G2R (Genesis to Revelation)

Are you biblically literate?

Each Sunday morning from 10:00 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. Emmanuel adults gather in the Parish House to continue our adventure through the Bible.

Our primary purpose is to familiarize everyone with the overall sweep of the Biblical drama and to recognize the principal historical, theological, cultural and ethical themes inherent therein. While most of us know many stories from the Bible, we are less certain about how everything fits comprehensively together.

Come join in the discussion led by the Rev. Dr. David Smith of the sweeping drama of the Biblical story as told from Genesis to Revelation.

(Note - G2R will recess for the summer following the class on May 31st.)

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Class Notes and Upcoming Topics

From time to time, Dr. Smith and members of the class will write in this space about recent class discussions and upcoming class topics.

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Beginning the Gospel According to Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew was written during the period ~75 – 80 CE. The writer of Matthew relied heavily on Mark’s Gospel and other oral traditions while adding material not covered in Mark’s Gospel including:

• The Birth narratives
• The Sermon on the Mount
• The Golden Rule

Matthew portrays Jesus as the Messiah fulfilling the Jewish scriptures. He begins with a genealogy linking Jesus back to David and Abraham. Matthew’s genealogy is unique among biblical genealogies in that it includes five women, including foreign women and women of ill repute – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), and Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Matthew’s universal genealogy depicts Jesus as a figure of great hope who also arose from common flawed stock – male and female; gentile and Jew; flawed and virtuous. Jesus is the Messiah for all peoples; from whatever background they may have come.

Mark's Audience

The writer of Mark is almost certainly a non-Jew writing for non-Jews.

The first person whose testimony is recorded after Jesus' death is a Roman centurion - a pagan (non-Jewish) person in authority; i.e., most of the people who will buy into Jesus will be gentiles, not Jews.

The Money Changers - The People's Hearts are Corrupt

The Temple Court was like a modern day shopping mall.  People had to exchange the money which they had brought with them for currency which could be used in the Temple.

The Sadducees were colluding with the animal merchants.

Only the Sadducees could certify animals to be used in Temple sacrifices. They would declare people's animals unfit for sacrifice and send the people to animal merchants in the courtyard. These merchants would exchange the unacceptable animals for clean ones - for a fee plus the old animal.

Then these merchants would turnaround and re-sell the traded in animals to the next customer.

Jesus was not objecting to the presence of the money changers per se but to the corruption and collusion which had overtaken the Temple.

Mark's Intentions

Mark does not write to be evangelical. Rather, he writes to engage the people where they were with what they needed in that moment.

During this first century period of persecution and anxiety, the people needed divine empathy. Jesus becomes the sufferer.

The stories portrayed in Mark are consistent with stories of God’s interaction with people throughout the Bible.

Mark’s Agenda – Part 2: Jesus as the Mis-understood Son of God

Chaps. 1-8:21 – the Gospel of Power

Chaps. 8:22 – Chap 16 – the Gospel of Suffering

Setting –

• Sick people were demon possessed.
• Death was a mystery.
• Many things were uncontrollable such as nature, etc.

Who understands what Jesus is about?

• God, Jesus, the demons, the readers,
• But not family, the people, or the disciples.

Mark 8:21 “Do you not yet understand?”

Mark 8:22-26 story of gradual healing represents the stages of understanding and clarity of vision.

Tell no one.

• Jesus is not the Messiah, the political savior
• He did not want his message overwhelmed by acts, signs, and wonders

Mark’s Agenda

The writer of Mark’s Gospel has a clear agenda – Jesus is the authoritative Son of God, illustrated by the stories he tells:

• Inherent, charismatic authority – calling of the disciples
• Teaching with authority – engaging, life-changing versus the cold, academic teaching of the scribes
• Authority over demons – healing of the man possessed by unclean spirits
• Authority over death – raising Lazarus
• Authority over nature – calming the storm

Jesus is universally opposed and mis-understood. Jesus does not oppose the Jewish law but seeks to interpret it more realistically, focusing on the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law.

Jesus also appears on the scene at the collision of the conflict between the Hellenistic view of the individual and the Eastern philosophy that the well being of the community is paramount.

