My Journey through the Bible - The Obscure and Often Disturbing Stories of Genesis Pt. 2

Chapter 38 – Judah and Tamar – I never knew that this story even existed until I started this reading challenge, and I was surprised that this chapter was featured within the middle of Joseph’s story. Basically, the chapter deals with Judah’s life among the Canaanites and the scandal between him and Tamar, his daughter-in-law. I have not heard people talk about this story anywhere, but I did hear in a sermon that this chapter comes before the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (chapter 39), contrasting the two brother’s characters side by side. Judah’s scandal with Tamar has many parallels with Joseph’s incident with Potiphar’s wife. In both stories, a son of Jacob is established among the pagans. Joseph becomes the head of the servants in Potiphar’s house while Judah leaves his family to live among the Canaanites, starting his own. Then, along come women who frequently bother them, eventually leading to seduction. Joseph is continually tempted by Potiphar’s wife while Judah sleeps with Tamar, thinking that she was a prostitute. By the end, both men lose an object that identifies them and are dishonored as a result. Joseph loses his clothing trying to escape Potiphar’s wife and then is framed by her, leading to imprisonment. Judah gives Tamar his signet, cord, and staff, and they are used to expose his mistreatment and eventual (unintended) affair with her. As you can see, the parallels only further contrast Joseph and Judah’s characters. 

With each situation, Joseph continues to be steadfast in his connection to God, and so his troubles are beyond his control. In the end, God blesses him even in prison. Judah, on the contrary, brings his woes upon himself with one series of bad choices after another. His decision to leave his family itself was the initial mistake that started everything. He was not supposed to marry a Canaanite (Genesis 24:3), but he did. When Tamar gets widowed twice due to the death of two of Judah’s sons, Judah sends her away to her father’s house, disgraced. And while Tamar is still in mourning, Judah goes to a sheep shearing, which signified a time of merriment (2 Samuel 13:23). This series of mistreatment motivates Tamar to preserve her family line by a devious, desperate measure. She disguises herself as a prostitute, travels to where Judah would make a stop, and seduces him. Judah makes yet another mistake by asking to sleep with a woman who is not married to him and agreeing to give up his signet and cloak, the very items that identify him¹. Later on, when Judah finds out that Tamar got pregnant while still a widow, he hypocritically orders her burned alive. However, Tamar exposes Judah as the man who impregnated her by showing his seal and cloak. Judah and Tamar’s story, like Lot’s example, shows that one sin can snowball into another and produce a devastating result. Yet, the silver lining in all of this is that Judah and Tamar’s illegitimate son is among the ancestors of Jesus (Matthew 1). This is yet another story in the Bible where God can take the most wretched things and work them out for His glory. Of course, this raises the question of why God showed mercy to Judah and Tamar but allowed Lot’s descendants to become Ammon and Moab, but that would be a discussion topic for another time.

1: Judah had intended to give a goat to the “prostitute” as a payment for her…ahem, service with him, and his seal and staff were there as a pledge that the exchange will be carried out. However, Tamar left the town soon after, leaving Judah unable to retrieve them or make his payment.

Jacob Blessing the Children of Joseph (1656), oil on canvas
Rembrandt van Rijn
And no, don't ask why they're dressed like Europeans.

Chapter 48-50 – The last years of Jacob and Joseph

In Chapters 48-49 of Genesis, Jacob blesses each of his sons and their descendants. The blessings are promises that God makes to the descendants of Jacob’s sons, reaffirming once again that Canaan is the land promised to His people. But while the others sons are established as the heads of a tribe, with Joseph, Jacob adopts Joseph’s two sons Manasseh and Ephraim as heads of two tribes. This really means that Joseph receives the double portion of the inheritance. One detail that makes me chuckle is that Joseph, despite having been favored as the second youngest son, tries to correct his father into laying his right hand (gesture of greater blessing) on Manasseh, his older son. Jacob, however, insists on putting his right hand on Ephraim, the younger son, by prophesying that his descendants will be greater than Manasseh’s. This serves to remind Joseph that these blessings are from God and that whatever He wills must be followed.

After Jacob dies in Chapter 50, Joseph’s older brothers are actually afraid of Joseph taking revenge on them for selling him into slavery (50:15-17). Imagine, even after the forgiveness and mercy Joseph has shown them, they still have not gotten over the guilt of what they did to him all those years ago! It is almost like how sometimes we continue to wallow in the mire of our guilt, forgetting that Jesus has died for all of our sins.

