01/17/10

Yes, I skipped yesterday.  There are 3-6 days of slack built in to each month's schedule, and I used one of January's yesterday...

Genesis 47-50

In Genesis 47, Joseph brought five of his brothers before Pharoah, who asked their occupations.  The explained that they were all shepherds, from a line of shepherds.  Pharoah tells Joseph to settle his family in Goshen, and if any had "special ability," to put them in charge of Pharoah's own livestock.  Joseph then introduced Pharoah to Jacob, who blessed him.  Joseph then settled his family in "the best part of the land, the district of Rameses" and provided them with food.

The famine was still in effect, and the people of Egypt came to Joseph.  First, Joseph "collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying," then he took all of the livestock of the people in exchange for food, and then Joseph "bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh."  Joseph established a law - "still in force today" - that one fifth of all of the produce in Egypt belonged to Pharoah.  And "the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen...acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number." 

As Jacob aged, he made his son Joseph swear to return his body and bury him where his fathers were buried.

In chapter 48, the dying Jacob called Joseph to him, and told him of the promises of God Almighty to "make you fruitful" and to give the land of Canaan "as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you."  He said that Joseph's sons would be reckoned as sons of Jacob "just as Reuben and Simeon" were.  Any subsequent children born to Joseph would be Joseph's, "reckoned under the names of their brothers."  And then Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, but he crossed his arms to give the right-hand blessing to the younger brother.

Chapter 49 shows Jacob's blessings for his sons.  After giving those blessings, and instructing his sons to bury him where Abraham and Sarah are buried, he dies.

Genesis concludes in chapter 50 with the burial of Jacob.  He is mourned in Egypt, then Joseph informs Pharoah of his (Joseph's) oath to bury Jacob in Canaan.  A large group goes up, they mourn Jacob, and bury him.  With their father buried, Joseph's brothers are concerned, again, that he will take revenge upon them for their actions selling him into slavery.  He reiterates that while the meant ill, God meant well by it, and that he holds no grudge.  Joseph lived to 110 years old, and was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• It seems as if Joseph was personally responsible for selling the entire population of Egypt into slavery under Pharoah.  Before the famine, the people had money, livestock and land - afterwards, they had nothing.
• There is a parallel between Isaac's blessings on Esau and Jacob, and Jacob's blessings on Manasseh and Ephraim.  In each case, the younger son gets the blessing that "should" have gone to the older.  Unlike the case of Isaac, Jacob knew and understood who he was blessing.
• The odd statement that I noted in chapter 35 about Reuben and Bilhah leads directly to Reuben's blessing.  Jacob tells him that "you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it."
• Some of the blessings don't seem much like blessings.  Such as "Simeon and Levi...cursed be their anger...I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel."  Or "Issachar is a rawboned donkey...he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor."

Proverbs 13:1-12

The in this set of verses, the focus on the speech continues, as well as truth and integrity.  Verse 7 is one that, unlike so much of the book of Proverbs, does not have an obvious surface meaning.

"One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth."

I don't know what to make of that.  It does not appear to be an instruction.  If describing particular conditions, it is not clear to me what those conditions would be, not with any specificity.  It's just an odd verse, and uncharacteristically obscure in this context.  I strongly suspect that there are cultural and linguistic barriers that leave this less clear than it would have been at the time.

01/15/10

Genesis 43-46

Genesis 43 starts with the continuing famine in Canaan.  Jacob's sons, other than Simeon, have returned, but the food they brought back is running out and Jacob implores them to go back to Egypt and buy more.  His sons resist, protesting that the overseer told them they would not see him again if they did not bring back their youngest brother.  Judah tells Jacob that he will stand as guarantor for Benjamin's safe return, and that he is willing to lay down his life if Benjamin does not come back.  Jacob relents, and the 10 brothers take the silver that was returned to them on their last trip and enough for purchase of more grain, and head to Egypt.  When Joseph sees them, he instructs his steward to prepare a meal for them at his residence.  They gather at Joseph's house, where Simeon is brought out to them.  Joseph sees Benjamin and inquires after their father, then retires to his private quarters to weep.  Then he came out and feasted with them. 

The story continues in chapter 44 when, following their feast, he has the stewards fill his brothers bags with grain.  He also has their silver placed back in the bags, and one of his own silver cups into Benjamin's bag.  His brothers head back to Canaan, but Joseph sends a his steward after them, and when he overtakes them, accuses them of having stolen a silver cup.  They deny it, and agree that if any one is found to have taken it, that one will become a slave to Joseph.  They all drop their bags and the steward finds the cup in Benjamin's.  They all go back to Joseph's house, where his brothers fall down and bow before him, acknowledging themselves as his slaves.  He says that only the one found with the cup is his slave, the rest are free to go.  Judah pleads with Joseph to keep him instead, as Benjamin is the youngest, the only remaining son of the wife their father loved, and the loss of him would kill their father.

