The Book of Genesis in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew name is Bereeshit, from its opening word "in the beginning." Septuagint Genesis means generation, i.e. creation and birth of the universe, man, and history. It is a religious history, therefore it omits accounts in detail of other nations, and concentrates attention on the origin of that one from whom the promised Redeemer of man from the deadly consequences of the fall (which is detailed at the beginning) sprang. While a bare catalogue is given of whole genealogies of nations, minute details are given of the godly patriarchs in the line of the promised Savior, for these details are of more everlasting moment to us than the rise and fall of the mightiest empires. Again, the details in the patriarchs' history selected for narration are not the merely personal facts, but those illustrating religious principles and furthering God's gracious purpose of redemption. Thus Adam's history before and in the fall is minutely given, as affecting the whole race whom he represented; but after the fall only a few brief notices, but these of important bearing on mankind's spiritual prospects (Genesis 3:20-24; Genesis 4:1; Genesis 5:1-5). So the early development of the enmity between the serpent's seed and the seed of the woman, and the separation of the church from the world (Genesis 4:1-16; Genesis 4:25-26). The divine prophetic germs in Genesis are the foundation of all the subsequent prophecies throughout the Bible, and receive their consummation in the restored tree of life, waters of life, communion with God face to face in the world delivered from the curse, at the close of Revelation. Astruc, a Belgian physician (A.D. 1753), inferred from the varying use of the names of God, Elohim (E) and Jehovah (J), the existence of 12 documents or memoirs used by Moses in compiling Genesis...