Interesting Facts and Personal Insight
into
Genesis:
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adam= the man. (not a proper name, but a description). Genesis 2:19: "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 (defined as "the man") to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof." A.K.A. "the person" (can be male or female) Genesis 5:1-2 "1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."
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man/woman= formed from dust (the human body is 75% water, and 25% chemicals, which appear as dust without the presence of water) and water.
living soul= man + breath of life; and therefore = (formed dust)+(water)+(breath of life). Genesis 2:6-7: "6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7 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."
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Our physical bodies are worm food/ food for serpents (Genesis 3:14-19 and Isaiah 65:25). We will all die. The serpent(s) will be there in the end times after this world passes away.
Genesis 3:14-19: "14 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: 15 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. 16 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. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou has 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 fro thy sake; in "sorrow" (defined as toil) shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 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."
Isaiah 65:25: "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock (ox): and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." (an end-time prophetic vision)
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Jabal - Genesis 4:20: "And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. Paul in the New Testament is a tent maker by trade.
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First 2 killers: 1) Cain - killed his brother, Abel (Genesis 4:8) and 2) Lamech - has "...slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." (Genesis 4:23-24).
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***Updated 9/7/05 from here down to Tower of Babel incident***
Life Expectancy of humans - Originally designed by God to be immortal, but death came to us through sin (the wages of sin are death). Adam lived 930 yrs. His descendants lived long lives, but life expectancy decreased as the generations progressed down to around 780yrs (Genesis 5:5-31). Then God lowered our lifespan to 120 years because he didn't want to "strive" (or struggle and contend) with man because we are flesh. Also the sons of God were taking human women for their wives and their children were "mighty men of old", "men of renown" (Genesis 6:1-4).
Interesting side note to humans living to around 1000yrs...somewhere in the Bible it tells us that one day to God is like 1000years to man.
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Giants existed on earth. (Genesis 6:4)
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Was Enoch the first physical ascension into heaven? (Genesis 5:21-24): "21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him."
Now that may not sound impressive, but if you read all the other people's histories in this chapter (5) of Genesis, they all end with "and all the days of (blank) were (however many years blank lived) and he died", but not Enoch.
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"Repent" defined by the Bible, the word of God: to be sorry. (Genesis 6:6).
"Repent" as defined by the dictionary: 1a) to feel remorse, contrition, or self-reproach. b) to feel such regret for previous behavior as to change one's mind about it. 2) To make change for the better because of remorse or contrition for one's sins. To feel regret or self-reproach for. To cause to feel remorse or regret. re (French) - in response / pentir (Latin) to be sorry.
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Humans think evil thoughts beginning in childhood, and they come from our hearts. (Genesis 8:21): "21 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."
Jesus also tells us that it's not what we put in our mouths that "defile" us, "20 ...but that which cometh out of the man, that defileth a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man." (Mark 7: 18-23)
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More proof God gave us marijuana to use (at least to eat): Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat (food) for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."
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Tower of Babel incident: In the first 1/3 of chapter 11, we are told of the state of humankind at one point in history: the whole earth was of one language and one speech, they decided to build a great city and building so high it would reach up to heaven.
God came down to take a look at the city and tower, saw that humans were of one language and realized that nothing would be held back from us which we imagine to do because we were "one". So, God confounded our language, so we wouldn't understand each other's speech, and then proceeded to scatter men across the face of the earth.
At first glance one might argue that God doesn't want mankind to be "one", but if you think about why it might seem self evident that humans were not ready for the knowledge they were about to discover/realize. Think about the stories you hear about the lost continent of Atlantis- an ancient society so advanced technologically that they were said to be more advanced than we are now in the USA- a society so advanced that it was destroyed by its own technology.
Now imagine what you know of the condition of man in the middle ages (violent, closed-minded, quick to kill others), now imagine a few thousand years before that, and you have the time of the Tower of Babel. Now imagine that because they are one and of one language, and being at that stage of societal sameness (just begging for dissenters or people of other thought), that technology developed quickly from that point on without interference from God. At that rate, there might have been nuclear technology and atomic bombs possibly before the middle ages.
My guess is that if God had not interfered and confused our tongues to the numerous languages we have now, we might already have destroyed this world with our technological advances mixed with our notorious lack of foresight.
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Updated 09/19/05: Chapter 12: Abram and his wife Sarai (Sarah)- God told Abram to take his family and his things and go to a land that God would show him, and bless him by making a great nation of him. So Abram (75years old) took his wife Sarah and Lot (his brother's son), and everything they had and left their home.
v7 - God appears to Abram and says, "Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him."
v8-10 - Abram travels to Egypt because there's a famine in his land.
v11-20 - Abram knows his wife is hot (11 "And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sa-rai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a *fair (beautiful) woman to look upon:"), so he seemingly asks her to lie to the Egyptians and tell them that she is his sister, rather than her husband, for fear that the Egyptians men might kill him for his wife because she is so beautiful (v12 "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. 13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake;..." (personal note- to protect her) "...(cont'd) and my soul shall live because of thee" (personal note - in other words, for telling them she's his sister).
Sarah was so beautiful that the Pharaoh took notice of her and sent his men to bring her back to Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh treated Abram well for Sarah's sake with sheep, oxen, he asses, servants of both sexes, she asses and camels. But since Pharaoh was trying to move in on Sarah, God plagued him and his house plagues. Pharaoh asked Abram why he lied, and then told him to take his wife and leave with all they had.
However, in Chapter 20, we find out that Sarah technically IS Abram's (aka Abraham) sister, so they didn't lie. Again, Abram (now known as Abraham) is traveling with his wife Sarah, and asks her to say she's his sister again, this time with King Abimelech. God appears to Abimelech in a dream and tells him he is a dead man for taking Sarah because she is a man's wife, unless he returns her to Abraham. God spares his life because he never touched Sarah. Later, Abimelech confronts Abraham and asks why he lied to him about Sarah being his sister, rather than the truth that she is his wife. Abraham says, (Genesis 20:11-13) "11 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. 12 And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her (Sarah), This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother."
v14-17 Abimelech gives Abraham many gifts (oxen, silver, servants and sheep) until Abraham prayed God would heal him and his household, which was plagued with being barren until Sarah was returned and justified to Abraham (v18).
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(INCEST) Lot escapes Sodom and Gomorrah with is daughters. Then they get him drunk and have sex with him (without his knowledge...how drunk is that???) so they will have descendants (offspring). The each had a child, one's name was Moab (of the Moabites?) and the other was named Ammon (of the Ammonites?)
(Genesis 19: 31-38): "31 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: 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve *seed (defined as "the lineage") of our father.
33 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. 34 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.
35 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.
36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father."
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