Final Thoughts

So, semester ended. Wowzers. I guess I saw it coming, but still always seems shocking. So much growth, development, intellectual stimulation, beer pong, motivating people, blogging, well, it all runs together.

Except for some moments. Or maybe all, if I thought hard enough. But I think I'd rather live than think. This class though, it was pretty great. Frustrating, but great. I don't know if I can forgive myself for not finishing the Bible, but I am happy to say I think I will continue reading it, so as to finish it...well...someday. In addition to that, I have some blog reading to catch up on. Don't we all wish we had hindsight? I guess no regrets though. It's funny how in most classes, friendships are made, appreciations are formed, but as a class the sense of togetherness happens just as we all have to say bye. Now, I don't want to be all sentimental, but this class, due to its personal nature, did get together at the end. I'm sad to say it will be over. And that we will all have to start awkward new classes next semester. But, that's life, and it sure is grand.

There is just so much to do, to be, to accomplish, to love, to sing, to laugh, to hate. I want to be great, I believe we are all great, but why can't we admit it? Random thoughts. I wish I was dedicated enough to write them all down. And someday, bit by bit, I will be--just as all of you will be.

I don't even know who I'm writing to anymore. I guess...thanks class, thanks Dr. Sexson, thanks fall 09. It's been good. No better than any other, but still damn good.

Final Paper

(In)herent Truth: The Path of the Devotee

At some point in time, as individuals and as a society, one comes to the depressing realization that life is fraught with nothing but repetition, futility, death, decay and suffering. Buddha would come to recognize this as the first noble truth: all is suffering. The biblical tradition would similarly describe this as hebel, “a metaphorical kernel of fog, mist or vapor… (it) acquires a derived sense of emptiness” (Frye, 123). This is translated as ‘vanity,’ and expressed most clearly in Ecclesiastes 1.14 as “I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” This represents one of the most obvious and accessible examples of skeptical wisdom in the Bible. The book shifts its tone from history, ritual and worship to a dark questioning, a questioning of the very meaning of existence. This questioning of meaning, of inherent truth, is present inside all humans, and serves as a jumping point as to how we might live our lives. Some choose to ignore questions in favor of doctrine, others look inside themselves for the answer, some choose to find no answer, and still others turn to devotion to answer the question. The path of the devotee is but one way to realize the non-inherent beauty of life, and is at times one of the most overlooked.

The redactor of Ecclesiastes who added to the end of the otherwise skeptical book, “Fear God and keep his commandments, for that is the whole duty of everyone” (Ecc 12:13), would choose the path of ritual, law and habit. He gives the question of suffering no more thought than a cursory glance, afraid of what he might find, and returns instead to the known path of worship. A second reaction to the questions raised in Ecclesiastes is an overt renunciation of all things holy and inherent. As a nihilist, one has asked the questions, and decided them to be too hard to answer. Thus one concludes there must be no answer. He is the one who, in the midst of wavering between faith and despair, was caught on the side of gloom.

Another option is the path of devotion. Devotees give utter submission to their god, but not in the sense of subservience. Instead, the worshipper comes to love the god, as the god loves her. In the Hindi tradition, this is exemplified in the deity Gopala-Krsna, an avatar of Vsnu. He lives in Vrndavana, a fanciful mountain village, frolicking with the gopi maidens and playing his flute. He turns the traditional roles of deity and devotee on their head, asking his worshippers to approach him as a lover, rather than a servant. His worshippers praise him as a god, as a lover, and as an answer.

“Into my vile body of flesh, you came, as though it were a temple of gold, and soothed me wholly and saved me, O lord of Grace, O Gem Most pure. Sorrow and birth and death and illusion you took from me, and set me free. O bliss! O Light! I have taken refuge in you, and never can I be parted from you.” (Kinsley, 59)

Krsna offers escape from societal norms and dharma, while providing a life filled with fervent love and fierce admiration. He inspires his followers, in his fierce loving and childlike nature, to understand the world in a more innocent manner. His devotees shed doubts and fears of death and life, finding joy in simplicity.

In the Christian tradition, this devotion is placed upon Jesus Christ. He is a reaction against the strict Old Testament laws and wrathful Lord. He serves as a contrast to the Nihilists, who so easily lose hope. The devotional figure in any tradition offers himself as the reason for living, and this is popularly taken in two contexts.

The first is the traditional reading of the bible, an idea of inherent love and reason. In this interpretation, Jesus is quite literally the son of God, sent to earth to die for our sins and show us a better way to live. He offers a break from the ritual sacrifice and offerings to the lord, saying “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:12). He unabashedly reproached priests who prescribed ritual over virtue, and came to be loved for it.

Jesus preached loving thy neighbor as thyself, but he further represented the price one must pay for sin. He recognizes that sin is not hard to commit, nor is it objective. Yet, Jesus believed there are some things one must come to understand, and this can be regarded as metanoia, a “change of outlook, or spiritual metamorphosis, an enlarged vision of the dimensions of human life” (Frye, 130). Translated in the bible as “repentance,” metanoia represents the ultimate broadening of horizons and recognition that there is a kingdom of heaven, and a way of attaining it. Traditional readers understand this to be the world that will be revealed at the end of times, after the apocalypse. In Frye’s analysis, attaining the kingdom of heaven does not rely on an apocalypse in the physical sense, but rather in a mental state.

To achieve mental apocalypse, one reads the Bible something short of literally. It no longer matters whether Jesus was or was not the son of God, or whether or not there is a god. There may be no inherent purpose or love, but it is enough that we do love. This resembles nihilism at first glance, but where nihilism falls short, devotional traditions provide an ultimate reason, one hinted at by Frye when describing the first, metaphorical phase of language. “All words in this phase are concrete…this shows how intensely physical such conceptions as soul, mind, time, courage, emotion or thought are” (Frye, 7). What Frye is alluding to is the telling power words and ideas have on the psyche, and beyond that, the real world. This idea is, ironically, hard to express. It requires a return to thinking of metaphors as reality, as simultaneously existing paradoxes that do not truly conflict. Although a fruit tree and Jesus are two physically distinguishable and separate objects, because the Bible proclaims them to be the same in some deeper sense, they are. The impact of words is not measured in their validity, but rather in their power. Even if Jesus was not the son of God, he is a son of a god, and further than that, the impact of his story is powerful whether or not it is credible. In the absence of proof, we have faith. In the absence of faith, we can still have meaning.

A second result of the metaphorical devotion to Jesus is the shift from an imminent and upcoming apocalypse to an every-day realization, or, realized eschatology. This is the theory that the world has already come to an end, and continues to do so every day. It is only us who are not aware of this fact. It alludes to the idea of anamnesis, of “recollection, the recognizing of the new as something identifiable with the old” (Frye, 81). In and of itself, there is no revolutionary thought process in deciding that what has happened before will happen again and continue to happen in the future. In fact, this type of thinking easily loses sight of devotion and turns again to the question. An ingredient is still missing, and this is the idea of the proclamational figure who declares “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5).

