Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
Ever since seminary, I have been aware Genesis is a series of stories put together by an editor or editors. I also early on recognized that the Joseph story is the most beautifully written in the book. This is the first time, however, that I noticed the editors seem to have laid out a plot […]
As I said last week, Jacob was a scoundrel and because of that, he spends a great deal of the biblical accounts running away from the trouble he has created. I wonder why people don’t t ponder what his story says about God. Twice he cheats to steal the birthright that belongs to his brother […]
God is often identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Bible. Abraham and Jacob are especially associated with the beginnings of the Hebrew people. Isaac almost serves as a link between the two. Abraham is presented as the founder of the Jewish nation and Jacob as the father of the 12 […]
A straight reading of the chapter has God testing Abraham by seeing if he will kill his beloved son. Scholars differ widely on what to make of it. Some think it indicates the great demands God makes on us. Some think it describes how God provides animal sacrifice to cover human sin. And others even […]
Chapters 1- 11 could be regarded as the introduction to Genesis. The plot begins with Abraham in chapter 12. In fact, if you looked at the story that runs through the Bible, these chapters could serve as the setting for it as well. God begins saving his creation with Father Abraham. One of the best […]
It seems strange that Noah and the Ark ( Genesis 8:20-9:28) has become a beloved children’s Bible story. You have to question what we are teaching our young people. Sadly, it is usually presented as a precaution about being good so God does not punish you– something like behaving or Santa Claus will not bring […]
Genesis maintains when we are not in a proper relationship with God, all other relationships are corrupted. That pertains to humans as well as all other parts of the creation. The narrative labels violence as the big sin. Humans were vegetarians until Noah’s time when God made allowances for violently killing and eating other living […]
After examining the goodness of creation and humanity’s task in caring for it, Genesis spends several chapters on our failure. Again it is clear we are not dealing with historical events so much as the meaning of ancient stories that try to express humanity’s alienation from God. The rather bizarre narrative and four stories maintain […]
Although the ancient stories felt all parts of creation were good and worked together according to God’s design, they focused especially on the relationship between the divine and the human. In the second creation story, the human was to till and care for the garden. In the first, he was to operate as God’s agent […]
An honest reading of the creation stories quickly reveals the authors are not interested in particulars. Once you acknowledge that there are two very different, even contrasting accounts right next to each other, you recognize the editors are not trying to write accurate historical accounts. They are obviously more interested in what the ancient stories […]
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