In the story of Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah, Abraham’s habit of lying about his relationship with his wife struck me. The first time he lies, it is to Pharoah in Egypt. Abram has been hearing from God and obeying God… but his fear still gets the better of him when he gets to Egypt. The lie is found out, and things turn out OK in the end… but it seems like Abram and Sarai ultimately benefit from the lie, rather than being punished for it. But you’d think that they would have learned that God was big enough to take care of them and protect them without having to lie to protect themselves.

But apparently not. Because a few chapters later, they’re at it again. And once again, God comes through and protects them despite their lie… so that there are no recorded consequences for their lie. In fact, right after this second episode, Sarah becomes pregnant and has Isaac. Somehow… this just doesn’t seem fair to me. I don’t want to argue with God’s grace, but shouldn’t they have at least gotten a “time out” or something? If an entire family line could be cursed because Ham saw Noah naked… where’s the curse, where’s the punishment for giving your wife to be another man’s wife? It seems unbalanced. Unjust. And yet… also quite encouraging.

I can’t help but find it encouraging that a couple of flawed people could make a serious mistake not once, but TWICE… and God would still follow through with His plans to use them.

The story of Cain and Abel also struck me this time. Adam and Eve had a unique relationship with God — and even after they fell, they had a unique understanding of good vs evil. Yet… apparently, this understanding was not passed on to their kids. It took one generation to go from face-to-face with the Almighty to a jealous murderer. Interesting…

The story of what happened to Noah after the flood also caught my attention. Basically… Noah gets drunk and embarrasses himself by laying around naked in his tent. One of Noah’s sons, Ham, sees Noah in this compromising position and decides to tell his brothers about it. The brothers carefully cover up their father’s nakedness without looking at him. When Noah wakes up, he’s not happy about what Ham did… so he proceeds to curse Canaan, Ham’s son. This certainly seems like a case where the punishment does not fit the crime — all that cursing and relegating to servitude — just for seeing someone drunk and naked? After all, doesn’t the person who got himself drunk and naked bear any of the responsibility for what happened? And why curse Canaan, not Ham, the guilty party?

Just a few things that make me go “hmmmm” as I begin this journey