OT 305 Lecture 3

Pentateuch Lecture 3

Chapter 3. Genesis 12—50

With the call of Abraham in 12:1-3, the book of Genesis arrives at its focus of interest. The opening
chapters of the book cover long stretches of time very quickly, but from chapter 12 the pace slackens
and the narrative becomes much more detailed. Instead of relating events that affected the whole
human race, the book now focuses on the life of one family, the descendants of Abraham. Here are
explained the origins of the nation of Israel, and more particularly of the 12 tribes that made up the
nation (as well as the basis of their claim to the land: the Lord had promised it to Abraham). For the
writer of Genesis, the story he tells in chapters 12—50 is therefore of vital importance: it makes up the
core of the book.

Like the second exposition in chapters 2—11, the core of Genesis consists of three major narratives
separated by two short genealogies.

In the previous chapter, we briefly considered the pattern of these headings and noted that the person
mentioned in the title was head of the family during the period the title covers, though it is usually his
sons who are the main actors in the story. Thus chapters 25—35 “the generations of Isaac” deal with the
era between the death of Abraham and the death of Isaac, in other words the latter years of Isaac.
However, throughout this period Isaac was elderly and fairly inactive, and most of the action takes place
between his sons Jacob and Esau.

The stories of Abraham, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his brothers, thus constitute the three key
narratives of Genesis. Not only do they all have a similar title, but many of the episodes within them
seem to run in parallel. All have a divine revelation to the main actor near the beginning of the story,
which foreshadows how the plot will develop. Each of the principal actors—Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph
—has to leave home. Each main story ends with a burial at the ancestral grave of Machpelah, near
Hebron. There are quite a number of other parallels between the stories, which suggest that the writer
wanted to point out the similarities between the careers of the patriarchs.

Theologians have often noticed parallels between the life of Jesus and the people or events in the Old
Testament. For example, Jesus was forced to flee to Egypt and then returned to his homeland, which
Matthew compares to the exodus. His 40 days of temptation in the wilderness are compared to Israel’s
40 years in the wilderness. These parallels between different parts of Scripture are traditionally called
typology. It is striking that we have the same phenomenon within the book of Genesis itself. We have
noted already the parallels between Adam and Noah, but those between Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph
are even more striking. There are also parallels between the lives of these patriarchs and the
subsequent history of Israel; in other words, the patriarchs are not simply individuals in their own right
but embodiments of the nation.

The Genre of Genesis 12—50

So far we have simply described these chapters of Genesis as narratives of the patriarchal stories. Can
we be any more precise? Defining genre is important if we are to interpret texts responsibly. We have

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suggested that the whole Pentateuch is Torah (instruction) in the form of a biography of Moses, and
Genesis is essentially background to the main action, which begins in the book of Exodus. But we can try
to be more precise about Genesis itself.

Simplest to define are the genealogies of Ishmael and Esau in 25:12-18 and 35:1—36:1. These are
essentially tribal genealogies expanded with additional information as common in the Bible. The major
narratives in Genesis 12—50 are about the family life of the patriarchs. These stories describe the joys
and sorrows of family life in such a vivid way that we can still identify with them today. While few would
argue over the this definition of the form of the material, some would doubt whether it should be taken
as historical.

As with Genesis 1—11, a comparison with ancient Near Eastern storytelling is helpful. Apart from royal
inscriptions, ancient stories about people fall into three main categories. First, there are biographies and
occasional autobiographies, written close to the events described without extraordinary or miraculous
embellishments. Second, there are historical legends, such as the epic of Gilgamesh—based on historical
figures, but written centuries after the hero and full of fantastic deeds. Third, there are purely fictional
stories. It has been observed that the patriarchal stories fall somewhere between the first and second
group of narratives. Their sober content and third-person style makes them resemble biographies. But
their composition centuries after the lives of the heroes makes them more like legends, though they lack
the fantasy elements characteristic of the legends. Analogy with their Near Eastern counterparts would
suggest we are dealing with real historical people, not make-believe figures.

