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Genesis 39: Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Imagine living in a Palm Springs resort all year. That was the life of an Egyptian official.

Joseph was talented, intelligent, handsome and hard-working. He impressed everyone around him and was given responsibility.

In my exercise to strip the text of religious sentimentality and identify the specific instances of the supernatural presence of God, I am going to call this statements that “the Lord was with Joseph” to mean that he had innate talent coupled with charm and a willingness to work hard and always landed on his feet. I’m going to count this as an idiom, a figurative expression, and not consider this miraculous. “He was the apple of his father’s eye.” “The Lord was with him.”

Joseph establishes himself and is promoted to Potiphar’s right-hand man. Potiphar puts him in charge of his household, his finances, his holdings, his fields. Knowing what it’s like to invest all into one person and have them turn on you, Potiphar’s wife’s accusation of attempted rape must have been devastating to Potiphar.

Fortunately, Joseph used his same charms and talents to endear himself to the prison warden and became his right-hand man as well.

We know that Joseph was seventeen years old when he had his dream in chapter 37. He was sold into slavery immediately after. Assume he was in Potiphar’s service as few years when he made his mark. He would be around 25 when he was sent to prison. Does he ever clear his name? We will see.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 38: Judah and Tamar

Another outlandish story of morality. These are like Aesop’s fables. This is a story about one of Joseph’s brothers. The one who suggested they sell him into slavery instead of killing him.

No God in this story though there are two instances where Judah’s sons Er and Onan die and it’s attributed to God’s punishment because they are wicked.

When I read the passage about Onan, his wickedness was his deception: not fulfilling his obligation to his brother’s wife but instead tricking her into never conceiving again.

It was not having non-procreative sex and it was not spilling his seed on the ground. It was his shirking his responsibilities and lying about it. It was what was in his heart, not what was on the floor.

All and still, this sounds like superstition. Why would Creator of the Universe, in all his majesty, deign to smite two nobody shepherds in Canaan?

I think this is a morality tale, possibly this will lead into a lineage thread on the way to Jesus, but I don’t see God in this passage.

I think this goes back to: what if God only brushes man every couple of thousand years? What if the intensity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, where God walked among them and spoke to them, was such a rare and profound event that the vibrations are still being felt today, 4,000 years later?

Can you, as a believer, accept that there will not be fireworks and angles? Can you accept that we may not feel God’s presence in this part of the galaxy for another billion years, yet still keep your faith in him?

Judah has some growth here. When he calls for Tamar to be burned at the stake for prostitution and then discovers it was he who got her pregnant, he recalls that he sent her back to her father to live as a widow. How this redeems her in his eyes is unclear, but the mercy he shows here establishes some moral principle.

Judah will be essential later on when they face Joseph in Egypt and he offers his life to save Benjamin.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 37: Joseph’s Dream

When there are chapters in which God does not appear, I see man without God, left to his own devices, and usually coming to a bad end.

And interesting study would be:

What is each instance where God had direct contact with anyone in the bible?
What was going on in that person’s life at the moment he encountered God?
How did their personality change after their encounter?
Starting with Adam and Eve.

This should exclude Jesus in the New Testament, to stay out of the debate whether he is God incarnate, the son of God, the true Messiah, or a major prophet.

Angels of the Lord:
Visitations by angels should be looked at on a case-by-case basis. While they are serving as God’s messengers, there could be other circumstances.

Dreams:
Treat on a case-by-case basis. Joseph has a dream here but was this precognition or was this God sending him a message?

My theory is that, these individuals were at a crisis point when they had their encounter with God and that the experience had a profound on them. I don’t know if direct contact with God happens outside the Old Testament.

The Kabbalistic interpretation is that we were created as vessels to receive God’s love. The fall of man was not some sadistic, cosmic game that trickster God played on us. It was a necessary step to draw down the veil of separation between us and God. There was a moment in which God’s creation shattered and every soul was created. There are a finite number of souls or facets of God’s awareness. When we are not incarnated, we are in a heavenly realm. Each incarnation is a purification brings us closer to reconnecting to that oneness with God. Our incarnation is voluntary. More hardship, more purification.

