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.
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.
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.
7/17 Reading (Genesis 37-39; Luke 11)
Genesis 37: This chapter is about Joseph, Israel’s first son with Rachel. He is also his favorite son, which upsets his brothers. He describes two dreams he has, both showing domination over his family. As can be expected, this upsets his brothers even more. After he continues to receive more favoritism from his father, some of his brothers plot to kill him when he travels to where they are tending their livestock. But instead of killing him, they tear off his special cloak and throw him in a pit. Their brother Judah convinced them to sell him as a slave. They then trick their father, Israel, and make him think Joseph was killed by a wild animal. Israel goes into mourning. The ends with Joseph being sold to even more people.
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.
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.
7/10 Reading (Genesis 19-21; Luke 6)
Genesis 19: This chapter is about rescuing Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I found several parts of this chapter troubling. First, the fact that Lot offered his virgin daughters to the men of the town so they wouldn’t harm his guests: “Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please” (Gen 19.8). That one definitely bothered me. Second, the death of Lot’s wife bothers me: “But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” (Gen 19.26). I kinda feel this was Lot’s fault. Yes she turned around, but he hesitated several times and questioned the angels. Last, the whole incest thing: “‘Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve off spring through our father.’” (Gen 19.32-33) Just wow! Granted, his daughters thought they were the last people, but wow. One last thing, why was Gomorrah destroyed? It’s not really clear from this chapter. The first mention of Gomorrah in this chapter comes in Gen 19.24: “Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” The only explanation I could find is from Gen 19.29: “when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.”
7/8 Reading (Genesis 16-18; Psalms 1-5)
I noticed I had a lot to say on this reading. I think it’s because today’s reading included an introduction to the Psalms.
Genesis 16: Story of Sarai offering Hagar to Abraham since Sarai is barren. After Hagar gets pregnant, Sarai throws her out and Abraham lets Sarai do it because he says Hagar is her slave. Hagar is visited by an Angel, who she thinks is God. She calls him El-roi? Note indicates this means either God of seeing or God who sees. After reading the notes I was reminded that there was a time when women gave their slaves to their husbands and took the kid as their own.
7/3 Reading (Genesis 1-3; Luke 1)
First day reading the Bible. I will find it really challenging to NOT read all of the footnotes as well as the introduction to each book. But reading the introduction will be really helpful for this endeavor.
Intro to Genesis: So, here are my thoughts on the introduction to Genesis. First, I have heard and read in several places that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all believe in the same God. It was good to see in the intro that all three “lay claim to the characters and stories of Genesis, each with their distinct understanding of the meaning of this important book of beginnings” (p. 7). Pretty cool stuff. I had no idea that the authorship of the Pentateuch wasn’t attributed to Moses until after his lifetime. That’s pretty interesting. Fascinating reading about when Genesis was written on pages 7-8. I’ve heard and read many times that Moses is the author of the first five books. So this kinda surprised me: “Nevertheless, we do know that the book was written over centuries by multiple authors, and we have a more specific and assured picture of the final stages of its composition” (p. 8). This makes me wonder why is it that many people argue that Moses was the author. Why is this so important?