Day 19: Joseph & His Brothers

 Today's readings: Genesis 37, Job 27-28, and Proverbs 3:25-27.

I. Today's reading in Genesis is only one chapter, about Joseph, Jacob's youngest son, and how he is sold by his brothers into slavery. It begins by giving clues as to why these brothers may have built up such a hatred against him. Joseph is only 17, yet "brought an ill report of them to their father" (37:2), which no doubt didn't go over well at all with his older brothers. I suspect this wasn't the first time, whether deserved or not. The text straight out says that Joseph was Jacob's favorite and he had given him a "long robe with sleeves," which again didn't go over well (37:3-4). The dreams Joseph began having, seeming to show that his older brothers would bow down to him, were probably the last straw (37:5-11). Built-up annoyance and resentment turned into outright hatred.

When Jacob/Israel sent Joseph to check on his brother while they were out pasturing his flock, seeing him coming, "they conspired against him to kill him" (37:12-20). 

Seems rather excessive, but as the youngest brother myself in my own family, I suppose I would think that.

Surprisingly, Reuben, of all the brothers, the one who had betrayed Jacob/Israel with his concubine (35:22), barely stopped this deadly plot and convinced them to just throw him into a pit from which he planned to save him later (37:22-24). It's difficult to know whether Reuben did this out of true concern for his younger brother or just to curry favor with his father, who was undoubtedly still unhappy with his earlier behavior. The other brothers must have still been harboring murderous thoughts against Joseph, for next we see Judah propose the idea of selling him into slavery with some Midianite/Ishmaelite traders, which they did (37:25-28). Reuben is distraught, and the brothers use Joseph's robe to trick their father with a story of how the boy must have been killed by wild animals (37:29-33). Poor Jacob/Israel mourned the loss of Joseph, while poor Joseph was sold in Egypt to "an officer of Pharaoh" (37:34-36).

II. Job then maintains his integrity in response to the accusations of his "friends," as the Ignatius Bible notes:

Job brings the debate to a climax by swearing an oath of innocence (27:1-6) and invoking curses upon his enemies (27:7-12). By employing a solemn oath formula...(27:2), Job summons God, the divine Judge, to make his appearance, to examine his case impartially, and to render justice according to the facts. Job's prior pleas for a hearing were not, as it were, officially filed (9:32-35; 13:3, 13-22; 23:4-7) (CCC 2150-51). (p. 810) 

In the next chapter, we have a "poetic interlude on wisdom" which, presuming it does come from Job, shows the maturing of his understanding and faith in God. As the Ignatius Bible notes:

Theologically, the poem indicates that true wisdom resides with God. Like precious metals and gemstones hidden in the earth (28:1-11), wisdom remains concealed from man and his searching mind (28:12-14, 20-22) until God chooses to reveal it (28:28). It is what man needs to avoid evil and to live with a proper "fear of the Lord" (28:28). (p. 811) 

That last verse I find to be most profound, in that "fear of the Lord... is wisdom" and "to depart from evil is understanding".

III. Ok, so finishing chapter 3 in Proverbs is still not in the cards. The tiny morsel we're given today is just 3 verses (3:25-27). 

3 verses.

At least they're pretty good ones: don't be afraid when the wicked do come to ruin and keep trust in the Lord so we don't become ensnared in sinful pursuits unlike them. 

I'm really, really not liking how Proverbs is being divided up, yet will still stick with the program.

That's all for today.

Day 18: The Heart of Israel

 Today's reading: Genesis 35-36, Job 25-26, and Proverbs 3:19-24.

I. Today's reading in Genesis begins with God telling Jacob to go to Bethel, build Him an altar, and "put away the foreign gods that are among you," which he does (35:1-4). At Bethel, God affirms Jacob as the heir of the Abrahamic Covenant and changes his name to Israel (35:9-12). Afterward, Rachel bears a second son to Jacob/Israel, Benjamin, but dies in childbirth and is buried in Bethlehem (35:16-20).  The Ignatius Bible gives an interesting note on this burial place for her:

Her traditional resting place is still memorialized in Bethlehem today. The evangelist Matthew assumes knowledge of this tradition when he speaks of Rachel weeping over the slaughtered infants of Bethlehem (Mt 2:16-18). (p. 102)

