Riding in the dark
Why am I still reporting on the ride through the ominous tunnel? Because it took forever to ride through it! But I had to go through it to reach the rest of the route. And I eventually discovered that the rest of the route was worth the inconvenience, hassle, and distress of riding through the tunnel. Reading through Genesis provides insights on other areas of the Bible, so let’s shed some light on this first book of the Old Testament.
Attempted a Bible read through?
Ever tried to read through the Bible? Or even just the first few books of the Bible? Many a good intention has begun at, “In the beginning,” and stalled out before the Israelites reached the Promised Land. If that’s you, too, don’t feel bad, even the Israelites grew impatient and grumbled at the length of time their journey took and the meager fast food offerings along the way. More manna anyone? (See Exodus chapter 16 to be in the know on this heaven sent bread).
Permissions when reading the Bible
Remember as we begin, we gave ourselves some permissions on reading the Bible. Here’s a quick review:
Don’t worry about not understanding everything the first time you read it – learn in layers
Review a children’s version for a simple summary of a Bible story
Read at your own pace, also, know it is OK to read quickly to catch a glimpse of what’s going on
Ask Jesus to help you – yes, that simple, “Jesus, help,” prayer can also be applied to seek understanding of what we are reading
At the beginning
Let’s take a look at the first book of the Bible, Genesis, which means “beginning.” Much of the info we read in Genesis will come up again somewhere else in the Bible. Like reading the first of a trilogy, if you know what’s in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, you’ll have a better chance of recognizing the references along the way.
The purpose of this first pass through Genesis will be to provide just enough info for us to have a reference point, kind of like knowing where the trailhead is or where we parked our car in the parking lot. Knowing where we are gives us something we can come back to.
Flip and find through Genesis
So if you have your Bible handy, flip through the chapters in Genesis to make a tangible connection to where these stories and people are physically located in your Bible. Doing this simple flip and find can provide us with one layer of information retention. So find Genesis and let’s begin.
Genesis 1-5 Creation, Adam and Eve, the Fall (the first big mess up), Cain and Abel (sibling rivalry), all in the family line
Genesis 6-9 Noah, the flood, the family
Genesis 10-11 More relatives and the Tower of Babel
Genesis 12-20 Abram, his nephew Lot, Abraham (name change Genesis 17:5)
Genesis 21-36 Isaac, Jacob (one of Isaac’s sons)
Genesis 37-50 Joseph (one of Jacob’s many sons)
Whew, that’s a bunch of names. One way to categorize the information in Genesis is to remember who’s in the storyline in the passage we are reading. This also gives us a way to tackle sections of Genesis. If you want to read related sections of the book, you can skim or focus on a main character. (And trust me, many of these players are quite the characters).
Recall Genesis
In summary, we can recall Genesis based on some of the main people who are in it:
Adam and Eve, and their descendants
Noah and his descendants
Abram/Abraham and his descendants, which includes:
Isaac, his son Jacob, and one of his sons Joseph
Is this making sense? Welcome to the beginning of Bible comprehension.