Abraham is thought of as a great patriarch, a leader in the faith.  In Genesis 15:6 (and then quoted in Romans 4:3) it says that "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."  We tend to develop a feeling that this theological leader was an immovable stalwart and never failed. However a closer look at his story shows otherwise.  In chapter 12, Abram heads down to Egypt to escape the famine.  Rather than trust God to provide food and then developing his own plan for protection he introduces Sarai as his sister rather than wife and lets the Pharaoh have her.  God then inflicts a disease upon the Egyptians and Abram is kicked out of the country.  You would think that an episode like this would stick in your mind, but Abram doesn't seem to remember for long as he repeats his mistake 8 chapters later when he lives near King Abimelech.

It is interesting to note how Abraham denotes safe and unsafe circumstances.  He leaves his home at the command of God then gets lost in the details waiting for the fulfillment of the covenant.  One thing that could be concluded from his failures is that your faith can fluctuate without you falling irretrievably from grace and favor.  Abraham is a predecessor to the Israelite nation in his being and actions as he stumbles, is forgiven, and tries again to please God.  This sad cycle continues into each of our lives and while we should not be proud of it or become so used to it that we ignore it, we can realize that we are not alone in our failings.

        Our main text for this course (other than Genesis and Exodus) is Elie Wiesel's Messengers of God. Wiesel is a Jewish author and writes this book from a literary rather than scholarly perspective.  When reading Wiesel's text I am forced to constantly refer to scripture to check what he says.  I read a passage and think, "Wait, did Eve really say that?"  I look it up and realize that , no, it is part of the midrash that was added to fill out the text.  This will take some getting used to. 

        We begin  at the obvious point: creation.  The beginning of time and space.  One thing that I have struggled with in Genesis is how to interpret the first two chapters.  Some days I say that the specifics don't matter as long as I recognize God as sovereign creator.  Other days I am perplexed by questions of timing.  Was everything created in the order stated with distinct separations?  Was each being created directly by God or did he set things in motion and let evolution do the rest?  Unfortunately for my curiosity I can't answer these questions from the bible.  We could debate till we are all blue in the face and wouldn't be closer to having a definite answer.  So I rely on faith and look for another purpose that I can assign to the text.   Mankind is set apart from the other species.  Adam names the animals as God brings them before him.  Giving a name can assert dominance.  They existed before they were named, but without a way to be identified their existence was moot. This process also made the animals mean something to Adam.  He had given them names and in return was filled with a sense of duty towards them.  This accountability is not something that was to be lost in the fall.  Humans still bear responsibility to the other beings that exist on this planet. 

        Also, while Adam was racking his brain for monikers he could assign to every creature in existence he was scrutinizing them for possible companionship.  It can be a creepy thought but it just shows how much better women are than anything else.  Man and woman are made for each other.  There is no substitute.    Austria's Supreme Court would not have had to spend time deciding  that a chimpanzee is not a person if they had realized this (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/austria_chimp).