Scripture Series: Exploring Genesis

Scripture series 'EXPLORING GENESIS'  

THE BIBLE: EXPLORING GENESIS SERIES ICON.

Let us travel together on this journey as we explore the book of Genesis, chapter by chapter. My hope for this series is that by exploring the Old Testament - the book of Genesis, you will  

• Discover and appreciate connections with the New Testament, making your scripture experience more nourishing and
• apply the lessons drawn in your daily lives. 

My other scripture series Bible Reading Methods and the need to interpret the bible, were a foundation of which this series Exploring Genesis is built.  Fee free to check out these series if you have not yet explored them.

This introductory post provides a stage on which to cast the story by providing an historical background

                                

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND PART 1                                                                                                      

Genesis and the next four books of the Bible (the `Pentateuch' or five-fold scroll) form the basic Torah or Law of Israel. They are the memorial of the beginnings of God's people. They record God's call to the patriarchs who followed him in trusting faith, the choice and formation of the people whom he called in the desert to be his own, and the way of life laid down for them to make them a people able to associate with the holiness of God. He is a God who saves his people, and by a series of covenants leading up to the great covenant on Sinai, commits himself to being their protector for always.

Israel in its turn commits itself to fidelity as the holy people of God, who reveals himself to them in love and tenderness. Yahweh, the God of Israel did not pluck his people out of their surroundings, but educated them gradually, `leading them with human ties, with the leading-strings of love' (Hos 11:4).

These books draw on the folklore and traditions of Israel over many centuries, reflecting all the phases of the development of the life of the nation and its devotion to Yahweh. The memories of its origins are preserved in a variety of ways. There are personal stories of the great ancestors of the people, their attachment to Yahweh or their astuteness. Some stories are centred on particular localities, while others explain usages or provide legislation in the form of anecdotes. 

Two collections of these ancient memories were recorded, one about the time of King Solomon (c. 980 BC) and the other two centuries later after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel (c. 720 BC). At the time of the Babylonian exile (587-538 BC) these were joined by a third body of tradition concerned mostly with worship and its origins and with genealogical and cultic matters. A fourth stream of tradition, the Deuteronomic tradition, is associated with the religious reform of 620 BC and reflects the concerns seen both in Deuteronomy and also in the accounts of the later history.

But it was not until after the Babylonian exile, c. 450 BC, that the Pentateuch reached its definitive and final form. Firmly rooted in the nomadic culture of the ancient Near East, Israel was a primitive people, whose customs and morality may seem barbaric by some modern standards. Secure in the championship of Yahweh, they learn gradually his nature and his purpose for the people he had chosen as his own.

If you would like to explore further the history of the bible, there are many resources from which to choose.  Here are some suggestions.

Check in next week to continue our historical perspective and setting the stage on our journey of Exploring Genesis.