(Update: to read a couple articles similar to mine written by John Lang visit this post.)

I just wrote 13 blog posts on the book of Genesis and there's an elephant in the room: Is it to be taken as literal history or as a religious metaphor? It's a topic that deserves discussion when trying to understand Genesis. The short answer is this: The Bible is true, evolution is real, and neither conflict with each other or a Biblical idea about God. Here is the long answer:

I will first make some conditions on which I think about this topic. I will then state my stance and provide the main reasons I think what I think, before I defer to a well-known theologian of the 16th century. At the end I'll caution thinking of Genesis as "a simple metaphor" and give a perspective on how God works.

Conditions

Before you judge my opinion too quickly, here are some points I want to clarify:

1. I am indeed a Christian, believing Jesus Christ is our one true gateway to God (and IS God).
2. I believe God is powerful enough to do whatever he wants. God could certainly have formed the earth with the power of Play-doh or literally as it is in the Bible, for he is the creator and is unbelievably powerful. Of course our world would look a lot different if he had.
3. I believe the Bible is not a tool to be read however one wants to in order to make his/her point. There is an accurate means by which to interpret the Bible and let it say what it wants to say, which is by-and-large not ambiguous. When two people disagree on what the Bible means, one person is right and the other person is wrong (even though it might be hard for us to determine for sure who is who sometimes).
4. I believe the Bible is true, beginning to end.

Okay, read ahead, oh brave reader.

My stance

I believe the earth is billions of years old and that life on earth evolved over a billion+ years from very small life forms to all life we see today, most probably including humans. The origin of the first living cells is a matter of open debate.

Having now read points 3 and 4 of my conditions, and having read my opinion on evolution, it should be clear what my stance is: Genesis is not literal history.

My main reasons for viewing Genesis as a form of metaphor are the scientific reality of evolution by means of natural selection, the genres of the stories of Genesis, and the pure poetry of the Genesis literary devices.

Evolution is real.

There was a time when I didn't know what to think about creationism and evolution, worrying that my faith would be destroyed at any second. My dad, a longtime serious Christian (not an evil scientist), always encouraged a balanced view, knowing that it didn't matter if the serpent literally told Eve to eat the fruit. But I found it comforting to pour over internet articles on why evolution is totally untrue and scientists are by and large blind or liars.

But the truth is, scientists are the best people in the world at science. And science is one of our best lenses through which to observe the world. And when I say science, I mean, strictly, peer-reviewed theories tested by the scientific process, seeking the simplest, most likely explanation for phenomena in the universe. It has provided us with most of the advances that have improved the surface quality of our lives. It has led us to live longer lives than we did 1000 years ago. It has multiplied our understanding of the physical universe times 1000 (although we still have only hit the tip of the iceberg).

Now, you may say that lots of scientists believe that evolution is hogwash and that creationist scientists are a dime a dozen. In reality this is more or less a lie put forth by many creationism apologists and believed by a lot of people who are fooled by them,. I wish I could put it in a nicer way, but the more I came to understand the evolution / creationism debate, the more determined I was that that's the truth. Non-evolutionists are rare in the serious scientific community, and among serious biologists, they are practically extinct. Period. Furthermore, those who claim that creation is just as scientific as evolution usually lack several of the parts of my definition of science above.

(Once again let me clarify that the origin of the first living cells is still up in the air, although perhaps one day science will discover that as well.)

Other than that, I am not going to go into all the reasons I see evolution by means of natural selection as a historical reality because there are millions more qualified than me to explain it. It's not easy to understand at first but it's convincing in the long run and is now a foundational pillar of modern biology, geology, and some other sciences. On a large scale, it's a battle between the loud and the learned, not the learned and the learned.

So if evolution is real, surely we can throw Genesis into the trash can, right? It's not that simple, people. Like it or not, the first eleven chapters of Genesis have no interest in either scientific theory or even historical bearings.

Doesn't Genesis have a say?

Like I said earlier, I believe the Bible is 100% true and cannot be interpreted any which way. I simply believe that the way creationists interpret Genesis is absolutely wrong, and misses a lot of the important points the author is trying to make.

Oh, you think the Bible should be taken at its word? Well, how about Psalm 93, which states that the "world is established, firm and secure" (proof we are the center of the universe) and "the seas have lifted up their voice" (proof the seas have souls!!). Oh, I see, you take exception because that's poetry and therefore is a metaphor. Then what about Matthew 5, in which Jesus says to gouge out your eye if it causes you to sin? Oh, you say Jesus was talking in hyperbole. Riiiiiight.

