Genesis: The Big Picture

In This Post

• See the big picture in Genesis from the points-of-view of each of our three sources:
  • J: Judgment, Remnant, and the Rise of Judah
  • E: Etiology, Hagiography, and the Rise of Ephraim
  • P: Promises & Covenants, Seed & Land
• As always, if you are not clear on the sources behind the Pentateuch (Jahwist, Elohist, RJE / Old Epic, Priestly, and Deuteronomist) or if you’re not familiar with the names of God (El, Elohim, YHWH, Adonai) refer back to the Old Testament Overview.
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The Jahwist: From Judgment to Judah

The Jahwist’s intimate account of God’s creation and humanity’s fall initiates a paradigm of grace, sin, judgment, and renewed grace.  Adam and Eve sin, God punishes them and sends them into exile, but God also blesses them with children.  Cain murders Abel, he is exiled, but God promises to protect him.  Humans multiply and spread across the face of the earth, but as they increase, so too does their sin.  Fallen angels impregnate human women and demigods come to wreak havoc.  Eventually, “Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil” (Genesis 6:5, WEB).

And YHWH regretted He had made humankind in the earth.  And He was grieved to His heart.  And YHWH said, “I’ll wipe out the human whom I’ve created from the face of the earth, from human to animal to creeping thing, and to the bird of the skies, because I regret I made them.” (6:6-7, Friedman)

“But Noah,” verse 8 continues, “found favor in YHWH’s eyes.”  YHWH’s heart softens and, though He would still deal harshly with sin, He elects a remnant.

Here we have the dawning of one of the most important theological concepts in the whole Bible, one that is central to both Judaism and Christianity.  The monotheism that Christianity inherited from the Jews posits a creator God who is personally involved with His creation, working to bring it to perfection.  From the beginning, humanity was chosen to govern the created order on His behalf.  Most humans have gone their own way, but there has always been a faithful few who have accepted the charge to serve as God’s representatives to the rest of creation.

The Hebrew word for “remnant” appears four times in Genesis, all four in the Jahwist’s account.  The first is at 7:23: “He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground. … Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained” (NKJV).  Thus, Noah and his family become God’s first remnant.

The Flood subsides, YHWH “smelled the pleasant smell” of Noah’s sacrifice, and He vows never again to “strike all the living.”

All the rest of the earth’s days, seed and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”  (8:21-22)

When we get to the end of the book of Genesis, however, God seems to be in danger of failing in this promise.  Joseph warns his brothers, “it’s two years that the famine is in the land, and for five more years there’ll be no plowing and harvest” (45:6).  But in the very next verse he testifies to them: “God sent me ahead of you to provide a remnant for you.”  And so throughout the rest of the history of Israel, God would always have a remnant, faithfully acting on His behalf.  When we get to the New Testament, Jesus himself will become the remnant and, in him, Israel’s vocation will finally reach its fulfillment.

Returning to Genesis, recall our question from Week 3, “Was Jacob a trickster, or was he just #BLESSED?”  We saw how the Jahwist was keen to paint Jacob as a trickster while the Elohist went out of his way to defend Jacob’s innocence.  This makes more sense now in the context of the entire book.  “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,” wrote St. Paul in Romans 5:20 (NKJV).  The Jahwist has no problem detailing humanity’s sinfulness because, in doing so, it justifies YHWH’s judgment while accentuating His grace.

Accordingly we have the unilateral and unconditional covenant that YHWH makes with Abraham at 15:17-18.  Every generation will fall into sin, but YHWH will remain faithful to the covenant with His remnant.

