There are some things we need to know before we begin. We need to know about the time and place and purpose for each of the stories. And we need to know about the literature of the ancient world. 

All the events in Genesis take place in what we call today the Fertile Crescent. That is the curve of land that begins on the east in Mesopotamia (Iraq today) and swings north and west to curve down through what today is Lebanon and Israel to Egypt. It begins at a place about halfway between lower Iraq and Egypt in the hills above the northern flood plain of the Euphrates River.  That is where civilization began, and that is where the story begins, the story of mankind and God. 

I begin Genesis with the earliest story. You might be surprised that the first chapter and creation is not the first. But actually Genesis 1 was written millennia later. Look for it after the first three stories. 

Ther history of mankind began in Eden about 13,000 years ago. No, that is not a fable. I know that there were people running around for thousands of years earlier, but mankind as defined by the Bible and our history began here. And civilization began here. Yes. Not only does the Bible tell us that, but recent archaeology going in southern Turkey today confirms it. 

There is no question that we today aren't as we were described in Genesis 2.  We are a mess.  And the world is not Eden. Everything Adam and Eve were in  chapter 2 we are not. What went wrong to mess it all up, and where is it going. What is the future? Is there hope to return to something like Eden? That is what this story tells us. But spoiler alert, I can tell you there is hope. 

This chapter tells us about life 12,000 years ago. It may surprise you. It was a lot like today. Without the freeways, of course. But people were the same. They made some incredible things and made an incredible mess of life. Does that sound familiar?

This story brings us up to a time just before writing. It is a time well-documented by archaeology, and in ancient literature. Despite the title and the way many people think of it, it is not about a tower, not directly. It is about God's protection of his people in a time when the world seemed to be going crazy and they were in danger of losing their identity as God's people to the press of a foreign culture. 

It is time now to look at the chapter that begins the book and is really the preface to the whole story of mankind. It was written by the author of Genesis, the guy who collected the stories and put them together in a connect narrative of history from the first man to Abraham and his family. It is fascinating, puzzling, and majestic. I think it has always been read that way. There is nothing like it.  

When we read Genesis 3 with the Gospels in the New Testament in mind, we find an incredible parallel, so much so that Genesis 3 is often described as a proto-gospel. We find the same message of sin, failure, forgiveness and restoration in both. How on earth can that be? They are separated by 10,000 years. But there it is. That is the stamp of God upon this story in  Genesis. Only God who knows the beginning from the end could inspire the writing of Genesis 3 to foreshadow so perfectly Jesus and salvation.