So Jesus speaks in hyperbole and in parables, and Psalms speaks in metaphorical poetry, but Genesis is not free to choose for itself what kind of literature it is? How rude.

Here are the main reasons Genesis is asking you NOT to take it literally:

1. Simply put, it is written in the Genre of creation myth, period. Back when Genesis was written, every culture came up with a story about how the world came to be, which reflected that culture's world views. We would never think any of those stories are true in the least. However, they are excellent help in understanding the author's view of God and man and the earth.

Even if Genesis is divinely inspired (I believe it is), it's written in the context of these other creation myths, and there's no reason to think it was trying to be different in terms of literal history, since the author wasn't there for the creation of the earth. In fact, if it did interact with historical truth, and talked about the origin of species and genetic mutation and those kinds of things, it would have been utterly useless literature for 95% of its lifetime.

So instead the beginning of Genesis is written in the genre of creation myth. Its readers, familiar already with the ideas about how the world came to be, would be blown away by the actually unique, starring elements of Genesis: there is just one God who is all-powerful; God cares about both goodness and the safety of man; the world, and humans, were made with harmony and purpose in mind; that harmony and purpose was destroyed because man wanted to fly solo; and God is working actively to repair the tears.

This contrasts big-time with other ancient creation myths, which believed that man was made on accident by gods fighting with each other or by a god masturbating, and that the gods need us to make food for them even though we're annoying to them, and they are on the same moral playing field we are. These points, and others, would be completely lost in a historical record. But they emerge as the main points of the passage when Genesis 1-11 is viewed as a creation myth.

2. Genesis asks you not to take it literally by its story structure. Genesis has TWO, count 'em TWO creation stories that are very different. And besides being silly on their own from a scientific standpoint, they are not in agreement with each other. Anyone who argues otherwise would rather be right than realistic or has been fooled by someone who would.

The first creation story lays out creation in six days: day 1 is light and darkness, day two is the sky and seas, day three is ground and plants, day four is the sun moon and stars, day five is birds and sea creatures, and day six is animals and humans.

Read over that order again and tell me with a straight face that it's trying to be historically accurate. Plants are explicitly stated to exist before the sun!! Birds are explicitly stated to exist before creatures on the ground!! My God, the stars aren't created until days after the earth!!!

The answer to this problem, of course, is that the order of creation has literary purpose, not scientific or historical. The first three days, God makes a canvas. The second three days, God fills the canvas. It's poetry, people.

The second creation story goes in a whole different direction. Order is not exactly different in the second story from the first story, because it is ambiguous and unimportant. The second story couldn't care less what order God created things because no one knew the order and the first story only stated it as a literary device. It's not far fetched, and in fact it is the only reasonable explanation anyone from any time could come up with.

To bolster my case, I'll mention that "6 days" is not mentioned in the second story. And while man's purpose in the first story is to be made in God's image, and to rule earth and to fill earth, in the second story our purpose is to work the garden, to live forever, to name the animals, and to have sex. Another difference is that the first story doesn't care who's made first, man or woman, while the second story has man coming first and then woman. The first story emphasizes the goodness and harmony of what God creates while the second story contrasts that good world God makes with the fallen world where people run from God and start killing each other.

In addition to all this, Genesis 4 is arguably a THIRD creation story in which God creates humans in his likeness, but after a long time, mankind is totally evil and corrupt and God is sorry he made us. Genesis is clearly written carefully and with purpose, not carelessly and haphazardly. All three stories have different scopes and different purposes, none of which are historical records.

3. Another element of ancient myths that Genesis contains is dozens of explanations for every day life. Almost all people throughout all history would laugh at the prospect of almost any of these explanations being historically accurate.

Here's an incomplete list: Man names the animals while looking for a suitable mate. We hate snakes because one tricked us into abandoning God, and that's why they don't have legs. The reason that it hurts to give birth, that women are oppressed in marriage, and that farming is hard is because we chose our own morality over God's. Nomads originated because Cain was reprimanded by God. Various job-clans originated from Cain's grandsons. God just decided one day that we would live way shorter lives. People got all over the earth and all the languages developed in one evening (not sure if that includes languages that did not yet exist at the time of Genesis' writing, such as English). Rainbows originated as a reminder to God to not flood earth. Canaanites are cursed because their ancestor looked at his dad naked. The word "nimrod" originated from a great warrior. Most of the big cities of the ancient world were founded by one guy. Two detestable nations were born when two daughters had sex with their dad.

