I started reading Genesis and at first, all I could do was question the logistics of everything. Is this a real history, a mythology written to explain the unexplainable or a little of both? While my reading may have created more questions than answers, I did come to a conclusion. Maybe the how is not as important as the why. I mean, the overall message is that God created a flawed mankind, one who makes mistakes (a lot of them), but is constantly given a second chance despite their bad choices. Genesis is also an accounting of a family tree (which will ultimately lead to Jesus). Long lists of names are common - I had to do some diagrams to figure who fit in where - and even then I sometimes just glossed over all those names...so many names.
So, here are my questions - I am just no longer certain I need all the answers.
Creation
God created the world, the Garden of Eden, the animals, Adam and Eve (...in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them) in seven days. Seven twenty-four hours days? Or were days measured differently? How does this fit in with evolution and the slow formation of the earth?
If God did not want Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge & Wisdom, why did He put it in the garden in the first place? And why create a talking serpent who would tempt them to eat from the tree? Was it part of a bigger plan? Did God want them to eat from it so He could send them away from the garden? And what about the Tree of Life - why did He put that in the garden? Was it to give the inhabitants eternal life only while they were in the garden? (No one said to not eat from it.) Once He sent Adam and Eve away, the entrance was guarded to protect the Tree so that people could no longer find it and, in retrospect, not have eternal life. Again, part of a bigger plan?
All those people
Where did the wives of Cain and his sons come from? Were there unmentioned sisters or other people who already lived outside the Garden of Eden? After Cain killed his brother Abel, he was worried about the others killing him - who were those people? Where did they come from?
Why is there mention of "sons of God" marrying "daughters of humans" in Chapter Six? If God created all people, why the need to differentiate?
Noah
God decided to destroy all mankind except for Noah and his family. Did the flood cover the entire earth or just the area we know as the middle east (which, in the minds of the people at that time, would be their entire earth)? And everyone that lived after were descendants of Noah and his sons? So there was marriage between family members of all ages?
Tower of Babel
God did not want everyone to speak the same language because they would communicate too well, work together and build a tower to heaven? It was better to create division among the people by giving them different languages? Makes no sense to me...
Abram and Sarai
What is the deal with Abram telling people his wife Sarai is his sister? And he did this not once, but twice. And he was forgiven and sent away with all the possessions he gained while Sarai was taken as a wife by two different pharaohs/kings (both of whom were told by God who she really was, and then threatened to let her go...or else)? And then, after the second incident, we find out that she is not only Abram's wife, but also his half-sister, so in his mind he was justified in his deceit.
God told Abram he and Sarai would have a son. Sarai did not believe this would happen, so she offered her servant Hagar to Abram. We are told Abram believed God when he was told he would have a son with Sarai, but he still slept with her servant and had a son. Why did he do that if he truly believed God's promise?
Lot
Before Isaac was born, Abram took his great-nephew Lot to live with him but they ended up parting ways and Lot went to Sodom (where, if my charts are correct, the descendants of Noah's son Ham lived). God was so angry at the behavior in Sodom he was going to kill everyone, but he let Abram negotiate with Him until it came down to Lot, his wife and his daughters leaving before the slaughter. Why is it that Lot's wife, who doesn't even have a name, is so well known when all she did was look back and turn into a pillar of salt (and how is that even possible?) Then Lot's daughters get him drunk and sleep with him so they could have his babies? How is looking back worse than seducing you own father? And these were the people worth saving? Is this an indication of the times or a message that even flawed people are worthy of God's love?
Abraham and Sarah
Why did God rename Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah? I know there was some reference to the meaning of the new names. Were they renamed to represent a new beginning?
Why did God feel he had to test Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac? How old was Isaac? He had to at least be an older boy as he carried the wood and asked his father what they were going to sacrifice as they had no animal with them to use as a burnt offering. Next thing, Isaac is tied up over the wood. He just went along with this? I think his faith had to be as strong as Abraham's, but this is never mentioned.
Sarah dies. Abraham is dying and sends a servant to find a wife for his son that is of his own bloodline. Rebecca marries Isaac and Abraham dies (after having more sons with another wife - apparently girls are not worth mentioning, again).
And that is where I stop for now. Next time...Isaac, Rebecca and more Genesis...
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