TheologyThoughts

The purpose of this particular covenant prologue is to give the rationale
and background for the summons of Abraham and the selection of him and his
descendents as God's covenant people. It frames it from a cosmological
point of view, God as the great king who has fashioned the universe, but who
has also dealt with a prehistoric rebellion lead by one of the heavenly
courtiers and joined by his trusted representatives. There are also
theodical and elenctic elements, as the writer engages with some of the
mythologies of his time and seeks to distinguish the God of Israel from the
henotheistic deities and their stories common in the ANE. The story is
heavily mythological, in that it has explanatory purpose, and is intended to
engage the reader fully in the following stories. Genesis itself functions
as the covenant prologue for the rest of the Torah, providing in narrative
format the rational for God's dealings with Israel in rescuing them from
Egypt and establishing them as his people in the land chosen for them, a
purpose which will have implications "for the nations of the earth" and
ultimately for the renewal of the rebellious cosmos under God's reign.