But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”

Now the word of the Lord came to him, “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”

– Genesis 15:2-5

Out of 66 books in the Bible, my favorite books to reread are those like Genesis that are driven by narrative. It reads like a novel; we read about the lives of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we end with the people of God living in Egypt due to the famine. Exodus picks up with the whirlwind of Moses’ adoption, calling by God, plagues and Passover. We then slow down in the narrative to Leviticus where we read the law and the word “clean” and “unclean” frequently. By the time I get to Numbers, I’m ready for more action but am instead confronted with a series of genealogies.

And I would venture to say that it’s at this point many of us have broken our New Year’s resolution to read through the entire Bible, cover to cover.

Or at a minimum, we scan through the names and keep flipping until we hit a passage of Scripture we deem “more substantial.”

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