11:27—25:11: The Story of Abraham

Like each major section of Genesis, the story of Abraham begins with a heading, “These are the
generations of Terah”. As usual in the patriarchal narratives, the person named in the heading is the
father of the chief actor in the subsequent story: in this case Terah is the father of Abraham. It seems
that the first and last call of God to Abraham are meant to echo each other. These are some of the
indications that the story of Abraham is not just a collection of tales about him but a carefully organized
life of Abraham.

After a quick sketch of Abraham’s family background introducing his nephew Lot and his childless wife
Sarah, the narrative rushes forward to the defining moment in Abraham’s life, God’s call to him to leave
his homeland and family and move to an unspecified country that he would inherit. In ancient society
your family and tribe defined who you were: to break away was to lose your identity and security, for
your extended family was your protection if anything went wrong. In Abraham’s case, he was being
asked to leave the most sophisticated and affluent part of the Middle East, Ur of the Chaldees (southern
Iraq) for the unknown land God would show him.

It was a momentous step for Abraham personally, but Genesis sees his call as a giant leap for humanity.
In its exposition we read of two cycles of human failure. The first man Adam failed and that led
eventually to the flood. The only righteous survivor of the flood and second father of the human race,
Noah, also slipped, and the whole race again fell under judgment at the tower of Babel. But now
Abraham is promised that all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

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Genesis 12:1-3 are the first words God has spoken to humanity since the flood. Traditionally they are
referred to as the call of Abraham, but they are much more than that: they sum up the theme of
Genesis, if not the whole Pentateuch. In this call, the Lord promises Abraham four things: a land,
numerous descendants, blessing (protection and success), and blessing of the nations.

The storyline of Genesis, especially the Abraham story, is frequently punctuated by God speaking to the
patriarchs. These words are not merely repetitious. Each statement of the promises develops them in
some way, either increasing their scope or underlining their validity. It is also important to consider the
circumstances in which they are given: there is a clear tendency for promises to be reaffirmed after an
act of faith or obedience on the patriarch’s part.

Though God’s words are obviously of central importance in Genesis, they are built into a narrative that is
essentially about human action, so it is important to ask what the connection is between the promises
and the plot. The theme of the Pentateuch can be defined as the partial fulfillment (and thus partial
non-fulfillment) of the promise to the patriarchs. In other words, the events in Genesis all relate to the
promises: sometimes things happen that show the promises being fulfilled, the patriarchs enjoy divine
protection, children are born, or pieces of land are acquired. But at other times there are delays, or even
setbacks (such as the problem of childlessness, or when Jacob and his descendants have to leave the
promised land Canaan for Egypt). Abraham’s wife Sarah is childless and remains so at the advanced age
of 89—14 years after God’s promise to give Abraham descendants. Yet she eventually conceives and
Isaac is born. Isaac’s wife Rebekah also had problems conceiving and had to wait 20 years before the
birth of her twins. Jacob’s wife Rachel also had great difficulty conceiving, and her sister Leah had seven
children before Rachel bore Joseph. These stories show the promises being fulfilled, but painfully slowly.
But the persistent reader will see ever greater fulfillment as the story progresses. By the end of Genesis,
Jacob’s extended family consists of 70 persons. By the beginning of Exodus, they are so numerous that
the Egyptians embark on genocide to protect themselves, while a few years later the Moabites are
scared by their number and summon a powerful prophet to curse Israel. Of course, both attempts fail.

