Genesis 1 - 37 - In the Beginning...

(Notice to readers: This is a continuation of the blog I had begun on April 28th, 2011. After a 15 month hiatus, I was unable to recover my email/username/password that I had used for my blog. The posts which include Genesis through Deuteronomy were written in 2011 on my old blog. I will post them here again and proceed....)

In the beginning.... 

Last week, I went to the local Christian bookstore to pick out something for my daughter's Easter basket. Book, cd, etc. Something Christiany. It didn't seem right to me to put secular literature or music in her basket. It's Easter, ya know? Anyway, so as I was paying for my purchase, they offered to put me on their free rewards program thing-a-ma-jigger, and I went ahead and signed up for it, although I frequent their store only two or three times a year. They showed me some shelves of items which were now price reduced to five dollars for me since I enrolled. A stack of slim, attractive purple Bibles caught my eye, but I declined buying anything additional.
      Over the next week, I kept thinking about the little purple Bible. I must have six or seven Bibles laying around the house, besides the one I keep on my bedside table. Something about the little purple one kept gnawing at me. Finally, I went back to the bookstore and bought it today. English Standard Version. Well, okay. I usually read the King James, but I'm not exactly the version gestapo.
   As I was driving home, this thought occurred to me: I've never read the Bible. I've read quite a bit of it. Chapters here and there. Memorized verses. Gone to Bible studies. Heard various parts of it preached. After all, I am a Christian. But.....I've never read it completely through, as though it were a book, which it is. The simple absurdity of this sunk into me. God wrote a book for me, and I haven't read it. An avid reader, I've read hundreds of other people's books, but I haven't read God's book.
    Throughout history, people have defended this book with their lives. People have gone through unimaginable difficulties and persecution to have access to this book. I've read stories of prisoners in other parts of the world who hide a contraband torn page from the gospels and how it completely changed their lives. I have seven copies of God's book and I haven't read it. And it's not as though I will be able to claim that I haven't had the time. I plan on living to at least 80. That's certainly plenty of time to have a chance to read the Bible.
      Upon arriving home, I made myself a cup of coffee, found a seat in the garage, lit up a cigarette and opened my new purple Bible to the book of Genesis. I spent the next couple hours reading the first 36 chapters of Genesis. An enthusiastic effort for my first day, no?
    And so....I would like to share my ponderings. I read through the creation, the fall of man, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Lot, Jacob & Rachel. The story which stuck out to me the most is the story of Jacob and Esau. I find it ironic that Isaac's blessing falls on Jacob who was somewhat of a trickster. The family dynamic here makes sense. Esau is a hairy hunter - I imagine him to be quite a man's man, and Isaac, his father, was proud of him. Jacob "was a quiet man, dwelling in tents." I imagine Jacob had a sensitive side, was intellectual, probably spending much time with his mother, and so Rebekah favored Jacob. Esau, in a moment of extreme weakness due to intense hunger, sells his birthright to Jacob. It seems like such an incredibly foolish thing to do for a bowl of stew. However, Esau points out that he is nearly dead from hunger, and what good will his birthright be if he is dead?  This lament might sound like a whiny child, but the text later describes a famine in the land. I wonder if the circumstances of this exchange were more dire than they first appear to the reader. Later, Jacob fools his father Isaac into giving him what I can only imagine to be a culturally and spiritually significant blessing while on his deathbed. I may not understand the complexities of why Isaac could not reverse his mistake and bestow the blessing on Esau, or edit his blessing to Jacob a bit and create another (just as fabulous) blessing for Esau. I only assume there is alot going on here which I do not understand on a cultural & religious level.
    Karma rears it's ugly head later on for Jacob, when he is tricked by Laban into marrying Leah. My deep sympathies for Leah, by the way, who played second fiddle to his wife Rachel. I much prefer the love story behind Isaac and Rebekah, although I feel that Abraham's servant was slighted by not being named in the text. He is only referred to as "The servant.", although he not only performed some incredible legwork to bring these two people together, he was the oldest servant of Abraham's who also "had charge over all that he had." You would think this person would get the hat tilt of a name. *shrugs*
   Another thing I want to mention is that I noticed Jacob establishes the practice of tithing in chapter 28. There is an odd practice going on in Genesis which I must research - the making of pillars out of stone, and the pouring of liquids on these pillars. The people keep making pillars whenever something significant happens, claiming the pillar will be a "witness" or a "sign of the convenant." Obviously, these people were not yet in the habit of writing things down, which might have eliminated the need for a pillar as evidence. (?) I might research this a bit and see if I can find any additional info.
   Oh, and here's a picture of the Bible. It looks a little pink here, but it's really more of a dark purple.