Synthetic Bible Studies by James Gray

• Title Page
• Pentateuch
  • Lesson 1: Genesis 1–11
    • The Word Outline
    • The First Great Fact
    • The Law of Recurrence
    • The Second Great Fact
    • The Third Great Fact
    • The Fourth Great Fact
  • Lesson 2: Genesis 12:1–28:15
  • Lesson 3: Genesis 28–50
  • Lesson 4: Exodus 1–19
  • Lesson 5: Exodus 20–40
  • Lesson 6: Leviticus
  • Lesson 7: Numbers 1–19
  • Lesson 8: Numbers 20–36
  • Lesson 9: Deuteronomy
• History
• Poetry
• Prophets
• Post Captivity Prophets
• Gospels, Acts
• Pauline Epistles
• General Epistles

Notice, that the “serpent” represented more than a mere “beast of the field,” judging by his reasoning faculties as well as power of speech, and compare that conclusion with Revelation 12:9, and 20:2, where the Holy Spirit plainly identifies him with Satan.

Notice, the plan adopted in the temptation of the woman as outlined in Genesis 3:6, and compare it with I John 2:16, which indicates it to be the representative plan by which Satan tempts every man; and then examine the record of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4), to discover that it signally failed in the case of the second Adam.

Notice, that Genesis 3:21 contains a suggestion in miniature of the whole plan of redemption through the shed blood of a substitutionary victim. The “coats of skins” could not have been obtained without the death of an innocent animal, while the covering of our first parents with them naturally suggests such a passage as Isaiah 61:10, or Romans 3:22, or II Corinthians 5:21. May not such an interpretation of this verse throw light on Hebrews 11:4? What was that as to which Abel had “faith,” if not this previous revelation of the necessity of a sacrificial victim and a mediator through whom to approach God? Was it not Cain’s rejection of God’s way of access that led to his own rejection?

Notice, that the expulsion of the guilty pair from, Eden was not an act of judgment unmitigated by mercy, for as they had now “obtained the knowledge of good and evil without the power of resisting evil,” it would have added to their calamity if, by eating of “the tree of life,” they had rendered that state everlasting.

The Third Great Fact

The third word in our word outline suggesting the third fact is “Deluge,” Genesis 5-9. It may be asked, Why include Genesis 5? But only those who have not read as they were requested to do will be likely to ask that question, for it will be seen that on the principle of “the law of recurrence” that chapter was written for the purpose of calling particular attention to the genealogy of Noah, whose name is practically synonymous with that of the deluge. It may be well to read Genesis 4 and 5 over again that one or two things may be pointed out. After Cain is brought conspicuously before us by the murder of his brother, his issue is traced for a little way until the line ends in another murderer, his great-grandson Lamech (Genesis 5:18-23). Then the Holy Spirit seeks to interest us in another kind of man altogether, the third son born to Adam and Eve, named Seth (Genesis 5:25-26), in whose line came Noah, Shem, Abraham, Jacob, and by and by, Jesus