It has been a while since I read through Genesis all the way. It was in Bible Bowl, so it was more of a superficial read the first time. There is one theme that has jumped out at me throughout the book of Genesis: deception. Husbands pretend to be brothers of their wives. Brothers deceive their siblings (sometimes for revenge, sometimes for blessing). At first I was a little frustrated at all of the lying and trickery, but I've realized something that makes me appreciate this first book of our religious tradition. Christ's message is all about grace which we as Christians tend to focus on. We forget that the grace came from God in the first place and that it has always been around. I think it's beautiful that the patriarchs of the great nation of Israel, the very people of God, were cheats and liars. Their flaws are representative of the flaws of all humans. God chose to establish His people through humans. If these men were flawless and perfect, they would not be human. These men were considered righteous and they were as screwed up as you and I. The Bible is characterized by an over-arching message of grace and hope through God and it only makes sense that these would be presented in the first book.
I've been keeping up with my reading well, but then again I haven't reached Leviticus. I am excited about getting to the stories of my third favorite man from the Old Testament:Moses. Well, that's all for now.
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2 comments:
I love to read about the imperfect people God used to accomplish His will. Imperfect people like myself who through grace and faith He counted as righteous!
Yay! You've updated. It's great that you're reading through the Bible. Darby just started. He reads every day on the bus on his way to school. He's on Exodus right now, and he's really enjoying getting the whole picture rather than just bits and pieces. I probably should do that, too.
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