God's Old Testament Story

BC Raglin

• Verlag: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781098086220
• Thema: Teologia e religione
• Thema: Commento della Bibbia

God's Old Testament Story is just that, the true story of the Old Testament. We begin in Genesis with the creation and continue the story chronologically through Malachi in an easy-to-read form, without repetition. It takes us through the Old Testament and the four hundred years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. From beginning to end, each chapter builds onto the previous chapter.

We will see angels and demons, good people and bad people, in an exciting tale of many different relationships.

The reader will see God's love, God's disappointments, his expectations, and his steadfastness. This journey takes us to the heart of a nation searching and waiting for the deliverer they call Messiah. This is an exciting telling of mankind and God's love for his creation.

51

Chapter 1

Genesis 1:1–5:27

This is a chronological study of the Old Testament beginning in Genesis and ending with the period between the two testaments.

The book of Genesis explains the beginning of many important realities: the universe, earth, people, and God’s plan of salvation. The Bible does not discuss the subject of evolution. It does, rather, assume God created the world. The biblical view of creation is not in conflict with science; however, it is in conflict with any world view that starts without a creator. The Bible tells us who is the creator. It is God. The Bible also reveals God’s personality, His character, and His plan for creation.1

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”2

On the first day, God said, “Let there be light.” God saw the light was good. He called the light day and the darkness that followed night. There was evening, and there was morning. This He called the first day.

On the second day, God made the sky (heavens) to separate the waters above the sky from the waters below the sky. Again there was evening, and there was morning, the second day.

On the third day, God gathered the waters under the sky to one place, and caused the dry land to appear. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation, seed bearing plants, and trees according to their various kinds.” There was evening and morning, the third day.

On the fourth day, God said, “Let there be lights to separate day from night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons, days and years, and to give light to the earth. The greater light shall govern the day (sun) and the lesser light to govern the night (moon) and there was evening and morning, the fourth day.

On the fifth day, God created water creatures and birds. He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.”

On the sixth day, God said, “Let the land produce creatures according to their kind.” Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over fish, birds, livestock, and over the creatures that move on the ground.” God created male and female; He blessed them and told them to be fruitful and increase in number.

In six days (six mornings and six evenings), the heavens, earth, and creatures were completed in all their vast array. God, knowing His work was finished, rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is the order of God’s creation.

Now that we have the order of creation, we begin the Old Testament story of man which started on the sixth day of creation.

On the sixth day, God had formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That was when man became a living being in God’s image to rule over the animals and tend the garden.

For vegetation, God had planted a garden in the east, a place called Eden, where he put man. God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground which were attractive and productive. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. There was no rain, but there were streams from the earth to water the ground.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden, and from there split into four different rivers. The first was the Pishon which wound through the land of Havilah where there was gold, aromatic resin, and onyx; the second was the Gihon which wound through the entire land of Cush. The third river was the Tigris which ran along the east side of Asher, and the fourth was the Euphrates.

God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work. (It’s important to know that God said man could eat of the tree of life, but he could not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.)

God created all the animals of the ground and the birds and brought them to man to be named. Whatever the man called them became their name. Thus man gave names to all the livestock, birds, and beasts.

God saw that it was not good to be alone, so he made for man a suitable helper. He caused the man named Adam to fall into a deep sleep and took one of man’s ribs and closed up the skin. God then made a woman from the rib he had taken out of man and brought her to him.

The man said, “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” The woman’s name was Eve because she was mother of all living. (Moses, who lived in a later era, was the one recording this history, so when it was written, man did have fathers and mothers. This precedent, however, was started with Adam and Eve.)3 Adam and Eve had no clothes, but they were not ashamed.

To this point everything God made was good. This was the relationship God wanted to have with mankind, but God, in his infinite wisdom, knew this would not continue.4

Genesis 3 tells us the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals God had made. The serpent asked Eve if God had told them they could not eat from any tree in the garden. The woman explained this was not true. They were allowed to eat of all the trees including the tree of life, but the one tree of which they could not eat the fruit was the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden. She explained that God told them not to touch it, or they would die.

The serpent told Eve, “You will not surely die. God knows when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw the fruit of the tree looked good, and was desirable for gaining wisdom, she took it and ate it. She also gave a portion to Adam, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Adam and Eve heard the sound of God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, so they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

God called, “Where are you?” Adam answered, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat?” Adam said, “The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” Then God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” Eve replied, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The Lord God spoke to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put enmity (ill will to the point of hate) between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (This is the first prediction of a savior for mankind. Notice that it takes place between woman and the serpent, not man and the serpent. God will bypass man to bring the savior.)5

To Eve God said, “I will greatly increase your pains in chil...