The Bible Recap: Month One
The author of The Bible Recap has structured the daily readings in chronological order, so the reading plan does jump around a bit from book to book. This month’s readings were as follows:
Week 1: Genesis 1-11, Job 1-16
This portion of Genesis focused on the creation story and the first families on Earth. Many familiar stories: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah. I had read the first few chapters of Genesis before but never actually made it to the story of Cain and Abel or Noah. They surprisingly happen pretty quickly in the book.
The biggest questions for me that came out of the Genesis reading were: how did they create families when only one man and woman were initially created? Incest or additional people created that weren’t mentioned in the Bible? It doesn’t say explicitly, but what I’ve investigated is that people make assumptions around incest. Who wrote the Bible? It’s attributed to Moses, but it’s interesting how the writing describes events based on things that only God could know. For example, the 7-day creation story — the author writes the story as though they were there watching, or God told them the story later on. This was one point that had me questioning the literalness of the Bible. Did these things literally happen, or is the story more of a fable? The second point that had me thinking along these lines was the fact that people were living 600+ years. Is that literal? It does mention in the scripture that God changed his mind about letting people live that long and eventually decided to max it around 120 years, which tracks with modern day lifespans, but that also seems like a more modern development, i.e. people living longer today than they were 100+ years ago.
The second portion of the reading was centered around a man named Job, which I believe is a more common story told in churches today. It details how successful and blessed he was with his animals, family, etc., before it was all taken away from him — not by God, but it does explicitly state God allowed it to happen. He spends time lamenting on his woes, and he has three friends who visit him and give their perspective on why these challenges are befalling him. They suggest he had sinned and encourage him to repent, but Job is adamant he had done no wrong. Job tells his friends they are being ‘miserable comforters’ and insists for real answers to his suffering. One additional detail about this book is the writing style reads a bit more like a poem — I have to work very hard to visualize in order to interpret the words on the page. Not easy!
Week 2: Job 17-42
This week continued with the story of Job, and he continues to ask why his life has become so terrible. Everything he’s loved — his family, wealth, status, and health has been taken from him, and he continues to seek answers. He asks why good things happen to wicked people, and why bad things happen to good people. There is an additional character introduced, a young man who also tries to explain that God is all powerful and makes no mistakes. He asserts that there must be a purpose. Finally, in the last two chapters of the book, we from the Lord. He sets the stage by reminding Job that no one knows the things God does — that man cannot know the wonders of how the Earth was made, the intricacies of how the lion hunts or lightning strikes — painting a visual of the beautiful nature of the world and the mystery for us as humans. Job says he will finally remain silent on all his questioning and simply trust, and God then redeems Job and blesses him and his family.
Week 3: Genesis 12-29
Now we move back into the book of Genesis, and these chapters focus on the story of Abraham. The genealogy is getting a little confusing, but Abraham is from the lineage of Noah. These chapters tell the story of him and his wife Sarah and how their family is blessed by God. They are promised a child, which they do not have until Sarah is 90 years old! Her son is named Isaac. But, while they were waiting for this child to be born, Sarah tells Abraham to have a child with her servant because of her infertility. This son’s name is Ishmael. I believe these characters will have importance later on.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah happens (another popular one I’ve heard before). It begins when three ‘men’ show themselves to Abraham and are later identified as two angels and the Lord. They are planning to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but Abraham asks for the people to be spared if there are even a small amount of righteous people. When the ‘men’ arrive, they are threatened by the people in the town, so God decides to save Lot (Abraham’s nephew who was protecting the men) and his family, but he destroys the cities.
Another key event in this portion of the book is when God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (which he nearly does). But at the last minute, God provides a ram to be sacrificed instead. Kind of wild! Then we leave off with Isaac finding his wife, named Rebekah. They have two twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob and his mother trick Isaac into blessing Jacob instead of the older brother Esau. Esau was upset about this and wanted to kill Jacob. Jacob then flees to his uncle’s land to avoid his brother and find a wife. He ends up getting tricked into marrying a woman named Leah (he requested to marry her sister Rachel). Ultimately, he ends up marrying both, and so far, only Leah is able to give Jacob any children (sons).
Week 4: Genesis 30-50
This week finished the book of Genesis. We continue with the story of Jacob (Isaac’s son, Abraham’s grandson). Jacob works for his uncle in exchange for his wife (wives), but after many years of servitude, he heads back to his homeland of Canaan. He has a bit of an altercation with his uncle because he left secretly, but ultimately, they part ways amicably.
On the way back to Canaan, Jacob is scared to encounter his brother, Esau, because he believes he will still want retribution. (Remember, Esau wanted to kill Jacob because he had tricked their father into blessing him instead of Esau; this is why Jacob fled to his uncle’s land initially.) Regardless, Jacob makes the journey back to Canaan with his wives, children, livestock, etc., and he sends everyone else out ahead of him to encounter Esau first; he tells them to offer generous gifts as a peace offering. While he is alone along the journey, he ‘wrestles with a man,’ which is thought to be God himself? This is when God changes Jacob’s name to Israel (Israel = one who struggles with God). Genesis 32:28: “Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Jacob then encounters his brother and they make amends.
I am going to name Jacob’s children here because the next part of the story centers around them. His wife Leah has Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah (the only named daughter). His wife Rachel (his favorite) has Joseph and Benjamin. And the wives’ servants have Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. These 12 sons will be called the 12 Tribes of Israel — it will exclude Levi (because his house becomes ‘priestly’ and does not hold land) and will instead include Joseph’s 2 sons (see below for more detail). After the families settle back in Canaan, Jacob’s daughter Dinah is raped in the city of Shechem, and this leads to her brothers Simeon and Levi to kill every man in that city. Rachel dies in childbirth (giving birth to Benjamin), and Jacob’s father Isaac also dies (of old age). Next, Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery, which starts the next chapter of the story.
While Joseph is in Egypt, he begins to interpret dreams, which he states are interpretations given by God. He ends up interpreting the Pharaoh’s dreams, which foretell 7 years of abundance and 7 years famine, and he ends up being favored by the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh then asks Joseph to plan for the famine (store grain, etc.), and during this time, Joseph has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. During the years of famine, Joseph’s brothers travel to Egypt to ask for food, and even though they are presented before Joseph, they do not recognize him. Ultimately, Joseph decides to not hold on to anger toward his brothers for selling him into slavery, and he asks that they bring their father (Jacob / Israel) back to Egypt to settle. Jacob / Israel approaches the end of his life and blesses his sons, based on an earlier encounter with God. This blessing includes Joseph’s two sons (Jacob’s grandsons) because Jacob says they are “his.” This blessing ultimately identifies all of his sons (and Joseph’s two sons) as the tribes of Israel. Jacob / Israel skips his first 3 sons for the kingship blessing and instead gives it to Judah (this will become the line of ancestry traced to Jesus).