The promises and their fulfillment explain how the plot of the Pentateuch subsequently develops. But
why is Genesis 12—50 prefaced by the protohistory of Genesis 1—11? The promises to the patriarchs
have been described as a reaffirmation of the primal divine intentions for humanity. In other words,
what God promised to Abraham is what he intended for the whole human race at the beginning. Adam
and Eve enjoyed fellowship with God and his supply of all their needs and were told to be fruitful and
multiply. This corresponds to the promise to Abraham that he would be blessed by God and have
innumerable descendants. But as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, they were ejected from the
garden and forfeited God’s presence and provision. With the call of Abraham, however, the ideals of
Genesis 1 and 2 are resurrected, and Abraham is assured that all the families of the earth shall be
blessed in him. The long-term vision of Genesis (and perhaps the whole Old Testament) is that
ultimately the reign of sin will be broken and the world will become what its Creator originally intended.

But the path is far from straight: the key actors seem to wander toward it, not stride towards it. As soon
as Abraham has reached Canaan and been told that this is the land of promise, he has to leave it for
Egypt. Later he returns, but then must go into battle against a coalition of kings who have taken his
nephew Lot as one of their prisoners. Though Abraham is victorious, he realizes how tenuous his hold on
the promised land is. It takes another six chapters before a true heir of Abraham is born.

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These issues come to a head in chapter 15. Abraham gained nothing personally from his intervention on
behalf of his nephew Lot and the king of Sodom, so the Lord assures him that his reward will be very
great. But Abraham responds by pointing out that so far none of God’s promises have materialized: he
has not even a son, let alone the land of Canaan. This leads into the first of two covenant ceremonies
that are made with Abraham. In the first, God appears to Abraham in a vision and in a vivid symbolic
gesture promises him offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and all the land of Canaan.

The covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 15 is essentially a promise guaranteed by a remarkable
sign: this makes it unlike most other covenants in the Pentateuch, which require some action by the
human party as well as by God. Abraham simply has to kill five animals traditionally used in sacrifice,
split them, and lay them out in two lines. As he falls asleep, he is assured that after 400 years in a foreign
land his descendants would inherit the land. Then a cauldron of fire passes between the animal pieces,
and the promise is repeated.

The next covenant has a different focus. It begins with the demand for Abraham to walk before God and
be blameless. It involves changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah and the rite of
circumcision as a mark of belonging to the covenant people. Here for the first time it is explicitly said
that Sarah is going to have a child to be called Isaac: hitherto descendants have been promised to
Abraham, but it has never explicitly been said that Sarah would be their mother. (This had led Abraham,
at Sarah’s suggestion, to take her maidservant Hagar as a second wife and have a son named Ishmael.
After Isaac is born, Hagar and Ishmael are sent away by Abraham and Sarah, but God promises Ishmael
also will be the father of a great people, and he is traditionally seen as the ancestor of the Arab people.)
Their new names (which mean “Father of a multitude” and “Princess”) are an assurance that Isaac would
indeed be born and that Abraham would become father of many nations.

Abraham’s first act of obedience is immediate: he and all the men of his household are circumcised. His
second act of obedience is even more painful: he is asked to sacrifice his long-promised son Isaac. As if
no words could do justice to Abraham’s feelings, his response is told with the sparsest of detail. Only
when Isaac is bound helpless on the altar and Abraham is about to slash his throat with a knife does the
angel from heaven revoke the order to sacrifice. Then Abraham spots a ram, which he sacrifices instead
of Isaac. Then the promises to Abraham are reaffirmed in a solemn divine oath: blessing descendants,
land, and blessing for all nations of the earth through him.

In most episodes it is clear that Abraham is being presented as a model for his descendants to imitate.
He unhesitatingly obeys God’s commands. He is anxious to resolve disputes amicably. He intercedes for
the city of Sodom and for Abimelech and his household. He seeks no profit from others’ misfortune, and
he takes action to ensure a decent burial for his wife and to find an appropriate bride for his son.

But from time to time Abraham behaves in ways that shock the reader. He twice pretends that Sarah is
just his sister, so that she is abducted by the local king. He also (as noted) consents to surrogate
marriage to provide himself with an heir. As we shall see, the behavior of his grandson Jacob is even
more problematic. Does the writer of Genesis share our moral perspective?