Once again this is an incomplete list, and yet it is clearly the stuff of legend and myth, not historical fact. Many of the explanations that I didn't mention spill over into the second half of Genesis, bringing it's purpose as a historical narrative into question, although I'm willing to leave that possibility much more open.

There are other points to be made but in my opinion these three demonstrate convincingly that Genesis has no intention of historical accuracy, but rather it invites you to share its view of how God, man, earth, and our relationships all fit together, and what God is doing about it. Those views are revolutionary in ANY culture and are what make Genesis timeless.

A pre-Darwin theological perspective

If you believe evolution is real, perhaps you think I have just manipulated my understanding of Genesis to fit my theological beliefs. But actually, before Darwin, my understanding of Genesis was already an educated option. I did not discover this myself, but read it on page 257 of Introducing the Old Testament by Jon Drane, so I will just quote the relevant parts:

All this [the notion that literal Genesis must be defended] is a fairly recent development, and earlier generations of Bible scholars were much less inclined to try to force the book of Genesis into the straitjacket of a scientific textbook. Even to scientists as long ago as the sixteenth century, it seemed unlikely that there could be waters above the sky in the way that seemed to be implied... John Calvin was no liberal, but in his Commentary on Genesis he agreed with this opinion, describing such a notion as 'opposed to common sense, and quite incredible,' and going on to dismiss the idea that the Genesis story was supposed to be any kind of scientific account... The Old Testament writers, he argued, simply took for granted the sort of world-view that was widely held in their day. This assumed that the world was like a flat disc, set upon pillars below, with the sky arching over it like a dome... Calvin described details such as this as only props on the main stage - background detail to reinforce the fact that the Old Testament's message was relevant to the world in which ordinary people lived.

I agree wholeheartedly, and this understanding of Genesis is much more respectful of and takes much more seriously the incredible message about God that the book does put forth. It is not one of many interpretations, but the intended way for the book to be read as purposed by the original author and the God who inspired him/her.

Cautioning against not taking the Bible seriously as a Christian

Having said all this, those who do not take Genesis literally often do have a flawed perspective, not taking Genesis very seriously, calling it "a bunch of metaphors that teach us lessons." It is important to take Genesis seriously, as it is NOT a bunch of moral lessons - in many places it is morally indifferent - but a serious and true view of mankind's world and of God's work in the world. Although it is of a similar genre, it is not Aesop's Fables and has a much grander and more serious purpose and scope.

Not only that, but apart from Genesis, a sizable percentage of the Bible is without a shadow of a doubt indeed meant to be taken literally, such as Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, the historical details of the prophets, the Gospels, Acts, and the historical details of Paul's letters. The end of Genesis through Deuteronomy is possibly meant to be taken as literal history (maybe, maybe not). Many of these books contain difficult passages, like Jesus walking on water and people rising from the dead. A part of being a Christian is to believe these events are real history (otherwise Christianity is totally pointless).

Is there room for God in evolution?

The last argumentative hurdle I run across is, "If life originated through natural processes, isn't the idea of God useless?" The issue here is natural vs. supernatural. For some reason we get hung up on the idea that whatever we can easily understand is natural and God had nothing to do with it, while what we don't understand is supernatural and we can give God credit for that. Part of the appeal of creationism is that, by this standard, it gives God more credit than evolution.

But the Bible argues that God created the natural world and had absolute control over that creation. According to Genesis, the rest of the Old Testament, and the New Testament, God deserves credit for creating everything on earth, owning everything on earth, and controlling everything on earth.

Guess what? This means that whether I was healed in an instant during a prayer or by a six-hour surgery, God deserves the credit. Either he interceded in history to change my circumstances or set my healing in motion through a doctor's instrument at the beginning of creation. Either way, it's his doing, and his good pleasure, and neither glorify God more than the other. This also means that whether it took dozens of billions of years or 6 days, creation of the universe was made through God's beautiful and patient process. Neither is more or less supernatural or natural than the other.

It is a dangerous proposition that what we do understand is not from God while what we don't is proof of God, as many people have gained unbelief in God throughout history when they came to understand something new, assuming what we understand is not from God. Many Christians (and Muslims) are panicking about evolution the way others panicked about germs, cells, and the earth revolving around the sun. We now understand (some of) the process by which the sun arrives each morning and delivers sunlight and warmth life to us, but God is still the Lord over the sun. In the same way, we understand (some of) how God developed life on earth but he is still Lord over the development.

Imagine that one day, it is proved historically that the healings and miracles and walking on water that Jesus is reported to have done really happened. A revival takes place, with billions putting their faith in Christ because it is proven the Gospels are accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt. (Of course, if this was all proved, most would still deny Christ, but stay with me here.)