A declaration of this sort is not simply predicting an end to the world as we know it. Instead, one has experienced anamnesis; they know what it is to live a life of repetition. Jacob in Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novel The Slave has come to understand this truth: “Everything remained the same: the ancient love, the ancient grief. Perhaps four thousand years would again pass; somewhere, at another river, another Jacob would walk mourning another Rachel” (Singer, 279). Further, the devotional figure (Jesus, God, Krsna) understands and relates the idea that “the mere attempt to repeat a past experience will only lead to disillusionment, but there is another kind of repetition” (Frye, 82). This biblical repetition serves as the unveiling, the apocalypse. There is no fire from heaven nor otherworldly beasts required. All that is needed is the recognition that this world, even if not inherently meaningful, has meaning in its smallest bits, in its simplest joys. This is the disappearance of the ego, encouraged by a divine muse. Through both his teachings and his passion for life, Jesus became the muse.

Thus the promise to make all things new contains three important conditions: first, one must understand the idea of anamnesis, of recognizing the new as old. Second, one will seek an inspiring devotional figure with which to reconcile the idea of repetitious behavior and ultimate truth. Third, one realizes this repetition is not mundane nor cause for suffering. Devoting oneself to Jesus or Krsna is only one way to recognize this truth.

We choose many different ways to deal with the question of why, the question of why me, the question of why anything. Some turn to ritual and habit to drown out the humdrum, others revert to nihilistic tendencies that obscure any meaning at all. Some look inside themselves rather than out to find meaning. In the devotional traditions, man is given a good, inherent or not, that he may come to love. This figure provides both and inspiration and an outside source of strength to draw upon and love. In this loving, the apocalypse will be realized. Depending upon interpretation, this unveiling will come in the future, it will come hard and fast and physical, and it will make up for all that has been done wrong. In another tradition, the apocalypse is synonymous with the disappearance of the ego, and comes every day.

Conservapedia

So, I was sitting in my living room checking email while my roommate was watching The Colbert Report. Someone came on as a guest, and apparently there is this new website, like wikipedia, called "Conservapedia."

Pretty freaking awesome, right?

That's what I thought. At first I had to laugh at the site- it is such a blatantly one-sided piece of work that it's hard to take it seriously. But...then...I realized: people do, and will, take it seriously. They will live their lives by the definition of Obama as defined on conservapedia, never trying to internalize their thoughts or seek another source to balance it out. Which, as my conservative roommate reminds me, is what everyone does already. Yet, there was something especially distasteful about this: it was so one sided, so obviously....wrong, that people would be hard pressed to look at anything else. To be sure, there is the liberal side of this too, although I don't know if I can think of an example as disgusting. There is one, but I can't name it at the moment.

Anyways, surfing through some articles: I highly recommend doing this, if you are looking to expand your world view and not shrink it (aka, if you are conservative and read this website only to masturbate to it, fuck you). *sorry

I happened upon a page entitled: Conservative Bible Project. This is a project designed to rewrite the Bible, taking all them nasty liberal ideas out of it. So....reverting to a pure religion. But, talking in class, what it a pure religion? It is what is included in the bible, right? Well, according to conservapedia--wrong. Our translations are horrible 7th grade reading level interpretations that completely miss the point of Christian traditions. We must retranslate, take out things that don't emphasize conservative ideals and so forth.

They have a few good points. But....the bible is so influential because of how it is written now. That is what has built its following, its popularity, its intrigue. Ripping out bits and pieces will create a religion that never existed in the first place....some ideal we wish to return to.

Overall, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But, maybe they have a point?

Link: http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project

The Slave

Reading The Slave without first reading the bible still makes for a good book, yet reading it after or concurrently with the bible creates an experience. The reader, who might have agreed stoically with Jacob’s thoughts, or cried at his path, can see the importance of the story if he has read the bible as well. The similarities go much deeper than the obvious congruent paths of biblical Jacob and slave Jacob. Even the philosophy of the book, the underlying texts and problems fit in perfectly with the message of the bible. This means that if one enjoys the philosophy of The Slave, they will probably commiserate with the meaning in the bible. (Old Testament)

Thus, The Slave has two purposes: firstly, it serves to illustrate the people of the bible, or those that follow the bible. It fills in lacuna not in the traditional sense, but because “everything remained the same: the ancient love, the ancient grief” (p 279), the trials and tribulations of Jacob’s biblical ancestors can be translated through generations to reach Jacob himself, with no significant change in human experience. This idea relates in a big way to Frye’s concept (and many others) of the type and antitype. This is not in the traditional Christian sense of the word. Instead, the idea of type and antitype represents the bible setting the stage for countless Israel people to carry out the message of the bible, not in an endless stream of boring repetition, but rather fulfilling their ancestor’s words.

Indeed, Jacob sins as his forefathers did, and puts words to the otherwise silent lips of his namesake, “He did not feel so much contrition as annoyance that he had been placed in a situation which made his sin possible” (p 79).

The second beautiful bit Singer infused in his writing—or was perhaps the purpose of his writing—was to somehow make the bible’s philosophies more accessible. Mentioned above, The Slave parallels the bible on both a shallow and a deep level, and does it while remaining a damn good read. The negative connotation many non-bible-reader place on the bible allows them to ignore the beauty of it, never picking it up, or only picking it up to scoff at its outdated ideals. Yet, as I have learned this past semester, the bible as a whole is anything but outdated, or primitive.

Frye writes of anamnesis, of remembering what we have forgotten, and metanoia, or repentance, an enlarged outlook on the dimensions of human life. In the bible, these serve as ways to understand apocalypse, and how to live unveiled, whether in this life or at the end, with fire and brimstone. In The Slave, these very same ideas are conveyed through Jacob, who again and again alludes to the unknown ways of god, and the vain ways of men. “Infinite worlds, angels, seraphim, mansions and sacred chariots surrounded man, but he did not see them because he was small and sinful and immersed in the vanities of the body” (p 61).

Jacob understands hebel, he understands god’s magnificent power, he understands men will always be trying to deny, abuse and take advantage of that power. He understands, as is accepted in the Judeo/Christian tradition, outlined by Frye, that salvation in this world cannot come through humanity alone, but must be accompanied by a god. “The record of human cruelty and folly is too hideous for anything but the sense of a corrupted will to come near to a diagnosis….Man has to fight his way out of history and not simply awaken from it” (Frye, p. 133).

Jacob assents.

“But now that Jacob observed this rabble he understood that some forms of corruption can only be cleansed by fire.” (p 57)

Another Testament, another Dolla

I decided to skip forward into the New Testament in order to keep up with the class discussions, and I am really excited to see what it has in store. Similar to the Old Testament, I am influenced continuously by the stories in the N.T., and I am even tricked into thinking I know them. However, as I begin, I once again realize how little I know about what is written. I am struck by the beauty of the verses, but I am most concerned with the idea of reading this book as literature. Literature, by some abstract definition that I conceived in my head yesterday while reading one of the most important foundations of my Western mindset—no, not Facebook updates, but the Bible— is a reaction.

By reading the Bible as literature, then, we begin to view the stories as reactions to trends, cultures, people, environments; it becomes a living record of our past. Reading the bible in the traditional sense of the word necessarily ignores this interesting facet, as the bible is no longer a book of the people, but a book of the Lord. However, for my purposes I will forgo recognizing the authorship of the divine in favor of the words of the people.

Religion as literature. Theology as an evolutionary process, a slow series of small changes showing the progression of a people. The idea of Bible as ‘reaction literature’ is not unique to Judeo/Christian traditions. As divine as a god may be, he is subject to the irrationalities, preferences and political moods of his/her worshippers. This is apparent in the Indian traditions in a pattern very parallel to Judeo/Christian evolutions.

