Hello everyone. You are watching the first video in a Bible study video series. I am
"Dyn", and I would like to start off this video with prayer, and then we'll get into
studying the first section of Genesis, which I categorize as Genesis chapter 1, verse 1,
through Genesis chapter 2, verse 7. Father I want to thank You for, uh, this opportunity
to study the Bible with as many people as are willing to do this. I want to thank You
for the ability to study the Bible, because I know that there are a lot of people in other
countries who literally go to jail for this opportunity. I ask that You help us to understand
what we're going to be reading; not just the meaning of the words, but also to just be
open to whatever You have to say to us through what we're going to be reading. Amen.
Since this is the first section of Genesis, um, I would like to give an introduction to
Genesis. Genesis covers history from the creation of the world to the time when the children
of Israel came to live in Egypt (about 1804 B.C., according to a chart in The Ryrie Study
Bible: King James Version). According to ancient Jewish tradition, Moses is the author of Genesis.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and
void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw
the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called
the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was
morning, one day." In verse 2 the word "deep" could mean an abyss
or a ". . . surging mass of water . . .", and the word spirit (in the same verse) could
mean wind, or breath (which are two very similar things), or it could just mean life in general.
So, I could say in verse 2: "And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon
the face of the abyss: and the breath of God moved upon the face of the waters." For verse
3, Young's Literal Translation says, "and God saith, `Let light be;' and light is."
So to recap, the first day includes the creation of light and the separation between light
and darkness (or the distinction between light and darkness, you could say). It's interesting
that this section starts off with the creation of light and the separation between light
and darkness (and that's the only thing that it really mentions as far as creation), because
we use [. . .] the separation of light and darkness to tell time, but also (in reality)
darkness is not anything, darkness is just the absence of light, so, it's very interesting
that this section starts off with the creation of light and then the mention of darkness.
It does not say that He created the darkness, it just says that He distinguished between
the light from the darkness, the light which He created and the darkness which is the absence
of light. Verse 6 goes on: "And God said, Let there
be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament
Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."
According to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, the words "firmament" in these verses basically
just means an expanse, but they could also be used for the sky. The words divide in these
verses could mean "divide", or they could also mean just a distinction between one thing
and another. The Hebrew word that's translated in verse 8 as "Heaven" could mean the sky
(even as low in the atmosphere as birds will fly), or it could also mean outer-space. If
the word "firmament" in these verses is talking about the sky or just the atmosphere, then
the water above the firmament must be descriptive for space. Another possibility is that the
water above the firmament is the same water that descended on the earth in the flood,
which is mentioned in Genesis chapter 7, verses 11-16, and I want to point out that it does
say that ". . . the window of heaven were opened . . .".
So, the second day, God created the sky to divide the waters.
"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let
the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering
together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let
the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after
their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought
forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is
the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. And there was evening
and there was morning, a third day." In verse 11, the word that's translated from
Hebrew into English as "grass" could possibly just be used here for sprouts of plants in
general, and then the word "herbs" could possibly just be a green thing in general, but I'm
not really sure about that, um, and they probably translate it as "grass" and "herbs" because
that is usually how they were used in the language at that time.
So the third day God gathered together the waters under the sky so that dry land could
be seen, and then He named the earth and the waters. He also created the first plants:
small grass, green herbs with seeds, and trees with fruit and seed.
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from
the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years: and let
them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light
to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of heaven
to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there
was morning, a fourth day." Some people may say that the account of the
creation in Genesis is stupid, because in the first day light is created, but it's not
until the fourth day that the sun and the moon were created. I want to point out that
what Genesis is describing is almost unimaginable to man, and so the whole account of creation
is probably told in both descriptive and literal language. Or in other words, some of the things
that it says in the creation account of Genesis is referring to what it looked like, while
other parts might be referring to what literally happened. Moses tried to express the creation
of the world in Hebrew (which is just a human language), and I would say that he did a very
good job. I also want to point out some things. There's a difference between verses 3-5, and
verses 14-19. In verses 3-5 it says that God created the light (which is in verse 3, exactly),
while in verses 14-19 it says that God created illuminating objects or things, specifically
in the heavens (which is in verse 14). While in verses 3-5 God separated the light that
He had created from the darkness (which is verse 4), in verses 14-19 the luminaries seem
to have been created specifically to separate day from night on the earth (which is verses
14-15). Finally, I want to point out the English word "rule" in verse 16. The ". . . greater
light . . ." was to "rule" (or {according to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary} have dominion
over) the day, and the lesser was to rule the night along with the stars. Young's Literal
Translation says it this way: "And God maketh the two great luminaries, the great luminary
for the rule of the day, and the small luminary--and the stars--for the rule of the night;".
