Genesis 50

The first book of the Bible draws to a close with the passing of Jacob, and then Joseph. Both are embalmed, per Egyptian custom, which I found interesting. Per his request, Jacob's body was taken with great ceremony (I wonder what folks who saw that processional would have thought!) to be buried with his forefathers, and I suppose that in order for remains to make such a journey that would pretty much be required. If it were not so, surely Jacob would have brought Rachel's body to be buried in his family's tomb rather than laying her to rest as they traveled.

After they return from burying their father, Joseph's brothers once again get paranoid that Joseph might seek revenge on them. Of course he has no such interest, and calms them down, but it is surprising how much their actions haunted them over their entire lives. I guess that should serve as a warning to us that we should be careful of what we do so that we don't regret things or live in fear our entire lives.

When Joseph nears death, he too shows a desire to be buried in the promised land - and makes his family swore that they will do so when God brings them up out of Egypt. I wonder if he realized how long it would be before that happened...

Genesis 49

Just as Jacob blessed Joseph's sons in the last chapter, so now he is blessing the rest of his children. The metaphors used throughout this passage are often interesting, and I'm sure would make much more sense if one had a command of the original language. However, I would like to note a couple that are outstanding.

Judah: To this son, and his family line, the throne of Israel was given (even here, hundreds of years before they would have a king). An allusion is also made to Jesus, in the phrase "until he comes to whom it [the scepter] belongs; the nations will obey him" (NET) - and sure enough, He was born into the tribe of Judah.

Reuben: Because of some rather incestuous acts that were briefly mentioned earlier, Reuben is stripped of much of his rightful position as firstborn. I am almost sad about this, as he was the one who kept the other brothers from killing Joseph early-on.

Simeon and Levi: The revenge they took by killing a whole city earlier in Genesis is remembered here, and they are chastised for it. This description of them as being violent is interesting, since it is from Levi's tribe that the priests would be chosen later on - usually service to God and His temple is seen as being separated from violence (for example, in David not being permitted to actually build the temple because he was a man of war).

Genesis 48

Jacob is nearing the end of his life, at the ripe old age of 147. We see in this passage that he wanted to bless Joseph's two sons, but contrary to the norm of the day he blesses the younger son more than the firstborn. I wonder if this was done because he himself was not the firstborn child to his father? It seems to catch Joseph off-guard, but when he tries to correct it Jacob is quite firm in his choice.

Other than that there isn't much to say here. We are drawing near the end of Genesis, and I am looking forward to the more active first few chapters of Exodus!

Genesis 47

This portion of scripture covers three things: the settling of Israel in Egypt, the success of Joseph's plans to feed Egypt, and Jacob's desire to be buried with his fathers back in their promised land. Of those, the bit that stuck out to me most during this reading was the middle one.

Joseph seems to set up a socialist economy - he manages to get all of the people's money, then livestock, and then even land in trade for the food they need to survive. At that point, then, the citizens of Egypt are little more than tenant or servants to Pharaoh, but the system seems to work. He also implements a 20% tax, as he says that 1/5th of the goods produced should go to Pharaoh, while the remainder is to be kept by the workers to feed themselves and their families. That seems like a pretty fair tax rate, all things considered, but I should probably stop myself before I go into a rant about taxation. That is better left for one of my other blogs ;)

I wonder if one could go back in other historical records and identify this 1/5th tax. It is noted in the passage that it was in effect still at the time that was written, which at best must have been a few hundred years later.

Genesis 46

This chapter is mostly a listing of Jacob's descendants who went with him to Egpyt, but it does have a couple of interesting things. One is the promise God gives to Jacob that He himself will lead Jacob's offspring back out of Egpyt, after making them a great people there. This of course will come to pass in Exodus, and not without a bit of persuasion - but God is true to His word.

The other odd fact is from the last verse - "everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting to the Egyptians.” Similar language is used back in chapter 43, when Joseph sits down to eat with his brothers - we are told that the Egyptians find it disgusting to eat with Hebrews. It must have been a cultural issue of some sort, but I wonder what it was.

Genesis 43

Joseph does such a good job of keeping up the pretense that he does not know the sons of Israel, and credit must be given where it is due. I especially like the small touches like seating them in order of age when dining - little things to mess with his brothers' heads :)

I wonder how long they left their brother Simeon in the prisons of Egypt? Judah indicated in verse 10 that they could have made the round trip to Egypt twice, so unless he was exaggerating then it must have been a fair length of time. I wonder if Simeon thought they had abandoned him, or if he would not have expected them to return because of Jacob's protective attitude toward his youngest son (Benjamin)? So many interesting questions...

Genesis 36

Wow - lots of names today, many of which I can't pronounce. Being that almost the whole of this chapter is a genealogy there isn't much to say, but there is one item of note. In the first few verses we see that Esau and Jacob had so many possessions between the two of them that they couldn't occupy the same area. I'm not sure if it was reasoning Esau thought of or not, but because Jacob was the heir to Abraham's covenant he was to stay in the land of the promise while Esau and his folk left for other lands. It is also cool to see that, though Esau and Ishmael were not the heirs to this promise God still made them fathers of great peoples.

