Why wait till chapter 12?

If the Torah tells the story of the Jewish people and Abraham is regarded as the first Jew, why does the Torah not get to Abraham until the 12th chapter of a 50 chapter book?


Suppose you were making a movie that was 50 minutes long and you didn't show the main character until 12 minutes into the movie. 20 percent of the movie has already gone by and you haven't even shown the main character?



What do the first 11 chapters of Genesis teach us? My rabbi at shul has expounded that the first 11 chapters deal with 3 attempts by the Almighty to have humanity set up a just, caring and compassionate society. Abraham is the fourth attempt.



The first attempt: The garden of Eden. Ground rules: No birth. No death. Work the garden, have dominion over the animals. Don't eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The serpent tempted Eve and she ate (WHERE WAS ADAM?) of the forbidden fruit and she gave to Adam and he ate and God kicked them out. They disobeyed God. One Rule. I can imagine God saying, "You had ONE prohibition and you couldn't follow that."



Second attempt: Post Eden, pre flood. New rules. Birth, death, work for bread, pain in childbirth, husbands shall rule over their wives. And this generation did not do as God desired. The earth became filled with hamas (violence).* All flesh corrupted its way before God. And God destroyed the world in a great flood and all living things perished save for what Noah brought onto the ark.

Third attempt: Post flood. New rules. People are allowed to eat meat, but not allowed to eat blood nor to eat flesh taken from an animal while it is still alive. Murder is explicitly forbidden. God makes a covenant with Noah never again to destroy the earth. All generations since Noah are expected to refrain from idolatry, blasphemy, murder, sexual immorality, eating blood and theft. And they are to set up courts of law to enforce these laws. And this generation did not do as God desired but built up the Tower of Babel to reach the heavens. And confused their language so no one understood the other and scattered people over the face of the earth.

Now, God has a dilemma. God still cares. God still wants people to do the right thing. People refuse to obey. But God promised never to destroy the world again.

So, God starts over with one man (Abraham) and forms a partnership with him. And the idea as expressed in Gen 18:19 is what God wants from each of us: to follow the way of the Lord by doing what is just and right (tzedakah u'mishpat).


*Is it mere coincidence that the terrorist organization that wants to wipe Israel off the map is called Hamas? I think not!