FINALS - Unit 2: Genesis

Abraham's Test

Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Joseph

Sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, he rose to become vizier, the second most powerful man in Egyptnext to Pharaoh, where his presence and office caused Israel to leave Canaan and settle in Egypt.

Circumcision

According to Genesis, God told Abraham to circumcise himself, his household and his slaves as an everlasting covenant in their flesh. Those who were not circumcised were to be 'cut off' from their people (Genesis 17:10-14).

Etiology

Concerned with beginnings, a story or study that describes the beginnings of some phenomenon is an etiology.

Why do creation stories exist?

Creation stories give us order, structure, and meaning. They function similarly to beliefs about immortality, or life after death. Creation stories enable us to say, "that's where I came from." "This is who I am." We draw significance, my meaning, and self-esteem from the stories about our heritage, family, tribe; all the way down to the beginnings of our species and even our universe.

Hagar

Egyptian handmaid of Sarai (Sarah),[2] who gave her to Abraham "to wife" to bear a child.

cosmogony

God creating the cosmos (Bible moralisée, French, 13th century) Biblical cosmology is the biblical writers' conception of the cosmos as an organised, structured entity, including its origin, order, meaning and destiny.

Be able to list and describe the differences between the creation stories in Gen 1-3.

"In the first creation story, humans are created after the other animals. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:25-27 In the second story, humans were created before the other animals. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. Genesis 2:18-19 In the first creation story, the first man and woman were created simultaneously. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:25-27 In the second account, the man was created first, then the animals, then the woman from the man's rib. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them.... And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. Genesis 2:18-22"

Ishmael

Ishmael was born to Abraham's and Sarah's handmaiden Hagar.

Benjamin

Last-born of Jacob's thirteen children (12 sons 1 daughter), and the second and last son of Rachel . Benjamin is referred to as righteous young child, who remained with Jacob when the older brothers plotted against Joseph.

Sarah

wife and also the half-sister of Abraham[2] and the mother of Isaac. Her name was originally Sarai.

Rebekah

wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Father of the Abrahamic traditions

The Abrahamic religions refer to three sister monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) that claim the prophet Abraham (Hebrew: Avraham אַבְרָהָם ; Arabic: Ibrahim ابراهيم ) as their common forefather.

How many creation stories are there in Gen 1-3? Be able to give the citations for each story.

The Book of Genesis begins with two contradictory creation accounts (1:1-2:3 and 2:4-3:24). In the first, God created humans (male and female) after he finished making all of the other animals. In the second, God made one man ("Adam") and then created all of the animals in order to find a helpmeet for Adam. God brought all of the animals to Adam, but none of them appealed to him. So God made a woman from one of Adam's ribs to serve his helpmeet.

Rachel

The favorite of Biblical patriarch Jacob's two wives as well as the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel.

Leah

The first of the two concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob and mother of six sons whose descendants became some of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, along with one daughter, Dinah

Descendants

a person considered as descended from some ancestor or race

What is a myth?

a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

myth

a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

Promised Land

also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey") is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), was promised and subsequently given by God to Abraham and his descendants, and in modern

Monotheistic

belief in the existence of one god or in the oneness of God. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church gives a more restricted definition: "belief in one personal and transcendent God", as opposed to polytheism and pantheism.

Covenant

iterally, a contract. In the Bible, an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

Jacob

later given the name Israel. Son of Isaac and Rebecca

Esau

older son of Isaac

Abraham

originally Abram, is the first of the three patriarchs of Judaism. Abraham later marries Keturah and has six more sons, but on his death, when he is buried beside Sarah, it is Isaac who receives "all Abraham's goods", while the other sons receive only "gifts".

anthropomorphic

refers to the perception of a divine being or beings in human form, or the recognition of human qualities in these beings. ... Greek deities such as Zeus and Apollo often were depicted in human form exhibiting both commendable and despicable human traits.

Laban

son of Bethuel and the brother of Rebecca

Canaan

son of Ham and grandson of Noah, and was the father of the Canaanites. He was the recipient of the so-called Curse of Ham.

Theogony

the genealogy of a group or system of gods.

Isaac

the second son of Abraham, the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and the father of Jacob and Esau.

Polytheistic

worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. ... Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent.