curtain going up: genesis 11:10-32

these are the generations of shem: shem was an hundred years old, and begat arphaxad two years after the flood . . . and arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat salah: . . . and salah lived thirty years, and begat eber: . . . and eber lived four and thirty years, and begat peleg: . . . and peleg lived thirty years, and begat reu: . . . and reu lived two and thirty years, and begat serug:. . . and serug lived thirty years, and begat nahor: . . . and nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat terah: . . . and terah lived seventy years, and begat abram, nahor, and haran. now these are the generations of terah: terah begat abram, nahor, and haran; and haran begat lot. and haran died before his father terah in the land of his nativity, in ur of the chaldees.
and abram and nahor took them wives: the name of abrams wife was sarai; and the name of nahors wife, milcah, the daughter of haran, the father of milcah, and the father of iscah.
but sarai was barren; she had no child.
and terah took abram his son, and lot the son of haran his sons son, and sarai his daughter in law, his son abrams wife; and they went forth with them from ur of the chaldees, to go into the land of canaan; and they came unto haran, and dwelt there.
and the days of terah were two hundred and five years: and terah died in haran.

with this list of begats, the generations of shem, the story moves from the overture, mostly made up of legend and myth, often of significant retelling of myths common to the near east, to what is more firmly history. with abraham and sarah, introduced to us as abram and sarai, what we often call salvation history begins.

few before the german historicists, with perhaps the exception of bishop ussher, considered the first eleven chapters of genesis as history. but these chapters do, i believe, tell us how the biblical writers look at history, and they have given us clues about how we might interpet what we read.

in many ways the overture is full of unresolved chords and inverted melodies. the story of the tower of babel is typical in that way. sent out to fill the world, people cluster around their latest invention. so, in what seems like punishment, god "goes to" to send them forth.

there is much more to be gleaned in these chapters than i can begin to explore. think, for instance, of adam's search for a help meet for him, and the image of the church as the bride of christ. the image of husband and wife will become one of the most important of all, as we will find the the book of revelation. look at sarai's barrenness and the stories of hannah and elizabeth and of course, most importantly of mary, where the barrenness of the crone is replaced by the fecundity of the maiden. think of . . . well, you get the idea.

but particulary notice that many of the images and stories of these first chapters drop into deep background until we reach the new testament. in the first chapter of genesis, after each part of creation, god says that "it was good." after the creation of man, that is not said. the rabbis known to us in the new testament as pharisees say this is because man was not finished. the orthodox christian readers of genesis make much of the "image and likeness" of this first story, saying that although god made man in his image, the likeness was never developed, because of the fall, until the new man, jesus, reveals it.

jesus after his resurrection will tell his friends on the road to emmaus that all scripture is about him. this is the story on which the curtain rises, a great operatic production whose overture ends as abraham comes on stage.

the tower of babel: the first global village

it has taken me longer to work through these opening chapters of genesis than i had expected. finally, the day of the tower of babel has fully come. i am writing this chapter, appropriately, on one of the last days of the pentecost, which will fully come next sunday. the melody of the tower of babel, inverted, will be the melody of pentecost.

"and the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. and it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of shinar; and they dwelt there. and they said one to another, go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. and they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. and they said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. and the lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. and the lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech. so the lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
therefore is the name of it called babel; because the lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (genesis 11:1-9)

the story of babel is that of the global village, built with brick for stone and slime for morter, making a name for ourselves. it will reappear again and again with our currently modern technology, our currently modern name. again and again the towers will fall, whether they be in angor wat or in new york city.

again, as before the flood, "every imagination of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil continually."

as much as we might wish otherwise, the bible will recognize no quick fix for our evil. but salvation will come, not by men pretending to towering godliness but by god's assuming lowly humanity. the curtain is about to go up on the story of how that happens.

noah

can an overture have an anti-climax? if it can, then with the story of the begining chapters of genesis that i am suggesting form an overture to the whole christian bible reach the anticlimax.

