Questions about Genesis

Book of Genesis - Bible Survey

What is the tablet theory of Genesis authorship, and is it biblical?

Does Genesis chapter 1 literally mean 24 hour days?

Why did God say, “Let there be light,” during creation?



What is the canopy theory?

How could there be light on the first day of Creation if the sun was not created until the fourth day?

Why are there two different Creation accounts in Genesis chapters 1-2?

What happened on each of the days of Creation?

Why does the Bible describe the moon as a light?

Why did God rest on the seventh day of creation (Genesis 2:2)?

Why did God make man out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7)?

What is the biblical Creation story?

How do beliefs about creation impact the rest of theology?

What is the meaning of the Hebrew word adamah?

What is the breath of life?

Were Adam and Eve saved? How many children did Adam and Eve have? When were Adam and Eve created?

Who was Eve in the Bible?

What does it mean that God gave humanity dominion over the animals?

Why weren’t Adam and Eve created at the same time (Genesis 2)?

What does it mean that it is not good for a man to be alone (Genesis 2:18)?

Why did God use Adam's rib to create Eve?




Did God create other people in addition to Adam and Eve?

What is a toledot?

Was Satan the serpent in Genesis chapter 3?

Was Adam with Eve when she spoke to the serpent (Genesis 3:6)?

What is the meaning of the tree of life?

Was Adam and Eve's sin really about eating a piece of forbidden fruit?

Did God literally and visibly walk in the garden (Genesis 3:8)?

How is a woman’s desire for her husband a curse (Genesis 3:16)?

Why didn’t Adam and Eve immediately die for their sin (Genesis 3)?

Why did God punish women with pain in childbirth (Genesis 3:16)?

Is it wrong to reduce birth pains by taking pain relievers?

What is the Adamic covenant?

What is the protoevangelium?

Did we all inherit sin from Adam and Eve?

How did the Fall affect humanity?

What is the location of the Garden of Eden?



How did the knowledge of good and evil make man like God (Genesis 3:22)?

Why was it wrong for Adam and Eve to know good and evil (Genesis 3:22)?


Why did God accept Abel’s offering, but reject Cain’s offering? Why did Cain then kill Abel?

Who was Cain's wife?

Who was Cain afraid of after he killed Abel?

What was the mark that God put on Cain (Genesis 4:15)?

Why wasn't Cain’s punishment death (Genesis 4:14)?

Am I my brother’s keeper?

Why did people in Genesis live such long lives?

Who was the oldest man in the Bible?

Why did Lamech think Noah would bring comfort (Genesis 5:29)?

Who are the sons of God and daughters of men in Genesis 6:1-4?

Who / what were the Nephilim?

Who was Noah in the Bible?

What was it like in the days of Noah?


Were fish and sea creatures also destroyed during the Flood (Genesis 6-8)?

Was Noah's flood global?

Had it ever rained before the Flood in Noah's day?

Did the Bible copy the Flood account from other myths and legends?


What is gopher wood?

Why did Noah release a raven? Why did he later release a dove (Genesis 8)?

How did Noah fit all the animals on the ark?

What made some animals clean and others unclean (Genesis 7)?

Would the discovery of Noah's Ark be important?

What is the Noahic Covenant?

Why did God prohibit eating meat with blood in it (Genesis 9:4)?


Why did Noah get drunk after the flood?

Why did Noah curse Ham / Canaan?

What does it mean to uncover nakedness in the Bible?

Who were the sons of Noah, and what happened to them and their descendants?

In what way was the earth divided in Peleg’s time?

What happened at the Tower of Babel?

What is the Table of Nations?

What is the biblical account of Shem, Ham, and Japheth?

Who were the Rephaim?

Who was Chedorlaomer / Kedorlaomer?

Who was Melchizedek?

Why was a burial place so important in the Bible?

Who was Abraham in the Bible?

What was Abraham’s religion before God called him?

Why was Abraham promised land that belonged to others (Genesis 12)?

What is the story of Abraham and Lot?

Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abram’s lie (Genesis 12:17)?

How many sons did Abraham have?

What is the Abrahamic Covenant?

Who was Sarah in the Bible?

What was a blood covenant (Genesis 15:9-21)?

Why did God send the Israelites to Egypt for 400 years (Genesis 15:13)?

What does it mean that “the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Genesis 15:16)?

What is the land that God promised to Israel?

Who were the three men who visited Abraham in Genesis 18?


What is the significance of a city gate in the Bible?

What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Why was Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt?


What were Admah and Zeboiim in the Bible?

Who was Isaac in the Bible?

What was the significance of weaning a child in the Bible (Genesis 21:8)?

What is the story of Sarah and Hagar?

Why did Abraham banish Ishmael (Genesis 21:14)?

Why did oaths involve putting a hand under someone's thigh (Genesis 24:9)?

Why did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?

How old was Isaac when Abraham almost sacrificed him?

What is the significance of the cave of Machpelah?

Who was Jacob in the Bible?


What was the story of Jacob and Esau?

Why was a father's blessing so highly valued in the Old Testament?

What is the difference between a blessing and a birthright (Genesis 25)?

What is Jacob's Ladder?

What is the significance of Peniel in the Bible?

How could Jacob not notice he married Leah instead of Rachel?

What is the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel?

What was the purpose of a dowry (Genesis 31:15)?

Did Jacob placing branches in front of his flock really result in the offspring being speckled and spotted?

What is the birth order of Jacob’s thirteen children?

Why did people keep family idols in the Bible?

What is the meaning of Jacob wrestling with God?

What are the mandrakes mentioned in the Bible?

Who was Joseph in the Bible?

Why did Jacob give Joseph a coat of many colors?

What is the significance of a scarlet thread?

What is the story of Joseph and his brothers?

What is the story of Joseph and Potiphar?

What can we learn from the account of Potiphar’s wife?

Who were the priests of On? Was Joseph wrong to marry the daughter of a pagan priest (Genesis 41)?

Was Joseph the same person as Imhotep in Egyptian history?

Why did Pharaoh give Joseph so much power?

What kind of divination did Joseph do in Genesis 44:5, 15?

What are the twelve tribes of Israel?

Were Jacob’s prophecies about his sons fulfilled?

Who/what is the Lion of the tribe of Judah?

What does it mean that the scepter will not depart from Judah (Genesis 49:10)?

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Questions about Genesis

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