What is the theme of the stories of Genesis? One of the most fundamental questions about the

Torah turns out to be one of the hardest to answer. What, from the call of God to Abraham in

Genesis 12 to the death of Joseph in Genesis 50, is the basic religious principle being taught?

What does the entire set of stories about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their wives,

together with Jacob's sons and daughter, actually tell us?

Abraham brought monotheism to a world that had forgotten it,

but where do we see this in the actual text of the Torah itself?

Here's the problem. The first 11 chapters of Genesis teach us many fundamentals of faith,

that God brought the universe into being and declared it good,

that God made the human person in his image, that God gave us freedom,

and thus the ability to do not only good but also bad,

that the good is rewarded the bad punished,

and that we are morally responsible for our actions.

Chapter 8 and 9 also tell us that God made a covenant with Noah and through him with all humanity.

It's equally easy to say what the rest of the terror from Exodus to Deuteronomy teaches. The God rescued the

Israelites from slavery, setting them on the road to freedom and the promised land. The God made a

covenant with the people as a whole on Mount Sinai, with its 613 commands and its purpose, to establish

Israel as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

In short, Genesis 1 to 11 is about creation, Exodus to Deuteronomy is about revelation and redemption.

But what are Genesis 12 to 50 about?

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all recognized God, but so did non-Jews like Malkidzadek, Abraham's contemporary described as a priest of God Most High.

So even does the Pharaoh of Joseph's Day, who says about him,

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