Exodus
The book of Genesis (Greek for "origin, source") gets its name from its opening verse ("In the beginning ..:'), which introduces the account of God's creating the world. Yet Genesis focuses on many more beginnings: the beginning of the sin of humankind; the new beginning of the world through Noah; the beginning of separation into nations; the beginning of the chosen nation of Israel; and, encompassing all these beginnings, the beginning of God's redemptive work in the world. Genesis does not simply describe the past, therefore; it also anticipates the future: God's triumph over sin through Jesus Christ and the final renewal of God's original creation. Indeed, the overarching concern of Genesis consists in conveying the theological message that not even human sin will thwart God's ultimate purposes - a message made even clearer by a presentation not only of the faith but also of the foibles of the chosen nation's patriarchs.
Content
Genesis does not attempt to prove God's existence; rather, the book assumes it. By narrating creation, the fall, the flood, and the Tower of Babel, chapters i-u tell why God's actions in the rest of Genesis - and in the rest of biblical history - are necessary in the first place. Called the "prologue" to Genesis, these chapters deal with proto-history, events that took place long before the invention of writing. Undoubtedly passed down orally for many generations before being gathered and written down, the stories in Genesis 1-11 display many parallels with other ancient Near Eastern tales. Yet certain distinctives make the Genesis accounts stand out as unique in the ancient world: their insistence on a single, all-powerful God; their portrayal of God's loving concern for humans and his faithfulness to them; and the moral regression (not progression) of humankind.
More substantive evidence exists for locating the events of chapters 12-50 (the patriarchal narratives) in history than for the earlier chapters of Genesis. The names of the patriarchs, certain of their social customs (such as adopting a slave as one's heir), and their marriage practices argue that Abraham and his descendants lived in the early and millennium B.C. Yet the primary concern of the book as a whole remains theological, not historical or scientific, in the modern sense, and the central theme of chapters 12-50 emerges clearly: God keeps his promises.
By the end of Genesis, however, God has only begun to fulfill the promises of land, progeny, and blessing that he made to Abraham. But by concluding with the death of Joseph, the last of the patriarchs, Genesis sets the stage for the emergence of the nation of Israel, which will both embody them and realize them fully.
Authorship
Genesis does not claim for itself a particular author or time of writing. The traditional view asserts that Moses authored Genesis, as well as Exodus through Deuteronomy (the "Five Books of Moses"), in the late and millennium. Beginning in the 19th century A.D., scholars viewed Genesis as a compilation by three editors: the Yahwist (loth century B.C.), who used the name "Yahweh" for God; the Elohist (9th century), who used the name "Elohim" for God; and the Priestly writer (6th century), who added the "priestly" or "cultic" material. In more recent years, scholars have criticized and revised this "Documentary Hypothesis," but they have not reached a consensus concerning the date or authorship of Genesis.
Creation and Modern Science
The uniform and pervasive teaching of Scripture is that God, for his own glory, in a creative act of perfect freedom effected by his omnipotent word, brought into being out of nothing everything that exists, whether spiritual or material, invisible or visible, and that he has assigned to all of his creatures their distinctive attributes, behaviors, and relations. Scripture also uniformly and pervasively teaches that God, by his omnipotent word, upholds and sustains all of his creatures moment by moment in all of their attributes, behaviors, and relations. The regular patterns of the world are, in the view of Scripture, evidences of God's covenantal faithfulness toward creation and his people.
These twin biblical doctrines of creation and providence provide one of the foundations on which the modern scientific enterprise rests. For science even to be possible, the world to be investigated scientifically must be characterized by order, structure, and regular patterns of behavior, because science is the ongoing process of detecting by observation, experiment, and measurement, and of understanding through theoretical reflection, the patterns of composition, structure, behavior, and history in the natural world. It is in the biblical conceptions of creation and providence that we are given a worldview that accounts for the universe as an orderly cosmos.
Other worldviews provide no satisfactory grounds as to why the world should be orderly or why the world may not at any moment dissolve into disorder or even nonexistence.
Scripture also teaches that human beings are created and sustained by the triune God. It regards them as God's image-bearers, capable of intimate fellowship with the Creator, and also as representatives of God placed on earth with the task of ruling and developing it. The assignment of this status and task implies that humans possess the capacities for coming into fruitful contact with the world and developing an understanding of the observations made about the world. Although Scripture further teaches that the human race has rebelled against the Creator, that it stands in need of redemption through Christ, and that all human faculties have been marred and tainted by sin, it denies that we have altogether lost the capacity for careful observation and reasoned thinking about our surroundings.
The biblical doctrine of humanity, therefore, provides the other foundation on which the scientific enterprise rests. In order for science to function, the orderly world must be investigated. The world to be investigated needs to be observed, apprehended, and understood by those in the role of knowing investigators. Just as there is no science in a world of chaos, there
is no science in a world without intelligent observers. It is the biblical worldview that accounts for human beings as potentially careful observers and reasoned thinkers. Other worldviews provide no satisfactory grounds as to why we should be able to make intelligible contact with our surroundings or even why there should be humans in the first place.
Modern theoretical science began to flourish during the 15th through 17th centuries, in part because the prevailing culture of western Europe gradually liberated itself from unbiblical modes of thinking that had strongly shaped the medieval worldview. That culture also began to work out the implications of the biblical conception of a cosmos freely created by God. The scientific achievements of the last five centuries have been breathtaking. Ever since Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton led the way to an understanding of the motions of the solar system, scientific knowledge has grown at breakneck pace. Physicists have unraveled the structure of matter, detecting a host of exotic particles and determining the nature of their interactions. They have discovered the relationship of matter to various forms of energy, and both matter and energy have been interpreted in terms of quantum theory. The laws of thermodynamics, gravitation, relativity, and electromagnetic radiation rank high among the triumphs of physics.
By training increasingly sophisticated instruments on the skies, astronomers have discovered billions of galaxies, gaseous nebulae, and untold numbers of stars in various stages of development, from main-sequence stars to black holes. They have begun to understand the formation of galaxies and planetary systems. Cosmologists have discovered that the universe is expanding, developed an understanding of the formation of the chemical elements in stars and novae, and worked out many details of the initial stages of the historical unfolding of the universe.
Chemical investigation led to the atomic theory of matter and establishment of the periodic table of the chemical elements. Chemists have discerned the principles of chemical bonding, chemical equilibrium, and reaction kinetics. In addition, they have determined the physical conditions of a wealth of chemical reactions and unraveled the internal structures and properties of a staggering number of crystalline solids, liquids, solutions, and gases.
Biological studies have led to an awareness of the geographical distribution of much of the world's fauna and flora, and microscopes have disclosed the existence of a vast array of onecelled organisms and viruses. Great progress has been made toward an understanding of the interrelationships among living creatures in space and time. Biochemists have unraveled many of the functions of structures within cells and the chemical behavior of the organic compounds that compose them. The basic principles of genetic inheritance
have been discovered, and the functions of individual genes, human and otherwise, are presently being worked out.
Geological investigation has disclosed the broad outlines of the earth's internal structure, the physical processes that occur on earth's surface and in its interior, and the modes of origin of a vast array of rock types and minerals. Geologists have determined the age of the planet and deciphered the broad outlines of its very complex and dynamic 4.55 billion-year history that includes the formation of earth's crust and its transformation through episodes of mountain building, magmatic intrusion, volcanism, seismicity, erosion, sedimentation, metamorphism, ore and petroleum formation, continental drift, and sea-floor spreading. The rich storehouse of fossils preserved in the earth's sedimentary rock cover contains a record of the progress of life on earth from its beginnings, with prokaryotic organisms at least 3.5 billion years ago to the appearance of eukaryotes at least 2 billion years ago, to the first appearance of multicellular life forms about 700 million years ago, to the appearance of dinosaurs about 130 million years ago, to the appearance of hominids a few million years ago, and, finally, to the climactic appearance of anatomically modern humans within the past several tens of thousands of years.
The scientific view of the universe that has been developed through several centuries of research has been the fruit of the cooperative labors of both Christians and unbelievers. The fact that our picture of the world
has been shaped in part by the contributions of outstanding Christian scientists such as Copernicus, Kepler, Maxwell, Faraday, Buckland, Dana, Gray, Kelvin, Pasteur, and a host of others serves as a warning against the cavalier dismissal of the scientific enterprise as though it were inherently opposed to Christianity and against the rejection of scientific conclusions that are incorrectly viewed as contradicting Scripture. Although many Christians reject the concept of an ancient universe or the evolution of life, these concepts are not inconsistent with the Genesis account of creation. Genesis 1 is not an eyewitness, journalistic report but a theological statement of God's creative work presented in a stylized ancient Near Eastern literary form that is full of imagery and numerological symbolism and that is consciously directed against the mythological notions of Israel's polytheistic neighbors.
Scripture is silent regarding the history of life. Although there remains much discussion about the mechanisms of change, the fossil record makes it clear that life has changed through time. Moreover, Scripture teaches neither a young earth nor creation of the world in six literal days. The idea of a young earth and a theory of flood geology are not demanded by the biblical text, and they are hopelessly incompatible with the wealth of physical evidence that God has placed on earth and that has been critically scrutinized in great detail by tens of thousands of geologists, including a host of Christians, for more than two centuries.
Centuries of scientific endeavor have resulted in a picture of a very dynamic, almost inconceivably complex, magnificently varied, and gradually developing universe that is staggeringly vast both temporally and spatially. Rather than reject the modern
scientific picture of the universe, the Bible-believer ought to rejoice that that picture provides overflowing warrant for sensing the incomprehensible greatness of God, praising him for this "theater
of his glory," and appreciating and protecting his spectacular achievement.
DAVIS A. YOUNG
1:1-2:3 The Creation
Genesis begins with a theological account of the one, sovereign God's creation of the world. In this account, God first creates the heavens and the earth and then brings order to their originally chaotic state.
God needs only to speak, and his word is accomplished (cf. Ps. 33:6; John 1:1-3). As he reviews each new creative act, God declares it "good" The opening verses of Genesis thus "introduce" us to God. They tell us not only of his great power but also of his interest in order and goodness and of his relationship to his creation.
This opening section serves as a prologue to the book as a whole by setting the stage for the Creator's continued involvement throughout history. Not only does God create light, but also the lights - the sun, moon, and stars (days one and four); not only the sky and sea, but also the creatures that live in them - birds and fish (days two and five); not only land and vegetation, but also those that live on them and are sustained by them - animals and humans (days three and six).
The recounting of creation in this order is not meant to convey events chronologically so much as it serves as a literary device highlighting the final, seventh day, which God declares "holy" and on which he rests. Day seven stands alone as the culmination of God's work and later becomes associated with the Sabbath day of rest.
God's creation of humans emerges as the crowning event of his creative activity. He begins by addressing the angels in his heavenly court, "Let us make man in our image," implying humans' likeness to these supernatural beings as well as to God. Then, in addition to creating both male and female "in his own image, he blesses them and charges them to rule over the rest of creation. This unique relationship to the world around them and to God himself not only brings privileges but also the responsibility of relating to the world and functioning in it as God does (both imitating his creative and caring acts on the human level and resting from them; cf. Proverbs 8).
Further, God's command that humans "be fruitful and multiply" contrasts with other ancient Mesopotamian stories wherein the gods curtail human fertility to prevent their becoming too numerous. Not so the God of Genesis, who thus from the beginning makes sexual intercourse between husband and wife an integral part of his good plan. See "Other Ancient Accounts of Creation" (83-84).
