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The main argument of “Not Falling Far from the Tree” is that generational sin poses a pervasive and prominent threat to the fulfillment of God’s promise to generate a righteous “seed” in the literary development of Genesis.
The first chapter coins a new, two-part definition of generational sin as “the fallen human tendency to sin in ways analogous to one’s ancestors (generational continuity) to the detriment of one’s descendants (generational consequences).” A literary-critical methodology for detecting the presence and prominence of generational sin in the biblical text is then developed.
Generational sin is pervasive in Genesis insofar as it obstructs YHWH’s “seed” promise throughout the book’s storyline. In the final analysis, a tripartite pattern emerges. The Adam Cycle (Gen 1:1-6:8) chronicles the genealogical escalation of sin and its consequences from father (Adam) to son (Cain) to the seventh generation (Lamech), at which point YHWH rains down judgment. Family history repeats in the Noah Cycle (6:9-11:9)—beginning with Noah, heightening in Ham, and climaxing in Nimrod’s rebellion at Babel, where divine judgment falls again. The same pattern recapitulates in the Patriarchal History (Gen 12-50). Abraham falls not once, but thrice; Isaac inherits and intensifies Abraham’s negative qualities; and sin surges until it reaches high tide in Judah’s sons, whom YHWH strikes dead. The tide abruptly shifts, however, when Joseph’s generation repents of the family’s longstanding sins.
Building on these findings, the author makes a case for generational sin’s thematic prominence in Genesis by evaluating the way it factors into the book’s structure and plot. Structurally, several of the literary cycles in Genesis are arranged in such a way that the sins of ancestors and descendants parallel one another. Plot-wise, generational sin sparks internal conflict by compromising the righteousness of the promised “seed.” It also emerges at critical junctures in the complication phase of the macro-plot. Resolution only occurs when the “like father, like son” dynamic is reversed in the Joseph Cycle.
The conclusion of the thesis draws an important biblical-theological implication. Namely, the seminal role that generational sin plays in Genesis foreshadows its significance throughout the biblical metanarrative.