Genesis 1-23

Whoa! It’s Tuesday, so I’m four days late with my first entry… Hmmm, definitely need to improve my time management skills…

In this first section, there’s quite a lot to take in – both in my own history and in the text. Creation, the Fall, Noah, Babel, Abraham… there’s no shortage of good stories. Opening my Bible for the first time in so many years was very much like visiting an old friend or stumbling across a long-lost trinket in the attic. The joy is two-fold, of discovery and of memory. How odd that I should find myself smiling at words and phrases like “Masoretic Text,” “Hittites,” and “covenant!” I didn’t realize how greatly I had missed the little italicized letters marking footnotes, or the familiar cadence of genealogies.

Ironically, I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to read the Bible – with the possible exception of when I was quizzing. Oh, and that reminds me: I’m working on a spiritual autobiography which I plan to post next week before I finish Genesis. Anyway, I read through this week’s assignment in just under two days, just cruising along and jotting down thoughts. It’s a real pleasure, and I’m already convinced this project is one of my best ideas ever. I just hope you folks out there in Internet Land have a good time, too.

Early on, there are so many little details I had forgotten that puzzle me today, like plants growing on Day 3 while the sun comes along on Day 4. The creation account seems more akin to a fairy tale than a historical account. I can’t help but be reminded of modern-day storytelling, which my stepdad has introduced to me since I last read the Bible (Check out http://www.storytellingcenter.net/festival/ as a starting place if you don’t know what I’m talking about; there are some great performers out there!).

God seems so, well, human. He walks in the Garden of Eden, he “comes down” to see the city of Babel, and appears as three men to Abraham. Ten years ago I thought God was fantastic and majestic; now he seems nearly as petty as the gods of the Greeks or Romans. I’m reminded of when I found out that certain people I esteemed had skeletons in their closets.

I’m also struck by the importance of modesty in the first few chapters. The narrator takes pains to point out that Adam and Eve felt no shame in their nakedness before sinning; in fact, he (and I’m pretty sure he’s a man) tells us the first humans were embarrassed about their nakedness but not about disobeying God after they eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. It all sounds a little weird to me now, because it implies there’s something inherently wrong with nudity – even when it’s just two people who are ostensibly married. To me, when two people are naked together, it’s an expression of trust, comfort, and of course pleasure. Why should Adam and Eve care about their clothing situation if the temperature hasn’t changed? Nobody new has entered the garden, right? My 18 year old self reminds me that the shame of nakedness is supposed to signal that something has gone wrong in the world. Today that logic sounds a bit contrived.

There’s also Noah, who gets drunk after the Flood and passes out naked in his tent. Two of his sons, Shem and Japheth, take the trouble to walk backwards so they can drag a covering over their dad. When the patriarch comes to, he heaps blessings on these two sons while cursing out the third son, Ham, who had seen his dad and told the other sons. The whole thing seems like an overreaction. Maybe it was just a really bad hangover…

Reading the story of the Flood stirred up a memory of an animated video series my family used to watch over twenty years ago, with Noah looking up at the sky and saying, “My eyes are not what they used to be.” All I could remember was that the title had ‘adventure’ in it, and one of the characters was called Moki. Thanks to the internet, I found it! Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd2WbC5kK1Y

I could spend a whole entry just on these videos! I’d nearly forgotten them, but once I started watching, it felt like I could recite the dialogue and hum the tunes. It makes me wonder just how many other memories are tucked away in my head, waiting to be uncovered.

Moving on, in chapter 19 we have the famous destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead of dwelling on the homosexual aspects of the story, I’d like to note how riveting the tale is. The angels are rushing out Abraham’s nephew Lot, all but shouting, “GET TO ZEH CHOPPA! DO IT NAAOOOOWWW!” At least, that’s how I read it (apologies for my attempt to transliterate Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Also, I knew Isaac’s birth was miraculous, but I only just now figured out that God would have needed to supply Sarah the egg, since, you know, she was 90. I suppose I didn’t learn about menopause until after I’d drilled Genesis into my head.

When I reached the tale of Abraham’s test, I found something curious there, too.  After God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the very son he waited decades to get, father and son plus some servants go on a journey that lasts three days! That’s a long time to think about killing your son – and still go through with it.

Well, I guess that’s all for now. Hope you enjoyed this first foray into memory and textual analysis! If I made a mistake or you have a question, please let me know; otherwise, I’ll see you all on Saturday, when I finish up Genesis.