Bible tells us, especially as we seek to understand the progress of God’s plan of redemption on earth. These eleven chapters tell us everything we need to know about the reason for God’s plan. They do not explain everything we want to know about a multitude of questions that arise when we look at the origins of both created things and humankind, but what they do tell us is very compelling. Explaining every question about life is not the purpose of the first eleven chapters of the Bible. Explaining our greatest need, however, is that purpose.
If we take a cursory read of Genesis chapters 1–11, we could break it down into three sections with eleven different emphases. Those would be:
Section One
• Chapter 1: Creation of the universe/world and man; everything is good, even very good!
• Chapter 2: A detailed account of the creation of man and woman
• Chapter 3: The disobedience of man (mankind) through the first temptation and sin
• Chapter 4: The first murder—the sin nature of man is passed along to his posterity
• Chapter 5: A genealogy is written, tracing the ancestry from Adam to Noah
Section Two
• Chapter 6: The utter wickedness of all mankind everywhere and the call for Noah’s ark
• Chapter 7: The entire world, except for Noah and his family, who are saved, as well as pairs of animals, is destroyed by a world-wide flood
• Chapter 8: The flood ceases and Noah leaves the ark
• Chapter 9: Noah is commanded to replenish the earth and is given the sign of the covenant in the form of a rainbow that God will never flood the entire world again
• Chapter 10: A genealogy is written, tracing the ancestry of Noah through his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth
Section Three
• Chapter 11 (part one): The building of the tower of Babel, the confusion of languages, as well as the scattering of peoples over the face of the whole earth
• Chapter 11 (part two): A genealogy of Shem to Terah, father of Abram, is provided, introducing Abram and his wife Sarai, who is barren
These three sections, which are divided by selective genealogies tying them together, might be summarized by the following three words:
• Chapters 1–4: Disobedience
• Chapters 6–9: Destruction
• Chapter 11 (part one): Dispersion
The world was initially a good place created by a great God. It was inhabited by two people who were especially created for this world. These two people, one man and one woman, were designed for procreation. They were created possessing original righteousness, holiness, and a disposition to know, love, and walk with God. And their hearts were made to obey their creator. At the end of Genesis chapter 1, we are told that all of God’s creation, including the pinnacle of creation, man and woman, is very good! The phrase “very good” is extremely important to the text because it describes God’s original creation and the context in which the man and woman can thrive. However, once we quickly move to the third chapter of Genesis, the text presents us with the problem that ruins man’s perfect world consisting of a constant, loving relationship to God. The man and his wife sin against God by partaking of the forbidden fruit. Chapter 3 of Genesis is not only one of the most crucial narratives in the Bible, it is actually one of the most believable, as we observe our world throughout history, including up to the present day. Sin, moral failure, injustice, selfishness, and godlessness prevail around the world. Simply stated, theologians call this failure to obey God, “the Fall.” The sin of the first man and first woman (the first married couple) led to sibling rivalry and the first murder in God’s world. Chapter 4 may cause many questions to surface in the reader’s mind, but one thing is clear: the Fall had consequences. The sin nature was passed on. The storyline has gone from “very good” to “disobedience brings tragic consequences.” We might characterize chapters 3 and 4 as “not good, not very good at all!”
Following the first genealogy of Genesis, we come to the account of the flood and Noah’s deliverance. This description of what Adam and Eve’s sin has, in time, eventually authored must be noted: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5; italics mine, for emphasis). Pervasive wickedness now exists on a massive, comprehensive scale. Evil consumes the minds and intentions of all mankind and the earth is filled with violence. This is the continuous state of life on God’s once very good earth. In four quick chapters, we are given an account regarding humanity which consists of a horrific nature. The corruption is so vast that God resolves to start over. In judgment, he will not spare anyone except Noah and his family, the tokens of his grace and favor. Chapters 6–9 are filled with a dark cloud of sin and destruction, brightened only by a silver lining that is the grace of God.
Following the second genealogy of Genesis, we read the third section of the first eleven chapters, a brief account of the building of the tower of Babel. The essence of this story is that mankind has not learned what it means to seek their creator and to fill the earth with the knowledge of his glory. Rather, we read a story about a strategy to build a single city with a huge tower representing not only the self-exaltation of humanity, but also a spirit of resisting God’s will. From the first “battle of wills” in the garden, mankind has sought to make a name for himself. This self-seeking spirit, along with the failure to spread out and fill the entire earth with people who can know and honor God, is opposed by God, who uses the confusion of languages to prevent their endeavor. The origin of diverse languages is not the primary point of the narrative. The continuation of both rebelliousness against God, as well as failure to spread his image throughout the world is the focus of the story. If they will not scatter and fill the earth, God will scatter them and use language to do so.
So, now we must ask ourselves the ever pervasive question of the book. Looking at Genesis chapters 1–11, we surmise, “Do we see progress?” Is God moving forward in his redemptive plan? Is God’s glory spreading over all the earth thus far? As we give the question some thought, we think of how he covered Adam and Eve with an animal skin in place of the garments of their own making, the loincloth made of fig leaves. But is this progress? We might postulate that God’s saving of Noah and his family from the flood through the provision of the ark could be progress of some sort. We might think that the promise of a deliverer in Genesis 3:15 or the covenant rainbow and its promise of God’s restraint of cataclysmic judgment is progress as well. But if we are honest in following the development of the events in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we must come to the conclusion that what started out as “very good,” and with vast potential, has quickly turned, in the narrative, into terribly bad. There is no progress to be seen. So, what is the purpose of these eleven chapters?
These beginning chapters of Genesis are not trying to answer every question of origin, although they do answer many questions. Their primary purpose is to set the stage for what God needs, and is going, to do in the world in the future. These chapters of the Bible are unique. Moses explains that the world needs help. These chapters show us the need in a fallen world. These chapters set the stage for the redemptive plan. God is moving toward the goal, but mankind is not—when our original parents sinned, they passed on their sin nature with devastating effect (sibling rivalry, ending in murder). Eventually, all people practice wickedness and evil continually, so much so that they are destroyed by God in the flood. And even after an event of such seismic proportion, mankind pursues its own exaltation at Babel, elevating itself and opposing the will of God to fill the earth with his glory.
Clearly we do not observe progress in these chapters. We see sin and disobedience, along with a universal curse; we see wickedness and destruction; and we see the rebellious dispersed in confusion. These chapters are the prologue for the remainder of the biblical story. These chapters demonstrate the great need on earth. They explain what has happened prior to the intervention that God will initiate in Genesis chapter 12. They prepare the listener (the original audience was the people of Israel, having been liberated from Egypt)