The Book of Genesis

The Book of Genesis

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Not kidding.

A couple of years ago, I decided -- and I don't remember if any conversation provoked this -- that I could download a bible onto my kindle app, which I could read between books. Also, I arrive at Mass on Sunday mornings 10-15 minutes early so I can get my usual seat, and I tend to read before the service begins. As much as this sound like a reverent thing to do to reflect on God's word before Mass, it's mostly because the current book I'm reading might not be the most appropriate thing to dwell upon inside a church.

That said, I read most of this on subways, I believe. And, in any event, I read a bunch a year or two ago, and only recently decided to finish this (meaning Genesis, not the entire Bible). I didn't scan back to the Tower of Babel or Sodom and Gommorrah, which I read then.

First off, I've read sections of bible in school, but never anything in depth. And I read along with the same readings each year for many years.

Genesis has 50 chapters, which right there said commitment. A number of chapters are straight genealogies, and sometimes this information is repeated. It's a lot of names, with a lot of variation among them, but others which are quite similar. How Bible scholars remember them all is beyond me.

Among the stories are the two creation stories, and then Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel. Noah and the Great Flood are Chapter 6 -- if this was a movie, it would almost be "blink and you miss it". It's more "story" and less "history" at this point.

The rest of the book is Abraham, Issac, Jacob (Israel) and Joseph. Joseph being sold to slavery and his rise to power in Egypt is the last quarter of the book.

Next up is Exodus and Moses.