It is difficult to know, for typically the biblical storytellers rarely make an explicit moral comment. It is
therefore not surprising that some writers have supposed that ancient readers admired some of this
deception, for it showed how smart their forefathers were. However, there are clues that show the
author’s stance is different. The opening chapters of Genesis portray a world of harmony and

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contentment. This is in such marked contrast with what follows that we must suppose that the opening
chapters give us a glimpse of the writer’s ideals. Despite his instances of deceptive behavior, Abraham’s
life-story does end hopefully. After hard negotiations with the Hittites, he buys a field and a cave in
which to bury Sarah when she dies. This field is his first substantial real estate in the land of promise. He
also sends off his trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac, who is remarkably successful in finding an
excellent woman from the right family. This means that the future of the chosen family is secure for
another generation.

25:12-18: Genealogy

It would be easy to overlook this short genealogy of Ishmael, Abraham’s son through his slave girl Hagar.
Like Israel, Ishamel also seems to have formed a confederation of 12 tribes, which, in so far as they can
be located, lived in Arabia. Although Ishmael was not the promised son, and therefore not an ancestor
of Israel, he was a descendant of Abraham and therefore inherited some of the blessings. That these
relatively minor predictions about the descendants of Ishmael have been fulfilled serves as an assurance
that the major promises about Isaac’s descendants will in due course be realized too.

25:19—35:29: The Story of Jacob and Esau

With the story of Jacob, we reach the heart of Genesis. These chapters tell of the birth of the twins
Jacob and Esau, their subsequent estrangement, Jacob’s flight to Paddan-Aram, his marriage to Rachel
and Leah, the birth of his 12 sons, and his return to the promised land of Canaan.

Jacob’s name is changed to Israel, which makes him the father of the nation, and his sons are the
ancestors of the 12 tribes. The story opens with the standard heading for each major section of Genesis,
referring to “the generations of Isaac.” Here as elsewhere in the patriarchal stories it is the father of the
main actors who is named in the title. Like the story of Abraham, the story of Jacob closes with a burial
in the ancestral grave, though the storyline of continues to chapter 50 where Jacob himself dies.

We noted that the Abraham story seemed to be arranged as a mirror-image pattern. This is even clearer
in the Jacob story. Like the story of the flood, the life of Jacob lends itself to chiasmic arrangement.
Jacob leaves Canaan and returns, both times seeing angels. He enters Laban’s household and later
escapes it. He is tricked by Laban into marrying both Leah and Rachel: he in turn trick Laban to acquire
the stronger animals in the flock. Most striking is the way he illicitly acquires Esau’s blessing and then
returns it. Chapter 26 and 34 are both concerned with relations with the peoples of Canaan: Jacob first
lives peaceably with the Philistines; later Jacob’s sons wage war with the Hivites. And the tale of Jacob
and Esau fighting each other in the womb finds it counterpart in their reunion to bury their father.

At the center of the pattern is the birth of Jacob’s 12 sons, the fathers of the 12 tribes. This is the turning
point in the narrative. As soon as Rachel, who has previously been unable to have children, has given
birth to Joseph, Jacob decides it is time to return to the home country.

Genesis 25:19-34 sets the tone for the whole Jacob story in several ways. First we see Rebekah’s
difficulty in becoming pregnant, a problem shared with Sarah before her and Rachel after her. Second,
when she at last conceives, her pregnancy is so painful that she consults an oracle who announces that

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two nations are in her womb, and the older will serve the younger. This announces the ultimate career
of her two sons: one is to be the forefather of the nation of Israel, while the other will be ancestor of the
Edomites, who were Israel’s often hostile neighbors south and east of the Dead Sea. Esau, the firstborn
of the twins, will be subject to the younger Jacob. Finally, the story of the struggle of between Esau and
Jacob starts, first in the womb with them fighting each other, then as they are born Jacob clutching
Esau’s heel, and somewhat later in life as young men with Esau selling his birthright to his opportunistic
brother. Both brothers struggle again to inherit the prosperity of their father. Isaac breaches the
convention of blessing his sons before his death by inviting only Esau to be blessed. Incensed, Rebekah
incites her favorite (Jacob) to sneak in and pretend to be Esau and thereby acquire the first-born’s
blessing. The writer of Genesis makes it clear that this deceit was condemned by God himself through
the way that Jacob paid for his sins in the years ahead and by his penitence in returning the blessing to
Esau (through his later peace-offering to him).

