‘How good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together,’ says the psalmist (Ps. 133:1), to which we might add, in the light of Genesis, ‘and how rare’. Yet it is possible, and until it has been shown to be possible, the human story cannot continue. Genesis, the story of human relationships, is the necessary prelude to Exodus, the story of nations and political systems. Each child of Jacob – like each of the seventy nations and languages of Genesis 10 – has his own character and contribution. Each will become a tribe, and only as a confederation of tribes can Israel exist. Only as a
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