The repeated phrase, "and there was evening, and there was morning," accounts for each "day" of creation according to the ancient Hebrew understanding in which a 24-hour day begins at sunset and ends with the following sunset. But "day" here may refer more generally to the periods of God's creative activity, not to 24-hour days, as the Hebrew word for "day" can connote differing lengths - and even indefinite periods - of time. Indeed, God created time itself, but according to the creation account not until the fourth "day."
The reader of Genesis - and of the rest of the Bible - should bear in mind that these God-inspired texts (see "Divine and Human" [15-17]) have primarily theological purposes and were not intended to reflect the discoveries of modern science, nor do they always give adequate information to answer the questions modern science poses (see "Creation and Modern Science" [78-80]). Rather, they reflect the social and religious beliefs and practices of the times during which they were composed. For example, the creation account in Genesis implicitly attacks polytheism, which deified the sun, moon, stars, sea, land, and animals, by declaring all of nature a mere creation of the one true God.
2:4-3:24 The Fall
Creation complete, the narrative quickly moves on to describe how this "good" world went bad. The writer first revisits day six by giving more details about the creation of humans. God first makes Adam (akin to the Hebrew word for "ground," used to refer to humankind throughout the Old Testament) from the "dust of the earth" and breathes life into him. God provides sustenance for Adam in a garden called Eden ("delight") but forbids him to eat the fruit of one of its trees - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - for doing so would represent rebellion and lead to independence from the Creator.
Two of the rivers said to have branched out from Eden are the Tigris and Euphrates, which flow alongside and through modern Iraq, respectively, and empty into the Persian Gulf. But we cannot pinpoint an exact location for the originally idyllic garden.
After bringing all the rest of the creatures for Adam to name, God sees that Adam does not have a "suitable helper" - a situation God declares for the first time "not good." So he sets about providing a creature that would complement Adam. God creates a "woman" as Adam's equal in status (he creates both in his image), and by naming her, Adam also discerns and affirms her created uniqueness.
But the woman falls prey to the deceit of the serpent, the craftiest of the wild animals God has made. Significantly, she knows about God's restriction concerning eating from the "tree which is in the middle of the garden," but it is the serpent that tells her that its fruit would make her "like God, knowing good and evil." "Knowing" here does not denote the ability to discern between good and evil, but rather choosing either good and evil. Accepting the serpent's denial of the "death penalty" for the disobedience that God has warned of, the temptation proves too much, and the woman succumbs, with Adam soon to follow. Thus it comes out that God granted free will to humans from the start.
The serpent's deceit does not negate the hu mans' responsibility for disobedience, however, nor does it lessen its consequences. Knowing full well what has happened, God visits Adam and his wife in the garden and elicits their confession of sin, of which they are now fully aware. He then pronounces judgment - by cursing first the serpent (foreshadowing God's ultimate triumph in Christ over Satan and also offering redemptive hope for humankind), next the woman, and finally Adam - before evicting them from Eden, lest they also eat from the tree of life and live forever.
The serpent proven wrong, Adam and Eve (now finally named, meaning "living" or "life") find that the real curse does not lie in toiling "by the sweat of your face," or in suffering pain in childbirth, or in feeling the tension that sin introduced into their husband-wife relationship. Rather, the curse reaches a deeper level: loss of the intimate fellowship with their Creator that they had enjoyed in the garden. Yet though God "drove the man out" and stationed cherubim (ancient Near Eastern guardians of holy places) to guard against Adam and Eve's reentry into Eden, he did not forsake them. Indeed, before banishing them from the earthly paradise, God himself "made garments of skin" to clothe them.
4 The Spread of Sin
Now outside Eden, Adam and Eve begin to fulfill God's command to "be fruitful and multiply." Eve gives birth to two sons, Cain and Abel, who become a farmer and a shepherd, respectively. Both brothers present offerings to God from the fruits of their labor, but God accepts only Abel's. This rejection angers Cain, so God helps him to recognize what has made his offering unacceptable (perhaps lack of faith or the failure to give God the best of his yield), as well as what to do to correct the situation ("do well," V. 7).
But not even God's counsel prompts Cain to change his heart. His bitter resentment only intensifies, and he kills Abel. Thus the destructive effects of sin spread from the human-divine and husband-wife relationships to break down the bonds of brotherhood also. As with Adam and Eve in the garden, God queries Cain concerning the sin that he knows Cain has committed. But unlike Adam and Eve, who at least acknowledged their wrong action, Cain tries to evade the question. God confronts him with the facts and then sentences Cain to a life of vagrancy and nomadism.
God answers Cain's protest that the punishment is too harsh by again showing continued care for his rebellious creatures. He sets a "mark" on Cain as a sign of God's protection from those who might seek to kill him (the earth now appearing populated beyond the immediate family of Adam and Eve). Cain then proceeds even farther from Eden to the land of Nod (from Hebrew "wandering").
The genealogy of Cain's line in verses 17-26 portrays the development of human creativity in city building, music, and metalworking. But it also shows the intensification of the effects of sin by recounting the boast of Cain's descendant Lamech that he has "killed a man." Adam and Eve shifted the blame for their sin; Cain avoided confessing his altogether; and now Lamech actually takes pride in wrongdoing.
Yet hope for humankind's redemption appears again through the God-fearing line of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, whose genealogy appears in chapter 5.
5:1-6:8 The Line of Adam
Chapter 5 traces the beginnings of the genealogical line through which God will redeem fallen humanity. It mentions io fathers from Adam to Noah and gives similar information for each: his age at the birth of his first son, his life span thereafter, a mention that he had other children, and his age when he died. Only the verses about Enoch depart from this formula. Presumably because Enoch "walked with God," he did not die as the others did. Rather, God "took him" (cf. Elijah, 2 Kgs. 2:11).
The ages of the patriarchs mentioned here range from 777 to 969 years (for Methuselah) and seem incomprehensible today, although compared to other ancient Near Eastern documents (e.g., the Sumerian King List) these ages appear quite modest. Scholars have made various attempts to reconcile these numbers with a modern understanding of human life span. They include the suggestion that one "year" meant a shorter period than 12 months; that the ages refer not to the life span of the father himself but to that of his clan; or that the numbers symbolize astronomical periods. Although the preciseness of the ages given may seem to argue for a literal accounting of years, numbers in the Bible often convey importance or symbolic significance rather than actual quantity.
Verses i-8 of chapter 6 tell of spirit-beings (or angels; Job 1:6; 2:1) marrying human women, and these women bore them children who became "mighty men" (Nephilim, V. 4). This account parallels other ancient Near Eastern stories of divine-human marriages that produced superhuman progeny and implies the practice of sacred prostitution for the purpose of ensuring fertility (both of the soil in farming and in normal human marriages). But this grieves God greatly, and because humankind seems bent on pursuing wickedness, God resolves to destroy not only humans but also all other creatures that inhabit the earth and sky. As the extent of sin intensifies, so does the degree of God's judgment.
Once again, however, God appears willing to redeem, for in noticing one man's righteousness - Noah's - he plans an alternative to the total destruction of his originally good creation. Yet the balance of initiative-taking in the redemptive process continues to shift from God to humans to an even greater degree with Noah. God takes complete initiative in clothing Adam and Eve without any request on their part; Cain must protest before God "marks" him as protected; but Noah himself does the "finding" of "favor in God's sight," and in the verses to follow he must also in effect save himself (by building the ark), despite no mention of any particular sin on Noah's part. This shift may provide the first clue that by this point Noah shares the sin of humankind in general.
6:9-8:22 Noah and the Flood
Familiar today as a children's Bible story, the account of Noah and the flood finds a number of ancient parallels, the closest of which come from Mesopotamia. Although the stories appear to share some basic elements (e.g., survival of one family in a boat, the boat's coming to rest on a mountaintop after the rains had ceased, sending out of a bird to determine whether dry ground had reappeared), the biblical account may actually be intended to correct a number of notions in these extrabiblical tales. See "Flood Stories in the Bible and the Ancient Near East" (86-87).
Other Ancient Accounts of Creation
Accounts of creation occur among most peoples throughout the world. Culturally and chronologically, those closest to the biblical accounts may be found in written sources from ancient Egypt, Canaan, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia.
Egyptian sources are widely scattered, especially in coffin texts and pyramid texts. They generally represent the principle of water as original and the divine Atum as generating the earliest created gods, who then reproduce and create the world. The material principle is represented by Atum, who generates through masturbation, spitting, his own speech, or other physical techniques and thereby evolves into creation's diversity. The earliest created deities, Shu and Tefnut, represent life and order in the universe. Although there is significant variation, these principles occur repeatedly throughout the narratives of creation. They focus on the unity and harmony
of life as part of the created order. They have little resemblance to the biblical account of creation.
Fragment of Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation epic. (British Museum)
No Canaanite accounts of creation have been found as yet in the archaeological excavations of the region, even at Ugarit, the site of so many myths dating from the Late Bronze Age. Several motifs associated with biblical creation accounts do occur in the myths, however. Foremost is the conflict between Baal and the monsters and forces of the sea, which some have compared with the God of Israel's victory over the sea and its monsters, but this is clearly not an account of creation. A fragment of the Babylonian Atrahasis Epic has been found at Ugarit (see below).
In the 4th century A.D. Eusebius of Caesarea copied excerpts from the work of Philo of Byblos (ca. ioo), who claims to have translated from Phoenician ancient accounts of the Canaanite religion. In what may be an eclectic source
with strong Hellenistic influence, the creation of the universe is ascribed to a gaseous chaos from which wind produced a moist matter. Creatures were produced or awakened as a result of a combination of rain, wind, thunder, and lightning. Figures identified as wind and night brought about people who settled in Phoenicia. The fragmentary material describes the building of a city, the introduction of various forms of culture, and especially the origins of the worship and cult of different deities.
From Anatolia, the older myths of Illuyanka present two versions of a battle between the storm-god and a serpent. While this shares some motifs with the Canaanite tradition of the struggles of the storm-god and the biblical accounts as discussed above, it falls short of a full creation story.
Mesopotamia produced the largest collection of creation stories yet found and also includes some stories featuring one or more parallels with the biblical stories of creation. The best known of these is Enuma Elish, which describes how Marduk achieved leadership among the gods and cut up the watery monster, Tiamat. From her body he created the heaven and the earth. A form of this myth, in seven tablets, represents a NeoBabylonian account of the exaltation of their chief god, Marduk. No recognizable form of this story predates 1100 B.C., however.
The closest parallel with Genesis 1-11 and its account of the creation of humanity and the whole sweep of genealogy and narrative occurs in the Old Babylonian Atrahasis Epic, itself derived in part from the earlier Sumerian story of Enki and Ninmah. It says that people were created to do the work of obtaining food for the gods, thus allowing the gods to rest. Despite repeated claims by scholars, the Babylonian creation accounts and their predecessors have little in common with the Genesis accounts of creation, and they share few details (unlike the flood stories). Nevertheless, these accounts are closer than other ancient mythologies and point in some measure to a common heritage in West Semitic Amorite culture. The international period of
the Amarna Age (14th century B.C.) remains a possible time for the exchange of such texts, although shared motifs date much earlier.
For Further Reading
tions from the Biblical World. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
RICHARD S. HESS
The Mesopotamian epics of Atrahasis and Gilgamesh portray multiple gods causing a flood - which they appear unable to control - in an attempt to curb the population growth of humans, who are creating too much noise. Their discovery of survivors surprises them, and they therefore devise other ways of preventing humans from reproducing (miscarriage and female infertility).
