This course is a 14-part video lecture series provided freely by The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as an excerpt of their 2-part graduate level Old Testament Introduction course. In this course, James Hamilton explains highlights of the major contours of Genesis. Each lecture is an average of 20 minutes long.

James M. Hamilton Jr. (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of biblical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Senior Pastor of Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He has written numerous books, including God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology and What Is Biblical Theology? A Guide to the Bible’s Story, Symbolism, and Patterns.

Course curated by Phil Thompson

• How do some interpreters of the Old Testament demonstrate impatience with the meaning of the text?
• How does Hamilton define “biblical theology”?
• What does Hamilton mean by a “kaleidoscopic and recursive” understanding of Genesis 1 and 2?
• How does the difference between ordinal and cardinal numbers in Genesis 1 impact Hamilton’s view of Creation?
• Where do various worldviews differ from the biblical story regarding human dignity and image-bearing?

• How does Hamilton summarize “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue the earth”?
• What is the task that Adam and Eve are given in regard to the garden?
• How is the Garden connected with the Tabernacle/Temple?
• What implications do this text have on our understanding of manhood and womanhood?
• What implications do this text have on our understanding of marriage and sexuality?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 11–78.

• What are the implications of Adam’s passivity in the temptation of Eve?
• Why does Hamilton believe that Adam played the roles of prophet, priest, and king in the Garden?
• How does the temptation in the Garden parallel Satan’s temptations today?
• How is Genesis 3:14–19 paradigmatic for Genesis and the rest of Scripture?

• How is it significant that “seed” is a singular pronoun?
• What are the key conflicts that Hamilton lists between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent?
• How does God’s punishment on sin making existing responsibilities worse?
• What conclusions does Hamilton draw between the woman’s curse of desire and sin’s desire for Cain?
• What are the key conflicts that Hamilton lists between men and women?

• What are the implications of the curse and brokenness in human sexual desire?
• How do we see the results of the brokenness of the Creation throughout the rest of the book of Genesis?
• What parallels does Hamilton provide between the Garden and other events in the Bible?
• What can we learn from how Eve names her children?
• How does the following genealogy relate to the curses and blessings of Genesis 3?
• What is the contrast between the kind of “filling” that God commands in Genesis 1 and the kind of “filling” that occurs in Genesis 6?
• How does Hamilton interpret the “sons of God” in Genesis 6?
• What is the implication Hamilton draws in the flood covering the dry land?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 79–120.

• What parallels does Hamilton provide between the Noah story and the Creation story?
• What parallels does Hamilton provide between the Noah story and the Exodus story?
• How are these parallels significant for how we understand Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch?
• What parallels does Hamilton provide between the Noah story and the salvation story of Christians?
• How is Genesis 12:1–3 programmatic for the rest of the Bible?
• What does this passage teach us about the power of God?

• How does the blessing of Abraham address the curses of Genesis 3?
• How does Hamilton suggest Moses interacted with the oral history of the events before his time?
• In what ways do the actions of Abraham parallel the actions of Adam?
• What parallels does Hamilton provide between the story of Abraham in Egypt and the Exodus story?
• What implications does this story have for the Christian’s understanding of their own identity?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 121–217.

• What are the connections between the seed of Abraham and the seed of David?
• How does this passage affect our understanding of justification by faith alone?
• How should we understand the allegory that Paul employs using this passage in Galatians 4?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 218–256.

• What are the three ways that interpreters tend to approach the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
• What exegetical details from the text point to the historic understanding of homosexual activity as sinful?
• Is homosexuality the only way to act immorally or the only sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 257–281.

• What is the connection Hamilton draws between Isaac, the nation of Israel, and Jesus?
• How should we understand the way in which the New Testament writers interpret Old Testament narratives?
• In what way is the desperate situation of Abraham helpful to Christians who face desperate situations in their own lives?
• Did God not know what Abraham would do? Why does the passage seem to indicate that he did not know?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 282–348.

• What is the relationship of Genesis 26:5 and other statements in Genesis?
• How did Jewish people in the time of Jesus and Paul understand the relationship between the “works of the Law” and “righteousness”?
• What implication does this passage have on the doctrine of election?
• Why is it important that the blessing on Isaac parallels God’s commands to Adam?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 349–480.

• What parallels does Hamilton draw between Joseph and David, Daniel, and Jesus?
• Why did Onan not want to have children with Tamar?
• Why is the story of Judah and Tamar in the Bible?

• What implications can we draw from the reality that prostitution included an occult aspect?
• What other examples are found in the book of Genesis of individuals who pursued righteous ends through unrighteous means?
• What implications does Hamilton draw from the blessing of Judah? How did David understand this blessing on Judah?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 481–578.

• How do the blessings of Genesis impact how we understand the story of Balaam in Numbers?
• How do the curses of Genesis impact how we understand the story of Balaam in Numbers?
• How do the blessings and curses of Genesis impact how we understand the Messianic nature of Jesus?

Genesis: A Commentary, pages 579–628.