Again to recap, the fourth day God created luminaries so time could be counted, and so
the earth could be illuminated. He created two great luminaries: one to rule over the
day, and the other to have rule over the night (with the stars).
Verse 20 continues: "And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great
sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after
their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And God
blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds
multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day."
The Hebrew word that's translated as "birds" in verse 20 can be used as just a winged creature
in general, and according to the American Standard Version footnotes, where it says
". . . fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven . . .", it could also be translated
as ". . . fly above the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens . . .".
So on the fifth day, God created the birds of the air and the creatures of the sea.
Verse 24 continues: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their
kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was
so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind,
and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good."
The word that's translated in these two verses (24 and 25) as "cattle" basically means a
large, dumb (or mute), four-legged beast. The word that is translated as "beasts" can
be used as a general term for things that are alive, strong, or wild. So in English,
when we say the word "cattle", we're usually just referring to cows, and/or bulls, but
in this instance it uses "cattle" for (probably) larger creatures that specifically have four
legs and (obviously) they're mute. The word "beasts" is probably a more general term based
off of what it says in Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and that is exactly why they translated it
as "beasts", is because "beasts" in English is general, and the Hebrew word is general.
"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 birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created
man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them. And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds
of the [heavens], and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." "And God said,
Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,
and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for
food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for
food: and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."
The Hebrew word translated as "man" in verses 26 and 27 comes from a word that means "red".
The word in Hebrew for "Adam" and the word in Hebrew (or one of the words in Hebrew)
for "man" or "mankind" in general sound and (if I'm not mistaken) are spelled exactly
the same, so you could almost say that in this verse it said "And God said, Let us make
Adam in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Some people think that this verse
(verse 26) is proof (in the Old Testament) that God is a trinity, but I remember hearing
on Moody Radio that in Hebrew sometimes a plural noun is used to show power or authority.
According to Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, the Hebrew word commonly translated as "God" (even
in this sentence) literally means "gods", but commonly meant the supreme God, so you
could translate this verse as: "And gods said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, . . ." and so on. I don't believe
that this verse can be used as proof for the existence of the trinity because (unless I'm
wrong) the use of the plural in this verse probably just signifies power. Because it
mentions God creating a man and a woman in verses 27-28, I think these verses (either
27-28, or 27-30) might be a generalization of what is recorded in Genesis chapter 2,
verses 7-25. So to recap the sixth day, God created everything
that lives on the land, the four-legged beast and the quick-creeping (or moving) things.
God also created Adam (or man), giving him dominion over everything on earth.
Continuing the first section of Genesis, we're going to move into chapter 2. Starting in
verse 1 it says: "And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed
it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made."
So on the seventh day, God stopped working because the sky, the earth, and everything
in them were finished. Continuing in verse 4 it says: "These are
the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that
Jehovah God made earth and heaven. And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and
no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon
the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground; but there went up a mist from
the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And Jehovah God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became
a living soul." The word translated as "field" in verse 5
could also be translated as ". . . a country . . .", or just "dirt" (according to Strong's
Hebrew Dictionary), so I'm wondering if the plants that God had already created just hadn't
sprung up yet (when Adam was first created), or if this is referring to cultivated plants.
If it's referring to all plants in general, then that would mean that the ground would
be bare. Of course Adam was created on the sixth day, so it kind of makes sense that
the plants hadn't grown yet if God had created them as seeds.
The reason why I included verses 4-7 in the very beginning section of Genesis is because
(if I'm not mistaken) the word "These" in "These are the generations of the heavens
and of the earth when they were created . . ." is basically just referring to what has already
been said. So in other words, this section is summarizing Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis
chapter 2, verses 1-3. I think that verses 4-7 are being used as a summery to the creation
of the world. Alright everyone, that is the end of this
section of Genesis that I want to cover. I hope that you liked this video, and that you
were able to learn something from it. If you did like this video and you would like to
see more like it, then you could either subscribe through Youtube to my channel, or you could
visit my website from time to time, and see what's been going on.