Baby baby, oh baby baby" -- Salt 'N Pepper

.

IRONY!!!!

God promises Abraham many kids (Gen. 13:16).

And yet, his wife
and his son's wife
and grandson's wife all had trouble gettin' preggers.

Sarah (Gen. 16:1); Rebekah (25:21); Rachel (29:31) -- all barren.

At first, not one of them could toss the ball through the hoop.
They couldn't knock over the milk bottle,
Ride the ferris wheel of procreation all the way to... God, I wanna go to a carnival!

(sigh)

One could say that God helping the matriarchs conceive emphasizes God's power-- showing how chosen the Israelites must have been, since they could barely conceive!

Or it reminds us what a true miracle childbirth is! It's unbelievable that it happens at all!

This barren problem is extra ironic, since the first mitzvah that people are commanded to do is procreate (Gen. 1:28).

Which at first seems redundant. Adam and Eve-- alone, chillin' in a garden, no TV or magazines, not to mention they are "naked, not ashamed," (Gen. 2:25) ... what ELSE are they gonna do? They really had to be TOLD to get "down with they bad selves??"

(insert your own "snake in her garden" joke)

Of course, God also told sea monsters and birds to procreate (Gen. 1:22)... not with each other... although maybe that's how we got dinosaurs...

Anyway, this biblical Narrative-Darwinism kinda makes sense-- before anything else, make sure the story keeps going by making more characters.



"...With an ability to survive, anything is possible, and without it... nothing."

-- Moss Hart, legendary Broadway writer/director/producer



"I'm a survivor, I'm gonna make it." -- Beyonce