Resolution - to read the Bible

[Seeler]

So far I've read ten chapters into Leviticus. So far it appears to be a continuation of Exodus with no real break between Exodus ending with a description of the tabernacle and the priests robes - everything ready for the rituals of sacrifice and worship - and the opening chapters of Leviticus which describe in detail the rituals of sacrifice. Did they simply run out of space on the Exodus scroll and start another?

The repetition is boring. It might be interesting to read a long paragraph on how a bull is to be sacrificed, but then to read another long description for a goat, and then almost word for word for a sheep. They certainly took their worship seriously. And for people on a journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, they seem to have spent a lot of time at the foot of the mountain.

Interesting - Aaron (and brother Moses) were of the tribe of Levi - Levites. Aaron and his sons (and their descendants) are to be priests forever.
Once when I was with a study group visiting a synagogue the rabbi there told us that certain families among the Jews today are still considered Levites with certain privileges and restrictions.

Also interesting - when two of Aaron's four sons disobeyed the instructions for offering the sacrifices, they were struck dead and their bodies carried out of the camp. Moses' sons, who were briefly mentioned a couple of times in Exodus, seem to have disapppeared from the narrative.

 

[Luce NDs]

I think this would be very interesting, particularly for people beginning their journey into reading the Bible - but I think there might be a bit of 'cherry picking'. Picking the stories and slanting them the way the writer(s) interpret them - and leaving out parts that don't lend themselves to 'story' like the long, repeat descriptions that I found at the end of Exodus and continued, I'm finding, in Leviticus.
If I knew of such a group near me, I would be tempted to go - to share in the companionship of shared discussion after reading - and I often see the basis of a novel in some Biblical passages, but right now I think I am looking for something deeper.

Do you know the term chirology .. a study of hands ... indicates which is hard working etc.

 

[Tabitha]

and I can't but help wonder about the daughters......

 

[Luce NDs]

and I can't but help wonder about the daughters......

They do follow after a certain line ... after that much is made of the mores! Ethics are forgotten ... another shade of pale ...

 

[Jaebius]

I think this would be very interesting, particularly for people beginning their journey into reading the Bible - but I think there might be a bit of 'cherry picking'. Picking the stories and slanting them the way the writer(s) interpret them - and leaving out parts that don't lend themselves to 'story' like the long, repeat descriptions that I found at the end of Exodus and continued, I'm finding, in Leviticus.
If I knew of such a group near me, I would be tempted to go - to share in the companionship of shared discussion after reading - and I often see the basis of a novel in some Biblical passages, but right now I think I am looking for something deeper.

Some selection of texts is going to occur in just about every group study.

 

[Mendalla]

and I can't but help wonder about the daughters......

What's to wonder? Patriarchal society so they would probably be married off to other families, often ones that were tied to Aaron's in some way. Daughters were a commodity in a society like that and even, in some ways, currency. Not saying that's a good thing, but that was the reality.

 

[Hilary]

What's to wonder?

Wonder what their names were... how many each of the brothers had... if they went on to happy/healthy marriages ...if they bore any notable children

There's plenty to wonder about!

 

[crazyheart]

If these are old Testament stories, .that's what they are - stories.

We can wonder but we will never know

 

[Luce NDs]

If these are old Testament stories, .that's what they are - stories.

We can wonder but we will never know

Some call them myths ... people's stories that are unbelievable ... some say like the holocaust ... but some of us question what others can freely deny!

 

[chansen]

Wonder what their names were... how many each of the brothers had... if they went on to happy/healthy marriages ...if they bore any notable children

There's plenty to wonder about!

They made it up. If you want more, make up more.

 

[Hilary]

I definitely would if I was any kind of writer. My point was to stick by @Tabitha in her musings about where the (fictional?) women would be in the stories if they weren't left out so patriarchally.

 

[Luce NDs]

They weren't fictional .. they were marketable properties in some eyes ...

Some have a gentler view ... would cultivate such angels!

 

[chansen]

I definitely would if I was any kind of writer. My point was to stick by @Tabitha in her musings about where the (fictional?) women would be in the stories if they weren't left out so patriarchally.

Facepalming about how stupid and gullible the men in their lives are. Think Lucy Harris.