• Famine sends Abraham to Egypt.  Instead of trusting in God’s providence, Abraham lies to Pharaoh and pimps out his wife to Pharaoh’s harem.
• Like the land, Sarah is barren.  Instead of trusting in God’s promise to provide a son for him through Sarah, he takes matters into his own hands, having a son by Sarah’s Egyptian maid.
• Famine sends Isaac to the land of Abimelek.  Like his father before him, Isaac lies, telling the people of the land that Rebekah is his sister.  And this comes immediately following the paragraph in which YHWH has reiterated his covenant with Isaac:

Stay on in this land, and I’ll be with you and bless you, … and I’ll uphold the oath that I swore to Abraham your father, and I’ll multiply your seed like the stars of the skies and give to your seed all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your seed.  (26:3-5, Friedman)

Although God had promised Noah that he would never again “strike all the living,” He did not mean that there would be no consequences for sin.  Another thing we learned in Week 3: Jacob deceived his father into blessing the wrong son and it was answered with poetic justice when Laban deceived Jacob into marrying the wrong woman.  The Jacob and Joseph stories also fascinatingly foreshadow a system by which sins will be atoned through blood.

• Jacob’s deception of his father involved a slain goat providing the meat for the meal and the hairy skin for his impersonation of Esau.
• Laban’s deception of Jacob probably involved a slain animal, likely a goat, as part of the feast that dulled Jacob’s wits.  In ancient times, feasts typically included a ceremonial sacrifice of an animal which would then be eaten in community to seal social bonds and unite the parties with their gods.  In most ancient cultures such were the only occasions in which meat was consumed.
• Jacob employed trickery to fleece Laban of his choicest goats.
• Jacob received a second round of poetic justice when his sons deceived him, using Joseph’s coat dipped in goat’s blood to convince him that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.
• Finally, the Jahwist tells a tangential story about Judah failing to give his third son to his daughter-in-law to provide the son’s deceased brother with an heir (do a search for “levirate marriage” if you’re unfamiliar with this).  In a scene reminiscent of Leah consummating her marriage with the unwitting Jacob, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces Judah to produce an heir for her husband through him.  The price of their transaction?  A goat kid.

This provides a perfect segue to the last observation we’ll make.  If the overall purpose of Genesis is to take us from creation to the election of Abraham to Abraham’s seed entering Egypt, the Jahwist will take advantage of this opportunity to highlight his favored ancestor, Judah.

Remember, the Jahwist is writing during the time of the divided kingdom.  He needs to explain why Jacob’s fourth son, Judah (the ancestor of David and Solomon and all the kings of the southern kingdom of Judah), was chosen as the progenitor of the royal line.  Thus, leading up to the blessings Jacob gives to each of his sons (chapter 49) we have the stories of Reuben (the firstborn) sleeping with his stepmother (35:22), and Simeon & Levi (the second and third sons) slaughtering the Shechemites (chapter 34).  Judah, on the other hand, is presented as the one who preserved Joseph’s life (37:26-27), takes responsibility for Benjamin’s life (43:9), and volunteers to be punished in Benjamin’s place (44:33). In the Elohist all of these are credited to Ruben.

Let’s turn, now, to the Elohist.

The Elohist: Etiologies & Ephraim

An etiology is an explanation of something’s cause or origin.  A hagiography is a writing that treats its subject as saintly.  The etiology and hagiography that characterize the Elohist are illustrated together in chapter 21.  If you recall from Week 2, we found a different explanation for the origin of Isaac’s name in each of the three sources.  The laughter of Abraham in P and Sarah in J is explained hagiographically in E.  Instead of being a scoff of disbelief, the laughter that gave rise to Isaac’s name is described by the Elohist as a joyful laughter from God.

Other etiologies we find in the Elohist:

• “Beer-sheba” (21:31)
• “Midianites” and other peoples descended from Abraham (25:1-4)
• “Beth-El” (ch. 28)
• Forebears of the northern tribes and explanations for the meanings of their names (ch. 30)
• “Gal-ed” or “Mizpah” (31:48-49)
• “Mahanaim” (32:3)
• Jacob’s name being changed to “Isra-El” (32:29)
• “Peni-El” (32:31)
• “Sukkot” (33:17)
• Jacob’s purchase of land in Shechem (33:18-19)
• Altar named “El, God of Isra-El” (33:20)
• Altar named “El of Beth-El” (35:7)
• “Oak of Weeping” (35:8)
• Benjamin’s name and Rachel’s grave (35:18-20)

As for the narrative sections of the Elohist we have the hagiographical account of Abraham’s near or actual sacrifice of Isaac (ch. 22); the E version of Jacob’s time in Haran which, as we discussed at length in Week 3, passionately defends Jacob’s innocence; and, finally, the Joseph cycle.

