The Weirdness of our Forefathers

The Skinny:

Chapter 17 - Sarah gives birth to Isaac [which means "he laughs"] and God makes a 3rd covenant. This one is a little below the belt. That very day, Abraham goes out and has every male in his household circumcised. Chapter 18 - The Lord appears to Abraham as 3 men. Abraham has a meal prepared for the Lord and pulls out all the stops. Sarah overhears them talking [predicting that she will bear a son] and she laughs at the idea. Then, when confronted, Sarah denies laughing because she's afraid. Next, there is this fascinating scene where God wants to destroy Sodom and Abraham bargains with him - using phrases such as "Far be it for you to do such a thing-to kill the righteous with the wicked." The Lord allows this banter and in the end agrees that if there are even 10 righteous people in Sodom, he will not destroy the town. Chapter 19 - Two angels show up in Sodom and some really bad stuff happens. Lot urges them not to stay in the town square, fearing for their safety. He finally talks them into coming home with him, and then the men of the town practically beat down his door. They are apparently obsessed with raping these angels. Lot offers to give these evil men his virgin daughters instead. Just as they are about to break down the door, the angels afflict the wicked men with blindness. An intense action scene follows where the angels hurry Lot and his family out of the town and tell him to go to the mountains. But he doesn't want to go to the mountains and pleads with them to let him go to a little town. Lot's wife looks back on Sodom and is turned into a pillar of salt. Lot is afraid, and apparently changes his mind about the mountains, leaving the town to flee to them. Then it gets even weirder when his daughters get him drunk and have sex with him so that they can procreate. Chapter 20 - Abraham meets Abimelech king of Gerar, and again he pulls the whole "She's not my wife, she's my sister" bit. And so Abimelech takes Sarah but then has a dream where God exclaims, "No - wait! You don't want to do that!" Abimelech confronts Abraham and Abe skirts the issue saying "Actually, she really is my sister." Chapter 21 - Isaac is born! Sarah kicks Hagar and Ishmael out of her house and God tells Abraham to listen to her. Hagar and Ishmael end up in the desert very near death and the Lord shows up and saves them with a well. Scene shift - Abraham and Abimelech make a treaty [at Beersheba] to resolve a quarrel about a well. Chapter 22 - God tells Abraham to go offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham listens and is just about to drop the knife when The Angel of the Lord shows up and stops him, repeating the covenant. After that, we get a little excerpt about Abraham's brother's sons which foreshadows Isaac's future wife. Chapter 23 - At 127, Sarah dies. Abraham goes to the Hittites and insists on paying them for the plot of land to bury his wife. Chapter 24 - Abraham asks his servant to swear that he will go back to Abraham's hometown to pick a wife for Isaac. The text notes that if the woman will not agree to come, the servant is freed from the oath. The servant prays and God answers that prayer - enter Rebekah - Isaac's bride-to-be. Chapter 25 - We find out that Abraham took another wife and that he had concubines - and a whole mess of other kids. Then, Abraham passes away at the "good old age" of 175. We get a little excerpt on the sons of Ishmael, his death and that he lived to be 137. Another scene shift - Rebekah is barren, but Isaac prays for her and she becomes pregnant with twins! Enter Jacob [meaning he grasps the heel [or figuratively, he deceives]] and Esau [which may mean hairy]. The Lord tells Rebekah that the older one will serve the younger. We are told that the parents have favorites. Isaac loves Esau and Rebekah loves Jacob. Next, Esau sells his birthright to his brother for some stew. Chapter 26 - Freaky deja vu. Like father like son. Isaac tells Abimelech that Rebekah is his sister. But then they're caught getting up close and personal. Abimelech calls him out and orders his men not to touch either of them. They too make a treaty a Beersheba. Chapter 27 - Isaac is aging and blind. He wants to bless Esau before her dies so he tells him to go hunt down something tasty and fix it for him [so Esau can then receive his blessing]. But Rebekah overhears and convinces Jacob to go and pretend to be Esau so he can get the blessing. He even puts on goatskin to become hairy like his brother. Which raises the question, just how hairy was this guy? Jacob succeeds and gets the blessing. Esau comes back - no blessing for him. He is devastated and wants to kill his brother. Rebekah suggests Jacob gets the heck out of there until Esau cools down, and so, Jacob flees. Chapter 28 - While on the lamb, Jacob has a dream and encounters God in a very real and powerful way.

Wow. That's some crazy stuff. It begs the question - what the heck??

Crazy stuff.

I have enlisted a couple books that are way smarter than I am: How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth and How to Read the Bible Book by Book both by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.

