GENESIS: Snoopy's Short & Snappy Review

[paradox3]

If one reads it that way, then it's yet another sign that in this early period, we are dealing with henotheism rather than monotheism (one god over all others rather than only one god).

The OT will support the existence of other gods when we get further into it. Do these gods ever actually do anything?

The angels have already taken active roles in Genesis. They have been messengers, guards and destroyers.

 

[paradox3]

Good morning and many thanks for staying involved with this thread. Here is Genesis 28.

Snoopy's Snappy Review: Another cousin wedding and some spiritual moments to read about.

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 28 - New English Translation

So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him, “You must not marry a Canaanite woman! Leave immediately for Paddan Aram! Go to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and find yourself a wife there, among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. May the Sovereign God...

www.biblegateway.com

Isaac calls for Jacob and tells him in no uncertain terms he is not to marry a Canaanite woman. He blesses him and sends him to Rebekah's brother Laban. Jacob is to choose a wife from among his uncle's daughters.

Esau hears about his parents' displeasure with Canaanite wives. Doesn't he have not one, but two of them? What to do? Take a third wife, of course! Esau marries Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael.

Jacob goes on his journey. He camps overnight with a stone for his pillow. He dreams of a stairway reaching to the heavens wth angels going up and down. The Lord stands at the top and makes promises about descendants.

Jacob awakens and thinks, "Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it." He places the stone from his head as a sacred stone. He vows that if God protects him and returns him home safely, the Lord will become his God. And he will give back a tenth of everything he has been given.

 

[paradox3]

One cousin wedding (Esau and Mahalath) with another expected soon. These people certainly like to keep it in the family.

The stairway must be the famous Jacob's Ladder we sang about at camp. I don't think I ever heard the story about the dream and the rock.

Jacob is developing in faith but he is also bargaining with God. I am remembering his swap of a bowl of stew for his brother's birthright.

 

[Mendalla]

At least he's marrying a cousin and not a sibling (something Egyptian pharoahs were prone to).

The stairway must be the famous Jacob's Ladder we sang about at camp. I don't think I ever heard the story about the dream and the rock.

It would be, yes. I knew the story, too. Surprised you hadn't heard it. The translation of it as "stairway" rather than "ladder" seems to be a modern one. NET and NRSVUE both have it. "Ladder" in the song comes from the KJV. Don't think it changes the meaning much, though it conjures a rather different, and more sensible image. Having people going both up and down a ladder at the same time seems weird, whereas I have climbed many a wide staircase where having people going in both directions worked just fine.

 

[jimkenney12]

Eastern belief was that men provide seeds that develop into a baby in the womb. This meant that, for a man, daughters of your mother's or aunt,'s family are not blood related. One of the things I remember from university anthropology.

Jacob's ladder is similar to new age and other religious beliefs that there are thin places between the physical world and a spiritual world.

 

[paradox3]

Jacobs ladder reminds me of the tower of Babel which God did not like. Big difference, I guess, between dreaming of something spiritual and trying to create a physical reality.

 

[Mendalla]

Eastern belief was that men provide seeds that develop into a baby in the womb.

Not just Eastern. Greek, too. There's a reason we call it "sperm" which means "seed". Women were seen in a very passive role by the Greek male hierarchy, even if some women did manage to break that mold (lesbian Lesbian poet Sappho for instance).

 

[Mystic]

In John 1:51 Jesus embraces the widespread early Christian view that the rock on which Jacob sleeps is a type of Christ:

"And He said to him (Nathanael): Very truly I tell you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

In addressing Nathanael, why does Jesus invoke the image of angels ascending and descending on Jacob's rock (= Christ)?
Because Jesus has just addressed Nathanael with an image that invokes Jacob's "guile" in robbing Esau of his birthright:

"When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards Him, He said of him: Here is a true Israelite in whom is no guile (1:47)."

Why the odd address of Nathanael as "a true Israelite?"
Because in the story of Jacob's vision of wrestling with God (Genesis 32:28), God changes Jacob's name to "Israel."
What this poetic symbolism means is that Nathanael is never literally intended to witness angels ascending and descending on the Christ rock.

 

[paradox3]

Hmmm. And here was I wondering something else about the symbolism of the rock in Genesis 28.

Could it have influenced the NT story about the rock at the mouth of Jesus' tomb?

 

[paradox3]

Hey Bible Study friends. Here is Genesis 29

Snoopy's Snappy Review
Ooh la la!!! More deception and a love triangle coming up today.

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 29 - New English Translation

The Marriages of Jacob - So Jacob moved on and came to the land of the eastern people. He saw in the field a well with three flocks of sheep lying beside it, because the flocks were watered from that well. Now a large stone covered the mouth of the well. When all the flocks were gathered there...

www.biblegateway.com

What goes around comes around they say. Now it is Jacob's turn to be duped.

