by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #002 posted July 25, 2016, edited March 9, 2021.
Preamble
One of the intriguing aspects of the Scriptures is their use of a word for the first time – first in the Bible as a whole and then in a particular book of the Bible. The word’s first use invariably points to someone or something important. There is no more important word in the Bible than “love,” for it is identified with God himself, as in “God is love” (John 1:8,14). To whom in the Bible do the first uses of the word “love” point?
Genesis
The first use of the word love in the Old Testament occurs when God addresses Abraham: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (KJV Genesis 18:2).
Here God is asking Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son to serve God’s purposes, which God will later do with his own Son. Abraham the father is a prefigurement of God, and Isaac the son is a prefigurement of Jesus.
Gospel of Matthew
The first use of the word love in the New Testament and in Matthew’s Gospel occurs during Jesus’ baptism: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (KJV Matthew 3:16-17).
Later in Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus, Peter, John, and James are up on the Mount of Transfiguration, God again identifies Jesus as his Son: “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (KJV Matt 17:5).
On both occasions, God is identifying Jesus as his beloved son, who will be sacrificed to serve God’s purpose – the redemption of the faithful.
Gospel of Mark
The first use of the word love in Mark’s Gospel occurs during Jesus’ baptism: “And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” KJV Mark 1:10-11).
Later in Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus, Peter, John, and James are up on the Mount of Transfiguration, God again identifies Jesus as his Son: “And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him” (KJV Mark 9:7).
Again, on both occasions, God is identifying Jesus as his beloved son, who will be sacrificed to serve God’s purpose – the redemption of the faithful.
Gospel of Luke
The first use of the word love in Luke’s Gospel occurs during Jesus’ baptism: “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (KJV Luke 3:21-22).
Later in Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus, Peter, John, and James are up on the Mount of Transfiguration, God again identifies Jesus as his Son: “While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him” (KJV Luke 9:34-35).
Again, on both occasions, God identifies Jesus as his beloved son, who will be sacrificed to serve God’s purpose – the redemption of the faithful.
Gospel of John
The first use of the word love in John’s Gospel occurs when Jesus says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (KJV John 3:16-17).
Conclusion
Clearly, the first use of the word “love” in the Bible as a whole and in particular books of the Bible is being used to point us toward Jesus, God-the-Son, who went to the cross to pay for the sins of all those who would acknowledge him as their Savior and Lord.
Moreover, here is a profound indication of God’s authorship of the Bible. The first use of the word love in Genesis 22:2 is located in Genesis’s Chronicle 7 – The Generations of Isaac (see the Appendix below). Thus the six persons who wrote Genesis’s chronicles 1-6 during the 4th and 3rd millenniums BC avoided using the word “love” entirely. Then Isaac, who wrote his chronicle c. 1695 BC, used it first in connection with a father sacrificing his beloved son. Moses then incorporated Isaac’s chronicle in Genesis, which he wrote c. 1435 BC. Then Matthew (the tax collector), Mark (probably the young son of a Jerusalem woman in whose house Christians met for prayer), Luke (a physician), and John (probably a fisherman) wrote their Gospels between 33 and 70 AD. What possessed these 12 men, from different backgrounds and professions, writing in different times over nearly 4,000 years [1] to either avoid the use of the word “love” altogether or use it first to describe the love of a father for a son whom he was going to sacrifice to God? The only reasonable answer to these two questions is, the Holy Spirit.
I hope that you will agree: the Bible is truly God-breathed.
APPENDIX: THE DIVISIONS OF GENESIS
Genesis is the first book of the Bible. It is an historical account of the first two and a half millennia of world and human history, commencing with Creation in 0 AM = 3977 BC and ending with the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt in 2513 AM = 1464 BC.
Genesis is divided into twelve segments, which I call chronicles because of their historical nature, by eleven toledoths, which are verses that contain the phrase “…the generations of….”
For many years, I regarded and taught that toledoths mark the ends of the chronicles – that they are like signatures. In this I was following the arguments of Henry Morris in his commentary on Genesis,[2] as well as the arguments of many others. I surmise that this view arose naturally because the first toledoth – “these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (Genesis 2:4) – so neatly summarizes the chronicle that precedes it (Genesis 1:1-2:3), which I call the Creation Chronicle.
Despite the foregoing, I was never entirely comfortable with the idea that toledoths are signatures. First, viewing Genesis 2:4 as a signature makes no sense to me. The Creation Chronicle should be signed by God, because he is the only person who knows what happened before the first human was created. Second, in a number of cases, the so-called signature falls in the chapter following the chronicle and the final signature even falls in the next book (Exodus). Third, this last case does not use the phrase “…the generations of….” Fourth, regarding toledoths as signatures results in attributing lengthy and important chronicles to minor figures – e.g. attributing Genesis 11:27-25:11 to Ishmael rather than to Terah – which makes little sense to me.
