The twelfth chapter of Dr. Waltke’s An Old Testament Theology is entitled “The Gift of the Abrahamic Covenant: The Chosen Seed” which focus on the how the patriarchal narratives, within their ANE context as well as their canonical, covenantal context, speak to the both the unity and continuity of the people of God.
In the introduction Waltke notes that “the Bible is all about the irrupting kingdom of God, and Genesis is all about the elect “seed,” a metaphor for the people of God who will constitute that kingdom” (305). The way the “seed” is organized in Genesis is by the structure of 10 toledot (“these are the generations of…) which focus on the growth of God’s people throughout Genesis. After a short summary of the 10 toledot in Genesis, Waltke moves on to the relationship between the primeval history (Genesis 1-11) and the patriarchal narratives (Genesis 12-50).
There are interesting connections between the Creation narratives and the Noahic narrative, which anyone familiar with Waltke’s Genesis commentary will find familiar. There are connections between Creation and Re-Creation between the creation narratives and the Noahic narrative and connections between the spread of sin/spread of grace in the narratives that make up Genesis 1-11. Waltke notes that there are “four key alternating elements in the stories” (308 ) of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. These four elements are (in order): 1) rule, 2) rebellion, 3) judgment, and 4) mitigation. Waltke then traces these four elements through each narrative. One interesting point Read the rest of this entry »