Reuben is the brother who tries to intervene and just have them dump Joseph in the cistern. Judah is the one who suggests selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites:

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 36: Esau’s Descendants

I’m unclear why this appears as Esau is not in line on the path to salvation. Unless any of these descendants appear later on. This is much in the mode of Ishmael and Isaac. You have one chosen brother and one who fades into obscurity.

Both Jacob and Esau became wealthy and powerful, just as Isaac and Ishmael each became powerful in their own right.

This list does point out that we are filling in the region with tribes before anyone was called an Israelite.

This is also in the tradition of Sumerian kings lists so, as a documented history of bloodlines, it is on par with the period of when the bible was written.

Another thought is that this is another interlude to pull you into the story, waiting for the next moment that God appears.

It is cool that Esau got a nice shoutout after all Jacob put him through. I guess the writers are telling us that, yes; Esau was just as important to be included.

How would Jacob have turned out without having Esau as a brother?

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 35: Jacob Returns to Bethel

After Jacob’s near-miss with Esau, God commands him to return to Bethel. Jacob instructs his group to let go of their other gods. They give Jacob their gods (and the rings from their ears) and he buries them under and oak tree.

God then protected their travel:

5 They set out and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

God makes his covenant with Jacob, as he had done with Isaac and Abraham before that, and renames him Israel.

This is a sad chapter. We lose Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse. We lose Jacob’s wife Rachel while she gives birth to Benjamin. Then we lose Isaac.

The tread going back to the shocking first covenant with Abraham; where he nearly sacrificed Isaac, is becoming distant. Those who were alive at the time are dying off and now the covenant has been passed down to Jacob.

We are still in a polytheistic world where God is appearing to men and the other gods are falling away. This is likely a common doubt that religious people have wrestled with over the centuries: why does God no longer walk among us?

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 34: Dinah and the Shechemites

This is a riveting tale of rape and retribution by Jacob’s sons. The sons themselves are quite intense. We know what’s going to happen to them in the future. Jacob seems almost a dowager compared to his brash and warlike sons.

This does seem like a trick interlude. God is not part of this episode. It is entirely a melodrama of the characters, similar to Jacob’s family drama back in 29, 30 and 30. It’s solely intended to draw you deeply into their lives.

We’ll see where God reenters the picture.

Assume that, at the time this was being written, it was not just a history, but a work of religious literature in the tradition of Gilgamesh.

The richness of this world, we are a part of. Sumer was not lost. Abraham’s father left Ur with their family god, Hammurabi’s code, cousin Lot, and the traditions of the culture they left behind.

They traveled to Canaan, Hebron specifically, to start life anew. They didn’t know at the time that their culture was fading from history: Ur was falling while Babylon was rising.

In their attempt to preserve their culture, depending on their portable, family protector god, they founded a new nation.

Of the vastness of all the gods of Sumerians, from

The major deities in the Sumerian pantheon included An, the god of the heavens, Enlil, the god of wind and storm, Enki, the god of water and human culture, Ninhursag, the goddess of fertility and the earth, Utu, the god of the sun and justice, and his father Nanna, the god of the moon.

The number seven was extremely important in ancient Mesopotamian cosmology. In Sumerian religion, the most powerful and important deities in the pantheon were sometimes called the “seven gods who decree”: An, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna, Utu, and Inanna.

all the city and family gods of all those civilization, one god survived: the god of Terah and his son Abraham.

Sumerian Origins:
The Creation
The Fall
The Flood
The Tower of Babel
Origin of the Hebrews & The Prophets:
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 33: Jacob Meets Esau

After a night of terror and planning to prepare for a confrontation with his brother Esau, Jacob is shocked with a heartwarming reunion.

This is actually a sad episode. After years of exile in Laban’s service, Jacob finally confronts the brother who he had betrayed. He is overcome with fear, knowing Esau vowed to kill him years ago. Jacob makes contingencies: splitting his caravan into two camps so that one can escape if the other comes under attack, sending lavish gifts for Esau ahead of him. He is prepared for the worst.

He has an experience the night before; a man he wrestles who reveals himself to be God, gives him the name “Israel”, and blesses him.