 

[Seeler]

Let's see:
Adam and Eve had three named children - all boys
Noah and wife had three named children - all boys
Abraham and wives had seven children - all boys
Lot had two daughters
Isaac and Rebeccah had twin boys
Jacob and four wives had thirteen children - 12 boys, one girl
Moses had two boys
Aaron had four boys

Yeh - it seems that the ratio was more than a bit out of balance.
At a time when infant mortality was high, and boys were valued much more than girls, perhaps male children received better care and protection than girl children - longer period of breast feeding, more and better food, etc.
And being unimportant, perhaps the birth of girls is not mentioned unless it had some impact on the story.
Somebody must have been having girls - usually the boys went on to marry and father more boys.

 

[chansen]

Let's see:
Adam and Eve had three named children - all boys
Noah and wife had three named children - all boys
Abraham and wives had seven children - all boys
Lot had two daughters
Isaac and Rebeccah had twin boys
Jacob and four wives had thirteen children - 12 boys, one girl
Moses had two boys
Aaron had four boys

Why do women put up with this? Why is it men who are leaving Christianity in larger numbers?

 

[Luce NDs]

Why do women put up with this? Why is it men who are leaving Christianity in larger numbers?

The men don't like it ... but it is unconscious as yet ... the mother-father spirit connection ... sacred dialogue in dark and silent Zoans? In different tense brings on Zi ON's ... once again now: "Respect all things" ... critters high and lo' ..." Don't Vet it!

If the koin is sic drop it in de well ... make a splash!

 

[BetteTheRed]

If these are old Testament stories, .that's what they are - stories.

We can wonder but we will never know

Let's see:
Adam and Eve had three named children - all boys
Noah and wife had three named children - all boys
Abraham and wives had seven children - all boys
Lot had two daughters
Isaac and Rebeccah had twin boys
Jacob and four wives had thirteen children - 12 boys, one girl
Moses had two boys
Aaron had four boys

Yeh - it seems that the ratio was more than a bit out of balance.
At a time when infant mortality was high, and boys were valued much more than girls, perhaps male children received better care and protection than girl children - longer period of breast feeding, more and better food, etc.
And being unimportant, perhaps the birth of girls is not mentioned unless it had some impact on the story.
Somebody must have been having girls - usually the boys went on to marry and father more boys.

Oh, everyone was having girls. They just weren't quite 'people'... It's why the Emmaus story is assumed to have been about a man and a woman. The man, Cleopas, was named. The other was not, so the assumption is female. You can't read frigging Ruth and Esther every week, the Mary stories in the New Testament are pretty thin on the ground, which means that a girl growing up Christian is exposed to, essentially, an overwhelmingly male god with a bunch of male prophets and "action figures"...

One of the interesting things about the logic of Nature is that, in fact, more boy human babies are born than girls. Why? Because infant males are not as strong, from an immune POV, than infant females.

 

[Waterfall]

The gnostic gospels, excluded from the canon, seem to mention women more.

Here we have Norea who has several identities, she can be Adams wife or Noahs wife or Eve's daughter or Seth's or Shem's wife or sister.

Thought of Norea - Wikipedia

In Christianity, and the way it has developed, Mary can be considered Mother of God but she is not God the Mother the same as God the Father. Within many of the gnostic texts God is considered as a dyadic being consisting of the masculine and the feminine, not a trinity composed mainly from the masculine although there were different interpretations of God within gnosticism.
One group thought of the divine as masculine and feminine, another group insisted this was to be considered as a metaphor because God is neither male or female and yet another considered the Source of All Things could be described as either masculine or feminine depending on which aspect of the divine you prefer to stress. In other words a harmonious dynamic of opposites....similar to yin and yang but not similar to orthodox Judaism or Christianity.
In the Secret Book of John, John (James brother) had a mystical vision of the trinity after the crucifixion as Father, Mother and Son......which suggests that the son comes from the father AND mother.
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus contrasts his earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, with his divine Father----the Father of Truth----and His divine Mother, The Holy Spirit.
There are many more examples that I have found interesting.
I personally think there is something to be learned from books that were excluded from the canon.

 

[Waterfall]

And here's a list of the Biblical nameless women from still other sources who name them:

List of names for the biblical nameless - Wikipedia


It should be noted that the above sources requires further verifications as seen at the top of the Wikipedia page.

 

[Luce NDs]

Thus the unmentionable mind ... people just don't wish you to know what they are pondering ... unnatural cranks and screws?

Brute connections ... enough to dizzy people into vert ego ... uprights? Be sentient ... the waters could be coming ... to shape you up as in the movie ... water is said to be essential essence of sol ... hydrogen power to displace coal base tars? Shaman ...