Whew! I still managed to get my reading in, even after a full day of painting, electrical work, dry walling, and carpentry. I'm surprised that I've managed to stay on top of this reading for as long as I have. It's only been eight days, but that's longer than I thought I was going to last. Only 262 days left to go! Today was an interesting read. I'm starting to notice a pattern. I think it is probably a deliberate attempt of the author to point out the way that these women and men slowly turned away from God and put their faith or pleasure in other gods or things like revenge and unholy sex. The other main thing I'm seeing is the consistent pattern of fear and terror that people experience when in the presence of God. God presents him/herself plainly to these people (Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph) just as he/she is. The way they see God is nothing short of terrifying. Granted, these are people that thought the earth was flat, the sun and stars went around the earth, and who would be rendered speechless if they watched a modern-day action movie, but I still think that today, in our ultra-modern, image saturated society, we haven't been terrified by God lately. God hasn't permeated or overwhelmed us; maybe that's his grace at work. If we really met God face to face, what would we do with ourselves?
Chapter 34, One of Jacob's daughters, Dinah is raped by men from Shechem, a competing city nation thing. I get the sense that neighbouring cities were more like warring tribes and less like cooperating economies. Cities seem to be bound more by blood relations and affiliative/religious ties more than economic or residential prospects. So, these guys gang-rape Dinah. In this culture, I learned, laws were based on shame. It is shameful for a woman to be defiled, and the only remedy for shameful acts are cleansing rituals, which in most Ancient Near East cities amounted to either exiling or killing the woman by stoning or burning. So, Israel (Jacob) and his sons are infuriated and grief-stricken by this whole ordeal. So what do they do? They con Shechem. They tell them that they want Shechem to join their tribe. They tell the Shechem men to circumcise themselves so they can live in harmony with the Israelites. It seems to me that circumcision for a grown man (this was in the days before anesthesia) would be an excruciating process. This is confirmed in the text when it says that several days later they were still in pain. That's when Israel's sons attack the city and kill all the men because the men are in too much pain to fight back. Interesting combat strategy. Jacob isn't too impressed because the sons took revenge rather than letting the LORD carry out justice.
Chatper 35, After all the men get back, Israel is told to get rid of all of their idols and rings in their ears, which were both pagan practices. They moved on, but no one attacked them because the "terror of God" fell on the towns. Again, God is presented as absolutely terrifying. I have never read the Bible so closely, but it sure seems like God cannot help strike doom into people's heart when they come face to face with him. This chapter repeats the renaming of Israel. In this situation, Jacob is renamed after he comes back from burying his wife's nurse. He is blessed with the same blessing of Adam, Abraham, and Isaac. Rachel dies in this chapter giving birth to Ben-Oni (later renamed Benjamin). Ben is the last son of Israel, making a total of 12.
Chapter 36 is a huge lineage of Esau.
Chapter 37 is the beginning of the story of Joseph, Jacob and Rachel's second last son. In this chapter, Joseph has two dreams. The first: eleven sheaves of wheat are bowing before one sheave. The second: The sun, moon, and eleven stars are bowing down to him. Translation: I will be more powerful than all of you, and you will be my servants. Prima facie, not a big deal, but upon reflection, that would be a pretty cocky statement if it was just said like, "Hey! Bros! You're all gonna be my lackeys someday. How's about that, eh?" That's assuming, of course, Joseph was Canadian. Perhaps expected, his brothers get pissed and want to kill him. They opt out to sell him into slavery under the Ishmaelites, smear some random blood on his coat, and lie to their parents saying that he was killed by some animal.
Chapter 38, Judah starts sleeping around with Canaanite women, then "accidentally" sleeps with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, after she dressed up like a prostitute. I think the point of this chapter was less about literal history and more like an allegory. It seems like the author was trying to really hound the point that the nation of Israel was very quickly going astray from the calling that God had brought upon them, opting out instead for the hollow pleasures of the world. The author shows how bad this decision is by showing how their decisions turn out. Judah finds out he slept with his daughter-in-law and she gets pregnant, and he is disgraced for a while. There's always a silver lining, though, because Perez and Zerah are born as a result. Perez is Jesus Christ's ancestor. Funny how the Messiah came with such a scandalous lineage. Maybe there's hope for the rest of us after all.
1885 pages to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment