Review by Edward Tanguay December 30, 1996

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis is a beautiful book. The first two chapters are one of the most poetical creation stories that I have come across. Genesis has the feel of being well-worn by recitation, has a nice rhythm, and lends itself easily to be read aloud and enjoyed.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis is even more pleasant to read since the stories of the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, the Tower of Babel are so well known in our culture that even if you have never read Genesis before, you are reading rich and familiar text.

My familiarity with the text dropped off however around the beginning of the stories of Abraham and Isaac. My previous conception of the Bible was from the New Testament and from what I had learn in church and Sunday school. Therefore it was surprising to me to read in the Pentateuch the emphasis on such carnal topics as mate finding, copulating, circumcising, animal sacrificing, tabernacle building, and war and revenge (Dinah). The importance of "spreading one's seed" is a main issue throughout the pre-Egypt stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons. The story of how the Moabites came to be (!) is especially pagan for the Bible. I was surprised first to read of this act of preconceived incest and then to realize that it was not even condemned by God. It was simply reported, explaining how the Moabites came to be. Multiple mates also seems to be no issue in pre-Egypt times as in the case of Jacob's son-bearing with the four women Rachel and Leah and their maids Zilpah and Bilhah. God seems to be pretty lenient in this way up until the days of Egypt. Something seems to happen to God's personality while his people are in Egypt. Before this the text is soft and God is a creator, a Great Promiser. He even repents for his actions against man concerning the flood:

And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

But as Exodus begins, you notice how God turns from creator and promiser into an angry, jealous, and almost crazed God. The amount of destruction that he lets loose on Egypt incites fear: the infestation of frogs, of lice, of flies, of locusts. His deadly accuracy is uncanny: 

And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Isreal. And the Lord appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the Lord shall do this thing in the land. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Isreal died not one. (Ex 9:5)

But the most uncanny thing about it is that all of these drastic miracles done by God seem to be part of a bigger show, for God is controlling the Pharaoh, "hardening his heart" so that he does not give up. The whole row of destruction is not a test of strength between God and the Pharaoh, but it is set up as a demonstration of the strength and fury of God--the "Let my people go" is just a front to add to the drama, as the Pharaoh does not have an individual will or choice, but is being controlled by God:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the Lord. (Ex 10:1)

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. (Ex 10:27)

God does not let up until with fire and hail, darkness and the killing of first born men (!), he has pretty much laid Egypt to waste, accurately missing each of his own people. From this point on the character of God is revealed as a white-hot spirit, frenzied ("my wrath shall wax hot") with a vision for a highly disciplined people rigidly trained to worship only Him, to destroy other men and gods, and to bring about his vision to conquer Canaan and enjoy this rigid love-fear-relationship with his people.

This shift in character is almost tragic. You see a God who has power beyond belief, yet has a weak spot :  he needs a relationship with these people. He accomplishes this relationship by communicating complex worship instructions (Leviticus) onto Moses. These procedures are accompanied with a fear of God and the law. Anyone who makes a slip in discipline is summarily executed, as with the man who was found collecting sticks on the Sabbath--immediately stoned to death outside the camp, or with Korah and his followers who after a dint of rebellion, God told the others to get away from them ("Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment"), they did, and the earth opened up and swallowed the whole rebellious faction, "and they perished from among the congregation." God doesn't mess around. He wants servants and he wants them to serve.

For this relationship that God seems to need with his people, he makes a covenant. God's people do not have a choice whether they want to accept the covenant or not; the choice is whether they will obey or not. The consequences are black and white and well-described and often repeated throughout the Pentateuch: if you obey the covenant, God "will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you" and "expand your borders" and as for your enemies, "thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Prizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites". However if you do not obey the covenant, one need only read the curses which will reign down upon you (Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28) to understand how serious God considers disobedience. Here is a taste of what will happen if you disobey:

And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant: I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you. And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins . . . And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

A book came out recently on the biography of God in the Old Testament. I haven't read it but it gave me the idea of considering the character of God in the Pentateuch. Quite clearly he "is a jealous God" as is mentioned many times in the Pentateuch. He differs from the Greek gods in that he has no humor whatsoever. He is not playful. The Pentateuch God is sour, angry, obsessed with a vision for his people, and is dead-serious. His love for you instills fear and makes you wary; it's not a comforting love. This God does not smile or laugh. He's like an only child with incredible power and a personality complex. He needs a relationship but he will be master of it and control it. He gives no choices. He will destroy all of your other gods so that you will have a relationship only with him. "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, he is a jealous God." He wants you to love only him and if you don't, you will be destroyed. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." You have no choices. You know what to do.

I found it interesting that there was no mention of after-life in the Pentateuch. All reward and punishment is contained to this life. The Pentateuch isn't so much a spiritual book than a record of the history of a God and his people.

While reading the Pentateuch, I could imagine how it played an important part in the Pilgrim paradigm, and how they understood their mission in the new world:

Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord god of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. (Dt 1:21)

Many parallels can be drawn (and are drawn) between America and Canaan, "the land of milk and honey." The similarities between the crossing of the desert from oppressed Egypt into the land of the Canaans and the crossing of the ocean out of oppressed Europe into the land of the American Indians powered many a politician and preacher during the building of America and even today.

It was nice to read the most-read book in the world (is it?). The Bible is so interwoven that to begin to understand its issues, I am convinced you have to read it through one time, and then begin reading it again. It was also nice to read the actual text instead of reading about the Bible, as I think the Bible is also one of the most-interpreted books in the world. I personally enjoy my paperback copy of the King James Bible (World Bible Publishers) with no commentary, no references, no pictures, just the text. It's a good place to start. After trying a couple other English translations, I have found the King James Version to be the most satisfying and fitting translation for the content of the Bible. Newer translations (e.g. the Jerusalem Bible, 1966) just don't have the poetical grace and style to express the ancient stories and spiritual message that the Bible has to offer.

Edward Tanguay

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