In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The book of Genesis is a narrative
about the beginning dated in 1145 BC. Genesis is written by Moses and tells the story of the beginning
of creation, man and woman and teaches the main principles of the Bible. God indicates his goal of
creation by saying he is making man in His own imagine. All through the book for Genesis we read
scriptures that God created the world, how sin plays a part of our lives, how much God cares about his
creations, even when we don’t show the same love and care for him, and His promise to us. God uses
his people like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, his wives and twelve sons, Adam and Eve,
and Noah’s family to teach us, guide us and tell us stories of failures and success. Genesis covers a large
period of time and thus has a lot of lessons. The story of Creation takes places over a six day period
where God created mankind. The story of the Fall relates to our sinful nature. The story of the Flood is
about judgment. It is also in Genesis that the Tower of Babel takes place. A number of questions are
answered in Genesis. These questions include: origin, reason, destination and the plan for redemption. If
we question the book of Genesis, we will question our beginning since it all starts here.
Ruth had a true heart for God and through her dedication and actions this showed. She placed her trust
in God even when she was not certain. Ruth was born in Moab with a pagan background but ends up
marrying a Hebrew from Bethlehem. Ruth was first married to Mahlon, the son of Elimelech and Naomi.
After the death of the men, Naomi and Ruth set out to start over in Bethlehem after becoming widows.
This journey should have made Ruth nervous due to the conflicts between Israel and the Moabites in the
past, but she was not fearful nonetheless believed. Ruth proved herself by showing unconditional love,
loyalty, commitment and obedience to God. Ruth met Boaz, who she would later propose to and marry,
while gleaning in a field to get few grains. Although the exact date of Ruth is not known, it is speculated
to be around 1295 BC. “Ruth is a ray of light and hope for Israel’s future” (Hindson and Towns, p.111).
Ruth was the mother of Obed, although she was older when he was conceived and great grandmother
to David. It is from Ruth that we become familiar with the biblical concept of redemption.
Mount of Olives is one of three peaks of a mountain ridge that runs approximately two miles, generally
running in the direction of north to south. It is located on the east side of Jerusalem. The name derived
from the olives trees that used to encompass the side of the mountain. While Mount of Olives is not
mentioned a lot in the Old Testament, it is of incredible importance. Mount of Olives is first referenced
in the story of David as “Olivet” in 969 BC where David was fleeing his son Absalom. Often times the
mountain was alluded to but not by its full name as seen in Ezekiel (11:23) and Samuel. “ And David went
up the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and we went
barefoot: and all of the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up
weeping as they went up” (2Samuel 15:30). Mount of Olives is only mentioned by name once in the Old
Testament. In Zechariah, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before
Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and
toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward
the north, and half of it toward the south” (14:4).
