January 30, 2010, 2:07 pm by dc-agape.

Genesis Chapter 50:15 – 26

Here ends the exploits of YHWH in the Book of Genesis.  This is also the end of the Patriarchs of the Israelites.  Before I did into the Book of Exodus, I want to devote some time to the TrueChristianTM part of the Word of God as well.  My next posts will be in the Book of Matthew.  My plan is to continue flipping back and forth between the Old and New Testaments.  One reason for this is that I don’t want to get bored!  A second is that I don’t want you to get bored.  I also want to provide equal efforts to both Judaism and Christianity.  If I continue to poke holes in the Old Testament it might look as if I am focusing on Judaism, which is not the point of this experiment. 

But let me finish up with the last few verses of Genesis.  In these verses Joseph’s brothers come to him in a panic.  They are afraid he holds a grudge against them for his own slavery.  I can certainly see why they would be worried.  But Joseph reassures them that everything that has happen was because of YHWH and not his brothers.  Here is another example of YHWH interrupting our own freewill.  You see his brothers had to sell Joseph into slavery or none of this would have happened the way YHWH had planned!  So now we understand that YHWH made Joseph’s brothers jealous of him, YHWH gave Judah the idea to sell Joseph into slavery, YHWH made sure that the Ishmaelites where close by to purchase Joseph, and YHWH even made Potiphar purchase Joseph!  So how many people did YHWH take freewill away from in this story?  If we continue with this trend…even the sexual advances of Potiphar’s wife onto Joseph were controlled by YHWH.  YHWH made Potiphar’s wife sin!  How does this make YHWH a good god, loving god, or even a god to be worshipped?

The brothers of Joseph have another thing to worry about as well.  Joseph has sold all the peoples of Egypt and Canaan into slavery.  Does this include his brothers?  If so he is there master!  Not only can he take his grudge out on them as a powerful Egyptian second-in-command, but even worse he can take his grudge out on them as their slave owner!  Now this may not be the case, we know that the priests of Egypt were not sold into slavery, maybe Joseph provided free food to all his relatives.  But if this happened, it would only strengthen the case for the famine to be due to corruption and not to a natural occurring event!  Can you imagine living in during a famine as great as this seven year famine and know that certain people were being provided for without being sold into slavery?  We start to see why the Israelites were hated by the Egyptians.  Either Joseph sold his brothers into slavery or the people of Egypt forced slavery onto the Israelites for the corruption that Joseph perpetrated!

An interesting thing occurs is how his brothers approach Joseph about their fears.  They lie to him!  This is a great example of “godliness”!  The patriarchs of the Jewish and Christian religion cannot help themselves; they cannot “live righteously before the Lord”. Here is the lie:

Gen 50:16-17 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.  Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”  When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

You can tell this is a lie for a number of reasons.  First, they do not go to Joseph, they send him a message.  You can always lie better is the person cannot see your face.  Second, Joseph was with his father during the “Blessing of Jacob” and at his death bed.  Israel had plenty of time to make the instructions directly to Joseph!  But it was a very effective lie, it caused Joseph to weep.  Joseph realized that he was negligent in his treatment of his entire family.  This is a Biblical family value?

Years later Joseph is preparing to die.  But before he dies he gets to see the great grandchildren: the sons of Makir, who is the son of Manasseh.  He pleads with his living relatives that when they leave Egypt to take his body and be buried in Canaan!  He does not request where his bones to be buried, he just does not want to be buried in Egypt. 

There is one thing that as a gay Atheist I cannot forget to bring up.  It is about the “christian” interpretation of a never-changing trust-worthy YHWH.  Joseph is the first character in the entire Word of God that fulfills YHWH decree that man’s life will be 120 years (Gen 6:3). After only 650 years YHWH has finally gotten around to being consistent.  This never changing, truthful god has been inconsistent and lying for 650 years!  I guess he gets better at those qualities as he matures.

Posted in YHWH & slavery, Joseph, Family Values?, Genesis, Freewill, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

January 23, 2010, 3:01 pm by dc-agape.