He has spotted Rachel and her sheep at the well and fallen in love with her. Yes, indeed, it was love at first sight.

He must work for Laban for 7 years to pay the bride price. No problem. He is so in love the time passes quickly. The wedding day arrives and at the last minute, Laban substitutes Leah for Rachel. Leah is Rachel's older sister and don't you know? A younger sister can't be married first.

The marriage is consummated and in the morning, Jacob realizes he has been tricked. He confronts Laban but no worries! Jacob can marry Rachel as soon as the week long festivities are over. This will mean working for Laban another seven years.

The two sisters are now co-wives but Jacob's favorite is always his first love, Rachel. Leah is unhappy and God opens her womb as consolation.

Leah has four sons. Rachel remains childless for the time being.

 

[paradox3]

So we have another strange story in the ongoing family saga. This is the first time in Genesis we have read about actual wedding celebrations or dowries.

At the time of their marriages, the young women are gifted with maids who will later become Jacob's concubines.

The ancient names Leah and Rachel are still in common use. Their Hebrew meanings are cow and ewe (female sheep). I have read that these biblical writers enjoyed playing with words.

Leah is said to have soft eyes. We don't know what this means but it could imply cowlike. And Rachel is associated with sheep in the story.

 

[paradox3]

Hmmm. And here was I wondering something else about the symbolism of the rock in Genesis 28.

Could it have influenced the NT story about the rock at the mouth of Jesus' tomb?

Noting that there is a rock in today's passage as well. It's at the top of a well and Jacob rolls it away so Rachel can get water for the sheep.

Curious detail to provide if it doesn't mean anything.

 

[Mendalla]

The problem is what does it mean absent how I think Christians will interpret it. After all, it was not written as a Christian document. It's probably a very old story that predates even what we would call Judaism. Maybe the chroniclers didn't really even know what it originally meant, it was just a detail that the tellers had in the story that they wrote down. Keep in mind that one of the memorization techniques used in oral cultures is repeated motifs. For instance you might always hear Heracles referred to as "Heracles, the slayer of Hydra" to remind both teller and listener of who Heracles was.

 

[paradox3]

Good point @Mendalla
There is a lot of repetition of many details in Genesis. The blessings, the descendants etc.

As for details/ symbols like the stone, I tend to think NT writers used them purposefully for the sake of continuity with the OT.

 

[Mystic]

Here are a couple of more examples of rock christology symbolism:
"Have you not read this in Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the keystone; this was the lord's doing and it is amazing in our eyes
(Mark 11:10-11)?"
"For they [our ancestors in the wilderness] drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4)."

 

[Mendalla]

As for details/ symbols like the stone, I tend to think NT writers used them purposefully for the sake of continuity with the OT.

Yes, as well as carefully curated quotes.

 

[paradox3]

We are in the midst of an origin story which eventually explains the 12 tribes of Israel. Why did the writers fill it with so much intrigue, I wonder?

It's a very human story with its rivalries and deceptions.

 

[GordW]

We are in the midst of an origin story which eventually explains the 12 tribes of Israel. Why did the writers fill it with so much intrigue, I wonder?

It's a very human story with its rivalries and deceptions.

I remember reading someone (though I am not 100% sure I remember who it was, I think it was Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg) talk about how deeply dysfunctional the family of Abraham was and how the echoes of that dysfunction should up in multiple generations from Abraham through to Joseph.

One of the things I find fascinating about Jewish Scripture is that the writers and editors did not choose to sanitize the stories. We meet a lot of deeply flawed heroes as we go through the history. At times even God comes off as a flawed character.

 

[unsafe]

Noting that there is a rock in today's passage as well. It's at the top of a well and Jacob rolls it away so Rachel can get water for the sheep.

Curious detail to provide if it doesn't mean anything.

Apparently water was scarce in those times and in order to keep others from using the well it to water their flocks they would put a large rock on top of the well to keep it for their flocks only and also it kept the water pure ----another thing is they waited till all the flock was at the well to lift the rock off the top of the well so that they knew all the flock was able to get a drink ---but we see that Jacob didn't wait for the whole flock to get there--he took the rock off all by himself without the help of the others ---maybe he was trying to impress Rachael --by showing his strength ?

 

[paradox3]

I remember reading someone (though I am not 100% sure I remember who it was, I think it was Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg) talk about how deeply dysfunctional the family of Abraham was and how the echoes of that dysfunction should up in multiple generations from Abraham through to Joseph.

One of the things I find fascinating about Jewish Scripture is that the writers and editors did not choose to sanitize the stories. We meet a lot of deeply flawed heroes as we go through the history. At times even God comes off as a flawed character.

Thanks so much for this. The family saga makes a great deal of sense as a story of multigenerational trauma. I like it as an explanation for the human family's "screwed-up-ness".

It's a far more meaningful & powerful story than a talking serpent and a piece of forbidden fruit.