Let us consider, that, in the beginning, there was a creation, and then law. Rites and rituals, otherwise known as superstitions to those outside the faith, dominate early Judaism as well as Hinduism. Many early Hindu devotees worshipped nagas, or snakes, as well as various earthly gods that represented virility and natural phenomena. Early precursors to the Israel traditions were also concerned with ritual sacrifices, and much of that habit had passed on into the Torah.

“You shall take some of the first fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you…” Deut. 26.2

“On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams fourteen male lamps a year…..also one male goat for a sin offering…” Num 29.20

As we can see, a large amount of Bible books are given to the precise description of what to sacrifice, how to do it, when it must be done, and to whom the sacrifice was offered, and why.

Next came renunciation in the Hindu tradition, spawning the popularity of renouncer traditions and widespread Buddhism in Southeast Asia. The writings that went along with this movement were found mostly in the Jnana-Purana, Jnana meaning ‘knowledge.’ The idea came as a reaction to the lifestyles the worshippers had fallen into, of luxury and comfort, of satiety and ease. People no longer believed in god nor understood heaven; they simply followed habits imposed on them for generations. The renouncers wanted to reawaken the quest for salvation, through meditation and knowledge rather than by habitual practices.

The parallel in the Bible can be found in the emphasis placed on fasting and righteous suffering described in the books following the Torah. One prime example is the Book of Job. Oh, did he suffer. Yet, through Job’s suffering, and yes, even because of his incessant complaining, Job received “twice as much as he had before” (Job 42.10). The path to his salvation and intimate reconnection with god came not through obedience and mindless ritual, but through physical hardships and questioning. He now respected and cherished his Lord even more than he had before his hardships, and certainly more than his ‘frenemies’ ever had.

Still, one last reaction was to take place in the written accounts. Harsh renunciation and crude questioning of divine grace has its place, but someone in the history of both Judaism and Hinduism seemed to believe that a life lived in pain in order to appreciate salvation forsook the joy and possibility of the material world. The next step became one of pure, unadulterated love and devotion for the Lord.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWYGEM19cUk&feature=related

This process can be exemplified in the Hindu tradition by the worship of Krsna, possible avatar of Vsnu. In his two incarnations, Krsna appears first as a respected general on the battlefield, showing the face of respectful devotion, and later in his most beloved form as a young lover in an idyllic world. In both, he presents himself as a god worthy of admiration and intense devotion. He inspires in his followers not laws nor rituals, but a way of life, a passion towards a being unrivaled by any mortal love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47YiHynliYM&feature=PlayList&p=15AA2F782EF05463&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=17

The Christian equivalent, is, of course, Jesus. Though his immediate reception was slightly less enthusiastic, he soon became a cult figure towards whom intense devotion was freely given. He preached not salvation through ritual, but liberation by action.

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Matthew 9.12

Jesus demanded a better way of living, a life filled with love towards him and the Lord, towards all of God’s creatures. He did not demand sacrifices, other than the sacrifice to live a life pure and with devotion. Similar to Hindu traditions, emphasis was placed on devotion before anything, including family.

“’Who is my brother and who are my brothers?’ And pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.’” Matthew 12.48

It was through this singular devotion towards a god that one could find peace, comfort and liberation. The writers of these parables and stories, or even the historical actions of Jesus speak to the mind of the people. They were uneasy with the strict measures of fasting and rites, they saw the futility in offering to a god for salvation when they were living in poverty and corruption. A revolution of religious thinking came to their minds, and was embodied by Jesus Christ in the Christian world, or Krsna in the Hindu realm. Through devotion towards a single, beautiful, God, the people could find serenity and begin to practice what they preached.

The idea of religion as reaction is striking. It shows the human side of things, the story of the people, the story of emotions and drama, of lacuna and necessity. Corrupt, perhaps. Moody, most certainly. Yet, it remains a constant, and therefore, something entirely more relatable and ultimately more inspiring than a far off supreme being.

So that’s it for now. I think I will continue on this idea and hopefully turn it into a narrow enough final paper.

Having a fire lit underneath you can be uncomfortable: Judges

Before I get to the bible, lets talk about class. As Dr. Sexson reprimands us for our slowness in reading the bible, inability to be interesting and affinity for pursuing tv over friends, bible and reading, I look around the room and see legs start to shake. My own breathing speeds up, as I realize what a fool I have been, how I really should start getting up at 6, spend an hour reading the bible, then start my day. No more tv, no more breaks. I am an adult. I am a productive citizen, I AM an ENGLISH MAJOR (well, sort of). The class is really grooving on this idea. We can get it done, but gosh darnit we need to get going now. SO come on, let that bell ring so I can start reading that bible now, I have no time to smell the proverbial stew that Sexson is cooking, I gotta go get something done!!!!!!

Having this inspiration, this drive, is uncomfortable. Sometimes, it comes at all the wrong moments, like when I’m stuck in geography lecture. Other times, it slinks into the recesses of my mind, like when a new episode of The Office is aired. Shoot. What’s a girl to do? But then, when I finally get to the bible, I realize that this is a common problem. I come to realize, unlike Plotz, that the people of the bible struggle just like I do with that fire—they misplace it, misuse it, it gives them heart attacks and bad judgment. And that’s when I really start to appreciate it…

JUDGES

The Song of Deborah:

Two heroines in this Judges tale, as Plotz notes. My mom’s name is Deborah, I paid close attention to her story. Funny how, even hundreds of years later, removed from the religion, I can still have this attachment to a name?

Samson

“Although you are barren….you shall bear a son….the boy shall be a Nazarite to god from birth. It is he who shall deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13.2)

I did not know Jesus wasn’t the first or only child of god meant to be the savior of Israel. Samson, it turns out, is sort of crazy, and not so serene or compassionate, what with the killing and super-human strength, but there is still this theme. That makes me wonder about the idea of archetypes, and while this story appears over and over again in…well…stories, where is its base for real life? For human emotion or tendencies? Perhaps it is wishful thinking, or vanity, or worship. I don’t know, divine birth is very common in mythology, but where is its inspiration?

Judges was, well, repetitive. Which is the story of the world. We learn, we have peace, we forget. The lack of a reminder, no matter how strong a people may be, leads again and again to forgetfulness. Plotz is accusing of Israel and its transgressions, almost as if setting them apart, thinking that they are a special case for forgetting, for causing suffering, brutality, ect. Yet, isn’t history full of these sorts of things already? And even personal history. Again and again we forget the epiphanies we have, indeed sometimes the easy part is feeling divinely inspired—late at night, early in morning, everything becomes clear—its remembering those feelings, enacting those thoughts the rest of our day that is the hard part. We are so quick to forget.

The Bible provides a human side, a tale to tell of the tragedy of history, the downfall of man. It is archetypes, yes, but it is also a back ground, a narrative for any wrong committed and any right revealed.

How to Read the Bible

"She kept asking if the stories were true. I kept asking her if it mattered. We finally gave up. She was looking for a place to stand and I wanted a place to fly."

-Brian Andreas, Mostly True

If an allusion falls in the woods, and no one is around, does the Bible hear it?

This is the story of an allusion. It begins in the Apocrypha, in a book entitled Susanna. It climaxes as Peter Quince plays the Clavier, and returns, as dust to dust and ashes to ashes, with the book of Susanna.