The first one has a really great chapter on biblical narratives - what they are and what they aren't. I thought, since Genesis is packed with narratives, this might be a good time to reference them.

What Biblical Narratives Are

In essence, they are "purposeful stories retelling historical events" [pg. 90]. I mentioned yesterday that God is the ultimate protagonist. Satan and evil people/powers are the antagonists and folks working with God are the agonists. Every narrative has a plot and characters.

Also, there are 3 levels to the biblical narrative [pg. 91]. The 3rd level was basically described above - a Great Big God leading his people to redemption. The 2nd level is the idea that God is redeeming people for his name - twice - by the former covenant and the "new" covenant [ie: Jesus]. The 1st level is all the little narratives [what Scot Mcknight calls "Wiki-Stories"].

I know I'm getting little teachy here, but I think keeping the levels in mind helps to read the bible as Story.

What Biblical Narratives Are NOT

- Allegories or stories filled with hidden meaning [though they do often have an "implied" meaning - one with cultural context that would have been obvious to the original listeners]

- Intended to teach a moral lesson [this is key - these are accounts of the lives of real people! [I can only imagine if someone sat down and read my life]]

Ha. Okay. Now that we got that out of the way, we can get to the good stuff. I feel an apology about length coming on . . .

Sorry!

My Comments, Questions, and Wonderment

I'm not sure I fully understand the whole circumcision thing. But, then again, I'm not sure I'm supposed to [nor am I sure Abraham fully grasped it either - gentlemen, can you imagine being circumcised right now? At 100??] I think the main point here is obedience. We don't get all of God's reasoning. We don't have to. We just have to trust God, listen and do what he says.

Phyllis Tickle [in a teaching about the Holy Spirit at Mars Hill Bible Church] said the story of the 3 visitors is the first reference we have to the Trinity. Here, it is clearly stated that there are 3 - and yet the 3 are referred to in the singular form.

The story of Lot and his family is just bizarre. My brain can't handle going into all the gory details right now. So, I'll just address Lot's wife. Because she seems to really get the raw end of the deal, right? Lot offers his virgin daughters to sex fiends and the daughters get their father drunk and take advantage of him. And neither offensive offense seems to warrant so much as a cough from God. But Lot's wife turns around and gets turned into a pillar of salt [of all the weird ways to die]! I've heard it said that the punishment was so harsh because she effectively was looking back longingly - as if wanting to return to her old evil ways. There is no doubt that sick sexual sin was abundant in Sodom. But honestly, I really don't get it.

The Abraham /Isaac dealings with Abimelech ["She's my sister.", "Let's make a treaty."] seemed odd to me. Is this the same guy? Did he really fall for the sister gag twice?

Did Abraham know that God was going to stop him from sacrificing his son? He seemed so ready and willing for whatever God had in store. As a mother, I was deeply moved by this story. It's a breathtaking example of obedience and trust on the part of Abraham.

Abraham having concubines is difficult for me. I know it was a way different culture. And I know that it doesn't mean God is condoning it - narratives, as previously stated, simply give a true account. And I know God doesn't pick people on their own merit. Still, my inner feminist is sulking a little bit.

A theme that keeps coming up [from How to Read the Bible Book by Book] - God often chooses the younger, or weaker, or most unlikely to bear the righteous seed. I like that a lot.

Okay, really, who sells their birthright for some soup? And, honestly! Just how hairy was this guy?

Seems like an odd place to end, but I think I've run out of comments. It's about time.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Tomorrow's reading: Genesis 29:1-40:23.

In the Beginning . . .

Hi. And Wow. Welcome to the Bible. I am a little nervous [luckily you can't tell because you can't see me - haha]. A lot of people checked out this blog today. I'm not really used to that.

It makes me really happy! But it also makes me kind of queasy. I'm a little afraid I'm going to totally botch the Good Book. Pray for me. And let me know if something I say if way out in left field.

Okay, folks, hold on to your nickers. Here we go!

Quick little warning: This blog has to introduce the story of the Bible, the Old Testament [or the Hebrew Bible] and, of course, delve into the first 16 chapters of Genesis, um, so, it may run a bit long.

The Bible as Story

I just finished The Blue Parakeet. Author Scot Mcknight explains how to read the Bible as a grand Story about the ultimate Protagonist, God. I lent the book to my bestest, so I'm at a slight a disadvantage in referencing from it. But I found the part I was looking for at this review by Pascialian Awakenings.

