The Story of the Beginning

Genesis

The Story of the Beginning

September 18th, 1974 @ 7:30 PM

Genesis 1-50

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, 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 the evening and the morning were the first day. 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 the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven 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 bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the 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 the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made 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 the 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 the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his 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 fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 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. 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. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended 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 sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD 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 the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 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. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 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. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 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. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim. And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. 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. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion. After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him. And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife. And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore
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THE STORY OF THE BEGINNING

Dr. W. A. Criswell

Genesis 1-50

9-18-74    7:30 p.m.

 

All of us, of course, are daily and with increasing gratitude grateful to our dear Lord for our Bible Institute.  It is growing phenomenally, and what we see now in its great growth is just a harbinger, an earnest, of the greater growth that we will have in these years to come.  And what we are trying to do is to get all of our people to share in the deepening of our understanding of the Bible and of our own spiritual life through these courses in our Institute.  And for you to be here for this study is one of the greatest encouragements I have ever known in the long, long years of my pastoral work. 

The title of the course, as you know, is "The Scarlet Thread Through the Bible" or The Bible, God’s Book of Redemption.  And this second lecture is entitled The Story of the Beginning.  First, we shall have a few moments of review and introduction. 

God interwove into the Scriptures His purpose of our redemption and revealed it to us for our salvation, our assurance, and our hope.  You remember last Wednesday night I said all of these higher critics who believe that the Bible is nothing but a patchwork of editors and redactors who took scissors and pasted all of these things together, and you call it the Bible – you remember I said it is unbelievable that such a thing could be proposed by serious men; when, in that what they call "patchwork," embedded in it, interwoven in it, as a part of its very fabric, woof and warp, you find this redemptive purpose progressively revealed.  How did it get there if the Bible is made up as all of these higher critics believe?  No intelligence guided it; it was just put together by paste and by scissors.  If that’s the way it came into being, how is it that this divine purpose is interwoven, embedded, in the very heart of it?  You cannot get it out.  And the reason for it is God put it there.  It is written by forty different men over a thousand five hundred years, but the moving Spirit of the Lord guided the prophet or the apostle in what he said and what he wrote.  And whatever the critic may say about the Scriptures, whatever height or depth of ridicule to which the higher critic may subject the Holy Bible, they cannot deny or take out that purpose of redemption, that scarlet thread.  God put it there in the Bible to encourage us, to help us, and to save us.

So when we look upon the Bible like that, it becomes a new and a living Book in our hands, and it achieves its purpose for our lives.  Bread is baked, not to be analyzed but to be eaten.  A house is built, not for surveying but to live in, to be inhabited.  So, the Bible, God wrote it for us, not for critical analyses but for our hope.  Now, God made the Scriptures therefore a living organism. 

In 2 Corinthians 3:6, the apostle Paul writes, "God hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."  And our Lord Himself said in John 6:63, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."  When a man stands up in the pulpit and he opens the Word of God and he delivers his message from the Word of God, something will happen.  For it is not just syllables, and sentences, and paragraphs, chapters, verses, but it has incarnate in it the living Spirit and presence of the Lord.

All three are called the Word of God: the spoken Word, the incarnate Word, and the written Word.  They’re all three called the "Word of God."  God is in Christ, the incarnate Word.  God is in the prophet and the apostle as he delivered his message, the spoken Word.  And God is in the written Word.  All three of them are called the Word of God.  The Bible is more than a collection of books and of texts and of chapters and of verses.  It is a spiritual organism, a living thing.  The whole is pervaded by the Spirit of God, revealing God to us.  A living body is more than an assemblage of limbs:  I am here, two arms and hands; here, two legs and feet; here, a torso and there a head.  But nobody could say what I am is two limbs, two legs, two hands, two feet, a torso and a head.  I am a living somebody.  And that is exactly with the Bible, the Bible is far more than just a collection of words and of paragraphs.  It is a whole entity bearing the message of God to and for us.  And when I hold the Bible in my hands, I hold the incarnate Word of God in my hands.  It has in it the living Spirit. 