The part of the Joseph story in which he comes across as a spoiled brat, flaunting his coat and his dreams, comes from the J account.  This fits what we learned about the Jahwist above, that his God is ever gracious to humanity despite their sinfulness.  Throughout the E version of the Joseph story–as had been the case in the Elohist’s treatment of Jacob–the protagonist is presented as wholly innocent.  Also, as we saw above, the Elohist contradicts the Jahwist’s testimony about which brother preserved Joseph’s life and took responsibility for Benjamin’s.  In E, Reuben is the one who saves Joseph life (37:21-22) and puts his neck on the line to protect Benjamin (42:37).  Perhaps what we are witnessing here is the Elohist’s biases peeking through: Jacob was the patriarch most associated with the north, the tribes that descended from Joseph settled in the north, and after the death of Solomon the tribe of Reuben joined the northern tribes in their secession from Judaic rule (see Old Testament Overview).

Finally, let us reiterate, when the E accounts were being compiled Ephraim was the most prominent of all the northern tribes.  Joshua, the hero of the Conquest of the Promised Land, was an Ephraimite.  The central sanctuary of the tribal confederacy from the time of the wilderness wanderings to the establishment of the monarchy was in the land of Ephraim at Shiloh.  The most important shrine in the north was Beth-El, also in the land of Ephraim.  And the inaugural monarch of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam I, was from the tribe of Ephraim.  As the Jahwist had to explain the favored status of Judah, the Elohist needed to explain the emergence of Ephraim, which was not even one of the original 12 tribes.  Chapter 48 records Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim: himself a younger son, Jacob gives the preferential blessing to Joseph’s younger son.  Thus, the Elohist’s hagiography of Joseph becomes an etiology for the rise of Ephraim.

Priestly Promises: Seed & Land

Apart from genealogical lists, there is little in the Priestly account that we might call original.  For the most part it consists of an alternative perspective on people and events that we find in the older Jahwist and Elohist sources.  This supports Friedman’s theory that the Priestly source arose as a response to the combined “Old Epic” account.  It is succinctly structured around appearances of Elohim and reiterations of His blessings and promises to select individuals: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Adam

The majestic Priestly account of creation climaxes with Elohim saying, “Let us make Adam (‘humanity’), in our image, according to our likeness” (1:26, Friedman).  The word “covenant” is not used, but many commentators see this as a type of covenant as it includes common covenantal features.  Humanity, bearing the image of Elohim, will govern the seas, skies, and earth on His behalf and, in turn, He will bless humanity with seed (“be fruitful and multiply”) and land (“fill the earth and subdue it”).  He will also sustain them, providing “all the vegetation” for food.  It is not explicit, but the implication given by the Priestly authors is that the Sabbath is here established as a “sign” of this covenant.

Noah

Elohim says to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, because the earth is filled with violence because of them.  And here: I’m destroying them with the earth” (6:13, Friedman).  He gives Noah instructions for an ark and declares “I shall establish my covenant with you.”  This is the first use of “covenant” in the Bible.

In the Priestly account of creation, the Spirit of Elohim “was hovering on the face of the water” (1:2).  On the third day, land emerged from the midst of the waters.  When we come to chapter 8, the earth is again submerged under water.  Accordingly, the Priestly source now details a new creation as Elohim “passed a wind over the earth, and the water decreased” (8:1).  “Spirit” and “wind” are the same word in Hebrew–ruach–which can also be translated as “breath.”  In both works of creation, then, the breath of God tames the watery chaos.  Remember this when we get to the Gospels and Jesus rebukes the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

“Be fruitful and multiply [seed] and fill the earth [land]” (9:1).  Elohim thus blesses the human once again and gives him dominion over the earth, skies, and seas (9:2).  In addition to the vegetation of the earth, animals are given to humanity for food.  Elohim adds a promise that “all flesh will not be cut off again by the floodwaters” (9:11).  The sign of this eternal covenant will be the rainbow in the clouds.

