The story of Joseph or of Jacob's sons?

We typically read Genesis 37-50 as the story of Joseph, and for good reason. The majority of these stories deal with the trials Joseph faces as he is sold by his brothers into slavery, goes to Egypt, and eventually becomes 2nd in command in Egypt and is able to save his family. We've heard these stories so many times that we just assume that the focus is on Joseph's life. However, then we read stories like Gen. 38 about Judah and Tamar and wonder why the author/editor would place such an unseemly interruption in the middle of the Joseph narrative. Although there are certainly several reasons for the placement of Gen. 38 (it is interesting that clothing plays a prominent role in the three stories of Gen. 37-39), perhaps the placement is due to the fact that this is not simply the story of Joseph.

All throughout Genesis there have been competitions between siblings for blessing and birthright (Ishmael/Isaac, Jacob/Esau, Cain/Abel). The stories at the end of Genesis are no different. Indeed, perhaps it is better to recognize the ending set of narratives as extending back into Gen. 34 and describe the end of Genesis as a tale about the sons of Jacob. With 12 sons, the competition for the blessing/birthright becomes very complicated and interesting given that the reader is expecting a younger sibling to receive it by this point. And, corresponding with expectations, the three oldest sons quickly disqualify themselves in chapters 34 and 35. The process has begun. Then, the oldest son of Rachel is sold into slavery, leaving only the younger at home. It is good to note that the fourth son, Judah, was instrumental in selling Joseph. He should now be out as well.

However, the author then catches us off guard by returning to Judah. Although we should be moving on to the next sons, the story tells the tale of Judah and Tamar. This story seems to function as a lesson for Judah as he recognizes his own faults and repents, claiming that Tamar is more righteous. We then return to Joseph, and then, again we find Judah in the foreground of the story. When attempting to take Benjamin to Egypt, it is Judah who is willing to make a personal sacrifice for the sake of his father and brother. It seems that Judah's heart has done a 180. It is also interesting that this is the second time that Reuben attempts to preserve the family (saving Joseph and protecting Benjamin) and is foiled. It becomes clear that Reuben is still out.

The climax comes when Jacob blesses his sons. Although he gives the birthright to the sons of Joseph, there is still a blessing to be dealt with. So, Jacob proceeds down the line and is begins as expected. Reuben, Simeon and Levi are out because of their sins. But then comes the surprise, Judah receives the blessing and a promise that he will rule over his brothers. Thus, the story of Israel begins--a story that will continue throughout the rest of the Bible. Therefore, perhaps we need to reexamine the end of Genesis and look at the story of all of Israel and not simply at the story of a single tribe.

The Hubris of Gen. 11

When we read the story of the Tower of Babel, we often speak about the pride that people exhibited in attempting to build a tower "that reaches to heaven." The story is often viewed as an attempt of humanity to storm the gates of heaven and to once again become like God. Indeed, the chiastic structure of the story would seem to support this:

11:1-4- Humanity gathers to build a tower to heaven
11:5- God "comes down" to see the city and the tower
11:6-9- The building up of the humans is ended

This is certainly one way to interpret the hubris exhibited in the story. However, there is also another way of reading the story. In this other interpretation, the hubris is not so much based on a vertical dimension, but rather on a horizontal dimension. In particular, we see in this story a denial of God's verdict to "fill the earth" (1:28; 8:17). In both stories of "creation" (the flood/Noah acts like a recreation story in many respects), God begins the new world with a command to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

In the Babel story, though, people "found a plain in Shinar and settled there" (v. 1), built a city (v. 4), all with the intent that they would "not be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (v. 4). It is particularly interesting, especially given the chiastic structure, that the last claim humans make before God comes down is that they will avoid being scattered. Similarly, it is intriguing that God's solution really does not center around the tower. The closest we come to dealing with the tower in the second half of the story is God's statement that "nothing they plan will be impossible for them." Otherwise, God seems to be dealing with the problem of the people gathering instead of scattering and filling the earth. Indeed, twice, in verses 8 and 9, God's solution is to "scatter them over all the earth."