Genesis, however, describes the saving act of the one and only God in intentionally preserving a remnant of his creatures through his own destruction of creation for its rebellion against him. God remains in control of the flood throughout and afterward charges Noah to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" (cf. 1:28). These examples comprise only some of the differences in detail and theological perspective between the biblical account and ancient Mesopotamian parallels.
Theologically speaking, the flood represents an opportunity to "begin again." God returns the earth (or at least that region familiar to Noah) to a nearly primeval state by eliminating all but a remnant of the creatures that inhabit land and sky, as well as by making land and water indistinguishable from one another again (the floodwaters covered even the mountaintops). God then "re-creates" the earth by causing a wind to pass over it; this wind stops the rain and allows the waters to recede from the land once again (cf. 1:1, where God's Spirit moves over the surface of the waters while the earth was still "formless and void"). The righteous Noah emerges from the ark as an Adam figure charged with repopulating the world born anew.
In 6:13-21 God informs Noah of his plans to destroy the earth and its inhabitants because of humankind's corruption. God gives Noah specific (but not complete) instructions for building an ark as a means of escape for Noah, his sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth), the wives of all four, and male and female representatives of each species of bird, animal, and "creeping thing." Righteous man that he is, Noah follows God's instructions to the letter; the group enters the ark, and the rains begin after seven days.
The 40-day deluge that follows, as well as the parallel Mesopotamian flood stories, may recall local flooding attested in the archaeological record of the area ca. 4000-3000 B.c. Alternatively, the stories may relate to the end of the Ice Age (ca. io,ooo), when heavy rains combined with melting ice to cover previously dry land. The "forty days and forty nights" may symbolize a lengthy period of time rather than an exact number.
Having accomplished his purpose of blotting out "every living thing that was upon the face of the land," God remembers the remnant of his original creation in the ark, and he "restrains" the rains. As the waters recede, the ark comes to rest "upon the mountains of Ararat" (ancient Urartu). This designation refers to the general area of modern Armenia and bordering areas in Turkey and Iran, not modern Mount Ararat.
Despite determining on his own that habitable land has reappeared, Noah waits for God's command to exit the ark. His first act thereafter consists in building "an altar to the Lord" and making animal sacrifices. The offerings please God so much that he promises never again to destroy the earth's inhabitants. Thus it appears that Noah's sacrifices atone for the sins of humankind in general, not only sins specific to Noah himself.
9:1-17 The Covenant with Noah
The Noahic covenant is the first of several formal "agreements" between God and humans in the Old Testament. The basic covenantal formula finds parallels in ancient Near Eastern literature (particularly from the Hittites) wherein an overlord establishes a legal relationship with a vassal. In the biblical covenants with Noah and later Abraham, the nation of Israel (through Moses), and David, God establishes the terms of the agreement - his requirements, the blessings for fulfilling them, and the curses for not fulfilling them. Jesus introduces the new and final covenant (or "testament") - one of grace through faith in him. See "Covenants" (141-44).
The beginning paragraphs of chapter 9 restate God's command to Noah that he and his family repopulate the earth, as well as God's promise never again to destroy his creatures with a flood. Several new elements also appear here. First, God "gives" all other living creatures to Noah as food. The requirement that humans show respect for animals' God-given life by not consuming their blood, however, later becomes an important Hebrew food law (Lev. 3:17; Deut. 12:16-25).
At the same time, God makes clear the punishment for taking the life of a human: the death of the killer. While God allows humans to kill other creatures for food, he protects the unique status of those made in his image by pronouncing the severest of sentences for their murder.
Finally, God pledges to remember his promise (not only to humans, but also to "every living creature of all flesh") never again to destroy the earth with a flood, and he establishes the rainbow as the sign of his covenant.
9:18-29 The Sin of Ham
This short note reveals the continued presence of sin in the postflood world. For the first time we hear of personal shortcomings in Noah (drunkenness and self-exposure). His youngest son, Ham, outdoes his father in sin by failing to honor him. (Not only does Ham view his father naked, but he also tells his brothers about the scene.) Yet Noah curses Ham's offspring, Canaan, for the infraction, rather than Ham himself. The immoral Canaanites later emerge as one of the peoples whom God instructs the Israelites to annihilate when they enter the promised land. In contrast, the honorable action of Shem and Japheth in covering "their father's nakedness" meets with Noah's blessing.
10
The genealogies of Noah's sons are intended to account for the development of the separate nations and languages of the biblical world after the flood (although not all nations known in ancient Israel appear in them). Some of the relationships this "Table of Nations" lists may represent treaty partnerships rather than strict bloodlines. The generations of Japheth and Ham appear first, and then those of Shem, from whom God's chosen line develops. (A fuller account of Shem's genealogy appears in 11:10-26.)
Flood Stories in the Bible and the Ancient Near East
The story of the Genesis flood featuring godly Noah, the ark, and animals captures the imagination of every Sunday-school child. This is so even if they are sheltered from the impressive aspect of judgment that is the account's purpose to reveal. The overwhelming magnitude of this act of judgment also imprinted the tale indelibly in ancient literature. Beginning centuries before the book of Genesis took shape, the story of a massive, destructive flood was circulating in written form in Mesopotamia. As the tale was read or, more often, recounted through long centuries of family and community gatherings, transformations occurred that shaped the details of the telling to the culture of the audience. Like Nathaniel Hawthorne adapting the myths of classical Greece to his 19th-century audience in the Wonder Book, or Walt Disney reshaping the Arabian Nights in the movie Aladdin, ancient audiences interpreted the epic event to reflect their particular worldview. Comparing the versions tells us more about the cultures in which they were preserved than about the trail of their literary evolution. Whether or not the Bible is related to the ancient Near Eastern material through exchange of literary or oral traditions, the similarities make it difficult to dissociate them. Most telling is the fact that both include the episode
of birds being sent to determine when it is safe to leave the ark.
Because of the stature accorded the Bible among Christians, and its long history in Western thought, it generally serves as the standard against which other accounts are measured. Those who accept the Bible as God's word have no difficulty attributing reliability to the version preserved in Genesis. Nevertheless, study of the other versions can also offer windows of illumination into the ancient world.
Sources
The earliest flood story, originating before 2000 B.c., is in Sumerian and recounts the story of Ziusudra. The oldest Babylonian account is found in the Atrahasis Epic, dating to early in the 2nd millennium. The best-known version from Mesopotamia is imbedded in the Gilgamesh Epic and explains how Utnapishtim (the flood hero) gained eternal life (which Gilgamesh was seeking). These three accounts mark stages in a single tradition, as the similarities clearly indicate.
Comparisons
What Is God Like? In the biblical flood story God is distressed with the behavior of the people he has created. In the monotheistic setting of Genesis, it is his decision alone to send the flood and his
decision to preserve Noah and his family alive. He is portrayed as sadly resigned to this course of action, the only appropriate response. The Mesopotamian versions derive from a polytheistic culture and therefore portray the gods deliberating in a council. The decision to send the flood is portrayed as a reaction of angry frustration. As the story progresses, the gods are seen to be deceptive, short-sighted, and absorbed in petty squabbles.
Why Was the Flood Sent? Genesis documents the downward slide of humanity from the idyllic garden to the chaotic anarchy that introduces the flood story. Violence has become an incorrigible way of life, and the waters are sent as an act of justice. In the Mesopotamian tradition, Atrahasis preserves most clearly the reasons for the flood. People had been created to do the work that the gods had tired of doing. But the growing population and the inevitable internal strife that resulted had made even more work for the gods, as people were constantly disturbing them with their troubles, demands, and requests. All of this is captured as the "noise" of humankind that led the gods to embark on a course of total destruction.
Why Was It That Someone Survived? Righteous Noah attracted God's attention as one who should not share in the fate of the rest of the population. Special provision was therefore made for Noah to be spared. Mesopotamian accounts agree among themselves that the plan of the gods was that no one should survive. Despite the fact that they were sworn to secrecy concerning the plans of the assembly, one of their number, Ea, successfully carried out a scheme to inform his favorite human of the coming flood. He then instructed him secretly how to keep his knowledge a secret from the gods and the rest of the people and survive the seven days of the flood. His boat resembled a temple and saved not just his family but also various skilled workmen so
that the arts of civilization could be preserved.
What Was the Outcome of the Flood? When Noah disembarked from the ark, he offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving and received covenantal promises that God would preserve a certain order in the cosmos rather than opposing the chaos of human sin by the chaos of flooding waters. When the Mesopotamian flood heroes emerged, they offered a sacrifice of appeasement to calm the anger of the gods. The gods had forgotten how much they were dependent on humans to supply them with food (sacrifices) and gathered around hungrily, wondering how
such a foolish decision (the flood) could have been made. The hero is grudgingly granted eternal life by the head of the gods, who remains miffed that word of the flood leaked out.
The flood stories from the ancient Near East and from around the world offer persuasive evidence that a flood of significant magnitude did in fact occur and was remembered. The accounts from the ancient Near East are closest to the biblical account and help us to see how the Israelites would have understood the entire event differently from their neighbors.
JOHN H. WALTON
The main stairway of Ur-nammu's ziggurat at Ur, a temple "stair-tower" resembling the biblical tower of Babel. (Wikimedia Commons)
11:1-9 The Tower of Babel
These verses represent a flashback to the time before the nations of the world became distinct from one another. They present the geographic scattering of peoples and the development of different languages as purposeful acts of God to prevent humans from trying, like gods, to ascend into heaven itself. Since all people speak the same language, they can and do cooperate in an effort to build a tower that will help them achieve this goal. But instead, God descends from heaven and foils their plans. In seeking self-reliance apart from God (by making a "name" for themselves), they lose the very thing they seek to protect - geographic solidarity (v. 4).
This story takes place in Shinar (ancient Sumer, or Babylonia), whose inhabitants achieved notoriety for the ziggurat, a multisto ried tower topped with a temple where humans supposedly met with the gods. Babel itself means "gate of god," but here the one true God turns the plan of humans to achieve semidivine status into a disaster of "confusion" (Heb. Mal, perhaps a pun). Here again is a refutation of the polytheism prevalent in the ancient Near East.
Old Testament History and History Writing
History is a sequential and systematic reconstruction of the past. The Old Testament presents a continuous history of the people of Israel from its earliest beginnings until the events leading to the rise of Judaism. Until recently, the biblical books were universally accepted as presenting an accurate description of the history of Israel; but two issues have been raised regarding the biblical account. The first is whether the Old Testament is a reliable source for reconstructing the history of Israel. The second is whether the text provides an accurate record of Israel's past.
Modern-day historians make a genuine effort to present an accurate account of the events of the past. With the invention of the printing press, the preservation of records became easier, allowing more accurate reconstruction of historical events; but in ancient societies writers had fewer written records, which made critical evaluation of their sources more difficult. For this reason they simply passed on what they had received from others or reworked their material in order to communicate their particular message.
Historiography is the presentation of history based on the examination, evaluation, and selection of past historical events in order to communicate a message to a specific audience. In studying the history of Israel, the reader must understand the manner in which
the writers selected, combined, and arranged the written and oral traditions of Israel in order to express theological concerns and religious emphases. Thus, in writing their history, the writers first selected the material that would provide support to their ideological views, evaluated their material in the light of their intended aim, and produced their work to communicate their views. This combination of the written and oral traditions, which gave birth to the narratives of the Old Testament, is the result of the theological purpose of the writers that shaped the collection of the material and the conclusions of their work. Thus the writer or writers are the interpreters of their material, and they selected and put together as a literary unit only those materials that gave meaning to their concern.