In verses 24-26, Joseph instructs that his body be buried in the Promised Land, like his father, when the children of Israel return there. Even though he made his life in Egypt, Joseph’s final wishes show that he always considered himself as a stranger in a strange land. His mind was on the things of God, and he identified himself with His people. He in some respects represents all of God’s children who have died and gone down to their graves. They lived their lives on this earth, yet they looked forward to the Eternal Promised Land, Heaven. They still sleep in their graves to this day, waiting for the promise of the final deliverance through the Second Coming of Jesus. Oh, may we be part of that throng when that day comes!

My Journey through the Bible - The Obscure and Often Disturbing Stories of Genesis Pt. 1

Wow, where to begin…it’s been a long time since I read Genesis, but to start off, reading the Bible stories for yourself is a different experience from just having it be presented to you in church, Sabbath School (or Sunday School, depending on your denomination), or Bible storybooks. Not only do you get the stories as they have been written down, but you also learn of the details and stories that you really did not know before.

Here are some of the obscure stories that I have discovered in my reading.

Chapter 4:23, 24 – Lamech boasts of his killings – Here, we read a song by Lamech, one of Cain’s descendants (this is a different Lamech from Noah’s father), boasting how he killed those who attacked him and if Cain were to be avenged sevenfold, he would be avenged seventy-sevenfold. This prideful attitude is in stark contrast to Cain’s desperate pleading with God for his life to be spared after having killed Abel. The reference to his ancestor being avenged tells us that Lamech knew that God had allowed Cain to live with the declaration, “…whoever kills, Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold” (4:15). However, instead of glorifying God for providing mercy to his ancestor, Lamech twists the story around to elevate himself and glorify his own bloodthirsty vengefulness as a sign of his strength. This shows how much sin had come to corrupt humanity not long after Adam’s fall and provides yet another example of why God felt the need to destroy the world through a flood. People were so proud of their wicked deeds that some would boast about them in a song (for the people of ancient times, songs and poems were ways to keep their legacy alive for generations to come). This is also in direct contrast to the songs of the followers of God (just look at Psalms, for instance) where God is praised as the One who led their lives, not their own strength or cunning.

"...So shall your descendants be" (Genesis 15:5).
The Vision of the Lord Directing Abram to Count the Stars
(1860), Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Genesis 15 – God appears to Abram personally to prophesy what will happen to his descendants – We see here Abraham (still with his former name Abram) doubting God’s promises, noting that he has no children at old age. Instead of rebuking Abram, however, God assures him that he will have descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky. Abram then asks how he will know for sure, and God sets up a personal appointment with him in the night over a sacrifice. This is when He prophesies that Abram’s descendants will come back to Canaan after 400 years of oppression by a foreign nation (sound familiar?). Even after that incredible encounter, Abram’s faith fails in the very next chapter as he decides to have children with Hagar by Sarah’s suggestion, reasoning that maybe God’s covenant will be fulfilled that way. This results in the birth of Ishmael and the beginning of a familial hostility (chapters 16, 21) that still lasts to this day…in the form of Israel’s conflict with the rest of the Middle East. All these years of bloodshed and violence could have been avoided had Abram continued to be steadfast in faith, especially considering how much God had assured him. How better are we than Abraham, the father of faith, in keeping our trust in God? How many times have we acted out of fear and doubt in spite of the fact that God’s promises are numerous and accessible to anyone in His Word?

Chapter 19:30-38 – Lot and his daughters – This has got to be one of the most disturbing stories in the Bible ever. Not long after escaping Sodom by God’s deliverance, Lot’s daughters reason that they will have no chance of finding husbands to have children with, so they actually get their father drunk and sleep with him, thus having children through him and becoming ancestors of Ammon and Moab…wow, just wow. Can you imagine Lot, after getting sober, realizing what he did with his own daughters? Patriarchs and Prophets makes a brief allusion to this story, explaining that this is one of the lasting consequences of Lot choosing to move to Sodom. Out of his desire to be more prosperous by moving close to a big, prosperous city, Lot exposed his entire family to a wicked, sinful environment and thus all of them became molded by the wretchedness of Sodom and its people. Just the fact that Lot’s daughters came up with the idea to do that type of thing with their own father without a second thought, even after having their lives spared by God’s mercy, is very indicative of the wickedness of Sodom. It also makes me realize why God, who never takes pleasure in the death of the wicked (see Ezekiel 18:23), destroyed Sodom by supernatural means. Worst of all, this is the last story we have with Lot. And as if that wasn’t enough, Ammon and Moab were among the enemies of God’s people, Israel, throughout their history. That one choice by Lot became a curse to all of his descendants. It really makes us think about every little choice we make here every little moment of our lives.