Genesis chapter 49

We have reached the end of Israel’s long and industrious life.  The way the Word is written Israel makes the request to be buried with his forefathers right after he “blesses” his sons.  And this is followed directly by his death.  How many people today can know the time of their death so well that they can bless their children, command their children, and then die within a matter of minutes?  The only way this can happen is when someone is “yanked” from this existence.  YHWH must have decided it was time for Israel to die.

It is interesting how Joseph shows honor to his father, humbleness to the courts, and then lies.  In the chapter 48 he does not visit his father often or introduces his sons to their grandfather until “some time later”.  Now he shows proper respect for his father, not quite like the 10 commandments.  He is acts humble before the courts…asking them to tell the Pharaoh that his father had died.  He is second-in-command…he only pretend humbleness.  Even Pharaoh’s court must do as he commands.  The best part of this story is the lie he tells Pharaoh’s court!

Gen 50:5 My father made me swear an oath and said, “I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.”  Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.

His father did not dig that tomb!  We know this because what Israel actually said can be read here.  Even more is the arrogance that Joseph shows when telling the court what he plans to do.  Re-read that part in Gen 50:5 “My father made me swear”.  His father did not make only Joseph swear…he made all his sons swear!  Joseph’s arrogance and lying are legendary.  But this is our role model of how to be “Godly” and “humble before the Lord”.  I guess as long as you are “humble before the Lord” you can be a complete ass to all of humanity!  Many TrueChristiansTM certainly are.

Much pomp and ceremony is giving to the death of Israel.  He is embalmed over 40 days, there is a 70 day mourning period after his death, and Joseph mourns an additional seven days after reaching the Jordan.  To make things even more interesting, all of the Pharaoh’s officials and dignitaries follow the sons of Israel to bury Jacob in Canaan.  All this for a despised shepherd.

Something just does not add up.  Joseph is the 2^nd most important man in Egypt.  He has sold all the citizen of Egypt into slavery.  All of Joseph’s family are of a despised occupation.  Yet the Pharaoh does all this pomp and ceremony for a lowly shepherd!  They are treating Jacob like the father of the Pharaoh!  Does this make any sense to you?  It seems a little made up to me or at least embellished.

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January 16, 2010, 8:04 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 49:1 – 28

Here is the “Blessings of Jacob Israel” to his 12 sons.  If you remember he “adopted” Joseph’s first two sons, but they are not blesses with their “brothers”.  I guess that on his death bed, Israel forgot about that!  He remembers everything that his sons (Ruben, Simeon, and Levi) did in the past, yet leaves out the exploits of Judah.  His blessings on his slave wives sons are by far the shortest and the most vague.  But for Joseph, his blessing is long and full of good things.  I guess when you’re the favorite, it does not matter that you are just like your brothers, or worse.

Reuben

Israel starts off saying wonderful things about Reuben.  He says how great Ruben’s honor and power was.  But then he remembers that Reuben slept with Bilhah, Israel’s slave wife.  He ends the blessing with a curse.  He tells his first born son that Ruben’s will be a failure and will no longer excel.  But this is not just of Reuben; no this is a curse on all of Reuben’s offspring as well.  What a loving dad!  Can I have a dad like this?  Is this the Biblical Role model of a loving father?  Reuben makes one stinking bad move, and all the descendants of Reuben are cursed.

Simeon & Levi

Israel’s blessing on these two brothers is the same.  Because of their great anger over Dinah and the men they killed (but Jacob accepted the pillage, and possibly even bragged about the event to Joseph), he guarantees that these two brothers’ offspring will be scattered.  He also warns anyone of entering council with these two offspring.

Judah

Israel blesses Judah with the power of the lion, the praise of his brothers, and the scepter of the ruler.  But he does say that Judah will rule until one who the leadership belongs (David and then Jesus).  He continues the blessing telling of how the offspring of Judah will have excess of wine.  Israel obviously forgot that it was Judah’s idea to sell Joseph off into slavery.  He also must have ignored the fact that it was Judah also lied to Israel about the event.  Israel also forgot about the incident with Tamar.  But Judah is special and Israel forgives all these “sins”. Unlike his older brothers, Israel blesses Judah and all of Judah’s descendants.

