Genesis 45

Wow. The foreshadowing comes on thick in this chapter. There have already been subtle clues that Joseph prefigures Christ, but it was all laid out when he reveals himself to his brothers. Seeing their shock and grief, he tells them, "Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me into these countries: for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation" (Genesis 45:5). Could not this exact statement be applied to what Christ did for us?! We may be inclined to lament and torment ourselves over the scourging and crucifixion of Christ caused by our sins, but Jesus Himself would say to us, "let it not seem to you a hard case... for God sent me before you... for your preservation." And Joseph says further, "God sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth, and may have food to live" (Genesis 45:7). Is not Christ Himself food for us to live?! According to Him, He is! These connections and portents never fail to astound me -- they don't pop up haphazardly here and there, they maintain a continuous presence throughout the narrative of the Old Testament until they are fully realized in the New. In Joseph's account, he was sent by God to preserve his people from the earthly famine then plaguing the land; and on a much larger scale, Jesus was sent by God to preserve all of humankind from the even greater plague of a spiritual famine then and even now sweeping the land.

Genesis 44 - The Expiation of Juda

I had written previously about how, especially in Genesis 38, Juda comes off as a sinful, wayward figure. Well, he has quite redeemed himself now in Genesis 44. After Joseph's contrivance to bring his brothers back to Egypt and specifically to keep Benjamin there with him, Juda delivers an impassioned plea to allow Benjamin to return to Jacob in Canaan. I found his speech powerful and full of remorse. It is yet another example that the way to approach God is through humility. Juda openly admits that he has sinned in the past, yet pleads for mercy from Joseph:

"What shall we answer my lord? or what shall we say, or be able justly to allege? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are all bondmen to our lord, both we, and he with whom the cup was found." (Genesis 44:16)

Nowadays, the general attitude is "what did I do to deserve this?!" or "why is God punishing me?!" When we ought to be saying "I completely deserve this and more" and "God has every right to punish me." Juda understood this, and for it he was rewarded.

Genesis 40-43

Time to get back on track. I left off in the middle of the Joseph story. Genesis is drawing to a close and I'm very anxious for Exodus.

As I stated when I began reading about Joseph's travails, this section of Genesis is set apart by its appeal to the emotions, its very human element. There are of course some moving, emotional moments in Genesis prior to Joseph entering the scene, but its usually more subtle. We are taken along on Joseph's long sufferings, his rises and falls. He is persecuted for his gift, ridiculed by his brothers, victimized by devious people, elevated to lordship, but also thrown in the dungeon. He evokes raw pathos from the reader. When Joseph first encounters his brothers after more than twenty years of estrangement, they don't recognize him, though he does them, and in the middle of speaking with them "he turned himself away a little while, and wept: and returning, he spoke to them" (Genesis 42:24). One can feel how the plethora of emotions must have been churning in Joseph's stomach as he faced the brethren he loved and who betrayed him. Again, later when his brothers bring Benjamin to Joseph, he sees his youngest, dearest brother and must flee the room "because his heart was moved upon his brother, and tears gushed out: and going into his chamber, he wept" (Genesis 43:30).

For these reasons, many Biblical scholars readily note that the story of Joseph marks a shift in the narrative of Genesis. The story of Exodus has already begun.

An Intermission: What's Going On in Genesis 6?!

I'd like to take a brief break from Joseph and backtrack to Genesis 6. I came across a strange observation recently concerning a couple of seemingly perplexing verses. Here they are:

"The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives of all which they chose." (Genesis 6:2)

"Now giants were upon the earth in those days. For after the sons of God went in to the daughters of men, and they brought forth children, these are the mighty men of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:4)

The interpretation I read recently (which is an age-old interpretation apparently) is that the "sons of God" were not men of the earth, but were creatures of a supernatural nature, possibly angels. And these angels came down to earth to mate with the human "daughters of men." And that they produced a frightening hybrid offspring called the Nephilim. Many Bibles translate Nephilim to the slightly more generic "giants." Well, I found this interpretation to be pretty over the top. It seems to be an example of hyper-literalism. It does have some textual basis, since apparently some copies of the Septuagint use words indicating not "sons of God" but "angels of God," leading some people to believe that actual angels descended to earth to mate with women (and most interpreters say these were actually fallen angels). The problem is that these interpretations seem to be derived from the pagan myths in which gods commonly mate with mortals to create hybrid beings. It is not Biblical in any sense. For starters, angels don't possess the bodily means to take it upon themselves to accomplish such an act. Angels don't have bodies the way men do. And furthermore, the giants, or Nephilim, alluded to aren't necessarily monsters or other such chimerical creatures like some interpreters assume. The Nephilim seem to have grown in legend as time has gone on, so that they are now thought of as quite fearsome, mythical beings.

What most level-headed interpretors believe is that the "sons of God" were the descendants of the pious Seth, while the "daughters of men" were the descendants of the impious Cain. Seth's heirs, originally at least, were close to God and lived in accordance with Him, while Cain's heirs, being exiled, were worldly and prone to evil ways. Eventually the heirs of Seth lost their ways and began to marry whomever they liked, which led to mingling with the heirs of Cain and producing an offspring that was now prone to paganism. The "giants" alluded to do not necessarily imply hulking ogres twenty feet tall. It could simply be a references to a race of men maybe a foot or two taller than the average human at the time. These things, of course, cannot be known completely. But what's most important is to take the passage in its proper context. The purpose of Genesis 6 is to set up the scene for the Flood, which is coming in the very next chapter. Therefore it was important to state how far mankind had strayed from God. The antediluvian period was filled with men who did whatever they pleased. Evil men roamed the earth. Almost no one lived in any sort of pious, obedient manner. The situation was so dire that something as catastrophic as the Flood was needed. And therefore we have the "strange" language of Genesis 6: "sons of God," "daughters of men," "giants," "Nephilim." It was a crazy world before the Flood.

