God creates heaven and earth, and all
the creatures in it. Finally he creates man in his own image, and gives him dominion over the
animals. God creates the Garden of Eden, and lets man live in it. The garden has trees in it.
God says "You may eat
the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. If you eat the fruit from that tree, you will surely die." (It is at
about this point when the man is called "Adam".)
Then God creates a companion for the man, a woman. A serpent
tempts the woman to eat the forbidden fruit.
She gives in. Then she tempts Adam to eat the fruit, and he gives in. When God
discovers what has happened, he expels them out of the garden. They are expelled
to the east side of Eden. Adam gives the woman a name: "Eve".
Adam and Eve have sons and daughters, and the earth's population grows.
Generations later, many people live on earth, but they are mostly
wicked people. Evil is everywhere. so God decides to destroy the world. But he
finds one good man, a man named Noah.
God tells Noah "I am going to cause rains to flood the earth and destroy
everything on it. Build an ark for your family. Put two of every living creature
into it." Noah and his family do this.
The flood comes. The earth is flooded, and the world is
destroyed, except for everyone on the ark: Noah and his family.
The flood subsides, and the ark rests on dry land. Noah and
company emerge from the ark.
Noah's family has descendants, and they repopulate the
earth. From them come the separate nations on the earth.
(Now the story changes. Previously,
it had told the history of all humanity. Now the rest of the Book of Genesis
will focus on one man and his descendants.)
Generations later, we meet a man named Abraham. God tells
Abram "Go to a land that I will show
you, and I will make you a great nation." Abraham and his family, including
his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, leave on this journey. God leads them to the land
of Canaan. Here, God tells Abraham "Your descendants shall
become a nation. I shall give them this land." Right now, the land is lived
in by a people called the Canaanites.
Later, Abraham and Lot decide to separate. Lot and his men
settle near the city of Sodom (a city on the
southern border of Canaan). The people in Sodom are wicked.
God tells Abraham: "I will make my covenant between
you and me. You shall be the father of many nations. I will multiply your descendants
greatly, and they shall become a nation. The nation will be in the land of
Canaan, and I will be their god. Sarah shall be the mother of nations. She shall
have a son named named Isaac. I will establish my covenant with
Isaac and his descendants."
In Sodom, Lot is visited by two angels. They tell Lot that
God has sent them to destroy
Sodom because of its wickedness. They warn him to take his family and flee the
city. Lot, his wife, and his daughters flee Sodom before it is destroyed.
Finally Sarah bears a son. She names him Isaac.
Years later, Isaac is a young man. He marries a woman
named Rebekah. Rebekah gives birth to twin sons: Esau and Jacob. Esau
is born first, and is therefore legally the "oldest". He has the legal
birthright (the right of the first-born). Isaac prefers Esau, but Rebekah
prefers Jacob.
Years later, Isaac is an old man, and is nearly blind. He
is dying. He asks to see his oldest son,
Esau, and give him the blessing of the firstborn. Rebekah prefers Jacob over Esau.
Esau's hand is hairy, and Jacob's hand is smooth. While Esau is gone,
Rebekah covers Jacob's hand with goatskin to fool Isaac. The ruse works.
Isaac gives Jacob the blessing intended for Esau.
Esau is mad that Jacob has tricked him out of
the blessing of the firstborn. He wants to kill Jacob. Rebekah tells Jacob
"Get away from here. Go to my brother Laban, in Mesopotamia. Stay with him until Esau's
anger cools. When it does, I will send for you."
Jacob reaches Mesopotamia, and meets Laban. Laban has two daughters.
The older is Leah, and the younger is Rachel. Jacob ends up marrying both
daughters (Polygamy was legal at the time.) Through Leah, Rachel, and two
concubines, Jacob has eleven sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali,
Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Joseph.
Joseph takes his wives and children, and goes home to
Canaan. Esau and Jacob are reunited. Esau forgives Jacob.
