Genesis to Jesus
Lesson Three:
East of Eden, Headed to Egypt 
Lesson Objectives:
1. To read Genesis 3-50 with understanding.
2. To understand God's covenants with Noah and with Abraham and to see how these covenants look forward to, and are fulfilled in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
3. To appreciate the key figures in the story of Abraham - Melchizedek, circumcision, the sacrifice of Isaac - as they are interpreted in the Church's tradition.
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Lesson Outline:
I. East of Eden, Before the Flood
a. Cain the Wicked
b. Seth the Righteous
c. Saved Through Water
II. After the Flood
a. Ham's Sin
b. To Make a Name
III. Our Father Abraham
a. Hebrews and Semites
b. Priest of the Most High God
c. 'Covenant in Your Flesh'
d. Binding Isaac
IV. Age of the Patriarchs
a. Jacob the Younger
b. Joseph and Judah
V. Study Questions
I. East of Eden, Before the Flooda. Cain the Wicked
In our last lesson, we left our first family, Adam and Eve, on the outside of paradise looking in - exiled by their sin and disobedience, their failure to live up to the demands of God's covenant.
The chapters that follow (see Genesis 4-5) show us the "fruits" of Adam and Eve's original sin: We see that human seed now is mixed between the good and evil. The tension between the two seeds - already prophesied by God in the garden (see
Genesis 3:15) - shapes much of the remainder of Genesis, especially the book's first 11 chapters.
The "first fruits" of Adam and Eve - their son Cain - is born of bad seed; his younger brother, Abel, of good. Cain kills Abel, becomes the world's first murderer. As Adam and Eve, the first children of God, rejected the Fatherhood of God, their bad seed rejects the family of man that God intended to create. This is symbolized in Cain's pitiless, spiteful words to God: "Am I my brother's keeper?" (see
Genesis 4:9).
Cain's wicked line grows and one of his descendants becomes the first to take two wives - a perversion of the order of marriage God established in the garden (see
Genesis 2:21-24) - and boasts of his murderous, vengeful ways (see
Genesis 4:23-34).
b. Seth the Righteous
Then Adam and Eve produce a good seed - Seth. It's the children of Seth, born of Seth's son, Enosh, who first begin to develop a personal, prayerful relationship with God - they "invoke the Lord
by name" (see
Genesis 4:26). The word name in Hebrew is
shem. Just remember that for now, it will become important later.
Chapters 4 and 5 of Genesis give us a kind of comparison of the "bad seed" and "good seed" of Adam. We read of the sons of Cain (see
Genesis 4:17-24) and the sons of Seth (see
Genesis 5:1-32). From the first, come the unrighteous sons and "daughters of man" and from the latter, the righteous "sons of heaven" (see
Genesis 6:2).
But sin infects even the righteous. And Seth's descendants, seduced by the beauty of the daughters of Cain's line, take them as wives. Worse yet, they follow Lamech's example and take more than one wife - "as many of them as they chose" (see
Genesis 6:1-4).
The fruits of the "intercourse" of the sons of Seth and the daughters of Cain were men of even more violence and wickedness - "men of renown," which Scripture elsewhere calls "proud giants...skilled in war" (see
Wisdom 14:6;
Baruch 3:26-27).
Finally, God is overcome with "sorrow" and "regret" at "how corrupt the earth had become, since all mortals led depraved lives" (see
Genesis 6:5,7,12). Remember: God doesn't actually get sorry or repent or change His mind like humans do - this is just a figure of speech to tell us how awful things had become (see
Numbers 23:19;
Malachi 3:6).
c. Saved Through Water
In the flood, God totally obliterates the line of Cain, drowns it out. The line of Seth continues through Noah, who "walked with God" and "found favor" with Him (see
Genesis 5:27-29;
6:9-10).
The story of the flood (Chapters 7-9) is told as a new creation story, with lots of subtle and obvious references back to Genesis 1. In the context of the entire book of Genesis, the flood story shows us God giving the world a new start, starting His family anew in the line of Seth.
Noah is like a new Adam. Like Adam, Noah is given authority over the animals (compare
1:26 and
9:2-3). He is also given the same command as God gave to Adam: "be fertile and multiply and fill the earth." (compare
1:28 and
9:1). Finally, as He did with Adam, God makes a covenant with Noah and through him with all living beings (compare
2:1-2 and
9:13).
