For the next two weeks the Old Testament lesson will be taken from the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. The first eleven chapters are sometimes referred to as the pre-history of Israel. The stories in these chapters (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark) are not reporting on historical events but on spiritual significance. For example, the opening chapters of Genesis tell of the creation of the World. This obviously is not reporting an actual event — who could have been there to witness it! Rather, the author tells the story so that we will understand that God is the creator of all that is. To impose a historical or scientific explanation distorts the intent of the Biblical author.