Nevertheless, despite suffering for his act of deception, Jacob does not forfeit divine protection. Fleeing
his brother’s wrath, he falls asleep at Bethel, a place that was later to become a famous center for
worship. There in a dream he sees a ladder with God standing at the top, who assures him that he would
inherit the promises first made to Abraham of land, descendants, and blessing to the nations. Jacob is
also assured that God is with him and would bring him back to his homeland.

In chapter 22, he establishes himself in a foreign land, as he finds employment with his uncle and falls in
love with his cousin Rachel. His delight is somewhat diminished when his uncle tricks him into marrying
Rachel’s less attractive older sister before allowing him to marry Rachel also. Yet it is she, the unloved
wife, who becomes the mother of six of the tribes. Her fertility is the source of great bitterness to
Rachel, who eventually gives birth to Joseph, whose sons Ephraim and Manasseh constituted two of the
largest tribes (since Joseph was given the double-portion inheritance of the firstborn, despite not being
the firstborn).

As soon as Rachel has her first baby, Jacob decides it is time to return home. But that is not easy for
Laban des not want to lose his useful son-in-law or his daughters, let alone the cost of a payout a valued
servant might expect when he left. So Jacob negotiates a settlement, which Laban expects will cost him
very little, agreeing to let Jacob have any lambs or goats of mixed color (knowing that goats are usually
all black and lambs all white). However, Jacob finds a way of breeding his flocks that produces a high
number of spotted sturdy sheep and goats for himself.

But this increases the tension between Laban’s family and Jacob, so Jacob decides to flee in the middle
of the busy sheep-shearing season. After a hot pursuit, Laban eventually catches up with Jacob, and
there is a bitter and angry confrontation. In the end, they make a covenant to respect each other’s rights
and not pursue any future harm to one another. Laban then returns to the north, and Jacob continues to
the south.

But Jacob is now approaching the territory of his brother Esau, who when last heard of was plotting to
murder Jacob. Though angels meet him at Mahanaim, the tension palpably rises as they enter Esau’s
land. Jacob sets aside large parts of his flocks and herds to be given as gifts to Esau and sends them on
ahead. He crosses his wives and children over the river Jabbok, and he is left alone on the norther
riverbank. There Jacob finds himself fighting a man all night. At dawn, the man wants to leave, but Jacob
refuses to let him go unless he gives him a blessing. So he does, changing his name from Jacob to Israel

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(God strives), which the narrator explains as Jacob prevailing after having striven with God and with
men. The man then blesses Jacob and leaves.

This brief episode is dark and mysterious, yet clearly of great significance, for it explains the origin of the
name Israel. It would be easy to see the man as a personification of Jacob’s fears, or as representing
Esau, but the text views him as El, the high god of Canaan. While the text does not answer all the
questions it raises, it leaves us with a picture of Jacob as a changed man. Not only has his name been
changed from Jacob (trickster) to Israel (God strives), but he has a limp to remind him of the encounter,
and more importantly, his character his changed. He now boldly puts himself at the head of the column
going to meet Esau.

Esau too has been transformed. He runs forward to greet Jacob, hugging him and kissing him, the hatred
of the past all forgotten. Jacob himself acknowledges his guilt as he urges Esau to accept all the animals
he is presenting to him; he is giving back the blessing he had illicitly obtained in chapter 27. Such is the
spirit of reconciliation that Esau presses Jacob to join him in his homeland of Seir, but Jacob sees it as his
duty to return to Canaan—the land promised to him and his descendants.

