Beginnings & ancestors

Old Testament Theme

About this date: Narrative order and literary setting do not establish a precise historical date for this figure.

Creation, the primeval narratives, covenant ancestors, the twelve-tribe family, Joseph, and Job form the opening cluster.

Historical context

Genesis and Job introduce creation, human fracture, covenant ancestors, Israel's family lines, and wisdom's protest against simple explanations of suffering. These are literary and theological settings, not an exact chronology.

Key points

Genesis moves from universal beginnings to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The tribal ancestors appear in stories of blessing, conflict, failure, and reconciliation.
Job is a wisdom figure whose setting cannot be securely placed on an ancestral timeline.

Scripture

Genesis 1–11 — Creation, disobedience, violence, flood, covenant with Noah, and Babel form the primeval narrative.
Genesis 12–36 — The Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob cycles introduce covenant promises and the ancestral family.
Genesis 37–50 — Joseph's story brings Jacob's family to Egypt and closes Genesis.
Job 1–2; 38–42 — Job's opening and conclusion frame the wisdom debate about suffering and human limits.

Primary sources

Basil opens his Hexaemeron by saying:

Basil reads Genesis's opening as creation originating from God, not as a spontaneous beginning.

the creation of heaven and earth, which was not spontaneous, as some have imagined, but drew its origin from God
— St. Basil the Great, Hexaemeron (Homily 1, section 1), trans. Blomfield Jackson edition

Passage context and translation

Basil opens his homilies on Genesis by rejecting an unguided origin of the cosmos and directing attention to the Creator.

Before the excerpt

I am about to speak of

Blomfield Jackson translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume 8; the excerpt is a clause in Homily 1.1.

Sources and further reading

USCCB introduction to Genesis (Website)
Literary and historical introduction; not independent verification of every narrated event.
USCCB introduction to Job (Website)
Literary and historical introduction; not independent verification of every narrated event.

Related records

Creation and the image of God (Timeline Event)
Noah and the flood (Timeline Event)
Abraham and the covenant promise (Timeline Event)
Jacob becomes Israel (Timeline Event)
Joseph and Israel in Egypt (Timeline Event)
Job and the problem of suffering (Timeline Event)
Adam (Old Testament Figure)
Eve (Old Testament Figure)
Abel (Old Testament Figure)
Cain (Old Testament Figure)
Seth (Old Testament Figure)
Enoch (Old Testament Figure)
Noah (Old Testament Figure)
Shem (Old Testament Figure)
Abraham (Old Testament Figure)
Sarah (Old Testament Figure)
Hagar (Old Testament Figure)
Lot (Old Testament Figure)
Melchizedek (Old Testament Figure)
Ishmael (Old Testament Figure)
Isaac (Old Testament Figure)
Rebekah (Old Testament Figure)
Esau (Old Testament Figure)
Jacob (Israel) (Old Testament Figure)
Leah (Old Testament Figure)
Rachel (Old Testament Figure)
Reuben (Old Testament Figure)
Simeon (Old Testament Figure)
Levi (Old Testament Figure)
Judah (Old Testament Figure)
Dan (Old Testament Figure)
Naphtali (Old Testament Figure)
Gad (son of Jacob) (Old Testament Figure)
Asher (Old Testament Figure)
Issachar (Old Testament Figure)
Zebulun (Old Testament Figure)
Dinah (Old Testament Figure)
Tamar (Old Testament Figure)
Joseph (Old Testament Figure)
Benjamin (Old Testament Figure)
Job (Old Testament Figure)

All records