It is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible. According to tradition, it is Moses who authored the book, although this remains speculation. It starts with God’s creation of the heaven and earth as well as the first man and woman. He makes man as His regent, but after man commits the “original sin” and thus disobeys Him, God removes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Later, because of man’s sin, He destroys the world through the Flood except for the family of Noah, a righteous man.
Even after the Flood, the world is still wicked and sinful. However, this time He doesn’t destroy it; instead He chooses Abraham as His instrument of redemption. This is also the time where God is at the early stage of building His own nation, Israel.
God faithfully maintains the bloodline of Abraham like He had promised — from Abraham all the way to his descendant Joseph when the latter was in Egypt. However, at the end of the book His people find themselves in Egypt — a foreign land — and doubt about whether there is a promised land.