Then we get this random remark that Reuben "went and lay with his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it" (35:22). The Ignatius Bible notes this crazy move, which I'm sure made sense to Reuben, but I find completely unfathomable:

An aggressive move to ensure his first-born authority over Jacob's other children. Ironically, this sinful bid for power will deprive Reuben of the blessing and inheritance he was entitled to receive by virtue of his place in the birth order. Angered and offended by this treachery, Jacob will pass Reuben's birthright over to Joseph, the first-born of Rachel (49:3-4; 1 Chron 5:1-2). (p. 102) 

Isaac then died at Hebron and was buried by Esau and Jacob/Israel (35:27-29).

Today's reading in Genesis finishes with a long genealogical list of the descendants of Esau "(that is, Edom)" (36). This has some significance historically in Scripture, Edom being a rival of the nation of Israel in biblical times, but I found this to be boring, and most of the names are quite odd and meant nothing to me.

The thinking of these folks is almost alien to my mind in ways (like Reuben's treachery), but the BIY Companion, Vol 1, has some good commentary on all this:

God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, promising to make him a great nation, continuing the promises he made to his father, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham. God accomplishes his will despite human brokenness and sin. We see that theme repeated throughout the Old Testament... In Genesis 35, Jacob (now called Israel) buries his beloved wife. His twelve sons are with him, and we will see how they become the twelve tribes of Israel. (p. 42)

II. Job's "friend" Bildad gives his third speech to him, refusing to accept that Job is innocent and deserves his suffering, for "how then can man be righteous before God?" (25). Job gives his third reply to him, as the Ignatius Bible notes:

After a barrage of sarcastic rebukes (26:2-4), he stresses that God's power exceeds human understanding and yet is displayed throughout the natural world (26:5-14). At this point, Job is wearied by the undiscerning counsel he has received. (p. 810)

The speeches have become repetitive, but what's interesting is seeing the deepening of Job's theology, a greater understanding of suffering, and a maturing of his faith in God.

III. So we can't finish chapter 3 in Proverbs, perish the thought, but we get yet another tiny morsel. The father advises his son to "keep sound wisdom and discretion" (3:21). Nice one, dad.

That's it for today!

Day 17: Jacob Meets Esau

Today's reading: Genesis 33-34, Job 23-24, and Proverbs 3:13-18.

I. Today in Genesis, we get the big "showdown" when Jacob meets with Esau, whom he had cheated. Fortunately, though, the 20 years they had been separated cooled Esau's murderous ire towards Jacob (27:41). They both seemed pleased to see each other again and parted in peace (33:1-16). A bit anticlimactic, but it's always nice to see brothers reconciled in this way. Jacob did wrong to Esau, who likewise had been foolish in his youth for the little regard he had for his birthright, and wished death on his brother for cheating him. Yet, in the end, they were able to move beyond the errors of their youth and remain brothers.

Jacob next traveled to the city of Shechem to camp outside its walls. Sadly, his daughter Dinah was raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor, who, despite this shameful act, claimed to have fallen in love with her (34:1-3). The sons of Jacob were outraged by this, and when he proposed marriage to Dinah, they tricked Hamor & Shechem, as well as the males of the city, to get circumsized to unite themselves with Jacob's people (34:8-17). Simeon & Levi, two of Dinah's brothers, then fell upon the men as they lay helpless in recovery from the circumcision. They slew them all and plundered their goods (34:25-29). Today's reading in Genesis ends with Jacob expressing fear of reprisals from Canaanite tribes, while the brother remained indignant over what had happened to Dinah (34:30-31). 

I have a feeling this will come back to haunt them later.

II. We now have Job respond yet again to Eliphaz, confidently believing that God will find him innocent of wrongdoing (23:7), even though his "friends" insist that he must have sinned greatly and God punishes them in this life (24:18-20). Job kind of wisely points out that this is not always the case, though we may not understand why (cf 24:1-12; 24:22).