Abraham & Isaac

The Priestly account had described Noah as “a virtuous man … unblemished in his generations” (6:9, Friedman).  Elohim reveals Himself to Abram as El Shadday, usually translated “God Almighty” though this epithet may have originally meant “El of the Mountain.”  He commands Abram: “Walk before me and be unblemished, and let me place my covenant between me and you, and I’ll make you very, very numerous” (17:1-2).  He changes Abram’s name (“exalted father”) to Abraham “because I’ve set you to be a father of a mass of nations.  And kings will come out of you” (17:6).

I’ll establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you for their generations as an eternal covenant, to become God to you and to your seed after you.  And I’ll give you and your seed after you the land where you’re residing, all the land of Canaan, as an eternal possession. (17:7-8)

The sign of this eternal covenant is circumcision.  Accordingly, Abraham circumcises his entire household, including his son by Hagar, Ishamel.  A year later, Isaac is born to Sarah.  He is circumcised (21:3-4) and becomes the chosen heir (17:19).

Jacob

After Esau displeases Isaac and Rebekah by taking wives from among the Hittites, Isaac blesses Jacob:

May El Shadday bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so you’ll become a community of peoples, and may He give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, for you to possess the land of your residences, which God gave to Abraham. (28:3-4, Friedman)

God Himself reiterates the covenant with Jacob in chapter 35.  As He had changed Abram’s name to Abraham upon establishing the covenant, Elohim appears to Jacob here, changes his name to Israel, and declares to him:

I am El Shadday.  Be fruitful and multiply.  A nation and a community of nations will be from you, and kings will come out from your hips.  And the land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac: I’ll give it to you, and I’ll give the land to your seed after you. (35:11-12)

Every time “El Shadday” appears, there is a confirmation of the Abrahamic covenant.

Joseph

The land of Canaan was promised to the seed of Abraham as part of the covenant.  With Jacob/Israel moving all of his seed out of the land of Canaan and into Egypt (see chapter 46), the covenantal promises would have seemed to be in peril.  This makes the next section extremely important.  Jacob, nearing the end of his life, says to Joseph:

El Shadday appeared to me in Luz [Beth-El] in the land of Canaan, and He blessed me and said to me, “Here, I’m making you fruitful and multiplying you, and I’ll make you into a community of peoples, and I’ll give this land to your seed after you, an eternal possession.” (48:3-4, Friedman)

Jacob then adopts Joseph’s two sons–Ephraim and Manasseh–as his own, thereby giving Joseph a double portion of the inheritance.  Finally, Jacob expires, and the Priestly strand of Genesis ends with all of his sons taking his body back to Canaan to be buried “in the cave of the field of Machpelah, as Abraham had bought the field as a possession for a tomb from Ephron, the Hittite, facing Mamre” (50:13).

Although they would dwell in Egypt for a time, enduring hardship and even slavery, the seed of Abraham would one day return and take possession of the promised land.

The Big Picture

When later priests weaved the three strands together, they left us with a beautiful tapestry that takes us from God’s creation, through humanity’s rebellion, to God’s election of Abraham and his descendants as a remnant.  God establishes an eternal covenant with them, promising seed and land.  Though both would be threatened when the people of Israel are forced to leave the promised land for Egypt, we are reassured that God would one day bring them back home.

In the context of the final editing of Genesis, the people were once again living in exile, this time in Babylon.  The theme of exile and return, then, was a great encouragement to the people to remain faithful to the God who had proved Himself faithful through every generation.