Genesis: From Slavery to Freedom
March 6th, 2023 • by chris ammen
One of my favorite "table topics" is "What's something you wish you could do over?" The question always evokes a mixture of shame, humility, and hopefulness. For some, it's difficult to narrow their list of desired "do-overs." Often it feels far too intimate, as if we need to tuck our inadequacies away where nobody can see. For others, daring to dream of grace is a new, invigorating privilege.
My desire in asking the question is not to embarrass or emotionally undress but to look our shame in the face and hope together for something better. We've experienced some beautiful celebrations of grace when our guests lift the veil and allow us to hope alongside them. Together, we fight to believe that beginning again is possible. It feels human. It feels historical, as if we are charting a new course together.
What if these were the same conversations Israel enjoyed around the book of Genesis?
The Gift of Genesis
My imagination drifts to this question because Genesis appeared when Israel wanted and needed a do-over. You see, Moses wrote Genesis after God's people left Pharoah's control in Egypt, some 8,000-9,000 years after many of the events in the book!
I can only imagine that if God wanted the most precise recording of creation and the patriarchs, he might have commissioned a series of eyewitnesses to the events themselves. But that's not what happened, and it explains much about the book's intent.
Genesis was a gift to God's people. It was a guide to assist Israel in re-narrating their experience of life post-slavery. As Phylicia Masonheimer says, "Genesis is not simply a book about beginning, but beginning again." That is a message that spoke to ancient Israel and still resonates today.
Even though the stories in Genesis are thousands of years old, they feel familiar. I feel a strange connection to Israel's hopelessness in Egypt. I don't wake up to brick-making, but I do wake up to the slavery of shame.
“Genesis was a gift to God’s people. It was a guide to assist Israel in re-narrating their experience of life post-slavery. ”
The Slavery of Shame
I work overtime to quiet the voices of my imagined inadequacies. I don't speak my mind because I'm worried about the value others will place on my opinions. I don't care well for myself because, if I'm honest, I don't imagine myself worthy of such care.
Brene Brown has said, "Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love, belonging, and connection." Shame keeps us believing that we don't get do-overs, that our worst mistakes define us, and that grace may be for others, but not for us.
I can only imagine the intensity of shame Israel felt in Egypt. After all, weren't they in this mess because they sold their brother, one of Rachel's beloved children, to an enemy country!?
The Antidote to Shame
While I often ask my table topic in the spirit of innocent fun, it is a profoundly biblical way of confronting our shame. What is the antidote to shame? Again, Brown is helpful, "If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can't survive." In writing Genesis, God empathetically shared the truth of Israel's worth as they left the land of slavery on their way to the land of promise. They were not only free from the racism, labor, and physical deprivation of Egypt, but they were now free to experience God's loving care.
I recently watched an old Mr. Rogers with my daughter. I remembered the episode from my childhood (which made me feel my age!), but Mr. Roger's words hit me anew, reminding me of the healing God's people might have felt as they read their family history for the first time.
"Friend, have you had time today to wonder about the things that worry you with the people who love you?"
My heart instantly let my body know these words were true. Before I could process their meaning, tears rolled down my cheek. Again, Dr. Brown is helpful here, saying, "Shame needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence, and judgment."
“Israel had someone in God who made them, knew them, saw their pain, and promised rescue.”
Israel’s Shame
For more than 400 years, Israel experienced a systematic silencing of their hearts. In the pagan land of Egypt, the very roots of their identity had to remain hidden to survive as they sat under the judgment of Pharaoh and a great multitude of moody gods.
God did not commission Adam or Abraham to write Genesis as an eyewitness account. Instead, he waited some 8,000 years and appointed one of their own, Moses, to tell Israel that they could again wonder about the things that worry them with the people who loved them. More than that, Israel had someone in God who made them, knew them, saw their pain, and promised rescue. Israel's secrecy, silence, and judgment would have evaporated as the love of God confronted the generational lies inhabiting their hearts.
Israel’s Hope…and Our Hope
God would not allow the nation of Israel to shrink into an endless loop, reliving the mistakes that led to their time in Egypt.
I wonder if they dared to ask one another, "If you had a do-over, what would you do differently?" And now, by grace, they had the freedom to begin again.
Genesis should cause us to rethink our stories. It should give us context and hope as we address some of the biggest questions that plague us:
Where do you feel unworthy?
What made you veer from freedom to enslavement to productivity, body image, or peacemaking?
Why don't you care for yourself in the ways you so deeply desire?
Who or what plays the role of the Pharaoh in your life?
See the ways you might be a slave to shame, come with hope to the book of Genesis, and read it as a slave set free.
Chris Ammen is the founder of Kaleidoscope, www.readkaleidoscope.com, and a Children's Pastor in Chattanooga. He has a BA and M.Ed. in Elementary Education as well as an M.Div. from Covenant Seminary. When not writing, Chris loves spending time with his wife, Sarah, and their four awesome kiddos!
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