With this covenant with Noah, God renews the covenant He made with creation in the beginning. The rainbow sign is like the Sabbath, a symbol of God's communion with His creation. We have here, the second of the major covenants that form the "organizational principle" of the Bible.
Remember what we said in our
first lesson: The Bible is organized according to a series of family-making covenants. With each covenant God reveals a little bit more of Himself to us. In the covenant with Noah He gives the family of God the shape of a nuclear family - Noah and his wife and their children. We've moved beyond the husband and wife model that He revealed in the covenant of creation.
Remember what else we said about the covenants in the Bible: Each one points us toward the new and everlasting covenant of Jesus. The covenant symbolized by Adam and Eve pointed us towards the covenant bond between Christ and His Church, which is to be a marriage-like union (see
Ephesians 5:21-33).
The covenant with Noah points us to the sacrament of Baptism, by which we become, like Jesus and Noah, beloved sons and daughters in whom God is well pleased (compare
Genesis 6:4,8 and
Matthew 3:17). The Baptism He brings, like the flood, will destroy sin, and bring us the gift of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove (compare
Genesis 8:8-12 and
Matthew 3:16).
As Peter tells us, the flood "prefigured Baptism." In both the flood and Baptism, the human race is "saved through water" (
1 Peter 3:20-21;
Catechism, nos. 701,
1219).
II. After the Flood
a. Ham's Sin
Unfortunately, human history after the flood unfolds much as it did after creation.
As Adam (whose name in Hebrew literally means "ground") was given a garden to till, Noah plants a vineyard and becomes "a man of the soil" (compare Genesis 1:2 and 7:11). And as the forbidden fruit of the garden proves to be Adam's downfall, so the fruit of Noah's vine - wine - becomes his. And like Adam's fall, Noah's exposes his sin and nakedness (see Genesis 3:6-7; 9:21) and results in a curse (see Genesis 3:14-19; 9:25).
What's going on in the story of Ham uncovering "his father's nakedness" (see Genesis 9:22)? In Hebrew, this phrase is a figure of speech used to describe incest (Leviticus 20:17; 18:6-18. Note: In other places besides the story of Noah and Ham, The New American Bible translates this phrase as "to have intercourse with." The Revised Standard Version in all cases keeps the more literal translation "uncover the nakedness of." See RSV-Leviticus 20:17; 18:6-18).
To uncover the nakedness of your father is to commit incest with your mother. To state it bluntly, in all its brutality - while Noah was drunk, Ham slept with his mother. We don't know what Ham was thinking. It could be that he wanted to seize power from his dad and this heinous act was his way of insulting Noah and showing his total disrespect (see similar episodes in Genesis 29:32; 35:22; 49:3-4; 2 Samuel 16:21-22).
But notice that Noah doesn't curse Ham. He curses Canaan - the son born of this incestuous encounter. Why Canaan? It's another hint in the text of what Ham's crime was. As we'll see later, Canaan will be the founding father of a nation that will be known for its abominable practice of maternal incest (see Leviticus 18:6-18; Exodus 23:23-24).
Canaan is the bad fruit born of Noah's sin. But as Adam bore both Cain, the slayer of his brother, and Seth the righteous one, Noah too has a good seed: his firstborn son Shem, who had tried to "cover" his father's nakedness (see Genesis 9:23).
As he curses Canaan, the bad seed, Noah blesses Shem: "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem" (see Genesis 9:26) and says that he will prevail over the wicked spawn, Canaan.
It is interesting to note, too, that the only other episode of drunkenness in Genesis is also associated with incest - and the birth of immoral nations hostile to the people of God. That's the story of Lot's daughters, who ply Lot with wine and then lie with him in incestuous unions that are the origin of the Moabites and the Ammonites (see Genesis 19:30-38).
And so Genesis continues - telling the story of the conflict between the two seeds of Noah, the good and the bad. The descendants of Ham become the great national enemies of the people of God - Egypt (10:6), Canaan (10:6), Philistia (10:14), Assyria (10:11), and Babylon (10:10).
b. To Make a Name
From this bad line, came the nations who tried to build the Tower of Babel in order "to make a name [Hebrew = shem] for themselves" (Genesis 11:1-9). In other words, they were trying to build a kind of "counter-kingdom" to stand against the name of God.
As an aside: it's interesting to note that in Genesis there seems to be a connection between the "name" (shem) and a person's relationship with God. The big sinners in Genesis - beginning with Adam and Eve who fall for Satan's promise of being "like gods" - all seem to be trying to make a name for themselves, to exalt themselves, to live as if they don't need God.
