No Apostasy in Genesis

Jim S · Little Guppy Joined: 21 Nov 2002 Posts: 30

WHY NO APOSTASY IN GENESIS?

A. Apostasy Is a Main Theme from Exodus to II Kings

In much of the Old Testament, from Exodus to II Kings, one of the main themes is apostasy. The Hebrew people seem always to be tempted to follow a rival god to Yahweh, especially Baal, and they often succumb to this temptation. Two of the most famous examples of the theme of apostasy in the Old Testament are:

1. Golden Calf. With Yahweh’s guidance, Moses leads the Hebrew people out of Egypt on a grand Exodus. Yet as soon as Moses’s back is turned (when Moses is on the mountain getting further instructions from Yahweh), what do the Hebrews do? Why, they immediately build, and begin worshiping, a golden calf, instead of staying faithful to Yahweh.

2. Solomon’s Apostasy. Solomon grandly rules over a great empire that almost encompasses the entirety of the Promised Land that Yahweh had promised to Abraham’s descendants. Yet what does Solomon then do? Why, he starts worshipping the gods of some of his 700 royal wives, and forgets about being loyal to Yahweh.

And these are simply the two most famous examples of an almost constant theme in the Old Testament, beginning with Exodus. The Hebrews often succumb to the temptation of worshipping a rival of Yahweh. The Old Testament’s view is that the reason why the Hebrews have so often suffered such terrible calamities is precisely because they have not stayed loyal to Yahweh, even though Yahweh has done so many great things for the Hebrews.

B. But There’s No Apostasy in Genesis

Beginning with the story of Abraham, there is no apostasy in Genesis. Why?

Abraham’s descendants in Genesis are anything but model citizens. Jacob swindles his older brother Esau out of the inheritance, causing Jacob to have to flee the Promised Land to avoid his brother’s vengeance. Jacob’s older sons gang up to try to murder their younger half-brother Joseph, and eventually sell Joseph into slavery. Judah’s two oldest sons are so evil that Yahweh kills both of them.

Yet there is no hint of apostasy in Genesis. No descendant of Abraham in Genesis (with the possible exception of Esau, who is left outside of the Covenant) ever is even tempted by a rival god, much less worships a rival to Yahweh. Why?

Even the foreign women who marry Hebrews in Genesis are not a problem regarding loyalty to Yahweh. Jacob’s wives Leah and Rachel are nieces of Isaac’s wife Rebekah, but they are raised as pagans by their father Laban in Mesopotamia. Yet both of them embrace Jacob’s faith, even though Jacob treats Leah badly, and Rachel is very feisty. Rachel even goes so far as to steal her father’s idols of gods, and then when he comes looking for them, she sits on her father’s gods, and says she can’t move because it’s the wrong time of month. Tamar is a foreign woman who marries Judah’s oldest son. Even though Yahweh kills her husband and her husband’s brother, and even though Judah and his entire family treat Tamar very badly, nevertheless Tamar perseveres until she has provided, indirectly, a son for her deceased husband, and Tamar absolutely refuses to go back to her own people.

Why is Genesis so much different from the rest of the Hebrew Bible? Why doesn’t Genesis have the theme, so constant in the rest of the Old Testament, of the Hebrew people being tempted by a rival of Yahweh, and sometimes succumbing to that fatal temptation?

C. Conclusions

Doesn’t it seem that Genesis has a different mindset than most of the rest of the Bible? Did the same person write both Genesis and the next four books of the Bible?

Doesn’t Genesis, from Abraham to Joseph and Judah, seem to have its own inner dynamic, that is quite different than the rest of the Bible? Yes, Genesis is concerned with monotheism, like the rest of the Bible. But Genesis never takes seriously any of Yahweh’s rivals. Why not? And beyond monotheism, Genesis seems consumed with the question of who should be the right person to be the new standard bearer of monotheism. Will Abraham ever have a son, or a son beyond Ishmael? Will it be Esau or Jacob who becomes Patriarch #3? Although Joseph saves the Hebrews from starvation, who should be named the leading tribe of Israel? Judah? It is precisely these questions of who should be the new standard bearer of this new monotheism that the author of Genesis is concerned with. Unlike the rest of the Bible, the author of Genesis is not concerned about Yahweh’s rivals.

Did the person who originally told the stories that later got written down as the Book of Genesis have the power to compel his people to worship one god, to the point that he did not even worry too much about his people turning to rival gods? Was that person rather consumed about an unresolved question as to who would be the next standard bearer of the new monotheism?

Isn’t the lack of any conern about apostasy in Genesis another important clue in trying to determine who it was who originally told the stories that eventually got written down in the Bible as the Book of Genesis?