Jewish Religious Groups of Jesus’ Day

Scribes – the literate elite, the professors. (More than 90% of the people were illiterate.)

Pharisees – Jews strongly committed to maintaining the Torah and the “purity” laws. Appear to be primary opponents of Jesus. Much more prominent late in the first century when the gospels were being written than they were during Jesus’ time. Paul was a Pharisee.

Herodians – possibly Jewish collaborators with the kings (Herods) appointed by the Romans.

Sadducees – wealthy, upper class Jews. The sacrificial priests, politically quiet with the Romans, in charge of the Sanhedrin (the religious court)

Chief Priests – upper class of Jewish priesthood. Operated the Temple, supervised the Sadducees, had the ear of the Roman governor.

High Priest – the religious and civil authority in the absence of a king

Essenes – a conservative religious group focused on monasticism and repentance. John the Baptist was likely an Essene.

Zealots – first century terrorists, radical Jews opposed to the Romans.

The Gospel According to Mark

Mark was literate and well educated compared to most early Christians who were poor and illiterate. The Gospels were intended to be read by those who could read to those who could not.

The word Christ in Mark 1:1 is not a name but rather it means “the Messiah” to the Jews or “the anointed one” to the Greeks. For the Jews, the Messiah was the one who would come, like King David, to restore the Jewish people to their rightful place and kingdom. In both instances, Mark is using the term to call attention to what is to follow as something important to which his readers should pay attention.

Mark opens by quoting the prophet Isaiah, and then jumps to John the Baptist, and then to Jesus. Mark apparently did not know the birth narratives either because the virgin birth stories had not yet been made up or because they had not yet been associated with Jesus. (There were many stories of “sons of god” in the Greek world as well as in the Jewish world – a man after God’s own heart like King David. Many of these stories were about men who claimed to have been born of a virgin.)

Baptism was a ceremonial Jewish cleansing rite. John the Baptist did not invent it. John was probably a member of the Essenes, a conservative Jewish religious group who lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, and abstinence from worldly pleasures.

John would also have known Jesus very well. They were cousins and had likely spent much time together growing up and as young men.

The Hebrew word for “spirit” also means “breath” and “wind.”

The nature of God is like the wind. We can feel it but not see it. We can see and feel its effects. The wind can be like a gentle breeze or fierce like a hurricane.

The Gospels should be thought of as Greco-Roman biography, which was a particular literary form during that era. Its purpose was to portray the spirit and soul of a person, not to record the historical facts of a person’s life.

The Western world has been so co-opted by the scientific method and its demand for historical accuracy that we forget how just how big God is.

Beginning our study of the Gospels

Mark is believed by scholars to be the first gospel written around 65 CE. Matthew and Luke followed between 80 and 85 CE with John appearing around 95 CE.  The Gnostic gospels, which are not part of our New Testament, appeared early in the second century, around 130 CE.

All the Gospel writers wrote in Greek, the written language of the educated classes; Jesus preached and spoke Aramaic, the dialect of blue collar Galilee. The first Gospel was written during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero – the only Roman emperor intolerant of Christianity. It was a period of terror for Christians.

The Gospel writers wrote anonymously. Names, such as Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, were assigned to ascribe credibility to the gospels, a common and acceptable literary practice in those days.

None of the Gospel writers were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life and death. The Gospels were based on the oral traditions of the early Christian communities (Luke 1:1-4). The stories about Jesus were told to illustrate important religious and moral truths, not to set out exact historical details.

As scribes copied the Gospels, the stories changed over time. Each account must be examined on its own merits.

Jesus and the pretenders

During Jesus’ time, there were many pretenders claiming to be the Son of God including stories of their virgin births, performing miracles, and their deaths and resurrections.

During this period, 90% or more of the people were illiterate and easily victimized by charlatans. Yet, Jesus was the only one who gained lasting adherents.