As some of you know, this last week, I mean these last two days, I have been in Nashville, Tennessee.  I am a member of a committee that is surveying the structure of our Southern Baptist Convention in its agencies and in its executive committee.  So while I was there, the president of our oldest seminary stopped me and said, "I want to urge you to come to our seminary any day you’ll choose, any week you will select, and I want you to stand there every day in our chapel service and preach the Word of God just as you do in the church, where you leave off that Sunday and where you begin the following Sunday, and where you leave off that Sunday and you start the next Sunday."  He said, "I would like for my young men to listen to somebody who does that."  He said, "We are sick of amnesty. Don’t mention it.  We are weary and tired of the political situation in Washington.  Don’t refer to it.  We have had ethics until we are ill with it.  Don’t take a subject which everybody does, but stand there with the Word of God and just expound it, just for our young ministers to see how it’s done, for they’ve never seen anybody do that, and they haven’t heard anybody do that."

 Well, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to go or not.  It would take a week.  But I said to him in reply, I said, "There is one thing that I can assure you about a minister who will do it; his people will be fed.  The attendance will grow, and the man himself will enlarge his vision and his love for Christ."  There is nothing, nothing that will do for a church, for its people, its congregation, like expounding the Word of the Lord.  The Spirit of God is in it.  So when we look at the Bible, it has an underlying theme, an undeviating purpose toward which it is reaching, and that is redemption, the saving of a fallen race.

As some of you would say, some of you have mentioned to me privately, the British navy, wherever on any ship there is a line – we call it a rope – if it belongs to Her Majesty’s government, it will have a scarlet thread through it.

So it is with the Bible.  There is a scarlet thread throughout the Word of God.  The Scriptures exhibit clearly a designed purpose and plan, known at first only to God, born in the heart of heaven.  But when it was partially revealed, and as it came to be revealed, the prophets looked at it in wonder, desiring to know the full import and extent of it.  For example, in 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 10 and 11:

 

Of which salvation, of which redemption, the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you;

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that  should follow. 

[1 Peter 1:10-11]

 

When the prophet spake, moved by the Spirit of God, he was filled with wonder at what God was doing.  He saw it, of course, just partially where he lived.  They did not live in our day when we can see it all, but he saw it just partially.  And the prophet, seeing it partially, marveled at it and wondered at it and desired to know the full extent and meaning of it.  But that Spirit of revelation is throughout the Word of God; the Lord is moving toward some great consummation.  So there is revelation of the redeeming purpose in Genesis 1-11; there is progression of that redeeming purpose in Genesis 11 to the last verse in Jude.  And there is the consummation of that redeeming purpose in the Revelation, chapters 1-22. 

The Old Testament anticipates the redemption in type and in prophecy.  The Gospels announce the accomplishment of it in the redemptive death of Christ.  The Acts and the Epistles present the application of it to the needs and to the souls of men, and the Revelation describes the consummation of that redemptive purpose throughout the whole universe. 

The revelation, therefore, of the unfolding of the divine redemptive purpose is divided into two Testaments:  he palaios diatheke, the old law, the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, and then the he kainê diatheke, the New Covenant, the New Testament.  One is of law and the other is of grace.  Each of those Testaments is associated with a mount:  one Mount Zion and the other Mount Calvary.  Each is represented by a person: one by Moses and the other by Jesus.  As John 1:17 says, "The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Each has its focus in an idea: one of law and the other of grace.  And at the inauguration of one, in Exodus 32:28, "Three thousand were slain," but at the inauguration of the other, Acts 2:41:  "Three thousand were saved." 

Between the two Testaments there was a long interlude of four hundred years called the interbiblical period.  But God was still working just as much, as meticulously as He worked before and as He worked after.  The divine purpose never ceased.  In that interbiblical period Greece rose to glory and to power, and the Greek language became the language of culture throughout the civilized world.