The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel (1853), William Dyce

Chapters 29:31 to 30:24 – Jacob’s marital woes – and an entire passage dedicated to them! This is one of the many instances when polygamy leads to heartache and pain, if not outright tragedy. It is actually quite surprising how many great people of the Bible deviated from God’s ideal for marriage through polygamy and suffered for it. While polygamy was considered normal and acceptable in the Ancient Near East, the Bible reveals time and again that the patriarchs experienced unnecessary heartaches by conforming to the patterns of the world (think Romans 12:2). But to be fair to Jacob, his polygamy was unintentional as he had wanted to marry Rachel and then got cheated by his own uncle into marrying Leah first. So what’s the story with Jacob’s marital woes? Basically, Jacob loves Rachel over Leah, but Leah ends up bearing more children than Rachel. This leads to continual tension between the two women to be the better wife for Jacob. With all the drama that Jacob had with his wives, I think it’s a little wonder that his older sons had such foul character. Worse, Jacob’s preferential love for Rachel seems to have extended to his children, as we learn later on that he loved Joseph (the son he had with Rachel) over all of his sons. This too leads to tension among the brothers and culminates in Joseph being sold into slavery! Yet, despite the twisted circumstances through which Jacob had his twelve sons, God ensured that they would become the ancestors of the nation of Israel, through whom He would preserve His truth and through which Jesus would come to the world as our Saviour. So many people claim that God in the Old Testament is cruel and capricious, a far cry from the all-loving, all-merciful Jesus in the New Testament. However, the numerous stories of God leading the lives of His patriarchs even with their failures shows a very patient, merciful, and loving God who will work out the things intended for evil for His glory if people allow Him to. In fact, just within the Book of Genesis, there are more stories of God bearing with His people of weak faith than that of Him punishing sinners, and Jacob’s family drama is a good example of God’s incredible mercy.

Laban Searches Rachel's Tent for Idols, Jan Victors

Chapters 29-31 – Jacob and Laban – What a family drama! Jacob’s relationship with Laban is very dysfunctional, with Laban continually taking advantage of Jacob out of greed and Jacob having to submit to him begrudgingly for 20 years. Just read Jacob’s epic retaliation to his good-old uncle at Genesis 31: 38-42 listing the hardships and mistreatments he experienced under him. Apparently, he has both Esau and Jacob’s character flaws (worldliness and deceit, respectively) and none of his sister Rebecca’s godliness. Laban is so focused on worldly gain that he continually cheats his nephew by switching Rachel with Leah on Jacob’s wedding night¹ and changing his wages ten times (29:21-26; 31:41). Even as he acknowledges 20 years later how God has blessed him through Jacob, he uses that as an excuse to deny his nephew’s request to return home (30:27).

Not long after, Laban and his sons grow jealous of Jacob’s increase of wealth and accuse him of theft, even though Jacob had accumulated them under – and only under – Laban’s permission (20:25-31:2). Jacob, realizing this change in attitude, flees from his uncle with his own family and possessions. When Laban learns of this, he furiously pursues Jacob, and when he catches up to him, outright accuses his nephew of stealing his wealth and his daughters and searches Jacob’s camp for his own valuables². In fact, it is only by God’s intervention and perhaps by Jacob’s accusation that Laban has no choice but to let his nephew leave. Yet, aside from having his spotted sheep claimed by Jacob, we do not see Laban directly suffering the consequences of living a life of greed and dishonesty. Instead, Laban finally settles the dispute between him and Jacob with a peace covenant that states that neither side would invade the other and then simply returns home (38:43-55). However, according to Patriarchs and Prophets, the covenant between Laban and Jacob “ceased all trace of connection between the children of Abraham and the dwellers in Mesopotamia.” Laban had Jacob under his control for so many years, and thus by his nephew’s influence, he had been given a chance to be drawn to God. Instead, he saw Jacob only for profitability and treated him accordingly. And near the end, Laban had become so fixed in his ways that he became vicious toward his own sister’s son. Laban’s ultimate loss was that, by stubbornly refusing to submit to God as presented through his nephew for twenty years, he and his descendants were left out of sharing in God’s blessings for Jacob and his descendants, which God had intended for the whole world (12:1-3).  

1: Since Jacob had already worked 7 years to pay for Rachel’s bride price, Laban switched her with Leah at the wedding night so that Jacob will work 7 more years and thus more bride price profit for Laban.

2: Household idols that Rachel stole from him, specifically.

(To be continued in Part 2)