Genesis - a strong case for the authenticity of the Scriptures

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Pastor Tom

As I read through the middle chapters of Genesis, I am struck again with how human these people were. By human, I’m thinking of the “to err is human” part. Abraham lied twice. Isaac and Rebekkah favored one child over another. Jacob was a master of deceit. His uncle Laban matched him scheme for scheme. Rachel took her father’s idols. Jacob’s sons misbehaved and engaged in much misconduct.

We might read these sections with shock over how the “people of God” acted. Yet, the text has a totally different focus. It points out how God was establishing a people through whom the deliverer (Jesus) would ultimately come. If it depended on these people alone to get this family going, there would be little hope. Yet God intervenes again and again despite their sins to keep advancing His plan. So remember, the text is ultimately about God and His work in spite of the failings of the people He works with.

But the other thing that really strikes me; their falleness presents real people. It testifies to the authenticity of these accounts. If Moses (the author of Genesis) wanted to “sell” faith in God, surely he could have doctored up the stories to make the people of God look better. Surely he would have left out the embarrassing episodes and hidden the grave errors. Yet he includes them because that’s what these people really did.

The Bible is not a collection of sanitized stories to get us to follow the example of some heroes. It’s the account of a Holy God who accomplishes His saving work among ordinary, fallen people who show their desperate need of Him in their lives . . . and that includes me.

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