Patriarchs

One family is called out of the crowd. God tells Abram to leave country and kindred for a land he will be shown, promising a great nation and blessing for "all the families of the earth" (Genesis 12:1–3). Abram and Sarai go with Lot; the promise is repeated and sealed by covenant (Genesis 15), their names are changed to Abraham and Sarah, and circumcision is given as its sign (Genesis 17:5–15). Along the way come Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16), the destruction of Sodom, the rescue of Lot (Genesis 19), and at last the laughter of Isaac, born to a hundred-year-old father (Genesis 21:1–7).

The promise is tested on a mountain in Moriah, where Abraham binds Isaac and God provides the ram instead (Genesis 22:1–14). Isaac's bride Rebekah is found by Abraham's servant at a well in Nahor's city (Genesis 24), and their twins are already struggling before birth: Esau the hunter and Jacob the heel-grabber (Genesis 25:21–26). Jacob buys the birthright with stew and steals the blessing with goatskins (Genesis 27), then flees to Laban in Haran.

At Bethel Jacob sees the ladder and the LORD standing above it (Genesis 28:10–17). Twenty years with Laban bring him Leah and Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah, and the twelve sons who become the tribes — Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin — along with his daughter Dinah (Genesis 29–30; 35:23–26). Returning home he wrestles until daybreak at the Jabbok and is renamed Israel (Genesis 32:22–32); Esau meets him with an embrace, not an army (Genesis 33:4).

The last quarter of Genesis belongs to Joseph. Sold by his brothers to Ishmaelite traders, he serves Potiphar, is imprisoned on his wife's word, and interprets the dreams of the cupbearer, the baker and finally Pharaoh himself (Genesis 37–41). Made second in Egypt, he stores grain against seven years of famine and meets his brothers again as a stranger. His verdict on the whole affair is the era's summary: "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20). Jacob blesses his sons and dies in Egypt, and Joseph's bones wait there for an exodus he will not see (Genesis 50:24–26).