Now, imagine ten years later, natural, scientific processes are discovered by which Christ performed these miracles. Should these billions deny their faith in Christ because we now see that he walked on water because of some natural scientific process?

Many would say yes, but in my opinion there is no difference. According to the Bible, God is in control of what we can observe and what can't observe. The only difference between the two is whether we can understand it, not whether God is glorified through it. The idea of natural vs. supernatural is not in the Bible and is unimportant. (I do think that Jesus walking on water demonstrates his Godly authority over nature and did not require a scientific process, but that is not the point.)

Conclusion

So I do believe in the Bible. In fact, I think it is all true and has one true meaning, not many. But evolution is also real, and Genesis does not intend itself to be read in such a way as to contradict evolution. In fact, such a reading detracts from the true, relevant, important messages of Genesis about how the one all-powerful God is beginning a process of fixing a broken world, while evolution itself is a long way from making an argument against the God of Christianity as an active supernatural power.

I hope and pray that this post has given you some new things to think about. Mostly my goal is to help you to see Genesis and God in a new way. You're free to believe in creationism if you think it's the most valid scientific explanation for life's development, but please don't hijack the book of Genesis to make your point. I welcome comments or questions. I am not a professional scientist or theologian. But these are my thoughts, and I suggest that you, too, pick up some books from the library (including Genesis) and search for the truth. Thanks for reading.

Wow! This is my 13th post on Genesis and I've already arrived at the end of the book. The last few pages are Jacob's last days, his death, burial, and Joseph's last days as well. The book has left me both reflecting and looking ahead.

Synopsis

Jacob, about to die, makes Joseph promise to bury him with his fathers, not in Egypt. They use the special "thigh" promise that Abraham used with his servant getting a wife for Isaac.

Later Jacob is ill (wasn't he already?) and tells Joseph the story of God's covenant with him at Luz (when he first left his father's house): God will make him a great nation and will give him the land. Jacob says Joseph's two sons are to become Jacob, which, as far as I can tell, is a blessing to Joseph, that his family will have twice the inheritance. Jacob blesses the younger one ahead of the older one. Kinda like how Jacob got the better blessing as the younger sibling.

Next Jacob gathers his sons around him to bless them/tell about their futures. It's done in verse:
Reuben, his oldest, has been strong, but will no longer excel since he slept with one of his dad's wives.
Simeon and Levi, who killed all those guys because they raped Dinah, are denounced for their violence, and are said to be scattered among Israel.
Judah is to be praised among his brothers, is a lion, will be a ruler until "he to whom it belongs shall come."
Zebulun will live by the sea.
Issachar will live on good land and submit to forced labor.
Dan will be like a snake and give Israel justice.
Gad will be attacked by raiders but will fight back.
Asher will be a good cook.
Naphtali is a doe that bears beautiful fawns.
Joseph gets a long poem... Despite being bitterly attacked, he has persevered because of the power of God, who is a great, great God. He gets really really blessed.
Benjamin is a wolf who devours prey and divides plunder.

These twelve men make up the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jacob reiterates to bury him in his family's burial cave in Canaan. Then he dies.

Joseph asks for permission to take his body to Canaan, and Pharaoh grants it. Joseph, his bros, and tons of others go up with them to Canaan to bury Jacob. They mourn terribly and for a long time, and do bury him in the same cave Abraham is in. Then they go back to Egypt.

Joseph's brothers are still afraid of his wrath, but he assures them again that his slavery was part of God's plan to save Israel's family.

Joseph lives to see his great grandchildren and tells the Israelites that they will eventually go back to Canaan and when they do, to take Joseph's bones with them. then he dies at 110.

Analysis

And that's all, folks. That's where the story ends. The implication is that Israel will grow into a nation. But it hasn't happened yet. They certainly don't have the land (they aren't even living in it) and all nations have not at all been blessed. Genesis, at the end, is a book that looks forward to the future or possibly to the next book.

Response

Overall, what do I come away with? The book is definitely in two halves: before Abraham and after he shows up. Before Abraham seems to be that despite God's beautiful and harmonious creation that man is apart of, mankind is totally and utterly corrupt, evil and violent. God quells the evil for a while with the flood, but clearly another solution is needed.

The second half is about a lot of things. First of all, it's about God making a covenant with Abraham and his family: they he will bless them, that he will bless all nations through them, that he will make a great nation from Abraham, and that he will give Abraham the land of Canaan. Over and over and over again this is stated and restated several times to Abraham, then once to Isaac, a few times to Jacob, and then retold by Jacob. It matters.

