Gen. 48-50 - The end of an era

The readings - Day 17 - Genesis 48-50


The account of Jacob's last days is interesting on a number of levels.

Although Isaac and Jacob (especially Isaac) don't really occupy nearly the place of reverence and generally accepted importance that Abraham does, they still represent the completion of the trio of founding generations for the people of Israel (and, by extension, the means of blessing for the whole of humanity), so there's a strong sense of closure when Jacob is finally "gathered to his people" (one of my absolute favourite euphemisms for death, by the way).

Day 12 - Genesis 35-37

Genesis 35-37

I went to Israel - once, when I was six years old. You might think that it's a bit young to really take anything from the trip, but I still remember almost everything (or, at least, I remember every single thing that I remember, if that makes any sense. Which it doesn't.) 24 years later, and one of the strongest memories I have is of an epiphany* that struck me while there.

*NOTE: I just spent five minutes trying to find a YouTube clip that has Mr. Smee saying "I've just had an apostrophe" to Captain Hook in the 1991 film Hook. Thought you'd like to know.

Days 8 and 9 - Genesis 25-29

So, I'm not just cramming these two days' readings into one post because I know deep down that it's the only way I'll ever catch up and not lag hopelessly behind for ever more.

At least, not exclusively.

The chapter and verse divisions in the Bible are arbitrary enough. I'd look up when they were first introduced, but Wikipedia is down right now in protest of SOPA, so I'm out of luck. They're old though. Really old. Just not as old as the text itself, and that's important.

You can tell, even without Wikipedia's help, that they were fairly arbitrary, because every now and then you find a place where somebody just simply got it wrong. The ending of chapter 27 is one of those places, but more on that a little later.

Day 7 - Genesis 22-24

For the longest time, my general response to the "God-testing-Abraham-by-telling-him-to-kill-his-son" story was that it must have been excruciating for Abraham to go through something like this, and must have been an unspeakable relief for him when God stopped him and said "don't worry about that, here's a sheep instead."

Many people will point to this episode as proof of God's cruelty, insensitivity and arbitrary authoritarianism, but I've never believed that. I just don't see a way that this story could possibly have ended with Isaac dying.

Day 6 - Genesis 19-21

So yes, this post is a day late, and the next one will be too, most likely. I'll catch up eventually, though.

By way of explanation, the Interwebs are broken at my house right now, or were until this morning, apparently, and this weekend is a swamper at work, so time and brain power are at a premium.

Also, the Internet breaking makes me irritated, and irritated is not the frame of mind to try and reflect in any sort of coherent way on some of the most nauseating passages of the entirety of scripture.