The Jewish tradition in the first century

The Jewish tradition contained several concepts that were unique to Judaism in the first century world:

1. Religious hierarchy
2. Doctrinal statements
3. Ethical commitment
4. Sacred written texts
5. Belief in an afterlife
6. Strong church – state separation
7. Exclusivity – a unique commitment to one God

Understanding the cultural context of Jesus’ time

In the Greco-Roman world of the first century, Hellenist thought had shifted the focus from the good of the community to the rights of the individual. Judaism, on the other hand, while tiny in numbers in the context of the Roman world, remained Eastern in its orientation and firmly focused on the good of the community.

There was no middle class in the Jewish world of the first century. The upper class represented maybe 1% of the population while the remaining 99% were poor and without any prospect of social mobility. Maybe a third of this lower class were slaves. There were no cures for diseases and the infant mortality rate was very high.

Most non-Jewish peoples worshiped many gods. There were national gods, local gods, and demi-gods. The purpose of religion was to secure a good life in the here and now (there was no sense of an after-life) through the performance of cultic acts of prayer and sacrifice to please the gods who would in turn provide for the people who worshiped them. People routinely worshiped each other’s gods lest one of the gods be offended.

The church and the state were regularly intertwined as both aimed for prosperous, meaningful lives.

Opening the New Testament

With a survey of the Old Testament as a back drop, the class has turned to the New Testament beginning with the Gospels.

Most early Christians believed that Jesus would return during their life time. As a result they relied initially on oral stories to convey Jesus’ message of salvation to other people.

These oral traditions began to be replaced by written accounts beginning in the late 50’s A.D. for several reasons including:

• The timing of Jesus return was becoming less clear,
• The disciples and other eyewitnesses who had seen Jesus personally were beginning to die,
• Christians needed a faith literature to help distinguish them from the Jews, and
• A written faith literature also helped to build cohesion and continuity within the Christian community

The Pauline letters were written between 55 and 58 A.D. followed by Mark’s Gospel during the period 60 – 65 A.D.

Preparing for Christianity

Jesus ministry lasted only about three years. But the Pax Romana experienced in Palestine during the period 70 BC to 120 AD connected the Jewish people to the rest of the known world and created conditions conducive to the spread of Christianity including:

• A common language – Konie Greek became the common language of commerce throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and the Roman Empire.

• A common currency – common use of the Roman coin generated incredible trade and migrations of people throughout the region.

• A network of roads – the Romans built an extensive system of roads, which were well protected by Roman garrisons.

• Secure shipping lanes – the Romans also quelled piracy on the seas.

As a result, people and information could move quickly throughout the region. Christianity grew from a tiny sect in a backwater region to the official religion of the empire in about 300 years!

Hellenism

Hellenism was a major philosophical paradigm shift. Prior to Hellenism the role of the individual was to serve the well being of the community. Afterwards, the focus shifted to the well being of the individual.

This change was also reflected in art. Prior to Hellenism, art tended to portray community scenes in friezes with individuals having flat eyes – no pupils, no individuality. With Hellenism, art shifted to the creation of individual statues and later on the statutes depicted people with complete eyes including pupils.

Western culture begins to exhibit self-reflective individuals while Eastern cultures continue to focus pre-dominantly on the well being of the community.

Early Christianity mixes these notions together through the notion that all individual gifts should be used or exploited for the benefit of the community.

The Invaders

The period from 722 BC until the birth of Jesus was an exceedingly volatile time for the Hebrew people as they experienced a continuing series of invasions and domination by neighboring empires.

• 722 BC – the Assyrians invade the Northern Kingdom forcing some Hebrews to live among the Assyrians resulting in intermarrying and the rise of the Samaritans.

• 586 BC – the Babylonians burn Jerusalem to the ground and drive all of the Jewish leadership (priests, merchants, etc.) into exile in Babylon. The rationale: Separate the people from their land and you separate them from their God.

• 536 BC – next come the Persians under Cyrus. Cyrus lets the Hebrews go home. But without a king or an army, the Hebrews have no leadership – few wish to return to a difficult life in Palestine where other peoples have now moved in. The Diaspora begins with the Hebrew people spreading throughout the known world.

• 386 BC – here come the Greeks under Alexander. Although Alexander was a brilliant military strategist, he was a terrible administrator who managed by force.

• 75 – 80 BC – the Romans arrive bringing the land of Israel under the Pax Romana with administrative stability enforced through its legions and wealth.