The Big Picture

1. God and creation
2. Adam and Eve as Eikons who crack the Eikon
3. God’s covenant community, where humans are restored to God, self, others, ad the world
4. Jesus Christ, who is the Story and in whose story we are to live
5. The church as Jesus’ covenant community
6. The consummation, when all the designs of our Creator God will finally be realized forever and ever.

Note: He really likes the word "Eikon" and I'm sure he has a really deep sense of purpose for doing so. I find it a little confusing, since I'm not familiar with the word and it fails to register in my brain. Basically, he means "image" so when you see "Eikon" think "Image".

The OT [or the Hebrew Bible - but doesn't OT sound much more gangster?]

It gets a bad rap. It's boring. And when it's not boring God is telling people to commit genocide. It's really long. And, well, honestly, what the heck does it have to do with our lives today?

I got really lucky. When I first began to follow Jesus, I stumbled upon this Bible study at this guy's house and it was full of amazing young Christians passionate about loving God and each other. We were working our way through the Bible, chapter by chapter each week, starting in Genesis. I remember every week being blown away by something new. It was ridiculous. And wonderful. James-Michael [the amazing guy who held and led the Bible study] is knowledgeable beyond reason. And he was passionate about the Old Testament. He taught me to love it, to wrestle with it and ultimately, to read it. Actually, you know what? If it weren't for that Bible study, I may not be writing this blog.

Here's the point I hope I'm making: The Bible is hard. God is ridiculous [in a good way]. There is some crazy stuff in the Old Testament. But there is rhythm and reason to the madness. And it's a little bit amazing.

Genesis 1:1-16:16

My husband, Jermaine, suggested I synopsi-size you with the skinny at the start of each blog. Seems like a pretty good idea. So, here:

Chapter 1 - God is the ultimate creative genius - and it was good. Chapter 2 - God finishes his masterpiece and rests, then the text seems to go back a bit and elaborate on this beautiful creation. The chapter finishes with a woman being made to be a companion for the man. Chapter 3 - Ergh. She screws up big time and because of that God doles out a fair amount of curses. Chapter 4 - Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, show up. Abel's offering pleases God. Cain's offering doesn't. So, Cain does the logical thing. He kills his brother. Another curse from God, followed by Cain's family line. Chapter 5 - Geneology from Adam to Noah. Chapter 6 - God is not so happy with the state of man's heart, so God sends a flood to kill everyone except Noah, who is commanded to build an ark for himself, his family, and all the animals. Noah listens. Chapter 7 - They enter the ark and God sends rain for 150 days. Chapter 8 - This is all about them waiting until the water has gone down enough for them to leave the ark. Chapter 9 - God makes the first covenant - one for all people [never again will he kill off everyone]. Sign of the covenant - a rainbow. Then, Noah drinks too much and ends up naked. His son, Ham, sees him and so, when Noah wakes up he curses Canaan [Ham's son] and blesses Shem and Japheth [Noah's two other sons]. Chapter 10 - Noah's family line. Chapter 11 - People decide to build this huge tower to reach to heaven. God is not excited about this and so he decides to confuse their language. Next, we go back to the business of lineage and come to see how one goes from Shem to Abram. Chapter 12 - Abram is introduced with a covenant from God [talk about an entrance]. This is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. Also, there's a famine in the land, so Abram goes to Egypt for food. While he's there he lies and tells Pharaoh that Sarai, his wife, is his sister because he's afraid Pharaoh will kill him and try to take her if he doesn't. Chapter 13 - Abram and Lot [his nephew] go their separate ways to help nip a family feud in the bud. Lot picks the good land. Chapter 14 - There is some sort of huge war going on, Lot gets caught up in it and Abram comes to his rescue. Sometime shortly after, Melchizadek, priest of the God Most High, appears with bread and wine. And there is some foreshadowing in regards to tithe. Chapter 15 - Again, God promises to bless Abram and his offspring [the ones he doesn't have yet]. Abram asks how and God answers by putting him in a deep dark sleep and telling him about the horrors of slavery that his ancestors will inevitably have to face. Chapter 16 - Here we find out that Sarai is barren and antsy. She has her servant sleep with Abram to bear his seed. It all blows up in her face. Hagar, her servant, despises her, Sarai is jealous and abuses Hagar [and blames Abram]. Hagar runs away but God comforts her and tells her to go back. He gives her a name for her son and says he will be a "wild donkey of a man". We end here, with the birth of Ishmael. Abram is 86.

It's 2:27am. I don't have to be up super early tomorrow, but I'm going to have to work on starting earlier if I want to still blog on mornings where I do. I told Jermaine how this whole thing was progressing so far and he gave me friendly warning about length. I promise to try to keep things as short and sweet as possible [after this blog, of course].