Recently I encountered the idea that toledoths mark the beginnings of chronicles – that they are like titles. It was proposed by Jonathan D. Sarfati in his commentary on Genesis.[3] That makes sense to me. Moreover Sarfati persuaded me to follow him in giving the number zero to the Creation Chronicle because it lacks a toledoth. In its place is Genesis 1:1, which let us know that God created everything – seen and unseen.
Here are the twelve chronicles with my comments on them:
-
- Chronicle 0 – The Creation Chronicle – – It starts in Genesis 1:1 and ends in Genesis 2:3. It describes the entire Creation Week (0 AM = 3977 BC). It must have been dictated to Adam by God.
- Chronicle 1 – The generations of the heavens and the earth – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 2:4 and ends in Genesis 4:26. It describes (a) the entire Edenic Era in 0 AM = 3977 BC and (b) the Antediluvian Era from its beginning in AM 0 = 3977 BC to Enos’s birth in 235 AM = 3742 BC. It was probably written by Adam (0-930 AM = 3977-3047 BC).
- Chronicle 2 – The generations of Adam – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 5:1 and ends in Genesis 6:8 – It describes the period from Enos’s birth in 235 AM = 3742 BC to Noah at age 500 in 1556 AM = 2421 BC. It was probably written by Adam (0-930 AM = 3977-3047 BC).
- Chronicle 3 – The generations of Noah – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 6:9 and ends in Genesis 9:29 – It describes the period from Noah at age 500 in 1556 AM = 2421 BC to the ark’s landfall in 1657 AM = 2320 BC, when (a) Noah offered a sacrifice to the Lord, (b) the Lord issued the Noahic Covenant, and (c) Noah prophesied concerning his sons and their descendents. It was probably written by Noah (1056-2006 AM = 2921-1971 BC).
- Chronicle 4 – The generations of the Sons of Noah – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 10:1 and ends in Genesis 11:9. It describes the period from the ark’s landfall in 1657 AM = 2320 BC to the destruction of Babel and its tower c.1907 AM = 2070 BC. It was probably written by Noah (1056-2006 AM = 2921-1971 BC) or Shem (1558-2158 AM = 2419-1819 BC).[4]
- Chronicle 5 – The generations of Shem – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 11:10 and ends in Genesis 11:26 – It describes Shem’s descendents from Arphaxad’s birth in 1658 AM = 2319 BC to Terah at age 70 in 1948 AM = 2029 BC. It was probably written by Noah (1056-2006 AM = 2921-1971 BC) or Shem (1558-2058 AM = 2419-1819 BC).
- Chronicle 6 – The generations of Terah – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 11:27 and ends in Genesis 25:11. It describes the period from Terah at age 70 in 1948 AM = 2029 BC to Abraham’s death in 2183 AM = 1794 BC. It was probably written by Isaac (2048-2288 AM = 1929-1689 BC).[5]
- Chronicle 7 – The generations of Ishmael – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 25:12 and ends in Genesis 25:18. It describes Ishmael’s descendents from Ishmael’s birth in 2094 AM = 1883 BC to Ishmael’s death in 2231 AM = 1746 BC. It was probably written by one of Ishmael’s sons.
- Chronicle 8 – The generations of Isaac – – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 25:19 and ends in Genesis 35:29. It describes the period from Isaac’s birth in 2048 AM = 1929 BC to Jacob’s death in 2315 AM = 1662 BC. It was probably written by Jacob (2168-2315 AM = 1809-1662 BC) or Joseph (2259-2369 AM = 1718-1608 BC).
- Chronicle 9 – The generations of Esau “who is Edom” – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 36:1 and ends in Genesis 36:8. It describes the period during which Esau moved his tribe from Canaan to Mount Seir in Edom sometime after Isaac’s death in 2288 AM = 1689 BC. It was probably written by Esau (b. 2168 AM = 1809 BC) or one of his descendents.
- Chronicle 10 – The generations of Esau as “the father of the Edomites” – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 36:9 and ends in Genesis 37:1. It describes Esau’s descendents for several generations c. 2200-2300 AM = 1777-1677 BC. It was probably written by Esau (b. 2168 AM = 1809 BC) or one of his descendents.
- Chronicle 11 – The generations of Jacob – It starts with the toledoth in Genesis 37:2 and ends in Genesis 50:26. It describes the period from Joseph at age 17 in 2276 AM = 1701 BC to Joseph’s death in 2369 AM = 1608 BC. It was probably written by Joseph (2259-2369 AM = 1718-1608 BC) or one of his descendents.[6]
© 2016 John Holbrook Jr.
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[1] i.e. from Adam’s later years to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.
[2] Morris, Henry, The Genesis Record, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids MI, 1976.
[3] Sarfati, Jonathan D., The Genesis Account, Creation Book Publishers, Powder Springs GA.
[4] The period described by this chronicle contains an importance event, the Division of the Land into continents, which probably occurred in 1756 AM = 2221 BC, when Peleg was in his mother’s womb.
[5] The period described by this chronicle contains an important event, the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which probably occurred in 2107 AM = 1870 BC.
[6] The period described by this chronicle contains an important event, the First Trial of Job, which probably occurred in 2310 AM = 1667 BC.