January 22, 2009, 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.

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January 21, 2009, 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 20, 2009, 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.

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January 19, 2009, 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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January 18, 2009, 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 | 2 Comments »

January 17, 2009, 10:08 am by dc-agape.

Genesis Chapter 46 – 47:12

In this story from Genesis it is the original Beverly Hillbillies, I used the theme song in the last post from Genesis.  This section is rather long, but after considering it more closely, I believe I can sum it up in one post.  I did not post yesterday, because I was debating how to split this section up, and well, I ran out of time.  My research at UTK is speeding up and I had three consultation yesterday, starting at 11:30 and ending at 5pm.  Maybe one day I will fill you in on the research, after I have published!  Anyway, I ran out of time yesterday to deal with such a large chunk of Genesis.

Israel packs up his family, in the newly minted carts from Pharaoh.  When the family has traveled ~ 40 miles towards Goshen, they stopped at Beersheba.  YHWH speaks to Israel there and tells him that Israel will die there but YHWH will bring him out of Egypt.  Here is the first example of fuzzy math.  “I’m with you”, and “I’ll bring you out of Egypt” are part of the conversation.  YHWH did not bring Israel out of Egypt, Joseph did!  But that’s what fuzzy math is all about.  And the whole:

^{Gen 46:3} “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

Well now that is just a hoot!  “Don’t be afraid”, even though YHWH plans on making all of Israel’s descendants slaves for over 430 years (4 generations – Gen 15:16)!  This is the second case of fuzzy math.  400 years is not 4 generations!  It’s closer to 4 full life-times, if you count men’s life at 120 years (Gen 6:3).  That does not work either since all the men named in the Bible lived for at least 147 years (Israel, himself, being the shortest lifespan).  YHWH is not to be trusted.  His math is fuzzy, he is inconsistent, he does not keep his promises, and his plans, in general, are horrific.

The next section is all the fuzzy math you could ever stand!  Here the sons and grandsons of Israel are listed.  First, in no way, shape, or form, can three generations of mankind have only one daughter!  And yes, in Gen 46:8 the author says the “sons of Jacob Israel”, but in Gen 46:26 it claims that this is all the people who went with him to Egypt, plus the slave wives from Shechem.  More fuzzy math is involved with the numbers of men.  In Gen 46:15 it claims that there were 33 sons of Leah, yet 34 names are listed.  This is explained in the study notes that a scribe somewhere in the future added a name by mistake!  YHWH, could you please keep your infallible text, well, infallible!

The total number of people who went with Jacob Israel (I really wish the infallible YHWH would remember that his name is not Jacob!) becomes 70 (Gen 46:27). But to get to this number…all the woman have to be left out, Joseph and his sons (already in Egypt) must be added, and add Er and Onan back in!  Er and Onan died in Gen 38:6-10 and were left out of the Gen 46:26.  As I said, it’s all the fuzzy math you could ever want, and a bit complicated.  This is a great example of Biblical family values: misogyny!

Joseph and Israel are reunited and it is a tearful experience.  Joseph must have lived many years wondering if he would ever see his father again, and Israel had believed his son was dead due to the lie Joseph’s brothers told.  Here is a great Biblical family value: lying!

Now because these men were shepherds, Joseph knew the Egyptians would despise them.  But he coached his brothers on what to say to the Pharaoh about being shepherds.  The Pharaoh gave the sons of Israel the best of the land (during a famine).  I’m sure it was a great place to have herds!  Jacob Israel blesses the Pharaoh twice, once on entering and once upon leaving the Pharaoh’s presence.  During this interview we find out that Israel is already 130 years old.  I guess those that YHWH blesses live longer than anyone else, but of course we have no proof of this because: we don’t know what calendar they used nor do we have any recorded maximum age of non-favored people! 

In the end all of Israel’s family is settled in the best part of the land.  I hope this was not like present day Israel where the Palestinians had to be removed from their ancestral homes.  But since this was the best property in Egypt, I would have to assume that this is exactly what happened.  Then Joseph makes sure that his brothers have enough food, for free, to ensure that they do not starve.  This must include food for the herds as well, since in a famine nothing is growing that is eatable.  I wonder how many Egyptians had to starve to death to ensure that the sons of Israel survived.

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January 15, 2009, 12:21 pm by dc-agape.

Genesis 45

As with any lie, Joseph cannot continue deceiving his brothers. Even though he sent all his servants away, everyone heard him weeping in front of his brothers.  Of course the message got to the Pharaoh.  But the Pharaoh did not know what the weeping was about until Joseph had spent much time with his brothers.