The Era of Invasions

On February 8, the Class will commence a series on the Era of Invasions.

 

The period from 722 to the birth of Jesus was a volatile time in Israel's history. Assyria invaded the northern kingdom in 722 BC and dominated the region until 586 BC while extracting tribute from Judah to avoid a similar fate.

The Prophet Hosea

Hosea is a lived prophecy rather than a spoken (written) prophecy like Amos.

Hosea and Amos were contemporaries. While Amos was from the southern kingdom (Judah) sent to prophesy in the northern kingdom (Israel), Hosea was a northerner speaking to northerners.

Hosea was instructed by God to take Gomer, a harlot, as his wife. Gomer bore him three children named at the Lord’s direction:

• Jezreel – “I will put an end to the house of Israel.” Ch 1:4

• Not pitied – “for I will no more have pity on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.” Ch 1:6

• Not my people – “for you are not my people and I am not your God.” Ch 1:8

Hosea is also the prophet of God’s love. When Gomer strays and is put up for sale on the slave block, Hosea buys her back. Hosea speaks to the nature of the relationship between God and people.

Ch 6:6 – “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

Amos in the Days of Uzziah and Jeroboam

Amos and the other prophets arose during the period 922 – 722 BC. Both kingdoms (Judah and Israel) had turned away from God to focus on their own self-interests. The prophets were: students of history and astute observers of the present. They had an agenda and were culturally confrontational

Amos is a written prophecy (probably by a scribe) based on tales about Amos. Although not literally true, it is an accurate representation of the kingdoms’ social dimension and Israel’s sins

Amos’ theme (Ch 5:24) – “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

In the Hebrew tradition (unlike in the West), justice and righteousness were synonymous: to understand the will of God in this moment. While Western justice is deliberately blind, righteousness looks at everything involved – do what you think is right according to God’s will.

Amos was the prophet of God’s righteousness -  it included the people’s attitude, not just their adherence to the letter and spirit of the law.

Demise of the United Kingdom

I Kings 12 –

After Solomon, the kingdom was split by the rivalry between his two sons.

Rehoboam, succeeding his father Solomon and counseled by the old men to lighten the burdens of the people, instead followed the urgings of his peers and vowed to increase their burden. The people rebelled, and Rehoboam and his followers fled to Jerusalem from which he ruled over Judah.

The people called his brother Jeroboam to rule over the rest of Israel from Shechem.

Israel, the northern kingdom, was the wealthier of the two kingdoms because of its proximity to the great trading routes. But there was no middle class – only the very wealthy and the very poor.

Judah, the southern kingdom, languished lacking only trade routes with Egypt, which were soon cut off by the Egyptians. As a poor country, Judah also lacked Israel’s great disparity in incomes.

Both kingdoms, with few exceptions, suffered from progressively worse kings.

Elijah – the prototypical prophet

Elijah came to prominence during the reign of Ahab, one of the most evil of Israel’s kings. He was fearless in calling out Ahab for forsaking the commandments of the Lord and following the Baals (heathen gods). (I Kings 18:18)

Elijah challenged Ahab to a contest between Baal and the God of Abraham as to which would send down fire to consume competing sacrifices. The 450 priests of Baal could not produce any fire while Elijah called down fire, which consumed the offering, the altar, and even the stones and the water in a trench surrounding the altar.

Ordering the people to seize the prophets of Baal, Elijah killed them all at the brook Kishon.

The First Hebrew Kings

Recent classes have traced the transition of Israel from the rule of judges to a unified nation ruled by kings. (I and II Samuel, I Kings)

Saul, the rustic first king anointed by Samuel (last of the judges) upon the insistence of the people, enjoys initial military success but loses his throne and right of succession because of missteps, bad judgments, and rebellion against God.

At God’s direction, Samuel anoints the young David to succeed Saul as king. David becomes the architect of the kingdom uniting the tribes and defending their lands against the incursions of adjacent peoples. He establishes his capital at Jerusalem and subsequently moves the Ark of the Covenant there. David’s reign becomes one of the most vital periods in Israel’s history.

