To define the structure of a book, we may have more than one valid option. Sometimes, a different way of looking at it opens new insights into meaning and message. This is certainly true for Genesis.
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A widespread and conventional structure for Genesis divides it into two parts, although the exact location of the main break is arguable. Is it Genesis 12:1, where God first speaks to Abraham, or is it Genesis 11:27, where Abraham is first introduced and where we also find a structural marker? I prefer the latter option, for reasons that will become clear in what follows.
Each half falls into four parts. In Genesis 1-11, we have four events: creation, fall, flood, and tower building. In Genesis 12-50, we read about four people: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. So far, so good; I have nothing against this combined topical and biographical structure. But here, I will write about a different structure, based on a peculiar Hebrew word: toledot.
[Strictly speaking, the transliteration is tôlēdôt, showing us that both o en e are long, as in: toe lay dote.]
Toledot: What Does It Mean?
Toledot is a plural noun related to the verb that means to give birth, to beget, or to father a child. The ESV translates 34 out of its 39 occurrences in the OT with generations. This is slightly misleading; we should not think of Gen X or millennials. Rather, what is meant is offspring or descendants. In Genesis 2:4, toledot is used for the heavens and the earth, which cannot have descendants, so there it appears to mean something like that which was begotten or brought forth.
Interestingly, the Septuagint, the ancient Greek OT, uses the word genesis (cf. Mt. 1:1), which has given us the name of the book, although it is not the correct idea. Toledot does not refer to the origin of X, but to what X brought forth, what came from X.
Toledot may be used to introduce a genealogy: “The toledot of person X”. However, three or four times in Genesis, the phrase introduces a narrative rather than a genealogy: the toledot of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 2:4), of Noah (Gen. 6:9; arguably, since it does mention his sons in 6:10), of Isaac (Gen. 25:19), and of Jacob (Gen. 37:2). In these cases, we are perhaps to think of what proceeded from rather than offspring.
How does this help us in reading Genesis?
Toledot: A Structural Marker
The term toledot is used as a structural marker, introducing a new section. In total, there are 11 occurrences of the marker, although two of these serve to mark the same section (Gen. 36:1 and 36:9). In other words, there are 10 sections, five in each part of Genesis.
The occurrences are:
| Genesis 2:4 (heavens and earth) | Genesis 11:27 (Terah) |
| Genesis 5:1 (Adam) | Genesis 25:12 (Ishmael) |
| Genesis 6:9 (Noah) | Genesis 25:19 (Isaac) |
| Genesis 10:1 (sons of Noah) | Genesis 36:1, 9 (Esau) |
| Genesis 11:10 (Shem) | Genesis 37:2 (Jacob) |
A few comments. First, this explains why I prefer to see the main break at Genesis 11:27 rather than Genesis 12:1, where there is no structural marker at all.
Second, some interpreters think Genesis 2:4 is the conclusion to Genesis 1, the first creation account, rather than the introduction or the title of chapter 2. However, in several cases, the function of the Hebrew phrase can only be to introduce what follows (such as the genealogy of Ishmael or Esau); it does not serve as a conclusion. And it makes perfect sense that Genesis 2:4 introduces the account of what the heavens and the earth brought forth, in parallel to the descendants brought forth by the human characters in the book. Genesis 2:4 is an introduction and goes with chapter 2.
Third, in the first half of Genesis, the marker introduces three sections that include narrative: creation and fall (Gen. 2:4), the flood (Gen. 6:9), and the table of nations together with the tower of Babel (Gen. 10:1). The remaining two sections introduced by the marker function as connectors: from Adam to Noah and his sons in Genesis 5, and from Shem to Terah in Genesis 11:10ff. Other than this, there does not appear to be a meaningful pattern.
Toledot: The Structural Pattern in Genesis 11:27ff
The pattern is different in the second half of Genesis. Here, we have three main sections, interspersed with two much shorter ones listing the toledot, here the descendants, of Ishmael and Esau.
Important to notice:
- The toledot of Terah is almost entirely about Abraham, not about Terah.
- The toledot of Isaac is mostly about Jacob, not about Isaac.
- The toledot of Jacob is more about Jacob’s sons than about Jacob, with a special emphasis on Joseph.
We have three main sections instead of four, as in the conventional structure: Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. In this structure, the story of Isaac is subsumed under that of Abraham. Isaac gets substantially less space than the other patriarchs, and much of it repeats or parallels events in the life of his father, Abraham.
Genesis 37ff, the third section above, is often referred to as the Joseph narrative, but this is a misnomer. Jacob is still around and plays a role of importance almost until the very end of the book. And although Joseph takes central stage, other sons play a role as well, especially Judah (Gen. 38 and 44).
One could therefore think of Genesis 12-50 as containing only two main narratives: the story of Abraham (with Isaac) and that of Jacob and his sons.
But then what is the point? Each part conveys a quite different message.
