Posts Tagged ‘Genesis’
Why did Joseph want his bones dug up and buried in the Promised Land?
Question: Why did Joseph want his bones dug up and buried in the Promised Land? Answer: Joseph prophesied that Israel would not remain in Egypt. To demonstrate his confidence in God’s promise, Joseph insisted that when they left, they would take his bones and bury them in Canaan — a land they would not possess…
Read MoreHow did Joseph prove who he was to his brothers?
Question: How did Joseph prove to his brothers that he was Joseph and not an Egyptian? Answer: He had knowledge that only a brother could possibly have. He knew the birth order of the adult brothers. “And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and…
Read MoreHow many sons did Abraham have?
Question: Regarding Genesis 20, where it says Sarah was untouched. So being the wife of Abraham she had no relations with him? Then how was it written she was barren? Abraham was married to his half-sister so he only told half a lie to the Pharaoh. Why was the Pharaoh plagued when this was the…
Read MoreWhy is the sky referred to as “heavens” in Genesis 1:6-8?
Question: Hello, I am currently bust with a Bible study of Genesis and I am confused about something. In Genesis God said: “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth”. If the first heaven is the atmosphere i.e the sky. Then why…
Read MoreThank you for explaining where the other people came from in Genesis 4:14
Question: Hello, I just want to say thank you for your explanation of Genesis 4:14. I was reading today and thought, “What other people?” It was nice to see some proof as to what could have happened to cause Cain’s line of thinking. It is very hard to think people lived so long, but it must be. Answer:…
Read MoreHow were all the animals feed on the ark?
Question: Hi, I have a question about Noah’s Ark that I recently stumbled upon. With all the animals that God brought to Noah for the Ark, how did the animal feces get thrown out? Did all eight people take care of all of that and take care of the animals with food, etc.? Answer: God…
Read MoreIs the biblical account of Creation not meant to be taken literally?
Question: I actually once wrote an article my junior year of high school titled “Creationism vs. Evolution”, and my entire paper was about how Creationism was right and Evolution was wrong. However, over the years I’ve come across so much evidence arguing for the sake of evolution in the world. I also have come to…
Read MoreWhy did Noah curse Ham’s child just because Ham saw Noah naked?
Question: Hi, I could not understand why Noah issued a curse on Ham just because Ham saw Noah naked in Genesis 9:22-27. Q1. Was there a law of the land regarding seeing someone naked and Ham did not follow it? Q2. What’s wrong with Ham telling his brothers? (If I was the youngest and saw…
Read MoreIs the third river from Eden the Hiddekel or the Tigris?
Question: I was studying about the location of the Garden of Eden today, and I noticed you said the Bible lists four rivers Pishon, Gihon, Euphrates, and the Tigris? I don’t believe that the Bible lists the Tigris. I believe the last river is listed as Hiddekel which is found in Genesis 2:10-14. Answer: “The…
Read MoreWhy wasn’t Judah punished for seeing a prostitute?
Question: Hi, There is something that has been nagging me for a long time. I am a young Christian man, and I have this question about the story of Judah and Tamar. As you know, Tamar tricked Judah into fathering a child with her by disguising herself as a prostitute. In the narrative, at least…
Read MoreYou can’t claim that men can eat meat because Adam and Eve did not exist!
Question: I am not going to spend the time on pointing out the contradictions and major flaws in your ‘bible-based’ theories about why animals may be hunted,slaughtered and consumed at our peril, for the entire article and your reasoning is so deraged that it would probably be a waste of time. Just for the record:…
Read MoreWhat was the original language?
Question: Hi, I’m a part of the church of Christ and have found this site to be on point. I have grown very much in Christ and I’m having the time of my life obeying our God. I just had to say all that because it feels good to preach and teach about God, Jesus…
Read MoreWas God sexist in punishing Eve?
Question: Is God in Genesis 3:16 talking to Eve specifically, or all women in general? If so, how isn’t God being the modern term of a sexist? Answer: “To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your…
Read MoreHow long did Noah build the ark before his sons were born?