In the English Bible the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings are classified as historical books, but the Hebrew Bible regards them as prophetical books. These are commonly known as the Deuteronomistic History. The Deuteronomistic History is a good example of historiography. First, the writer or writers had a purpose: The Deuteronomic History is a prophetic interpretation of Israel's life from the period of the settlement in Canaan in the days of Joshua until the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.c. The purpose of this history is to show that Israel was
in exile as a result of their violation of the demands of the covenant (Deut. 28:47-52, 63-64). Second, the writers of this history used several written sources: the Book of Jashar (Josh. 10:13; 2 Sam. 1:18), the Book of the Acts of Solomon (1 Kgs. 11:41), the Books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel (1 Kgs. 14:19), and the Books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah (1 Kgs. 14:29). In employing these sources, the writers used only the material that was relevant to their purpose and that proved their position.
Third, the writer or writers of the Deuteronomistic History desired to communicate a particular message. This should be understood as history seen from prophetic eyes, the eyes of faith. It does not report national and international events for the sake of recording history for posterity. The Deuteronomistic History seeks to penetrate the meaning of events and explore their religious significance. The writers sought to provide a theological explanation for the destruction of Israel and Judah. The Deuteronomistic History shows that from the conquest of Canaan through the end of the monarchy Israel had violated the covenant, and that violation demanded divine punishment. According to the writers, the political destruction of the nation did not indicate divine weakness but rather demonstrated the power of Yahweh. Yahweh had sent his prophets to warn the people of their failure to keep the covenant (Dent. 28:15, 36-37, 49-52, 63-65; 2 Kgs. 23:26-27), but the people did not listen, and as a result Israel was was carried into captivity in 722 and Judah in 587 (2 Kgs. 17:723; 24-25).
The book of Deuteronomy serves as an introduction to the Deuteronomic History and provides the theological and ideological foundation for the proper understanding of the history of Israel. According to the Deuteronomistic historians, Israel's rejection of Yahweh brought the nation to its
tragic end. Israel had violated the two requirements of the covenant: they had abandoned Yahweh to serve the gods of Canaan and had oppressed members of the community in violation of the demands of the covenant.
Since historiography represents the ideological views of the writers, many scholars wonder whether a true history of Israel can be written today. In some circles, the ideological presuppositions of the writers become more important than the historicity of the text or of the sources used. The tendency among some scholars is to deny the historicity of most
biblical narratives unless they are backed by external evidence, such as archaeology or extrabiblical documents. This skepticism derives from reconstruction of the archaeological evidence or from theories based on literary analysis or social-scientific models. The writers of the Old Testament may have had their theological and ideological biases, but this does not necessarily mean that they were fabricating history or that their writings are without any factual basis.
CLAUDE F. MARIOTTINI
11:10-26 The Generations of Shem
The text now returns to the chosen line of Shem and traces in abbreviated form the generations from Shem to Abram (Abraham). The form of the genealogy appears similar to that of Adam in chapter 5. It lists the patriarchs' ages (now much younger) at the time their first sons were born, the number of years the fathers lived subsequently (now far fewer), and the fact that they had other children. Beyond the generational details, however, the genealogy serves the broader purpose of linking the life of Abraham and the subsequent patriarchal narratives (Genesis 12-50) to the preceding theological history of the world.
11:27-32 The Generations of Terah
A descendant of Shem and the father of Abram, Terah receives the greatest individual attention in the genealogical record of Genesis 11. Here we learn that Terah's family lived in "Ur of the Chaldeans" (in modern southern Iraq), that Abram married Sarai (Sarah) but that she could not conceive a child, and that Terah set out from Ur with Abram, Sarai, and his orphaned grandson Lot to live in Canaan. In view of Sarai's barrenness, Abram may have adopted Lot with the intent of making him his heir. The group travels 560 miles northwest through the Fertile Crescent along the Euphrates River as far as Haran (eastern Syria), where they settle and where Terah later dies. The family's situation in Haran sets the stage for the patriarchal narratives that follow and that include stories from the lives of Abram (Abraham), Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's 12 sons (roughly dated to the Middle Bronze Age, ca. 2000-1550; see "The Patriarchs and Their Neighbors" [104-5]).
12:1-9 The Promise to Abram
Well before his father dies, Abram receives a call from God to leave his father's house for a land that God does not initially specify. For Abram to obey this command meant forfeiting his rightful earthly inheritance (Terah's animals, household possessions, and, most important, land), in addition to Terah's blessing before he died. God promises to supply Abram with all that Terah could bequeath to him and more: land, children (particularly significant in view of Sarai's barrenness), and blessing. In particular, the promise of nationhood implies that Abram will have numerous descendants and occupy a particular land. God's words reach a climax in the statement that through Abram/ Abraham all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. This theme of blessing is especially important throughout Genesis and beyond. New Testament writers will later hold Abram up as an example for his faith in trusting God for his future (Romans 4; Galatians 3; James 2).
Abram departs from Haran with Sarai, Lot, the rest of his household, and all of his possessions bound for Canaan (modern Israel, Lebanon, and southern Syria), 450 miles southwest of their home. Upon arriving at the site of Shechem, God declares Canaan (inhabited by and named after the descendants of Ham's youngest son) to be the land he has promised to Abram and his descendants. Although he has not yet seen the complete fulfillment of God's promise, Abram honors God by building altars and worshipping him at Shechem and near Bethel before continuing toward the Negev ("south").
12:10-20 Abram's Deception
Already inhospitable terrain for farming, the Negev and presumably the rest of Canaan are in the midst of a famine. This further test of Abram's faith for God's provision does not result in such commendable behavior, however, and Abram leaves the promised land for Egypt in his search for food. His faith wavers even more when he fears the Egyptians may kill him to take his beautiful wife, and so he convinces Sarai to reveal only their brother-sister relationship (according to 20:12, Sarai and Abram were half-siblings). Pharaoh himself takes Sarai into his harem and gives Abram a wealth of servants and animals as a dowry.
God must again intervene to stop human sinfulness; this time, however, he corrects the situation by punishing not the deceiver but the deceived. The "great plagues" God sends upon Pharaoh and his household result not only in the release of Sarai from Pharaoh's harem, but also in Abram's and his family's escorted exit from Egypt as a far wealthier household than when they had arrived.
This entire episode, from the famine in Canaan to Abram's descent into Egypt and his subsequent departure with a wealth of possessions, foreshadows the great exodus of Abram's descendants under Moses.
13 Lot Separates from Abram
Abram leads his household back to the Negev and ultimately back to Bethel, where again he worships God at the altar he had built. But the land there cannot easily support all of Abram's and Lot's flocks, herds, and household members. As a result, strife between their herdsmen develops, so Abram proposes that they separate. Although Abram's position as family patriarch would have entitled him to take the best for himself, he shows renewed faith in God's promises by allowing Lot first choice of the surrounding territory. Predictably, Lot chooses to move eastward to the fertile Jordan Valley, and Abram settles in Canaan proper. Lot's selfish choice brings him to live in the midst of the "exceedingly wicked" people of Sodom. But God rewards Abram's selflessness and faith with an intensification of his promises: he will give Abram and his descendants "all" the land Abram sees; they will possess it "forever"; and God will make Abram's descendants as innumerable as "the dust of the earth"
14 Abram Rescues Lot
The archaic personal and place names recorded here hail mostly from Abram's former homeland north and east of Canaan. In this narrative, four kings from these areas join forces to quell a rebellion of their vassals who live in the "cities of the plain" (possibly on the eastern shores of the Dead Sea, according to archaeological evidence). The cities include Sodom and Gomorrah, whose fleeing vassal kings fall into the tar pits of the valley of Siddim (the Dead Sea valley, perhaps at its southern end, where petroleum oozes to the surface). The invading armies capture Lot and his household and transport them north (apparently with the rest of Sodom's defeated population; cf. v. 21) on their march homeward.
A survivor of the invasion alerts Abram to the fate of his nephew. In keeping with clan loyalties, Abram leads a meager army of his own 318 "trained men" on a mission to rescue Lot. The group pursues the invaders to Dan (the northernmost city of ancient Israel) and then even farther past Damascus, where they defeat the entire northern coalition and return home not only Lot and all of his possessions, but the rest of Sodom's inhabitants as well.
And now the theological point of relating this story emerges. Melchizedek, the king of Salem ("peace"; probably Jerusalem), who also serves as "a priest of God Most High" (his name means "my king [is] righteous"), honors Abram with a feast and pronounces a blessing on him for defeating his enemies. As God promised Abram in 12:3, Melchizedek can thus expect a blessing from God. (Indeed, Abram gives Melchizedek one tenth, or God's portion, of what he had taken from his enemies; cf. Ps. 11o:4, which remembers Melchizedek as a forerunner of the Davidic line, and Hebrews 5-7, which venerates him as a forerunner of the Messiah.) But the king of Sodom, who clearly owes Abram the greater thanks, shows only disdain for him, a curse that will come back on him in chapter 19.
15 God Seals a Covenant with Abram
Up to this point, Genesis has emphasized Abram's obedience to God's commands and his faith in God's promises. Chapter 15 now portrays Abram's relationship to God in a more personal light. In a vision, God acknowledges Abram's fears. Ten years have elapsed since Abram responded to God's call in Haran, yet his adopted slave, Eliezer of Damascus, remains Abram's only heir-apparent, and Abram does not possess "all the land" as God promised he would. God reassures Abram that he will indeed father an heir from whom his descendants will become innumerable as the stars. Abram's response, "[Then] he believed [= `continued believing'] in the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness" (v. 6), will later become central in Paul's message of salvation by faith (Gal. 3:6ff.), not works.
God answers Abram's request for confirmation concerning his possession of the land by sealing the covenant in a ceremony involving
sacrificial animals (cf. Jer. 34:18), which represent Abram's descendants, as well as smoke and fire, which represent God's presence with these children of Israel (cf. the pillars of fire and cloud in Exod. 14:24). In addition, God makes more specific his promise regarding the land by designating its geographical boundaries. Yet he also reveals his own patient nature - and the patience he expects Abram to display - when he speaks about the fulfillment of his promises. God indicates that he will allow Abram's descendants to live as oppressed strangers in a foreign land for 400 years but that he will indeed deliver them from their enslavement. Still he will not permit them to take possession of the promised land until he has given all Canaan's inhabitants due time to repent from their sinfulness against him.
16 Sarai and Hagar
In the story of Sarai's complaint against God concerning her barrenness and her consequent suggestion that Abram father a child for her by her Egyptian servant Hagar (accepted practice in the ancient Near East), Sarai appears more concerned with her own cultural disgrace as a childless wife than with the fulfillment of God's promise of descendants to Abram. When Hagar conceives, Sarai discovers that her plan does not produce the results she had hoped for (Hagar "despises" her), and her selfish motives become more obvious in her harsh treatment of Hagar.
The maltreated Hagar flees toward home ("the road to Shur" [v7] leads to Egypt), but God short-circuits this plan too. Through an angel, he instructs Hagar to return to her mistress and promises innumerable descendants to her as he has to Abram. Hagar obeys and bears a son, Ishmael ("God hears"), who will not be given to Sarai but who will remain her own.