As the BIY Companion, Vol 1, states:

Job points out that life is not as straightforward as we would like. Sometimes good people die, while bad people seem to be rewarded. Job wrestles with the Lord about this and tries to make sense of it. (p. 40)

Truth is, live long enough and all of us wrestle with this at one point or another. It's a difficult thing to accept, but in the end, we are still called to trust in the Lord and His will. We are finite, while He is not. Our understanding and knowledge of things is infinitesimal compared to the omniscience of God. A competent theologian could explain this better, no doubt, but as a layman, I've always seen it this way, which becomes clearer in Job several chapters later. It's not easy, which does little to cool the anger at times, but simply IS.

III. We get another tiny morsel from Proverbs. Not enough to finish chapter 3, but we ever so slowly creep closer to this. The imagery of the "tree of life" in 3:18 is interesting. As the Ignatius Bible notes:

In effect, those who find wisdom receive a taste of the undisturbed peace and contentment that once reigned in the primordial paradise of Eden. The Eucharist, called supersubstantial bread, is also called "the tree of life" in Scripture. If one extends his hand and partakes of it, he will live forever. This tree Solomon named "the wisdom of God"... (p. 966)

That's all for today! 

Day 16: The Suffering of Job

 Today's reading: Genesis 31-32, Job 21-22, and Proverbs 3:9-12.

I. Today's reading in Genesis begins with Jacob fleeing with his wives and all of his stuff, after being told by God to "return to the land of your fathers" (31:1-21). Laban and his kin overtake Jacob, accuse him of fleeing without letting him celebrate his departure by wishing him and his daughters well (31:22-42). This sounds doubtful in my opinion, but more like Laban wanted to take back Jacob's stuff. Nevertheless, Laban and Jacob made a covenant with each other and then parted (31:43-55). Next, Jacob reached out to Esau, his brother, whom he had cheated, desiring peace. His servants returned from seeing his brother and let Jacob know that Esau "is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him" (32:6). Jacob was understandably afraid, for it does sound like his brother was out to take revenge with that many men at his side, and after begging God to save him sent Esau some gifts to appease him (32:9-21). The reading ends with a curious wrestling match between Jacob and an angelic figure. The Ignatius Bible describes it in this way:

A mysterious contest between Jacob and a nameless angel (Hos 12:4). After a night of outwrestling his opponent, Jacob is renamed "Israel" and limps away from the scene with a blessing and a bad hip. Allegorically, the angel is a type of Christ, and his defeat points to the Passion of Christ, who allowed his own people to prevail over him. And just as the victorious Jacob was blessed and injured at the same time, so with the people of Israel: some are blessed to believe in Christ, while others are crippled in unbelief... Morally, to wrestle with God is to struggle for virtue... (p. 99)

II. Poor Job gives another reply to his "friend" Eliphaz, rebuking his claim that the wicked are always punished by God in this life (21:7-16), dismissing his claims as "falsehood" (21:34). We get the last speech by Eliphaz in response, and it is unchanged in that he believes that Job is suffering due to some offense he did against God. 

The BIY Companion, Vol 1, comments on this:

Sometimes suffering is caused by bad decisions, either our own or those of others. At other times, God permits suffering to get our attention, to help us realize that we need to draw closer to him. God can use suffering to teach us a deeper kind of wisdom. The Bible makes clear that Job was a righteous man. He was not guilty of anything; he did not need to repent. So his suffering was not due to something he had done... [W]e do not know the mind of God or his perfect will. Sometimes there is no human answer; ultimately, the answer can only come from God himself. (p. 38)

III. Finally, we are given yet another tiny morsel from Proverbs. This one actually has some good advice on honoring God and a reminder lest we despair in bad times that God "reproves him whom he loves" (3:12). Given the suffering of poor Job I've reading about, this is a good reminder.

That's it for today.

Day 15: Leah Feels Unloved

 Today's reading: Genesis 29-30, Job 19-20, and Proverbs 3:5-8.

