The book of Genesis is like,
dysfunctional family story hour. The text is not lacking any form of malice, deceit,
debauchery, or violence. I say family dysfunction because the Genesis story is
one tale of a broken home after another. It’s fratricide, upon deception, upon
some funky familial relations.
When it comes to the Genesis
text, I tend to side with scholars who segment it into two forms: metanarrative
and historical narrative. Usually, I place the metanarrative around Creation
and Fall, but a recent reading of the text has me leaning towards a larger
segmentation (Ch. 1-11). This leaves the historical narratives consisting of
the Patriarchs and their Jerry Springer like, family stories.
The myth (tradition/legend) of the giants and sons of gods consorting
with female humans (Ch. 6) contributes to the metanarrative, which explains the
fallen nature of humankind, as does the Flood, as does, Cain and Able. In this
metanarrative, we have the makings of two crucial covenants (Noaic and
Abrahamic) One where the Lord promises not to destroy people and the other
where the Lord promises the growth of a people. In short, through legend and
history, the book of Genesis depicts the bonded will of humanity.
The basic gist of the book of
Genesis, humans are inclined to do messed up things. There’s everyone’s
favorite Sodom and Gomorrah, where the townsmen want to “get to know” the
angels a bit. There’s the split of Jacob and Esau (Israel and Edom) who were at
odds throughout the Primary History (Genesis-Kings). Not to mention, Lot’s daughters
(Ch. 19).
Frankly, the book of Genesis is
R-rated for violence and disturbing sexual content. Lot’s daughters and their
freaky relations may be the most unsettling to modern readers. But, Abraham
(you know, the father of many nations) married his half-sister Sarah (20:12).
As I reread Genesis today, the text
brought out some interesting questions. I wondered how any Christian could
believe in Free Will (if they’ve read Genesis in its entirety). I wondered how
we’ve managed to convey many of the stories as fantastical children’s tales. I
wondered how anyone could find it boring (whether they treat it as sacred or
not). If you haven’t read the book of Genesis, I encourage you to read it, not
so the Lord convicts you (or whatever spiritual motive you may favor), and not
in order to disprove its legitimacy. Read it for the story, where copious
amounts of human brokenness are met by a divine covenant of grace.
(I listened to this on vinyl today)
No comments:
Post a Comment