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Genesis |
Creation through the time of Israelites in Egypt. Adam and Eve, Abel and Cain, Noah, Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. Chapter 1 : Creation I am not a literalist, so I am not bothered by any contradictions with science. The view is clearly Earth-centric, the fact that day/night would differ on other planets, etc. God created the universe! Rest is important. Man has dominion over plants and animals. Chapter 2-3: Adam and Eve The link
between knowledge and sin (knowledge of sin leads to shame which
distances us from God). The idea that shrewdness (snake) may be
linked with evil. Shame. Attempt to be like God ("You
will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and
evil."). Woman receives special punishment (pain of
childbirth, man as master). "Dust to dust". Chapter 4: Abel and Cain 3:7 "Sin
is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it."
Jealousy, anger, insufficiency of tribute. Murder. Self-defense (Lamech). Note: multiple marriages are tolerated... Chapter 5: Adam to Noah Skimmed - a list of descendants who lived many years Chapter 6-9: Noah and the Flood The notion that virtually no one pleased God (we are all sinners). Noah as only blameless man. Limit of 120 years... God's promise not to "curse the earth" 8:21 "even though people's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood" ?: 6:4 Sons of God having relations with human women producing giants that became the heroes mentioned in legends of old. Seems an awkward attempt to reconcile with early history... Chapter 10: Descendants Skimmed Chapter 11: Tower of Babel Mythology? God sees the building of a tower as accomplishing too much, scatters people throughout the world and provides lots of different languages. Pride (in the tower). Chapter 12-17: Abram/Abraham and Lot Lord blesses Abram (eventually Abraham). Hagar yields Ishmael. Is the Moslem religion based on Ishmael? 16:10-12 "...I will give you more descendants than you can count...This son of yours will be a wild one - free and untamed as a wild donkey! He will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. Yes, he will live at odds with the rest of his brothers." Covenant with Abram - becomes Abraham. Circumcision. ?: Abram is constantly pretending not to be wedded to the beautiful Sarah to avoid being killed for her. God constantly has to intervene. Why doesn't Abram have the burden and the interventions save his life? Why tempt others? Chapter 18-19: Sodom and Gomorrah Sarah (90) yields Isaac. Sodom and Gomorrah - Abraham has an interesting conversation with God where he asks if the Lord will spare the cities if there are 50, then 45 and finally 10 innocent people. In my Bible, Genesis 19:1-8 tells a strange tale - two angels visit Lot, the men of Sodom demand sex with them, Lot offers his two virgin daughters instead... The evil cities are utterly destroyed - Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. 19:20-37 has Lot's daughters get him drunk and get pregnant by him... Chapter 20: Abimelech Another example of Abraham pretending not to be married. Sarah is not violated but the king is persuaded to increase Abraham's wealth. Another chapter that does not speak to me yet... Chapter 21-26: Isaac Hagar and Ishmael sent away. Isaac born. God tests Abraham and provides a ram to sacrifice instead of his son. Isaac marries Rebekah who proves her worth by being generous. Abraham fathers more children and lives to 175 (what happened to the 120 limit above?). Jacob and Esau are born (twins, Esau first). Isaac/Rebekah pull the same brother/sister act that Abram/Sarah did (on the same king). Chapters 27-35 : Jacob and Esau Jacob (with Rebekah's help) tricks the aging Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing. Jacob is sent away for his safety. Jacob works for a relative to win the hand of Rachel. He is tricked into marrying Leah, marries Rachel a week later and works another seven years in compensation. Rachel and Leah compete for Jacob's attentions and children (using surrogates as needed). Jacob is clever and his wealth grows. God assists Jacob in gaining wealth even as Laban tries to cheat him. Eventually he has to flee. A daughter is raped by a local prince - the prince and his people agree to circumcision and inter-marriage, while healing - they are all killed. Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. Jacob has 12 sons. Chapter 36: Esau's descendants Skimmed... Chapter 37-50: Joseph Other than
Chapters 1-3, my favorite chapters in Genesis are the stories
surrounding Joseph. Joseph and Benjamin are the only two issue of
Rachel. Joseph is born with the gift of interpreting dreams -
dreams that get him in trouble with his half-brothers. Joseph is
sold and Jacob is deceived with a bloody robe. Chapter 38 is an
interesting side tale of Judah - his son Er marries Tamar, but is
evil and God kills him. Onan marries Tamar, but spills semen to
avoid his son being Er's heir and is killed. Judah doesn't want
her to marry another son and sends her away. She pretends to be a
prostitute and sleeps with him, obtaining identification as
payment. As her pregnancy develops, Judah finds out his
daughter-in-law is pregnant and means to have her killed. Then she
proves he is the father and is spared. Favorite Images: Original sin, Joseph's forgiveness in the face of cruelty/dishonesty, saving during good times for lean, the importance of rest.
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