In that period, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into the Greek language, called the Septuagint translation.  In that interbiblical period, the Jews were scattered throughout the world, called the Diaspora, and the synagogue was found everywhere.  And in the synagogue, the Law was read and the Prophets were read.  And in that interbiblical period, Rome cemented the civilized world with roads and laws and government.  God never ceased – though there’s nothing in the Bible about any of that that occurred in the interbiblical period, yet God worked in those four hundred years just as faithfully, as unwearyingly as He worked in the years before.

And you remember the same thing for us now: the Bible is complete.  There are no Scriptures being written now, but God is working now just as faithfully, untiringly as He worked in the days of the Old Covenant, as He worked in the interbiblical period, and as He worked in the New Testament revelation.  God does not change, nor does His purpose ever fail and fall.  And in that divine and sublime purpose, we have a part.  We’re a part of it just as much as ancient Israel was, just as much as the church at Jerusalem was – or at Antioch, or at Rome, or at Canterbury, or at Plymouth – so in Dallas and with us today.  Slowly, surely, the grand design unfolds.  And that gave occasion to the author of the Hebrews to write in Hebrews 1:1:  "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past to our fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."

 Now that is the little introduction that I wanted to make to my lecture tonight.  I didn’t know it was going to take this long, but it was something I wanted to say.  Now, we really begin our study: first, the creation and the fall.  Now what we’re doing here, we’re going to follow the redemptive purpose of God through the Holy Scriptures, the scarlet thread through the Bible.  We begin with the creation and the fall. 

God made the creation perfect.  Now that may be a supposition on my part, but it is a supposition that I cannot conceive of its not being true. If God made it, God made it perfect.  I cannot conceive of the perfect God doing an imperfect work.  So the universe was created perfect, and it became tohu wa bohu, waste and formless [Genesis 1:1-2]; chaotic on account of sin.  Satan fell, and with him fell the universe.  We are distinctly told in Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 18, that God "made it not" – and the Hebrew is lo bara tohu,  God "made it not waste, chaotic, formless, void"  We’re told that distinctly.  God made it perfect, and it became waste and void and chaotic through sin, just as sin cursed the garden of Eden [Genesis 3], so sin cursed the whole creation of God, but God made the creation perfect, and it fell because of sin.

Now, God made the man perfect.  He was created perfect.  In Genesis 1:26 and 27, and in Genesis 2:7, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness," and if a man was made in the image and the likeness of God, he was made perfect because God is perfect.  Now this perfect man was placed under trial.  He was placed under probation.  Genesis 2:16-17:

 

Out of all of the trees in the garden, thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree in the midst of the garden, of the knowledge of good and evil, thou mayest not eat: for in the day that you eat you will surely die.

 

So the man was placed under probation, in trial.  That is, he was not a mere automaton.  He was not a machine.  He was not an impersonal thing like a star, or like a planet in its orbit, or like a mountain that is snowcapped, or like an ocean with its waves.

Adam had a personality.  That is, he had will and choice and purpose.  He was made like God.  And he was placed on probation, on trial.  Now the reason for a probation or a trial is to test the worth or the worthlessness of a thing.  A bridge is tested by weight.  Can it hold the traffic?  A student will be tested by examination.  A soldier may be tested by battle.  Metal may be tested by fire.  A man’s integrity is tested by a prohibition.  Will he obey, or will he choose to disobey?  His body was strengthened by work. 

In Genesis 2:15, he was to dress the garden and to keep it.  His intellect was strengthened by nomenclature.  In Genesis 2:19-20, he names all of the animal creation.  Did you ever think about that?  Think of the thousands and thousands of those zoological terms that you read in college when you study zoology.  Oh, just the thought of it is ghastly!  Well, think of thinking up all of that, you know, not reading it in a book – you’re just thinking it up yourself.  Now, his body was strengthened by work.  His mind was strengthened by that naming all of God’s handiwork, and his will was to be strengthened by obedience to God.  Now, he failed, and he fell in a tragic and an awesome way. 