I. Jacob meets up with Rachel, the younger daughter of Laban, whom he falls in love with (29:1-14). His past deceit catches up with him, as he himself is deceived by Laban when he asks to marry Rachel and agrees to work 7 years for him. Instead, he is secretly given the elder daughter, Leah. He then agrees to work 7 more years for Rachel, which he does. Leah bears four sons to Jacob (29:15-30). Poor Leah! She tries hard for Jacob's love, seemingly to no avail. As the BIY Companion, Vol 1, states:

While Jacob loves Rachel, Leah has to suffer the wound of being merely tolerated by him... God sees Leah's pain in being unloved, so he opens her womb while Rachel remains barren. As Leah bears children, she keeps expecting Jacob to grow in love for her and for that love to surpass his love for Rachel, but this does not happen... Eventually, Leah gives up the hope of Jacob loving her and chooses to praise the Lord instead. (p. 36)

During this competition of sorts between the sisters, servant girls are used when needed, as well as "aphrodisiacs" such as mandrakes (30:1-24). So basically, we have the whole mix that we've seen before, and Laban deceives Jacob like he had done to his brother Esau.

Today's reading ends with an odd story of how Jacob became wealthy at Laban's expense, from his herd of goats and sheep (30:25-43). It's difficult to know what to make of this, except maybe some kind of foreshadowing of much later Temple requirements on unblemished animals being used for sacrifice.

II. Poor Job gives another desperate plea to his friends, though has some interesting insight. As the Ignatius Bible notes in the footnotes:

This discourse is one of the highpoints of the book where Job arrives at a new perception of his situation. Not only does he break down and plead for the pity of his friends (19:21), but for the first time thus far, he expresses the hope that God will vindicate him after death (19:25-26). (p. 804)

Yeah, Job's pleas have no effect on his "friends". Zophar is offended and gives another rebuke of how the wicked are justly punished by God, which clearly Job is one of, and that's why he is in such misery (20:1-29). 

Again, poor Job needs better friends! With this, the miserable Job is done for the day.

III. In Proverbs, another tiny morsel when something more would be fitting. Still, there is a good verse from the father to his son that he should always "trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight" (3:5).

That's it for today!

Day 14: Isaac Blesses Jacob

 Today's reading: Genesis 27-28, Job 17-18, and Proverbs 3:1-4.

I. Jacob shows us what a deceiver he was in life by tricking his father to gain the blessing usually given to the firstborn son, which would be Esau in this case (27:1-29). The Ignatius Bible comments on this in the footnotes:

Jacob intercepts the blessing intended for Esau and cheats him out of the inheritance of the firstborn. His mother, Rebekah, is the mastermind behind the ruse, guiding him at each crucial step. The Genesis narrative is not blind to their underhanded ways; rather, it frowns upon Jacob the deceiver and almost pities Esau the victim. It is just as aware, however, that Esau shamefully despised his natural birthright (25:29-34). The story thus illustrates how God can further his plan despite the failings of his people. God had already elected Jacob over Esau to bear the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant (25:23; Rom 9:10-13). (p. 92)

So not only did Jacob manipulate his own brother to gain Esau's birthright (25:29-34), but now he tricks his own father to steal the man's blessing too! Worse, he does so with the connivance of Rebekah! That such disgraceful behavior by prominent founding personages from Hebrew history, helps indicate to me that this must be true as recorded in the Scriptures. For usually, such figures are covered in glory with their faults minimized or ignored. 

The BIY Companion, Vol 1, has some good commentary on the brokenness of this family:

Genesis makes clear that Esau was especially loved by Isaac, while Jacob was favored by Rebekah. This exacerbates the brokenness already a part already a part of them through sin and affects the entire family dynamic. (p. 34)

Or in other words, while Jacob and Esau are responsible for their own sins, their own parents helped begin this nasty cycle by their excessive favoring of one son over the other.

Esau has to settle for a lesser blessing, which sound like one for second sons, even though he is the elder one (27:39-40). Naturally, Esau is enraged and "hated Jacob," vowing to kill him after his father passes away (27:41). Rebekah finds out and sends Jacob away, making him swear not to marry a Canaanite woman (27:42-46).

Interestingly, Isaac then gives Jacob another blessing also warning him not to marry a Canaanite woman after which, Jacob leaves (28:1-5). He has a remarkable dream at what would later be called Bethel, in which God appears to him and reiterates the blessings given to Abraham (22:15-18; 28:10-22). 

And with this, today's reading in Genesis ends.

II. Job prays for relief from his sufferings, beginning with this pitiful line:

My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,

    the grave is ready for me. (17:1)

His friend Bildad gives another speech, rebuking him at first (18:1-14), highly insulted by Job calling them "stupid" (18:3), and then giving him another warning to Job of what befalls sinners (18:15-21). 

