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People are fascinated by their ancestry, TV programmes like Who do you think you are? and all the interest shown in family trees bears that out.
The Bible begins, as the E100 selection begins, by setting the story of God's people in the context of the desire of God the creator that they should live in peaceful relationship with him.
What follows describes what happened to thwart that desire, and God's work of restoring that relationship. Some background to this month's readings may help.
The books Genesis and Exodus are a later written record of what would have been many years of what is called 'oral tradition', the stories the ancient Hebrew people would have told and re-told down the generations, to keep the memory of God's dealings with his people safe.
Story-telling is recognized as being an accurate way of preserving tradition: constant repetition anchors the story in the memory.
The events which are described in these books took place when there was no opportunity to write, even for those who had the ability.
The people were on the move, and it was probably not until the people had established themselves in what they looked forward to as their promised land that these books were put together in the form in which we have them, perhaps not until some time in the eighth century BC.
Some of the stories in Genesis are people's attempt to explain why things are as they are – the first eleven chapters of Genesis come into that category.
These stories are sometimes called myths, but that doesn't mean that they are not true.
Nowadays we use the word 'myth' as though it means a fairy tale.
Myth is another of the words which has lost its original meaning of a story which attempts to explain a mystery.
For example, the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the disobedience of both, and the refusal to take responsibility for what they had done, is one explanation of why human's relationships with God went awry.
With the appearance of Abraham in Genesis 12, the stories begin to describe how God called people again to follow his way.
Gripping stories they are too – each with a theological insight to discover.
One of the best loved is the story of Joseph, (Genesis 37 and 39-47) with its punch line, 'it was not you who brought me here, but God', as Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers.
Exodus contains the account of Moses' life, and his insights into the nature of God and God's Law; the Passover and the dramatic Exodus from Egypt; and the long years in the wilderness during which the people developed their distinctive faith, and formed their identity as the chosen of God.
At the end of the book Exodus, the people are poised to take possession of what God had promised to Abraham and his descendants.
The work of Moses was done, and he died within sight of that promised land.
He was recognized as a great leader, 'unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land' (Deuteronomy 34,11). Joshua was destined to take on the leadership as the story continued.