So...what does it all mean? The story of Susanna, in the Bible, is really more of a story of Daniel, her saviour. Nonetheless, it tells the tale of a woman who is coveted by evil old men, that wish to lie with her. She denies them, and they lie with her anyways. They do this by telling a story of her consorting with a young man, thus ruining her and condemning her to death.

The poem by Wallace Stevens is a beautiful extended metaphor likening, perhaps, life to music and beauty to Frye's eternal myth. Stevens opens the poem strongly,

Music is feeling, then, not sound.
And thus it is that what I feel,
Here in this room, desiring you,

Leaving no doubt that, if nothing else, someone is feeling a desire so strong, it can almost be heard. Enter Susanna:

It is like the strain
Waked in the elders by Susanna;

And now Stevens uses the metaphor as bodies as instruments to portray music in about as perverted and deeply unnappealing way as I have ever seen:

The basses of their beings throb
In witching chords, and their thin blood
Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna

The poem continues, bewitching the senses, describing the world by sound, by soundtrack, by music by instrument, until we can hear, not read, the book of Susanna. But why? Why illustrate a story with sound?

Beauty is momentary in the mind As a sound, no matter how it echoes, finally fades

The body dies; the body's beauty lives.

Here we get into the meat of the matter. I believe that on some level this poem corresponds to Frye's idea of the importance of a metaphor. The archetype, the beauty, of the desire a woman inspires in a man, of their lecherous plotting, of her retaliation, lives on, even though her story, her music, may fade. The body of her tale lies in the instrument, in the repeating patterns and rythms we are capable, nay, prone, to repeating.

In my reading, this poem fits so nicely into Frye's metaphor I am struck by the beauty and congruency. The bible is an endless source of metaphors of human behaviour, of repeating action and reaction, of eternal tendencies. Though the reality, the truth, the MIND of this may fade, the archetype is always present. The music can always be replayed, the tune must always be re-sounded.

Yet, as we like to repeat, one can only misread something. I am eager to see what else this poem means to people, what they take from it, as my experience is only so small, so dependent.

“The land lay subdued before them.” (Joshua 18.0)

Rahab the prostitute: very concrete example of Mrs. Sexson’s metaphorical scheming feminine ‘winner.’ The role of her being a prostitute is thrown in second hand, and while this is not very important to her story of giving the spies asylum in exchange for life when they come to take the city, it does play a role in the idea of womanhood, and the successful deceptions these characters weave in the bible. Also comes the idea that even a whore, if she fears the Lord, may be saved

“The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set about for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel.” (Joshua 10.14)

Powerful scenes, like a fantasy battle scene almost. Actually, very like a fantasy novel describing old world wars. The sense is very otherworldly, even farther removed than an Arthurian scene.

Two thoughts come to my mind reading Joshua:

Remarkable change in tone, content, ideas from the Torah. I can see why the first five books are set apart as they are. The whole attitude changes, this is now a conquest book, a story of tribes and territory

2. City of Refuge. This is a concept that has come up before in the Torah, and it is interesting to think about: this is a recognization of the shift from blood paybacks of old times to a court system. The city of refuge is put in place so the murderer will have a place to hide from the blood relatives seeking revenge until a trial may be held

Plotz: disagree with alot of what he said, but he mentions two interesting things:

1. Lacuna!! (last chapter of his commentary on Joshua)

2.The idea, that as soon as the tribes on the other side of Jordan build a copy of the altar, Judaism becomes a religion no longer rooted to place. Now symbols can stand in for the Lord, and one can practice wherever he can remember the way. As a non-practicing anything, I would not have picked up this meaning, but it is an important step for any religion. To stop being a tribe and start being a theology

So

d

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Dd

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Deuteronomy: Moses's sweet tune, patriarchs ruling and buddha

Auerbach’s Odysseus’ Scar

Homer’s concrete world. That which is, is. No set perspective, not of place or person. Not omnipotent, but no personal accounts either. Is it what it is.

“The personages speak in the Bible story too; but their speech does not serve, as does speech in Homer, to manifest, to externalize thoughts—on the contrary, it serves to indicate thoughts which remain unexpressed.” The people of Israel are an internally (eternally) suffering one. A few pages of history, or of The Slave can detail that.

“Doctrine and the search for enlightenment are inextricably connected with the physical side of the narrative—the latter being more than simple “reality”; indeed they are in constant danger of losing their own reality, as very soon happened when interpretation reached such proportions that the real vanished.” Nuff said.

Do-do-do do Deuteronomy

Its in first person. Now I hear Moses

6.5. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead…”

10.16 “Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.”

This is possibly one of the strongest books in the bible I have read so far. Sure, very repetitive, but the formal use of the word ‘YOU’ and the firm first person Moses lend to the commencement-like tone and overall impact of the words. One can picture the audience, Israel, clinging to each word and marveling in it.

15.11 “Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”

So many poetic lines, commandments. No narrative, except for the secondary setting in which this is taking place, which is far more relatable than the twisting plots in previous chapters. The reader can picture the Israelite audience, the sacred time.

Moses Song. Beautiful. And the end of an era? Or the beginning of a people.

Today, guest speaker in class. We talked about women in the bible. Side note: I now need to take a class from Mrs. Sexton. I have been pondering all day the patriarchal emphasis in the bible. If one wanted to, they could extrapolate all presently followed laws from the bible (chosen, it seems, at random) and relate them to ‘keeping women down.’ EX: Abortion, Birth Control, Procreation…. Some hot topics. This is something I might want to pursue. Pretty far-fetched, but I think there is a kernel of truth somewhere.

Rules rules rules….all of the Torah.

They are more of societal rules, of ways to make the new nation stand on its own two feet, without god always being present. Sabbatical coming up oh Lord? But, some of these laws we don’t follow. They are ‘obsolete.’ ….why? Some would argue with some sort of eugenics philosophy that we are cutting out the arbitrary and focusing on the better. But our perception of better is formed by such random coincidences that I don’t think it can be trusted.

…….Damn Buddhism. It ruins everything.

Numbers, a perfect day, and a humorous soulmate

“He was not inventing a myth so much as releasing it.” Frye

Numbers: a bit slow. Funny the proportion of text allotted for the ‘boring’ stuff versus the interesting moral/mythological/poetic bits. Pages upon pages describe what sacrifices to be done for which festivals on what days. Yet, in most, a single detail is changed, if that. In the story of Balaam, we are given only a few chapters. Interesting and well-written though they are, they are placed neither above nor below the quotas in importance. It seems the authors primary concern is rarely ever one of poetry, but I would argue that it is one of myth. As boring as I am, I do not see the beauty of lists. However, for the people, the lists were. They too mattered, they too had grave impact, they too were the breath of God.

Sometimes I just wish god had some breath freshener. Tic-tac Jahweh?

(GET IT? CAUSE IT STINKS….ITS A PUN) well, sort of.

Balaam, the Donkey, and the Angel

Talk about lacuna….without missing a beat Balaam talks right back to his talking donkey. This opens many questions, however: “God opened the mouth of the donkey.” Similar to opening the womb of Sarah, does this mean the Lord unblocked an already existing blockage? Were the words on the donkeys mind, could he simply not speak them? Or is God simply speaking through the mouth of the donkey? The feeling is given that it is indeed the donkey who talks. “Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you this way?” Then again, he sure does sound a lot like god.