Genesis 35

In today's reading we once more have an affirmation of the covenant between God and Abraham's descendants, along with a second proclamation that Jacob's name shall be changed to Israel (the first was when he wrestled with God). Prior to this Jacob/Israel instructed his family and followers to dispose of all the old idols and pagan symbols they had, which he buried; I guess Laban never got his 'household gods' back!

There is also a lot of death in this chapter: Rachel's nurse, then Rachel in childbirth, and finally Isaac at a good old age. Poor Israel - Rachel was the woman he fell in love with, and yet she was the first of his wives/concubines to die. It definitely explains why Benjamin, the son she had as she passed away, became his favorite: he was his last memory of her, and also his youngest son.

Genesis 34

I've always been fascinated by the story in this passage - and somewhat horrified. Those of you who know me well probably know that when it comes to matters of military and war I tend to agree with the use of force in situations I think are right, but there are some instances in the Bible where the reaction of one group or person seems overkill. This is definitely one such place!

We find that a prince among the people who live in the area Jacob and his sons moved to falls in love with, and apparently rapes, one of Jacob's daughters. He then asks for her hand in marriage, which is backwards in terms of proper order but at least seems to indicated that his feelings for her are real. Unfortunately we never find out what Dinah thinks of all this, but her brothers obviously do not approve. Rather than just fighting for her honor then and there, which I could see as a legitimate reaction, then feign agreement with the proposal and ask in exchange that the men of the region be circumcised. That is a lot to ask of a whole culture, but they go through with it - and then while they are in pain and less able to defend themselves the brothers (Simeon and Levi at least, maybe more) come through and slaughter them.

The things that bother me here are the deceit and the level of revenge: we don't know how many people were killed, but it was every male in a whole city - so I have to assume at least a few hundred. Further on in the Bible, when Israel the country is facing various enemies, God instructs them to be very complete in their slaughter... but it is one thing when God tells you to do something in order to avoid being corrupted later on by societies that worship false gods, and another to go on killing sprees because you feel that your family has been dishonored. Jacob's reaction is also rather interesting: he doesn't seem to tell his sons that they were morally wrong to do what they did, but that it would make them look bad to other nearby peoples.

Genesis 33

Compared to yesterday's reading there isn't much to say about this chapter. It is the logical conclusion to what we read yesterday, though I do find it odd that ,even after the great reception from Esau, Jacob still didn't go with him. Even if one assumes the excuse he gave about not wanting to drive the animals and young too hard was true, he didn't follow Esau to Seir but instead went to Succoth instead. Perhaps those locations are close together - I should try to find a map online to reference and see. Anyone know of any good Biblical maps available on the web?

Genesis 32

Ah, we have come to one of my favorite chapters in Genesis - and one of my favorite stories in all the Bible! There is a lot of good stuff here, so I'd best list it and try not to miss anything:

1) The very first verse, while lacking in details, is rather cool: "So Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him." (NKJV) We don't know what was said, or what they looked like, or how many there were - but it still must have been an awesome experience.

2) When Jacob finds out that Esau, his brother, is coming to meet him he does not instantly run away, nor does he prepare to fight. Instead he sends gifts, showing that he is a peacemaker, and makes intelligent preparations so that if retreat is necessary he is ready - but moreover he trusts in the Lord to make good on His promises.

3) Few men have ever seen God, and even when you count Jesus' life and ministry the total is likely still in the tens of thousands. But as far as I know only one has actually wrestled (physically) with the Lord - and that would be Jacob. He carried the scar from it all his life (where God touched him on the hip), but I doubt that he regretted it even one second.

Genesis 31

I'm not sure what to say about this chapter, to be honest. Most of it is pretty straightforward: Jacob feels threatened by his father-in-law, who has mistreated him over the past twenty years, so he flees with his family and all he owns. Laban pursues him, and because he is not as burdened with young and possessions he catches Jacob and asks for an account of what happened. This is where it gets a little odd, though, as he claims that his idols were stolen when Jacob left. Rachel did indeed steal them, but due to a little bit of lying she manages to keep that fact hidden.

I really wish I knew why she even bothered to do that. Was it just to get back at her father for the way he had mistreated Jacob? Was it perhaps because she actually believed they had power? And would Jacob really have followed through with his promise that anyone found with the idols would be killed as punishment (if she had been found out)?

Toward the end of the passage we once more get an account of a peace pact, this time between Jacob and Laban. I guess these sorts of folks had enough possessions and people in their employ to the equivalent of small countries in that time period, and having that sort of status probably merited this kind of behavior.