David’s downfall begins with his affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, compounded by sending Uriah to his death in battle. God delivers his judgment on David’s behavior through the prophet Nathan’s story of the rich man and the poor man. After seeking and receiving God’s forgiveness, David becomes a permissive parent, his court goes into decline, and his family falls apart.

In the midst of much court intrigue and at the urging of Bathsheba and Nathan, David orders Nathan to anoint Solomon king after him. Despite the story of the two women who claimed the same baby, Solomon shows little wisdom and no common touch.

Born to the pampering of royalty, Solomon goes on a building campaign using conscripted labor and heavy taxes, marries the daughters of many of the surrounding kings, and builds temples to their (foreign) gods, thus polluting both the royal bloodline and the religion of the Israelites.

Judges in the Old Testament

The Judges of the Old Testament are the men (and at least one woman) who ruled Israel between the time of Joshua and King Saul, a period of some 200 years from 1200 BCE to 1000 BCE.

Some of the prominent judges of the era were Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, and Sampson.  The judges were not elected officials but instead rose to power by the force of personality and the presence of God’s spirit.  They were able to:

• settle disputes,
  
• interpret God’s law and also
  
• lead in battle.
  

The Book of Judges records a repetitious and grueling cycle of rebellion and return by the Hebrew people:

1. The people forsake God
2. The people are weakened
3. God sends a plunderer
4. The people cry out for help
5. God raises up a judge
6. The judge leads the people back to God

The period of the judges ended when Samuel appointed Saul as first king over Israel.

A Meeting at Shechem

Following the conquest of the land of Canaan, Joshua calls all of the Hebrew people together at a place called Shechem. The meeting also included local members of the Hebrew people whose ancestors had not gone down to Egypt, as well as the indigenous peoples of the region.

The purpose of the meeting was two-fold:

1. To remind them of what God had done for them (Ch 24:2-13), and
2. To call them to “…fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth…” (Ch 24:14)

At Shechem, the assembled tribes created a loosely formed government to protect their common religious commitment. The characteristics of this government included:

• A fixed central sanctuary (instead of a traveling tent) where the people would come to worship
• The appointment of festivals at which the people would come together to remember their shared experience with God
• A theocracy in which God ruled under the leadership of judges
• A basic law – the Ten Commandments
• A mutual aid commitment for a shared military defense

Historical Prologues

In Joshua Ch 24:2-13, Joshua uses a common Biblical device – an historical prologue. Historical prologues were used at the beginning of important speeches or events to prompt memory or imagination – the two manifestations of the religious impulse in mankind.

Collectively, we remember what God has done for us, and based on that memory, we imagine what God might be like.

In this passage, Joshua outlines for the people the key events of the Old Testament to date so that they might remember.

The Hebrews Exit the Red Sea and Enter the Desert

G2R resumed today as the Hebrews completed their crossing of the Red Sea [1] and entered the desert.

The Red Sea story weaves together two narratives, which include the first promise of salvation (“ Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you today….” Ex 14:13) a theme that runs throughout the remainder of the Bible. This passage also includes God’s first promise to fight for his people. (“The Lord shall fight for you….” Ex 14:14).

In the desert in response to the Hebrews murmurings of discontent, God provides water, then quail, and then manna [2] for their sustenance.

In Exodus 18, Moses father-in-law Jethro, the priest [3] of Midian, advises Moses to appoint judges over the people so as to relieve Moses of carrying this burdensome task alone. This is the beginning of the Hebrew judicial system, which will be followed shortly by the giving of the law (the Ten Commandments) to be used by the judges in carrying out their responsibilities. [4]

The purpose of the law is to prevent chaos rather than to restrict people. The law consists of the Ten Commandments with the first four commandments addressing the relationship between God and his people. The last six commandments speak to the relationships among men.

Next Sunday – The Ten Commandments.

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[1] Rather than the Red Sea, the Hebrews most likely crossed a narrower and shallower body of water known as the Sea of Reeds. At high tide, the Sea of Reeds would have been impassable. But at low tide, people could have walked through the marshy soil.

[2] Manna may have been the excretions of a kind of plant lice, which infested the tamarisk shrubs of the Sinai Peninsula. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,723060,00.html

[3] Most likely a local shaman or medicine man since there were no organized churches or priesthoods during this time.