Zebulun

Israel blesses Zebulun with living by the seashore.  Unfortunately, we find that this blessing was a false blessing.  We know that his offspring were given land in the “promised land” that was landlocked.

Issachar

He blesses his son Issachar with a pleasant resting place.  But Israel ends it with a curse of forced labor, as in slavery.  How anyone, in their right mind, could call this chapter of Genesis the “Blessings of Jacob” is completely beyond my comprehension!  Most of these are not “blessings”.  

Dan

Israel starts off by saying that Dan’s descendants are going to be justice for all of Israel.  But then he calls Dan a serpent!  Isn’t the serpent a representative of Satan?  How is calling all of Dan’s descendants Satanic a blessing?  Israel ends the “blessing” with how Dan will attack his enemies from cover, like guerrilla warriors or even terrorists.

Gad

Israel blesses all of Gad’s descendants with attacks by raiders.  What a great blessing!  Can someone bless me with this?  I really want to be attacked by raiders for all my relatives.  At least Israel ends this “blessing” with Gad returning the attack on the raiders.

Asher

Israel does bless Asher.  He simply puts it that Asher will have “delicacies fit for a king”.  Finally, a “blessing” that really is a blessing.  And since no tales of Asher’s are recorded in Genesis maybe this blessing is fitting.

Naphtali

Israel also blesses Naphtali.  The blessing is that all of Naphtali’s descendants will be “beautiful fawns”.  That’s not the best of blessings the term fawn usually refers to being fresh, new, and weak.  But at least his offspring will be beautiful!

Joseph

Israel blesses Joseph with a great number of offspring.  He also blesses Joseph with a strong arm in battle.  The blessing continues with great things from heaven, from the depth of the waters, and from the animals in the pastures.  He claims these blessing are greater than the mountains and the hills.  Wow, now this is a blessing!  It’s a shame that all of Joseph’s brothers get the shaft from Israel.

Ben-Oni

Israel “blesses” Ben-Oni (I will continue to use Rachel’s dying request to refer to Israel’s youngest son) with the fierceness of a ravenous wolf.  He continues the blessing with how Ben-Oni’s offspring will have battles in the morning and will divide the plunder at night.  Sounds like a peaceful life for all the descendants of Ben-Oni.  This is another one of those “blessings” that sounds more like a curse.

Posted in Family Values?, Genesis, Readings | Print | 17 Comments »

January 9, 2010, 8:21 am by dc-agape.

Genesis chapter 48

It seems odd how throughout Genesis the first born does not receive the inheritance.  This theme is carried out in this chapter as well.  Seth was the third child of Adam and Eve.  Shem was the second born of Noah.  Abram was the eldest son of Terah, but this is an abnormality.  Isaac was the second born of Abraham.  Jacob was the second born of Isaac.  Joseph is not the first born of Jacob.  When we get to the sons of Joseph, Israel blesses Ephraim (the second son) over Manasseh.  How has the Traditions of Men lost sight of YHWH selection of the younger sons?  Out of seven generations, only one had the inheritance and blessing go to the oldest son.  Somehow Man has superseded the Traditions of YHWH.  It is obvious that YHWH family value was to promote the younger sons over the older son!

Immediately upon seeing Israel, Joseph has a big surprise.  Israel chooses to take Joseph’s sons as his own!  Since Israel did not have enough sons he took Josephs sons away from him.  Joseph would have to have more sons from his Egyptian idolater wife! 

Another odd part of this story is that:

Gen 48:1 Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.

Obviously, selling the entire nation of Egypt into slavery was a taxing job that kept Joseph away from the father he had not seen in over 21 years.  You would think that having not seen your father, not even knowing if you would ever see your father again, for over 21 year…he might have spent some time with the man that fathered him.  But we know that this is not the case:

Gen 48:8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he said, “Who are these?”

