Genesis
The beginning of it all was Genesis. Obviously the writer for Genesis wasn't there at creation but if they received their information from a powerful and intelligent deity called God then it should be without error, right?1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.We can take that to mean the concepts of light and darkness were created on day one. This isn't the light and dark of a "day" despite what it says. There isn't day and night if you're not on a rotating planet, but the writer wouldn't know that fact when this was written. God would know, but that isn't clear here. God goes on to form the waters and lands after the days begin with light and darkness.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.Plants are good. Fortunately there's already light from somewhere for those plants. The light has nothing to do with our big yellow ball we see during the day since that's created on the fourth day in the next passage. Apparently if the sun wasn't around then the plants were fine for a little while. They would have to be since the sun came after the plants.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.The fourth day creates the Sun, Moon, and stars after the vegetation was established on the previous day. Light somehow existed from the first day. It's funny how you have several days before you get the things that actually provide light and days on Earth. It reads as if they didn't know the Earth revolves around the Sun and plants require sunlight for photosynthesis. It also doesn't show an understanding of the stars having nothing to do with signs and seasons. These aren't necessarily major flaws but a real miracle would be to reveal the true nature of the Sun, Moon, and stars in a way that humans didn't understand at the time. The fifth day created the creatures of the water, sky, and earth before man was created. This is an important sequence to remember for comparing with chapter 2.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”Here's an odd phrasing where God talks of Us and Our image and then he creates man in His image. I wonder what that really means for the nature of God. He created them as male and female and said to be fruitful and multiply on the sixth day. Moving on to Chapter 2 and the story of Adam and Eve appears to be the sixth day in more detail. An alternative reading could be that Adam and Eve came after the humans created on the sixth day which could explain some other oddities such as wives for their sons. It still doesn't solve the puzzle of when the creatures were created in relation to humans which differs between chapters.
2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.Man was needed to cultivate the ground and that's why no shrub of the field was yet in the earth even though plants were yielding seeds the day before the Sun was created in Chapter 1. We're not that crucial to plants growing, but this makes us sound essential. Man was formed from dust but we're not just made of dust. That's fine if this isn't meant as the literal truth or if this is meant to be stardust on a larger scale of existence.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”Spoiler alert, he does eat from the tree, but he doesn't surely die despite what God predicted here.
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said,Now the book claims creatures were made after man. The previous chapter clearly said creatures on the fifth day and "man" with male and female on the sixth day to rule over the creatures. This section reverses it and contradicts that order with creatures to serve as the helper of man. We haven't even passed the second chapter of the first book and there's a major flaw in logic for the stories.
“This is now bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
God takes some of the dust which became Adam's rib and pulls that out to make Eve instead of just using more dust. Why? I have a sneaky suspicion it's because women create new humans. The story needs something to show women created from men to diminish their role in humanity. Chapter 1 says God creates "man" with male and female but doesn't say female is created from the male. Chapter 1 sounds like the male and female are equal creations. If this isn't a contradiction then it's confusing.
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field. This isn't the devil or a fallen angel. It describes a literal talking serpent. There's nothing to imply there is anything more to this. The serpent advocates for knowledge of good and evil but God promotes ignorance of these concepts. Knowledge and understanding our reality is the true fall of man in this story. It explains a little bit about why faith and ignorance are valued more than knowledge by the people believing in this book.
8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,Why did he put the tree there and forbid it? Why create such a tree if it'll lead to man's downfall and only serves as a test of their temptation? God doesn't know where they are or that they've eaten from the tree and He appears surprised when they reveal themselves and what they've done. I thought he knew everything we did and was all-knowing. This clearly isn't that kind of god.
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
The serpent is cursed more than every beast which reaffirms the serpent is just one of the beasts. But what is this dialog about enmity between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent's seed and her seed? This passage was said to the serpent so it's a curious thing to say.
16 To the woman He said,Here they say again that men rule over women so a man probably wrote this. It's interesting that Adam will eat bread before such a thing was invented. The Bible hasn't spoken of the discovery of fire or baking, but Adam will be eating bread after he's cast out of Eden. This bread is right after only eating the fruits of the trees. It's another clue that this is just a story written by a man who eats his bread baked by his wife who he claims his rule over often enough to mention it here.
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.Man has become like one of Us. Who's us? Maybe it's just a translation problem but it's an interesting choice of words. Maybe this is an adaptation from a religion with several gods or Lord God isn't the only god in the Bible. Maybe it's aliens. It's a weird choice of words either way.
4:1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.Adam and Eve had two sons named Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel because God likes his offering better.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. 11 Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”Again God doesn't know exactly what has happened but at least he hears Abel's dead voice from the ground. He curses Cain who will be a vagrant to wander the earth.
16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. 18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took to himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.Where did Cain's wife come from? Adam and Eve had two sons. That's all it says.
