GENESIS - INTRODUCTION
A
Bible Study - Commentary by Jim Melough
Copyright
2000 James Melough
PREFACE
These studies on Genesis
have come about by the process of evolution. In
the course of preparing talks for Bible study classes in the 1970’s the author
began to accumulate notes, not with any thought of writing a book on Genesis, but
simply to preserve what he thought to be the more important part of what he gleaned
from the writings or oral ministry of others, together with what resulted from his
own study of the book. In the course of
time the notes had become fairly extensive, and this, combined with the question of
class members as to whether the material presented orally might perhaps be made
available in writing, resulted in the preparation of small booklets, each one of
which covered one chapter of Genesis.
Over the years the same
question continued to be asked relative to studies on other Bible books, and the
result was that in 1986 the publication of a monthly magazine entitled Green
Pastures was begun, presenting in serial form studies on several Bible books; but
after two or three years there were increasingly numerous suggestions by readers that
the serialized material would be welcomed in book form. In 1995 the Lord indicated that the author should suspend
publication of the magazine, and devote himself to the revising and editing of the
material accumulated in over forty years of Bible teaching, that material existing in
the form of complete manuscripts of studies of nine Bible books, and partially
completed manuscripts of four others.
Since the preparation of the
booklets had brought the notes on Genesis into basically the form which now
constitutes this present volume, there seemed to be no reason not to present the
manuscript to a publisher, in the hope that he might concur in the judgment of the
Bible class members who had heard the lectures, that the work merited a wider
circulation. The result is that those
notes are now available in the form of this book, which is offered with the prayer
that God will use it for His own glory in the encouragement and upbuilding of His
people.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
But for God’s gracious
enablement this book could never have been written, or published.
I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Him for His sustaining grace
throughout the approximately seven years it took to write it.
A further debt of gratitude
is due also to the very many whose oral and written ministry over more than fifty
years has contributed much to the essence of this book.
Their faithful ministry will have its merited reward at the judgment seat of
Christ.
And last, but by no means
least, is the contribution made by my wife. For
almost fifty years she has uncomplainingly sacrificed much time that she might
rightly have claimed, so that I could devote myself to study, writing, and ministry.
Without that willing sacrifice this book couldn’t have been written.
She too will have a full recompense at the judgment seat of Christ, and until
that day a grateful husband can only acknowledge an indebtedness he could never
repay.
INTRODUCTION
Until the discovery of the
Rosetta stone, Egyptian hieroglyphics were an enigma that baffled the skill of even
the most learned linguists, and so with Scripture: until one has learned the meaning
of the Bible’s typological language, the literal language remains a perplexing
mystery beyond the ability of the keenest intellect to solve. The futility of bringing mere human wisdom to bear on the
interpretation of Scripture is declared, not only by Scripture itself, “The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ... neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Co 2:14), but also in what some of the
greatest but unrenewed minds have presented as their “interpretation” of the
Bible.
The spiritual discernment of
which Paul speaks in 1 Co 2:14, cannot be acquired in the world’s universities. It is available only to the man who has had the new birth which
the Lord Jesus Christ in John 3:3,7 has declared to be an imperative for those who
would escape hell and enter heaven, for Scripture reminds us that “The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding”
(Pr 9:10).
He who isn’t indwelt by
the Holy Spirit can no more understand Scripture than can a corpse, for Scripture is
the language of the living God, and all unconverted men are spiritually dead, see Eph
2:1,5.
Spiritual life, however,
isn’t the only prerequis-ite of spiritual understanding.
There must be obedience coupled with a diligent study of Scripture, but the
recompense of that obedience is to learn the meaning of the Bible’s typological
language. Like prophecy, however, the
study of Biblical typology has been brought into disrepute by the activity of those
who have allowed a riotous imagination to supply what the Holy Spirit disowns.
But none of this alters the fact that he who would understand Scripture must
not only accept the fact that God has made lavish use of type and symbol, he must
recognize also that that use has not been capricious.