Because of the lie that Joseph was living, his brothers could not respond to his declaration.  They were basically freaked out.  Can you imagine being in the presence of Egypt’s second-in-command while the man starts to weep so loudly that the entire building hears it?  I am sure the brothers believed they were responsible for this misery and would soon be dead.

Joseph had finally, after 21 years, forgiven his brothers.  It is the second year of the famine that only kept the grain crops from growing; Israel still had honey and pistachios.  Somehow Joseph has risen above the Pharaoh:

^{Gen 45:8} “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.  He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 

Joseph is either lying again, or the power has made him arrogant.  When the Pharaoh put Joseph in charge he said:

^{Gen 41:40} You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders.  Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.”

So you can see that Joseph was neither the “father” to Pharaoh nor was he ruler of all Egypt. 

^{Gen 41:43} He had him ride in his chariot as second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!”  Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

He was in charge of Egypt, but that did not make him the father of Pharaoh or the ruler of all Egypt.  If the Pharaoh had heard Joseph say these things, Joseph would have been killed.  He was admitting to attempting to usurp the throne of the Pharaoh!

When the Pharaoh heard that Joseph’s brothers were in Egypt, he and all his officials were pleased.  The Pharaoh suggested that all of Joseph’s family move to the “best” lands in Egypt to live off the “fat of the land”.  I am really starting to think that this was not a true famine, but one more of the type that was caused by corrupt dictatorships.  Joseph can provide a huge meal to his brothers on their first trip, and that the Pharaoh tells Joseph that his family can live off the “fat of the land”.  There is the fact that grain cannot be stored for much more than a year or two, and that other food stuff were still available (cattle, honey, pistachios, almonds).  It looks like in preparing for the seven years of famine, the Pharaoh and Joseph caused the famine!

The Pharaoh goes on to tell Joseph to bring his entire family, and not to worry about their “possessions”.  Everything would be replaced by the Pharaoh once they got to Egypt.  If they were in the middle of a famine, supplies would be short…all supplies!  This was an agricultural society; everything was based off animals and plants.  The ability of the Pharaoh to replace all of Jacob’s belongings except his livestock seems suspect as well.

Well to say the least, Jacob is total surprised by his son’s words and by the “gifts” that the Pharaoh and Joseph sent with the brothers.  The best gift was the knowledge that his favorite son had not died 21 years earlier, as the brothers had claimed.  So Jacob packs up and moves to Cal-i-for-n-y! 

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January 14, 2009, 11:58 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 44

Joseph continues with the charade of not being related to the brothers.  He sends his brothers back to Israel but with a horrific twist.  He has planted evidence that Ben-Oni has stolen from Joseph’s house.  Is it not bad enough to imprison one of his brothers, accuse all his brothers of being spies, demanding that Israel give up Ben-Oni, and trick his own father with the return of the grain price?  Now he is attempting to destroy his father by keeping Ben-Oni as a prisoner.  Talk about dishonoring your father and mother!

His steward caught up with the brothers very close to town, Joseph did not allow them much of a head start and he did know exactly where they were headed.  Immediately, the steward confronts the brothers with the “theft” of Joseph’s divination cup.  Joseph has a Divination Cup?  Why does he need one of these, isn’t YHWH who interprets dreams?

^{Gen 41:16} “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to the Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

So here is another example of Joseph lying to his brothers.  I guess once you start lying it is difficult to stop! 

The brothers vehemently deny any theft, and promise to kill the one responsible and the other 10 would become slaves to Joseph.   Way to go Judah and Rueben, that’s protecting your youngest brother!  Either kill him for the theft or give him into bondage.  Well, of course, the steward finds the divination cup in Ben-Oni’s possession, since Joseph had it placed there. 

Upon returning to Joseph, Joseph demands that Ben-Oni becomes his slave!  This is pushing the limit of cruelty.  Ben-Oni is innocent, and Jacob had to know that Ben-Oni was special to his father.  The brothers plead for the life of Ben-Oni to be returned to Israel.  Judah takes the lead and tells Joseph everything about the events that occurred at Kiriath Arba.  He tells Joseph of the pain that Israel feels because of the demands that Joseph has made in regards to Ben-Oni. 

Judah pleads with Joseph to take him instead of Ben-Oni.  Somewhat out of his responsibility to Israel, but more for a personal reason:

^{Gen 44:34} How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.”

