Book of Genesis
The first book of The Bible. Literally everything begins here. From the story of how God created the world, the first peoples and finally the patriarchs of the Israelites.
| Central Theme: | |
|---|---|
| Synopsis: | The creation stories of the Jewish people |
| Series: | The Bible |
| Followed by: | Book of Exodus |
| First published: | In its current form, sixth century BCE |
The Biblical book following on Genesis is the Book of Exodus.
Tropes used in Book of Genesis include:
- Adam and Eve Plot
- Bed Trick: Jacob's wedding.
- Cain and Abel
- Cassandra Truth: When Lot tells his family about God's plan to destroy their town, his soon-to-be sons-in-law laugh at him, thinking he's joking.
- Cliff Hanger: Will the Israelites permanently settle in Egypt or go back to their homeland? They went to the latter the hard way.
- Curse of Babel / Tower of Babel
- Death by Childbirth: Rachel
- Forbidden Fruit
- Foreshadowing: Noah cursed Canaan right after the flood.
- Girl in a Box: Abraham placed Sarah in a box so the Egyptians wouldn't kill him to take her (because of her beauty).
- Half-Human Hybrid: Nephilim
- Hero of Another Story: Ishmael becomes an important patriarch to Muslim people, just as his half-brother Isaac is to Jews and Christians.
- Incest Is Relative: Lot and his daughters.
- Last-Minute Baby-Naming: Happens a lot, most memorably with Jacob's sons.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Sarah is infertile for most of her adult life, while her maidservant gets pregnant by sleeping with Abraham once. Rebekah does eventually conceive, but not without divine intervention...and it almost kills her. Leah pumps out seven sons and a daughter, while her sister Rachel struggles to conceive.
- Matzo Fever: Potiphar's wife really likes their new slave. I mean, really likes him. She wants to schtup him.
- One-Scene Wonder: Melchizedek
- Our Giants Are Bigger: Nephilim
- Parental Favoritism: A recurring theme, one that sets the stage for much of the drama.
- Rape and Revenge: Jacob's daughter is raped by a Canaanite prince, and her brothers destroy every man in the prince's village for it. (Jacob was not impressed.)
- Replacement Goldfish: Seth who was born after Abel's death. Eventually all humans were descended from him.
- Rule of Three: God appears to Abram with two of his agents.
- Sacred Hospitality: As far as Lot is concerned, the safety of his guests is more important to him than that of his own daughters.
- Secret Test of Character: Abraham is told to sacrifice his son in order to prove his faith.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The one about Joseph ruling over his brothers.
- Soiled City on a Hill: the world before The Great Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Supporting Harem: Jacob's family, with Rachel as the lead, and Leah and the two concubines as the supporters.
- Taken for Granite: Lot's wife.
- Trickster Archetype: Abraham and all his descendants.
- Vice City: Sodom and Gomorrah.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Eden.
- Youngest Child Wins: A recurring theme.