Genesis 30

I think this section of scripture contains two of the strangest accounts I've come across yet - or so it seems to my "modern" sensibilities. First we have two sisters, both married to the same man, fighting over who bears him more sons. Apparently sending in their maidservants to do their dirty work is also fair game, as both do so. Leah is the more confusing one to me here, though: she seems to think that by bearing more sons she will garner more if Jacob's love, but she must have known full well that Jacob was slaving away not for her but for Rachel. She even trades goods for time in the sack with Jacob, which he goes along with without complaining. Doesn't that sound kind of backwards? A wife paying to be able to sleep with her husband... seems that the gender roles are a bit off, and since when does a wife need to pay someone to get her husband to sleep with her?

In the later part of the passage we see Jacob using rather odd practices to try and influence babies born to the flocks he is tending, such practices as we would easily laugh at with today's knowledge of science. Despite rather questionable methods, though, God seems to bless Jacob with increasing herds. I haven't thought of it this way before, but if anything this shows God's power: He was able to cause birth patterns in animals that should not have occurred given science and probability! It is a little thing next to many of the other wonders He works, but it is interesting to note nonetheless.

Genesis 29

Ah, young love! There is nothing like working for seven years for the girl of your dreams, only to have your father-in-law do a 'wife swap' on your wedding night and give you his other daughter. It makes me wonder if the reason Laban gave - that tradition insisted the older daughter marry before the younger - was really his reason. Perhaps he just wanted another seven years of work from Jacob, or maybe he was concerned that Leah wouldn't get married otherwise (there is an indication that she may not have been as visually appealing as Rachel).

Even more, though, I wonder how Jacob managed to sleep with Leah on his wedding night and not realize till the morning that he had been tricked! Maybe he was drunk, as Lot had been earlier in Genesis, but if he was that far gone then they used to brew some serious wine. If not, then I think he had some explaining to do his intended. Of course, Rachel must also have known what was going on - so perhaps she didn't care that she would have to share her husband with her sister. Things like this are a very strong reminder that life back then was quite different from what it is today.

Genesis 27

Here we have the fulfillment of what God had told Rebekah about her sons when they were born. Esau already traded his birthright to Jacob in an earlier passage, and now Jacob (at the behest of his mother) deceitfully steals their father's blessing. It is no wonder that Esau is enraged, but I suppose God's will comes about one way or another. I wonder if Isaac had simply planned to bless Jacob rather than Esau, in accordance with the words God had said to Rebekah in chapter 25, what would have happened. I've always looked at this as a bad act on the part of Rebekah and Jacob, but perhaps Rebekah was acting this way because of what God had told her - trying, in her own way, to obey God. That is a rather odd way of looking at it, but without more details into what each person involved was thinking I suppose it is a possibility.

On a lighter note, how hairy must Esau have been that the best way to mimic his feeling was to strap goat hide to Jacob? Seriously, I've never seen or heard of anyone else with such an abundance of hair! Hairy backs and chests are one thing, but on his hands and his neck? Yikes...

Genesis 26

Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree they say - and it certainly seems true with Abraham and his son, Isaac. When Isaac moves into a new land he tries to pull the same "my wife is my sister" trick that his father used twice. Just the same as before, though, it falls flat. Will these guys never learn? The thing I find most odd about this, though, is that God does not chastise them for lying. I suppose in Abraham's case it was at least somewhat true (Sarah was his half-sister), but the same cannot be said for Isaac and Rebekah; at best they are cousins, if I read the preceding chapters correctly.

Much of the rest of this section is taken up by the digging of wells, the filling of wells, and arguing over wells. I suppose the important bit is that God led Isaac and his family to a region which was not contested, and where the covenant between them would be fulfilled. There is also a renewal of the peace treaty that Isaac's father had with the leaders of the Philistines.

At the tail end of this chapter we see that Esau married a pair of Hittite women, when he was around age 40, and this did not sit well with his parents. Because there isn't much in the way of details, I have to assume that their concerns were due to the region and people those women were from; I suppose it could also be that he married twice, but given the relationships their other son (Jacob) will have with a total of four women I doubt that is the problem.

Genesis 25

There are some interesting things in today's passage, along with some further genealogical information that doesn't seem to be very critical. Time for another list, I think!

- Apparently Abraham had another wife, who gets a very short account here. I can only assume that she was brought in after Sarah died, since Abraham still lived another half-century or so after that. Apparently she was a lot more fruitful than Sarah had been, but Abraham sent her and his children by her away before he died. Clearly he saw that Isaac was his main heir, through whom God would fulfill his covenant.

- People had lots of kids in the past. I have only one, but I really don't know how I could ask my wife to go through the pain of pregnancy and childbirth again - not to mention I don't want to have to deal with additional years of changing diapers, and I have no idea how I would be able to afford more than one more mouth to feed. I suppose the people we are hearing about here are pretty affluent, and may have had all sorts of servants to take care of menial tasks, but it still seems like such a foreign concept.

- Twins... boy am I glad there is only one of my Gus! Having two sons born at the same time would bring in all sorts of competition, favoritism, and other things that are unhealthy. We can see in this account between Jacob and Esau that there was such tension, and that it turns out badly for one of them (granted it is his own fault, but still).