November 28, 2009, 1:42 pm by dc-agape.

Genesis Chapter 42

The famine reached all the way from Heliopolis to Hebron, a distance of at least 160 miles (and possibly 200 miles away).  That would be like saying that a drought centered in Knoxville, TN also destroyed crops in Nashville, Hickory, NC, Atlanta, GA, and Lexington, KY.  Since the sons of Israel took their flock 80 miles north of Hebron we are talking about a famine that would also reached Louisville, KY and Charlotte, NC.  And people complain about the weather now days!  Adding in the rest of Egypt, this famine would basically cover the entire south-eastern seaboard.  Can you imagine the damage of a 7 year famine of this size in the US?

For another example, the Wollo, Ethiopia famine of 1984-85 was of a smaller area (Tigray, Afar, and Amhara) than that described in the Word of God.  True there was another famine in the southern part of Ethiopia during this time, but it had a secondary cause.  So maybe with this in mind, you can see that this famine was a tall tale!  The worst we have recorded did not come close to what the Word of God describes. 

In the Word of God, Israel sends 10 of his sons to Egypt to get the “grain” that has been stored by Joseph for the past 7 years.  Joseph actually meets his brothers at the grain market.  The man in charge of all the grain in all of Egypt meets 10 lowly purchasers of grain.  How many thousands of people were buying grain on that day?  Is it possible that this chance occurrence could even happen?  Well Joseph does not tell his brothers who he is.  In fact, he does the exact opposite; he lies to his own brothers after 21 years.  Man do I call that holding a grudge!  His appearance has changed; he uses an interpreter (that by the way Abraham did not need).  And he even calls them spies!  He does this not just once, but he insists that they must be spies, again.  Lying, in the Word of God, can you believe this!  Knowing better, Joseph repeats the claim a third time.  So he puts all of them in custody for three days!

Somehow the brothers believe that this is related to an event 21 years in the past.  They’re right, but come on…does anyone feel guilt for that long!  And if they did feel guilt for 21 years, it seems cruel of Joseph to heap punishment on top of the guilt.  They have a conversation about the event directly in front of Joseph, but Joseph continues the deception. 

He chooses Simeon to kidnap and bound directly in front of his brothers.  This Joseph fellow has a lot of rage pent up since his 17^th birthday!  He just keeps heaping pain and suffering on his brothers.  So much for naming his first son “because God has made me forget all my troubles and all my father’s household”.  He has not forgotten anything and certainly has not forgiven. 

It turns out that Joseph has returned his brothers money to them.  But this only makes matters worse.  Now his brothers are in fear for their lives!  It’s kinda funny how the first thing they blame is YHWH. 

Gen 42:28 “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers.  “Here it is in my sack.”  Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

What a mighty show of faith!  This is an example to all humans about how to respond to YHWH? 

Joseph has even dishonored his father, Jacob.  The fear that he created in his brothers is visited upon Jacob.  Jacob is severely distraught over the loss of Simeon and the thought of losing Ben-Oni.  Reuben, the adulterer, attempts to calm his father…by offering his sons as “collateral” that Simeon will be returned and that no harm will befall Ben-Oni.

The chapter ends with Jacob swearing that Ben-Oni will not go to Egypt.  But in the same breath says that if harm comes to Ben-Oni from the trip, Jacob will go to his grave in sorrow.  That being odd in itself, the oddest part is that the use of “My son” seems that Ben-Oni is his only son!  He has 10 other sons in front of him yet he talks as if only Ben-Oni matters!  What a loving father.  This is a great example of how YHWH wants all fathers to treat their sons!  Joseph is a wonderful example of forgiveness and truthfulness, as well.

Posted in Joseph, Tall Tales, Genesis, Readings | Print | 3 Comments »

November 21, 2009, 3:18 pm by dc-agape.

Well I happen to have taken a trip to Wilmington, NC and forgot to bring my copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  As a result, I will have to make some posts from the Nag Hammadi Library which I can get on line at The Gnostic Society Library.  Since I have finished the Pray of the Apostle Paul and the Apocryphon of James, I will introduce you to the Gospel of Truth.  Two translations of this gospel are available, so I will explain which one I have chosen to read and why.

