Tag: confusion

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7/27 Reading (Exodus 13-15; Luke 19)

I had a lot to say on this reading.

Exodus 13: This chapter starts with God telling Moses that all firstborn of the humans and animals should be consecrated to him, declaring them his. It then jumps to reiteration of the seven day celebration his people are supposed to have every year (passover) with unleavened bread. The people are told to tell their children about what happened, making this an educational experience. On a side note, as an educator, this is definitely an effective way to do that. Back to the text. The story they returns to discussion of the consecration of the firstborn, this time specifically saying males. I have to admit that when I first read this I thought God was telling them that they all had to sacrifice their firstborn males. Glad I was wrong once I read a little further.

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7/24 Reading (Exodus 4-6; Luke 16)

I had some trouble with some of this reading today.

Exodus 4: Moses continues to tell God that he is not the right person to do this task. He presents his next two problems to God: (3) “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’” (Ex. 4.1) and (4) ‘O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue’ (Ex. 4.10). To answer his third problem, God shows Moses how to turn his staff into a snake, how to damage and reheal his hand, and how to turn water from the Nile into blood. To answer his fourth problem, God says “Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” (Ex. 4.11-12)

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7/20 Reading (Genesis 46-48; Luke 14)

Genesis 46: Israel and his entire family are on the move to join Joseph in Egypt. I noticed again that the text uses Israel and Jacob interchangeably. Even when it is God speaking to him. For example, “When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” (Gen. 46.1-2) I’m still a little confused as to why this happens? I understand that it’s probably not that important, I just find it interesting.

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7/19 Reading (Genesis 43-45; Luke 13)

Genesis 43: Reading this chapter reminded me that God renamed Jacob Israel, yet the text refers to him as Jacob in Gen. 42. The text refers to him as Israel in this chapter. It’s interesting how this one starts out. Apparently some time has passed because they are now out of grain again. They seem to have forgotten about the brother who is still in prison. Israel charges them with returning to buy more grain, but they declined because they were told they had to return with the youngest brother, Benjamin. At first Israel says no, but Judah convinces him saying “Then Judah said to his father Israel, ‘Send the boy with me, and let us be on our way, so that we may live and not die—you and we and also our little ones. ⁹ I myself will be surety for him; you can hold me accountable for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.’” (Gen. 43.8-9) Israel agrees and tells them to all bring gifts for the man (Joseph) along with the money from the first trip and more money to pay this time.

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7/18 Reading (Genesis 40-42; Luke 12)

Genesis 40: This is where we first learn that Joseph has the ability to interpret dreams. He correctly interprets the dreams of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker for the Pharaoh, who are both in prison because they offended him. The chief cupbearer will be elevated back to his post while the chief baker will be executed. Joseph requests for the cupbearer to remember him when he is back in the Pharaoh’s favor. Joseph’s interpretations end up being correct, but the cupbearer forgets about Joseph, so he stays in prison. Again, at times it seems like Joseph has a lot of bad luck.

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7/15 Reading (Genesis 34-36; Psalms 6-9)

Genesis 34: This chapter focused on the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. She was attacked by Shechem, the son of the prince of the region they were in. When Jacob found out, he waited for his sons and then talked with Shechem and his father, Prince Hamor. Shechem wanted to marry Dinah. They made an arrangement. If all the men of their region agreed to be circumcised, then they would agree to arranged marriages (i.e. Jacob’s sons daughters would be given to these men and their daughters would be given to them). My thought while reading this was “wait, what?” I’d be beyond furious. However, after the all of the men went through the circumcision, Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah’s brothers, attacked and killed all of the men of the city because of the attack on Dinah. The other brothers plundered the city. Jacob got angry with his sons and was afraid they would be attacked by larger armies. I think their response was good: “But they said, ‘Should our sister be treated like a whore?’” (Gen. 34.31)

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7/14 Reading (Genesis 31-33; Luke 10)

Genesis 31: This chapter is about Jacob fleeing Laban with his wives, their slave girls, his children, all of his other people, and the livestock. Jacob fled because he felt cheated by Laban, who had kept him there for 20 years and deceived him numerous times. So they all left. Unbeknownst to Jacob, Rachel stole “her father’s household gods” (Gen. 31.19). To be honest here, I thought this was a typo. Sorry on that one. I’m assuming they mean idols to other gods. Laban found out they fled and pursued Jacob, catching up after 7 days. Laban is mad about them leaving and especially about losing his gods. He didn’t find them because Rachel hid them underneath her as she sat down. Jacob gets mad and they end up making a covenant. Among the agreement was this phrase from Laban: “If you ill-treat my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, though no one else is with us, remember that God is witness between you and me’” (Gen 31.50). I’m guessing that even though Jacob had children with the two slaves, since he never married them, this wasn’t breaking that covenant.

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7/12 Reading (Genesis 25-27; Luke 8)

NOTE: I had a lot to say on this reading today.

Genesis 25: In this chapter Abraham remarries and has many children with his new wife. Abraham then dies and is buried with his first wife, Sarah. The text then explains Ishmael and his descendants followed by Isaac and his descendants, twin boys named Esau and Jacob. While Esau was a strong and gifted hunter, Jacob was clearly smarter and cleverer than Esau. At the end of this chapter, Jacob makes Esau give over his birthright for food.

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7/5 Reading (Genesis 7-9; Luke 3)

Genesis 7: Chapter is about the Great Flood. I’m still stuck on a thought from yesterday. HOW did everyone get to be so evil except for Noah and his family? Also, first God tells Noah “Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and its mate; and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and its mate; and seven pairs of the birds of the air also, male and female, to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth” (7.2-3). Later in the chapter I read this: “they and every wild animal of every kind, and all domestic animals of every kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every bird of every kind—every bird, every winged creature” (7.14). I may be reading this wrong or being too critical, but from what I remember, Noah took two of every kind of species. That seems to align with what is said in verse 14, but not what is said in verses 2-3. From the notes this was done because of the later sacrifices. I was happy to see this statement in the notes section: “Though many world traditions speak of floods, there is no geological evidence of a global flood of the sort described here” (p. 20-21).

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