Now for the fun part, tho.

Every time I crack open Genesis I encounter a deep longing to close my eyes and have the story read to me. Rob Bell takes this image further in his book Jesus Wants to Save Christians as he invites his readers to picture a campfire scene and a young girl asking for someone to tell the story of how the world began. Her uncle pipes up, "In the beginning . . . " I can see it all vividly. The Bible was originally intended to be heard and not seen. It began as a story passed down from generation to generation. I love my Bible [dearly!] - I love marking in it and pouring over it and pulling it out to reference some obscure passage that's on my mind. But, still, I think, as with many things so readily available in our modern society, we've lost something. A little bit of magic.

One of the coolest things from chapter 2 - we're made from dust and the breath of God.

I looked up "sons of God" and Nephilim in the Apologetics Study Bible. KJV popularized translating Nephilim as "giants" [as opposed to just tall people]. The sons of God could refer to a barbaric warrior class of people or Seth's chosen descendants intermarrying with the wicked Canaanite women [ pg. 15].


What's up with Noah getting drunk and then cursing his grandson [who had nothing to do with it]? I always thought he'd cursed his son. He's the one who saw him naked [btw - if you saw someone naked back in the OT, shame on you - not them]!

One of my secret ridiculous ambitions is to learn all of the languages in the world. But it seems a little too tower of Babelish, right?

I love how the priest Melchizadek is thrown into this random war scene in Chapter 14 and is all about sitting back and chillaxing with bread and wine. I think [I don't want to read into it but I think I've heard this before] that there is some definite communion foreshadowing going on here.

In the covenant with Abram, God says God is Abram's "very great reward". I just love that. Also, important to note he was blessed to be a blessing vessel. I think that's the big picture idea for us - we get blessed to bless. God is a freaking genius.

Whoa, "wild donkey of a man"?! Hagar seems way comforted, but I don't know about you, if God told me that about my son, I don't think I'd feel better.

I marked these pages all up and there is more I could ponder, but enough is enough, right? And this is enough.

Night!

Ooh - almost forgot [actually I did forget - this is an edit] - tomorrow's reading: Genesis 17:1 - 28:22. :)

Introducing: The Bible!

Do you ever decide to take a project on and then get started and realize you're in way over your head?

I do. All the time.

In fact, that exact situation sounds vaguely familiar at this very moment.

But, there's no turning back now. Er, well, that's not entirely true. I could most certainly turn back. Or at the very least stop typing. But I'm excited about this and even though I'm just beginning to understand how time consuming this whole thing is going to be, I still want to do it!

Call me crazy. I'll probably answer.

So, as it turns out, I'm blogging the Bible.

I think I originally planned to just dive into the first bit of Genesis. But, as I went to do just that, it seemed so unnatural [that sounds wrong]. I decided that what I really need is an introduction, the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, if you will.

Now, I'm guessing you know the Who and the What [[if not, just take a gander at the title of this blog]. The When is, I hope, mostly every day for the next 90 days. If that becomes too overwhelming for me, I might switch things up a bit - but I'll keep you posted [I love that about blogs - they can be ever-evolving]. The Where is probably my couch, and, of course, here, in my own little corner of cyberspace. The How is only with God's help.

The Why is where it gets interesting. Let me just say, I am no scholar. I'm just a girl, standing in front of a book asking what the heck it's all about. My friend Meghan suggested I take it a little bit slower - a day to read, a day to reflect and a day to write the blog - the 9 month approach. I thought about it A LOT. I thought maybe I'd add an extra day to reflect [or go to the beach] and make it a cool year. Or perhaps I could cut out reflecting all together and do it in 6 months. After all, 90 days is a pretty short time to read and write about the most provocative book in the world.

I've been mulling all this over for the past month, trying to take all things into consideration. And then it hit me. This is not what this is about! This whole crazy idea began first and foremost as a way to accomplish a long time goal of reading the Bible all the way through! The blogging was just an aid, it's the reading that's supposed to take center stage.

I've heard people say they read the Bible all the way through and they don't even remember chunks of it. Here's hoping I remember chunks.

Plus, I'd love this to be a journey we can go on together. I'm very social that way. So I'll be posting what I'm going to read tomorrow at the end of each entry - you can follow along at your own pace.

If you are interested in a more scholarly approach, I want to help with that, too! So, I'll be researching and adding similar blogs from smarter people somewhere on the side. Also, I'm definitely open to suggestions.

Tomorrow, fingers crossed, I will have read Genesis 1:1 - Genesis 16: 16 and will be ready to right about it.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading my blog. I think this is going to be fun.