The first 2,000 years of the earth's history is recorded in the book of Genesis, and there are very few details about it. I have read the book of Genesis, as well as Abraham and Moses, many times and feel like I only have a vague idea of what those years looked like. I was very impressed with the in-depth look at what was really happening from a historical perspective. I was especially fascinated by a few points Skousen made.
1. People lived for a really long time. This is basic Bible fact, but as this book laid out the reality of people living for hundreds of years, and having children throughout those years who then lived for hundreds of years, it gave me perspective on how the earth became populated and was filled with people. How fascinating to see the exponential growth of the population from just one couple.
2. Adam and Eve had a whole generation of children before the Lord came to them and taught them the plan of salvation after the fall. These children were not taught the plan, and as adults when their parents tried to tell them of the great knowledge they received, they were not receptive. This really brought home to me the importance of teaching children when they are young to know and love the Gospel to help them to internalize that knowledge.
3. Abraham went down to Egypt. I knew this before, but as I was reading, I was struck by how Abraham was chosen to perform one of the greatest types of the Savior we have recorded in scripture, where he was asked to offer up his son Isaac as an offering to the Lord. During Christ's early life, He was taken away into Egypt. So there is this parallel that Abraham also went down into Egypt.
4. This book was published in 1953, and that gave it a very interesting historical slant on the curse of Cain. Skousen gives prophetic evidence that the blacks not receiving the priesthood would one day be changed. It is interesting to read that today, when almost my whole life this has been changed.
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