Other themes are there though. God demonstrates extreme faithfulness to the family, not just to honor his promises, but to develop them to a point that they really trust him, through Isaac's birth or Jacob wrestling with God or his sons being shown mercy through Joseph.

Over the weekend I plan on making a large post summarizing Genesis in full and linking to appropriate posts. I also will write a few posts just pondering some issues we may have when reading through Genesis.

It's been fun, and I look forward to Exodus.

Yesterday when I left off, Jacob's 11th son Joseph was abused in just about every way, and yet because God was with him remained successful in all he did until he was more or less king of Egypt. By the beginning of a seven year famine, he's got enough grain to feed the whole world. All of Egypt comes to buy grain from him. We haven't heard about the rest of Jacob's family for a while, and that's where today's reading takes us.

Synopsis

Jacob sends his sons (minus his youngest, Ben) off to get grain. They bow before Joseph without recognizing him, and he can barely hold it together emotionally in their presence. I don't think he is sure how to reveal himself, so he calls them spies and demands that to prove they are not, they bring Benjamin back.

He keeps Simeon there as collateral, and his brothers, who claim to be honest men, blame their situation on their mistreatment of Joseph years ago. When they head back, Jacob isn't too keen on losing Simeon AND Benjamin. Plus the silver they paid for the grain seems to put back in their bags, so they fear for their lives.

But soon enough they run out of grain again because the famine is so severe. Judah makes himself personally responsible for Ben's safety. They head back and Joseph demands to have a meal with them, where they are treated well (especially Benjamin). Joseph has a silver cup put in Ben's bag, and when it is found, Ben is stuck being Joseph's slave. Judah begs to trade himself for Benjamin.

At this point Joseph can't take it anymore and breaks down weeping, revealing himself. His brothers are dumbstruck. But he says something very powerful: that his is not mad, that it is not them that sent him there but God, in order to save Israel's family from death, so they are all to move down there with dad and live on the best land and Egypt. Pharaoh hears about it all and is happy for Joseph, offering land.

Jacob, of course, can't believe is son is alive and is totally revived by the whole experience. Jacob and all his family, 66 men in all, move down to Egypt. On the way there God assures Jacob that this is all part of the plan of the covenant. Jacob actually meets the Pharaoh and blesses him.

Analysis

Although for the last day or so we hadn't heard about the covenant, we learn at the end of this passage that all that is happening, including moving to Egypt, is part of the plan to eventually get the land they were living in, and have a great nation, and bless all nations. Clearly God is blessing the family, by saving them from starvation.

This is maybe the most powerful part of Genesis. Joseph has been mistreated but instead of revenge he offers (literal, physical) salvation to his brothers, saying that it was all part of God's plan. This whole experience seems to have a profound effect on his otherwise detestable siblings. They seemed to be transformed through the whole experience.

Response

Character development has been such a surprising element of Genesis. When reading all the stories one by one, it is hard to see, but by reading more at a time, reflecting on it and charting it out, it is easier to see how God first develops Abraham, then Jacob, and eventually of Jacob's kids, and he does it through blessings and love.

I'm excited to finish Genesis, which in turn is a book that is really pointing beyond itself to the future where the promise is fulfilled.

Ah, after 10 synopsis posts, we are on the final leg of Genesis at last. Parts 1-3 (two posts) told of the harmonious world God created with a man in his likeness in charge and man's corruption and fall. Parts 4-6 (2 posts) told of God starting over and sending Noah's family out to populate earth, with similar results. Parts 7-8 (3 posts) detailed God's epic promises to Abraham and how God blessed Abraham through life while simultaneously bringing Abraham to a place of faith through the birth of his son Isaac. Parts 9-11 (3 posts) Told of Isaac's wealth, and of God passing Abraham's covenant down to Isaac and then to Jacob, who God also brings through a process to bring him to a place of faithfulness to God.

And now, part 12 (this will be 3 posts as well).

Synopsis

Joseph, Jacob's 11th oldest son (older only than his full brother Benjamin), is 17, and is dad's favorite. His brothers hate them because of jealousy, because he brings a bad report to his father about them, because he gets a sweet coat, and, oh, he tells them about a couple dreams in which all of them plus his parents bow down to him.


Alright, so when they're way out far from home keeping the flocks, he goes to check on them for dad and they plot to kill him. The oldest, Rueben, tries to save him, but in the end he ends up being sold as a slave to Ishmaelites. (They trick dad into thinking he was killed by a wild animal.)

