Lacuna Matata... Genesis 22

The absent emotions from Genesis are probably identical to what I am about to transcribe.

God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you."

Abraham replied, "So you want me to take my only child, who took over ninety years for my wife and I to conceive, and you want me to burn him alive as a sacrifice to you?"

God said, "Yes."

"Are you f@#$^&* crazy?" Asked Abraham.

"No, and I don't appreciate that tone Abraham! You owe me, and if you don't sacrifice your son to me I'll do something REALLY BAD. I'm not kidding, I'll send a lightning bold on a bee-line to your face. As a matter of fact, just for questioning me, I have created cancer. Question me one more time, go on, see what happens."

"I don't even know what cancer is, what do I care? You're asking me to kill my son for no reason."

"That's it!" God replied. "I have just laid the foundations for humanity to invent something called a nuclear weapon. This will enable man to virtually destroy the Earth and everything within it. Now what say you?"

Abraham paused and reflected for a moment. Finally, he said, "Ok, I'll do it. But you're a dick."

Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, "Father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

"I have never hated myself so much." thought Abraham. Abraham answered Isaac, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son."

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order.

As Abraham prepared for the sacrifice, his thoughts tormented him. Never before had he faced such a high mountain to climb, and the feat threatened to consume him. Thoughts entered his mind on how to escape such a fate and save his son.

"I could sacrifice myself." Thought Abraham. "Perhaps God will see it as the ultimate gift and he will grant my son his life." But he neither believed this nor acted on it.

Though his mind was in upheaval, his actions did not show it. He continued to prepare the altar, and at last he took hold of Isaac and bound him. Finally, the barrage of tears broke free and Abraham wept. As he wept, he then laid Isaac on the altar, on top of the wood, and removed the knife from his belt.

"I will never forgive you, Lord, for what I am about to do." And with this final thought, Isaac's fate was sealed.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

Abraham dropped the knife in the dry Earth beneath his feet and retrieved his son from the altar top. He unbound him and wept, and held his son close.

post script

Following this episode, Abraham was constantly wary of God's sanity and motives for the rest of his life. Even Isaac, who was only a young boy at the time, could not shake the feeling of nearly being stabbed and burned by his own father at the wim of the Almighty. He kept these thoughts to himself though, because cancer and nuclear weapons had already been inherited for doubting God once before.

reflecting on Exodus

Exodus is now a part of my past and it, like the rest of the bible, has left me with with some critical observations.

For instance; Exodus 29.10-35 is God's ordination to the priests on how they should go about sacrificing to him. To sum it up, God commands vast animal sacrifices daily, and is very particular about what is to be done with each part of the slaughtered animal's body. What is the point of providing God, an immortal being, with such mortal offerings of sustenance? Why does he care? And why is he such a 'jealous' God? Jealousy is such a human emotion, why would God bother himself with it? For someone who knows the mysteries of the cosmos, it is surprising how adolescent he (or she) is portrayed...

While blogging for this class I find myself, every once in a while, having to overcome the subconscious feeling of wanting to look over my shoulder. Perhaps this is the remnants of my Catholic upbringing poking me in the back and shaking its large head adorned with the funny pope hat. Either way, I remind myself that it is the year 2009, where my thoughts are free to roam about on the internet with no consequence.

Questions About Exodus

I've currently read through Exodus 7 and already I have questions... big ones.

First of all, why is it Aaron, Moses' brother, is not well known? I thought I knew the story of Exodus, and right off the bat I learn about a main character who plays as big of a role as Moses so far. Also, it was previously unknown to me that Moses is actually a cowardly, whiney sort of fellow and when God commands him to 'man up for your people trapped in servitude', Moses pleads even more. Finally, like an exasperated father, God suggests to Moses to bring his brother Aaron along with him, that way Aaron can do all of the talking and Moses will stop whining.

This leads me to another revelation, which is the fact that God exhibits such human-like characteristics it is hard to take him seriously. His impossible feats such as the burning bush, and the serpent-staff are impressive enough, but, I'm under the impression that he's orchestrating an Exodus of the Israelites because he's 'behind' in his promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What do we mere humans do when an obligation becomes too pressing to avoid? We scramble about until it's fulfilled so we can move on with our lives with peace of mind. This is the sense of urgency I'm reading from God in Exodus so far.

My own personal image of God is strikingly similar to that of Dr. Manhattan from the comic series 'Watchmen'. Granted I've only seen the movie, but his character is that of a master of quantum physics. One who understands every intricacy of the universe and therefore can manipulate anything and everything. The God depicted in Exodus, doesn't seem to possess this power at all. In fact, it seems that there is no more difficult task for him than controlling the course of human lives. Example;

"But Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Then the Lord said to him "Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak" But he said, " O my Lord, please send someone else." Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, "What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He indeed shall speak for you to the people; " Exodus 4.10-17

What threw me off here was God's powerful statement to Moses about "who gives speech to mortals?... Is it not I, the Lord?" and then a few lines later he seems to forget that it is he who does all of those things and recommends to Moses that maybe he should bring along his brother so his brother can do the talking... something is fishy.

