Genesis 12-36 has a rhythm to it that reflects what some may call the circle of life. It seems in every generation there is a difficult split between family members. We have Lot and Abraham split leading to Lot's time of need. We have Ishmael and Issac split because of Sarah abusing Ishmael and his mother. Leading to Ishmael's time of need. We even have Esau and Jacob splitting due to Rebekah's deception, but in each instance God still blessed both sides. In the Lot story and Esau story we see reconciliation while in the Ishmael story we see promise. And in all these situations, God allows people to be people still blessing them all the while.
God's use of broken people to establish his kingdom contrasts our idea of heroes, because in the midst of these texts we find ordinary people used for an extraordinary purpose. I suspect the writers of Genesis longed to bring hope to people that God was in control and even though they may have just been exiled. That out of this God would bring something even better.
To me Genesis communicates God permits our human fraility and God uses ordinary people to build extraordinary nations. In my estimation Genesis is one of the best accounts of God’s mercy ever uttered. If this was a Sims game most of us would have hit the reset button in the 1st chapter.
