The Book Of Genesis

The book of Genesis teaches us about the coming of man and how he has lived on earth. God created the earth and gave it to man, who he made in his image, to rule. Repeatedly man does not meet God’s expectations and in return he is punished. The fall in the Garden of Eden and the Great Flood are two major illustrations of this happening. Something to note is that even with all of man’s faults and God’s punishments, God excuses man and gives him a new chance to redeem himself. God gives sense that no matter what man does he will forgive, even if at first he retaliates with punishment.
Adam and Eve were the first man and woman to be brought into existence. God expected that Adam and Eve, the beginning of human life, would obey him. God set them
in the Garden of Eden and told them they are free to do as they please as long as they do not or eat from the tree of knowledge. A serpent tempts Eve into eating from the tree and she shares the fruit with Adam. This was the beginning of the fall of Garden of Eden and the beginning of the disappointment of God, Adam and Eve committed their sin and God indirectly punished them by making them feel shame and guilt through the understanding of life that they gained from eating the fruit. But once again God overlooked the fault of his people and he clothed them. He questioned Adam and Eve about their decision then kicked them out of his Garden, their lives cursed. (Genesis 2:4-3:24) When God had to decide what to do with Adam and Eve, he did not banish them from all eternity, only from the Garden (Cortez 45). He gave them another chance, he wanted them to see the mistake they made and not repeat it, to learn from it. For this Adam and Eve suffered because they did not obey God, the one who brought them to life and gave them all that they know.
God wanted to give another chance to his creation time after time, thereby he would not just punish man but he would guide him on the right path. God’s sight of earth was full of violence and corruption, not only corruption with man itself but earth as well. While God decided to punish man for his sins by flooding the earth he also had covenant in him, thus he told Noah what would come. He told Noah to build an ark capable of housing himself, his wife and sons and the wives of his sons and two of each animal, male and female. Noah was also to take every kind of food to be eaten and to store it as food for him and the arks passengers. It was in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life that the Great Flood began (King James Bible, Genesis 5:32-10:1). This shows is that even though God may have disapproval in his people’s actions he wants man to mend what has been broken, mankind itself. He gives man another chance hoping that the past poor actions of man will not be repeated. In this case, since Noah was a righteous and faithful man, God thought that only good would return to earth.
The story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son Isaac is a controversial one.
It can be viewed as a punishment but at the same time it can be viewed as ones devotion to God. He said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Someone could consider this punishment, having to sacrifice your only child whom you love. (Genesis 22:1-19) This was not a punishment of mankind but it was a test of Abraham’s faith to God. A test unlike any other God put before his people. Even though God did not condone child sacrifice, it was the ultimate way to test Abraham’s devotion to God. In the eyes of God this was not wrong, as only he has the right to take human life. Abraham had to have been strong in order to sacrifice his child in the name of God. In today’s society Abraham’s sacrifice of his son is viewed as being morally wrong. Whether it was justified or not, people are not able to grasp sacrifice in
general.
Something we have to remember is the anthropomorphizing of God. We would like to believe God has human characteristics, especially because he created us in his image but that may not be the case. If we view God as just a being, not necessarily human or anything we could imagine then how are we to give him traits that a human would have? I think the reason we do this is because we want to feel close to him and have a personal relationship with him. On top of this who are we to judge our creator? Things aren’t just black and white, right and wrong. There is a lot in between the ethical and unethical, a lot of factors that influence the outcome of a problem. If the sacrifice of Isaac was done to save the world, would people then see it as justifiable? The topic of morality will forever be debated. One reason for this is that no two people think exactly alike. Even though morals have been set by society we are all individuals and the thought process and levels of values and morality that we distinguish as good or bad, right or wrong are all different. In writings that tell the stories of deities, one thing is almost always true. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, a quote known around the world regardless of religion or culture. This quote can set the extents of morality for individuals or society as a whole.
The message of Genesis as written by the author is a divine interpretation of God’s creation of man, of man’s failures and his disappointment and ultimately of his punishments to teach them.
In Genesis there is a cycle of failure and punishment. That God in his creation of man hoped for perfection but encountered only failure over & over again and through his punishments the hope that man will learn a lesson. Genesis then dwells into Abraham’s story which raises the question of morality and what distinguishes right from wrong. Concerning morality, there is no definite line of what is ethical or unethical. In the end it is up to us to decide for
ourselves.