The Old Testament, including Genesis, was originally written in Hebrews. The Hebrews commonly took the first line of a book and made that the title. Thus they called this book BeRishyth - "In the beginning."

Our title "Genesis" is taken from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the original Hebrew Bible — Genesis — it means "beginnings." That is a good title for this book. In the Septuagint, the phrase Biblos Genesis is found nine different times. Each time it is translated: "These are the generations of..."

Scholars have made much of the fact that other creation accounts in other cultures that predate Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. Of particular interest is one such account known as the Enuma Elish found in Mesopotamia.

It was customary in the very earliest written history to name a book or a scroll after the first word or phrase found in body of the work. The Enuma Elish ("When on high") draws its title from the first sentence of its narrative.

The text was found written on seven tablets, but this has no bearing on the seven days of the Genesis account. If the tablets had been larger then there would only have been six.

It can be seen from this brief outline that this account is only superficially related to the Genesis account. Since the initial discovery of the seven tablets, other copies have been found relating the same story but on ten tablets.

There is a real difference between the Genesis account and the creation accounts of other pagan religions. In other ancient religious systems, the natural world was seen as a manifestation of all of the deities - the sun, moon, stars, oceans, storms. The cosmos always had the status of deity. The Bible is unique in that the cosmos is merely creation. Only God is GOD.

A reading of Genesis 1-2 will show immediately that we have two separate and distinct accounts of creation that can be compared and contrasted.

Rather than being contradictive, these two accounts are complimentary. Indeed, this method of first giving a panoramic view and then coming back to focus on important details is found all through Genesis.

For example, in the account of Jacob and Esau, Esau's story comes first, but it is Jacob's which is more fully developed and which holds the place of higher importance to the theme of the book.

We are not told when this took place with reference to our own modern system of dating. I understand that some old Bible have placed a date in the margin as to when this was computed to have taken place. But the simple fact is that the Bible is silent concerning the exact date. What it DOES tell us is that the creation took place in the beginning.

That is significant. It means that the creation of which we read was a true creation. If this was what took place at the beginning, then it indicates that the universe is not infinitely old. Whether you want to stipulate that this creation took place thousands of years ago or billions of years ago, the truth remains that there was a time when nothing existed and then something came into being.

But what about BEFORE the beginning? This verse gives the answer. "In the beginning GOD..." God did not come into existence at creation. Rather He was already in existence at creation.

The Hebrew word for "God" is Elohim. The interesting thing about the word Elohim is that it is plural.

Some have suggested that this is an indication of the trinity, but it is more likely a device known as a plural of immensity, used to describe God in terms of His greatness. Although Elohim is a plural noun, it is accompanied by a singular verb — while "God" is plural, "created" is singular. This verse teaches us several things about God.

a. It teaches of the existence of God.

b. It teaches of the existence of One God.

c. It teaches of the pre-existence of God.

d. It teaches us of the person of God.

(1) Bara, "to create."

(2) Asah, "to make."

(3) Yatser, "to form."

(4) (Banah), "To build."

The phrase "heavens and earth" is all-inclusive. It takes in everything. The word "heavens" is from the Hebrew word shamayim. It is taken from the root word , "over there." It is literally the "place up there." This is very simple language. It simply says that God created "the down here and the up there."

This is important. As we read the Genesis account of creation, we will note that the focus is from an earthly perspective. It is written from the point of view of one who is standing upon planet earth. Instead of reading about orbits and rotating planets, we shall read of sunrise and sunset and seasons and years.

This brings out a principle. The Bible is written for the inhabitants of planet earth. Only things which concerned them were placed into the Bible. The Bible is not a book about angels or demons or Satan. Though these things might be given passing reference, it is only as they interact with God's dealings toward men that they are mentioned.

Neither is the Bible a book about geology or biology or archaeology or astronomy. It is a book about God's grace to fallen man. This does not mean that we should consider the Bible to be inferior to any of man's sciences. The Bible is God's Word and the very mind of Christ. It is completely without error. Whenever it speaks on any subject, no matter how slight the reference, it is correct. Having said this, it must be pointed out that there are several theories regarding the interpretation of the Creation Narrative.

The Supernaturalist says that creation occurred in a way that in completely foreign to anything that may be observed today. The creation account indicates that God has completed his creative work (Genesis 2:1-3).

On the other hand, there are Christians who believe that God may have acted through evolutionary means to bring about creation. It is true that God often works through what we think of as "natural processes." They are in reality His regular and faithful workings.

The description that we have of God's creative work seems to imply creation with an appearance of age. This is vividly seen in the creation of man. On the day that Adam was created, how old was he? He was one day old! But the Scriptures seem to describe him as a full-grown man rather than as a baby. The implication is that he was created with an appearance of age.

The same is seen of animals and plant life. We do not read that God created seedlings, but rather that He created trees yielding fruit that had within them seeds for perpatuating further growth (Genesis 1:12).

When we were children, we used to discuss what came first, the chicken or the egg. The Biblical answer is that God created egg-laying chickens who looked and acted every bit like those who had been hatched and had grown to adulthood.

This view places a great chronological gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 during which the earth was destroyed and then recreated. According to this theory, millions of years ago God created a perfect heaven and earth. This universe continued in a perfect state until Satan rebelled by desiring to become like God (Isaiah 14:12-17). Because of Satan's fall, sin entered the universe. As a result, the earth became "formless and void" until a global ice age swept over the earth as light and heat were removed. The six days which follow refer to the reconstruction of the earth.

This view says that the six days of creation are not to be taken as literal days but rather are symbolic for long periods of time.