Personal Bible Notes

I have a lot of margin notes in my Bible, which I’ve either come up with my own thoughts about a passage or gathered ideas from the many commentaries I’ve read or sermons I’ve heard over the years.

I decided that I needed to copy all these notes down in the event I ever lose my Bible, so that I can write them in any future Bible.  Today I was working on my notes in Genesis and I thought perhaps my readers may benefit from them, so as I collect them I will be posting them for anyone who may be interested.  Now, mind you, these are just my notes and not the commentary notes at the bottom of the pages in my Bible (which is The Apologetics Study Bible).

So with that said, here are my notes for Genesis.

1:3 “then”:  Starts earth time.

1:26, et. al. “image”: reflection of God’s spiritual nature.

1:28: “God blessed them”: Reason why he did not curse them later?

2:2 “rested”:  Rested to demonstrate that His task was complete.

2:3 “holy”: “holy” means “set apart.” Set apart for what? Not told.

2:4 “LORD”: YHWH — God’s personal name for relationship.

2:9 “knowledge of good and evil”: The power to decide what is or is not one’s best interests.

2:15 “work it”: Hebrew means “cultivate” — this becomes worship.

2:15 “watch over it”: Hebrew means “keep” it — this is spiritual service.

2:18 “helper”: One who comes along side as God is Israel’s helper.

2:24 “This is why”: Defines marriage.

3:3 “or touch it”: Eve added this.

3:6 “too”: Hebrew means “took away,” “carried away,” “removed.” This tells me she was alone when she took it from the tree and took it to Adam.  He was not there when she talked with the serpent.

3:17: God did not curse Adam & Eve as he did the serpent.

3:21: “God made clothing out of skins”: animals were sacrificed by God.

4:1,2: Hebrew implies a twin sister to Cain. “had a male chid”: “had” means “acquired.” Hebrew is a play on words with Cain meaning “faithful to God.” Abel is really “Hebel” in Hebrew, meaning “steam” — passing away quickly, and probably given after death vs a birth name. Hebrew implies Abel had 2 sisters, i.e. triplets. 

4:3 “Cain presented some”: i.e., not the best.

4:7: “If you do right…”: Refutes Calvinism.

6:2: “sons of God”: Augustine and Chrysostom started the idea they were human.

8:22: refutes the idea of man-caused climate change.

9:1: Directed only at Noah and sons, not to everyone in the world.

9:3:  Eating animals is now okay.

9:22: Old Jewish tradition says that Ham castrated Noah to prevent a 4th son to share inheritance, which is why Noah cursed Ham’s 4th son.

12:8 “worshiped Him”: Hebrew means public proclamation of truth, i.e. “public reading.” Luther said “preached the name of the Lord.”

22:11, 12 “the Angel of the LORD”… “from Me”:  Theophany, pre-incarnate Jesus. Obviously the “Angel” is God.  

22:14 “will be provided”: Word is ambiguous; could also mean “will be seen”— both are true. 

24:50: “answered” is singular but two are there. Literally, they were together but Laban answered for his father, usurping his father’s role. That’s why Laban’s name is first.

25:27 “quiet man”: literally “upright, blameless”

27:45 “Then I will send for you”: Sent nurse, as noted in 35:8.

31:29:  “the God of your father”: Not Laban’s God!

31:53: Laban is an idolater.

35:8: Deborah had been sent to tell Jacob that Esau had “cooled”

37:3 “robe of many colors”: Hebrew literally means long coat with full sleeves, as with royalty.

38:9 “whenever”: i.e., this happened often, not just once; God gave him a chance obviously.

38:15 “covered her face”: A veil was what a bride wore on her wedding night; prostitutes imitated this.

41:16: God interprets dreams, not man.

48: 2 “sat up in bed”: “leaned on top of his staff” is more accurate.