Finally, in chapter 45, Joseph acknowledges his identity to his brothers.  He sends everyone else from the room, and tells his brothers who he is.  They are frightened, but he tells them not to be frightened and not to be angry, that they hadn't sent him into slavery, but GOD had sent him ahead into Egypt to prepare for the time of famine.  And after they all threw their arms around one another and wept, he told them to go back to Canaan and get their father.  Pharoah gave Joseph and his family the land of Goshen, so they took carts and donkeys and returned to Canaan where they told Jacob that Joseph was still alive and the ruler of Egypt.

In Genesis 46, we get a genealogy of Israel as it entered in to the land of Goshen at the behest of Pharoah.  After packing up, they headed towards Egypt.  At Beersheba, they stopped and Israel prayed to the LORD, who told him that he would bring him back out of Egypt.  The list of direct descendants of Israel, not counting sons' wives, is said to be 66, and, with Joseph and the two sons born to him in Egypt, 70.  They settle in, and tell Pharoah that they are shephards.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• I'm hesitant to call Joseph a jerk, and certainly they warranted some punishment for having sold their brother into slavery, regardless of how well it turned out, but his treatment of his brothers was cruel.  Keeping Simeon and then framing Benjamin were frightening and unpleasant acts.
• "Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.  He said to them, 'Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.'" (Gen 37:5-7)
  "Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him." (Gen 44:14)
• When he finally acknowledges his identity, Joseph does demonstrate that he has handled his experience well.  Rather than recriminations, he expresses to them that GOD has sent him in to Egypt, that what has happened in his life has been done for GOD's purposes.
• The entire story of Joseph's exile to Egypt, his reconciliation with his brothers, their return with Israel to him, is as easily understandable as anything in Genesis, and much more so than most of it.  Even the actions of his brothers, selling him, is understandable, albeit reprehensible.  This whole section (excluding the Judah/Tamar interlude) is straightforward history.
• I count 71 male descendants, three of which (Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim) were already in Egypt and two of which (Er and Onan) were dead.  So that does make 66 that went down to Egypt.  And three makes 69, which is not exactly 70.

Proverbs 12:15-28

The last 14 verses in chapter 12 extol honesty, truthfulness and discretion, while condemning laziness, dishonesty and imprudence.  13 of the 14 are antithetical parallelisms.

01/14/10

Genesis 40-42

In Genesis 40, Joseph is joined in prison by the Pharoah's cupbearer and chief baker, both of whom have displeased Pharoah.  During their first night they each of a dream, which they share with Joseph the following day.  Joseph interprets the dreams (saying "interpretation belongs to God") and informs them (correctly) that the cupbearer will be restored to his position in three days, and the baker will be hanged.  The cupbearer promises to remember Joseph, but promptly forgets him upon being restored in his position.

Chapter 41 starts with Pharoah's dreams.  He dreams of seven fat cattle being consumed by seven skinny cattle, and seven full ears of corns being swallowed up by seven thin ones.  He sends for his wise men and magicians but no one can interpret the dreams for him.  Then his cupbearer remembers Joseph.  Pharoah calls for him from the prison.  Joseph says that he can't interpret Pharoah's dreams but that God will give Pharoah the answers that he wants.  He then says that the dreams represent seven years of plenty which will be followed by seven years of famine.  Pharaoh needs to go throughout the land and stockpile food during the years of plenty to survive the years of famine.  As Joseph clearly has the support of God, Pharoah appoints him to be the overseer of this effort.  Joseph becomes the most powerful man in Egypt (other than Pharoah) and gathers huge stores of food during the next seven years.  He also marries and has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.  And then the famine begins, and he opens the storehouses and sells food to Egyptians.  "And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world."

In chapter 42, some of the men from other countries turn out to be Joseph's brothers, all of whom other than Benjamin have been sent to Egypt by their father to buy grain.  He recognized them and spoke to them harshly, accusing them of being spies looking for weakness in Egypt.  He told them that to prove they were not spies, one of them would be held and the others must go get their youngest brother.  He had Simeon taken and bound, then gave the rest of them grain and sent them back, holding Simeon hostage until they returned with the youngest brother.  In each of their sacks, he also placed the money which they had used to buy the grain.  Jacob/Israel refused to let them take Benjamin to Egypt, as he had already lost Joseph, and now Simeon.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• Each time that Joseph is asked to interpret a dream, he gives essentially the same response - I can't do that, but God can.
• The dream interpretations are in keeping with everything else that we know about Joseph in Egypt.  God is helping him, providing for him, supporting him.  In other words, preparing him and using him.
• On the surface it might seem strange that Joseph recognizes his brothers but none of them recognize him.  But there are legitimate reasons for this to be the case.  For one thing, he was the youngest of that group and likely changed more than any of the others.  For another, he was seeing them in a group, as he had seen them before, whereas they were also used to seeing him in the group.  And there was no reason for him not to expect that travelers from Canaan might be his brothers, but they had sold him into slavery and he was now a figure of great power and authority.
• Joseph's brothers are in fear when they see that they've got both the grain they bought and their money, too.  It seems a strange response, but he kept their brother Simeon, and they are, I suspect, frightened simply because they don't know what's going on.  Do they think that they just effectively sold Simeon into slavery in Egypt?