The woman was deceived, but the man fell deliberately.  He chose to sin.  First Timothy 2:14 say,  "Adam was not deceive, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."  The race stood or fell not in the woman, but in the man.  I presume God could have given another wife, could have made another woman for Adam.  I guess he had another rib, if you want to translate that "rib."  How many ribs does a man have?  Thirteen on each side or something like that?  Twenty-six in all or something?  Six on each side, seven on each side?  Anyway, I guess He could have made that many different wives for him, one after another, if they all had been – it was in the man that the race stood or fell, not in the woman.  First Corinthians 15:21 says, "By man came death," and verse 22 says, "In Adam all die."  God addresses the man Adam; Genesis 3:9, "Adam, where art thou?"  He didn’t ask that for information, but for confession.  And Adam replied, "I was afraid."  See?  Always he’s talking.  God addresses the man, and the man replies:  "I was afraid, because I was naked" [Genesis 3:10].

You know what I think?  Now this is a supposition: the man was possibly first clothed like God is clothed in robes of light.  In Psalm 104, verse 2, it says that God’s robe is light and glory.  And if man was made in the image of God, I would think that he was clothed with light and with glory like Aaron’s garments of beauty and of glory.  And the man was clothed with shekinah, with light, with beauty, with glory.  And he lost his robe of glory and of beauty when he sinned, and he looked at himself, and he was naked.  So the man fell deliberately; he chose to sin. 

Then follows the sentencing; in Genesis 3:14 is the sentencing of the serpent. How did the serpent look before he was sentenced?  Do you ever think about that?  Sometimes these snakes have the most unusual configurations on them, and when I see that, I think it is a part of the beauty he possessed before he was cursed. 

I was walking along in the Amazon jungle from a little church convocation late at night, and there was a missionary who was walking in front of me with a flashlight – and they all have flashlights.  Well, I said, "Why do you all have flashlights?  I don’t have a flashlight, nor do I even think about going around with a flashlight."  They don’t budge an inch without a flashlight. 

I said, "What’s the matter?" 

They said, "On account of snakes, on account of serpents." 

Well, I was walking right about three inches beside of him, a little back of him, and that flashlight picked up the prettiest snake you ever saw, a big one!  I said, "What is that?" 

 He said, "That is one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.  That is a coral snake."  Well, every coral snake I ever heard of is about like a pencil and is no longer than that, a coral snake.  That’s the kind we have up here.  This thing was that long and that big around, beautifully colored, gorgeously colored.  So you know what that guy did?  He had big, heavy boots on – because in the Amazon jungle it rained all the time – big, heavy boots.  Evidently, the flashlight blinded the critter.  He went over there and took his boot and jammed his head down way deep in the mud, and he said: "Now you look at him real nice.  Pick him up, you know, because I got his head down there in the mud.  He won’t hurt you."  So I did.  I picked him up, looked at him, an unusual creation.  I tell you.  I’m glad his head is in the mud, but an unusual creation!  What did that critter look like before God cursed him?  We don’t know.  The curse was that he was to crawl on his belly and eat dust all the rest of his life [Genesis 3:14], but he must have been a beautiful creation and a gifted creation because he could talk.

Now, you say, "Was that a miracle, I mean uniquely separate?"  No, I would think that in the beginning it might have been easy for the animals to talk.  They could just squawk and grunt and holler and howl, and what can they do now? Once in awhile, one of them will learn to talk like a parrot or something like that.  Could have been back there that they could talk to one another; wouldn’t that be an interesting world?  You know, in the most unusual place I ever heard in my life, I heard one of our greatest ministers tell this story.  And the Justice of the Supreme Court, Charles Evans Hughes, was there in the service.  I remember that.  And I don’t know how many senators and other justices.

There was a fellow, he said, got up there and he said, "I can talk animal talk.  I can understand them.  I can talk to them, and they can talk to me, and I understand them." 

Then a fellow stood up and said, "Did I understand you aright, mister? You can talk to the animals?"

"Yes, sir," said the man.  "I can talk to the animals, and they can talk to me."

"Well," he said, "Can you talk hippopotamus?"

