Genesis 1–11 Background Cheat Sheet

This page contains a quick reference of background material surrounding Genesis 1–11, Moses, and the Israelites.

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Types of Literature

As we read the Bible, we must know what kind of literature the author was writing. Our author, Moses, wrote two kinds of literature.

Origin Stories

Religion bound people together into a tribe or nation by giving them a common view of the world.

Religion was based on origin stories that taught about the gods, where the gods came from, the origin of the world and people, and how the gods interacted with people.

Legends are similar to origin stories, but they focus more on people doing extradinary deeds than on the gods.

People considered these stories sacred and the basis of their identities.

These stories were metaphorical. People accepted them at face value, but they also understood that they contained symbolism that taught the more important lessons.

Narrative History

Narrative history records historical events using linked stories rather than recording facts. The events in the stories actually happened.

Moses seems to have been the first author to use narrative history, as opposed to recording events as they occurred.

Civilizations and Peoples

To understand Genesis 1–11, we need to know who wrote it, to whom, and why. Moses, the author, and the Israelites, his audience, were deeply influenced by their origins and historical events around them.

Sumer

Sumer was one of the three original civilizations. They invented mathematics, astronomy, our calendar and time systems, and the first writing system.

Sumer's learning spread throughout Mesopotamia. The religion spread further, to Ugarit, Canaan, and eventually Greece and even Germany.

Egypt

Egypt was also one of the three original civilizations. They also invented many things and developed their own religion. However, Egyptian religion didn't seem to spread as much as that of Sumer.

Akkad

Akkad was a city on northern edge of Sumer. A commoner named Sargon made himself king of Akkad and then conquered Sumer and all Mesopotamia. The Akkadians associated themselves with Sumer, but they forced everyone in their empire to speak Akkadian. All the knowledge and religion was translated, and Akkadian continued to be used in Mesopotamia for the 1,000 years. This greatly helped spread Sumerian religion.

The Akkadian Empire collapsed after 190 years, and the Sumerian city of Ur soon gained power for 100 years. When Ur collapsed, Sumer disappeared with it.

Amorites and Babylon

The Amorites were a semi-nomadic people living in Canaan and Syria who began infiltrating Sumer. The Sumerians tolerated the Amorites but despised them.

When Ur and Sumer collapsed, the Amorites began forming small kingdoms in cities throughout Mesopotamia. One of these cities was Babylon.

The Amorites inherited the knowledge and religion of Sumer. However, they modified the religion to humiliate the Sumerians and elevate themselves. They demoted the great gods of Sumer and promoted a minor god, Marduk, over them. They also completely changed the story telling the origins of the gods and the cosmos. This modified religion is what actually spread, including to Canaan. In Canaan, Marduk became known as Baal, which means "Lord" or "Master."

Babylon

After two hundred, Hammurabi became king of Babylon, and he began conquering the rest of the Amorite kingdoms and then all of Mesopotamia.

He also built Babylon into an enormous city with a ziggurat—a stepped pyramid—300 feet on a side and 300 feet tall.

The Babylonian Empire began to collapse shortly after Hammurabi died, and later, the city was destroyed by the Hittites. However, Babylon was soon rebuilt and remained a major center of trade, learning, and religion.

Canaan

Canaan wasn't a people but a region between Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Amorites and other tribes lived there, and it had important cities. However, compared to Sumer and Egypt, it was undeveloped and backwards.

Abraham to Israel

To understand Moses and the Israelites, we need to know where they came from.

Abram/Abraham

Genesis 11 ends by introducing a man from Ur of Sumer named Terah and his family, including his son Abram. Terah took his family and moved to city in northeastern Mesopotamia called Haran—the city and Terah's son's name are spelled differently in Hebrew.

In chapter 12, God called Abram—God later named him Abraham— to move to Canaan and promised to make him into a great nation and to bless all nations through him—think Jesus.

Abraham obeyed God, leaving the city, where he lived as noble, to live in the country, where he became a rancher. Abraham had many sons, but Isaac inherited the promises.

Isaac

Abraham found a wife for Isaac from among his father's family near Haran. Abraham clearly didn't want his son mixing with the Caanites. This snobbish attitude became in important feature of Abraham's descendants. It allowed them to maintain a unique identity based on their Sumerian roots.

Isaac had two sons, but Jacob, the younger, stole the right to inherit the promises from his father and brother.

Jacob/Israel

After stealing the inheritance, Jacob fled from his brother back to the family near Haran. He married two women from among his family and took his wives servants as concubines. Jacob became the father of twelve sons; this was the beginning of a clan.

After Jacob returned to Canaan, God changed his name to Israel, and his clan became known as the Israelites. His sons' descendants became known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

God allowed Joseph, Jacob's favorite, to be sold into slavery in Egypt. Joseph perservered, and God raised him up to become the prime minister of Egypt. God then used a famine to cause Israel to move his clan to Egypt.

Just as Abraham and his descendants despised the Canaanites, the Egyptians despised Israel and his clan because they were shepherds. Joseph settled the clan in the northeastern corner of Egypt, far away from the capital.

The Israelites

The Israelites remained in Egypt for 430 years. During this time, they multiplied from aroun 70 people to around 2 million. During this time, they remained separate from the Egyptians and their religion.

During the last 100 years, politcal changes in Egypt caused the Egyptians to enslave the Israelites and treat them harshly. God used this to prepare the Israelites to escape from Egypt and return to Canaan.

Moses

Moses was born to an Israelite family during the time of slavery. God caused the Egyptian ruler's daughter to adopt Moses as an infant and raise him. After many misadventures, God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt back to Canaan.

After God struck Egypt with ten plagues, the Israelites escaped Egypt and traveled to Mount Sinai. There, God began working through Moses to make the runaway Israelite slaves into a nation, as he had promised Abraham. At this time, Moses wrote Genesis.

Timeline

This timeline shows major events up to the time when Moses wrote Genesis and his other books.