Abstract
Though the twenty-first century has been slow to produce major commentaries on Genesis, I am happy to report that Genesis 1–25A is worth the wait. Kathleen O’Connor has produced a wonderfully contemporary reading of the text with fresh, provocative ideas. Hypothesizing a Persian period origin, O’Connor argues that Genesis was brought into being as a second-generation response to the trauma of Judah’s exile and return. It was not created directly after the exile; immediate “pastoral care” was provided by Lamentations, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Second Isaiah, and Job (p. 6). Genesis was formed a little later, to interpret and reframe the disaster, build national identity, and revive confidence in God.
O’Connor stresses cathartic readings that might minister to those afflicted by trauma. A special focus is “disaster narratives” in which “confounding, mythic” events compel groups to face the end of existence, even as small numbers are given ways to survive (pp. 9–10). These narratives tend to occur in Genesis 1–11, including the accounts of the expulsion from Eden, Cain, Noah’s ark, and the Tower of Babel. In chapters 12–25 only the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and the binding of Isaac qualify as “disaster narratives.” I suspect her emphasis on these passages influenced O’Connor to break Genesis 1–25 into four sections: “In the Beginning” (Gen 1–4), “Noah and the Flood” (Gen 5–9), “The Family of Nations and Their Languages” (Gen 10–11), and “The First Generation of Israel” (Gen 12–25:18). Yet O’Connor still gives due attention to each chapter of the biblical text, so her work on Gen 12:1–25:18 is nearly as lengthy as that of chapters 1–11.
For O’Connor, Genesis 1–4 is an “arbitrary unit,” the least cohesive among her divisions. Each of these four chapters is distinct, although the fall of Genesis 3 disturbs the harmony of Genesis 2 on multiple levels. Her highly nuanced reading of Genesis 3 affirms that the man and woman were expelled from the garden because of sin. Even more striking, she offers the most sexually charged reading of Genesis 2 I have read in a serious work on Genesis.
For Genesis 5–9, O’Connor ably demonstrates that the two-source theory helps both to explain the complexities of this section and to reveal the beauty and power of the final text. Unusually, she sees Genesis 6–9 as organized concentrically around the “death” of 7:21–24; such a focus does not seem fitting for a work that ultimately stresses survival and hope; O’Connor, however, does not push this reading. In the section, “Noah and the Flood,” O’Connor emphasizes God’s power to destroy, yet also God’s divine care for the preservation and ultimate fruitfulness of creation.
In “The First Generation of Israel,” O’Connor highlights God’s promises to Abraham in Gen 12:1–3 as not merely the focus of the patriarchal narratives but as the “throbbing heart of the book” (p. 187). Abraham and his family face extinction from a range of negative forces, yet God repeatedly promises and arranges not just survival, but prosperity. Especially thought-provoking is her examination of “the Sacrifice of Isaac” in Genesis 22. She introduces readers to divergent Jewish, Christian, and Muslim understandings of this account, then carefully ties it to Genesis 21, in which Ishmael also seems doomed due to divine command, but ultimately finds salvation. Persian era readers might discern from meditating on these stories that the Babylonian disaster was not punishment for sin, but rather a test that has strengthened Israel’s relationship with God.
As this commentary is aimed primarily towards preachers and teachers, application of the text is paramount, and O’Connor generally makes helpful suggestions. Sometimes she struggles with texts that do not seem to address trauma. For example, though she lists many interpretations of elements of the Tower of Babel episode (Gen 11), she offers few conclusions beyond her classification of the Babel account as a disaster story. I am not certain this account is properly a “disaster,” however, as the threat is aimed at human efforts to collaborate and not at human existence.
O’Connor’s treatment of the Abraham/Sarah/Hagar relationship does not explain its relevance to a Persian period audience. I appreciate her harsh evaluation of Abraham and Sarah, particularly in her discussion of their treatment of Hagar in Genesis 16. Even God appears culpable (although O’Connor avoids saying so directly), taking the side of the oppressive Abraham and Sarah even while offering hope and salvation to Hagar. Though O’Connor’s reading is plausible and insightful, the application is missing.
This volume flirts with “sidebar overload”—few pages lack at least one, and many have two or more, almost always containing multiple substantive paragraphs dealing with a range of fascinating issues and perspectives. O’Connor also includes more than one hundred (!) illustrations, most depicting historic interpretations of select scenes from the text. Finally, the volume comes with a downloadable CD that contains the entire searchable text of the book. Genesis 1–25A is an outstanding commentary for preaching and teaching, and it will remain invigorating and relevant for decades.