the story is too long to repeat here. it begins with genesis 6:5 and continues through chapter 10. so much happens in the story that it itself could be its own opera, or the overture for all that follows. i will not try to pick out all the threads of the music so much as to suggest how one might listen to this story and how one might remember it as one reads later scripture. the noah story both recapitulates many of the themes of the earlier chapters, and introduces others which won't be developed until the new testament.

it is the story in which god is grieved by the evil that has come into his good creation, and it is the first time we hear of grace.

one easily remarkable feature of the noah story is its repetitons: like the creation story, noah's saga is told both from what i have suggested is the more theoretical viewpoint, using "el"--usually translated "god"--for the name of the holy one, and from the personal viewpoint, using "YHWH," the unpronouncable name--for which most translators substitute "lord." (it is the "lord" who has noah bring into the ark seven of each clean anima.)

the ark should cause one to look forward to other boxes the holy one will use in working out our salvation: the ark in which moses is sent onto the nile, and also the ark of the covenant; its wood suggests the wood moses will cast into the bitter waters of marah, and also to the cross. and the instructions for its building may remind us of the instructions for the construction of tabernacle and temple.

the flood is not just destruction. it is decreation. the waters that had been divided into those above the firmament and those below are rejoined. they prevail. then once again the ruach, the spirit, appears: "and god made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged."

the dove which will appear at jesus' baptism in the jordan makes her first entrance here.

there are differences, important ones, from the short but packed genesis legends that have come before and the salvation history that is to follow. the lord "will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake." the command to "be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth" is part of god's new blessing, part of what is sometimes called the noahic covenant, sealed with the rainbow.

but there is something most unusual in the role of the several sons in the noah story. chapter ten will be the usual explanation, "the generation of the sons," in this case of noah, linking them to future places, peoples, and events. but first will come one of the strangest episodes in genesis, which we often reduce to "the curse of ham." it is worth reading:

"and the sons of noah, that went forth of the ark, were shem, and ham, and japheth: and ham is the father of canaan. these are the three sons of noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
and noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. and ham, the father of canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. and shem and japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their fathers nakedness.
and noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. and he said, cursed be canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. and he said, blessed be the lord god of shem; and canaan shall be his servant. god shall enlarge japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of shem; and canaan shall be his servant." (9:18-27)

this is one of the most ironically powerful passages in all of scripture. it seems to support leon kass's claim in the beginning of wisdom that genesis is centrally about teaching men to be good fathers. here hung-over noah, in his anger, curses his son canaan (a.k.a. ham). the irony is that of course it is shem, whose descendants will soon occupy the rest of the oldestament, who will become slave to the egyptian hammites.

indeed i would suggest that the wine that makes noah drunk looks for ward to the cup of psalm 75:9-10(:
"in the hand of the lord there is a cup, and the wine is red:
it is full mixt, and he poureth out the same.
as for the dregs thereof,
all the ungodly of the earth shall drink them . . . ."),
the cup about which jesus prays in gethsemany.

but between us and the great work of salvation described in the rest of the bible is stil the towering climax of the overture: babe.

genesis 6: 1-8; a counter melody, and the source of science fiction and horror movies

after the long genealogy of chapter 5, one might expect the next character to be noah. instead, there is a desription of the circumstance in which noah appears, a situation very different from the first themes of genesis in which "god saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

"and it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of god saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. and the lord said, my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

"there were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of god came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. and god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. and it repented the lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." (6:1-6)

one question that comes to mind is who are these sons of god? it has been suggested that they are angels, fallen, but originally part of those who, we are told in job, "when the morning stars sang together, all . . . sang for joy." as the church began to understand that what we usually call "angels" are creatures without bodies, then it was often speculated that the "sons of god" were seth's descendants, and the "daughters of men" those of cain, on a supposition of good guy seth and bad guy cain. however, if we look at the descriptions of the births of cain and seth, god seems equaly involved in each, at least according to eve. if there is a difference, the title "son of god" seems perhaps more applicable to cain.