Two translations exist on the Gnostic Society’s website.  The first translation is by Robert M Grant.  RM Grant is a prolific writer about Gnostic Christianity and early Church history.  The Second translation is translated by Harold W. Attridge and George W. MacRae.  Dr Attridge is a professor at Yale Divinity School and Dr MacRae received his doctorates from Cambridge University.  I have look at both translations and I enjoy reading Attridge and MacRae’s version better.  Grant writes with a very spiritual mumbo-jumbo style, probably very similar to the original, but more difficult to understand and read.  Attridge and MacRae have made a stronger attempt at making this material reader friendly.  Neither have offered an introduction on-line.  So I have done so here as my first post.

This Gospel seems from historical perspective to be written during the era of St Valentinus’ (120 – 160 AD).  During this time Valentinus was nearly appointed a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church.  This would have lead to the first recording of this Gospel to between 140 and 160 AD.  Irenaeus (175 – 185 AD) does report Valentinus using this Gospel as Scripture and possibly being the author.  If Valentinus was the author, The Gospel of Truth was written by a 2^nd generation Pauline Christian.  One must understand that Valentinus studied with Theudas , who was a pupil of Paul of Tarsus.  This information is recorded directly from Clement of Alexandria (130 – 160 AD).  If this is the case then the Gospel of Truth is as significant as the writings of Luke (The Gospel of Luke – written between 59 and 89 AD, the Book of Acts – written between 63 and 70 AD), Timothy, or Barnabas (The Book of Hebrews – written before 70 AD).  The history of Theudas (a disciple of Paul of Tarsus) is sketchy at best.  Little is known about him, yet many of the Gnostics claim direct training from him and indicate that he was a contemporary of Luke, Timothy, Apollos, and Barnabas.  As a result, this Theudas could not be the same Theudas that died in 44 AD after starting a revolt against the Romans.  We can be certain of this because Paul did not write the First Letter to Thessalonica until 50 AD.   

Posted in Gospel of Truth, The Nag Hammadi, Introduction | Print | 2 Comments »

November 21, 2009, 10:18 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 41:41-57

Here is the story of how Joseph single-handedly saved the world, Egypt and the surrounding countries from the famine that YHWH created.  The Pharaoh of Egypt made Joseph, a slave and a convict, his second-in-command.  What did Joseph do that was so spectacular…he predicted a famine seven years in the future!  Can you imagine a ruler today even taking a person like this serious?  Can you imagine a ruler today waiting seven years to see if this person was right?  But the Pharaoh had faith in Joseph.

The Pharaoh had so much faith in Joseph that not only did he make him his second-in-command; he gave Joseph the power to do anything at all.  This gave Joseph complete control over every single person in Egypt.  Joseph carries out the orders to store 20% of the grain crops each year.  Which will have rotted by the second year, but who’s counting, Joseph certainly was not.

The Pharaoh also gives Joseph a new and improved name: Zaphenath Paneah.  One of the benefits that Joseph received was a wife.  Yes, an idol worshipping wife from Egypt.  And not any idol worshipper, her father was a priest of On (possibly a priest in the city of Heliopolis).  By the way, there was never a god of Egypt named On!  For some reason the Word of God gets the priest’s patron god’s name wrong and cannot keep the meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name.  Infallible, my foot!

From his marriage to the idolater, Joseph does get two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim.  I wonder what Abraham and Isaac would say about this, can an Egyptian idolater be better than a Canaanite idolater.  The names of the sons tells a lot about Joseph.  Manasseh means “to have forgotten his troubles and his family”; Ephraim means “that YHWH has made me fruitful”.  Funny how the first one is named after forgetting his family!  It is the second one that he remembers YHWH.  So for Joseph forgetting his father’s family is more important than honoring YHWH!

The famine arrives, and only Egypt is ready for it.  The entire world feels the effect and people from every country come to by grain from Joseph.  Now, if we attempt to interpret this literally, this has got to be the second biggest “Tall Tale” of the Word of God, the “Arc of the Flood” being the biggest.  I say that it is a very big tall tale because grain cannot be stored for seven years, and enough grain for the entire world and all the livestock, as well…impossible!  Also, can you imagine the mass die off of wild animals?  A famine does not affect only humans; one that lasts seven years would be just as deadly as the Flood.  All the livestock would be dead; all the seeds for planting new crops would be dead.  Humanity would have nothing to start anew with.  So surviving the 7 years of world-wide famine would really not accomplish much.  The earth’s ecosystem would have collapsed.  This story could not have happened as written in the Word of God.

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November 14, 2009, 1:44 pm by dc-agape.

