Rembrandt (1606–1669) Sacrifice of Isaac (Wikimedia)

Usually I try to present the ideas in these podcasts so that anyone can understand. However, this time if you cannot read Scripture except in translation and you have not learned to use an interlinear or computer Bible to get beyond that handicap, this podcast may be less accessible.

It deals with the naming of God, in one of the most challenging and difficult stories in the Bible, the near-sacrifice (or binding) of Isaac.

An unheard of second warning, in this podcast I don’t reach any conclusions, I either leave that to you, or you will have to wait till I am inspired to make a follow-up ‘cast

So, here’s the link to the audio: Would a rose smell as sweet? What’s in a name? Genesis 22

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In a post Why the Bible is just not (so) funny David returned to a theme he’s argued before, that the Bible is not funny. Aparently back in 2007 he issued a challenge that readers of his blog could not give examples of humour from every book in the Bible: Funny Stuff in the Bible. Now of course his 2007 post was cheating. He set a (nearly?) impossible task, to find humour in Lamentations might be hard! But that does not mean that there is no humour in Scripture. Just think of one of the occasions when Jesus spoke about camels (he seems to me to have had a thing about camels). Or, for crying out loud, read Jonah aloud in any translation or language you like, and try keeping a straight face…

I thought I would take up David’s challenge. Not seriously, as I said I expect there are some books devoid of humour, it takes all sorts to make up God’s world, even the humourless! But I do plan to work through the Bible (or at the very least the Hebrew Bible) pointing out humour in most of the books.

This podcast refers to Gen 1:14ff. and Gen 3:1-7.

So, here’s the link to the audio: Humour in the Bible: Book 1 Genesis 

Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), Cappella Scrovegni a Padova, Life of Christ, Nativity, Birth of Jesus - detail with midwife Salome. (Image from Wikipedia)

In this podcast I’ll briefly argue that since the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) regularly pictures Yahweh as intimately associated with both forming in the womb and birthing, and particularly since “his” role is often as midwife “he” cannot be thought of as a male god. Rather “he” is God and as later (though very early since several key Patristic fathers say it) in God there is no gender, God is not part of any group (gender).

The primary passage I’ll discuss is Psalm 22:9-10 (MT 10-11). This is discussed more fully in the section Yahweh and the womb of my online discussable book Not Only a Father.

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Niwano Peace Auditorium below Church of the Sermon on the Mount by hoyasmeg

Our last reading left things open-ended – this shows full and dramatic reconciliation, an explosion of emotion from Joseph, and a clue as to what made the difference between last reading and this one. It makes so much difference to how we live if we really recognise what is going on, and Joseph can give us a clue too…

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In these chapters we see again very strongly that we are not told by the text how to understand people’s actions, in these chapters we have to judge Joseph and his brothers, using the knowledge of good, evil and everything in between that is part of our experience as children of Eve and of Adam. And in this reading motives are far from clear cut!

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Once again there is more going on than meets the eye! And this chapter is a fine example of the way Bible stories are told so that we have to interpret and judge people’s actions and words for ourselves (as we do in everyday life) rather than being told what to think. So as various Joseph and his brothers keep up appearances and pretend, we have to decide what we think their motives are. There are also tensions between parts of the chapter that allow different sorts of scholar to notice different things in the story.

So though it has no deep theological or moral point to make, on its own – clearly as part of Joseph’s story as a whole it does, this is a really interesting chapter to read

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As we get intgo the body of the Joseph story the dramatic episode with Mrs Potiphar (surely another candidate for soap-opera treatment) has lots of interesting features in its telling, today I’ll focus on one, and then make sure to notice also the big theological message these chapters hammer home. In doing this we’ll notice the dramatic change in our hero between his teens and twenties, is it just “growing up” is is there something more profound going on?

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This is another story of a dysfunctional family, Kuniholm in the E100 notes picks up on some of the causes of this mess, and we can certainly learn some things to avoid from Jacob’s family life. But let’s notice what came between the dreams (37:1-11) and the nightmare (37:18-36).

In Gen 37:12-17 we have a neat example of the way the tellers of the Bible’s stories, putting lots of weight, and in this case not a little theology into few words. This is what makes biblical narratives great story-telling, and also superb theology!

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Joseph gets 13 chapters, in Genesis (that’s more than any other character) so Joseph’s story is one of three parts of the book: Primeval History, Patriarchs & Joseph. So what’s so special about Joseph?

1. Message in Gen 50:20:
   • Providence: God is in control even when it does not look like it – “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good“
   • Salvation: God seeks to rescue people – “in order to save a many people“
   • Application: moves to significance today – “…as he is doing today.”
2. Living well as an “exile” Babylon, beyond, Christians today
3. Necessary step in the plot of Bible leads to Exodus: miraculous redemption for slavery

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Another of the most mysterious and difficult stories in the Bible, this time not difficult because the subject pains us, but difficult to understand. We Westerners are hung up on “understanding”, sometimes it is better to “stand under” (and learn from) than to understand This may be one of them! If we try to understand the story of Jacob’s fight we quickly get a headache, nothing quite works of provides all the answers. (See a fine website produced by Kirsten Abbott in one of my classes for more on this.) If, however, we stand under and learn from this story there is lots to learn!

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