Lent 2 - Genesis
...this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations….I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. (Gen 17.4-6)
God’s covenant with Abraham. This is the sticking point isn’t it? Many atrocities are rationalized on this covenant—homes bulldozed, resisters arrested and tortured, children stoned on their way to school.
Christians are often confused by the covenant with Abraham—if God gave this land to Abraham, isn’t it justice to give Palestine to the Israelis for a state?
This rationalization is based on several murky assumptions. Here are a few I have observed:
- Ignorance of the context—both of the ancient text and modern political realities
- Interpretation of the text itself, a failure to read the text carefullly
- Identification of the modern state of Israel with ancient Israel
- Assumption that present-day Jews are Abraham’s descendants
- An unexamined mixture of religion with the emergence of nation-states in the nineteenth century
I’ll briefly touch on the first three today, because a careful reading of the covenant texts does not support Israel’s claim to all the land from the Jordan to the sea.
The context of the written text—
Most biblical scholars today believe that Genesis was written by at least three writers and editors. The story was told orally for at least a thousand years before it was written down, the oldest writings date to the time of Kind David. Abraham likely lived around 2100 BCE; David ruled about 1000 BCE.
Now, don’t dismiss the oral tradition as inaccurate; people who rely on oral transmission of their history are very adept at remembering details and use storytelling techniques—like repetition and commemorative festivals that enable these stories to stay the same for generations.
The stories in Genesis have a purpose. When you write, you have a purpose, don’t you? I have a purpose with what I write here—to share how I have come to understand the Israeli/Palestinian question in a new way, as I have gotten to know Palestinians and hear their stories. Why did someone write Abraham and Sarah’s story during King David’s reign?
A careful reading of the text—
I lifted out some phrases above for us to consider. God’s covenant in verse 4 promises Abraham will be the ancestor of “a multitude of nations.” Not one nation. And, just in case future generations might think this a typo, the writer restates it twice, using the plural: “kings” and “nations”—for Abraham (v4) and then again for Sarah (v16). Sole ownership of the land was not understood by these Israelites of David’s time.
Modern Israel ≠ Ancient Israel—
The corollary to this is that today’s Israelis have not lived in Palestine since ancient times.They have come from many places. There are two branches of Jewish people: Sephardic (Mediterranean) and Ashkenazi (European). The majority of Israelis today have come to Israel from Eastern Europe. In his controversial book, Shlomo Sand challenges the Jewish narrative (The Invention of the Jewish People, 2009).
Reassessing the DNA evidence, researcher Ellen Levy-Coffman, writing in the Journal of Genetic Genealogy in 2005, has described the Jews as “a mosaic of people.” Her research shows that contemporary Jews come from a great variety of ethnic groups.
No easy answers here, but much to ponder…..
God of all the nations, we forget that you are much greater than our stories, that you are creator of all. Give us humble hearts so that we remember to honor all of your creation. Amen.
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