If only I could interpret the bible as metaphorically or concrete as I can study Hinduism. The concrete language used is unmistakably un-descriptive: purely metaphor, purely stating that which cannot be explained by anything other than parable. Not annotated parables at that.

The bible throws in some snags though. At times, it seems almost sacrilegious to interpret this language as concrete. Yet searching for the history and empirical evidence is just as sacrilegious. Frye’s chapter on Mythos. One of my favorite lines thus far: “…though an open mind, to be sure, should be open at both ends, like the foodpipe, and have a capacity for excretion as well as intake.” Well, he sure makes me laugh, maybe I should take Professor Sexson’s advice, if I had been born about 80 years earlier.

Frye goes on to say, “What I am saying is that all explanations are an ersatz form of evidence, and evidence implies a criterion of truth external to the Bible which the Bible itself does not recognize.” (p.44)

Similar to what we talked about in class Thursday 24^th, no? I have good reason to believe this class has a plan for us all.

Back to Balaam and Balak:

“I have brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.” He answered, “Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts in my mouth?” That, right there, is some damn good dialogue.

Numbers…numbers…..nuuuuumbers. AND THEN the daughters of Zelophehad: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, MIlcah, Tirzah. These women petitioned in the name of their father, who died and had no sons, to still receive his due inheritance. Women….requesting things….of men…..cool. And guess what? Lord was cool with it, and even agreed with them. I don’t know. I am not really a feminist, but its hard not to notice women in literature when there is such emphasis placed on their non-role in most other things. One just thinks that this mention of sex is significant. But then again, maybe that’s part of the problem.

“It is a day for you to blow the trumpets.” (Numbers 29.2) How’s that for the sounding of a perfect day ? What makes a perfect day perfect? Everything goes well? State of mind? Wheaties for breakfast? Or is it the soundtrack of all of these combined, the music that harmonizes to create a fanfare of trumpets in your soul.

Where is our city of refuge?

Leviticus "You Shall Be Holy, for I Am Holy"

"I am the Lord your God, sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. " The tone is set effectively in Leviticus not as a book of boring laws, but as a list of commandments most sacred, nay, most neccesary, for living as an Israelite. Strange they may seem to me, the words convey the importance and reverence with which they were held by the author, and his immediate audience.

Reading the Bible. Our task, set by God, to interpret its literary value. As we discussed in class, sometimes this responsibility seems too much. Indeed, in Leviticus, when Aaron’s sons offer up unholy smoke to the Lord, he smites them. Bam. “And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them….This is what the Lord meant when he said….” Not only must we worry about what the Lord said, we must worry about what the Lord means. And about what that means to us. Let us dive into the world of authors and see which sings loudest.

“All fat is the Lord’s.”

Sacrifice. This topic also popped up this week in my Indian Religions class. In particular, animal sacrifice came up a lot, given the controversy it creates, and the inability for many modern thinkers to comprehend a need to literally kill a sentient being on the altar before the Lord. Consequently, this practice seems to have gone out of style, at some point or another. My question is at what point in history did animal sacrifices become a fashion faux-paus. Does it have something to do with Northrop’s evolution of language? Some shift in perception as to what was socially acceptable, and more than that, religiously necessary? Was is a primitive PETA that threw red dye onto the robes of respected priests through-out the land?

A second question is raised. The bible very specifically describes each ritual of sacrifice, complete with purpose of sacrifice, dashing of blood and burning of body. Is this text describing a new correct process or an existing ritual already in practice? Interesting to chew on, if one doesn’t believe that this was the word of God. Seeing as the rest of the book is primarily a history of the people, would it not make sense that the laws of sacrifice are also an historical account? If one interprets the story like this, the author turns into a descriptive writer concerned with order rather than a metaphorical or allegorical writer concerned with function.

“When you realize your guilt.”

A phrase repeated often, referring to the process with which one might attain pardon from the Lord for erring. Simple, yet it incurs something greater than simply being made aware that you did a no-no. The words are deeper, they say: “Only when you realize, in the depth of your being, that you have committed an act which sits unwell in your heart, can you then beg for atonement.” This is no church buy-out, no petty act. This is a realization within the self that an action you have committed just feels wrong. In a sense, it is this realization that is the forgiveness, and the ritual that follows it merely recognition.

Leviticus, though an intriguing story, reminds me of the emphasis some authors place on the description rather than the story. Simultaneously as I read “Then he brought forward the ram of burnt offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram and it was slaughtered (Lev. 8.18),” I read selected texts from my Indian Religion class. The Vedic scriptures, a prelude to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, were written over many a century, with varied writers. Sound familiar? Except these texts were written to be sung: “The unborn one, free of crooked thoughts, has a fort with eleven gates; One who attends to it will not grieve, but, freed from it, he will be set free (Katha Upanisad).” The language is most certainly metaphoric, concrete, divine. Caught up in the beauty of the words, it is easy to forgo their meaning—which is sometimes the point. We see this beauty of verse earlier in J’s writing and later, in the Psalms.

Reciting such a phrase aloud, I am swept away in its beauty. I cannot concentrate on the meaning of individual words as I am drowning in the power of the verse. At first, I do not know from where this power gains its strength. The words, in their present state of divine configuration mean little to me. Searching for the source, I lose the beauty. Only once I submit to the rhythmic incantation once more are my eyes opened to a world I can understand intuitively, concretely, divinely

Exodus 13.0-End

13.33 “Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” This is a great image, metaphorical as well as concrete (Northrop’s languages). The lord does provide security for his people.

15.20 “The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.” This repetition is surely intentional, as it creates a very rhythmic reading of the entire chapter.

17.14 “…I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” Ouch. Them’s is fightin words.

18 Pretty cool, the first court system in the bible, ordained by the bible. I didn’t know this would be mentioned.

In Exodus, the Lord really wants to prove himself. Yet, I can’t help but picture the women, children, asking “Why?” “Why did our father die chasing the Israelites?” “Why must this plague be upon us?” The bible sacrifices itself to the injustices of the world, giving itself up for a greater good. Why? Because God is trying to prove himself. Not in the critical way I, and Plotz, might first believe, but in a way as to offer an answer to the question. The best answer we can hope for is that all of the suffering, the wrong-doing, the pain, is caused not needlessly, but for a reason. We can try to believe in some grander scheme that we are blind to as of yet. The bible offers up a master of this scheme. Perhaps from the beginning the authors knew or hoped that at some point, readers would criticize God and his ways, call him frivolous and egotistical, come to blame him for the wrong in their lives. They hoped even more that we would come to understand He is merely offering himself up as a scapegoat, so that we may have faith in our times of trouble. That we may understand we do not know all.

For me, the medium—or characterization—of the Lord is unimportant. It is important only that I understand there is something greater, something with meaning, something to catch us when we fall.

Another example of a gracious god is the continual complaining of his Israelite people. They don’t stop, after multiple examples of his benevolence, just like the Pharaoh didn’t stop after the demonstrated threats. A god that will put up with all that and still provide is admirable. My only hope is that we haven’t been taking advantage of this?

The Prophetess Miriam. Plotz mentions her, as leading the singing and dancing when the Israelites finally cross the Red Sea. Her actual part so far in the bible was a small blurb, a mere mention. Does she appear later on? Even if she does, the small characters in this book are enough to build a story on. The writer in me wants to re-portray her dancing and singing in a bit more detail. But I suppose then there would be no room for the enthralling description of the tabernacle, the building of the tabernacle and the consecrating of the tabernacle.

