Rev. Jean's Bible Study

Genesis 45:1-15 The story of Joseph is one of the longest and most widely known stories in the Hebrew scriptures.   It has certainly stood the test of time from its origins in ancient, prehistoric Israel to its presentation on Broadway several thousand years later.   If you have never read it in its entirety, take some time during this pandemic pause to do so.   (Genesis 37-50) It is the end that has always puzzled me.   Why were Joseph’s actions so meanspirited when in the end he so freely forgave his brothers?   Why did Joseph force the brothers to bring Benjamin down to Egypt when that would obviously distress his father?   Why set up Benjamin as a thief and threaten to keep him as a slave? (Genesis 42-44)  Jonathan Sacks interprets the whole scheme and a lesson in repentance.   The biblical concept involves a recognition of one’s errors, a confession of the harm done and a commitment to act differently in the future.   It was Judah w...

Genesis 29:15-35 Jacob fled his home because of his foolish rivalry with his brother and immediately proceeded to stir up a parallel discord between two sisters, Leah and Rachel.   Jacob tried, once again, to transgress the social custom that favoured the elder over the younger.   Our modern sense of justice or of romantic love may incline us to favour Rachel, but the story arouses in us a sympathy for Leah.   Jonathan Sacks gives us a careful translation of verse 29:30. “He also married Rachel, and he also loved Rachel…more than Leah.”    Also implies that he loved Leah as well as Rachel, but the verse goes on to clarify that he loved Rachel more.   Any parent knows that you can love two children, but love them differently.   Any sibling knows that when a parent loves your sister differently, it is easy to assume that they love her more.   Love is more complicated than justice. Equal is not always fair.   Human beings are inclined to love...

Genesis 27    At some point in our lives, we all wish we could be someone else.   Whom do you envy?    Genesis 25-33 tells a typical story of sibling rivalry:   favouritism, envy, deception, usurpation, anger, violence, the weak one winning and the seemingly stronger losing.   If we read carefully, that is not the story at all.   This story of sibling rivalry turns out quite differently.   Jacob wanted what his brother had even from the womb.   He came out grasping the heel of his elder brother.   He tricked his brother out of his birthright and his blessing.   Isaac, thinking Jacob was Esau, gave Jacob the blessing belonging to the elder son, a blessing of wealth and power.   (Genesis27:28-29)   A few verses later realizing that he had been deceived, Isaac also blessed Esau.   We want so much to make this a typical story of sibling rivalry that our translators choose to make the blessing sound more like a c...

  Genesis 21:1-21     When we read this story from a Jewish or Christian perspective, we interpret it to mean that God blessed Isaac, the child of the promise and that Ishmael was sent into the wilderness.   Muslims tell the same story but in their version, God blessed Ishmael.   If we read the Bible story carefully, it tells us that God blessed them both.   Sarah may not have been able to bring herself to love the child of Hagar but Abraham did.   God definitely loved them both and blessed them both, albeit in different ways.   Unlike most ancient myths and legends, these ancient Hebrew stories have characters that are complex and compromised and fully human.   There is good and bad in all of them.   This story was written to engage our sympathy for the rejected one and leave us wondering about the righteousness of the chosen one. Abraham’s story extends from chapter 12-25.   It ends with Abraham marrying again after Sarah died a...

Genesis11:1-9                                                                                                                            Gustaf Dore “Now the whole earth had one language...and they migrated…and came upon a plain and settled there.” What happens when those different people who have lived in their different nations and developed  different languages and cultures for one reason or another try to share the same land?   The image that Genesis 11 presents is one of migration, forced labour and cultural genocide.   Archeological evidence shows that assimilation has been the political response to...