Lamech had two wives and nothing negative is said about this. If we're only supposed to have one wife then why did God not establish that from the beginning. He appeared to say it in "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."
25 Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.Here's another son from Adam and Eve with no mention of daughters. Seth had a son with some mysterious woman who wasn't descended from the first human couple.
5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.So far there's Adam and Eve with their sons. There's the mysterious people who produced wives for Adam and Eve's sons. There's Abel who had no offspring. There's the murderer Cain and his offspring. There's Seth and his offspring who "call upon the name of the Lord." The first couple is just the first couple of the believers in God who are shown to have good and bad branches of their offspring with Cain and Seth. It was the good branch who produced Noah.
3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 4 Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he had other sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.
6:1 Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.This is a fascinating passage. The "sons of God" took wives of the "daughters of men" because they were beautiful. Children were born between the sons of God and daughters of men producing "mighty men who were of old, men of renown." This sounds very much like the Greek and Roman gods who produced half-god heroes like Hercules. God's spirit is also flesh like man according to this.
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.God isn't all-powerful or perfect since God made flawed evil beings in man and all the other creatures. He became sorry he made his creations and decides to get rid of man and all of the creatures. He wants to wipe the slate clean, but then Noah and his 3 sons catches his eye.
13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. 14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.The ark was a big ship at 300x50x30 cubits to hold all creatures of the earth. Nobody really knows how long a cubit is but estimates are it's 1.5 feet. That means the ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 3 decks high. Each deck was 15 feet so giraffes might just fit since they're 15-20 feet tall. A replica built in the Netherlands took 14,000 trees to build and can only hold 1,500 people. It doesn't sound like all of the creatures of the earth could fit on it if the sizing is correct. If it was really much bigger then imagine the amount of trees and construction effort to build it.
17 Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. 18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. 21 As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.” 22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.This passage is widely ridiculed as an illogical basis for all life on earth. Forget the various branches of Adam and Eve or any other possible humans who mated with their two sons. There was only Noah, his wife, their 3 sons, and their sons' wives to repopulate the earth and spawn the various races we have today.
7:1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. 2 You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; 3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” 5 Noah did according to all that the Lord had commanded him.There's only two of every kind of unclean living creature on earth and from the sky. Everything fits on a boat to survive the flood and repopulate the earth. That's the entirety of the DNA and biological diversity of this planet. Every dog comes from 2 dogs unless they kept one of each breed. If they were considered clean then there were 14 dogs which compounds the size problem for the ark. Another thing this failed to mention is the difference between freshwater and saltwater fish. All of the freshwater fish would have been in saltwater for many months. There's a lot of logic and logistical issues with the great flood. There's so many problems to discuss about this that I'll just provide this link to the Rational Wiki.
19 The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. 20 The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.The mountains were covered. It seems God put the half-height of the ark above it just to ensure the ark didn't run aground. Who measured it to record this information and how are they sure that all of the mountains were covered?
8:3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased. 4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. 5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.150 days is a long time to sustain all life on earth on an ark and the saltwater and freshwater fishes alive in whatever waters there were for that time. Feeding the carnivores must have been particularly challenging. Fortunately everything worked out and the animals spread out over the planet including to places they couldn't possibly walk. Kangaroos can hop, right?
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.Noah was the best of us all. However, the first thing Noah does is kill some of the clean animals as sacrifice to the Lord who thought the burnt offerings had a soothing aroma. This is a primitive god enjoying sacrifices unless the burnt offerings were plants. Elsewhere the burnt offerings are clearly the animals so some animals were saved through all of this to become sacrifices. The last line is something the Lord said to Himself, but the author of Genesis knows about these internal thoughts of God. How can this be considered truth instead of someone's imagination?
9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.The fear and terror of man will be on every beast, but every beast doesn't actually fear man. This is not entirely true.
18 Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and Ham and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.Noah was the best of us all. However, he made wine, got drunk, and apparently passed out naked in his tent.
20 Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. 25 So he said,Noah was naked after he got drunk. Ham saw him naked so Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan to be a servant to Shem and Japheth because they did an awesome job of covering up the naked drunk father without seeing him naked. This seems really petty and arbitrary since Ham had 3 other sons. What did Canaan have to do with any of this naked business and why is it worthy of a curse? It's not a very good start for the rebirth of humanity.
“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant.”
27 “May God enlarge Japheth,
And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
And let Canaan be his servant."
Chapter 10 lists the descendants of Noah and says the various families developed their own languages and nations.
10:5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.They don't sound like they're very strong families if they all separated into the own lands, languages, and nations. It's not the usual behavior for families to diverge so much from each other. If you have to make the story fit reality then you might invent some unusual things to make it work. The author apparently noticed this discrepancy so he wrote the next section to align the story to reality. This is written even though it makes God look like a jerk to do this to his creations. Either it's true and God is a jerk or it's just a story to make sense of other senseless stories before it.
