Jacob learns of Retribution

I really want to like Jacob, but it is hard. He basically takes everything away from his brother, and when Laban treats Jacob harshly and goes back on promises Jacob feels distraught and offended. Jacob was given what he kind of deserved and doesn't understand that he did worse to his brother. In the end Jacob still became rich and brought forth the main Judaic lineage. I understand that Jacob was promised prosperity but it is slightly irritating that Jacob could do such wrong in the beginning and not receive any true punishment.

I commented on Kayleigh's

Genesis From a Unique Perspective

So, I would like to take a different route in my analysis of the scripture we all read.  If you know me well, you know I could talk for days about different spiritual aspects of any scripture.  But that is generally not the goal of this class.  So instead I would like to point out some comparisons between the scripture and the Odyssey.  There is a lot of wondering and traveling.  Of course that is mainly in Abraham and Jacob, but there was a good bit of traveling in Joseph too.  But also consider all the deception.  Just to name a few Abraham to the Egyptian, Jacob and Rebekah to Isaac, Laban to Jacob, and of course Joseph to his brothers. Now, I do not know how accurate my thinking is here, but considering we often compare works with works I read Genesis with that mindset.  With that in mind I noticed countless comparisons to the Odyssey. 


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Struggle

I will never pretend to truly understand Genesis 32, but it will always be one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Jacob wrestled with God; whether this is a metaphor or literal, this will never cease to amaze me. Jacob wrestled with God, and, in a way, he won. This is one of the single most encouraging lessons to be found in the entire Bible.  "your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome" (28) How amazing it is that true faith is born out of struggle with God, and with other humans. Jacob was blessed because of his struggle with God. I do not understand it, but I know that it is good.

P.S. I commented on Abbie George's post

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Poster Child for Get-Up-n-Go

While reading the second half of Genesis I tried really hard not to focus on Joseph. He always seem to be the focal point in this section. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried I was always pulled back to him. Everyone has heard the story of Joseph and how he was a dream interpreter and his fathers favorite. His brothers resented him for his position in their fathers eyes so they left him alone in a ditch, later deciding to sell him. Despite all of this, once Joseph becomes second to the Pharaoh, he still helps his brothers when they come to him in need. More often than not when we get knocked down we just want to roll around in our self pity until someone comes along that we can complain to. Joseph, however, doesn't even spare it a second thought. He picks himself up and carries on with his life, doing what he needs to do. I feel like we could all take a note from him on this. Nothing in life is ever going to get better if you don't try to work on it.

P.S. commented on Kelli's blog

Bethel

I like Bethel. I like the significance of this place for Jacob and His relationship with God. In chapter 28 we see him traveling to Harran in search of a wife. He stops and is given this dream about the stairway. This dream, in a certain sense, is Jacob's salvation. After he has this dream of promise, he accepts and sees God not only as the God of his fathers, but his God (verse 21.) He calls the place Bethel (house of God) in light of these things. I find it very interesting that God called Jacob back to Bethel after so much had transpired (chapter 35). God calls Jacob back to the place of promise, the place that He had given Jacob affirmation of the future. When Jacob returns after all of these years, after God had provided much of what He had promised, God speaks to Him again. He renames Jacob and reminds him of the promises He is still fulfilling. Thus, the house of God remained a place of intimacy and significance for Jacob as he began his journey there and then was revitalized and renamed there at Bethel.

P.S. Commented on Abbey Griffin's post!

Yahweh

It's interesting to see the Greek literature compared to Hebrew/Christian literature.  I keep thinking about Acts 17, when Paul is in Athens.  The text says he reasoned with the Athenians.  They were such an intellectual people, and we see that centuries before in the outflow of philosophy and literature, like the Odyssey.  Paul explains that the Athenian statue to the Unknown God is Yahweh.  We see in the texts of Genesis that He, Yahweh, transcends the Greek gods in many areas.  He and His character clearly separate Him from the pagan, humanlike gods of the Greeks.  The Greek way of explaining life's meaning was to create meaning, while the Hebrew explanation transcends people and the material world.  It has been awesome to study The Odyssey and Genesis back to back like this and to compare each culture/worldview.

God vs. god: Why the Capitol "G"?

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All right, confession time: I spent a lot of my time reading the Odyssey hating on Odysseus. Between all the seemingly reckless and arrogant decisions he made, I found myself kind of looking at hime like a heroic sissy.

But now as I am reading Genesis critically through the lens of literature, I’m realizing at a deeper level that the people in the Bible really didn’t behave very prettily all of the time either.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob - they all made some pretty “reckless” decisions at different times all throughout their lives.

So we are dealing with flawed people.

Both the Odyssey and Genesis are incredibly well-preserved ancient texts.

Both tales focus on the interactions of God/gods and man.

What makes the Bible different? 

In the Odyssey, we see man-made gods constantly fighting one another. We see a world in chaos directed by gods of chaos. This is a man-formed world. One where human men create human gods.

In contrast, one the Biblical side of things, we see a perfect God create perfect man. When those men fall, we see a God who doesn’t go for a quick fix (DESTROY ALL EVIL EVER!!!), but a loving God who allows free choice, and eventually sacrifices everything to selflessly save his flawed beings. That isn’t a concept created by flawed men, but a truth circulated by a living God.

Don’t you think that’s worth capitalizing?

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p.s. I commented on Ashley Harding's post :)