[4] The appointment of judges and the giving of the law were two of the essential steps necessary for the Hebrews to become a nation. These steps will be followed by finding a place to live, establishing an economy or means of making a living, establishing a governing structure, etc.

G2R Resumes September 7th

G2R will resume Sunday, September 7 at 10:00 am in the Chapel.

Moses and the gang have crossed the Red Sea and discovered the desert is a formidable place to be.

The Hebrews Crossing the Red Sea

Exodus 14: 10 - 31

Like a good soap opera, G2R recessed for the summer with the Hebrews still in the middle of the Red Sea with the Egyptians' chariots stuck in the mud and the water coming back.

God had delivered the Hebrews from the Egyptians and protected them from the Egyptians' subsequent pursuit by the imposition of the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. Through the hand of Moses, God had now parted the Red Sea to facilitate the Hebrews final escape. But at the last minute, the cloud lifted, enabling the Egyptian army to follow the Hebrews into the trough of dry land between the parted waters.

God then sent the waters flooding back over the Egyptians as the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea to the other side.

Righteousness

Genesis Ch. 38 arrives and seems totally out of place.  Right in the middle of the Joseph cycle of stories we hear about Judah and Tamar.  The placement of the story seems weird but the writers are employing a writers trick, using a seemingly out of place account to give Joseph time “to travel” to Egypt.  Ch. 38 separates the reader in time and space from Joseph to create the illusion of time passing. 

The story also introduces us to the concept of righteousness, which is pretty difficult to define.  It is easier to understand what it is not than what it is.  Righteousness is NOT treating everyone equally, slavishly obeying a set of laws or moral precepts, or giving everyone his/her due. 

Righteousness is responding to situations, as situations require us to respond in accord with the will of God as best we understand it in that moment.  For the Hebrew people, justice and righteousness are the same thing.

Joseph's Story Begins

The next major character to emerge in the story is Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son by Rachel (his favorite wife) who up to the point of Joseph’s birth was barren.  (Anytime a previously barren woman gives birth to a son, that child goes on to do great things: ie. Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, Elizabeth). 

Joseph is a dreamer (literally) and is able to interpret his dreams and those of others.  His brothers don’t like Joseph because he is their father’s favorite, has a coat with sleeves (usually reserved for royalty) and he has the gall to tell his brothers (all of whom are older, except Benjamin) that they will bow down to him one day. 

With that they decide to off the obnoxious punk but instead throw him into a pit, sell him as a slave and then tell their father the poor lad was torn to shreds by a wild beast, “See here is his bloody coat”. 

Jacob's Long Dark Night of the Soul

After 14+ years, Jacob finally leaves the oversight of his father-in-law/uncle Laban, taking his wives, Rachel and Leah as well as his children, Laban’s household gods (stolen) and a few of Laban’s sheep (sort of stolen)

As Jacob and his entourage neared his home territory word came that his brother Esau and 400 of his closest friends were coming out to meet him.  Jacob feared for his life know that Esau certainly remembered how Jacob has swindled him out of his inheritance. 

That night, Jacob divided his family into two groups (hopefully to prevent Esau from killing them all) and then he crossed “ford of the Jabok”. In the Bible, anytime people cross water (the Red Sea for instance) it is symbolic of a major transformation.  Some big change is afoot.  As the story goes, Jacob wrestled all night with “a man”.  The man with whom he wrestled is himself and the Holy Spirit. 

It is Jacob’s long dark night of the soul wherein he seriously confronts himself and his nature.  He comes to terms with what kind of man he has been and seems to realize a change is necessary (repentance).  He comes away from the encounter a new man with a new name.  No longer Jacob, (cheater, deceiver, one who supplants) but now Israel…the God wrestler.  The wrestling gave him a dislocated hip causing him to limp the rest of his life, which serves as pretty good reminder of his life before and after. 

The next day, Jacob and Esau are reunited and all is well.  Esau offers forgiveness and brotherly love to Jacob and his whole family.

Jacob's Ladder

God often speaks to us through dreams. Simple dreams are easy to interpret, but complex dreams often require interpretation by someone skilled in interpreting dreams.