this deceptively simple little piece of dark music carries a lot of meanings. it is an instance once again, if the sons and daughters are those of cain and seth, of the use of the second son in the working out of our redemption. there is perhaps a warning even against taking wives "of all which they chose." the wives who will be pivotal in the story of salvation, srah, rebekah, rachel and leah, are all chosen.

then there is the matter of the spirit of god. the jerusalem bible,perhaps more helpfully than the authorized version's "strive with man," translates verse three as "my spirit must not forever be disgraced in man, for he is but flesh." we will not hear again the echo of these words until the annunciation to the virgin, a daughter of man upon whom the holy spirit will come in redemption of the world. and of course we will hear much of man's fleshliness in the writings of paul.

mary's son will be little regarded by the powers of the world, who agree that "here were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of god came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." (v.4) this idea has been the source of all numbers of science fiction and horror films, from "spawn" and "rosemary's baby" to the italian peplums "the sons of hercules."

god sees things differently: "and god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (v. 5)

the solution, although grievous to the lord, is plain: "and it repented the lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. and the lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." (vv. 6-7)

but god chooses something later theologians in writing of the holy one's ultimate act of redemption will call "the scandal of particularity:"

"noah found grace in the eyes of the lord."

genesis 5: the dance of the generations

this is the book of the generations of adam.
in the day that god created man, in the likeness of god made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name adam, in the day when they were created.
and adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name seth:
and the days of adam after he had begotten seth were eight hundred years
and he begat sons and daughters:
and all the days that adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. and seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat enos:
and seth lived after he begat enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of seth were nine hundred and twelve years:
and he died.
and enos lived ninety years, and begat cainan:
and enos lived after he begat cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.
and cainan lived seventy years and begat mahalaleel:
and cainan lived after he begat mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.
and mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat jared:
and mahalaleel lived after he begat jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.
and jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat enoch:
and jared lived after he begat enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.
and enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat methuselah:
and enoch walked with god after he begat methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:
and enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
and methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech.
and methuselah lived after he begat lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.
and Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
and he called his name noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the lord hath cursed.
and lamech lived after he begat noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
and all the days of lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.
and noah was five hundred years old: and noah begat shem, ham, and japheth.

now come we to the "begats." often in an opera there is a ballet. if we look at the bible as the libretto to the opera dei, the works of god, then i suggest the begats function most often as the dance between acts.

the works of god is not a small story. for most people, the bible is as big a book as we will ever read: it is big enough. but between all the stories that we treasure and remember, or that we remember and find horrorible, many generations live and die. they show up as the dance of the generations, the ballet of the begats.

often we skip over them. there are even editions of the bible which exclude them, or put them in smaller type to make them harder to read. this is a mistake. a careful reading of the genealogy above, for instance, reveals something rather amazing: noah was born before adam died, but as soon as noah was born, all of these people began to die all around him. it is probably worth putting a book mark at the longer lists of genealogies so when the names in them are mentioned later, we can put them into the story.

not everyone in every list may seem important to us. i have a maternal cousin who several years ago began to explore our genealogy. he was much impressed that we were related to thomas jefferson and john calhoun. of course we were also related to many thousands of less famous folk. we are much more selective than the holy one:

"god is working his purpose out
as year succeeds to year:
god is working his purpose out,
and the time is drawing near;
nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled
with the glory of god
as the waters cover the sea." (arthur campbell ainger)

so when matthew begins his gospel, he begins it with a ballet, the dance of the generations which ties the acts of god together in one wonderful work.

the beginning of repentance: "then men began to call upon the name of the LORD"

genesis 4:25-26:
"and adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name seth: for god, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of abel, whom cain slew. and to seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD."

the story of salvation begins anew with seth, in a line which luke's gospel will continue to "jesus himself." (3:23-38) the linage in its fullness begins with chapter five, but it has this little introduction, ending "then began men to call upon the name of the LORD."

