GENESIS: Snoopy's Short & Snappy Review

[BetteTheRed]

What I have found fascinating after many years of bible study is that even if you read the same texts every three years that you almost always change your mind about the text every three years.

 

[paradox3]

What I have found fascinating after many years of bible study is that even if you read the same texts every three years that you almost always change your mind about the text every three years.

Absolutely. I even think that after reading and discussing 19 chapters of Genesis here on WC2, I could go back to Genesis 1 and see it a little differently

 

[unsafe]

here again we see what happens when we disobey God's command ----disaster strikes ----


Genesis 19:26

Amplified Bible
But Lot’s wife, from behind him, [foolishly, longingly] looked [back toward Sodom in an act of disobedience], and she became a pillar of salt.

this is a part from Got Questions on this -----read all for yourselves

Why was Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt? | GotQuestions.org

Why was Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt? Why salt? And why was looking back a sin worthy of such a strong judgment?

www.gotquestions.org

(Genesis 19:26). She lagged behind. She turned and watched the flaming sulfur fall from the sky, consuming everything she valued. Then it consumed her. The Hebrew for “looked back” means more than to glance over one’s shoulder. It means “to regard, to consider, to pay attention to.”

I say -----she was looking back at her past ---her old life------- which hinders reaching the new life in God -----and the old consumed her to the point of death ----Sodom was a wicked -sinful place and she was paying more attention to what she left ---then where she was going ----

the wages of sin is death ----she disobeyed the order to not look back and reaped what she sowed -----

 

[paradox3]

Good Morning! Here is Genesis 20:

Snoopy's Snappy Review: Is there an echo in here?

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 20 - New English Translation

Abraham and Abimelech - Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident in Gerar, Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her. But God appeared to...

www.biblegateway.com

Snoopy had to give his head a shake this morning. You know that feeling you get when you bring a book home from the library and then realize you read it before?

This story isn't identical to Genesis 12. But it is close enough that Snoopy suspects it's really the same tale.

Abraham and Sarah have travelled to
Gerat. Abraham says she is his sister and Abimelech, the king of Gerat, wants her. So he sends for her.

God appears to Abimelech in a dream and explains the couple is actually married. So Abimelech confronts Abraham who says he was afraid of being killed. He insists Sarah is his half-sister as well as his wife.

Abimelech sends Sarah back to Abraham. Abraham is given sheep, cattle and male & female servants. He is also offered land and given 1,000 pieces of silver in compensation.

Note that God prevented Abimelech from touching Sarah when they were together. At the same time, God had caused every woman in Abimelech's household to become infertile.

Abraham prays to God and Abimelech is healed. His wife and female slaves are also healed and can now have children.

 

[paradox3]

Do you think Abraham and Sarah are actually half siblings? Do they really have the same father but different mothers?

Maybe this was a common occurrence in those days of multiple wives and concubines.

Why is Abraham rewarded for deceiving the king? Are we meant to understand that God is looking out for him?

 

[unsafe]

Do you think Abraham and Sarah are actually half siblings? Do they really have the same father but different mothers?

my view
Probably ---incest was inevitable as there were only to people on the planet in Genesis 1 ---God had not given a law against incest until much later so incest was not a sin in the beginning --where there is no law there is no sin committed -----

Maybe this was a common occurrence in those days of multiple wives and concubines.

I think your right

From Google --

Despite these nuances to the biblical perspective on polygamy, many important figures had more than one wife, such as Esau (Gen 26:34; 28:6-9), Jacob (Gen 29:15-28), Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8), David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3).

 

[unsafe]

Interesting read -----

IF INCEST IS CONDEMNED, WHY DID ABRAHAM MARRY HIS SISTER?​

Genesis 20:12—If incest is condemned, why did Abraham marry his sister?

Is there a Bible contradiction in Genesis 20:12? Here’s the solution from When Critics Ask by Geisler and Howe; used by permission.

defendinginerrancy.com

 

[Mendalla]

Incest was pretty common among royalty and upper classes in the ancient Near and Middle East in general. Look at the Ptolemies, the Greek dynasty in Egypt that ended with Cleopatra. Their family tree was more of a family web with brothers marrying sisters, aunts and uncles marrying nieces and nephews, and so on. And that was not a Greek thing but something they adopted from the Egyptians. The famed Tutankhamun (King Tut) was married to his half-sister, just to give one example that comes to mind.

 

[paradox3]

If memory serves me correctly, the laws against incest in Leviticus will spell out the restrictions in great detail.

 

[Mendalla]

If memory serves me correctly, the laws against incest in Leviticus will spell out the restrictions in great detail.

I am actually curious to see that and how it compares to modern definitions. Different countries and cultures seem to go different directions on it. Canada's is actually pretty narrow, basically just direct bloodline (parent-child, blood siblings, and similar). Cousins, even first, are completely fair game in our system, at least legally. Social acceptance might be a different matter.

