The Prehistory of Israel

Days ONE and TWO in the Week of Millenniums

The story of the Bible does not actually begin in Genesis 1:1. The first eleven chapters are the introduction to the story; they are the “prehistory” of Israel. This prehistory centers on the lives of two men, Adam and Noah.

Day 1:

Genesis is a book of ten generations:

• The generations of the heavens and of the earth (Genesis 2:4)
• The generations of Adam (5:1)
• The generations of Noah (6:9)
• The generations of the sons of Noah (10:1)
• The generations of Shem (11:10)
• The generations of Terah (11:27)
• The generations of Ishmael (25:12)
• The generations of Isaac (25:19)
• The generations of Esau (36:1)
• The generations of Jacob (37:2)

The first 1,000 years of Bible history are recorded in the first 5 chapters of Genesis. “Day One” witnessed the beginning of the generations of the heavens and of the earth, and the generations of Adam.

Human history begins with Adam. It was his foolish decision that enslaved all future generations to sin, and death by sin. God told Adam he would die in the day he ate the forbidden fruit. Spiritually, Adam died the instant of his transgression. He died physically at the age of 930 years, before the first millennial day was over. Either way, Adam died on the day of his disobedience.

Key events of Day One include:

• The creation of the heavens and earth
• The first man, woman, and marriage
• The original sin
• The first children, Cain and Abel
• The first cities and craftsmen
• The birth of Adam’s third son, Seth
• The birth of Lamech, the father of Noah.

Day 2:

By Chapter 6 of Genesis, the world had grown so evil that “it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6). But a man named Noah “found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (verse 8). Day Two centers on the life of Noah. Genesis 7:6 says, “Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.” After the Flood it was left to his sons to repopulate the earth. Genesis 10:32 says that “by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.”

The line to Christ goes through Noah’s son, Shem (see Luke 3:36), and for this reason the generations of Shem are listed twice in Genesis, in Chapters 10 and 11. The generations of Shem lead to Terah, the father of the patriarch Abraham.

Key events of Day Two include:

• The birth of Noah
• The events surrounding the Flood
• The repopulating of the earth
• The confusion of language in Babel
• The birth of Abraham

 

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The First Covenants