It has been frequently noted that God as an active character disappears in the final one-fourth of the Book of Genesis, containing the Joseph story. In the opening chapters of Genesis, God is described as doing everything—creating the world with all its fullness, giving direct instructions to the birds and fish and animals and human beings, making all the decisions that need to be made. So close is He that the first two human beings hear the sound of God moving in the Garden of Eden, and enter into direct conversation with Him. He remains accessible to interaction and conversation with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
The views expressed in this D’var Torah do not necessarily reflect the position of Leo Baeck College.