17 An Everlasting Covenant
Several characteristics of this chapter mark it as an important turning point in the story of Abram. These include the number of God's speeches and the fact that they not only detail but also ratify God's promises to Abram; the careful attention paid to dating this episode (vv 1, 17, 24); God's giving new names both to Abram (Abraham, "father of many") and Sarai (Sarah; both mean "princess"); and the introduction of a permanent sign of the covenant.
Thirteen years have passed since the birth of Ishmael (cf. 16:16) - ample time for the now 99-year-old Abram to believe that Ishmael represented the fulfillment of God's promise to him of progeny (cf. 17:18). But now God establishes a new covenant focused on international blessing, which will require a deeper faith on Abram's part. The intensification of God's promises comes first. (Abraham will become not simply a great nation but father of "many nations," and God will extend the covenant to Abraham's descendants; v. 8.) Then God establishes the covenant's permanence by requiring Abraham and all the males of his household (including all relatives, slaves, and freemen) to undergo circumcision (common practice in the ancient Near East, but here given unique significance as a sign of God's covenant). Finally, God requires Abraham to trust him for a miracle - Sarah's conceiving at age 9o and bearing Abraham the son through whom God will fulfill his promise of innumerable descendants. Despite Abraham's incredulous laughter at this thought, he obeys God promptly and completely by submitting himself and all males of his household to the rite of circumcision.
18:1-15 Abraham Hosts God Himself
God demonstrates his increasingly intimate relationship with Abraham by visiting him at his home. Initially, the Lord does not make himself known to Abraham, but Abraham extends him and the two other "men" (angels; cf. 19:1) with him the kind of generous hospitality typical in ancient Near Eastern culture (and of modern Middle Eastern nomads). Verse 9 gives the first clue that these strangers were not mere men: they inquire after Abraham's wife by name. After specifying when God will fulfill his promise to Abraham concerning Sarah's bearing him a son (cf.17:16), the Lord gives another clue to his identity by showing that he knows of Sarah's laughter upon overhearing the announcement of her impending pregnancy. Then the Lord reveals himself to Abraham and Sarah, and she
becomes so fearful that she denies her doubtful response.
18:16-33 Abraham's Plea on Sodom's Behalf
Although God has promised never again to destroy all living creatures (cf. 9:11-17), he has not pledged to refrain from destroying sinful humans he deems deserving of harsh judgment. Here God determines to find out just how sinful the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah have become, and he shares his purpose with Abraham, whom he has "chosen" to uphold righteousness and justice. Apparently aware of Sodom's reputation for wickedness, Abraham immediately concludes that God plans to destroy this city for which God's two angels have now departed. Presumably out of concern for his nephew Lot and in further demonstration of his intimate relationship with God, Abraham begins to question God's justness (v 23) and even rebuke God for the action he presumes God will take against the Sodomites without distinguishing between the righteous and the unrighteous (v 25). Abraham's assumptions about God's plans for Sodom turn out to be correct, but God responds favorably to Abraham's pleas by agreeing not to destroy the city if at least io righteous people are living there.
19:1-29 The Fulfillment of the Curse on Sodom
The two angels who had accompanied the Lord on his visit with Abraham now arrive in Sodom to ascertain the truth about the conduct of its inhabitants and carry out God's judgment, if necessary. They first encounter Lot, who extends the same generous hospitality Abraham had offered them previously and who persuades them to lodge with his family for the night. But soon all the men of the town gather at Lot's home with the intent of gang-raping Lot's guests. This violates the almost sacred rules of hospitality (evidenced by Lot's offer that the mob have their way with his own virgin daughters instead of with his guests) and raises the issues of homosexuality and nonconsensual sex (rape). The participation of all the men in the city combined with the gravity of their intended offenses gives the angels all the evidence they need to carry out God's judgment on the wicked city.
Lot's refusal to comply with the Sodomites' demand angers them greatly, and the angels must rescue Lot from the mob before whisking him away from the doomed city. After forcibly removing Lot, his wife, and daughters from Sodom in an act of compassion, the angels give Lot and his family permission to flee to the town of Zoar rather than escaping to the mountains. The means by which God rains down "brimstone and fire" on Sodom (the judgment of which ch. 14 anticipates) and Gomorrah (presumed to deserve the same fate; cf. 18:20) sounds like a natural disaster, perhaps caused by exploding gases released by seismic activity common all along the Great Rift Valley, wherein the Jordan River Valley and the Dead Sea lie. Apparently still longing for her home in Sodom, Lot's wife disobeys the angel's command not to "look bacl"' and so becomes a "pillar of salt," reminiscent of salt-rock formations typical around the Dead Sea.
19:30-38 Lot's Disgrace
Like the righteous Noah, Lot realizes deliverance by God from sure death; but also like Noah, he suffers disgrace at the hands of his children. Childless and without husbands, Lot's daughters dishonor him by ignoring incest taboos in an effort to become pregnant by their father. Both meet with success and give birth to boys, whose descendants later become the Ammonites and Moabites of Transjordan.
20 Abraham Repeats a Deceit
In keeping with his seminomadic lifestyle, Abraham once again moves south and settles for a time in Gerar, a city in the Negev near the Mediterranean coast. Fearful that the Canaanites here will kill him in order to obtain Sarah, he reveals only his (half-)sibling relationship to her (v. 12), and Abimelech ("my father [is] king"), king of Gerar, takes Sarah for his wife. But God reveals to Abimelech in a dream that Sarah and Abraham are married, and the God-fearing king returns Sarah to her husband without having "touched her." In addition, Abimelech gives Abraham money, animals, servants, and an offer that the household settle in any part of his domain that Abraham pleases. The story recalls 12:10-20, which took place in Egypt; yet rather than Abimelech's expelling them from his territory (as did Pharaoh), the king welcomes Abraham to continue his sojourn there. Once again, Abraham's doubt in God's protection proves unfounded, and again God not only overlooks Abraham's lack of faith but also blesses Abraham despite the deceit he has perpetrated.
Crystalized salt formation near the southern end of the Dead Sea. (Phoenix Data Systems, Neal and Joel Bierling)
21:1-21 Isaac's Birth and Ishmael's Dismissal
Now God begins to fulfill concretely his covenantal promises of land and progeny to Abraham. No literary fanfare attends the announcement of Isaac's birth - a surprising omission considering the suspense built up over this event in the previous chapters. Instead, verses 1-5 succinctly underline God's miraculous fulfillment of his promise (by emphasizing Abraham's and Sarah's advanced age) and Abraham's consistent obedience to God (by naming his new son "Isaac" [17:19] and by circumcising him in accordance with the covenant God established with Abraham).
As for Sarah, anger replaces her joy over Isaac's arrival when after some time sheobserves Hagar's son, Ishmael (now a young teenager), mocking Isaac. (Ishmael is essentially "laughing at" Isaac, whose name means "he laughs:") As a result, Sarah refuses to tolerate any notion that Ishmael will share in her own son's rights as Abraham's heir, and she demands that Abraham "drive out" Hagar and Ishmael (cf. 16:6). God relieves Abraham's initial distress over sending the two away by promising to "make a nation" of Ishmael's descendants also; yet God makes clear that Isaac's line will represent the fulfillment of his covenantal promise.
Hagar and Ishmael find themselves in dire straits wandering in the southern wilderness, where they have run out of water. But the angel of the Lord repeats to Hagar the promise God made to Abraham concerning Ishmael, and God responds to Ishmael's crying by revealing to his mother a source of water. Verse 20 confirms God's faithfulness to Ishmael as he grows and continues to live in the southern desert. (The wilderness of Paran extends south into the Sinai Peninsula.)
21:22-34 Abraham Secures Water Rights
At first, Abraham's dispute with Abimelech over a well might seem trivial. But even today a reliable source of water proves essential to the life and livelihood of a herdsman dwelling in the dry desert of southern Israel, so Abraham's complaint that Abimelech's servants have seized his well actually constitutes a matter of great significance. Though Abraham and Abimelech settle the problem in a friendly manner, the situation foreshadows the many troubles with the Philistines that Abraham's descendants will encounter from the time of the judges onward.
Yet the story's real significance is theological, for Abraham's securing of water rights in a legal, covenant-bound agreement with Abimelech represents the first step in the fulfillment of God's promise of land to Abraham. For Abraham to own the well at Beer-sheba ("well of seven," for the seven lambs Abraham gave Abimelech to seal the oath) officially meant that he could now claim a part of Canaan, however small, as his. Abraham recognizes the importance of acquiring the well legally by com memorating the agreement with a monument (a tamarisk tree) at Beer-sheba and by worshipping God there.
22 God Tests Abraham's Faith
Chapter 22 straightforwardly portrays both God's shocking command that Abraham sacrifice his beloved "only son" (the only son through whom God will fulfill his promise to Abraham) as well as Abraham's unquestioning obedience. God calls, and Abraham answers - immediately and completely, just as he had obeyed God's command to leave Haran for the "land that I will show you" (12:1). He now travels with Isaac to the land of Moriah ("the Lord will provide") in search of the mountain "of which I will tell you" (according to tradition, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; Cf. 2 Chr. 3:1) full of fear and dread - not only of the impending death of his son at his own hands, but also of the dashing of his hope in God's promise of descendants through Isaac. Yet in the story Abraham appears unwavering in faith and unflinching in courage.
God rescinds his own order in the nick of time. With Isaac lying bound on the altar atop the wood arranged for the burnt offering and with Abraham's hand poised to kill his son with a knife, the angel of the Lord issues an urgent call for Abraham to abort the plan. The angel then announces that Abraham has passed this supreme and final test of his "fear" of God. On his own initiative, Abraham offers a "ram caught in the thicket" as a burnt offering in place of Isaac, and God reconfirms his promises to Abraham for the last time.
The story also shows that God requires more of himself than he did of Abraham. For Abraham, obedience to the command to sacrifice his son constituted a test of faith (cf. Heb. 11:17-19); God's provision of the ram, a costly sacrifice, foreshadows God's real sacrifice of his Son on the cross to meet his own righteous requirement to implement fully the covenant of grace with humankind.
Foreshadowing God's fulfillment of his covenantal promise to Abraham regarding making him a "great nation," the chapter ends with a short genealogy of Rebekah, who later becomes Isaac's wife and bears him the son (Jacob) from whom the nation of Israel receives its name (32:28).
23 Abraham Buys a Tomb for Sarah
Sarah's death in Hebron (20 miles south of Jerusalem) occasions Abraham's acquisition of additional land rights in Canaan (cf. 21:2234). Abraham himself acknowledges that he remains "a stranger and a sojourner" among the inhabitants of the land God promised to him (v. 4). After grieving for Sarah, Abraham negotiates buying a burial site for her in a bargaining process that parallels Hittite legal proceedings. The locals (probably not Hittites from Asia Minor, but Semites, as indicated by their names) generously offer Abraham his choice of their graves, and Abraham responds with a request that he buy the cave of Machpelah. The cave's owner, Ephron, offers to give to Abraham not only the cave but also the field in which it lies, but Abraham insists that he purchase them (probably so that he can lay legal claim to them). Ephron eventually names his price, and with no further bargaining Abraham pays the hefty sum of 400 shekels of silver, after which he receives the deed to the property.
Certain elements of this story confirm the legally binding nature of the purchase: the location at which the parties made the agreement (the city gate), the presence of witnesses (v 18), the weighing out of money, and the type of currency exchanged ("commercial standard"; v. 16). After establishing Abraham's legal ownership of the field and specifying that Abraham also owned everything that fell within the "confines of its border," Abraham buries Sarah in the cave of Machpelah (which becomes their family tomb; 49:31). Together these elements establish the certainty of God's continuing to fulfill his promise of land to Abraham.