So again, no solace for poor Jacob or comfort, even from his "friends", and certainly no understanding.

III. Ok, yet more tiny morsels from Proverbs! Today, the father to not "forget my teaching" for all his life, to not "let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you," and if he does these things, he will "find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man" (3:1-4).

If it hasn't become clear, I do not care for how BIY divides up Proverbs at least. I'll stick with the "process" for now, but I'm tempted to ignore it for this book if this continues. Just a  few verses from a chapter make no sense, and no explanation either is given.

That's it for today.

Day 13: Esau Sells His Birthright

 Today's reading: Genesis 25-26, Job 15-16, and Proverbs 2:20-22.

I. Today's reading in Genesis begins oddly, with Abraham marrying his concubine Keturah, who bore him 6 more sons (25:1-2). The sons of most of these are listed, but none of them stick around for long in the narrative because Abraham sends them away like Ishmael (21:9-14; 25:6). It's a rather weird family dynamic, with children and their offspring being sent away like this, but I suppose it worked back then to protect the promises God made through Isaac (17:18-21) and not these others, as well as the property he would inherit from Abraham. 

Then, Abraham dies and is buried with Sarah (25:7-9). That this was done by both Isaac and Ishmael raises questions over how they related to each other not only during this, but in other times. Did they keep in contact with each other? I can't imagine Thanksgiving-like dinners or holiday visits, but if they did, in what way?

We are given a listing of Ishmael's descendants (25:12-18), and then the narrative switches quickly to Isaac. It is from him and Rebekah that we get the twins Esau and Jacob, with this curious foreshadowing from God:

"Two nations are in your womb,

    and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided;

the one shall be stronger than the other,

    the elder shall serve the younger." (25:23)

Their "struggle together within" Rebekah would come to be true outside the womb. Jacob began by grasping Esau's heel at birth (25:26), and later tricked him out of his birthright (25:29-34). He doesn't come across very well at all, given how opportunistic and manipulative he is with his own brother. Nevertheless, Esau treats a sacred inheritance as trivial and trades long-term covenantal responsibility for immediate appetite, which doesn't say much for him. I have to wonder though if there is more to this story. Right now, it looks to me like gluttony in action, which explains why it is considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Momentary satisfaction of hunger, a bowl of stew for his birthright. He really must have "despised his birthright" or thought so little of it.

Next, we see Isaac going to Gerar, of the Philistines, due to a famine. He tries the lie that his wife is his sister (26:7), but the king there spots the two in an intimate moment (26:8), so warns all his people not to touch her (26:11). Isaac isn't punished for his lie, but like before with Abraham, he instead gets wealthy (26:12-13). There is some back-and-forth with the Philistines, until finally their king seeing that Isaac is so blessed by God, makes a covenant of peace with him (26:28-31).

Today's reading in Genesis ends with Esau taking a Hittite wife, "and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah" (26:34-35). I'm assuming that this means they were pagans and brought idolatry into Isaac's encampment.

II. Eliphaz again shows himself to be a questionable friend of Job in his reply. As the Ignatius Bible states in the footnotes:

Eliphaz delivers his second speech. Accusations intensify as he charges Job with turning "against God" (15:13) and making himself "abominable and corrupt" (15:16). As far as he can tell, Job is sinking deeper into sin by acting like a know-it-all and refusing to deal with the problem of unconfessed sin in his life. (p. 801)

Well, I'd say that he should be left off the Christmas gift list, or whatever the equivalent would be at that time.

Job's response to Eliphaz really makes me feel for him in the agony he has. The Ignatius Bible notes:

Job replies to Eliphaz a second time. The mockery of his friends (16:20) and the scorn of his foes (17:6) make him feel as if God is assaulting him with a violent hatred (16:9). Still, he continues to plead for a fair examination of his case (16:19-21). (p. 802) 

How could one not be moved by Job's repeated pleas, feeling abandoned by God and his friends? 

III. Finally, we are given the last verses of Chapter 2 in Proverbs. The father finishes this part by noting that if his son follows his advice, he will "walk in the way of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous" and will "inhabit the land" (2:20-22). Frankly, these verses could have been included a couple of days ago, but "trust the process," I guess.

That's it for today.