In the story of Jacob's ladder reaching into heaven (Gen. 28:10ff), Jacob receives from God re-affirmation of the covenant which God had previously made with Abraham and Isaac.

God promises Jacob:

• Land
• Descendants
• Blessings

Dreams are metaphorical. Dreams become our personal myths, and myths become our corporate dreams.

Jacob's Twelve Sons

Jacob's 12 sons by Leah and Rachel become the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Rachel is barren for many years before the birth of Joseph. Throughout the Bible, the first born of a woman who was previously barren is destined for greatness.

Jacob and Laban

Rebekah sends Jacob to her brother Laban to escape the wrath of Isaac.

"Go!" - the beginning of another Heroic Quest.

Jacob, the conniver, meets his match in Laban, his mother's brother and his father-in-law to be. Laban

• Extracts seven years' service from Jacob for Rachel's hand in marriage
• Then Laban switches Rachel for Leah and extracts another seven years' service for Rachel

The competition continues with the herds.

• Jacob asks Laban only for the blemished sheep in the herd.
• Laban takes them in the night.
• But Jacob manipulates the herd's breeding patterns and generates an entire herd of "blemished" sheep which he is entitled to keep.

Jacob and Esau

Jacob and Esau had a tempestuous relationship from the beginning:

• Esau was born first but Jacob has hanging on to his heal.
• Esau was an outdoors man while Jacob was more of a "momma's boy."
• Jacob swindles Esau out of his birth rite for a bowl of beans.
• With his mother's help, Jacob tricks his father, Isaac, into giving him "the blessing."

The birth rite entitled the first born to all of the family "stuff." The blessing was the spiritual birth rite without which the stuff was often squandered.

The name Jacob means "supplanter" or "one who supplants. Jacob was tricky and conniving, while Esau appears not to have been very bright.

The Sacrifice of Isaac

In Chapter 22, Abraham passes the final, ultimate test of faith when he heed's God's command to sacrifice Isaac, whom he loved even more than God. Abraham finally achieves a state of trust and deference.

The story is written as a polemic against human sacrifice which is no longer acceptable. There are other means for sacrifice, and God will provide the means (the ram caught in a thicket).

The story illustrates three themes which occur throughout the Bible:

• Provision - God provides
• Protection - God will assure Life
• Providence - the will of God unfolding

This is also the last scene in the Bible in which Abraham and Isaac appear together. Isaac's subsequent story is very brief - he is a transition figure leading to the story of Jacob.

The Promise of Isaac

Genesis Chapter 18 - the 3 sojourners visit with Abraham. (Three is the God number.)

The nature of the relationship with God changes from Creator to a personal relationship. In future stories, this relationship shifts and changes shape depending on:

• the context
• the characters
• the needs of the people
• the culture of the time

Sarah laughs when she hears that she is to bear a child in her old age. For the Hebrews, all names mean something. Isaac means laughter.

Abraham

We encountered the call of Abraham in Genesis Ch. 12. 

God establishes a covenant with Abraham (the second of the four major Old Testament covenants) and promises Abraham 3 things:

1. land
2. descendants and
3. a blessing

God's first word to Abraham was "GO" which fits the consistent pattern of the "Heroic Quest".

Abraham did not believe God's promise.

1. Failing to believe he would have descendants, Abraham pawned Sara off as his sister to protect himself against possible death in case the Pharaoh wanted Sara for himself.

2. Not believing God would provide enough land for Abraham as well as his family and descendants, Abraham felt it was necessary to divide the land between himself and his nephew Lot.

3. Again failing to believe God would provide descendants, Abraham took his wife's handmaid Hagar and sired a son (Ishmael) by her.

Though Abraham is usually perceived as an ardently faithful patriarch, it is clear he had trials of faith and responded poorly.

The Tower of Babel

The fourth stage of dislocation from God is Hubris - unfettered arrogance.

Tower of Babel

• "Come let us make a name for ourselves." - self-centered
• "We will build a tower reaching into the heavens." - we will be like God

God: "If I don't deal with this, they will self-destruct."

Arrogance - split it up and spread it out; then it can do some good.