24 Isaac Marries Rebekah
With the fulfillment of God's promises of land and progeny in progress, the narrative emphasizes that God has also been fulfilling his promise of blessing to Abraham "in every way" (v. 1). Abraham is now nearing the end of his life, so the focus begins to shift to Isaac, through whom God will extend his covenantal promises to Abraham.
Abraham instructs his eldest and most trusted servant to take an oath (signified by the servant's placing his hand under Abraham's thigh; cf. 47:29) that he will find a wife for Isaac, but several restrictions apply. First, she must come from among Abraham's relatives back in Mesopotamia, not from among the Canaanites. Second, she must consent to marry Isaac sight unseen, for Abraham forbids his servant to take Isaac on the journey. Third, she must agree to leave home and family to make her home in Canaan (i.e., she must display a faith similar to Abraham's when he received God's call to leave Haran).
Interior of the Dome of the Rock built on the site of the Jerusalem temple and considered the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac. (Richard Cleave, Pictorial Archive)
Faithful to his master's charge, the servant travels to Nahor (perhaps Haran or a town near it). Also faithful to God, the servant first prays that God will grant him success in his mission. When Rebekah (Isaac's distant cousin) shows herself to embody the answer to his prayers, it becomes clear that God himself has orchestrated the search as another step toward fulfilling his covenantal promise to make Abraham a great nation.
Rebekah's brother Laban (who serves as chief host and negotiator) and her father Bethuel agree to the arranged marriage between Rebekah and Isaac in acknowledgment that God has guided the process and ordained their union. Abraham's servant recognizes God's faithfulness and seals the betrothal agreement by giving bride-price gifts to Laban, Rebekah, and her mother. Yet Rebekah still has some say in her own future (cf. V. 58). Demonstrating that she indeed represents God's choice of a wife for Isaac, Rebekah agrees to depart for Canaan without delay, and when the two finally meet, not only does Isaac marry Rebekah, but he loves her as well.
25:1-11 The Death of Abraham
Verses 1-4 tell of Abraham's descendants through his third wife, Keturah. Their marriage may not necessarily have taken place after the events recorded in chapter 24, but possibly many years prior. In any case, these verses show the relationship of the (later) Israelites to neighboring peoples (such as the Midianite traders who lived in the Sinai Desert and in Transjordan) and underscore that Abraham (as also Sarah) would give rise to many nations, as God promised in chapter 17.
Before he dies, Abraham not only bequeaths to Isaac "all that he [has];" but he also sends away any potential rival heirs to his estate and to the covenantal promises God made to him. Isaac and Ishmael join together in honoring their father by burying him in the family tomb in Hebron, but verse 11 makes clear that it is Isaac on whom God's covenantal blessings subsequently fall (cf. 17:20-21). After his father's death, Isaac settles in the south by Hagar's well (cf. 16:14).
25:12-18 Ishmael's Descendants
This account of Ishmael's descendants shows God's fulfillment of his promises both to Hagar (to "greatly multiply" her descendants [16:10]) and to Abraham (that his son Ishmael would "become the father of twelve princes" [17:20]), as well as the angel's prophecy that Ishmael would struggle against his relatives and live apart from them (16:12).
Tomb of the Patriarchs at Hebron, encompassing the cave of Machpelah, burial place of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, and Joseph. (Phoenix Data Systems, Neal and Joel Bierling)
25:19-34 Isaac's Descendants
A much more detailed account of Isaac and his descendants (God's chosen line) follows that of Ishmael. At the beginning, this section notes Rebekah's barrenness (cf. Sarah's), Isaac's prayers on her behalf (cf. Abraham's faith), and God's finally allowing her to conceive (as he did Sarah). Rebekah's double blessing of twins meets with problems from the start, however, and the struggle between the two boys in her womb continues at birth and afterward in accordance with the prophecy that "the older shall serve the younger" (v 23; cf. Ishmael's subservience to his younger brother Isaac). The elder Esau grows into an outdoorsman, while the younger Jacob prefers sticking close to home. True to his prenatal personality and to his apparently calculating nature, Jacob the "supplanter" bargains a bowl of soup for his brother's birthright, and so he acquires the rights of a double portion of the inheritance and blessing normally bestowed by a dying father on his eldest son. Esau's later tears over the consequences of his shortsightedness cannot correct his earlier mistake (27:38).
26:1-33 Isaac's Sojourn with the Philistines
The events recorded here parallel closely those involving Abraham during his sojourn in the south (ch. 20; 21:22-34). For example, Abimelech and Phicol again appear as king of Gerar and commander of the army, respectively; Isaac lies about his relationship to his wife out of fear for his life; God blesses Isaac despite the deception; and a dispute between Isaac and the herdsmen of Gerar occurs concerning water rights. Despite these similarities, the details of these snapshots into Isaac's life make clear that this account reflects different events, as when verse 1 distinguishes the current famine from the one that occurred in Abraham's days; Isaac travels north to Gerar rather than south to Egypt; and
Abimelech never takes Rebekah into his harem. At least some of these events may have taken place before Rebekah gave birth to Jacob and Esau (ch. 25).
God promises Isaac that, through him, he will continue to fulfill the "oath" he swore to Abraham (vv. 3-4; cf. 22:17-18). Indeed, Isaac's great prosperity leads Abimelech to acknowledge God's presence with him (v 28), and Isaac's growing power prompts Abimelech first to send him away (v. 16) and eventually to enter into a peace treaty with him (vv 28-29).
Although Abraham had acquired legal rights to a well at Beer-sheba (21:22-33), the Philistines took the opportunity to stop up Abraham's wells upon his death; therefore, Isaac's digging them out again sparks more disputes with the Philistines over water rights. Isaac finally pitches his tent at Beer-sheba, where the Lord confirms his presence with and promises to Isaac. Isaac responds as Abraham did, by building an altar to the Lord and worshipping him.
26:34-28:9 Isaac Mistakes Jacob for Esau
Although Esau marries two Canaanite women, who cause problems for Isaac and Rebekah, he remains Isaac's favorite son, and so the dying Isaac determines to bestow his blessing upon his eldest. Having overheard the plan, which leaves the now rightful heir (Jacob, 25:33) out of the picture, Rebekah concocts a scheme to ensure that her own favorite receives the birthright blessing. Jacob cooperates reluctantly, apparently because he fears Isaac will find him out and curse rather than bless him. But Rebekah's plan works, and despite his suspicions concerning the true identity of the son before him, Isaac blesses Jacob. His blessing includes the prophetic statement that Jacob will "be master of [his] brothers" (cf. 25:23).
Upon discovering Jacob's deception, both Isaac and Esau become greatly distressed, but not even Isaac can revoke Jacob's blessing. Although of his own accord Esau had taken an oath sealing the sale of his birthright (which included a double share of the father's property) to Jacob, Isaac's announcement of his plan to bless Esau had apparently raised Esau's hopes for regaining it. A murderous grudge against Jacob for claiming what Esau had sworn to give him now replaces those hopes. Ironically, had Isaac followed the current custom (rather than the preference of his heart for Esau) of summoning all his sons to his deathbed and bestowing a blessing on each, he would not have left Esau out entirely.
Nevertheless, Rebekah's realization that Esau now plans to kill Jacob once Isaac dies prompts her to persuade Isaac to send Jacob away in search of a wife among her relatives in Haran. Abraham had made certain that Isaac himself did not return to Mesopotamia in search of a bride, but Isaac sends off his own son readily (to Paddan-aram; 28:2) and with a blessing that fully recognizes Jacob's rights as heir to God's covenantal promises. Rebekah will never see her favorite son again. As for Esau, still eager to please his father (and perhaps hopeful of receiving a greater inheritance from Isaac with Jacob bound for foreign lands), he marries a more acceptable wife - one of his uncle Ishmael's daughters.
28:10-22 Jacob's Dream
Jacob's journey toward Haran takes him through Bethel ("house of God"), 12 miles north of Jerusalem, where he beds down for the night with a rock for a pillow. God extends his covenantal promises to Jacob in a dream and adds a guarantee of his presence wherever Jacob goes, as well as a promise to bring him back to Canaan. Jacob turns his rock-pillow into a monument commemorating the dream and signifying God's presence in that place. Then he makes a vow of his own - if God fulfills his promises, Jacob will tithe from everything God gives him (cf. Abram in 14:20). Jacob's conditional vow does not express a lack of faith in God's promises but thankfulness for them.
29:1-30 Jacob Marries
When Jacob arrives in his mother's homeland in search of a wife, he immediately falls in love with Rachel, daughter of Rebekah's brother Laban. With no material possessions to offer as a marriage gift, Jacob works for Laban for seven years in order to win Rachel's hand. But follow ing custom (and unbeknownst to Jacob!), Laban substitutes his eldest daughter Leah for Rachel on the wedding night. After the bridal week, Laban also gives Rachel to Jacob in exchange for Jacob's promise of seven more years of service, but the marriage of one man to two sisters produces resentment and frustration for all three.
29:31-30:24 The Birth of Jacob's Children
Jacob's love for Rachel does not prevent him from becoming angry with her for her jealousy of Leah, whose unloved status initially led God to allow her to bear Jacob four sons (including Levi, from whom the priestly line descended, and Judah, from whom the royal line came). But Leah's hopes to win Jacob's love through childbearing seem to fail. As for Rachel, she demands that Jacob give her children through her maid, Bilhah (cf. Sarah and Hagar, 16:1-2). Determined to stay ahead of the game, Leah does the same with her own maid, Zilpah.
Still dissatisfied at not having borne children of her own, Rachel offers one of her nights with Jacob to Leah in exchange for some mandrakes (thought to enhance fertility; cf. Song 7:13). The "medicine" does Rachel no good; instead, Leah bears two more sons and a daughter, Dinah. The failure of Rachel's own plans for offspring underscores the underlying control of God in fulfilling his original covenant with Abraham. God finally "remembers" Rachel by allowing her to become pregnant with the son (Joseph) who will eventually save God's chosen line from starvation in Canaan (cf. 21:1-2; 25:21). God's eventual answer to Rachel's prayer for another son (Benjamin; 35:16-18) completes the line of patriarchs (borne by four women) from whom the tribes of Israel descend.
30:25-43 Jacob Positions Himself to Return to Canaan
The birth of a son to Rachel prompts Jacob to gain independence from Laban. Jacob requests to take only his family away, but Laban recognizes that God has blessed him through Jacob, and he hesitates to see Jacob go. Jacob agrees to continue tending Laban's flocks if Laban will give him any sheep and goats with white (Hebrew "Laban") markings. Jacob then outwits his uncle by causing Laban's animals to produce spotted and speckled lambs and kids by mating them within sight of branches peeled to expose white streaks. Laban's sons become increasingly jealous of Jacob's growing wealth and power.