Question: How long did Noah build the ark before his sons were born? Answer: In Genesis 5:32, we are told that Noah was 500 when his sons were born. In Genesis 6:3, God said He would destroy mankind in 120 years. Since this was in Noah’s records, Genesis 6:9 being the closing line of that…
Read MoreWere Jacob and Esau identical or fraternal twins?
Question: I overheard an argument concerning Esau and Jacob. One was arguing that they were twins (Genesis 25:21ff) but not identical twins. What are your thoughts? Answer: Twins are when two children are born to one mother in the same birth. “So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in…
Read MoreWhy would God make plants that are poisonous if He said to Adam and Eve they could eat all the plants?
Question: Why would God make plants that are poisonous if He said to Adam and Eve they could eat all the plants (except for the one tree)? Answer: “And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit…
Read MoreDid God create darkness or did it always exist?
Question: Genesis 1 speaks of darkness existing over the waters before creation. Was darkness something made or has it always existed? Did God create the initial darkness before He separated the initial light from darkness? I’m asking because a friend asked me this question. Also was God not light? So why was there a need…
Read MoreDid Tamar renounce Judah publically or privately?
Question: I have a question about Genesis 38:24-27. When Tamar informed Judah that she was the harlot he went into at Timnah, did Tamar tell Judah privately, or was Judah publicly humiliated? In verses 24-25, it appears that Tamar was going to be burned in public for her harlotry. But reading on in verse 25,…
Read MoreWhy was Abram rewarded for lying to Pharaoh?
Question: I just read Genesis 12:1-20 and I’m a little perplexed by it. Abram bent the truth concerning Sarai by getting her to say she was his sister rather than his wife when they came into Egypt. I know she was his half-sister by his father, but it was still a lie. So why was…
Read MoreWas Mahalath a Canaanite and did Esau marry her to get back at his father, Isaac?
Question: Was Mahalath a Canaanite and did Esau marry her to get back at his father, Isaac? Answer: “When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah” (Genesis…
Read MoreWhy do some translations give opposite meanings to Esau’s blessing in Genesis 27:39?
Question: In the King James Version Genesis 27:39 reads “And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above”; and some other translations such as NKJV, ASV, ERV seem to have the same meaning for this verse. However,…
Read MoreWhat makes some animals clean while others not?
Question: When God has created animals, he saw “it was good” (Genesis 1:25). Then why he told Noah that there are unclean animals (Genesis 7:2)? Aren’t all animals created by God and “it was good”? What makes some animals clean while others not? Answer: If you look at the list of clean versus unclean animals…
Read MoreHow can there be Nephilims after the flood if the flood wiped out all but Noah’s family?
Question: Hi, In Genesis 6:4 we are introduced to the Nephilims for the first time and it says that “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterward.” Then we had Noah’s flood. After that, the Nephilims were mentioned again in Numbers 13:33, where they were living in the land of…
Read MoreWhat would have happened if Satan wasn’t in the Garden?
Question: I was scanning around the web and found your article on the Tree in the Garden. Some brothers get together for breakfast and fellowship one day a week before work. This week we had both an elder and minister, two deacons, and another brother. We occasionally discuss issues that I would not normally talk about…
Read MoreDoes Genesis 1:1 say there was nothing except God before the beginning?
Question: Here’s another question and it may seem silly but all I want is you to answer it in the best way you can. Genesis 1:1 “in the beginning there was nothing except God.” or “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (different versions of the Bible) and I am confused about…
Read MoreHow could so many and different people come from just two people?
Question: In the beginning, when there was just Adam and Eve, I know they had kids but if they were the only ones then how did there get to be so many people on the earth? And if there was only them at first then how come people are so different? Some people are super…
Read MoreHow do we know that the serpent was Satan?
Question: I have started reading my Bible consistently, and have a couple of questions: Why do people say that the serpent who tempted Eve was Satan? I don’t see that anywhere. Maybe I missed something? Also, someone once told me that Abram and Sarai were half-siblings, but I can’t seem to find that anywhere either.…
Read MoreIs Cain the son of the serpent?
