Copyright 1997MWSC/Jeanie C. Crain All rights reserved.

Notes to Genesis

Names of God (names =power, personality, fate)

bulletEl Elyon-God Most High bulletAdonai--Jewish use to show awe, My Lord bulletHa-Shem-The Name (Orthodox Jews) bulletLord bulletThe Eternal bulletYahweh bulletNot a name but Presence Ex. 3.14 "I will be there when I will be there." bulletGod Shaddai 17.1

Nature of Hebrew God

bulletExists beyond fate, nature, and sexuality bullet(All powerful) Gives order and meaning to history bulletBestows blessing to living creatures bulletGives choice bulletPunishes evil justly bulletRules mercifully bulletMakes covenants bulletShapes human destiny through people of Israel

Contradictions and Opposites from Beginning

bulletPromise and delayed fulfillment bulletFertility and barrenness bulletRest and unrest bulletLife and death bulletKnowledge and ignorance bulletMankind and animals bulletHiding and revealing bulletPresence and absence

Themes

bulletLonely hero provides cathartic release from frustrating battle against death bulletDeath is overcome by community and law bulletStress is on morality and order bulletHumankind must make it through the world with knowledge of death bulletHumankind created in image of God--1.27 (does not specify sex in Hebrew); image, passed on from generation to generation bulletCovenant and election; Yahweh chooses (act of grace) bulletMonotheism (several levels: preference for one deity, to worship of one deity, to believing that only one deity exists); contrast practical monotheism of Ten Commandments (exclusive worship of one deity) to philosophical monotheism (only one God exists); Abram, at least a practical monotheist bulletSin (broken relationship and striving rather than rest) bulletOrigins

Themes Found in Patriarchs-Abraham

bulletPunishment for sin with human questioning (Abram, orginally quiet, progressively questions) bulletIntimacy with God through vision bulletSibling rivalry with more serious outcome than murder bulletSingling out of one to perform will of God bulletPassing off of wife as sister episodes (12.8, 20, 26) bulletMotif of affliction (inability to bear son; Hagar abuses temporary position; Ishmael protected by God and made into a nation)

Patterns in Life Span

bulletAbraham 175=7X5 squared bulletIsaac 180=5X6 squared bulletJacob 147+3X7 squared

Interpretation of levels of number symbolism: Human history is orderly and meaningful.

Circumcision

bulletRite of puberty and marriage bulletHebrew moves back to birth (defuses sexuality; individual is made holy for life, not just for marriage; bears the mark in the body)

Spokesperson of God

bullet18.16 Urgent question of justice bulletAbraham shows moral outrage, compassion bulletHuman being confronts and questions God bulletGod converses with self as result of questioning

Symbolism of Door/Entrance

bulletPlace of contact with God (Garden of Eden, Jacob's ladder) bulletConfrontation with men 19.37

Life Themes

bulletSeparation between heir and first-born bulletLeaving bulletJourney into the unknown bulletChild at point of death bulletIntervention of God’s messenger bulletParents’ sighting of the way out bulletPromise of future blessing

Lessons Apparent in Abraham’s Life

bulletGives up past (12) leaves father, land bulletGives up future (22) asked to sacrifice son bulletAbraham’s active life as man of God is lived in span between (in present).

Mid-Point (22) Continuity/Discontinuity

bulletGod comes to rescue bulletBeing chosen leads to difficulties bulletLove leads to heartbreak bulletMan’s decides relative to God bulletAbraham’s silence--no sleepless night, says not a word bulletAbraham, though secure in God’s covenant, must still function in the world (23)

Isaac’s Betrothal/Journey

bulletSecond generation bulletThemes of leaving, finding way, returning

25-Jacob

bulletTroubled, triumphant bulletThemes of struggle, deception, confrontation bulletGives his name to Israel bulletThemes of wandering, sibling rivalry, barren wife, wives in conflict, renaming, God perceived in dream and vision

Two Levels of Reality: Human and Divine

bulletHuman events viewed in context of God’s will bulletTensions of fate/free will, destiny/choice

Jacob’s Journey

bulletResembles that of grandfather Abraham (visionary) bulletResembles that of son (Joseph, dreamer) bulletAt portals of manhood, journeys into foreign land bullet28--Conversion bulletWives: love, jealousy, and children bullet32--meeting with God bulletWrestles with God, reunited with Esau bulletJacob=Israel=God-fighter bulletConflict between Jacob and Esau=threat to covenant: could lead to extinction of Abram's family; Jacob's leaving land for 20 years also threatens covenant--family could simply return to Mesopotamia. bulletEthnic distinctiveness and the land (like 14, appear as interlude)

Joseph (37-50)

bulletRelationship formed between Abram's family and land bulletEmerging profile of Judah (significance for later history); role is parallel to that of Jacob (deceived, asks for evidence concerning identity) bullet37--Judah's younger son: forces his way out when all seems lost; makes breach (Judah-Tamar, twins Perez, Zerah) bulletJoseph (39), same kind of forcing out bulletProvidential care of Joseph=sovereign control of history