(Meanwhile, Judah has an interesting story with God striking a couple of his sons down and him eating some humble pie for using a prostitute and holding his third son from his oldest's widow, who ends up having Judah's kids.)

The Ishmaelites take him to Egypt and sell him to an Egyptian official named Potiphar. God is with Joseph and he's basically put in charge. Potiphar's wife would love to have an affair with Joseph, and since he isn't having it, she accuses him of trying to rape her. So he gets thrown into prison. But here God is with Joseph again and he is so successful he is basically put in charge of the dungeon as well.

This is where it gets interesting. Two of Pharaoh's servants are thrown into prison. After a while they both have dreams and by God's power Joseph interprets them both correctly: one is given his position back, and the other one is executed. Although the cupbearer (the one who is given his job back) promises Joseph he'll remember him and get him out, he forgets.

A couple years later, the Pharaoh has two dreams that nobody can crack, and suddenly the cupbearer's memory is jogged. They bring Joseph up right away, and he interprets the dreams, giving credit to God for the interpretation: Egypt will experience seven years of bountiful harvest followed by seven years of famine.

He tells Pharaoh that Egypt will need someone wise to fix it so the seven lean years are bearable, and Pharaoh can't think of anybody better than Joseph. So Joseph goes from an inmate to more or less the king of Egypt with the Pharaoh as a figurehead. Joseph stores up an absolute insane amount of grain during the first seven years, and when the famine comes, Joseph is able to begin supplying the whole world with grain.

Analysis

There's a few interesting points with this, the first third of Joseph's story. For one thing, it's clear by now that morals have developed in Genesis to mean something. At first, Genesis was just a series of stories and adventures with no moral lesson to learn. Since that, though, Genesis has gotten progressively concerned with morality, and by Joseph's story it is very important how he stays pure and doesn't lie, and it is bad how Judah denies his son's widow a husband and it's a disgrace that he uses a prostitute. I'm not sure when this light switch went on. Meanwhile Joseph is giving God credit left and right.

This part of the story is definitely the set up. It's funny because all of what I read today is 90% of what people know about this story, while the other 2/3rds of the story only make up 10% of our understanding of the passage. I guess it has to do with how quickly events move along. However, I'm guessing the main point Joseph's story (beside a moral exposition) is showing how Israel gets to Egypt. So this part of the story is really just the set up for actually making it happen over the next few pages.

One last note: Jacob/Israel still has his blessing/promise/covenant from God, and has not yet passed it on.

Response

I'm beginning to feel like an outsider. Early Genesis was beautiful commentary on the nature of man and God and our relationship. God's character was further demonstrated through Abraham and his family's story. But as his family continues down the road and Israel has his twelves sons and they'll be on their way to prosper in Egypt soon, the whole thing is transitioning to a story about the Israelite nation, of which I am not a member. I anticipate that a lot of the First Testament is going to seem like an exciting story that I'm viewing from the outside in. We'll see, though.

Genesis is getting closer to the end, and it's becoming evident that God's covenant with Abraham is not going to be completed at the end of the book. Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob are all definitely very blessed. We'll see how much there is of blessing all nations, making a great nation, and giving them the land is fulfilled by the end of the book. If they're not all totally fulfilled, then I will say that at least Genesis is a book that is very much looking toward the future.

I've been enjoying Genesis so much more by reading more of it per day and really charting out the unfolding story of the whole book. It's good reading and it's the beginning of a very passionate story that makes up the rest of the Bible.

The last couple posts summarized the beginning of a journey Jacob was taking. Only now, after seeing the journey as a whole, can I see how it's all structured literarily. His journey away from home and back is a sort of chaism: the second half of the story is a sort of reflection of the first half, with the center piece being a critical turning point.

Recap

The setup: Jacob, the deceiver had just stolen his brother's blessing. His father and mother send him to uncle Laban's house because Esau wants to kill him.

A. Jacob leaves his father to go live with Uncle Laban.

B. On the way there, Jacob has a dream in which he sees the majesty of God, who passes on to hiim the Abrahamic promises.

C. A lot of adventures with Laban and Jacob tricking each other, along with Jacob having 12 kids

Today's Synopsis

D. Jacob hears that Esau is on his way with 400 men and freaks out scared, sending gifts to Esau to please him.

E. Jacob sends everyone ahead, stays behind and wrestles a man who turns out to be God, showing a lot of humility; he overcomes the man, the man blesses him and renames him Israel ("he struggles with God").

D1. Esau embraces Jacob in love; they weep together.

C1. A story of how Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi kill a whole male population of a village because one of them rape their sister, making Jacob afraid of revenge.