Judah’s biggest concern is that he would have to see the pain in his father’s eyes.  His biggest reason for wanting to take the place of Ben-Oni is to save himself from facing up to his responsibility and oath that he made to Israel!  What a coward!

As a gay Atheist, I can only interpret the Word of God in this chapter of Genesis as an incredible example of how horrible people can be to their own families.  Joseph continues to lie, continues to dishonor his father, and continues to punish his brothers for something that he claims he has forgotten:

^{Gen 41:51} Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my troubles and all my father’s household.”

He may have forgotten, but he certainly had not forgiven!  Joseph is a role model that I should follow?  How can this Holy Book be a guide to godly living?

But there is more: Judah and Reuben.  Reuben had made a promise to his father regarding the safety of Ben-Oni that would require the death of his two sons.  Not once in this chapter is Reuben step up to save Ben-Oni, and by that save his own sons!  And Judah is just as bad.  He wants to take Ben-Oni’s place as Joseph’s slave, not to save Ben-Oni.  No, that is not the motivating factor; he wants to ensure that he does not have to face Israel with the bad news that Ben-Oni has been taken into slavery!  Is this the Family Values that the Religious Right want us to remember enact into US law?

Remember: the brothers do not know that this is all a deception devised by Joseph.  Why would anyone go to such lengths to punish his own family over something that happened 21 years ago, has had such a positive outcome, and has been forgotten!  Or maybe this is the Family Values that the Religious Right want memorialized.

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January 13, 2009, 8:36 am by dc-agape.

Genesis 43

Judah this time tries to talk Israel into letting Ben-Oni go with them.  He repeats to his father that they cannot return to Egypt without Ben-Oni on account of the lie that Joseph told them.  Judah, the lying slave-trader, takes personal responsibility for the safety of Ben-Oni, promising Israel that he will guarantee that Ben-Oni will return.  Somehow this guarantee is stronger than Rueben’s (the adulterer), even though Rueben’s punishment would have been much greater.  Judah only promises to bear the burden of guilt for the rest of his life, whereas Rueben promised to have both his sons put to death if any harm came to Ben-Oni.  Personally, Rueben seems much more reliable and is willing to take a much higher stake in Ben-Oni’s life.  He is also the one that attempted to save Joseph when his brother’s wanted to kill Joseph.  But YHWH in his infinite love and power had already chosen the lying, slave-trader (Judah) to be the father of Jesus.

Israel agrees that Ben-Oni can make the journey, with great hesitation.  He makes his sons return the extra silver and bring extra gifts: balm, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds.  I guess the famine was not severe enough to stop the production and growth of honey pistachios, and almonds.  These items should have been in shorter supply than the grains.  Honey, true honey not that made from grapes or date juice can be stored indefinitely; I just wonder how the bees make any extra honey if the famine is destroying the crops bees use to make the honey.  The more I read about this 7 year famine, the more I wonder how it could have happened!  None of the food products could last, definitely not for the entire populace.  Foreigners, like the Hebrews, would not get the opportunity to purchase food stuff, unless the Pharaoh and Joseph allowed the subjects of Egypt to starve to death!

The sons of Israel arrive in Egypt and see Joseph.  Joseph requires a private audience with his brothers, still holding on to the deception of being a stranger.  In the mean time, the brothers find out that the silver in the first shipment of grain was not the silver they paid with.  Joseph put the money back in their sacks from his own pocket.  At that time Simeon was released to them. 

In the private audience, Joseph asks more about Israel’s health and nearly breaks down in front of his brothers when he sees Ben-Oni.  He has to race out of the audience room, weep and wash his face before they eat.  He does not eat directly with his brothers, or with the other Egyptians.  So there seems to be at least three tables or even three rooms.  The brothers are astonished that Joseph seats them in order of age.  Is this truly that difficult, even for someone who is not their brother?    We do not know how many years apart the brothers are, but they could be up to 14 years between Reuben and Zebulun.  Ben-Oni being easy to recognize as much younger, since he was born after leaving Haran!  But life as a sheep-herder cannot be an easy life, so their age would be quite apparent.

The story ends with Joseph lavishing 5 times more food on Ben-Oni’s plate than on his other brother’s plate.  Here again, the concept of a famine in the land and the lavish amount of food just does not seem to connect.  It would seem that Joseph took full advantage of his status.  If this is the case then Joseph was not acting very godly or justly.  He seems no better than many of the cruelest dictators and rulers of history!

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January 12, 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.

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