Question: Eve thanks God for buying a child with God. God never talked to Eve, only the snake did. Is she calling the snake God? Cain built a city, for who? Who did he marry? How did he have the skills? Chapter 4: Cain’s offspring contributed to society’s advancement, but they are not listed as…
Read MoreJoseph was the favorite of all of Jacob’s sons, so why did Judah get the blessing?
Question: Joseph was the favorite of all of Jacob’s sons, so why did Judah get the blessing? Answer: There were two things which typically went to the eldest son (not the favorite son): The blessing and a double portion. While it was normally the right of the firstborn to receive these, there were times when…
Read MoreCouldn’t the Flood have been a local flood?
Question: Hi, Just thought I’d point out that in the Old Testament, terms that seem to at first clearly speak of the entire earth actually refer to only a localized region, such as the Babylonian Empire for example. Daniel, for example, plainly says that Nebuchadnezzar was king of the entire earth, but we know now…
Read MoreIs Genesis just a myth based on the Epic of Gilgamesh?
Question: I have read your Facebook writings on Adam and Eve with interest. However, as a Unitarian I was presented with the beautiful Genesis story, not as a biblical illustration of the origin of sin, but as an important myth long misinterpreted in the Judaic/Christian tradition. Almost all the constituents of the garden paradise myth…
Read MoreWas the earth populated by Noah’s sons and daughters and their children married each other?
Question: Hi! My question is: Was the earth populated by Noah’s sons and daughters and their children married each other? Answer: Only eight people were saved during the Flood (II Peter 3:20). “So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood” (Genesis…
Read MoreWhat is the point of Lamech’s statement in Genesis 4, and what is meant that people began calling upon the name of the Lord?
Question: In Genesis 4:23-24, Lamech said to his wives that “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” What is the point of this message? It is what Lamech said, instead of being from God. So should we understand the statement in Genesis 4:24 as having no authority at all? In Genesis…
Read MoreDoes the curse of Canaan mean we should be saving as many black people as possible?
Question: Can you send me all the information you have on the curse of Canaan? I see Ham had four sons and Canaan was the youngest. So this can’t mean all black people are cursed because it was only the descendants of one of the four children. Yet at the same time, that’s a lot…
Read MoreDid the flood kill sea life?
Question: How did the flood kill animals from the sea? And if it killed them, how did Noah fit animals from the sea in a dry ark? Answer: “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be…
Read MoreWhy isn’t Cain mentioned in the genealogy of Adam?
Question: If everything in the original Bible is true, why is Cain not mentioned once in the genealogy of Adam? If we look into the word superinfertation at the three latest I have seen in medical files is there perhaps a way that Cain could have been born just before Abel without Adam knowing Eve…
Read MoreWhich of Noah’s three sons did the Gentiles come through?
Question: Which of Noah’s three sons did the Gentiles come through? Answer: All three sons. “Gentiles” means “nations” and was used for anyone who wasn’t an Israelite (a descendant of Jacob). Abraham descended from Shem, but through Ishmael came the Arabs, and the Edomites came through Esau. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was the father of the…
Read MoreDid God clothe Adam and Eve with feathers?
Question: Hi. The Bible does not specify what God used to clothe Adam and Eve with. Jewish commentary mentions the idea that the Nachash molted and that God used this to cover their nakedness. Answer: “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). The Hebrew word…
Read MoreIf God doesn’t show favoritism, then why was Abel’s sacrifice accepted and Cain’s was rejected?
Question: The Bible says that God does not show favoritism toward anyone. So how is it that He favored Abel over Cain, and accepted Abel’s offering while rejecting Cain’s? Answer: By saying that God is impartial (Romans 2:11), what is being said is that God doesn’t favor one person over another based on external attributes.…
Read MoreWhy didn’t Lot turn down his daughters’ advances?
Question: Why did Lot in Genesis 19, get drunk, have sex with his daughters, and get them pregnant? I wondered what was the purpose? Couldn’t he have just said no to his daughters? Answer: A major problem with all drugs, including alcohol, is that they impair a person’s judgment. Things that normally would be rejected somehow become “reasonable” to…
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