31 Jacob Departs for Canaan
After 20 years in Mesopotamia (14 served to marry Rachel and Leah, and six more in building up his own flocks; W. 38, 41), Jacob responds to God's instruction (given in a dream; cf. 28:12-15) to return to Canaan. Fearing retribution from his relatives over his prosperity, Jacob gathers his family and flees without informing Laban, but not before Rachel steals her father's "household idols" (perhaps to help Jacob lay claim to inheritance rights from Laban, or perhaps to ensure protection on the journey). Despite Jacob's three-day head start (v 22) and a river (Euphrates; V. 21) separating them, Laban catches up with Jacob in the "hill country of Gilead" (east of the Jordan River between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea). But God has warned Laban not to harm Jacob (v 24). After a verbal confrontation, in which Laban claims that Jacob has, in effect, stolen children and flocks that belong to Laban's household N. 43), and in which Jacob points out that he has served Laban beyond normal and reasonable requirements (vv. 39, 41), the two make a peace treaty witnessed to by a pillar (cf. 28:18) and a cairn. They seal their agreement by eating together, and then Laban departs the next morning. Neither Laban nor Jacob discovers Rachel's possession of her father's household gods.
32-33 Jacob and Esau Meet Again
The confrontation with Laban behind him, Jacob focuses on the fearful situation ahead in the person of his brother. The servants Jacob sends to Seir to pave the way of peace with Esau return to him with the unsettling news that Esau and 400 men are on their way to meet Jacob. Fearing an attack, Jacob divides his household so at least some may survive, and he prepares a generous present to appease Esau's presumed
anger, but not before humbling himself before God and reminding God of his covenantal promises.
The night before the encounter with Esau, Jacob finds himself wrestling with "a man," who turns out to be God. Although God injures Jacob's hip in the struggle, Jacob refuses to call a truce until he receives a blessing from the mysterious attacker. This blessing God gives in the form of a new name - Jacob becomes Israel ("he who strives with God"). The incident both recalls the adversarial relationship Jacob and Esau perpetuated from their conception in the womb and at the same time foreshadows the imminent overcoming of the brothers' enmity.
Jacob's fears concerning Esau's intentions prove unfounded, as Esau welcomes him with open arms and only reluctantly accepts Jacob's gifts. After this happy reunion, Esau returns home to Seir, while Jacob journeys to Succoth (in the Jordan Valley) and then east across the Jordan River to Shechem (40 miles north of Jerusalem), where he purchases property (the second parcel of land in Canaan bought by Israel's patriarchs; cf. 23:16-20).
34 Dinah's Defilement
The story of Dinah's rape by a Canaanite man and the violent response of two of her brothers evidences both the continuation of the sign of the covenant among God's chosen line and the extent and pervasiveness of sin among them. Jacob's sons clearly recognize circumcision as a sign of the covenant (cf. 17:10), but they impose this requirement on the Canaanites of Shechem in a deceitful plot to exact revenge. Not only do Simeon and Levi punish the guilty party by murdering him, but they also kill the city's entire male population and loot everything. Neither do they show mercy on the women and children left. Simeon and Levi may have been less concerned for Dinah herself than for the family's honor, for the fact that Dinah was (at least temporarily) living with her wouldbe husband (v 26) hints at the possibility that they were using her in their ruse to trick the Shechemites. And Jacob himself seems more concerned about living in peace with the locals than about Dinah's disgrace (v. 30), although Jacob does rightly chastise Simeon and Levi for their action (cf. 49:5-7).
God intervenes to ensure that Jacob and his line avoid the tempting implications of intermarriage with the Canaanites, perhaps the most appealing of which consists in the Shechemites' invitation that they "acquire property" in the promised land (vio). Yet once again, God overlooks the deceit (and now even worse sins) of his chosen line and allows them to prosper still more (cf. chs. 20 and 26). Later, God will himself bring judgment on the Canaanites for their wickedness (Deut. 9:1-4; cf. Gen. 15:16) as he continues fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant.
35 Jacob Returns to His Father's House
Now that God has brought Jacob back to Canaan safely, it becomes Jacob's turn to fulfill his own vow of making the Lord his God (28:21), so he puts away all the "foreign gods" of his entire household before returning finally to Bethel. God appears to Jacob again at Bethel (cf. 28:1217), repeats the blessing of 32:28, and restates and expands the covenantal promises to Jacob (now Israel). This happy occasion contrasts with the tragedies that follow: Jacob's beloved wife Rachel dies giving birth to her second son, Benjamin; Jacob's eldest son Reuben commits incest with Bilhah (surrogate wife to Jacob); and Jacob's long-awaited reunion with his father Isaac is cut short by Isaac's death. As did Isaac and Ishmael with their father Abraham, so now the reconciled Jacob and Esau join in burying their father in the family grave at Machpelah (49:31).
36 Esau's Descendants
A list of Esau's descendants precedes the fuller account of God's chosen line (Jacob's, which extends through Joseph) beginning in chapter 37. Not surprisingly, this list appears quite extensive, for the prophecy to Rebekah indicated that "two nations" would emerge from the children in her womb (25:23). Esau's departure from Canaan for economic reasons (cf. Lot in 13:10-11) left the promised land clear for Jacob's descendants to occupy and led to the development of separate peoples (Edomites
and Israelites). Although Esau's numerous descendants, many of whom became chiefs and kings, controlled much of the King's Highway, the strategic north-south trade route which extended through Edomite territory on the hilly plateau east of the Dead Sea, Jacob's descendants would later rule over Esau's as further fulfillment of the prophecy that "the elder shall serve the younger" (25:23).
37 Jacob's Descendants
From chapter 37 on, Genesis centers on Jacob's sons - especially Joseph and his brothers' relationship to him. In addition to Joseph, Judah also figures prominently. From the start, Jacob's unabashed favoritism of Joseph becomes apparent, fueling the brothers' jealousy (cf. 25:28 for favoritism among Jacob's parents and 27:1-28:5 for the jealousy it spawned). (The special multicolored tunic Jacob gives to Joseph in V. 3 may recall Egyptian paintings depicting Asiatic attire, or it might represent a "long-sleeved" leisure, as opposed to work, robe.) Indeed, Joseph (the eldest son of Jacob's favorite wife) was treated and viewed as the firstborn and thus Jacob's intended heir (cf. 48:21-22; 1 Chr. 5:1). (This situation fits the pattern throughout the Old Testament of a younger brother's receiving the right of the firstborn.) Joseph's tattletale behavior and his brashness in relating to his family his dreams that they would one day serve him further feed his brothers' resentment of this teenaged braggart. Even Jacob rebukes Joseph for appearing to think too much of himself, yet the dreams remain in the back of Jacob's mind, as he perhaps recalls his own personal history of ruling over his older brother, Esau.
Yet Jacob shows that he cares not only for Joseph but also for his other sons by sending his 17-year-old favorite on a lengthy, if not perilous, 6o- (turned 75-) mile journey north to determine the siblings' welfare. Taking advantage of the geographical distance between them and their father, the brothers conspire to kill Joseph. Reuben (who had formerly sinned against his father by committing incest with Jacob's surrogate wife) wants to save Joseph's neck (perhaps simply in assumption of his responsibilities as eldest son, but perhaps also to make amends with Jacob; V. 22), and he convinces his brothers to throw Joseph into a dry well (or cistern) instead of doing him in. But with Joseph down in the pit and Reuben off somewhere else (v. 29), Judah devises an alternative plan that would both remove Joseph from the scene and also profit himself and his brothers handsomely. (Here the father of the kingly line perpetrates the crime, as Levi, father of the priestly line, did in ch. 34.)
So the brothers (not the Midianites Of V. 28) sell Joseph to a passing caravan of Ishmaelite (used here interchangeably with "Midianite"; V. 36) traders, who were probably carrying spices back and forth between Damascus and Egypt via a major caravan road that passed by Dothan on its way to the coastal route. The sale gains the brothers three years' worth of shepherd's wages and sends Joseph on a journey to Egypt. But it also creates a quandary for the unsuspecting Reuben, whom Jacob would hold responsible for Joseph's welfare. To protect Reuben, the brothers take the tunic they had stripped from Joseph, dip it in goat's blood (cf. 27:9ff., where Jacob uses a goat to deceive his own father), and present it to Jacob as evidence that a wild animal has killed Joseph. Jacob buys the story and vows to mourn Joseph until his dying day. The chapter ends noting the further sale of Joseph in Egypt - a sale that lands him in the high-ranking company of none other than the captain of Pharaoh's bodyguard and foreshadows the fulfillment of the prophetic dreams that helped get Joseph into trouble in the first place.
38 Judah and Tamar
This sidelight on the shortcomings of Judah and his sons illuminates the ancient Near Eastern obligation of levirate (from Heb. levir, "brother-in-law") marriage (Dent. 25:5-10), wherein the brother of a deceased man must marry his brother's childless widow and produce children who will continue his brother's name and thus the family line. Judah's intermarriage with the Canaanites causes heartache and problems from the start. His firstborn son, Er, becomes so wicked that God takes his life, thereby leaving childless Er's widow, Tamar. Judah's second son, Onan, sabotages his own performance of his duty on behalf of his deceased brother because he wants Judah's inheritance to fall to him (not to any son he might produce for his brother through Tamar), so God takes Onan's life also. Fearing for the life of his third son, Shelah, Judah puts off marrying him to Tamar, apparently with no intention of fulfilling his patriarchal duty to her (v. 11; cf. v. 14).
Judah's neglect of this responsibility leads Tamar to take matters into her own hands. She disguises herself as a veiled and therefore married temple-prostitute and sets out for the sheep-shearing festivities at Timnah with the intention of encountering her father-in-law. Undoubtedly well acquainted with Canaanite fertility rites practiced at such festivals, Judah hires Tamar at the city gate (where legal transactions often take place) and has intercourse with her without recognizing her true identity. But Tamar exacts a pledge of payment - Judah's seal-necklace and staff, her possession of which saves her in the end.
Although Shelah and Tamar had not married, Judah probably considered them betrothed. But Judah's intent to kill Tamar by burning her when he discovers her "adultery" once again goes beyond the normal punishment for the crime (although an adulteress could receive the death penalty, death by burning applied only to more serious offenses; Deut. 22:21; Lev. 21:9). The evidence Tamar presents in her defense demonstrates Judah's own guilt, not only as co-adulterer but also as neglecter of his duty to her; to his credit, Judah admits her moral and legal superiority over him. The birth of Perez and Zerah, Tamar's twin sons, once again pictures the younger (Perez) prevailing over the elder. This story's appearance here emphasizes the continuing sins of Judah (cf. 37:26) and contrasts Judah's immoral behavior with Joseph's righteous refusal of the sexual advances of his Egyptian master's wife in chapter 39.
39-40 Joseph, Potiphar, and Prison
Chapters 39-50 picture life in Egypt as typical under the Semitic Hyksos pharaohs, who ruled 1710-1570 B.C. from their capital of Avaris (in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, in the same region as the land of Goshen [45:10]).
Caravan of West Semitic ("Asiatic") merchants en route to Egypt; painting from the tomb of Khnumhotep II (ca. 1890 B.c.). (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)
At the outset of Joseph's sojourn in Egypt, the biblical account confirms God's presence with this favored son turned foreign slave by pointing out that Joseph's master, Potiphar, receives God's blessing through him in fulfillment of God's promise to Abram (12:2-3) and by emphasizing the high position to which Joseph rose in Potiphar's house. But Joseph's success and handsome appearance lead to his downfall as well - not through any fault of his own, for Joseph remains supremely faithful both to God and to Potiphar, but through the revenge Potiphar's wife exacts on Joseph for rejecting her sexual advances. (The beginning of this story resembles the Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers in the basic plot of seduction, rejection, and false accusation.)
Taking the word of his wife that Joseph attempted to rape her, Potiphar unjustly sends Joseph to prison, but God remains with Joseph and elevates him to a position of significant responsibility even in this humble circumstance. Joseph's ability to interpret the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners - Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and chief baker - further demonstrates God's continued presence with Joseph (40:8).
