Genesis

PATRIARCHAL CYCLE

This is where the people’s history and traditions begin, recounted many times at assemblies and religious feasts, frequently revised and restructured while maintaining their orientation amid changing historical circumstances. Through legends, adventures, and sagas about ancient characters and human communities—some large, some small—a people have been nurtured, with roots that trace back to one person, Abraham, the father of all. During critical times, the patriarch’s descendants turned to their ancestors’ traditions, recalling their actions and words. Above all, they remembered the specific event that led Abraham to leave his land and his people to settle in Canaan: God’s promise and blessing.

However, this particular beginning of Israel’s history lacks something: the history of the world’s origin. As noted in the introduction to the Pentateuch, the historical circumstances of Israel in the sixth century B.C. nearly led to their disappearance. Nevertheless, the tenacity of some religious leaders allowed them to cultivate the mindset and identity of a new people. They no longer clung to what was said about the patriarchs but looked to God’s plan “from the beginning.”

Thus, the Priestly school (P) achieved several objectives. Firstly, it broadened the historical horizon to encompass the very origin of humanity and the world, placing Israel’s history within a universal context where God makes Himself present and remains definitively with the people He has specifically chosen and blessed. Additionally, it provides interpretive clues for events and individual experiences, as well as their actions, thereby facilitating an understanding of the past and enhancing the ability to confront the future. This is what the Priestly school accomplished with the first eleven chapters of Genesis: offering an interpretive key to read and reread what is written from this point onward regarding the history of the patriarchs, the history of the chosen people, their slavery in Egypt and subsequent liberation, the journey through the desert (Exodus–Numbers), the conquest and possession of the land (Joshua), and the socio-political evolution that unfolded there (Judges–2 Kings).

In simple terms, this tool enabled people to evaluate events and their protagonists: things turned out well when they aligned with the divine plans for justice and life. However, history took a different turn when they allowed themselves to be ensnared by egotism, greed, or a thirst for power and dominance. Still, the adverse outcomes might not have been immediately apparent.

This is why the Bible does not hide negative actions or behaviors that contradict the divine plan, regardless of which character commits them, including the esteemed patriarchs. Everyone, ourselves included, must be evaluated by the standard of justice.