"Yeah,"  he said, "I can talk hippopotamus."

"Well, can you talk rhinoceros?"

"Yeah, I can talk rhinoceros." 

"Can you talk elephant?"

"Yeah, I can talk elephant."

"Tiger?"

"Yeah."

"Lion?" 

"Yeah." 

"Well," he said, "Can you talk skunk?" 

And the man said, "Yeah, I can talk skunk." 

Then he said, "Mister, the next time you talk to one, would you ask him what’s the big idea?"

He must have been a beautiful creature.  Some of his beauty is still to be found in the configurations that have attended his life hereafter, and he had a gift.  He was subtle and wonderfully interesting to the woman to whom he made appeal [Genesis 3:1].  Well, he was cursed, so he was something else before.  He was cursed by being made to crawl on his belly. 

The woman was sentenced in [Genesis] 3:16 – in childbirth, her sorrow and her submission to her husband.  You may have woman’s lib movement forever, you’ll never change the dominance of the man; you never will!

Now the sentencing of the man was in [Genesis] 3:17-19:  "For his sake, the ground was cursed."  Remember, in the beginning I said that because sin came into Satan the whole creation was cursed.  Because sin came in the man, Eden was cursed.  The ground was cursed, and his body one day will return to it.  So the man is a fallen man, and he lives in a fallen creation.  It once was perfect, both the creation and the man, but both now are fallen, the creation and the man. 

We come now to speak of the beginning of grace and redemption.  Heretofore, we know God as all powerful, all sovereign, all authority, but now we begin to know God in an altogether different way.  After the fall of the creation and after the fall of Adam, we begin to know God now in terms of grace, and of love, and of sympathy, and of care, and of redemption.  We begin to see the heart of God.  We are slaves now, sold under sin, under the judgment of death, but we begin now to see God in a different way.  He becomes the God not of creation, not of glory, not of sovereign authority, but He begins to be known now to us as the God of grace. 

God chose to love us and to save us, and thus, the redemptive purpose, and here it begins in Genesis 3:15.  This is one of the great, great, great, great verses of the Bible.  This is the protevangelium, the "first gospel" or the gospel before the gospel; "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."  From now on, there are to be two seeds – the serpent’s and the woman’s; the children of unbelief and the children of faith.  There will be lines of wrong and lines of right.  There will be those that disobey God and those who follow God. There will be two seeds hereafter in the earth.  But the Seed speaks preeminently of Christ.  In Paul’s discussion of the Seed of Abraham in Galatians 3:16, quote, "God saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ."  Thus, Eve became the mother of all living; look at [Genesis] 3:20, "And Adam called his wife’s name Eve: because she was the mother of all living."

As Adam became the father of all who would die, Romans 5:12:  "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin"; as Adam became the father of all who would die, so Eve, the woman, became the mother of all who would live.  Isn’t that a remarkable thing?  The race fell or rose in Adam.  And in Adam, we all died; in Adam, we all fell.  But in the woman, we live; in the woman, we are saved.  As Adam became the father of all who would die, so Eve became the mother of all who would live.  "Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" [Genesis 3:20]. 

Ultimately, of course, I think this is a prophecy of the virgin birth of our Lord [Luke 1:26-35].  Let me tell you something in my experience that comes of that same kind of a thing – that in the woman God is going to work the redemption of the world.  I don’t think there is a church in the earth but that is largely supported by the women.  It is her consecration, it is her rearing of the children that makes religion viable, living, quickening.

Another thing I have learned in the years of my pastoral work:  if a woman is not with me in my appeal to the man, I will not try.  There is no need.  You can get that man, but when he goes home, if his wife is not in sympathy with you, in no time at all you’ve lost him.  I don’t know an exception to that ever.  Mostly religion centers in the wife and in the woman. 

