Genesis

19
FIRST BOOK OF THE TORAH GENESIS

description

Genesis. First Book of the torah. Three Narrative Cycles. 1. Chapters 1-11: Primeval History 2. Chapters 12-36: Ancestral Stories 3. Chapters 37-50: Story of Joseph. Primeval History. The Deity seems ambivalent towards his creation, willing to destroy it . Covenant With Noah. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Genesis

Page 1: Genesis

F I R S T BO O K O F T H E T O RA H

GENESIS

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THREE NARRATIVE CYCLES

•1. Chapters 1-11: Primeval History•2. Chapters 12-36: Ancestral Stories•3. Chapters 37-50: Story of Joseph

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PRIMEVAL HISTORY

• The Deity seems ambivalent towards his creation, willing to destroy it

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COVENANT WITH NOAHThe “sign” of the covenant is the rainbow

“I set my [rain] bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth. When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will recall the Covenant between myself and you and every living creature of every kind.”

Genesis 9:13-15

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NOAH’S SONS

Three Principle Branches of the Human Family known to Ancient Hebrews

1. Ham (from Ham come the Egyptians)2. Shem (from Shem come the Semitic peoples)3. Japheth (from Japheth come the Aegean people—Greeks)

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TOWER OF BABEL

• Genesis 11• An etiological

account• It attempts to

account for the many languages of humans

• It recalls human ambition and divine retribution as appeared in the expulsion from Eden

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ANCESTRAL STORIES

• Chapters 12-36 trace the stories of Abraham and Sarah, progenitors of future Israel, and their colorful descendants through four turbulent generations.

• It opens with God’s call to Abraham in Haran, and ends with his great-grandchildren—Joseph and his eleven brothers—settled in Egypt.

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THE JOURNEY OF ABRAHAM AND HIS PROGENY OUTLINE THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE

BIBLICAL WORLD

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GENESIS 15:18-21COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

Boundaries of the “Promised Land”

“that day Yahweh made a Covenant with Abram in these terms: ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates . . .”

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PROMISED LANDCOVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

Scholars believe that because Israel’s frontiers did not reach that extent until the reigns of David and Solomon (1000 BCE) that this form of the promises cannot be dated to Abraham, but many centuries later.

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TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL

• Joseph and his eleven brothers are the eponymous founders of the twelve tribes• Eponymous means ‘name giving’• The names of the Twelve Tribes come from Joseph

and his brothers

(Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph (later divided into Ephraim and Manassah), Benjamin, Gad, Ashur, Dan, Naphtali)

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FROM CHAPTER 12

• The rest of Genesis focuses on the ancestors of a single nation, Israel—as opposed to all of humankind• From Chapter 12 there is a new phase in the

divine-human relationship• In primeval history, God and human relationship is

adversarial• By Genesis 12, Yahweh displays great flexibility with

humans

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COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

• Genesis has four different versions of a covenant between God and Abraham

Genesis 12:2-3Genesis 15:1-21Genesis 17: 1-22Genesis 22:15-18

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“SIGN”COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

Genesis 17:11“You shall circumcise your foreskin, and this shall be the sign of the Covenant between myself and you.”

The ritual was not widely observed until much later in Israel’s history. Moses was unaware of the practice. And before invading Canaan, Joshua ordered his troops to submit to mass circumcision, a practice with which they were apparently unfamiliarJoshua 5:2-7

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REBEKAH MARRIES ISAAC

• Chapter 24• She follows the servant out of Mesopotamia to

marry Isaac• She gives birth to twins, first-born Esau, and

Jacob• She deceives Isaac into giving his blessing to

Jacob

• She has a major role in Israel’s destiny

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JACOB

• Jacob personifies the character of Israel: strengths and weaknesses, and a dynamic relationship with God• He undergoes powerful life-changing experiences• In one, Jacob encounters God at Bethel

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THEOPHANY

• A visible or perceptible appearance of the Deity to humans• In Genesis, appears more frequently to more

individuals than in any other book of the Bible• Chapter 28:10-22

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WRESTLING WITH GOD

• Jacob is attacked in the night—the night before he is to encounter Esau• Neither Jacob nor the assailant is successful• In the dawn, Jacob recognizes his opponent at “I

have seen God face to face . . .” 32:30• Henceforth, Jacob is Israel, the one who has

“striven with God [El] and with humans, and has prevailed”

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NEW IDENTITY

• Instead of being Jacob, the “supplanter” he his now Israel—like his name sake the nation, locked in a complex relationship with God