And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower. 11:5
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower. 11:5
"Leah conceived, and ... said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me." 29:32-34
Leah conceives and bears four sons. And it's a good thing, too, since her husband hated her until then for not giving him any sons.
"And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman." 2:20-22
God fashions a woman out of one of Adam's ribs. This was necessary since Adam couldn't find a "help meet" in any of the animals that God made for him.
"The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. ... And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." 3:12-13
Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent.
"In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children. ... Thy husband ... shall rule over thee." 3:16
God punishes Eve, and all women after her, with the pains of childbirth and subjection to men.
"And Lamech took unto him two wives." 4:19
Lamech is the first of a long line of biblical men with more than one wife. It seems that God approves of such marriages.
"He begat sons and daughters." 5:4
Finally, sometime in the next 800 years, Adam begat some daughters. These nameless ones are the first (and nearly the last) girls to be born in the Bible.
"The male and his female" 7:2
Notice that in the Bible female animals are the property of male animals, as women are the property of men.
"Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister." 12:13
Abram makes his wife lie for him, by telling the Egyptians that she is his sister. But at least it was half-true, since she was his half-sister. Such incestuous marriages are condemned elsewhere in the Bible, but god makes an exception for Abram and Sarai. (See Genesis 17:15-16 where God blesses their marriage.)
"Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children." 16:1-4
Sarai is the first of a long line of barren women who were desperate for children. (In the Bible, it is the women who are barren, never the men.) She sends Abram into her handmaid, Hagar, so that she can "obtain children by her." Abram gladly complies.
"Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" 18:11-14
Sarah, who is about 90 years old and has gone through menopause, laughs at God when he tells her that she will have a son. She asks God if she will "have pleasure" with her "Lord" [Abraham], when both are so very old. God assures her that he will return and impregnate her at the appointed time.
"I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes." 19:7-8
Lot refuses to give up his angels to the perverted mob, offering his two "virgin daughters" instead. He tells the bunch of angel rapers to "do unto them [his daughters] as is good in your eyes." This is the same man that is called "just" and "righteous" in 2 Peter 2:7-8
"But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." 19:26
Lot's nameless wife looks back, and God turns her into a pillar of salt.
"Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father." 19:30-38
Lot and his daughters camp out in a cave for a while. The daughters get their "just and righteous" father drunk, and have sexual intercourse with him, and each conceives and bears a son (wouldn't you know it!). Just another wholesome family values Bible story.
"Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister." 20:2
Honest Abe does the same "she's my sister" routine again, for the same cowardly reason. And once again, the king just couldn't resist Sarah -- even though by now she is over 90 years old. (See Gen.12:13-20 for the first, nearly identical, episode.)
"God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man" 20:3
God gets angry with king Abimelech, though the king hasn't even touched Sarah. He threatens to kill him and all of his people. To compensate for the crime he never committed, Abimelech gives Abraham sheep, oxen, slaves, silver, and land. Finally, after Abraham "prayed unto God," God lifts his punishment to Abimelech, "for the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah."
"The LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife." 20:18
God "closed all the wombs" because Abimelech believed Abe's lie.
"And the damsel was fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her." 24:16
Oh boy!
"The thing proceedeth from the LORD ... take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife" 24:50-51
Rebekah's brother and father agreed to give her to the slave's master's son since it was obviously a marriage made in heaven. 24:50-51
"Be thou the mother of thousands of millions." 24:60
Rebekah's male owners (father and brothers) "blessed" her by wishing her to have "thousands of millions" of babies and have "seed" that will take away the lands of those that hate them.
"And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her." 24:67
Rebekah became Isaac's wife when he "took" her and had sex with her. No marriage ceremony was performed, no vows were exchanged.
"Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah." 25:1
Abraham had several wives and concubines.
"Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac." 25:6
Abraham gave everything he had to Isaac, ignoring his other sons (Ishmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah), as well as all of his nameless and unmentioned daughters, along with God knows how many other children he had with his other concubines.
"The concubines, which Abraham had" 25:6a
Abraham had several concubines.
"Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren." 25:21-26
In the Bible it's always the women that are "barren", never the men. And when God "opens their womb," the resulting babies are always little boys.
"She is my sister." 26:7
Isaac uses the same "she's my sister" lie that his father twice used so effectively. (Once on the same King Abimelech) (see 12:13, 20:2).
"Esau ... took to wife Judith ... and Bashemath." 26:34
Esau "takes" two wives.
"Esau ... took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. 28:9
Esau, who already had two wives (26:34), "takes" another.
"And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah." 29:18-30
Jacob offers to work for seven years to pay for Rachel. But then he is tricked into having sex with her sister, Leah, instead, so he has to work for another seven years so in order to pay for them both.
"And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her." 29:21-30
Jacob is tricked by Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah. Jacob asks for Rachel so that he can "go in unto her." But Laban gives him Leah instead, and Jacob "went in unto her [Leah]" by mistake. Jacob was fooled until morning -- apparently he didn't know who he was going in unto. Finally they worked things out and Jacob got to "go in unto" Rachel, too.
"And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. ... And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid." 29:24, 29
As part of the deal with Jacob, Zilpah and Bilhah (Laban's slaves) are handed over to Leah and Rachel.
"And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren." 29:31
Since Jacob hated Leah, God decided to "open her womb" and make Rachel barren. (Like he did to Sarah and Rebekah.)
"Give me children or else I die." 30:1-4
Rachel considers herself worthless if she can't produce children for her husband. But luckily she has an idea. She says to Jacob, "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her." She solved the problem the same way as did Sarah (16:2). "And Jacob went in unto her. And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son." (These arrangements rarely produce daughters.)
"When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. And Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son." 30:9
Leah, not to be outdone, gives Jacob her maid (Zilpah) "to wife." And Zilpah "bare Jacob a son."
"Now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons." 30:20
Leah thinks her husband will live her now that she has given him six sons.
And finally, "God remembered Rachel ... and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a son [surprise, surprise]." 30:22-23
"Then Jacob ... set his ... wives upon camels." 31:17
Jacob had four wives (or two wives and two concubines -- this distinction is not clear in the Bible): Rachel, Leah, Billah, and Zilpah. There is no indication that God disapproves of this arrangement.
"I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me." 31:34-35
Laban, Rachel's father, is hunting for the "images" that Rachel had stolen from him. Rachel sits on the "images" and says to her father, "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee: for the custom of women is upon me." She knows that no man will come near her when she is menstruating.
"And he [Jacob] ... took his two wives, and his two womenservants...." 32:22
Jacob has two wives and two concubines, continuing the biblical tradition of polygamy.
What did Dinah want? 34:1-31
Did she love Shechem? Did she want to marry him? Or did she want him killed? We'll ever know since it was of no interest to the biblical author.
Dinah's brothers, to justify the massacre of a town for the rape of their sister, say: "Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?" To the author of Genesis, rape is a crime against the honor of men rather than against a woman. 34:31
"And Rachel died." 35:17-18
Rachel dies in childbirth; but at least she had another son. And in the Bible, a woman is expected to die happily as long as she has a son.
Esau (Isaac's son) had several wives (continuing the tradition of polygamy, with no editorial comment from the Bible). 36:2, 6