Genesis 39

Here we read of a time-worn tale: Joseph's spurning of the advances of his master's mistress. Joseph seems to be the pinnacle of principled characters found in the Book of Genesis. He is an ideal model for virtuous living. In fact, (if I may quote my commentary) Joseph, in this chapter alone, demonstrates the four cardinal virtues: "Prudence, in keeping out of the company of his mistress; Justice, in regard to his master; Fortitude, in bearing with all sorts of hardships, loss of character, etc.; and Temperance, by refusing to gratify the most violent of all passions, at an age when it is the most insidious and ungovernable."

Interestingly enough, Joseph's story proved quite universal in theme and effect. In yet another example of the existence of a universal set of virtues, we see this same cautionary tale repeated in other cultures at other times in history. Two notable examples are the Greek myths of Hippolytus and Bellerophon, both of whom resist the sexual advances of a woman who then goes on to falsely accuse them of either rape or abuse of some sort. But by far my favorite tale of this nature (after Joseph's of course) is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This medieval poem may not be an exact replica of the Joseph account, but it definitely has the temptation scenes, with Gawain playing the role of the virtuous and gallant knight who doesn't dare sin by sleeping with his master's wife, a conspiring woman who relentlessly tempts him three times. If you haven't read this amazing piece of literature, I highly recommend it.

Genesis 38

This was quite an eventful chapter. The figure of Juda is highlighted, and many thoughts and questions came to mind while reading about his conduct. Juda, at least initially, was not a good guy. He seems to be the ringleader in the scheme to sell his brother Joseph into slavery, and we learn that he keeps the company of prostitutes (at least on one occasion), which leads to his being deceived by his daughter-in-law Thamar. And all this while I'm wondering why, of all Jacob's sons, Jesus decides to be born of this particular line! But the answer is quite simple, for by choosing a progenitor prone to sin (but who does eventually repent) we see Jesus Christ's humility and "tender regard for sinners" (Haydock). He doesn't choose a line full of inhumanly perfect people (for what could that do for us?!), but chooses people just like us, weak and tempted by sin, to whom Christ extends His mercy.

At the same time, a powerful dichotomy is going on. For while Juda is caving in to temptation by cavorting with a harlot, Joseph is concurrently in Egypt triumphantly resisting the temptations brought on by his master's wife. God so mercifully gives us figures such as Joseph, whose example we must try to follow.

Genesis 37 - "Behold the Dreamer Cometh"

I've come to the account of Joseph and his brothers, which, in my opinion, is the most powerful and profound story in Genesis. Obviously earlier accounts in Genesis, such as the Garden and the Flood, are much more intriguing and full of mystery. But the story of Joseph has a human element that makes it much more emotive than any other story in Genesis.

One of my favorite lines is when Joseph's brothers see him approaching and they derisively say, "Behold the dreamer cometh" (Genesis 37:19). To me, that line captures the mood of this chapter and the entire Joseph saga. On one hand we have the sincere Joseph who can't help the dreams he's been having, and on the other hand his brothers who naturally feel offended by them. One can feel the innocence and purity of Joseph being juxtaposed with the hate and envy felt by his brothers. I was particularly moved by Jacob's reaction to his son's apparent death: "Tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, mourning for his son a long time.
And all his children being gathered together to comfort their father in his sorrow, he would not receive comfort, but said: I will go down to my son into hell, mourning" (Genesis 37:34-35). The "long time" referred to would be twenty-three years! It would be that long before Jacob heard news of his son being still alive. Also interesting is the mention here of "sackcloth." Apparently this is the first ever mention of using such a garment to represent sorrow or mourning. Of course wearing sackcloth, or hair-cloth, would later be used by ascetics and monks to demonstrate humility.

And lastly, the parallels to the life of Christ are quite apparent throughout this account. The most obvious one in Genesis 37 is when Joseph is betrayed and sold by his brethren for some silver coins. Once again we have a prefiguring of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 33-36

In reading the history of the descendants of Esau I made a few minor discoveries. One is that I never realized that the one and only Job was of the line of Esau. He is even apparently mentioned by name in Genesis 36:33 -- "And Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zara, of Bosra, reigned in his stead." I don't think it is unanimously agreed that this Jobab is the same Job, but it seems to make sense historically.

And I found it quite interesting how the genealogy of Esau proceeds from semi-nomadic people (as Jacob and Esau were) to familial tribes, to a sort of aristocratic government, to eventually full-fledged kings. When I read things like this I am reminded of the historical nature that lies at the heart of Scripture. We know through the study of history that that is how man's governing of himself (especially in that region of the world) evolved. The Bible simply confirms this. And of course we see the same thing with the descendants of Jacob later on, when Moses leads a wandering people through the desert, who eventually go on to lead tribes by overseeing judges, and eventually all-powerful kings.