From Genesis to Revelation it is governed by the same inflexible law as
controls the succession of the seasons and the movements of the stars.
What a symbol means in Genesis is what it means in the Psalms or in
Revelation.
A lifetime’s study of
Scripture has taught the writer, as it has many others, at least something of the
meaning of God’s symbolic language, and convinced him that the Bible can’t be
rightly understood apart from the use of that knowledge.
For example, is it simply imagination that sees in the death-like sleep of
Adam, and the opening of his side to produce his bride, a symbolic picture of the
actual death of the last Adam, and the opening of His side to produce the water which
is a symbol of the Word, see Eph 5:26, and the blood which cleanses sinners and makes
them members of that mystical body which is His bride, the Church?
Is it mere fancy that sees in an obedient Isaac bound on the altar, a type of
God’s obedient Son nailed to the cross? Or
that sees in an obedient Joseph leaving the vale of Hebron at his father’s request,
to seek the welfare of his evil brethren, a picture of the true Joseph leaving heaven
to seek the welfare of His sinful earthly brethren, the Jews?
These and countless other
typological pictures stud the pages of Scripture, and he who fails to see them is
like the child who fails to see in the puzzle- pictures drawn to amuse the young, the
figures of men, animals and other objects which the artist has partially hidden in
the details of the original picture, and which are discovered by examining the
picture from different positions.
Some insist that the only
typical or symbolic pictures in the Bible are those which are stated in it to be
such, e.g., Ga 4:24. On the contrary,
the truth is that the few which are easily discernible are the diamonds scattered on
the surface to alert the reader to the vast mine beneath the surface.
Its lists of names of people
or places is another feature of the Bible which has evoked the question, Of what use
are they? How different those lists
become when we take the trouble to examine the meanings of those names!
Then we discover what a wealth of teaching God has set before us in those
seemingly tedious lists which most Christians never bother to read.
Let us not forget what God
has declared concerning His Word, “All Scripture (including those lists) is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable, etc.,” (2 Tim 3:16).
Whether it be colors, numbers, compass directions, metals, materials, etc.,
beyond the literal lies a higher spiritual message.
This commentary on Genesis
therefore, while by no means confined to an exposition relying solely on the meaning
of Biblical typology, presents an interpretation that in some respects will be new to
many, but hopefully, not incomprehensible. The
writer’s first exposure to this field of study came when he was a young man
listening for the first time to a series of lectures on the typological significance
of the Tabernacle. His reaction was
amazement, not only at the truth presented, but by his own failure to have seen that
truth by himself. The experience sent
him back to his studies with whole new vistas spread before him, and the Bible become
an inexhaustible mine of spiritual wealth which he has enjoyed for half a century.
It is his prayer that this commentary on Genesis will open that mine for the
eternal enrichment of those who read it.
No attempt has been made to
defend the view that Moses is the writer of the Pentateuch.
Others far more able than the writer have already done that.
The only other point
requiring mention in this introduction is the fact that the author views the
acceptance of a time gap of perhaps ages between Ge 1:1 and 1:2 as being essential to
a proper understanding of Genesis. As is
stated in the comments on those verses, it is not only that this is required by the
plain statements of Scripture relative to God’s having created the earth instantly,
and as a perfect thing, but also by recognizing that the work which employed Him
for six literal days was not the creation, but the re-creation of an earth that had
become a ruin, that work being a clear typological picture of the means by which
He also recovers fallen man from the ruined state into which he has been brought by
the disobedience of the first Adam. Refusal
to accept the time gap between verses 1 and 2, mars the typological picture presented
in the first three chapters of Genesis. That
they are such a picture is declared in 2 Cor 4:6 “For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
A verse-by-verse format has
been used since it is the one that best facilitates easy reference, and is the one
preferred by the majority of Bible students.
With this brief introduction
then, the book is presented with the prayer that its perusal will bring the reader as
much pleasure and spiritual profit as its preparation has brought the writer.
[Genesis
1]