Proverbs 12:1-14

It occurs to me, as I go through this process, that I don't recall ever hearing a chapter of Proverbs read in a service, or a sermon preached on a chapter of Proverbs.  And I think I see why.  There are a couple of meta-messages - wisdom is good, the righteous are better than the wicked, God loves righteousness and wisdom - but no narrative structure and no message cohesion.  There are a lot of pithy sayings, some good imagery and metaphorical and poetic language, but not much that builds on what came before or prepares for what comes next.  The lessons all come in little chunks, and they are almost all surface lessons, valuable, yes, but not warranting much in the way of commentary.

01/13/10

Genesis 37-39

Genesis 37 begins with Joseph, now 17, working in the fields with his brothers (mostly half-brothers).  His brothers resent Joseph, for being his father's favorite, shown by, for one example, receiving a "richly ornamented robe."  He describes for his brothers a dream in which they are gathering sheaves in the field and his brothers' sheaves bow to his.  Later, out in the fields, his brothers decide to kill him, but Rueben convinces them to throw him into a cistern, thinking that he can be rescued later.  They throw him into a cistern, but see a group of Ishmaelites traveling and sell him into slavery.  They tear his robe, cover it with goat's blood, and return it to Jacob/Israel, who mourns his son.  Joseph reaches Egypt and is sold to Potiphar, captain of the Pharoah's guard.

In chapter 38, we get the story of Judah and Tamar.  Judah took a wife and fathered, over a period of years, three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah.  Er married a woman named Tamar, but "was wicked in the LORD's sight; so the LORD put him to death."  Judah told Onan that he needed to father children with Tamar, to "fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother."  Onan lay with her but intentionally did not get her pregnant, "spill[ing] his semen on the ground...What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also."  Judah told Tamar to live as a widow in her father's house and that Shelah until Shelah grew up.

Some time later, after the death of Judah's wife, he traveled to Timnah to shear his sheep.  Tamar, hearing about this, put on a veil and went out to that part of the country, because, though Shelah was grown, he had not been given to her.  Judah, thinking her a prostitute, offered to pay a kid (goat) for sex.  As he didn't have the kid with him, he gave her his signet and staff as collateral.  When he later tried to pay, she, having dropped the veil and returned to her father's house, was not to be found.  No one knew anything about a prostitute having been there. 

Three months later, they came to Judah saying that his daughter-in-law Tamar was pregnant and, therefore, "guilty of prostitution."  He said that she must be burned.  She sent a message saying that she was pregnant by the man who had given her "these" and sent back the signet and staff.  He reacted that "she is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah."  She later gave birth to twins, Perez and Zerah.

Genesis 39 returns to the story of Joseph, now living as a slave in Potiphar's house.  He is trusted by his master, as the LORD helps him and gives him success in all he does.  Potiphar's wife is attracted to him, and attempts to seduce him, but he refuses to violate his master's trust.  He flees the house, leaving his cloak behind.  When Potiphar returns, his wife presents the cloak as evidence in support of her story that Joseph tried "to make sport of" her.  Potiphar is furious and Joseph is thrown in to prison.  But even in prison, "the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden."  As in Potiphar's house, the LORD gave him success in all that he did.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• It says that Joseph was Israel's favorite because he was the child of his old age, but Benjamin was younger.  And there's no indication earlier that a) Jacob was (or was feeling) particularly old when Joseph was born, nor b) that there was any significant gap in age between Joseph and his older brothers.  What would seem a more likely source of favoritism is that Joseph was the first son born to Rachel, whom Jacob loved and chose to wife, rather than those wives imposed on him by circumstance.
• There are indicators that Joseph might have been a jerk as a young man.  "He brought their father a bad report about" his brothers.  He wore his lavish robe out to the fields.  He told them about his dreams of them bowing before him.  A favorite child can be one of the group or he can flaunt his status.  It sounds as if Joseph may well have done the latter.
• The story of Judah and Tamar predates any of the Levitical laws, and there has been no mention of brother's giving deceased brother wives children.  Is this a cultural imperative?  What is the source of the compulsion for Onan?
• The double standard is not new.  Judah bought Tamar, Tamar sold herself to Judah.  He thought that he'd done nothing wrong, and she deserved the death penalty.
• If Tamar was to be burned for presumably engaging in prostitution, how is it that proof that she had actually engaged in prostitution got her off the hook?  There are, presumable, class or caste distinctions, but [MSW] it's very hard for a layman to read this story and understand many of the motivations.
• The motivations in the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, on the other hand, are not that difficult for a modern man to follow.  She wants him.  He doesn't want to violate a trust.  She's scorned and furious.  Yeah, that one works.
• Tom Robinson = Joseph.  Mayella Ewell = Potiphar's wife.  (To Kill a Mockingbird)
• The key, I think to this story is that the LORD prospers Joseph.  Both as a slave and as a prisoner, he is guided/aided/supported, and everything he does succeeds.

Proverbs 11:16-31

This set of verses extols the virtues of kindness, generosity and discretion.

If there is some kind of overlying structure to this section of the book, I have not yet recognized it.  I do see a few verses in each set that are related to one another, but it's not at all clear to me that they're organized for that to be the case rather than just random.