#thebookofgenesis

Joseph tells his brothers about a dream he had in which his brothers’ sheaves of wheat bowed to his sheaf. This makes them hate him more than they already do. Then he tells his brothers and father about a dream he had in which the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed to him. This makes his brothers jealous and is of concern to his father. His brothers plot to kill him, then after they decide not to do that they throw him into a pit and he is sold to some Ishmaelite merchants on their way to Egypt, who transport him on the back of a camel along with their other goods. Later, Joseph’s brother Judah engages the services of a veiled prostitute sitting by the entrance to Enaim. He doesn’t know that the prostitute is his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar*. In Egypt, Joseph has been purchased by Potiphar, courtier of the Pharaoh. He has risen to a high position in the household due to his excellent service. While Potiphar is away, Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph. Joseph flees as Potiphar’s wife grabs at his garment.

Wednesday, March 21 - Day 33 of Lent.

My last post was kind of all over the place. I didn’t really know what I was to write about at all. In truth, I have studied much more of the New Testament than the Old Testament. 

Well, suffice it to say that reading Joshua took me on a wild goose-chase that resulted in me completely abandoning my blog post and chasing answers until around 2am. I ended up smashing 11 chapters of Genesis, resolving that the best way to actually study the Old Testament was from start to finish. I found myself asking many a question, and subsequently researching online and in the few books that I’ve taken with me to Korea, to find the answers. Below are some of the thoughts and questions I had. Please keep in mind that my tiny human brain cannot even compute the answers to such questions. I merely sought out of curiosity, not through doubt!

Was Adam really 930 years old when he died?  Mind blown, right? “Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.” (Genesis 5:5) This was a fact I knew years ago, but have since forgotten. At first, I thought, “Well, Adam was initially created by God to be eternal, but then he ate of the forbidden fruit. Doing so meant that death would happen to him. We have no idea how long Adam lived before he ate of the fruit. So technically, I guess yes, he could have lived that many years.” But then, I read on and discovered in the whole of Genesis 5 that Adam’s descendants all lived for between 800-900 years. So I thought again.

Adam’s consequence of eating of the forbidden fruit was turning from eternal to mortal. Over the next years, the gradual process of transforming eternal body cells to mortal cells took place. It was a slow transformation that took place through his lineage until the records stopped at Moses, who died at 120 years. Pretty interesting. Still, imagine living for 900 years. So many questions. 

How did Noah repopulate the Earth after the flood? This one was answered by simply reading the scripture. It is confirmed in Genesis 8:

16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 ... that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

Simply, the presence of the four women on the ship meant that there were enough couples to repopulate the Earth. And, given that each male lived for approximately 800 years, there was plenty of time to have many children, including women. Turns out we all come from these guys. 

Where did different races and languages come from? The different genetic capabilities of just one couple passing genetics to their children -- the endless possibilities of types of children coming from one couple -- are somewhere in the 100 000′s. Each couple has the capability of producing children of different skin colours, characterises, heights, sizes etc. After the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) incident, in which God said:

7 “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ... 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

...human beings were dispersed all over the world according to their languages. They continually married and produced children within their certain group, the results of which were dependent on the very genetics that came forth in their very first children, and subsequently the generations after that. This eventually produced dominant characteristics that became the different races of the world. It seems farfetched to believe, but consider the alternatives. Which isn’t farfetched? Even a non-religious argument requires faith to believe. We have a script that makes historical and biological strength, that also goes hand-in-hand with every other Christian belief we have been taught to believe over the last... thousands of years. Everything fits together really nicely, if our minds are only open to believing it.

If the history is not true, then the theology, morality, and gospel based on that history is seriously called into question, if not rejected. Not to mention, if we believe in Jesus, we have no other option than to take the book of Genesis as fact. Why? Because Jesus Himself quoted Genesis at least 25 times in the Bible. But I can’t go into that now. One thing at a time.

As a fun side note, I super loved a specific quote from the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). After the humans all came together as one people, with one language, they were getting on so well and being so productive that they believed they could build a tower to the heavens. They almost succeeded, and God noted that they were using their unity for the wrong reason: that is, for power (to be equal to God), rather than multiplying, filling the earth and glorifying God in the process. So, He decided to throw different languages into the mix, so that they couldn’t understand one another, and would be forced to scatter around the earth, in order to fill the command of tending to and taking care of it. But before the Lord confused them with language, He said:

6 ...“Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. “

How awesome is our all-knowing God? In that moment, thousands of years ago, when the Tower of Babel was considered this amazing, mind-blowing structure, God foresaw our creation of technology, vehicles, airplanes, spaceships, iPhones and all these crazy things that humanity has invented, 5000 or so years in the future! He knew that we would do it, and He knew that our perseverance -- as implanted by Him -- would deem no task impossible for us. How flipping awesome and reassuring is that? God made us so that we could do anything we set our mind to!