Blessing is a theme from the first page of Genesis. Seven times God “sees” something is good and blesses it. In regards to humanity created in His image, “God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth'” (Genesis 1:28-29). After God’s creative work was complete, “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2:2). God’s last day of work is rest and it too is blessed.
The Genesis of Blessing and Curse
Blessing is how Creation, including humanity, was made and completed. Everything God had made was “good” and when God created humanity it was “very good.” All of existence was blessed. It was what we were to rest in. That all changes in chapter 3 when humans believe a lie that ultimately challenges the truth of the blessed goodness it already had. We thought we needed to be more than what we already were.
When we decide to buy into the ego and person, the idea of ourselves we either are afraid to face or desperate to protect, things fall apart. After Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they see everything differently. As a result, God tells them that some things are cursed now: the earth and the serpent. That’s all that is cursed (read it). He also mentioned that relationships between man and woman will be strained and that man’s work on Earth will be a struggle because of humanity’s choices. Human beings were going to be in a complicated relationship now with each other and the Earth.
The “curse” in chapter 3 was not just about Adam and Eve. They will be parents and we all know what parents can do to kids. In this narrative of Adam & Eve, it would be a family issue that gets passed down. In the very next chapter, the same language is used with Cain and Abel. In other words, the curse in Chapter 3 is bigger than just a single-partner relationship – it’s about all human relationships.
The Curse Spreads: Sin Corrupts Relationships
The curse in chapter 3 rolls into Cain and Abel. With Cain, however, Creation curses him – “you are cursed from the ground” (Genesis 4:11a). This then rolls into Lamech. Genesis sees it fit to include this one rant from Lamech in telling the story of how humanity was birthed and how it went astray:
“I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,
then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”
(Genesis 4:23b-24)
Its placement here at this point means something. What went wrong in chapter 3, went wrong more in the beginning of chapter 4 with Cain. What went wrong with Cain has now, apparently, manifested itself “seventy-sevenfold.” The sin of Cain, instead of ruling over the sin crouching at the door, Lamech decides to exponentiate it. It’s the same kind of doubling down Samson does when he gets vengeance against others – “I merely did to them what they did to me” (Judges 15:11). The curse keeps spreading.
The Genesis narrative continues its saga: as humanity continues to develop and spread, so do its operations. It grows into the Tower of Babel, which is all about people making a name for themselves by building a kingdom. It was the wrong kind of kingdom at the wrong kind of cost.
Eden Rebooted
Eventually, humanity is so corrupt that everyone is only looking out for themselves while people are being victimized. The goodness, blessing, and Sabbath rest found at the inauguration of God’s good creation was almost lost, save apparently one person who had enough faith to hold on. The flood comes, humanity is wiped out, and one family starts it over again. It was Adam & Eve 2.0.
Shortly after getting off the boat, Adam, I mean Noah, plants a garden, a vineyard. He gets plastered. I don’t blame the guy – I got plastered over a lot less than surviving the annihilation of all humans. The story ends tragically: a lot more tragic than we Americans might realize when we read the story. After Noah got drunk, his son, Ham, “saw the nakedness of his father” (it means a lot more than that). So, Noah utters a curse against the son of that son, Canaan (Genesis 9:22-27).
Cursing was never meant to be a human thing – to determine the dignity, value, and destiny of another human. It’s why Jude insists that even angels won’t curse the devil. We don’t determine reality. While Creation had been reset with a man who maintained righteousness, he still collapsed under the pressure and brought a curse into Creation. Noah used his tongue the way James said we ought not to: “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10).
A Glimpse of Hope: God’s Big Plan
This is the story. The scene fades and another character arrives. All of humanity has been moving East, away from the garden. Then one family decides to move in the opposite direction. This is where Abram shows up. Skipping ahead, God decides to choose this man and states what His objective with Abram is:
“And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3, emphasis mine).
There are some things to notice linguistically. First, blessing is all over this but curse only once. The job of curse only belongs to God. We humans can’t handle it nor are we capable of it – we are not God. The emphasis, however, is not on cursing here. God’s emphasis is on blessing. His goal is to bless “all families of the earth.” Abram’s job was to trust in the blessing and to be a blessing to others, and not the curse. That was God’s big plan. It still is.
It becomes obvious later that Abram’s idea of how things would work out was both too small and too short-sighted. Later, God reaffirms this commitment to Abram by also letting him know it would be over 400 years before Abram’s descendants would see this promise play out.
Breaking the Cycle: Letting Go for Something More
From here, the Genesis narrative tells the first few generations of this promise playing out. The story is messy, ugly, stupid, and so human. The last part of the story is about Joseph and Jacob’s sons. Joseph is sold as a slave in the land his descendants will be slaves. It’s a significant part of Genesis, starting in chapter 37 and finishing out in chapter 50.
When the last chapter comes, Israel has died. Joseph and his brothers are in Egypt. The brothers are worried Joseph will repay all the wrong they inflicted on him now that Dad is gone. They throw themselves at his feet and he responds: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” (Genesis 50:19-21).
Notice, here at the end of Genesis, we have “good” and “evil” in the same breath again. We’re called back to the Garden with Adam & Eve – the first and last place we have heard those together was in chapters 2-3 of Genesis. Joseph is an embodiment of the answer to the mistake in chapter 3 and the mayhem that followed. When Joseph lays his need for vengeance and to be superior down, the family and story can begin to heal. The pain that has reigned and infested cycles of families was finally calmed a bit. Blessing begins to be restored at the end of Genesis 50 when someone finally lets go.
An Invitation to Be A Blessing
It’s this kind of mindset that Genesis invites us to consider: one of blessing and goodness as opposed to scarcity and superiority. Do we compare and contrast to find our worth and identity? Can we just exist as we are and rest in Creation? Do we have to lash back or can we stop the cycle before it starts? Are we always moving and maintaining? Will we choose a small moment for the sake of a feeling? Can we let go because we want something bigger? What kind of Creation do we create with our existence and mindsets? Can we see the goodness and blessing in this world or are we stuck seeing ourselves in the world?