God tells Jacob "You
shall no longer be called Jacob. You shall now be called Israel. This land which
I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and your descendants." (Throughout
this summary, Jacob will still be called "Jacob",
rather than "Israel".)
Jacob's wife Rachel gives birth to another son. She
dies in childbirth. Jacob names the son Benjamin. So now Jacob has twelve sons in all.
Jacob's family still lives in the land of Canaan.
Joseph is Jacob's favorite son. His brothers know that he is the favorite, and
they're jealous. They tie up
Joseph and sell him to some travelers who are going to Egypt. Then they tell
Jacob "Joseph was killed by a wild animal."
Joseph is brought to Egypt and sold as a slave to
Potiphar, the captain of the guard for the Egyptian pharaoh. Later, the pharaoh has a dream,
and he needs someone to
interpret it. Joseph is good at dream interpretation, so he is brought to see the pharaoh.
He interprets the dream: "There will be seven years of plentiful food,
followed by seven years of famine. Gather up the food of these good years, and
save it. Then Egypt will be able to survive the seven years of famine." The
pharaoh can see that God is with Joseph. So he appoints Joseph to gather the
food. Joseph is given the rank and authority of viceroy, a position of power.
During the seven good years, he gathers food. Then
during the seven bad years, there is famine everywhere. But Egypt has plenty of
food, and Joseph is in charge of it. People come from other lands to buy food.
When the famine comes, it also affects the land of
Canaan. So Joseph's brothers go to Egypt to buy food. They leave the youngest
brother, Benjamin, at home.
In Egypt, they go to Joseph for
food. They don't recognize their brother Joseph. But Joseph
recognizes them. He knows that they are his brothers.
Joseph tells the brothers "I think you are
spies." The brothers say "We are not spies. We are honest brothers,
although our youngest brother Benjamin is back home." Joseph says "If
you are not spies, then you will bring your youngest brother Benjamin with you
the next time you come here." He puts brother Simeon in jail as a hostage
to make sure that they come back with Benjamin. Then he sells them grain. The
brothers return home, and tell Jacob what happened.
They arrive in Egypt with Benjamin to buy more food. Joseph acts
"now convinced" that the brothers are not spies. He brings out Simeon.
Joseph tells his steward "Fill
up their packs with as much food as they can carry. But put my silver goblet at
the top of Benjamin's pack." The steward does so.
The brothers leave for home. They
don't get very far before Joseph tells the steward to chase them. The steward
catches up to the brothers, and says "Why have you stolen my master's silver
goblet?" The brothers say "We have not
stolen his silver goblet. Search our packs. If the goblet is found in one of our
brothers' packs, then that brother shall die, and we shall all become your
slaves." The steward searches the packs, and finds the goblet in Benjamin's pack.
The brothers are taken back to Joseph. Joseph says "The
brother who was found
with the goblet shall be my slave, but the rest of you can go home."
Judah says "No! We can't go home with out Benjamin. That would kill our
father Israel (Jacob). Make me your slave instead, but let Benjamin go home."
Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers.
"I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Don't be distressed.
It wasn't you, but God who sent me here. He sent me here ahead of you to save
your lives. There have been two years of famine, and there are five more to go.
God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants. Now I am a
prominent man in Egypt. Go back home to Canaan, and bring the whole family here
to Egypt to live. I will
take care of you, and see that you are not reduced to poverty. There are still
five years of famine to come."
The brothers return home and tell Jacob what has
happened. Jacob is surprised to hear that Joseph is still alive, and is a
prominent man in Egypt. Jacob's entire family moves to
Egypt. Jacob and Joseph are reunited. Joseph forgives his brothers for
selling him into slavery, and they are sorry.
Years later, Joseph dies. On his deathbed, he tells his
family "Someday God will bring you out of this land and back to the land of
Canaan, which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Overall Summary Part1: Adam and Eve Part 2: Noah Part 3: Abraham Part 4: Jacob Part 5: Joseph