11:1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.Here's another occurrence of the Lord referring to Us when doing something to man. He saw men building a city and tower to work together in peace as one people. He says nothing will be impossible for these people working together. That sounds wonderful and should be the end of the story. Instead the "Us" decided it was bad. "They" confused our language and scattered everyone over the face of the earth to stop us from being an effective team. There's no identifiable purpose for causing these troubles for humans other than stopping us from working so well together.
12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram,The Lord isn't content with scattering us around with different languages. Now he picks a favorite with Abram who will get special blessings for a great nation. There will be curses for anyone cursing Abram. God isn't the God of all the people if he's a special god for specific special people.
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
15:2 Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.This bit about Abram being childless will become important later. God promised Abram offspring as numerous as the stars, so how that ends up happening must have been arranged by God. God must have really wanted it the way it happens so keep that in mind during this story.
7 And He said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. 11 The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.God promised Abram some land, but Abram wants some proof since he doesn't trust the word of God. I wouldn't trust him either after he messed up the languages of the world. God wants some very specific animal sacrifices. Maybe he still likes the smell of burnt offerings like in previous passages and has a preference for the types and ages of the flesh to be killed for him.
16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.God promised Abram an heir so this arrangement to conceive a child with his wife's maid must have been arranged by God or at least condoned by him as an ethical and proper way to have children. It was the wife's idea but she ends up causing the maid to run away because the wife treated the maid harshly.
7 Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”An Angel visits the maid and tells her to get back there and submit to Sarai's authority even though Sarai was treating her harshly.
17:1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,
“I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.
2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly.”
3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,
4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram,
But your name shall be Abraham;
For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. 7 I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
God renames Abram to Abraham when he's 99 after having a child with his maid at the age of 86. He sets him up as the father of a multitude of nations and establishes a covenant for Abraham's descendants. He says he will be the God for Abraham's descendants. This implies he's not the God of everyone equally. He's primarily the god of Abraham's descendants may be exclusively their god.
I'll skip over the whole destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the story of Lot offering up his daughters for rape. I'll jump ahead to after they've fled and the daughters get their father drunk so he'll impregnate them.
10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants. 13 A servant who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”God made man in His image. If God has a penis then apparently he doesn't like his foreskin. He decided we should cut off our foreskin presumably made in His image. It's a really weird requirement if you think about it as a brand new idea from God to man. Hey man, cut that bit of skin off as a sign of our great relationship. Circumcision is also required for "a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money" which sounds very much like slavery. Servants aren't born into servitude and you don't buy servants from someone else. The American Standard Version and other older versions don't use the word servant and simply refer to them as he. They are clearly slaves in how they're described.
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”God renames Sarai as Sarah and says she will bear a son for Abraham even though she's 90. Abraham is known as the patriarch of the Jewish people through Isaac, the son born to him and Sarah in their old age. He's also the patriarch of Arabs through his son Ishmael, born to Abraham and his wife’s servant Hagar. God blesses both sons but establishes his covenant only with Isaac and his descendants in this book.
I'll skip over the whole destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the story of Lot offering up his daughters for rape. I'll jump ahead to after they've fled and the daughters get their father drunk so he'll impregnate them.
19:30 Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31 Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.” 35 So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.This passage is important enough to have in the Bible or the author just wants to take the opportunity to call into question the pedigree of Moabites and the Ammonites. The story says they're born of incest between a father and his daughters so it might just be a cautionary tale. Either way it's just weird to put this story in a holy book.
20:1 Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. 2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.” 4 Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless? 5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”Abraham is ancient and his wife Sarah is only 10 years younger than him, but they travel and lie about their relationship to a king. The king takes Sarah to be his wife. Really? God tells Abimelech to back off because Sarah is already married, so God doesn't let him touch her. Abram who is now Abraham is the special chosen one of God but this kind of lying nonsense is happening. What did God see in Abraham? He doesn't seem very amazing so far. It gets even weirder.
11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. 12 Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; 13 and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” 14 Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. 15 Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” 16 To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.” 17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. 18 For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.Abraham lied to Abimelech, but God closed fast all the wombs of the king's household because of what Abraham said. Abimelech had to give them a bunch of stuff for God to heal them. The other interesting revelation here is that Abraham and Sarah are half-siblings. This is the holy union producing the Jewish people according to the Bible. They shared the same father but not the same mother so maybe that's part of the equation for it being good enough to serve as the father and mother of a great people. The Arab people didn't do so well in the story since their ancestry comes from some sort of prostitution or surrogate parent coupling with the maid to produce Ishmael.
21:9 Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” 11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. 13 And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”Isaac was born after the whole problem with the king. Sarah still had her problems with the maid and her son. God said the son of the maid will also make a nation. Abraham sends the maid and her son away.