Chapter 34, describing the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah and the ensuing massacre of the
Shechemites, is the most horrific chapter in Genesis. None of the participants emerges with credit.
Jacob, whose lack of concern for his daughters triggers her brothers’ revenge on the Shechemites,
condemns the action of his sons who engaged in the massacre. Yet once again God’s promised
protection is proved, as Jacob’s family move south. With his arrival in Bethel, Jacob has reached the spot
where his wanderings began and God promised to return him.

36:1—37:1

As is customary in Genesis, a relatively short genealogy of those outside the line of promise is included
between long narratives about the ancestors of the chosen people. Nevertheless, this genealogy of Esau
is much longer than that of Ishmael in ch. 25 and is also unique in having a double heading. This may
stem from the time of David when Edom was incorporated into his empire and also acts as a reminder of
the close connections between the kingdoms of Israel and Edom.

37:2—50:26

The Story of Joseph, as it is usually known, constitutes the second half of the life of Jacob, which began
in ch. 25. It closes with his burial, followed by his son Joseph’s death, in ch. 50. The heading, “These are
the generations of Jacob,” better describes its contents, for though Joseph is the central character in
these stories, he is by no means the only significant figure. Jacob, Judah, and the Pharaoh are also
prominent in the story.

These chapters develop the theme of the Pentateuch showing the gradual fulfillment of the promises.
Throughout, God protects his chosen people in remarkable ways, and through Joseph, Egypt and many
of the surrounding nations are saved from starving in the worldwide famine. But though the promise
that all nations would be blessed through Abraham’s offspring is partially realized, the land promise

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seems even more distant than ever by the end of the book because all the descendants of Jacob are
now living in Egypt.

Genesis 37:2-36 reminds us of the opening of the Jacob story. Once again we have brothers in conflict
from their earliest days. Once again w we have divine revelation setting out the main course of the
story: here through two dreams of Joseph, which predict the rest of the family will bow down to him.

The animosity between Joseph and his brothers, though fueled by Jacob’s favoritism, has deep roots in
family history. Jacob never had much time for Leah or her children: he could not even be bothered to do
anything when here daughter Dinah was raped. He cared only for Rachel and her boys Joseph and
Benjamin. Now this hatred is perpetuated by the next generation. At the first opportunity, the sons of
Leah plot to kill Joseph. But in the end they decide they can make more out of him by selling him as a
slave into Egypt and hurt their father just as much by pretending Joseph is dead. Jacob is taken in by
their ruse, which involved using their brother’s coat and killing a goat to cover it in blood.

Judah is the principal actor in the next episode (ch. 28), where once again he behaves without
conscience and is tricked by unusual clothing and an agreement about a goat. Judah marries a Canaanite
and has three sons by her. The first died after marrying Tamar. As a widow, she had a right under biblical
law to marry her brother-in-law, which she did. But then he died. As there was a third brother, Tamar
expected to marry him when he was old enough, but Judah did not allow this to happen, thus defying
accepted custom. But Tamar tricked Judah into making her pregnant. When he declared she should be
burnt as a prostitute, she revealed who had made her pregnant, and Judah recanted. This marks the
beginning of Judah’s repentance, which climaxes in his great plea for mercy in ch. 44.

With ch. 39, the focus switches back to Joseph and his three periods of employment in Egypt, first as
head servant in Potiphar’s household, second as deputy to the prison governor, and finally a deputy to
the Pharaoh—vizier of Egypt. The key remark that sums up these episodes is that the Lord was with
Joseph. Already, the principle of God’s overriding providence for good in the sufferings of Joseph is
being asserted.

The three accounts of Joseph’s life in Egypt, which climax in his appointment as vizier, are followed by
his brothers’ three journeys to Egypt, which culminate in his reunion with his father Jacob. In the first
two journeys, all the old family tensions surface as the brothers go down to Egypt to buy corn, leaving
the youngest, Benjamin (the only other surviving son of Rachel), at home with his elderly father Jacob.
Joseph’s imprisonment of Simeon and demand that Benjamin be brought to Egypt if they want Simeon
released from custody prompts much bitter debate back in Canaan before Jacob eventually relents and
lets Benjamin go.

