ...
-1
votes
1answer
208 views
Does the story of Tamar and Judah in Genesis 38 typify gender relations in Genesis? [closed]
I don't have my Bible with me at the moment, so I can't quote, but the interactions between Tamar and Judah indicate, and perhaps provide a categorical example of, the mode of intersexual interaction ...
8
votes
2answers
614 views
Why does Noah curse Canaan?
Genesis 9:23-25 NLT, reads,
Then Shem and Japheth took a robe, held it over their shoulders, and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this, they looked the other way so they ...
3
votes
1answer
217 views
What was Onan's sin?
Genesis 38:6-11 (NJPS):
Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s first-born, was displeasing to the Lord, and the Lord took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, ...
6
votes
3answers
379 views
What was Er's sin?
In response to this question asked by JonEricson.
Genesis 38:6-11 (NJPS):
Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s first-born, was displeasing to the Lord, and ...
12
votes
3answers
239 views
Was Noah absolutely blameless or relatively good?
This is the line of Noah.—Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age; Noah walked with God.—Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The earth became corrupt ...
4
votes
1answer
156 views
Is there an implied connection between Abraham's circumcision and his fertility?
God establishes a covenant between Himself and Abram while simultaneously instituting the practice of circumcision in Genesis 17:3-14 (NJPS):
Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him ...
6
votes
2answers
148 views
Does Genesis 3:16 imply that there was pain / sorrow before the fall?
Genesis 3:16 says:
To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your
conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire
shall be to your husband, and he ...
3
votes
2answers
125 views
Does base-10 numbering in Genesis 4:24 argue against the Wiseman hypothesis?
This question is a bit esoteric. Looking at numbers in the Bible I noticed this story about one of Cain's decedents:
And Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
O wives of ...
5
votes
2answers
337 views
Does Genesis say where evil came from? [closed]
The first hint of evil in the Tanakh seems to come in Genesis 3:1 (NJPS):
Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really ...
4
votes
3answers
188 views
Can we use “linguistic fingerprints” to identify different authors of the Bible?
I read, what was to me, quite an interesting blog post about different authors' contributing to different parts of the bible measured by analysing "linguistic fingerprints":
For millions of Jews ...