This precise step by step process that eats up the last few chapters of Exodus must be somewhat important. Is it so descriptive so that we can duplicate it or admire it?

So. The commandments. Plotz notices something interesting about them that crept into my thought as well: as much as I had thought they were how to live morally, they are simply, as Plotz writes, “designed for keeping order.”This is an interesting observation, as this follows the first description of a court system, and precedes the more detailed rules about settlements for killing, stealing, ect. This is a very institutional section, as if showing the Israelites not how to live on their own, but how to live together as a society. The author repeatedly suggests a union of the tribes, in both J and P parts. This leads one, while reading the bible as literature, to keep in mind not only its merit in prose or literary allusions, but in the world of the people who take it as law, such as Jacob in The Slave. This is the book they read not only for faith and inspiration but for daily rituals and models for social institutions..

And as in any book, much is left to interpretation of the reader, no matter how specific the author thinks she is being. As Plotz notes, the verse on miscarriage/abortion can be read as both a prochoice and prolife supporter.

And the end. Exodus is fin.

Unsustainable Blogging

More reading, less blogging. I have tried the chapter by chapter approach, with very thorough results and little progress. My second experiment will be to capture the bible in bigger pieces and write about larger sections as a whole. This will serve to cut down my blog considerably and perhaps create a larger picture—giving me more time to think. On the downside, this will not be as specific or useful for my own purposes in remembering stories of the bible. At least that is my hypothesis. Who knew there was science in blogging? (Or in the Bible?)

My next entry was done in this fashion. I read most of Exodus and then wrote about it. I feel like this approach broadens my perspective on the bible. Instead of taking line for line as Plotz does, I am reading a text in its entirety and accepting it as a whole, as Northrop suggests is important. Indeed, I feel the snide remarks I might make are sliding into the backround, leaving more room for thoughts and ideas I have had time to digest and assign importance to.

Reading more at a time, beginning Northrop's book and listening to Goodman's high C have changed the way I intrepret the bible, for the better. Though some of Plotz's passages are insightful, he is becoming increasingly narrow minded in my book. I am hoping to see the beauty in the prose and the impact on the readers, as opposed to my own shock at a world that I never knew, and thus could never really understand.

Church of the Great Outdoors

So. I guess I haven’t really explained me yet. I was thinking of going with the whole discover me through my writing type thing. However, vanity being what it is, and my profound desire for readers not to get offended in the wrong places (yes, this does imply there are right places to be offended) led me to formulate a little Genesis of my own.

I was born and raised in small town Montana, Darby-small to be precise. My parents are loving creatures that have strived to provide the best for me, mainly in heart and soul. Dad was raised Polish Catholic—nuns, catholic school, watered down ketchup… the whole shebang. Mom was raised Protestant/Catholic/Christian. I guess her family kept switching between churches and the importance my mom places on organized religion (not much) reflects this.

The combination of my mother’s strong-willed liberal nature and the 70’s spent away from home persuaded my dad that perhaps church every Sunday wasn’t necessary for his soul.

Both combined their ideas over many years together, and thus the Church of the Great Outdoors was born. It is a church of prayers ever night to someone I address as Lord for lack of a better name, and hikes on Sundays. It is a religion, like many, filled with biases, beauty, and most of all, appreciation to be on this little blue marble. Over the years, my brother and I have adapted and expanded on this religion each in our own way.

My present self is entranced with the world. More often than not, I feel something deep within me that recognizes the essence of some greater self. Still trying to figure out just what it is. I have a deep respect for man’s positive search for Oneness, and a deep-rooted bias towards organized religions that forget this search.

I am really excited about reading the bible, and hope to finish it. I take that back. More than hope, I strive to finish this book, hopefully by the end of semester. If not, I will by the end of the year. There is literary merit and allusions abound in the reading. More than that, a little feeling deep inside me tells me that beauty, truth and inspiration must be within the pages. If this helps me overcome my pre-disposition to scoff at religion, I welcome it.

I will be honest in my blogs. Skepticism may abound. However, I am striving to read with an open heart ready to accept and a watchful eye searching for the poetry of the world.

Exodus 1-13.0: A Disney adventure explained...sort of

1

“Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile…” Wow. This Pharaoh, as I knew he would be, is not so cool. The Israelites seem to breed like rabbits (good ol’ God’s promise), and though they are enslaved by the Egyptians, the Egyptians fear them—or maybe they fear them because they mistreat them and expect an uprising. The only logical solution? Mistreat them more.

This chapter was written in what I would characterize as the P version. Very precise, to the point, choppy.Yet it is more entertaining than a regular P, so perhaps J...

Plotz mentions the word slave, and its conspicuous absence in his version, even though the term is implied in the rest of his religion.

2

“He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.” What? That came out of left field. What anti-climatic writing, and this is no Moses I remember. Brings up a good point. This is pre-commandments, pre-Jesus. Does anything fly? Really, up to this point, no one can be blamed for what they have done.

“The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.” Those are somewhat more powerful, loaded words. Why does an all-powerful God need to be reminded?

Time scale given by Plotz- about four hundred years, 20 generations.

3

“I AM WHO I AM.” Why the sudden mystery in the name of god? A pretty important chapter though, with the burning bush and the promise of the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian hands. Not only liberation, but, is there a hint of reparation in there? “And so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

4

First of all, Moses is anything but willing. The writing shows him protesting again and again to this gift of being the voice of god. People will not believe him, he cannot speak well, they will laugh at him…”O my Lord, please send someone else.” Is this a show of over-done modesty or of genuine stage-fright. Will this be part of the story, a nobody who comes up and achieves greatness , to set the pattern for countless other rags to riches tales? Or is the will of God really random, with the least deserving getting all the good roles?

There is to be no one worshipped before god, right? So then why does Moses get to serve as a god to Aaron?

So, act is set in motion, and we learn the reason for the killings of the firstborn son to come. Then comes a paragraph about Zipporah (Moses’s wife) and her son maybe going to get killed till she circumcises him, “A bridegroom of blood by circumcision.” Perhaps this is just bad editing, or maybe an attempt to show rather than tell the distinction of which newborn sons shall be killed. Clever?

5 Bricks Without Straw (cool subtitle)

Intense chapter. The Pharaoh is relentless in his cruelty and the Israelites come to blame Moses and Aaron for their increased labor. This is a theme that will be repeated again and again in human history, a core fault of humans to misunderstand on whom to place the blame. Why were we created with so little perspective?

Reading so far, I cannot help but list off the number of movies, songs, poems and books that I know of that have been inspired by the bible up to Exodus. Key words: so far, and ‘that I know of.’ The bible goes on and on, and the works that I know are hardly a fraction of what is really out there. Now I want to pay more attention just to catch those little allusions. Is there a work alluded to more widely in western culture?

6

Super genealogy.

7

Once again, Moses complains that he is not the man for the job. Once again, God tells him that he shall be god to the people, and Aaron shall be his prophet. Is this intentional literary repetition for effect or bad editing? Assuming it is for effect, the conclusion I can draw is that in a lack of displayed power, Moses still remains humble and doubts his power. Poor guy is getting promised the world but so far all he has to show for it is a mob of Israelites.

“But I will harden the Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.” God likes his build-up. He’ll make a man out of Moses yet.

