Time Period/Setting: time immemorial to about 1700 B.C.
Title: Genesis means 'beginning'
Familiar Bible Stories: I hope I'll finally remember that all the old, familiar children's Bible stories are told in the book of Genesis: Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain (the murdering one who was a farmer ) and Abel (the shepherd), Noah and the Ark (and his sons Shem, Ham and Japheth who are constantly memorialized in crossword puzzles), The Tower of Babel, Jacob's Ladder (a favorite Bible School song, too) and Joseph and his coat of many colors. Jacob wrestles with God in the book of Genesis, and here, conveniently, is Pope Benedict's reflection on the matter. And, back to Cain and Abel for a moment, why was God unhappy with Cain's offering. Maybe I didn't read carefully enough, but that stymies me.
Patriarchs and Wives: The challenge I had in reading the book of Genesis was keeping the patriarchs and their wives and children straight and trying to place them all correctly in time and space.
Abraham and Sarah (formerly Abram and Sarai) started out in Haran which is present day northern Iraq in the year ? , but at God's instruction worked their way down past Bethel to the Negeb and Egypt. Seems like an awful lot of territory to cover. The tale of Sodom and Gomorrah includes the astonishing manner in which Lot offered up his virgin daughters to the mob of angry men at his door. Something similar happens later on in Judges (19.22 Gibeah's crime). Let me make clear that I'm not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination, but the status of women in Biblical times makes my hair stand on end. Talk about an oppressed, sub-par existence.
Then, through God's power, follows Sarah's pregnancy and she gives birth to Isaac.
Isaac marries Rebekah, who like Sarah must await God's touch in order to bear their twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Rebekah was an agreeable figure at first, but proves to be nasty and calculating. Why? Are we to learn something from this mean mother (or mean wife)?
Jacob of course wants to marry Rachel, but is tricked into marrying Leah. When he does get Rachel she, like Sarah and Rebekah, is barren. God again intervenes. Each of these births, Isaac's, Jacob's (and Esau's) and Joseph's is an event set apart just as Christ's birth will be set apart, just as, I can't help but think we are being instructed here, every birth is a special event touched by God. Marriage, pregnancy, procreation are not hum-drum, every day acts governed by human whimsy. Nobody is an accident of nature. Each of us is a distinct intention of God, created for a purpose.
Because God chose these women to be wives and mothers of Israel's patriarchs, I would have expected them to be, well, nicer, more refined, exemplary in their behavior. But these women are awful. Sarah is cynical and bitter. Rebekah, sort of a Lady MacBeth, plots and schemes behind her husband's back. Leah and Rachel compete with each other over who has had more children. I would ask, what's their problem, but I think I know. They have to share a husband and not only with each other! How about the matter of the sisters "giving" Jacob their maids! He has two sons with Bilhah and two sons with Zilpah. And these sons count as his legitimate sons, heads of the twelve tribes along with their brothers.
Rachel's sons seem to occupy pride of place, especially Joseph, and Rachel's death and burial are given some mention. Interestingly, she was buried on the road to Bethlehem and Jacob even puts up a stone at her gravesite. I believe her tomb is mentioned again somewhere in Exodus or Numbers as the Israelites pass through. Not sure about that.
Where: As for where all this takes place, it seems that Jacob is sometimes in Paddan-aram which is near Haran, Abraham's point of origin, and at other times he's in Canaan and maybe other times he's elsewhere.
Twelve Tribes: Jacob's sons, the twelve tribes, in alpha order: Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Joseph, Judah, Levi, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon and Zebulun.
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