Utumishi Blog

Had a great time in Arusha last week at Munguishi Bible College. A wonderful work is going on there. Very sharp guys. We were often learning far more from them than we were imparting. Fidel did an excellent job teaching us Walawi (Leviticus) in full Kiswahili.

On the Pentateuch / Kiswahili theme, the principal of Munguishi pointed me towards a very helpful series of lectures on the Pentateuch made available by Third Millennium with free to download video, audio and text:

• In English
• In Kiswahili

And here’s something on the narrative structure of Genesis from the forthcoming book accompanying the Utumishi Wa Neno Course:

Genesis is clearly a collection of stories – many very well known: Adam and Eve, Noah and the ark, Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. But the whole book also holds together as one big story – a story of stories; or better, a story of ‘beginnings’ or ‘generations.’

The story is told in ten parts, divided by the phrase, “This is the account of” or in more literal translations, “These are the generations of…” And those ten divide quite clearly between the first five and the second five at Genesis 11:27.

THE TURNING POINT AT GENESIS 12

There are various contrasts between these two halves of Genesis:

• The first half goes wrong with disobedience and exile away from God’s presence. By Genesis 11 people are still going away from the East (v2) and still being disobedient (v4). But when we get to Abraham in the next chapter we find obedience and a movement towards God’s land. (At the end of the Book of Genesis we find another obedient man who has the presence of God (Gen. 39) and looks forward confidently to the land (Gen. 50).
• Genesis 1-11 is universal (‘the nations’) but from Genesis 12 there is a focus on God’s particular “great nation” (v2).
• While the people at Babel wanted to make a “name” for themselves, now God says, “I will make your name great” (12:3).
• Genesis 1-11 is mainly curse with glimpses of blessing. From Genesis 12 there is an emphasis on blessing (the word comes 5 times in Gen. 12:1-2 compared to “curse” 5 times in Gen. 3-11). In the second half there is still plenty of curse around (barrenness, famine, death etc.) but in each generation there is one Blessed One to whom all can bow and be blessed through him.
• Genesis 1-11 is mainly about discord and disunity (Gen. 4, 9, 11) while Genesis 12-50 gives examples of the blessing of reconciliation (Gen. 33, 42-50).

THE DECISIVE ACTION AT GENESIS 15

Even after the turning point of chapter 12 there is still a major tension because Sarai is barren (Gen. 11:30). It doesn’t look like any of the promises of a great nation and blessing through offspring can be fulfilled.

Genesis 15 is a key chapter in Genesis (and in the whole Bible) because it is here that we find:

• The Word of the LORD comes to Abram – God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12 but in chapter 15 we are told twice of the ‘Word of the LORD’ – something (or someone) who will become hugely important as we move through Bible history.
• Stars – The first mention of these since the opening verses of Genesis; suggesting a new creative work (cf. Rom. 4:17; 2 Cor. 4:6).
• Faith – It was implicit at Genesis 12 but here in Genesis 15 it is explicit (the first use of the word in the Bible).
• Righteousness – We have already heard that Noah was righteous (Gen. 6:9) but here for the first time we find out that righteousness is something that can be credited to someone who simply believes God’s promises.
• Covenant – God gave Abram a promise at Genesis 12 but here in chapter 15 the LORD formally ‘cuts’ (makes) the great covenant of grace (v18). Most amazingly, when we compare the strange night-time events of this chapter with the covenant ceremony described in Jeremiah 34:18-19 we see that one party is sleeping (cf. Gen. 2:21) and God alone is meanwhile taking on the full responsibilities of covenant keeping and of suffering if it is broken. Abram’s obedience to God’s call in Genesis 12 is important but this divine action in chapter 15 – the fire of the LORD moving between the halved animals – is the ‘decisive action’ which changes everything in the Book of Genesis.

THE UNFINISHED STORY

So there is a sense in which the Book of Genesis works as one long story – setting (Gen. 1-2), problem (Gen. 3), escalating tensions (Gen. 4-11), turning point (Gen. 12), decisive action (Gen. 15), unfolding of God’s covenant and choice of the children of Abraham (Gen. 16-50). But when we finish the book we know that this is very obviously not the end of the story started in Genesis 1-3. The promises of Genesis 3:15 and chapters 12 and 15 are not fulfilled. Death is still reigning. We’re not in God’s Land. We still need a curse-reversing serpent crusher.

…

See also A. C. Leder, The Structure of Genesis.