First plague: water into blood. As an afterthought, we are told, “And all the Egyptians had to dig along the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the river.” Cause it was blood. No big deal. The bible really doesn’t make an individual feel too special as of yet, eh?

8

Second plague: Frogs. Pharaoh, why you so mean? Crazy Egyptians…

Third plague: Gnats. No more warnings this time, now Aaron and Moses are just raining down plagues. You had your chance Pharaoh…

Fourth plague: Flies. I keep forgetting how entranced I was with the plagues growing up. What a cool idea. I knew very little about them, but I remember thinking how cruel and unusual they were, and marveled at how widespread. Does every child grow up with this idea of striking righteous plagues down on others? Of impressing their enemies with just how much they can make them pay? Or was that just me?

9

Odd chapter placements. I would assume this is for ease of reading, for those who would pick out a verse or two to read.

Fifth plague: Livestock Diseased. I also wondered the significance of the plagues. Which brings me to flies. Why flies? Why gnats? They seemed like the same thing to me. Wondering if the number ten has any significance, I found “Thus wherever ten is found this completeness of order is also seen. Ten implies completeness of order, nothing lacking and nothing over. It signifies that the cycle is complete and that everything is in its proper order. Thus ten represents the perfection of divine order.” (http://www.vic.australis.com.au/hazz/number010.html) Perhaps a wee bit of borrowed significance, and in order to attain this number, God just had to be a bit redundant.

Sixth plague: Boils. How many children have had to memorize all of these horrible plagues in Sunday school? I have a vague remembrance of my eight year old friends being able to recite the order.

Seventh plague: Thunder and Hail. “For this is what I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my name resound through all earth.” Yeah. Founding a religion can be tough work.

Wow. Which makes me think of The Chronicles of Narnia. I remember reading these books as a kid, and hearing some vague comments about the author being a Christian and the parallel between his stories and the bible. Or something. And anyways, is Aslan (the lion…) not unlike God? Both play large parts in the beginning, sacrifice their time when needed, then have long periods of absence where they are nowhere to be found, and their people must fend for themselves, until of course, both return and save the day. I dunno. God is a lion.

10

Eighth plague: Locusts. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand…’” Why must God act through Moses? This is confusing, as is exactly who is talking to the Pharaoh. Is it Moses, or Aaron, or God through Moses, or God through Moses through Aaron, or God directly or…or… Can He not act directly in a land ruled by heathens? Or is this just signifying the importance of Moses?

Ninth plague: Darkness. Ok already. We get it, Pharaoh is wishy washy liar. Stop listening to him? Is this the first comings of the time-honored tradition of Christian’s turning a cheek, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt? After reading this epic, I can understand why this is not as ingrained as we might wish.

“A darkness that can be felt.”

11

Final Plague “Indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you away.” I don’t know why. These lines stuck to me.

12

Passover! Woah. Love this story. Don’t know why, but origins of rituals are fascinating to me. It’s like…this is where it all started. At least, this is where we gain importance in our religion. No one may remember to not sleep with his neighbor’s wife, but god damnit if they don’t observe a holiday. This sounds harsh, but in many ways traditions are some of the strongest and most admirable things to keep a religion together, for better or worse. The very potency of such rites deserves at least a little thought.

The specifics don’t matter much. Why unleavened bread? (We later find out this is God playing time traveler, as he commands the eating of unleavened bread because as they were driven out of Egypt, the Israelites had no time to leaven their bread) So this is symbolic. But why no penis flap? Was this divinely inspired or just a random man coming up with a rule? But because it is written to us, given straight with a warning, we obey. It is no more than a test of faithfulness and attentiveness. How much are you willing to sacrifice for what you believe?

I am utterly intrigued.

“And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ You shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord…” Maybe the question is not of sacrifice, but more of remembrance.

Genesis 36.0-end

The End of Genesis!

36

As Esau moves away from his brother, it is explained “For their possessions were too great for them to live together, the land where they were staying could not support them.” Hmm, this sounds like a familiar mentality—infinite room for infinite generations, right? Yay for finding the roots of our great American tradition.

As I read, another episode of ‘begots’ pops us. My eyes skim over the names, and while it is not exactly painful to read yet another paragraph of who’s who’s, I am frustrated by the fact that I have no idea of who these people are. I guess I could wiki them, or really pay close attention to the footnotes, or have been brought up Jewish to really understand who these people are and the tribes they are representative of. It really is a genealogy of an entire culture.

37

This is all narrative. Pretty entertaining as well. Joseph is introduced as a favorite, a boy who dreams himself to be great. Kudos to the authors/editors who infer this information rather than laying it down as law. A hint of a best-seller? Aha, but the tendency for redundancy is found again…”and they said, so the spoke…” Is this repetition a sign of the times, of how people spoke when they spake aloud unto the masses? Or did the editors just have a really pretentious mindset?

38

Judah and Tamar

J story. Yes, as many have already noted, this story is in the middle of nowhere. But, it does show an interesting character of Judah. Yes, he sleeps with his dead son’s wife and gets her pregnant, then tries to burn her, but what else can we expect? What is notable is the fact that when she shows him that she is in the right and he in the wrong, he recognizes and even accepts this fact. I would say a large leap for mankind.

One more point—karma is abound in Genesis. At least our perception of karma, not necessarily a natural effect of an action, but as a revenge made by god for your wrong-doing. I wonder if somehow destiny, even in Christian thought, is an implied cause/effect relationship, of if God already had all this planned out.

39 Joseph in Egypt

As the wife of Joseph’s master (he was sold by his brothers into slavery) accuses him of raping her after he DENIES the call of her flesh, I am struck again with the manipulation so evident in the foundations of our culture. So much for the good ol’ days. No wonder lying, thieving and other bad tricks are so deeply ingrained in our worldview. We really had no choice.

40 Dreams of Prisoners

I like Joseph. Finally a good useful guy, who is smart but NOT an ass. Also, this scene in the prison is portrayed very vividly. Great character depictions, and very realistic. I see the two servants of the king, and their reactions in that smelly little cell. Another hint of good writing, and a selling point for helping me to believe this story. Another selling point is the ridiculousness of it. No one can make this stuff up. And if they did, they truly are the best authors in the world.

41 Pharaoh’s Dream

Joseph, rather, God through Joseph, interprets the king’s dream as 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph, himself then proceeds to offer advice. This advice is not how to avoid famine (God’s will, no karma after all), but how to prepare for it. Woah. A success story, as Joseph finally gets some credit as basically taking over the Pharaoh’s job, in everything but throne. Plotz interprets this as Joseph being a schemer, but I think he deserves it. He is strong, but not overbearing in his faith, and he uses his ability to the betterment of a people, with no hint of a desire for worldly riches. I still like Joseph.

42 Joseph’s Brother

So, famine time, and Joseph’s very own brothers come to visit. Jacob tells them to get some food, “that we may live and not die.” Joseph recognizes his brother, but not them him. Joseph tricks his brother, but the trick is not nasty, nor even really revenge for selling him into slavery. He is testing them, testing their virtue, in order to see if he can let them back into his life. This pains him, as he weeps for them, but yet perseveres over his emotions for the long term good. Hmmmm… I will have to think about the impact of this on our culture, if it is visible. I think it might be, I just have to stop being so skeptical.