I think Jacob has been so moved and humbled by the experience with the stranger, the confrontation with Esau is the last thing on his mind. He is subservient and gracious with his brother when they finally meet, insisting Esau accept his gifts and declining his offer of escort.

It’s a sad exchange. It’s an emotional reunion for Esau, he’s clearly forgiven his brother and wants to embrace him into the family. Jacob politely declines every gesture of Esau’s. Jacob’s goal was to get past without a confrontation and he does so. The confrontation turned out to be Esau’s delight at seeing his brother, not a combat. But Jacob does not take the offer for reconciliation.

You feel sorry for Esau. He is rejected.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 32: Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau

Jacob follows God’s command to return to the home of his relatives after years in service to Laban.

In his fear of Esau’s wrath, he sends a messenger ahead. Upon return, the messenger tells him Esau is on his way along with 400 men. Jacob splits his camp into two groups so that one may escape if Esau plans to attack. Jacob then prepares gifts to herds and sends them ahead as an offering to Esau.

In a night of fear, Jacob meets a stranger and wrestles him:

26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

This is tradition that those who see God face-to-face do not survive. This is in contradistinction to the God who walked in the cool of the garden with Adam and Eve and it is the promise in Revelations that God will dwell with man again.

After the fall, angels appear to the patriarchs and God speaks to them, but he does not show himself.

The character of God is profound: he beings as a supreme being creating man like a proud father. When sin enters the world, God becomes petulant and wrathful. It almost seems as though God is learning humanity, patience and forgiveness through his experiences with man.

The most widely accepted of the proposed sites for Mahanaim lies in Jordan, about ten miles east of the Jordan River. Tell edh-Dhahab el-Gharbi, the western one of the twin Tulul adh-Dhahab tells, is a possible location. Mahanaim was said to be in the same general area as Jabesh-gilead.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 31: Jacob Flees From Laban

After two chapters of a silly farce that seemed to go nowhere, the story takes a dramatic turn. Astonishing that the suspense grips you across centuries of translations, redactions, and revisions.

God appears in this chapter via a dream to Laban:

24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

I’m pulled into the story and see the confrontation between Jacob and Laban. Laban manipulating Jacob and Jacob defending himself.

The gods that Rachel steals on their way out are statues that Laban keeps to represent his household gods. Stealing the statues of a city’s gods was an act of conquest in Mesopotamia, a symbol of humiliation and defeat.

Jacob’s dress down after Laban ransacks his camp looking for the stolen gods is riveting:

36 Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? 37 Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us.

38 “I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39 I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. 40 This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. 41 It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, and you changed my wages ten times. 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.”

Another fascinating part is Jacob setting up a stone as a pillar and having his party gather stones in a heap. They are creating a standing stone and a cairn, have a feast beside it, and use it to remember their treaty and to server as a boundary marker. These are Bronze Age shepherds and this is the first place I’ve seen where they’re carrying on a stone age tradition. It makes you think, how many of the cairns and standing stone scattered around the Middle East, Europe, and Scandinavia mark the site of a treaty between two warlords and are their boundary markers.

The Biblical place name Gilead means literally “heap of testimony/evidence” as does its Aramaic translation. In modern Hebrew, gal-‘ed is the actual word for “cairn”.

Gilead, where their confrontation takes, is the hill region east of the Jordan River in modern-day Jordan.

It is moving that God is in the background in this whole episode. Man is definitely getting deeper into their drama.

We never find out what happened to Laban’s stolen gods.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch

Genesis 30: Jacob and His Wives

This chapter reads like a TV drama. I’m sure great thinkers, theologians, monks and kabbalists have deciphered the symbolism of the machinations of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and Laban, but this is so fanciful, it could just be entertainment. One wonders how this episode made it into “the Holy Bible” if not just to add color and fun to the narative.

The wife-swapping and turning fertility on and off like a roulette wheel, tricking the goats to mate, and each character outwitting each other to get over is more in line with a Greek comedy.

By the end, we do have all the brothers of Joseph, Joseph himself, and one sister. And Jacob is a rich man.

Joseph is the next thread in our path to salvation and redemption.

Pax Hart Bible, Genesis, Pentateuch