this verse introduces a theme which will be of tamtamount importance through the rest of scripture. in exodus, when the name of the lord, forgotten in captivity, is revealed to moses, it is because, "the LORD said, . . . the cry of the children of israel is come unto me." (3:7-9) even in the dark days of the judges, when "every man did that which was right in his own eyes," (judges 21:25) ". . . when the children of israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of israel, who delivered them . . . " (3:9)

even so, seth, the son of adam, began to call upon the name of the LORD, and the great song of salvation began to rise in a mighty chorus for all those who have ears to hear.

the first geneology: the line of cain

genesis 4:16-24:

"and cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of nod, on the east of eden. and cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, enoch. and unto enoch was born irad: and irad begat mehujael: and mehujael begat methusael: and methusael begat lamech. and lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was adah, and the name of the other aillah. and adah bare jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. and his brothers name was jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. and zillah, she also bare tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of tubalcain was naamah. and lamech said unto his wives, adah and zillah, hear my voice; ye wives of lamech, hearken unto my speech: for i have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. if cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly lamech seventy and sevenfold."

genesis. "in the beginning." we read these titles of the first book of moses and in our simple, reductive way want to make this the book of the beginning of some one thing. now, ultimately and most importantly, it is the story of the beginning of two things: the beginning of creation, and the beginning of the holy one's redemption of creation in christ jesus, an event so important that matthew in his gospel will call it the regenesis (19:28). but that is a story with many threads of narrative, and they all start in genesis.

the first geneology will be that of cain, "who went out from the presence of the lord." it is interestingly enough from the line of cain that most of the things in which we most pride ourselves as "civilized" people originate: cities, tent-dwellers with cattle, harp and organ, artifice in brass and iron, and, in lamech's declaration to his wives, the idea that we can, in our own wisdom, act without consequences.

except for lamech's conceit, these things are not all wrong in themselves. but they are fruitless done "out from the presence of the lord." as david will recognize in psalm 127, david, who wanted to built a great city with a house for the holy one: "except the lord build the house, their labor is but lost that build it." indeed the ultimate or at least penultimate vision in the revelation to john is "the holy city, new jerusalem, coming down out of heaven . . . ."(21:2) the messiah will tent among us, and we will be his cattle, says john in his gospel. (1:14; 10:11) david, the clearest image of the messiah in the old testament, will tell how to redeem harp and organ and instruments of brass and iron, culminating the psalter with "praise ye the lord. . . . praise him with stringed instruments and organs. praise him with the loud cumbals; praise him upon the high sounding cymbals." (150:1, 4-5), an image paul will pick up in first corinthians, saying that without charity, we are sounding brass, or tinkling cymbal, nothing. (13:1-2)

and nothing is what becomes of the line of cain, "out of the presence of the lord." perhaps they are mentioned in the enigmatic passage about "giants in the earth" that leads to the story of noah. either way, the holy one will continue his story of redemption through the line of seth.

a note on cain's wife

cain's wife as a befuddlement to freshman bible students is a result of the odd way we have come to read genesis. few of us read genesis 1:25, "and god made the beast after his kind," and imagine, say, all the beasts descending from one great ur-bear. but when we read about man, we think of only two people, or maybe in the second story in the second chapter, one person.

we want to make adam a proper noun, when a better understanding might be earthlings, the human ones, made from the humous.

the transgression of the man and the woman was not so importantly a singular historical event, but the description, as much as we might wish otherwise, of how all of us earthlings, unhumble human ones, act when we are beguiled by the subleties of the serpent, the shiny one, unless we are living in the presence of the holy one.

by "coincidence" i am writing this essay on february 16th, the commemoration of st. juliana. ". . . the devil is said to have appeared to the saint as an angel of light. his aim was to persuade her that what she had renounced in the world [,marriage to a roman prefect,]was in fact good." (james bentley, a calendar of saints (new york: facts on file publications, 1986.))