43

As Jacob and his sons discuss their confusion at what, why they are being tested by Egypt, the language the editos uses makes me think there is an intended parallel here as to the lessons God teaches us humans, and our confusion or hatred toward a scheme we do not yet understand. In this story, Joseph is creating a test for his family, and they do not understand. Anyways, whether or not there is a god, it is an interesting parable, the confusion that ultimately (we hope) leads to a higher level of understanding, enlightenment, morality, ect.

44 Detaining of Benjamin

The lack of God’s immediate presence really is a change. Developing the human characters without direct influence reminds me of a parent (once again) leaving off his kids, letting them play by themselves for a bit. This lends for a more entertaining story. Or maybe, because this story in Genesis is not so rapish/incestish/depressingish that the editors and authors are enjoying themselves a bit more, and taking some creative liberties in their writing.

45 Reuniting with the Bros

“So it was not you who sent me here but God.” Like Esau, he has forgiven, but Joseph at least requires a test to see if his brethren really had changed. But Joseph’s insight is great. He is the first character in my memory in the bible to really transcend the squabbles of humanly existence in leu of the greater picture. Esau does this, but probably not through really understanding what he was doing. Joseph lives with an intent.

Also, good for the Pharaoh. Not a bad man, in fact, much more admirable than most of the other characters. He readily accepts help, but does not push it on another in a rude way.

Plotz mentions this pattern recognition theory. This is interesting, I would like to study that a bit more in depth. Coherency in the Incoherence of the bible? Intended or not, as Nothrop writes, it is the effect on the culture which matters. The bible is viewed as a whole unified text, and regardless of the truth, it should be read critically as a unified text in order to understand the impact it has.

46

Listing of all who came to Egypt with Jacob. So many stories in those names….

47 The Famine

Wow Joseph, Gett’re done! Plotz comments on this section are interesting again, a lot to chew on, but as of now I am not knowledgeable enough to interpret the effects of Joseph’s economic policies.

48

Thus far, we have seen Abel favored over Cain, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over his brothers, Joseph’s son over his other son. It is a continuing theme, and so are the revengeful actions of the un-favored brothers. My pattern-minded brain cannot dismiss the significance of this, and I am led to my first positive EPIPHANY in the reading of the bible. I am ecstatic over this. Let’s see, if a day later, it still has relevance.

So, Plotz views all this praising one over the other as bad foresight, of instigating bad actions by the other parties. I disagree. The theme of favoring is one God bestowed upon us, in his own image. We, reading the bible, are being told again and again that in our lives, we will sometimes be less favored than others. Some will be given everything in their lives, but this is NO EXCUSE to act with dishonor towards the favorite, or even with jealousy. In fact, we are repeatedly told that if ever we do this, our very well-being will be compromised in a crazy act of God. However, the bible is not telling us that those with no favor are inherently useless. Judah, a man who acted with intelligence, becomes one of the greatest tribes in Israel, although he is not immediately picked as a winner by God. This is a truly beautiful message, as it subtly shows the reader that favors can, in fact, be for no good reason (Cain and Abel…). The sad thing is, instead of recognizing this sad fact of life and accepting our own virtues as enough, we seek for a reason that Abel really was better than Cain. He was not. It was a test to see if men are strong enough to continue to act decently when not praised above all others. Some fail, some pass. Let’s pick up on this and start to pass. Be a stronger man.

49

Twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob. Such an elaborate story depicting each tribe’s success or failure, in fact, a whole book of Genesis devoted to it. It makes one wonder, is this an explanation or an induction? Post facto argument or history?

50

Why embalm Jacob? Is this in the tradition? I don’t know.

The Brother’s Plea

“The brothers weep for fear. Joseph weeps because his brother still do not understand.” Well said Mr. Footnote Writer. Such is the burden of the aware, to suffer the ignorance in the face of true beauty.

ANNNNNNNNNNND DONE. Cool stuff. I shalt persevere, especially with this cliffhanger introducing the return to the Holy Land.

Genesis 29.0-36.0

Well, today I learned a lot. It was nice to have the differences in the J and P versions explained, at least the concrete ones. I had been wondering in my reading, and I will start to really pay attention now. Also, it has been great bookmarking the class’s sites, and I am excited to see what people have to say.

I skimmed over my past few blogs, and in my never ending self-conscious vanity I have found that they make little sense. I realize that as I spend an hour reading the bible, then Plotz, then writing, then bible, then Plotz, then writing, the result is a clash of words that just don’t flow. Sentences are out of order, important words are missing, violent and abstract thoughts are expressed, well, violently and abstractly. I do not know if this could be helped by anything other than coffee at eleven o clock at night, which I am just not willing to do, not even for God, not even for Dr. Sexson. So, if my haphazard writing does not improve, I apologize. I do believe that some meaning can be attained from my blogs even still, and I strive to better them in every non-caffeine related way I can.

So here is my third installment, Dear Internet:

29

Jacob Meeting Rachel, Marrying Her- J version

“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and this seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Indeed J somehow manages to weave poetry into the narratives, or at least human emotion. Have I been missing this human side of the bible, or is there a lack of human connections thus far? Aha, immediately this island of beauty is swept away in a myriad of human shortcomings and divine mis-interventions. Such is life.

30

Wow. Speaking of life, how about Rachel and Leah. This is one of the most entertaining bits I have read so far. Bartering of mandrakes for sex and providing Jacob a maid to sleep with in order to have more children by him. I am astounded. As this is coming from the E source, an older source comparable to the J, I cannot help but think the representation of women as nothing more than an episode of “Gossip Girl” is intentional. Subtle, for a book of Hellfire and Brimstone.

Yet, as I read on into Jacob Prospers at Laban’s Expense, I see a similar pattern. Both men wish to trick the other and go to great lengths for their own ends. However, the humor found in the previous passage is not here. The reader does not laugh at Jacob’s ingenius (if unscientific) way of increasing his riches as he does at the women’s squabbles.

More and more I cannot take this as a serious text. It is beginning to seem nothing more than a novel, a historical fiction: complete with humorous relief, violence, sex, drama and the occasional bit of insight. My hope in my continued reading is that I am forced to take the above statement back, that I do find in the Bible something truly meaning and wonderful. I guess I have a long ways to go.

31

Rachel steals the gods of her father’s house, then lies about it. Can no hero or heroine in this book accomplish anything without being an utter asshole?

Laban and Jacob Make a Covenant

The footnotes say this is wove together from E and J passages. The differences, though there, are melded into one. A hard task, I would assume.

32

As Jacob waits to meet his brother, he prays. This is the first account of a prayer to God that I can remember, at least this type of prayer. It is humble. (VERY unlike tradition) Is this showing another, truer side of Jacob? Or simply the desperation a man feels when he is backed into a corner?

Jacob Wrestles at Peniel

“For I have seen God face to face, [and I have wrestled with him?]” So. Confusing. But, Jacob is renamed Israel (that I get). My confusion mainly stems from the ‘no more eating the thigh muscle.’ Thigh muscle of humans? Or does this mean animal thighs? Is that even a good thing to be eating in the first place? For one from Montana, I have little knowledge of butchering. Help?

33

The most righteous words in the bible up to date: “But Esau said, ‘I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.’” Think about it. I doubt God agrees, what about Buddha?

34

“But they said, ‘Should our sister be treated like a whore?’” Yeah. Maybe she shouldn’t dress like one?

Ok, so that was crude. But so is the bible.

35

Ben-oni: Son of my Sorrow. This is beautiful, and so can be the bible.