Given this interpretation, the story is not simply a tale about humanity's sinful desire to become like God. Rather, it highlights the sinful desire to reject God's commands when it proves more comfortable to do so. To the people of Babel, building a city made perfect sense. It could provide security and a better life, allowing them to "make a name" for themselves. Meanwhile, God's command to "fill the earth" was risky and forced them to face the unknown (similar to the call of Abram to go to an undefined land). Nonetheless, this story also stresses God's sovereignty. Despite human rejection of God's command, God's will shall be accomplished one way or another, in this case by the confusing of languages that forced humans to scatter and separate.

Posts for Scriptures I

Hey everyone,

This post is mainly just to signal that the posts after this one (until December) will be for a class (Scriptures I). If you're not in the class, feel free to read them and join the discussion. If you are in the class, just be aware that all the posts before this one do not relate to class material (although you are free to read them as well). Thanks. Hope that helps. Grace and peace!

Answers to Prayer

So, as Christians, we usually try to pray fairly often. Sadly, we don't pray as much as we probably should (but that's another topic for another time). When we do pray, though, what do we expect? Do we expect God to answer us? Recently, I've been convicted about this. It seems easy for me to pray for God to move in my life, but then get up and never give a second thought to that prayer during the day.

Now, of course, when we pray, God often acts in a way that we don't expect, but this does not mean that He is not responding. Indeed, Biblical stories seem to imply that when God's people cry to Him, He is faithful to give a response (whether it's what they wanted or not). So, in our prayer life, when we pray, do we expect a response? Or is our prayer life something that we just ritually go through to give us some comfort? If we ask God to move, to we keep our eyes open to the world around us to see where He does show up? Or do we treat these movements as distractions to our routine? It seems we need to take our prayer more seriously. After all, we are entering into dialogue with the God who created the universe. If we pray and don't act in a way that shows a readiness to hear/see a response, then we insult God's power and faithfulness to answer.

Lessons from Porn

Here is a really good post that I read at another blog. It takes a recent development within the porn industry and makes some intriguing (and I think appropriate) comments about our society as a whole. Here is the link to the blog:

http://qideas.org/blog/meet-roxxxy.aspx

To a Magic Foreign Land

"Christ is risen from the dead,
and he's standing on my bed
Come away, come away to a magic foreign land."

This chorus was made up by one of my friends before he was able to figure out the words to Matt Maher's song, "Christ is Risen." The actual words go as follows:

"Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake,
come and rise up from the grave."

Just a little different from my friend's chorus. However, as I was thinking about it, the revised version seems to echo what many American Christians believe. I don't want to imply that this is necessarily what my friend believes (he was just putting forth nonsense words), but sadly many Christians do believe this way. Instead of realizing the implications of Jesus' resurrection as the first-fruits of out resurrection, many Christians prefer to believe in a gnostic view of the afterlife. They choose to believe that, after death, all that happens is we fly away to heaven and live with God forever. But this is not what the Bible teaches.

The Bible firmly teaches a life after life after death. That's the whole point of the resurrection. We will not exist as disembodied spirits. In the end, when God restores all things, our bodies will be physically raised. This is the hope of Easter--or do we not believe that Jesus was actually raised? As NT Wright puts it in his book, Surprised By Hope, to only hope for a spiritual existence in a world far from earth means that death is victorious. Death still reigns because it has defeated creation and our physical bodies. But the Resurrection of Christ promises that God will redeem His creation. The physical world that He created in the beginning will not be abandoned to death and decay while we rest in some "magic foreign land."

Instead, as Maher's song beautifully points out, the Christ's Resurrection was God's was of trampling over death. Death does not reign, so let us come awake to this fact and live appropriately while we await that glorious day of recreation.