The subsequent arrest of Benjamin, accused of stealing Joseph’s cup, precipitates a crisis will the
brothers sacrifice the second son of Rachel to save their own live, or will they stand by him and by
implication by their father, though he did not really care about them (but only about Joseph and now
Benjamin). Judah’s powerful and moving speech (offering to trade places with Benjamin and become
Joseph’s slave) identifies himself so closely with his father that he cannot bear to contemplate the effect
Benjamin’s non-return would have. At this point Joseph (overcome with emotion) discloses who he
really is, and another great reconciliation takes place.

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The third journey involves transporting the elderly Jacob and the rest of the family to Egypt. Another
emotional reunion between Jacob and Joseph follows, and the family is settled in the north-eastern part
of the Nile Delta in the land of Goshen.

Chapters 48—50 record the las words of Jacob and Joseph. Hearing of Jacob’s failing health, Joseph
brings his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim to be blessed by their grandfather. But Jacob does more
than bless them; he adopts them, thereby giving them a status equal to his sons. This explains why
Ephraim and Manasseh are full tribes in Israel (the two largest tribes in the north). Jacob gives
precedence to Ephraim, although he was the younger boy.

Chapter 49, the blessing of Jacob, could be described as the high point of Genesis. In it, the dying Jacob
reviews the past careers of his sons and their future prospects. It serves as a definitive statement of
judgment on their performance. His first Reuben is condemned for his incestuous behavior, and the next
two sons, Simeon and Levi, for their brutal massacre at Shechem. The disgrace of the first three sons
explains the rise of the fourth son, Judah, whose future is painted in glowing colors (hinting a royal line
of kings will come from him, to whom nations the nations will bring their tribute). The only other son to
excel in Jacob’s blessings is Joseph. These blessings not only serve to explain the relative standing of the
different tribes in the later history of Israel, but they also stand as a triumphant affirmation of the
promise of the land.

The final chapter tells of Jacob’s burial in the land of Canaan in the patriarchal grave of Macphelah. It
also records Joseph’s renewed pledge to forgive his brothers, who feared he might take advantage of his
father’s death to take revenge. Joseph’s impassioned rejection of the idea shows how important the
message of forgiveness and reconciliation is to the book of Genesis. (Genesis then ends, apparently
many years later, with the death of Joseph, who asks the family to bury his bones in the promised land
of Canaan rather then in Egypt.)

The New Testament Use of Genesis 12—50

The New Testament sees the history of the church as the continuation of the history of Israel: Israel is
the olive tree into which Gentile believers have been grafted. So the figures of Genesis are the earliest
members of the church, and their deeds should inspire later believers to imitate them. Abraham’s faith
in God, which is credited to him as righteousness, is used by Paul to demonstrate the centrality of faith
and by James to show that faith must issue in good deeds.

The most prolonged appeals to the examples of the patriarchs are to be found in Stephen’s speech to
the council, which ranges from the call of Abraham in Mesopotamia to Jacob’s burial in Canaan, and in
Hebrews 11 (an exposition of the faith of Old Testament heroes). These were all people who, according
to the author of Hebrews, lived by faith in the promises, who persisted in face of difficulty and
persecution, just as he hopes his readers would too.

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Primary Text: Genesis 2:1-9

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the
land I will show you.
2
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a]
3
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”[b]
4
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years
old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had
accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and
they arrived there.
6
Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time
the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give
this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and
Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
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Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

Extra Credit Assignment

Based on your reading of Genesis 12, how is the Abraham described in this passage? Briefly describe
God’s covenant with Abraham in your own words. Why do you think God chooses Abraham. How does
God keep the rest of humanity in mind, even with his choice in one person (which later becomes God’s
choice of one nation)?

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