The first book of the Bible which covers events from Creation to the start Israel's sojourn in Egypt.
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, ...
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
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
1answer
927 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
115 views
What do we learn from the different usages of “aman” and “batach” in the OT?
aman (Strong's H539) and batach (Strong's H982) are both used in the OT to imply some level of trust in God.
And he believed (aman:H539) in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. ...
5
votes
1answer
134 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 ...
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 ...
5
votes
1answer
172 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
341 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 ...
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 ...
4
votes
3answers
189 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 ...
4
votes
3answers
497 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 ...
4
votes
2answers
139 views
How does the Genesis account of the Tower of Babel compare with other traditions about the tower?
I'm aware there are number of accounts of the Tower of Babel in Midrash, from the Islamic traditions, Kabalah, Josephus and the Jubilees.
For the most part, these accounts seem to derive from ...
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
188 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 ...
4
votes
2answers
502 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 ...
4
votes
2answers
138 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
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
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
4answers
599 views
What was life like in Eden before the fall?
This question is partly in response to this question.
It's clear from Genesis 2 and 3 that life in Eden was simple (2:15) and innocent (2:24). We know that Adam didn't have to work for his bread ...
4
votes
0answers
49 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
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 ...
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 ...
3
votes
2answers
74 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
218 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, ...
3
votes
1answer
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
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
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, ...
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 ...
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.
...
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 ...
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 ...
2
votes
4answers
390 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 ...
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 ...
2
votes
2answers
356 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 ...
2
votes
3answers
314 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 ...
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 ...
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
331 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
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 ...
1
vote
4answers
316 views
What else can “Fifteen cubits from above” in Gen 7:20 mean?
When translating Genesis, I took pains to preserve the implied flat-Earth cosmology that a naive reading suggests. One of the places where this made a big difference is in the story of Noah. Noah is ...
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 ...
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 ...
0
votes
2answers
152 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 ...
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?
0
votes
1answer
90 views
Why is Joseph taken to prison, and yet still seems to be with Potiphar?
This is a response to the meta call for contradictions.
In Genesis 39, there is a fantastically vivid story of Potiphar's wife seducing Joseph, or rather, attempting to. The result is that Joseph is ...
-1
votes
2answers
465 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 ...
-1
votes
1answer
210 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 ...
-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 ...