Genesis 41:1-40

In this story we see prophetic dreams again.  YHWH knows the future, in fact he has plans to use a hideous famine (that he creates) to form his Chosen Nation out of his Chosen Family.  Two years have passed since the last prophetic dreams of the Cupbearer and the Baker.  Jacob has continued to be a prisoner in Potiphar’s house under something like Cupcake Camp (except that Potiphar’s house is mostly for men). 

On the day of Potiphar’s birthday, he has a dream. In the first dream, seven healthy cows are eaten by seven scrawny ones.  In the second dream, seven healthy heads of grain are consumed by seven withered ones.  None of the Pharaoh’s wise men could see the meaning of these dreams.  But all agreed that the dreams had a meaning.  Hindsight being 20/20, these dreams are quite easy to interpret.  In Pharaoh’s day only one person can figure out what the dreams mean:  Joseph.  Joseph, of course, claims that only YHWH can interpret the dreams that YHWH gives to people about the events that YHWH sets in motion.  Joseph tells the Pharaoh that both dreams mean the exact same thing.  There will be seven years of good crops and seven years of famine. 

Joseph goes on to tell the Pharaoh what to do to advert the disaster.  Pretty gutsy of Joseph, to tell a god-king what to do!  He tells the Pharaoh to store 20% of the harvest each year for used during the famine.  The Pharaoh sees this as good advice.  But he does not know of anyone, in his advisors, who can accomplish the job required.  He immediately appoints Joseph as the man of the hour.  And instantly, Joseph is made equal to the Pharaoh except in respect to the throne.

From a realistic point of view there is one major problem with this plan.  All grains, except rice, are very perishable.  And we know that the Egyptians did not grow rice!  Rice cultivation did not make it to the Mediterranean area until Alexander the Great in 344-324 BC.  We also know that rice by-product do not feed cattle very well.  So if grains do not store well, and does not feed animals at all, how can storage of 14 years of grain actually occur at all?  More can be read about grain storage here which includes problems with temperature, humidity, and pests.  This story could not have happened the way it is written!  The Word of God does not tell the “Truth”!  This story is a tall tale just like Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan.

Posted in Tall Tales, Genesis, Readings | Print | 4 Comments »

November 7, 2009, 1:20 pm by dc-agape.

Genesis Chapter 40

While a prisoner in the house of Potiphar, Joseph meets the Cupbearer and the Baker for the Pharaoh of Egypt.  This prison must be similar to the jail that Martha Stewart, Camp Cupcake, was imprisoned in.  We can see this first of all by who is imprisoned there: the Pharaoh’s private servants, one of which he restores.  The Pharaoh would never take someone back that had been thrown in with common thieves and murders.  Second:

^{Gen 40:4} The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.

The warden did not assign Joseph to the Pharaoh’s men.  The captain of the guard did.  We know that Potiphar was the captain of the guard from Gen 39:1.  So even though Joseph was a prisoner of Potiphar he still worked directly for Potiphar.  If this was the “true” prisons of the Pharaoh, Joseph would not be directed by Potiphar, the hierarchy of the prison system would be too complex.  The warden of that set of cells would be in charge.  But the clincher is here:

^{Gen 40:7} So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”

All three men were prisoners in the house of Potiphar!  This was house arrest; Potiphar’s compound was probably rather large.  But this was without a doubt, Camp Cupcake!  How else would Joseph know that the men’s faces looked “sad today”?  In a “true” prison they would never look happy enough to see the sadness in their faces. 

Both men have had dreams, on the same night, and cannot find someone to interpret these dreams.  Joseph tells them that he can through YHWH interpret the dreams.  The Cupbearer goes first.  He has seen three branches of grapes.  He takes the ripe grapes and squeezes them to make grape juice for the Pharaoh.  Personally, I would interpret this as the Pharaoh will kill him in three days for giving him grape juice instead of wine.  But Joseph tells the Cupbearer that in three days time the Pharaoh will restore him to his old position.  Then Joseph asks the Cupbearer to remember him and to tell the Pharaoh about Joseph’s troubles.

The Baker also had a dream.  But instead of three branches it was three baskets of bread.  In this dream the birds ate all the bread in the baskets.  Joseph tells the Baker that the baskets represent three days.  But it is bad news for the Baker.  The Pharaoh will kill the Baker by hanging him and let the birds eat his flesh.

On the third day after the dreams was the Pharaoh’s birthday.  On that day the Pharaoh restored the Cupbearer but had the Baker executed.  YHWH had known the future; these men did not have freewill.  Unfortunately, the Cupbearer did not remember Joseph.

Posted in Genesis, Freewill, Readings | Print | No Comments »