Chapter 49: Genesis – the Seedbed of the Bible

About this book, Priests of the Bible, with its focus, as far as the Old Testament (we have to add the 500-year inter-testament period) and in particular the nation of Israel is concerned, this has been on the two thousand period, following the Call of Abraham, when one or other offices: prophet, priests or kings, dominated, with priests continuing to operate in New Testament times, at least up to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. It begs the question concerning the preceding two-thousand years, covered by the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis (according to Bishop Ussher, planet earth began October 23, 4004 BC, when God created “the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)).

The Book of Genesis, especially the first eleven chapters, can be rightly looked upon as the seedbed of what is to follow, and a true understanding of what the Bible teaches, right up to the end of the Book of Revelation, starts with a consideration of these chapters, albeit the ones in the Bible most argued over. The age of the earth, the details of creation, including how these fits in with evolution notions and the Flood narrative, to name but three, all have proved to be controversial and much debated subjects, where many have tried to allegorise or label as myth what we find in these chapters. It is not my intention to continue that debate in these pages, which I acknowledge is a huge subject, but my own position is if God said it (and I have no doubt that Genesis was divinely inspired) then it is not for me to put my own interpretation on what is written, even when there is much I do not know.   

Most of our thoughts regarding priests arise from centuries after God called Abraham (Genesis 12) to be the Father of a great nation, and especially 500 years later after Moses led Israel out of Egypt, through the Wilderness, who died just before Israel took possession of the Promised Land under Joshua. Israel remains God’s specially chosen nation and while there is much to interest Gentile believers, the main focus of the Old Testament, is on Israel. Even in the New Testament, Israel still has an important place but where the main focus is Gentiles joining Jews share the blessings God intended right from the time He said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Genesis 1:26.

As far as this book goes, besides the exceptional case of Melchizedek (starting with Abraham’s encounter with him), discussed at length elsewhere, the priests that are of most interest are those who came into being after Moses received the Law and Covenant from God on Mount Sinai and ended when they abruptly ceased to operate with the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, yet noting there have always been priests, including of gods other than the true God, those who exercise priestly functions (some given that title and others not) and the priesthood of believers we are invited to join.

I count myself fortunate that from an early age (even going back to when I was an junior in Sunday School) I was encouraged to study the Bible for myself and from then on that is what I did. In the years that followed, I read the Bible through several times, notably the Book of Genesis. Last year, I led a series of Bible studies at my church on Genesis, and did so viewing it through the lens of seven of its main characters. Slides of the seven 45 minutes studies can be accessed from my website:

1. Part 1: Adam (chapters 1-3) – the creation story and man’s fall
2. Part 2: Enoch (chapters 4-6) – from Abel to Methuselah
3. Part 3: Noah (chapters 6-11) – from the Great Flood to the Tower of Babel
4. Part 4: Abraham (chapters 11-24) – God calls a man to found a great nation
5. Part 5: Isaac (chapters 24-27) – God keeps His promises
6. Part 6: Jacob (chapters 27-37) – God’s unlikely choice
7. Part 7: Joseph (chapters 37-50) – God calls a man to preserve His chosen people

While it would be profitable to discuss the second half Genesis (chapters 12 – 50), the focus as far as this chapter is concerned will be on Genesis 1 – 11. Much that is pertinent to Priests of the Bible concerning Genesis 12 – 50 have been covered elsewhere. Regarding those first eleven not do with Israel per se chapters of the Bible, these are important because it tells us the origins of much that is significant, e.g. earth, universe, man, sin, death, decay, redemption, marriage, culture, nations, war and much else pertinent to days we live in, we find their origins in these first eleven chapters. The one important origin we are not told is God, for “In the beginning God” Genesis 1:1a. The most significant origin outside these early chapters concerns Israel, where we read: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” Genesis 12:1-3.

Concerning three of the ‘hot’ topics of our present age, these early chapters, notably the first two, provide helpful guidance on how we ought to respond to the secular rationale we are continually being subjected to, noting that what followed in chapter 3 was the account of the Fall of man:

1. Sexual Orientation (and marriage): “And Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (2:23-25).
2. Sexual Identity (two genders): “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 over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (1:26,27).
3. The Environment: “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 fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (1:28).

When it comes to the environment and the narrative we see being promoted by (in my view) the bad people who appear to be in control of the affairs of men and in done order to instil fear in the masses, that there is a climate emergency that if it is not dealt with could result in the planet being destroyed. In order to stop this, drastic measures are needed that involves people giving up their freedoms and more power to this evil cabal, these early chapters of Genesis provide some answers, just as it does to the Babylonian system this cabal also oversees. When Noah’s flood ended, God gave a promise that has not been rescinded: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” Genesis 8:22.

Of particular significance, including how it impacts on priests and the priesthood, is that in these early chapters we gain important insights into the war going on between God and His angels and Satan and his angels, and one that continues right up to the time Jesus comes back to Earth. It is well to be mindful of Satan’s devices and also his end: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” Revelation 12:9, “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years” Revelation 20:2 and “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” Revelation 20:10.

Three significant incidents recorded in these first eleven chapters, that relate to the ongoing conflict between God and Satan, good and evil, darkness and light. This is firstly seen in the temptation of Adam and Eve, which they yielded to, by the serpent in the Garden of Eden, to eat the forbidden fruit in Chapter 3, ending with their expulsion from the garden and the gulf that necessitated priests and mediation. Secondly there is the sexual liaison between heavenly beings and women in Chapter 6, giving rise to the Nephilim and pertinent now today’s transhuman / transgender ideology, and was a key factor in God bringing about a worldwide flood. Thirdly, we see the building of the Tower of Babel in Chapter 11, where man set himself up in defiance to God, and be seen as a precursor to the Babylonian system that is running human affairs today. God’s purposes have ever been (since the Fall) to redeem humanity and priests and the priesthood are part of that plan.

We must recall God’s word to the serpent: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” Genesis 3:14. It is worth reflecting too that there has always been a godly line, which continued through Seth born after Adam’s righteous son, Abel, was slain by his brother, Cain: “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” Genesis 4:26, and continued through Abraham, through the line of Shem (one of Noah’s three sons). Moreover, it was Jesus, a descendant of Abraham, who was the one that bruised Satan’s head.   

Finally, to end this chapter and hammer home why an understanding of these early chapters of Genesis is worth having, we should consider the “Mystery of Babylon”, and its subsequent fall, which is prophesied in Revelation 17 and 18 (and that picks up on texts such as Isaiah 47:8,11 and Jeremiah 50. We read, for example: “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” Revelation 18:2,3. Babylon represents a long line of pseudo-spiritual, socio-economic entities, opposed to the true God and His people, yet wielding power and influence, going back to Nimrod and the Tower of Babel and Babylon and relates to the system that controls human affairs that is aligned to Satan himself. I considered some of this in my Prophets of the Bible book and also Chapter 48: “Reconciling Bible prophecy and current events”. My point is not to distract from our main subject by engaging in wild speculation but to challenge readers that by writing as I do we need to be awake to the world as it is and respond in appropriate ways.