22:1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”I have to say God is an asshole on an extreme level with this. He sets up Abraham to be the father of nations through his son Isaac and now God tells Abraham to kill him. Abraham proceeds to do exactly as this loving deity commands him. I don't know who's the bigger idiot in this.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”God says he's just kidding. Actually it was an angel who says it so maybe God still wanted the sacrifice and the angel intervened. Either way, Abraham still wants to offer a sacrifice even though he wasn't told one was still needed. He sacrifices a ram instead of his son. This is the same son who's supposed to become the father of a lot of God's people. Weirder and weirder.
25:1 Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. 5 Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; 6 but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.Abraham took another wife and had more children. He had sons with these concubines. This old man really got around in his old age but these other children were sent away to the east while Isaac got everything. Is this an attempt to make an origin story for Asian people and those "eastward" nations? They're all children of concubines.
27:5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”Isaac had two sons Esau and Jacob. Isaac preferred his eldest Esau, but his wife Rebekah preferred Jacob. Rebekah conspired for Jacob to receive all of Isaac's blessings and the trick worked.
35 And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” 36 Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37 But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.There's more to this story and I could put it all here, but suffice it to say that God allows Jacob to steal the birthright and blessings from Esau. God doesn't care about this trickery. Jacob is sent away to his uncle's place where he takes two of his first cousins as wives. This is the person who will be renamed Israel and is the father of many of God's chosen people. Is this the kind of person God thinks is good? Let's move on to Jacob's dealings with his uncle Laban.
29:21 Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is completed, that I may go in to her.” 22 Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. 23 Now in the evening he took his daughter Leah, and brought her to him; and Jacob went in to her. 24 Laban also gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a maid. 25 So it came about in the morning that, behold, it was Leah! And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?” 26 But Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the firstborn. 27 Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service which you shall serve with me for another seven years.” 28 Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife. 29 Laban also gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her maid. 30 So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.Jacob served Laban to win Rachel as his wife but Laban swapped her for his daughter Leah. He did this so Jacob would have to serve for seven more years to get both. Jacob now had two wives. God doesn't condemn this practice. He does mess with their wombs to cause the unloved wife to bear children.
31 Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. 32 Leah conceived and bore a son and named him Reuben, for she said, “Because the Lord has seen my affliction; surely now my husband will love me.” 33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon. 34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. 35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.God doesn't care if he has two wives and that they're sisters. God would rather have the unloved wife bear the children instead of the woman Jacob really loves and wanted from the beginning. There's a moral lesson to be had here, but I'm at a loss for what that might be since I'm a rational human being.
30:1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” 2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.” 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. 7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.Here's the use of a maid to bear children again. This must be the right thing to do under this God. It's yet another example of man having offspring with whichever fertile woman he has in his house regardless of their marital status. It's actually the wife that uses the maid as much as the husband. "Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children." The Handmaid's Tale is an excellent TV series demonstrating this unusual biblical practice.
9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. 10 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. 11 Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad. 12 Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “Happy am I! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher.His unloved wife Leah had to join in this game by using her own maid. She couldn't fall behind in the competition for producing Jacob's children. Jacob was a busy man with all of these women and it appears to be moral and good in the Bible. I don't see any criticisms of it.
14 Now in the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.” 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter for you to take my husband? And would you take my son’s mandrakes also?” So Rachel said, “Therefore he may lie with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” 16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, then Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come in to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he lay with her that night. 17 God gave heed to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. 18 Then Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. 19 Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.Rachel gave Leah a turn with Jacob in trade for mandrakes from Leah's son. Leah bore Jacob another son. Leah attributed this good fortune from God to giving her maid to her husband.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb. 23 So she conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.” 24 She named him Joseph, saying, “May the Lord give me another son.”Rachel was barren this whole time and had to give her maid over to Jacob to have children for him. God was finally nice to her in the end and caused her to bear a son with Jacob. God was in control of the situation the entire time. He was the one who rigged it for Jacob to have children with two wives and two maids.
32:24 Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” 31 Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. 32 Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.Jacob was renamed as Israel by God. This little story says Jacob has seen "God face to face" and Jacob wrestled this person. The sons of Israel now have a dietary restriction because of literally wrestling with God and Jacob getting his thigh dislocated by God. God won the wrestling match but it sounds like he cheated. I'm sorry, but why do people believe this book is about a real God as compared to any of the Roman or Greek myths? Aren't those dismissible because of the physical interactions between gods and men?
The main thing to learn from all of this is that God's chosen people in the twelve tribes of Israel came primarily from one man having children with two wives and two maids. Genesis continues with stories of Joseph as the favorite son of Jacob/Israel. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers. It's really not worth getting into his story as deeply as I've done with the rest of Genesis since it's more of the same in many ways. I'll end my study of Genesis here.
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