1.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 1:1-2:3

 Goodness: And God saw all that he had made and it was very good. 1:3, 10, 12, 18, 25, 31.

Person: God has the characteristics of person: he creates 1:1, 21, 27; he speaks 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26; he separates 1:3, 7; he calls 1:5, 10; he makes 1:7, 16, 25, 2:2, 3; he sees 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 25, 31; he puts or places 1:17; he blesses 1:22, 28, 2:3; he gives 1:29; he finishes 2:2; he rests 2:23; he sanctifies 2:3. 

 Sin: Of the 11 divisions of Genesis separated by the phrase, “These are the generations of…” this first division is the only one in which sin did not exist on earth.

2. These are the generations (toledaw’ - descendents, account, history, results) of the heavens and the earth ... 2:4-4:26

Here begin reproduction, the generations, sin and death.

Adam 2:20

PLANS: Adam listens to Eve and they disobey God. 3:6 and 17. (Thought to consider: Adam may have been present while Eve was being tempted and did nothing to intervene when she ate of the forbidden fruit.)

SACRIFICE: Cain brings fruit of the soil as an offering to God. Abel brought fat portions from some of the first born of his flock. God was pleased with Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s.  Cain was angry and God told him if he did right he would be accepted.  Sin desired to have him but he must master it.  But Cain killed Abel instead of obeying God.  4:1-16  Cain rejected God’s sacrifice.

Cain kills Abel. Cain is condemned to wander in the earth. 4:12

7. These are the generations of Terah (This is the account of Terah). 11:27-25:11

God begins a new work promising a son to Abraham through whom the promise of a Messiah and Savior will be realized. 

Abram, Abraham 11:27

PLANS: Abram listens to Sarai and takes Hagar as wife to raise up a family to them but it leads to much hurt. Chapter 16.

SACRIFICE: Chapter 22.  Sometime later God tested Abraham.  He said to him, “Abraham!”  “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about. 22:1, 2.  Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”  “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy, “ he said, “Do not do anything to him.  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not witheld from me your son, your only son.”  Abraham looked up and there ina thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.  He went over and took the rasm and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide.  And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” 22:10-14  Abraham accepted God’s sacrifice.

Ishmael and Isaac are at odds. 21:1-20 Hagar and Ishmael are sent away to wander in the wilderness.  21:14

3. These are the generations of Adam (This is the written account of Adam’s line). 5:1-6:8

A list of generations. 5:1-32

The "sons of God", apparently of Seth's and Enosh’s line, married the "daughters of men", apparently of Cain’s line (Remember, this is an assumption, so I am not dogmatic about what "sons of God" or "daughters of men" might mean), and mankind deteriorated into worse and worse sin. Just because the "sons of God" were involved in this intermarriage a better and better human race could not be guaranteed.  Rather the opposite happened.  Apparently the "daughters of men" lowered the spirituality and morality of the "sons of God".  (Lest we think the ladies are being "picked on" please remember that in the Bible, Rahab and Ruth are held up as godly examples in the middle of a generation of idol worshippers. We must also remember that according to Genesis 6:2 the guys took the initiative to marry the girls, not vice versa. Does this mean that the "sons of God" ignored the "daughters of God" to marry the "daughters of men", for their outward beauty rather than pursuing marriage with the "daughters of God", who were committed to the Lord.)

The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. (Violence was rampant. 6:11)  6:5

8. These are the generations of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. (This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael). 25:12-18

A list of the sons of Ishmael, but no list of their generations. 25:13-18

The offspring of a godly Abram was not necessarily godly.

They lived in hostility towards all their brethren. 25:18 NIV

4. These are the generations of Noah (This is the account of  Noah).  6:9-9:29

IN AND OUT OF WORLDS: Noah was taken out of his world, when there was much violence, and entered for a time another world (the ark), and then returned to his world.

THE SALVATION of mankind, as a race, came through Noah. God "started over" with Noah.

9. These are the generations of Abraham’s son Isaac (This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac). 25:19-35:29

IN AND OUT OF WORLDS: Jacob was taken out of his world, threatened with violence by Esau, into another world (Padan-Aram), and then returned to his world.

THE PROMISE (OF SALVATION) came through Isaac.  After Abram and Sarai thought they had come up with a good plan to bear offspring and a son to whom to pass on the inheritance, the Lord "started over" with Isaac.

5. These are the generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood (This is the account of ...). 10:1-11:9

3 lists of generations

Ham’s descendants included Nimrod. Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. he was a mighty hunter before the Lord; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The first centers of his kingdom were ... he built Nineveh ... that is the great city. 10:8-12

These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out  over the earth after the flood. 10:32.  So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel -because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. 11:8, 9.

10. These are the generations of Esau, that is Edom (This is the account ...). 36:1-43

Esau’s son Eliphaz had a concubine named Timna who also bore him Amalek. 36:12

The list of kings in Edom does not seem to be a genealogical list.  It seems various kings came and reigned who were not sons of one another.

Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan, the son of Ham, and specifically the one whose descendant, was cursed because he had looked at his father’s nakedness, not covering him as his brothers did. 9:20-27.

These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned. 36:31

Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob.  their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock.  So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the land of Seir. 36:6-8

6. These are the generations of Shem (This is the account of ...). 11:10-26

Eber, ancestor of the Hebrews, is listed. Eber means "the region beyond". (Is this the same as saying "foreign"?)

LONGEVITY: A list of generations, whose lives were getting shorter and shorter.

In Peleg's day the earth was divided by languages, God's judgment at the tower of Babel. Peleg means division.

SEPARATION: The peoples of the earth were separated during his time.

This list includes at the end Abram, ancestor, in fact great grandfather, of Joseph.

The Lord has brought the narrative to a point where he will start something special through Abram, so he is presented in this last section before launching into the last 5 sections or movements of Genesis. Abram is listed here but did not need to be as this part could have ended with Terah. The following section begins with Terah and mentions Abram which is very understandable, but why mention him in the section before?

11. Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob (This is the account ...). 37:1-50:26

Joseph was separated from his brothers. Joseph was called a Hebrew slave by the Egyptians, and the Hebrews were an abomination to the Egyptians. They would not eat with them. It seems to be connected to the fact that they were shepherds of sheep. Did they reject sheep in the Nile basin and delta because of their eating habits? Hebrew means "one from beyond". (Is this the same as saying "foreigner"?)Joseph hid his identity from his brothers and understood their conversation by speaking Egyptian through an interpreter to his brothers.

LONGEVITY: Jacob said to Pharaoh that his years were few and difficult and did not equal the years of the pilgrimage of his fathers. 47:8-10

SEPARATION AND UNIFICATION: Joseph was separated from his family but was united to them later. Through the seven years of terrible famine God brought the family back together. In fact God brought the "world" together, in Egypt, to Joseph. The seven years of terrible famine also threatened to shorten all their lives. God used Joseph a descendant of Shem through Abram/Abraham to save them.