Genesis is wild

Right now I'm doing a Bible-in-a-year reading plan. While reading through Genesis, I found myself going, "Wait...WHAT?" many times. Here are a few of the WILDEST moments that happen in the first book of the Bible.

The Serpent

A snake starts talking to Eve and she doesn't even think that is a little weird. Did all animals talk back then?? (Gen 3:1-5)

Chill Bro

Noah FREAKS out and curses his son, Ham, as well as Ham's lineage forever, because Ham saw his dad naked. However, Noah is the one who got drunk and messy in the first place. (Gen 9:20-24)

Awful Husband

Abraham lies about Sarah being his cousin-wife MULTIPLE times! How did Sarah feel about that? (Gen 12:11-19 and Gen 20:1-17)

Awful Father

Lot offers up his virgin daughters to be raped by a bunch of strangers!! (Gen 19:1-11)

Byeee

Lot's wife becomes a literal pile of salt and none of her family members seem to think that this is a problem. (Gen 19:26)

Incest

Alone with no other males and living inside a cave, Lot's daughters intentionally get their dad drunk, have sex with him, and then both become pregnant. Lot seems to not care at all and doesn't even question how his daughters are suddenly pregnant. (Genesis 19:30-36)

Sidenote, doesn't Lot suck???

Awful Mother

Rebekah plays favorites to the worst degree. She loves Jacob and doesn't even care about Esau. She also teaches Jacob to be deceitful and instructs him to lie to his own father. She even goes so far as to knit him arm skins to wear! What kind of parenting is this?? (Gen 25:27-28 and Gen 27:5-17)

Revenge

Dinah, the sister of Jacob's sons, gets raped by this shady jerk Shechem, who then gaslights her and says he wants to make her his wife. Dinah's brothers are pissed when they find out.

The brothers are like, "Suuure, you can marry our sister. But FIRST, you, and all the men in your land, have to be circumcised."

The dudes get circumcised and are then bedridden while they heal. Simeon and Levi go in and slaughter all the men, exacting vengeance for their little sis.

Jacob is upset because now everyone is gonna hate him, but the boys are like, "Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?” (Gen 34)

And I Oop-

Tamar seduces her father-in-law Judah on the side of the road for...some reason? Then she gets pregnant and Judah is like, "You were right. Sorry I was such a jerk." (Gen 38)

Awful Son

Reuben sleeps with his dad's wife, who is also his stepmom and the mother of some of his brothers?? That's nasty. (Gen 49:3-4)

So...yeah. Genesis has a lot of "what not to do" and features several problematic characters. But, I always enjoy reading it anyway because all the crazy stuff makes it interesting. And peppered throughout the wild stories are still stories of faith and God's love.

What are some of the wildest Bible stories that always stick with you?