 

[GordW]

Incest was pretty common among royalty and upper classes in the ancient Near and Middle East in general. Look at the Ptolemies, the Greek dynasty in Egypt that ended with Cleopatra. Their family tree was more of a family web with brothers marrying sisters, aunts and uncles marrying nieces and nephews, and so on. And that was not a Greek thing but something they adopted from the Egyptians. The famed Tutankhamun (King Tut) was married to his half-sister, just to give one example that comes to mind.

ANd in European Royal houses much later....there may have been an attempt at a bit more separation but cousins marrying was pretty common. IIRC some of the later Hapsburg Royals showed signs that the lack of genetic diversity was taking a toll.

 

[GordW]

If memory serves me correctly, the laws against incest in Leviticus will spell out the restrictions in great detail.

If one looks at Scripture as telling a historically accurate account the laws in Leviticus are not part of this story--indeed as the narrative flows they don't yet exist. TO this point in Genesis there has yet to be an injunction about it.

 

[paradox3]

If one looks at Scripture as telling a historically accurate account the laws in Leviticus are not part of this story--indeed as the narrative flows they don't yet exist. TO this point in Genesis there has yet to be an injunction about it.

Absolutely. God has provided very little in the way of moral guidance so far in the narrative. Noah got a few instructions against murder and taking the flesh of a living animal.

 

[unsafe]

Why did God allow incest in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Why did God allow incest in the Bible? Why are there so many incestuous relationships recorded in the Bible?

www.gotquestions.org

There are numerous examples of incest in the Bible. The most commonly thought-of examples are the sons/daughters of Adam and Eve (Genesis 4), Abraham marrying his half-sister Sarah (Genesis 20:12), Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19), Moses’ father Amram who married his aunt Jochebed (Exodus 6:20), and David’s son Amnon with his half-sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13). It is important to note, however, that in two of the above instances (Tamar and Lot), one of the parties involved was an unwilling participant in the incest—better described as rape in those cases.

It is important to distinguish between incestuous relationships prior to God commanding against them (Leviticus 18:6–18) and incest that occurred after God’s commands had been revealed. Until God commanded against it, it was not incest. It was just marrying a close relative. It is undeniable that God allowed “incest” in the early centuries of humanity. Since Adam and Eve were the only two human beings on earth, their sons and daughters had no choice but to marry and reproduce with their siblings and close relatives. The second generation had to marry their cousins, just as after the flood the grandchildren of Noah had to intermarry amongst their cousins. One reason that incest is so strongly discouraged in the world today is the understanding that reproduction between closely related individuals has a much higher risk of causing genetic abnormalities. In the early days of humanity, though, this was not a risk due to the fact that the human genetic code was relatively free of defects.

Another consideration is that incest today almost always involves a pre-pubescent or powerless victim, and the perpetrator is abusing his or her authority with the goal of unilateral sexual pleasure. By that standard, the “incest” of the Bible has nothing whatsoever in common with modern-day incest. There was no power difference between Cain and his wife, for example; the goal of Abraham and Sarah’s marriage was to create a family. Intermarriage among close family members was a necessity in the generations immediately following Adam and Noah and was not a sinful perversion of sex.

It seems that, by the time of Moses, the human genetic code had become polluted enough that close intermarriage was no longer safe. So, God commanded against sexual relations with siblings, half-siblings, parents, and aunts/uncles (Genesis 2:24 seems to indicate that marriage and sexual relations between parents and children were never allowed by God). It was not until many centuries later that humanity discovered the genetic reason that incest is unsafe and unwise. Genetics was not an issue in the early centuries of humanity, and the marriages that occurred between Adam and Eve’s children, Abraham and Sarah, and Amram and Jochebed were not selfish pursuits of sexual gratification or abuses of authority; accordingly, those relationships should not be viewed as incestuous. The key is that sexual relations between close relatives were viewed differently pre-Law and post-Law. It did not become “incest” until God commanded against it

 

[paradox3]

As we read through Genesis, we definitely need to keep in mind that these events took place before the Law was given.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Agreed. Not always sure that the bible should be read linearly, but interesting in this case.

 

[Waterfall]

As we read through Genesis, we definitely need to keep in mind that these events took place before the Law was given.

I'd rather read it as what happens when patriarchal societies create the laws until someone or something( God?) steps up to change things....,it still remains an error in my mind. And it still happens today with societies and individuals using ancient holy books to justify this abuse.

 

[paradox3]

I'd rather read it as what happens when patriarchal societies create the laws until someone or something( God?) steps up to change things....,it still remains an error in my mind. And it still happens today with societies and individuals using ancient holy books to justify this abuse.

Are you saying that when the Law is given, it is less patriarchal than the book of Genesis?

 

[Waterfall]

Are you saying that when the Law is given, it is less patriarchal than the book of Genesis?

Patriarchal society's are what they are whenever, wherever.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Patriarchal societies are what they are; everywhere. There is no model of matriarchy in any modern culture.