B1. Jacob's family throws out foreign gods, and God appears to Jacob again and reaffirms the Abrahamic promises.

A1. Jacob arrives back at his father's house.

As you can see, the As, Bs, Cs, and Ds corrospond, while the E is the centerpiece of the whole story.

After this, Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamam, completing Jacob's family. Isaac dies at the age of 180, and Jacob and Esau bury him. This is the end of part 9.

Part 10 is simply a list of Esau's three wives, and one of each of their kids. Esau and Jacob separate because their is not enough room for all of their possesions to stay together. So Esau settles in Seir.

Part 11 is a longer list of Esau's successful family line. Meanwhile, Jacob is living in Canaan.

Analysis

I almost forgot about Chiasms. I had briefly learned about them in my Biblical survey classes,
but this one just jumped out at me so much that I was able to catch it and research chiasms again (who knows how many I've already missed). It seems that Hebrew writers could better make a point by writing in this literary style, and the point is not at the end, but in the middle. And that part is Jacob physically struggling with God.

Response

I see a connection here between Jacob and Abraham, because God uses their circumstances to develop a trust of him in them. They are both promised God's promises for no apparent reason but over time are brought to a point of strong relationship with God.

Genesis has flowed from complete harmony to utter disaster, a reboot, and now God working and making covenants with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I don't know how they'll get the land, and I don't know how they'll bless all nations, but judging by how much God has blessed these men, I'd guess he'll come throught on these other promises as well.

Today's reading is the famous record of how all Jacob's kids were born. When most people try to read the Bible straight through, I think this is where they give up. I say that because the stories directly following it I have no recollection of reading before, even though I've read everything before it dozens of times. And my gosh, is Jacob a trickster.

Synopsis

When we last left off, Jacob (who's name more or less means deceiver) had stolen a couple important things straight from his brother's lap and had run off to Uncle Laban's so as not to be murdered. What follows, besides a large record of kid-having, is a large amount of events with Jacob and Laban trying to get the best of each other with their various schemes.

Jacob offers to work seven years for Laban in return for his daughter's hand in marriage. Laban gives him the wrong daughter as a trick to get him to work seven more years. Jacob does this. Jacob wants to lead, but Laban doesn't want him to because since Jacob is blessed by God, Laban's household has become wealthy since he's been there. So they make a deal with Jacob keeping the dark flocks and Laban keeping the light flocks. Laban pulls a fast one by getting rid of all the dark ones in "shady" ways (har har) but Jacob outsmarts him with his breeding techniques and ends up way more rich. Laban keeps changing the wages on him to try to fix it but Jacob succeeds nonetheless.

Anyway, next, Jacob runs away with his wives without telling Laban. At the same time, Rachel (Jacob's wife and Laban's daughter) steals Laban's household gods. When Laban catches up to Jacob, they argue about why Jacob would have to leave in secret, and Laban brings up the gods. Jacob, not knowing Rachel has them, says anyone who stole them will be put to death. Laban never figures out the truth though, because Rachel tricks him by hiding them in a bag she's sitting on and claiming she can't stand up because she's on her period.

Jacob then goes on a big rant about how he's been serving Laban for the past 20 years and Laban's been a jerk and they make a covenant to leave on good terms and Laban heads home.

Amidst all this, Jacob ends up with two wives who are sisters, and there is a bit of a competition for who can give him the most kids:

Leah, who is not as loved as her sister, has four kids right off the bat:
Rueben, Simeon, Levi and Judah
Rachel, who is barren (barren woman #3 in Genesis) offers her slave Bilhah to Jacob, who has:
Dan, Naphtali
Leah, who has stopped having kids, offers HER slave, Zilpah, who has:
Gad, Asher
Then because of a mandrake trade with Rachel, Leah earns the right to sleep with Jacob one night and has:
Issachar, Zebulum, and Dinah (the only girl of the group)
Finally, Rachel is able to have a kid after all:
Joseph.

Analysis

Wow, at this point Genesis seems to be taking a turn. We are still in part 9 of Genesis, and we have seen Jacob being blessed as the heir of God's Abrahamic covenant (once again, though, I don't see anyone being circumcised, despite 11 boys being born). On the other hand, this section of the story is getting pretty wacky, with all of the shady tricks going on between Jacob and Laban. It's a rather entertaining narrative, reading about how these two one-up each other constantly.

What are the results at this end of the story? Not much has changed, except Jacob is rich and has lots of kids. There's not much more here to take away and if you knew that you could almost skip most of this section and not miss a beat (as far as I can tell so far, anyway). Jacob, when compared to his grandfather, is not exactly a saint. But God is still faithful to his promises. I'm interested to see what happens next.

