The Overarching Theme of Genesis

   Ok, I have been awful and keeping up with this blog. As well as keeping up with the daily Bible reading. I have been reading a lot, unfortunately not Scripture (at least as much as I should be). Anyway, I did finally finish Genesis, and I thought, instead of continuing to go through chapters and verses and just pick out things that I want to talk about, I am going to change it up and talk about the overall general theme of the book.
     It's fairly obvious that when you think of Genesis, the first thing you think of is Creation. I'm going to skip over talking about that, because, while that is a major part of the book of Genesis, it's not the THEME. To me, the overarching theme of Genesis is Forgiveness. As we go through the book, we come across character after character who messes up, and has to beg others to forgive them. It's also a story of God forgiving others as well.
    Let's quickly look through some of the things that needed to be forgiven (note: SOME things...this isn't everything):
                 Adam and Eve need to be forgiven for eating the apple
                  Cain needs to be forgiven for killing his brother
                 Jacob needs to be forgiven for stealing the birthright of his brother Esau
                  Abraham needs to be forgiven for many things (lying about his wife Sarai, not trusting God...the list goes on)
                   Sodom and Gomorrah need to be forgiven for being evil (although, they of course are never forgiven because they never seek to make things right with God)
                    Joseph's brothers need to be forgiven for selling Joseph into slavery
                    
   Genesis is the story of God choosing Israel. But it's also the story of a group of people who consistently mess up and need forgiveness from eachother and from God. It's also interesting to see the poetic nature of the book of Genesis. As you read it, it is obvious that this book and these stories were passed down verbally from generation to generation. There is a lot of repetition in the way the events unfold, and in even many of the events themselves. Characters who cheat their brothers, end up getting cheated themselves (often by their own children). It's amazing to see however, when a character seeks to be forgiven, they are. As you read the story of Jacob returning home to see Esau, and he is paranoid that Esau will not only NOT forgive him, but will likely kill him, deep down you know that all will be ok (of course, part of that is because we know the story, but also, the way the story is written it just seems that those who seek forgiveness will find it). When Joseph's brothers arrive in Egypt, you know that Joseph, in the end will forgive them. Yes, he tricks them and deceives them, but the way the storytellers partray their remorse and their reaction to the trials shows that there has been a genuine change in them. You expect nothing less than Joseph to forgive them.
     It's also the story of God forgiving. Yes...it is filled with stories of God getting angry, and even destroying the world, but it's important to note that, when people ask God to forgive them, He always does. When Cain kills his brother, and commits the first murder, God could have killed him in return, instead he actually PROTECTS Cain, and promises to bless him in the future, and curse anyone who oposses him. When Abraham laughs at God's promise for a son from his wife Sarai, and instead has a son through Hagar, God could have cursed that Son and Abraham, and started a new covenant with a new person, but instead he forgive Abraham, blesses Ishamael, and returns to the initial promise.
      Yes, Genesis is the story of Creation. It's a story of creation discovering new things (both good and bad things). But it's a story of God keeping his promises. It's a story of God beginning a covenant, a relationship with a person (and people) who don't deserve it. It's a story of a God who longs to forgive; and a story of a people who are learning to forgive in return.
    How different the story of Genesis would be if God punished Cain, or if Joseph had his brothers arrested, and murdered. What if God got fed up with Abraham and scratched the plan of a Chosen Nation? How different they story would be. How different OUR story would be. While it's easy to just focus on the Creation story, and the debates about whether it was a literal 6 days or a figurative 6 days, it's important to not overlook the rest of the story. God didn't stop after Creation. The story continues after the 7th day.
    When the ancients passed the stories of Genesis down from generation to generation they were telling a story of God's love, of People fallen, and of Forgiveness. How their ancestors had been forgiven, and so they should too forgive others. How God has forgiven them. Yes, they wanted to share how they believed their God created the world, but they didn't want to stop there. They wanted to share how much he loves the world that he created. How much he was willing to forgive, time and time again. So long, of course, as the people who needed to be forgiven asked for forgiveness. It's interesting (at least as far as I can tell, I may be wrong on this one) that God never forgives anyone who doesn't ask for it, or at least show a sign of remorse. But those who do, are blessed and forgiven and often even protected. Thank God for Forgiveness. And I pray that, as we begin this new year, we will learn the power of forgiving others too!