The Genesis Project
Genesis 2 Genesis 5 Genesis 6 Genesis 10

Generations

230 words · January 8, 2025

Genesis is full of genealogies.

5:1, 6:9, 10:1, 10:32, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, etc, etc. SO MANY!

They appear linked to blessings. It shows the blessed ones receiving blessings: their offspring.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. On the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
Genesis 5:1 (NASB)

These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Genesis 6:9 (NASB)

Now these are the records of the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood.
Genesis 10:1 (NASB)

But the FIRST time this word "generations" (tôlḏôṯ) is used, it's in an odd place, used in an odd way. It doesn't appear to describe a blessed people at all.

It's here, in Genesis 2:

[a] This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.
Genesis 2:4 (NASB)

The footnote for [a] says: "Literally: These are the generations"

It's a "genealogy of the heavens and the earth."

In the same way the blessing of a generation shows the blessed (the parent) and the blessings (the children), perhaps we humans are meant to be a blessing to the heavens and earth God created.

blessing genealogy generations

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