First off, sorry I missed a day there. I'm not sure what happened.

Abraham has been "gathered to his ancestors" so now Isaac becomes our main man. He has a lot of similarities to his father, but he takes a backseat to one of his sons pretty quickly.

Synopsis

I began to get confused over whom I was reading about, because Isaac shares a lot in common with his father. The both have barren wives that the Lord provides for. They both lie to a guy named Abimelek about their wives and end up rich because of it. Their sons have a sibling rivalry. And, most importantly, God makes the same promises to Isaac that he made to his father.

Overall, though Isaac's story feels much less significant simply because it's shorter. Rebekah is barren for about a sentence before her twin sons are born. The slightly older, hairier, more outdoorsy one is Esau, and the trickster is Jacob. Jacob means "he grabs the heel" which according to the translation footnote is a Hebrew idiom for "deceives." This is clearly an appropriate name since the baby comes out literally grabbing his brother's heel. But that's not all. When Esau comes in hungry one day, Jacob tricks him into giving up his birthright for some stew. Interesting.

There's a famine but God appears to Isaac and tells him not to go to Egypt, that he'll take care of him. Then he gives the full gamut of blessings that he gave to Abraham: blessings, a great nation, the land, and blessing all nations through him. Isaac gets them all.

Now, Isaac just ends up crazy rich, way richer than Abraham. He pulls that same trick, lying about his wife trick, which gets him protection. His crops reap one hundred fold. All his wells get filled up because everyone is so jealous of his wealth. In fact they ask him to move away because they're afraid of him since he's so freakin' rich. After God tells him again how many descendant's he'll have on account of Abraham, Abimelek shows up and asks him to sign of a treaty because it is obvious Isaac is super-blessed by God.

Esau marries some Hittite women (women native to the area) and they are a big pain.

So when Isaac is so old he's blind, he attempts to pass on his blessings, his promises from God, to Esau. I'm not going to go into all the details, but basically Rebekah and Jacob come up with some crazy tricks and lie about 10 times and Isaac ends up accidently blessing Jacob when he thinks he's blessing Esau. He really blesses him, and says he will rule over his brother.

Esau comes back and the truth is found out, but it's too late and Esau doesn't get much of a blessing. In fact, Isaac tells him he'll serve Jacob, although he will overcome him in the end. Esau's pretty upset and, fearing for his life, Jacob takes his mother's advice and runs for it. Isaac sends him to his brother-in-law's house. Here, Isaac indeed confirms that Jacob gets the blessing.

(By the way, Esau figures out how much his parents hate his wives, so he marries one of Ishmael's kids.)

On the way to Harran, Jacob sees the majesty of God in a dream, and God promises him all the promises he had given Isaac, in my mind, passing on main-character-duties to Jacob. Jacob wakes up, decides that if God indeed does all he promises, then he'll be Jacob's God and he'll give a tenth of what he has to God (geez, good call, Sherlock).

Jacob arrives to his uncle Laban's house, meeting his daughter Rachel and being welcomed in by Uncle Laban.

Analysis

Wow, I had read more than I thought. There's plenty going on there. Isaac more or less just gets really rich and receives God's Abrahamic promises, although I notice they don't mention Jacob and Esau getting circumcised, but who knows.

Jacob really steals the show as soon as he shows up. He really proves himself as a trickster. He cheats his brother out of his birthright and, way more importantly, God's blessings. I can understand why Esau was upset. Yet, despite this, God indeed gives him Abraham's promises on his journey to Uncle Laban's.

Response

We don't really learn new things about God in this section. It's more like "the continuing story," showing that God continues his work with Abraham through Isaac and eventually through Jacob.

What's really interesting to me is how constantly, in Genesis, the characters' moral failings are more or less irrelevant to what God is doing with them. Lie about your wife? Get richer! Have a kid with your slave instead of trusting me? Get two great nations! Cheat your brother out of your blessings? I'll bless you!

The funny thing is, at this point, God is saying that he'll bless Isaac because all the great stuff Abraham did, and Abraham did do great stuff, but really only because God developed him to that point despite many failures.

In some ways, Genesis isn't so concerned about how right or wrong the characters' actions are, so much as showing how God is moving forward with his plans.

It shows that God is concerned with bigger things than striking me with lightning because I told a lie or something. Especially in Genesis, it seems his overall goal is to restore creation to the way he originally made it: Filled with beauty and justice and harmony and with man leading the way justly and under God's wing.

With the people he's dealing with, he's got a long way to go.