As I said before, I love Genesis! So I'll be blogging quite a lot for the next 10 days, that's how long it takes to go through the whole of Genesis in this reading plan.
Today: the story of Babel and we meet Abram for the first time.
I've always liked the story of Babel. There's this character flaw in humans to always want to reach a bit further than they should, be a little bigger than they should. The human race as a whole suffers from just a touch of hubris. I think the author of Genesis captured that beautifully with this tale of a tower that had to reach well into the skies.
And then we get to Abram, one of the Patriarchs. And not altogether a nice man, I feel.
His treatment of Sara, asking her to tell the Pharaoh she is his sister not his wife, is certainly not gentleman-like but very pragmatic. If Sara had told the truth, Abram likely would have been killed and Sara still have would have ended up as one of Pharaohs wives. But this time without any possibility of ever getting out. By telling the lie she is reunited with her husband after a short amount of time. It cost her dearly, relations with the Pharaoh were quite probably not consensual.
Abram may not be a loyal husband, but he is a very loyal uncle, rescuing his nephew Lot from slavery or death not once but twice. Today the reading includes the first rescue.
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