Think back to Cain. When he builds a city, what does he do? He "names" it after his son, Enoch (see Genesis 4:17). That's all the builders of the Tower of Babel were doing. Trying to glorify their name, their works.
The righteous ones in Genesis don't try to exalt their name. Instead, they rejoice in the blessings of God - they "call on the name of the Lord." While Cain is glorifying his name, his righteous brother Seth is hallowing the Lord's name, seeking His blessing (see Genesis 4:26).
We'll see this pattern continue with the righteous Abraham (see Genesis 12:8; 13:4; 21:33) and with Isaac (26:25). It's implied, too, in Noah's blessing of Shem (9:26). By the way, that's the first time in the Bible that God is associated with an individual, or where a person is identified by his or her relationship with God. He is "the God of Shem."
This pattern, too, continues in next chapter of Genesis - as God promises to make Abraham's "name" great. Abraham's name is made great by being associated with the name of God. God will even refer to Himself as "the God of Abraham" (see Genesis 26:24; 28:3; Matthew 22:32; Acts 7:3).
Throughout the Old Testament, we'll see that the righteous are those who praise the name of the Lord, and seek n that name their blessing and their help (see Deuteronomy 28:10; Psalm 124:8; 129:8; Proverbs 18:10; Joel 2:23; Micah 4:5; Zephanaiah 3:12). This continues in the New Testament, where "every one who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (see Romans 10:13; Acts 2:21; 4:12).
III. Our Father Abraham
a. Hebrews and Semites
From the good seed of humanity, the line of God's righteous, Shem's line, comes the first of the great patriarchs, "Abraham the Hebrew" (see Genesis 14:13).
This is the first time the word "Hebrew" appears in the Bible and it's linked to the name of Eber, another son of Shem (see Genesis 10:21). This is why we refer to the chosen people the Hebrews. The descendants of Abraham are also known as "Shemites" or "Semites." Which is where we get our expression for hatred of Jews - "anti-Semitic," which means, hatred of the descendants of the righteous line of Shem.
With the story of Abraham we turn a page in salvation history. The remainder of Genesis (chapters 12-50) tells the story of the "patriarchs," the founding fathers of the chosen people. In Genesis 12-25:18, we'll read about Abraham and his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. In Genesis 25:19-36:43, we hear the story of Isaac and his two sons, Esau and Jacob. And the book concludes, in Chapters 37-50, with the story of Jacob's 12 children, founders of the tribes of Israel, and especially Jacob's son, Joseph.
For simplicity's sake, we're going to refer to him as "Abraham" throughout this lesson, even though he's called " Abram" until God changes his name in Genesis 17:5.
God is going to make a covenant with Abraham, and by that covenant He is going to re-orient human history, give it a new possibility, a new goal.
The covenant with Abraham has three parts, and it begins with three promises: to make Abraham a great nation (see Genesis 12:1); to give him a great name (12:2); and to make him the source of blessing for all the world (12:3).
God later "upgrades" these three promises - turning them into divine covenants. God swears not only make Abraham a great nation, He makes a covenant in which He promises to deliver Abraham's descendants from oppression in an alien land and give them a specific territory of land (see Genesis 15:7-21). Not only will his name be great, but God by a covenant oath swears to make Abraham "father of a host of nations," a royal dynasty - "kings shall stem from you" (see Genesis 17:1-21)
God elevates His third promise by swearing to make Abraham's descendants "as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore." In Abraham's descendants "All the nations of the earth shall find blessing" (see Genesis 22:16-18).
By these three covenant oaths, God points our eyes to the future of salvation history.
Abraham is made a great nation in the Exodus, when by the covenant He makes with Moses, God makes Abraham's descendants into a nation possessing the land promised to Abraham (see Genesis 46:3-4). We will read about this in our next lesson, when we look at the books of Exodus through Deuteronomy.
God's second oath is fulfilled when David is made King and promised with a great name (see 2 Samuel 7:9) and an everlasting throne (see Psalm 89:3-4; 132:11-12).
And finally, these covenants point us to Jesus. His New Covenant fulfills God's promise to make the children of Abraham the source of blessing for all the nations. That's why in the very first line of the New Testament we find the words "Jesus Christ...the son of Abraham" (see Matthew 1:1).
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