You sometimes wonder, how in the earth did Russia ever become a Christian nation, so-called?  Well, it came about in about 1000 AD.  There was a Christian woman who had a son named Vladimir, and he was the ruler of Kiev, and he was the first czar of Russia.  He conquered all of those provinces, and when he chose a religion for his country, he chose his mother’s faith.  She was a Christian, a Greek Orthodox Christian.  Go back further:  the story of the conversion of Constantine is found mostly, I think, in Helena.  She was a British Christian, an English Christian.  Her husband was a Roman general who married her while he was occupying the British Isles, England.  And she was a Christian, and when Constantine accepted the Christian faith as the Caesar of the Roman Empire, he did so, I think, because his mother was a Christian.  I’m just saying, in my experience a verification, in my humble persuasion, of what I read here in the Bible.  Death came by Adam, and God chose life to come by Eve.  "In the Seed of the woman, Satan’s head will be crushed" [Genesis 3:15]. 

So, we now come to the first and the basic redemptive type in Genesis 3:21:  "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them."  Was that because they were unclothed?  No!  They were clothed.  When they saw they were naked, they made clothes of fig leaves, but the provision was not adequate.  Not nature but sacrifice is required if we are to be clothed, to be covered, and that covering is what you call atonement.  Atonement is covering.  Then there must be the shedding of blood.  And then Genesis 3:21 is the first instance in the Bible of the shedding of blood, the innocent suffering for the guilty.

So the expulsion in judgment was also in grace.  God covered the man with sacrificial life, the shedding of innocent blood.  And then He put him out of the garden in that same grace that would cover over his sin.  Now how do you think that?  All right, the Lord God said, verses 22 to 24:

 

The man has become as one of Us, now, lest he put forth his hand to take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:  Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.  So He drove out the man, and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. 

[Genesis 3:22-24]

 

So the same Lord God who slew an innocent animal to cover over the nakedness of the man – that is a type of our covering, our atonement, how God puts away our sins – the same Lord God, that in His grace covered over the sin of Adam and Eve in atonement, in the shedding of blood, He sent him forth from the garden, lest he eat of the tree of life and become immortal as a sinner.  God did that in grace. 

You know, when I was young, even when I started preaching in my teens, I knew nothing of these things.  Being young, everything was just full of life, all the years were ahead, and death was an infinite tragedy.  You know, as the years have multiplied and I have been a pastor through them, I have come to see; would you be shocked if I were to say to you, without number have I bowed my head and my knees by the side of a bed of infinite hurt, and pain, and tragedy, and illness, and begged God to release that imprisoned spirit?  "Lord, take this saint home; suffered enough in agony; release him, release him."

"Do you mean, pastor, you pray for some people to die?" I do.  "Lord, release them."  Old, mind gone, a vegetable lying there, doesn’t know wife, doesn’t know daughter, doesn’t know son, doesn’t know pastor, and maybe in great hurt and agony; "Lord, release them."  Can you imagine what it would be to be immortal like that?  To live forever and forever, mind gone, eyes gone, arthritic, crippled, afflicted with cancer or leukemia?  You see, it is the mercy of God that I could die.

Do you remember in the Revelation?  "And men shall seek death, and shall not be able to find it?" [Revelation 9:6].  Why, my sweet people, we ought to look forward to the translation.  It may be full of all kinds of agony to those who don’t know Jesus, but to us who know the Lord, death is a benedictory opening of the gates of glory.  "Do not be afraid," Jesus said, "Do not be afraid.  I was with you in life,  will be with you in death – do not be afraid."  So the Lord took the tree of life and put it up there.  The next time you see it, it’s up there by the side of the river, and the leaves are for the healing of the people [Revelation 22:2]. 

One other thing:  "He placed there on the east side of the garden cherubim" [Genesis 3:24].  They are always emblems of God’s grace, and God’s presence, and God’s redemption, and God’s glory; cherubim.  He placed cherubim there to bless and to be merciful to the man that He had expelled from the garden.  And there, Adam and Eve were taught how to worship the Lord, how to build an altar, what kind of an offering to bring, and God began His long, long story of redemption on the east side of the garden of Eden.

So, we will pick it up next Wednesday night at 7:30 here and continue it through these several weeks beyond.