[Genesis...means giving of birth, origin. Genesis brings birth to everything, gives the origin of everything. Genesis is a book containing all the seeds of the divine truths. All the divine truths in the whole Bible were sown in this book.]
[The Pentateuch of Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—was written by Moses. Moses was raised in the palace. He was a scholar, a politician, and a military leader. According to the world, he was also a religious leader. The Pentateuch was written by him at Mount Sinai and in the wilderness.] The events recorded in this book took place between 4004 B.C. and 1689 B.C., and it was written around 1500 B.C.
The subject of Genesis is: God created, Satan corrupted, man fell, and Jehovah promised to save.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. After 2,500 years of God’s spoken revelation, Genesis marked the beginning of the written record of God’s revelation. The written revelation is needed to make God’s revelation available to all.
[The central thought of Genesis is: Christ is the hope and salvation of fallen man, and God will make fallen man to fulfill His purpose through Christ.]
[The book of Genesis reveals God’s creation and man’s fall. According to Genesis, man fell step by step: from God to the conscience, from the conscience to human government, and from human government to rebellion. In this rebellion man forsook God and turned to the worship of idols. After man rebelled against God at Babel, God gave up the created race; however, He could not and did not forsake His purpose. Therefore, after giving up the created race, God called out a new race, a selected race, beginning with Abraham. To Abraham God promised that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). Eventually the race selected and called by God fell from God’s selection and calling into Egypt, that is, into the world.]
1) God created (1:1—2:25), 2) Satan corrupted (3:1—11:32), and 3) Jehovah called (12:1—50:26).
The events recorded in this book took place between 1706 B.C. and 1490 B.C. (Please see this section in Genesis.)
The subject of Exodus is God’s salvation, supply, and revelation, and the building of His habitation.
After the children of Israel were saved out of Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness. The purpose of God was not merely to save them from of the tyranny of Pharaoh, but to have them build His habitation, that is, the tabernacle. God’s intention was to reveal to the children of Israel His eternal purpose, which is to have His dwelling place on earth (25:8-9, 40).
[The central thought of Exodus is that Christ is the redemption, salvation, and supply of God’s people and the means for them to worship and serve God so that in Him they may be built up with God together for them and God to meet, communicate, and dwell mutually.]
[The general sketch of Exodus firstly shows how the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt (1:8-14). Then it reveals that the children of Israel were redeemed and saved (12:27; 14:30). After their redemption and salvation, the children of Israel were led by the Lord in the wilderness (13:17-18, 21-22; 17:1; 19:1-2; 40:36-38). They were led by the pillar of cloud and by the pillar of fire. Furthermore, manna rained down from heaven, and living water flowed from the cleft rock. In their journeys the children of Israel eventually were brought by the Lord to Mount Sinai where they received a revelation of God’s eternal purpose, which is to have His dwelling place on earth (25:8-9, 40). After receiving this revelation, they built the tabernacle for God’s habitation (39:32; 40:2, 34-35).]
1) Enslaved (1:1-22), 2) redeemed and saved (2:1—15:21), 3) led (15:22—18:27), 4) receiving revelation (19:1—34:35), and 5) building the tabernacle (35:1—40:38).