Genesis; Dunzo

Finally, Genesis complete, but I have some things that I need to get off my chest. I'm going to be honest, some of the biblical heroes were shady individuals. The person who comes to mind first and foremost is Jacob/Israel. The guy dupes his brother into selling his birthright (which we never found out if he collected on) and then steals his blessing from their father Isaac. And this is the man in whose name all Israelites refer to... Next, I want to know where Jacob's wrestling match with God came from. Here's a recap "He took them (Jacob's family) and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Genesis 32.23" We find out after humanity's most random beat down that it had in fact been God that Jacob was wrestling, and following this match God blessed him. Who knew. Maybe the safest route to success in life is to wrestle strange men that you encounter in the night, just in case the individual is the Almighty.

"And his soul was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob; he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. Genesis 34.3" This excerpt, which followed the story of Shechem's rape of Dinah, is the bible's first mention of the word 'love'. I believe this kind of story telling is J's signature, which she continues throughout the remainder of the bible. She is especially noticeable in the story of Joseph through huge displays of emotions from all different characters. Example; "Then he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you my son!" With that Joseph hurried out, because he was overcome with affection for his brother, and he was about to weep. Se he went into a private room and wept there. Genesis 43.29-31"

The act of Joseph going into a private room to weep is as heavy as I've seen it get in the bible, and I don't want to sound sexist, but perhaps these deep seeded emotions we're reading about reflect a feminine author.

One more thing about Joseph, in Genesis 47 Joseph made slaves of all the Egyptians because they had no more money to pay for grain. The only thing of value they had left was their land and their freedom, and Joseph purchased both from them... Isn't this a little hypocritical for an ex-slave to do?

Genesis takes the back seat to "The Slave"

So I've neglected the bible this week and digested Isaac Singer's "The Slave" faster than an obese child with a cheese cake. Everything Dr. Sexson preached about this book was true. It is the most emotional and draining literary experience I've had in my twenty years of existence... And yes, to answer the question you're wondering, it is even heavier than Harry Potter. If you consider yourself an emotional rock this book will probably make you wonder what that knot is doing in the back of your throat. If you are the type of person who tends to give in to your feelings, you will probably cry like a baby. If you are wondering what we are doing reading such a pleasant book in what is essentially a bible class, don't stress yourself out. "The Slave" is packed full of references to the Old Testament and even provides the reader with what seems to be a first hand account of sixteenth century Poland through the eyes of a passionate Jewish man. Really, when I say 'first hand account' it is no exaggeration. The author's ability to narrate the story seems so genuine it's as if the reader is watching in on this man's life rather than reading a novel. "The Slave" is truly a display of the unknowable power of fiction.

Genesis; the first half

From what I've gathered so far, the 'J' and 'P' authors are not as easily recognizable as I thought they were going to be. The first 8 chapters of Genesis are clear enough, but starting with Genesis 9, things got hairy. For instance, some of the writing in Gen. 9 is descriptive and story-like, such as verse 13, "I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." But, it also possesses the orderly and methodical characteristics of 'P'... I've just now decided to assign 'P' as the author of Genesis 9, because the voice is noticeably different than that of Genesis 2, who is clearly authored by 'J'. 

I found that after awhile, the differences between the two authors becomes less and less discernible. For example, Genesis 4 is in my opinion clearly cut into two halves. The first half is authored by 'J' and the second half by 'P'.  This is one of the last chapters through Genesis 22 that I can easily tell the differences between the two.  This isn't to say I have found myself completely lost, I'm merely stating that I recognize elements of both authors in the same chapters.  

To get off topic from 'P' and 'J' for a moment, Genesis is immensely more entertaining than I had previously expected. So much going on in so few pages! I have learned the origins of a number of common widely accepted ideas.  For instance; I know that Lent in the Christian tradition lasts for forty days and forty nights because that is how long Jesus fasted for, but, perhaps the writers of the new testament made Jesus fast for that long because of those numbers' original connection to God's punishment; which is forty days and forty nights of rain causing the great flood (Genesis 7). Also, I found a contradiction early on when in Genesis 6, God restricts the human life span to exactly 120 years, but following this restriction, Noah and his descendants continued to live for well over that allotted amount of time...  Another fun fact, in Genesis 13.13 it says "Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord." This is clearly the origin of the word sodomy which means 1. anal or oral copulation with a member of the opposite sex. 2. copulation with a member of the same sex. or 3. bestiality. Who knew the namesake of such frowned upon practices originated from the biblical city of Sodom. 

Back to 'J' and 'P', I found Genesis 15 to be less routine and to possess more of a story-like quality than many of the others, so I assigned 'J' as the author... I am interested to find out what chapters other classmates assigned to which authors, but for now I will have to wait until next class. Hopefully everybody is staying strong.

first day of class... what a trip

Wow. As far as first days of class go that one left a mark.  I find myself somewhere in between shell shocked and curiously soothed. Somehow, between the calming grandfatherly voice of Dr. Sexson and his vernacular choice of words, I was disengaged from my initial terror of reading the entire bible and now believe I can pull it off...  But the words "you will have no life outside of this classroom" are still resonating in my mind so I am now in the process of building up my mental fortitude and preparing myself for yet another semester here in the north country.  

After the good doctor's pitch on Singer's book 'The Slave', I am really looking forward to starting it. On top of that, I am also looking forward to diversifying myself technologically this semester through this blog and also through the seemingly simple process of buying a book on Amazon. So many people have already experienced this but I've yet to ever purchase a book outside of a bookstore... What an adrenaline rush. 

Anyways, I hope my fears (and I'm guessing all of ours) for this class are never realized and that only good things are to come. 

Good luck to everybody and let the reading begin!