GENESIS RESOURCES

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  • Question: Were there kings during the time of the patriarchy? E.g., King of Salem?

    Answer: Yes, him (Melchizedek), and also Abimelech. When we say there were “no kings,” we mean that Israel’s institutional monarchy hadn’t yet formed (until 1 Samuel). The key point is that many of Israel’s most prominent features and figures emerge after Genesis, so the first book is more foreign to our eyes than we sometimes realize.


    Question: Do we know the amount of time from Abraham to Joseph?

    Answer: 250-251 years. Abraham had Isaac when he was 100 years old, Isaac had Jacob when he was 60, and Jacob had Joseph when he was 90 or 91.


    Question: Is there a way to distinguish El from Elohim when reading our English translations? Capital G and lowercase g, or have to check the original text? El could be referring to any god? I’ve also heard it could be referring to a spirit being. Is that accurate or not?

    Answer: No, there’sn’t an obvious way to distinguish between the two in English. However, elohim is used 2,602 times and el only 242 times, so that tells you something about “standard” usage. 


    More often than not, el is used to, yes, refer to lesser gods. However, it’s typically used with reference to Yahweh when he takes on a “compound name,” such as Bet-el (“house of God”), El-Elyon (“God Most High”), El-Olam (“Everlasting God”), and (perhaps most familiar) El-Shaddai (“God Almighty”). El is also found in names such as “Immanuel” (Isa 7:14, meaning “God with us”) and “Israel” (meaning “one who strives with God”).


    Question: Is it possible that some of the meanings of the names in early Bible stories are a result of the history of the famous person? Like Abel turned into a metaphor for brevity?

    Answer: From a biblically conservative perspective, the names of biblical figures such as Adam, Abel, Abraham, and Moses can carry both historical and theological significance. We believe these individuals were real, historical persons who lived at specific times and places in human history. At the same time, the names associated with them often convey symbolic or theological truths that reveal something about God’s purposes and human identity in salvation history.


    For instance, Adam (from the Hebrew ’adam, meaning “man” or “human”) represents both an individual and humanity as a whole. We hold that Adam was a historical person—the first man created by God (Genesis 1–2), and his sin brought death into the world (Romans 5:12–19). But his name also signifies his role as the representative head of the human race, through whom sin entered, and points forward to Jesus, the “last Adam,” who brings righteousness and life.


    Abel means “breath” or “vapor,” capturing the fleeting nature of life and the tragedy of his early death at the hands of his brother Cain (Genesis 4). His name symbolizes the brevity of life, and he was a real historical figure.


    Abraham, whose name means “father of many,” was first called Abram (“exalted father”) before God changed his name to signify his covenant promise (Genesis 17:5). This change was not only symbolic; it marked a covenant event in the life of a historical patriarch through whom God would bless the nations.


    Moses, whose name sounds like the Hebrew for “drawn out,” reminds readers of how he was drawn from the water (Exodus 2:10). Yet his name also anticipates his mission to “draw out” God’s people from bondage in Egypt.


    Our interpretation should support the symbolic meanings of these names, without undermining their historicity. The sovereign plan of God is witnessed in how their names reflect God's divine purpose in their historical lives. In other words, God works through real history and real people to reveal spiritual truth. Scripture’s use of symbolic names highlights God’s redemptive plan without reducing the text to myth or allegory.

    In summary:

    • The names of Scripture often carry symbolic meaning that enriches our theological understanding.
    • The individuals themselves were historical persons, part of God’s sovereign working of redemption.
    • Symbolism in Scripture is rooted in real people and events, not in mythic invention.

    Question: I struggle a little with Gen 6:6 ("the LORD regretted that he had made man"). I’ve always viewed regret as the feeling we get when we do something that doesn’t have the result we expected. Since God is everyWHEN and knew what would happen before He created man, I’m trying to reconcile how God could have regrets.
    Answer: At risk of over-citing Tremper Longman, he considers that concern this way:

    "In one sense, verse 6 fits well following this negative assessment of humanity. God is sad and regrets the decision he made to create humanity in the first place. In another sense, the verse is quite shocking. God is sad? God regrets? God is God after all. Isn’t he omniscient? Doesn’t he know the future? It sounds like he is surprised how his human creatures have turned out.

    These are difficult interpretive waters to navigate. It is appropriate to observe the extensive anthropomorphic language used in these early chapters of Genesis. In other words, we must recognize that God condescends himself to accommodate himself to the reader’s understanding. In short, the language is figurative.

    That said, it is wrong to simply ignore what the verse says because it is figurative. Figurative language is intentionally chosen to communicate truths. It is inappropriate to say that this language is only a metaphor. The question we must ask is, what does the metaphor point to?

    It seems to me a complete overriding of biblical language like we find here to deny that God has an emotional life (as some theologians do as they assert that God is impassable). Our sin saddens God. It does lead him to regret having created us. He created human beings morally innocent and with the ability to make moral choices, and the depressing news is that humans keep choosing to rebel rather than to obey. Thus, he determines to destroy his human creatures and the rest of his animate creation (“the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground,” v. 7) by means of a flood."

    You could also liken it to the sadness parents experience when their children sin (knowing all along that they most certainly would). It’s not a regret of surprise, but a regret of assessment and resolve to intervene.

Wednesday Night Study

Recordings of the Wednesday Night Study teaching are posted below.