What God Does: Foundation (Gen. 12-24)
Abraham does not show much development; neither does Isaac, whose story largely consists of parallels to the life of his father. In many ways, at the end of his life, Abraham is the same person he was at the beginning. Sure, he has believed and obeyed God’s voice, and he has stood the test of time and of costly obedience.
But to a large extent, the story is more about God making a commitment than about Abraham. It is about the foundations of promise and covenant. The rest of the Bible flows from this beginning.
What God Does: Transformation (Gen. 25-50)
From Genesis 25 on, nothing new is added to the covenant. God is still the main character. But Jacob and his sons show substantial development. At the start, Jacob is not a nice guy – quite different from likeable Abraham. Think of it: Who is your favourite character in Genesis? With whom do you identify most? Your answer may well be Abraham. But it is not Jacob, am I right?
Already at birth Jacob shows his character. He is born holding Esau’s heel, which gives him his name (Gen. 25:26). Jacob means he takes by the heel, but it is also an idiom meaning to cheat. Nomen est omen.
You know the story. He gets Esau to sell him his birthright. He cheats his father to obtain the blessing. Nevertheless, when Jacob has to run for his life, God commits himself to Jacob with a strong promise (Gen. 28:13-15). Ever the deal maker, Jacob makes a conditional commitment: If God will do these things, he will be Jacob’s god, and Jacob will return to this place, Bethel, to worship (a free paraphrase of Gen. 28:20-22).
Jacob continues to Aram and falls into the hand of an even greater schemer than he is: his uncle Laban. After many years, he makes a run to escape, but only succeeds because God forbids Laban to hurt Jacob.
Then comes the hardest part. He must now face Esau. Finally, Jacob is at the end of his resources. He still tries. Several large gifts are sent to sway Esau (who, it turns out, does not need to be swayed). The night before the brothers meet, Jacob wrestles with God, although in reality, God has been wrestling with Jacob all along.
That night at the Jabbok is Jacob’s decisive breakthrough to a new identity. Although the old Jacob is still alive and will still show, he now also is Israel.
After this, Jacob purchases a plot of land near Shechem (Gen. 33:19). Apparently, he aims to settle down. He even builds an altar with a most pious name (Gen. 33:20). But that was not the deal! What about Bethel?
This cannot go well, and indeed, trouble erupts. Dinah is raped. You may know about the vicious reaction of Levi and Simeon: They murder the entire male population of Shechem (Gen. 34:25-29). What is often overlooked is Jacob’s dismal behaviour. What does he do? Nothing.
One wonders… Dinah is Leah’s daughter, the unloved wife. Does this make her less important to Jacob? Simeon and Levi are Leah’s as well; Dinah is their full sister. Does Jacob’s passivity provoke them even more to take revenge?
The only thing Jacob does, after the fact, is complain about Simeon and Levi’s action. But not that what they did is unjust. He fears the response of neighbouring Canaanites (Gen. 34:30); he is concerned for his own safety and well-being.
Again, Jacob is in a tight spot. And again, this gives God the opening he has been waiting for. “God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau’” (Gen. 35:1; emphasis added). The implicit rebuke is subtle and severe at the same time. After all, Jacob had settled near Shechem to dwell there. He had built an altar there, not in Bethel. And God says no, not this way.
There is a reason for Jacob’s reluctance. To go to Bethel, he has to put away the idols present in his company (Gen. 35:2). He does this now and fulfils his vow – a changed man.
At this point in the story, the focus shifts to his sons. They do not look promising. Reuben sleeps with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine (Gen. 35:22). Joseph turns out to be the younger brother you really, really do not want: a total pain in the butt. His brothers are ready to kill him, but in a last-minute reversal, Judah persuades them to sell him as a slave, since that is more profitable.
Jacob, the cheater, gets cheated again; he mistakes the blood of a goat for the blood of his son. He chooses to wallow in his grief for the rest of his life, refusing to be comforted (he makes a choice; Gen. 37:35). Judah, meanwhile, goes off and wanders on the Canaanite side of life; read Genesis 38 for that ugly story.
Jacob has made all this sibling rivalry worse through his blatant favouritism, first toward Joseph, then toward Benjamin.
But God is not done yet. Although the process is long and Joseph pays a high price, he comes out the saviour of his family. And when he puts his brothers to the test, it turns out they have changed, too. They will not leave Benjamin to himself. Judah, especially, stand out, this time positively (Gen. 43f).
What we get to see in Genesis 25-50 (half the book!) is God’s persistence in dealing with and changing his very fallible and imperfect chosen ones.
Jacob is emphatically not the same person at the end of his life as he was at the beginning. The same can be said of Joseph and Judah. I suspect it is also true for the remaining sons.
They have grown. They have become better people. In the end, they are more God-like and therefore more truly God’s people.
This is what God does, with persistence. Although he may wait for long times until we are ready to hear him, he won’t give up.
And let’s face it: We need it as much as Jacob, Joseph, and Judah.
Attribution
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References
All Bible quotations from: The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles)