From the very first sentence, we have had to wrestle with the text, and in the course of that struggle we may, like Jacob, have a brief moment of illumination.
Genesis offers few consistent doctrines.
Its teachings are frequently contradictory. Genesis points out, as the most eminent monotheists have since emphasized, we cannot understand God or predict his behavior. The sacred reality must always remain an ineffable mystery which fills us with dread but exerts a ceaseless attraction. Our world is beautiful, baffling, and tragic. When we hear of devastating natural catastrophes or contemplate the millions of starving, suffering human beings, it is sometimes impossible, if we are honest, to imagine that the benevolent, omnipotent God of the first chapter of Genesis is really in control of his creation.