Concentrated arrogance (hubris) becomes very dangerous.

The Rainbow and Covenants

The Rainbow shown to Noah is a symbol of God's covenant not to destroy the world again with water.

First of 4 covenants between God and man in the Old Testament - covenants with:

1. Noah
2. Abraham
3. Moses
4. David

A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties wherein those parties agree to perform or refrain from performing stipulated actions defined in advance. 

There are two types of covenants:

1. Suzerainty covenant - parties are not equal: king and vassal; God and man
2. Parity covenant - people of equal status

All covenants between God and people are suzerainity and God is bound herein to keep the promises made. 

Floods

All cultures and mythologies have stories of great floods.

1. People settle around water
2. Floods happen
3. People are decimated

Hebrew flood stories come from Egypt and Babylon.

Water in Biblical Stories

Water is about:

• Transformation and change
• the Nature of the Human Soul - dark, chaotic, frightening

Chaos, uncertainty, mystery ---> time for change

The Story of Lamech

The story of Lamech (in Chapter 4) illustrates the third of the four stages of sinfulness:

3. Vengeance - dislocation from one another. Life is dirt cheap - a return to chaos.

Cain and Abel

The story of Cain and Abel illustrates the second of the four stages of sinfulness:

2. Violence - dislocation from one another

******

Cain was a farmer while Abel was a shepherd.  Why did God treat their offerings differently? Because of Cain's attitude - Cain was jealous and became a murderer.

The nature of the heart of the giver was not appropriate. Doing well requires a change of heart.

God's four-part response to sinfulness:

1. Interrogation - "What have you done?" God asks.

2. Judgment - Guilty

3. Discipline -

      Cain is to become a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, a vagabond in a state of internal frustration forever; to live in constant fear of being killed (fear of death)

4. Mercy -

      God placed a mark (of protection) on Cain's forehead so that he would not be killed. The mark is a precursor to our rite of baptism.

The Garden Story

The Garden story is the first stage in the four stages of sinfulness:

1. Rebellion - dislocation from God

******

God comes in the cool of the evening. And a four-part response to sinfulness is played out.

1. Interrogation -
     "Where are you?" God asks.
     "Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
     "Who told you that you were naked*?"

2. Judgment -

3. Discipline - Adam and Eve are purged from the Garden; no easy life.
     Serpent - cursed are you above all animals
     The woman - pain and risk of death in childbirth
     The man  - endless toiling for food, etc.

4. Mercy - God made them garments to cover their nakedness

* Naked - exposed, found out.

What is Sin?

Sin is dislocation from:

• God - looks like hubris: raw arrogance; arrogance on steroids

• our fellow men

• nature - we are to be stewards of the earth

• oneself - our body and soul are not in the same place at the same time

The Serpent - Part 2

The snake did not lie.

The world is not full of temptation. It is full of things which just sit there; until we appropriate them.

We tend to blame external factors for our internal flaws. We are always reticent to take responsibility for our actions.

Genesis Chapter 3 - the Serpent

In history and literature, serpents are symbols of:

• new life
• re-birth
• vitality
• resurrection

The serpent is in our minds; it's the conversation we have with ourselves in our minds when we are trying to decide what to do.

"and they knew that they were naked" - they were exposed; they had been found out.

Genesis Chapter 2 - the second creation story

The creation story in Genesis, Chapter 2 is an amalgamation of creation stories from several cultures including Egyptian and Babylonian.

adamah - Hebrew word for dirt or ground

adam -> humankind

ruah - Hebrew word for spirit can also be translated as breath or wind

All creation stories have several elements in common:

• They always begin with water,
• There is always a garden,
• And there is always a tree (or totem) in the middle of the garden. (The tree is rooted in the ground and reaches up to God.)

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is about freedom and choice. To eat of the tree and die is to be dislocated or separated from God.

The taking of Adam's rib (rather than a part of his head or his foot) to make Eve implies partnership, not subjugation.

The 7th Day

On the seventh day, God rests because he is done. He then evaluates what he has done - "it was good."

God did not and does not need rest, but mankind does.

We need time to stop and to look back; to evaluate, discuss and reflect. The word re-creation is the same as our word recreation.