Chapter 3 Summary

Before moving on to the Book of Exodus, where the violent God returns, Miles pauses to take stock of what in literary terms makes the unified God of Genesis godlike and what makes him different. God creates the human scene that he enters and creates his human antagonists he faces. God takes no action that does not have man as his object; he has no "adventures," no divine companions, like the gods of Greek mythology. After the opening creation soliloquy and briefly when deciding to flood the earth, God does not talk to himself; he deals with humans directively rather than analytically, expressing no appreciation. God is always supremely confident, but seems not to plan ahead; when displeased by some human action or inaction, he reacts. God's only stated goal, of molding man in his image and likeness, would be easier if he...