41:1-52 Joseph's Rise to Power
Although not immediately (40:14, 23; 41:1), God again reverses an injustice done to Joseph, this time by working through the relationships Joseph develops in prison to bring him eventually into the service of Pharaoh himself. One night, Pharaoh dreams two perplexing dreams. (Dual dreams indicate the surety of their fulfillment; cf. Joseph's two dreams in ch. 37 and the one dream each of the cupbearer and baker in ch. 40.) But even with extensive training in dream interpretation and a library of reference works available to Egyptian "magicians," none of Pharaoh's wise men can interpret his dreams.
Then the chief cupbearer finally remembers Joseph to Pharaoh. Taken hurriedly out of prison and prepared for a court appearance according to Egyptian custom, Joseph finds himself face to face with Pharaoh and agrees to let God speak through him concerning the dreams (41:16; God communicates with Joseph via dreams, rather than appearing and speaking to him directly as with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob). Pharaoh recognizes Joseph's wisdom and the divine presence with him, and so, at age 30 and after 13 years of slavery and imprisonment, Joseph rises to the high position of Pharaoh's second in command (vv. 40-45). Here he assumes the task of implementing his own strategy (vv. 34-35) for saving Egypt from starvation during the seven-year famine to come.
During this time, Joseph marries Asenath from On (or Heliopolis, the Egyptian center of sun worship, to miles north of Cairo) and fathers two sons, to whom he gives Hebrew names (Manasseh and Ephraim) with meanings that recognize God for delivering and prospering him.
41:53-45:24 Joseph's Dreams Fulfilled
The years of plenty pass quickly, and famine sets in, not only throughout Egypt but also in Canaan. Knowing of Egypt's stores of food, Jacob sends io of his sons (all save Benjamin, Joseph's only full brother and the one remaining son of Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel) south to buy grain. Joseph recognizes his brothers, and their bowing down to him triggers his recollection of his dreams of 20 years prior. Keeping to himself his identity as their long-lost brother, Joseph accuses them of spying, imprisons them, and then keeps Simeon (who had shared in murdering the Shechemites) hostage before giving them grain and sending them home with a charge to bring Benjamin to Egypt to prove their innocence and secure Simeon's release. Reuben recognizes the demand as divine justice for the brothers' past treatment of Joseph (42:22).
The brothers' discovery of their returned payment for the grain, the absence of Simeon from the returning party, and the demand that Benjamin journey to Egypt distress Jacob greatly, and he refuses to let Benjamin go despite Reuben's promise to guard him personally. But when their food runs out, Jacob once again
sends his sons to Egypt, this time accepting Judah's pledge of responsibility for Benjamin and also sending gifts and extra money in hopes of placating any anger against his sons held by Pharaoh's household.
The brothers meet with a far different welcome on their second trip to Egypt - the formerly harsh Joseph plans to host them at a special meal in his own house! But the brothers' guilty consciences prevent them from enjoying the prospect, and now they fear a fate like that into which they had sold Joseph (43:18)! True to his word, Joseph releases Simeon, and the banquet proceeds.
But the meal serves as a foil for Joseph's subsequent plans to instill fear in his brothers. He sends the ll toward home loaded with grain, again secretly returns their money to their sacks, and this time frames Benjamin with the more serious offense of stealing the silver divination cup Joseph apparently used in interpreting events (by analyzing the movement of oil drops in water).
Their unwitting theft exposed by Joseph's steward, the brothers return to the city wondering how to clear Benjamin. Judah now takes the lead in guarding Benjamin's fate even to the point of offering himself as Joseph's slave in Benjamin's place.
The brothers wish death upon the one who had stolen Joseph's cup and offer that the rest submit to slavery (44:9). Yet apparently at Joseph's instruction (cf. 44:17), the steward rejects the suggestions as too severe and lessens the proposed punishment (v. 10).
With the increase of urbanization during the Middle Bronze Age, the patriarchs maintained a seminomadic lifestyle. (Phoenix Data Systems, Neal and Joel Bierling)
The Patriarchs and Their Neighbors
The book of Genesis contains references to other peoples who lived in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Syria-Palestine in ancient times; but the chronology of the ancestral narratives is not precise, making it impossible to know exactly when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived. A majority of scholars place them in the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 B.c.), a view based on archaeology and cultural comparisons with the ancient Near East. This period of ancient history is marked by the movement of ethnic groups and the emergence of new empires replacing the older powers of the Early Bronze Age.
Israel's ancestors were not aborigines who appeared at the dawn of human history, but instead the beneficiaries of a rich cultural heritage. By the time Abraham was born, the world had witnessed the rise and fall of two of the world's great civilizations. Egypt's Old Kingdom period, with its great pyramids and sovereign pharaohs, occurred during the Early Bronze Age (3300-2000). This was Egypt's classical period, in which all of its significant cultural features flowered and became normative for the rest of ancient history. In Mesopotamia, the Sumerians had given human civilization its initial form and shape, then gradually gave way to the first true empire in world history, the Semitic empire of the Akkadians. At the turn of the 2nd millennium, large groups of Northwest Semitic peoples began migrating to all parts of
the Fertile Crescent, bringing the Early Bronze Age to a close amid destruction across the Near East. These newcomers were called Amorites ("Westerners"), who many scholars believe were the ancient ancestors of the Hebrews and Arameans of the biblical period.
Near the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, the Amorites arrived in Mesopotamia in such large numbers that they dominated the next millennium of Mesopotamian history. They established major power centers at Babylon on the Euphrates and at Assur and Nineveh farther north along the Tigris. This was the period in which Hammurabi unified the region and issued his famous law code, which preserved legal traditions reaching back into the 3rd millennium. Many scholars believe that Abraham was an Amorite from Mesopotamia.
The Middle Bronze Age ushered in perhaps the most prosperous period of Egypt's history. During the so-called Middle Kingdom empire, royal power became gradually centered in the pharaonic crown of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Dynasties (ca. 2000- 1700). International trade conducted across the Sinai Peninsula and the Mediterranean Sea with the various powers of Syria-Palestine resulted in unprecedented wealth and contributed to a flourishing of the arts in the golden age of Egyptian culture. Toward the close of the Middle Bronze Age, Semitic
peoples from Asia filtered into the Nile Delta, which slipped from the pharaoh's grasp. Eventually the foreigners, known as "Hyksos" (an Egyptian term for the Asiatic princes), conquered all of Egypt, which they ruled for the last century of the Middle Bronze Age. Many scholars assume the Hyksos period of Egyptian history to be the most likely time when Joseph and the ancestors of Israel entered Egypt and settled in Goshen in the Nile Delta. This would locate the Joseph narrative between the Egyptian Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom periods (ca. 1700- 1550).
Syria-Palestine during the age of Israel's ancestors experienced urbanization and resettlement of outsiders, especially in the central and southern highlands. The region's gradual recovery from the upheavals at the end of the 3rd millennium was probably due to the settlement of Amorite seminomads there, a phenomenon evident across the biblical world. The migration of Israel's ancestors may well have been part of this movement toward the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2000). Syria-Palestine was also influenced by Hurrian (biblical "Horites") and other Indo-European groups. Various of these groups achieved unification in Asia Minor, and the Hittite Old Kingdom would emerge there toward the end of the Middle Bronze Age. The ancestral narratives of Genesis mention the presence of these groups in Syria-Palestine, and the most likely time for these events was during the Middle Bronze Age.
According to Genesis, the central features of ancestral religion were the covenant and its promises: land, descendants, and the promise to become a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:1-3, and frequently throughout). In a
fashion quite different from later Mosaic religion, Israel's ancestors worshipped God without priests or prophets, and often received revelations through visions and dreams. The religious practices and expressions described in Genesis 12-50 fit well in the Middle Bronze Age and are what we might expect from transitory, migrant
Amorites looking for land to settle and clans to leave behind.
For Further Reading
BILL T. ARNOLD
Judah's admission of the brothers' shared guilt and his eloquent plea on Benjamin's behalf cause Joseph to break a third time, and he finally identifies himself to his brothers. Joseph comforts them, explaining that everything had happened according not to their plan but to God's, in order that Joseph might ultimately save their lives.
Joseph's charge that his brothers bring their father and his entire household (including the families of his brothers) to Egypt to live in the choicest of pasturelands there, the favor the brothers find in Pharaoh's sight, and the material wealth they gain again fulfills God's promise that his chosen line will serve as a blessing to others (12:2-3).
45:25-47:26 Jacob's Move to Egypt
Jacob can scarcely believe his ears when he learns of Joseph's fortune. As he journeys to Egypt accompanied by the members of his household (70, a multiple of the sacred number seven), God pledges in a vision that he will make Jacob "a great nation" in Egypt and then bring him back to Canaan.
Eager to see his father, Joseph travels to Goshen to meet Jacob. Their tearful but happy reunion also provides an occasion for Joseph to coach his brothers on how to approach Pharaoh concerning their need for pastureland. Already well disposed toward Joseph's family, yet "loathsome" of their occupation as shepherds, Pharaoh readily agrees to allow Jacob and his retinue to settle off to themselves in Goshen. (Not only does this meet their immediate needs for food for their flocks, but it also lessens the possibility of their intermarrying with Egyptians and thereby losing their group identity.) Pharaoh shows even further generosity in offering Joseph's relatives jobs as royal herdsmen - employment that perhaps prospers them even more when Joseph buys the Egyptians' livestock for Pharaoh in exchange for food (47:16-17). In both this act and his later buying of the Egyptians' land in exchange for food, which makes them tenant farmers (here "slaves"), Joseph shows benevolence and mercy, not cruelty, for by this means he preserved their lives (47:25).
47:27-50:14 Jacob's Death and Burial
Jacob's family prospers in Egypt for 17 years before the time comes for him to die. Jacob indeed views Joseph as his heir and makes Joseph promise to bury him in the family tomb (at Machpelah; 23:20). Jacob also pronounces a dying blessing on Joseph's sons, whom he adopts as his own, and again the younger (Ephraim) is elevated above the older (Manasseh). Perhaps this caused Joseph to realize for the first time how his own older brothers felt about Jacob's preferring him over them (48:17-19). Jacob then seals the choice of Joseph as his heir both by passing on to him the promise of God's presence (48:21) and bequeathing him an extra amount of his inheritance (v. 22). Then, in one of the oldest poems in the Old Testament, Jacob pronounces blessings on his sons that preview the fulfillment of God's covenantal promises: as a group, they will prosper in every way and occupy all regions of the promised land (but contrast the judgments in 49:3-7 with vv. 8-27).
Joseph treats his father with great respect in death, as he had in life - he has Jacob's body embalmed, and the Egyptians mourn him just two days short of the time they mourned their Pharaohs. Joseph obtains permission from Pharaoh to take Jacob's body to Canaan for burial, and once more the brothers unite to bury their father (cf. 25:9; 35:29). On their journey to Canaan, the entourage takes an indirect route that may be similar to the one the Israelites later followed during the exodus.
50:15-26 Joseph's Death
Upon their return to Egypt, Joseph's brothers fear that, with Jacob gone, Joseph might now treat them harshly. But Joseph calms their fears and promises to provide for them and their families. Then, before he dies (at age no - the age Egyptians considered ideal), Joseph "bequeaths" the covenantal promise of land to his brothers (v. 24), now the patriarchs of the fledgling nation of Israel (12:2), and exacts from them a pledge to return his remains to Canaan.