The Bible’s Overarching Theme

A view from the Hubble Space Telescope showing a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (NASA, ESA)

Day 1
Genesis 1:1-16:16

I am touched once again by the forthright stories of the Bible. They speak to the whole human condition with frankness; the Bible stories do not hold back their punches or their grace. Also notable is that the stories are told with so many characters. It is arguable that there is any storytelling anywhere with such a cast. Many of course are supporting characters who only get a mention. This at least supports the importance of community and family in scripture. Still, I am impressed with the Faulkner-like size of the cast in scripture. Indeed, I am more impressed with Faulkner’s taking a cue from the Old Testament. Of course, Faulkner has far fewer characters but I always had a difficult time keeping all of his characters sorted out over the course of a novel. You can imagine my difficulty in keeping the Bible’s cast straight—and there are sometimes as many characters in one Bible story as there are in a whole novel!

The Genesis stories in this section are generally in one to two chapter settings. Although the stories are connected to each other, they might stand as independent stories. A variety of literary tools are used to tell the stories. Tragedy, comedy (so often, comedy; it is a mainstay of the Bible), etiology, hero story, quest, horror, satire, archetype, foil, and poetic justice are all used in these 16 chapters. They are used to tell the same story in a variety of ways. But what is the story being told through all of these characters and literary stylings?

Recently a friend of mine said that in his reading of the New Testament he keeps reading the same story over and over. What he means is that the four gospels have so much repetition. Yet in a way, what he stated is truer than he realizes. The Bible repeats the main point over and over in each of these stories and books. It is an anthology of works that make the same point in different ways. I was impressed by this after only 16 chapters. They all kept bringing me back to the same point.

Here is that point: God keeps his promises and his main promise is to keep companionship with humanity. The story is told through Adam and Eve, Noah, a large cast in Babel, and Abram and Sarai. Adam, the original character, was placed in an idyllic setting where God showed up in the cool of the day for a walk in the garden. But Adam was lonely; God was not enough companionship (God not being sufficient is a biblical sub-plot within the greater theme) for Adam so God gave him Eve. In between walking dates with their cosmic companion, Eve has a chat with a low-going character—a serpent who tells her that God is duping her and that she could be like him (another ongoing sub-plot in the Bible) if she disobeyed God. She does disobey and so does Adam. Yet what happens next? Although they pay a price for eating from the wrong tree in the garden, God keeps on as their companion—though never again (until Jesus) in the direct manner of walking with man.

The planetary population is disobedient next. God punishes them in the harshest manner but keeps his companionship alive with the family of the one man he found upright. In Babel, the sub-plot of trying to be like God is revisited. Of course, in our trying to be like God, it is implicit that we have no need of him. God destroys the tower of Babel but keeps the relationship alive; he is still found hanging around in the story. The theme is sharpened with Abram—so much that his story is retold through both testaments. Abram, an old, old man, is childless. God promises he will give a his wife, Sarai, a child. He then states that Abram’s offspring will be as uncountable as the stars in the heavens. Abram believes his promise but when God tells him that he will also provide a land (Canaan) for them all to live in, this strains Abram’s credulity. After all, there are already a lot of people there who will not allow such a takeover and they are more powerful than God’s promise.

It is a good thing for us that the fulfillment of God’s promises rely on his intentions instead of our actions. The lack of belief by Adam and Eve, Noah’s culture, Abram, Sarai and Lot, and me does not make God renege on his offer of companionship. God created the perfect environment for us. He has a plan (a theme, if you will) and he intends to see it through, despite the difficulties we create along the way.

The Bible is not just about morality and doctrine and theology. It is the greatest story that could be told. The creator of everything made us to be his friends. And unfriendly as we so often are, he will always be here with us and for us, providing children and resources and, more wondrously, himself.