This is the type of question you ask when you have never met the people involved.  This is not the type of question asked when you recognize the size, shape, voice, or other characteristics of someone you know.  Joseph had never brought his sons to Israel. 

We know that Jacob has not been introduced to his grandsons here:

Gen 48:11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”

Is this some type of Biblical family value?  Joseph not spending time with his father or introducing his grandsons to him for “some time” is a Biblical family value?

Israel blesses both sons with the same blessing, but he puts his right hand on the younger son.  He knows he put his right hand on the younger son, proving that his vision was not that bad! 

So in this chapter of Genesis, a gay Atheist can interpret that the Islamic, Jewish, and Christian faiths have forgotten the Traditions of YHWH.  The Biblical family values that are displayed in this chapter are not in practice today by the very people who claim to want to enforce Biblical values on those who do not follow their faith!  Joseph did not honor his father; he did exactly what most people do today…leave an elderly family member in the care of someone else.  Joseph did exactly what most people do today…visit with family minimally at best.  This is in complete contradiction to the Ten Commandments!  Whatever happened to?

Ex 20:12 “Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God has given you.”

Finally, my favorite part of the story:

Gen 48:22 And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

Israel is claiming that he is the one who destroyed Shechem!  And he is giving Shechem to Joseph, not the two brothers who actually did do the lying, thieving, murderous acts that took the “ridge”.  We know that Israel was distraught over what Levi and Simeon did:

Gen 34:30 Then Jacob Israel said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land.  We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed”

And we know that this is the same Shechem that Simeon and Levi destroyed because:

Joshua 24:32 And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.  This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

Gen 33:19 For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamon, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent.

Isn’t interesting that the Word of God refers to this plot of land as the one bought by Jacob and not the exact same plot of land that Ruben and Levi shed the blood of an entire town?  To the victors history is rewritten, mostly to make them look better!  Here is a modern day attempt at re-writing history by the conquerors. 

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Posted in Family Values?, Genesis, Readings | Print | 1 Comment »

January 2, 2010, 10:19 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 47:13-31

Without a doubt, the famine of the Bible was man-made.  This is the story of how Joseph made all the people of Egypt (I wonder if that included his family) into slaves to the Pharaoh.  Now Joseph is forcing the people to buy back the stocks of food that Joseph forced the people to give to him.  Talk about corruption!  They paid a “tax” to Joseph to prepare for the famine and now they have to sell their livestock, land, and bodies to Joseph to get their food back from Joseph!  Have you ever seen such a scam?  So this is a Biblical value?  He did not prepare for the famine to help the people of Egypt; he did it knowing full well that if he charged a high enough price (for the grain the people grew themselves) he would force the people of Egypt into slavery!

I wonder if this verse is still true:

Gen 47:26 So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt – still in force today – that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh.  It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.

It would seem that this law has been changed drastically since Joseph’s time!  So here is another case of the inerrancy of the Word of God is proven wrong.  For a purely literal interpretation of this verse…there is no Pharaoh at all.  So either translation of this verse proves that the Word of God is not inerrant.

In the last part of this story Jacob Israel makes Joseph promise not to bury him in Egypt.  Here YHWH has both forgotten that he changed Jacob’s name and that he had decreed that man’s life would be 120 years.  Israel was 147 years old when he forced Joseph to make the promise to bury Israel in Machpelah.

In doing a little research on the web, Google Book has an interesting tidbit on the authenticity of the first chapters of Genesis, which include Machpelah.  The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives, Chapter 10, p295 (by Thomas L Thompson, Continuum International Publishing, 2002) has a great look at the research that has gone into proving/disproving the Biblical inerrancy of the land sale of Machpelah.  The Traditions of Men claim this Machpelah as a holy site, but research cannot prove this point.  In fact, research cannot pin down the date of the Patriarchs.  This book by T L Thompson looks like a valuable read to me!

Posted in Joseph, YHWH & slavery, Genesis, Readings | Print | 3 Comments »