Patriarchical impressions
Posting here has gotten real light lately. It's all pretty picture stuff. Time to change that around.
So, Fergus took up the bible-in-a-year challenge his church launched. He's maintaining a somewhat daily journal to record his journey and because there are usually doodles involved, I read his entries. Naturally, I've started to read the corresponding Bible chapters for that day too.
I’ve just finished Genesis and it’s been a thought-provoking journey. We talked a lot about the Patriarchs and I don’t think I’ve ever evaluated and reacted to them as much as I just have. Of course they’re very familiar ground - from Sunday school stories to the regular love affairs my church pastors have with them - I've heard how their life stories pan out and expositions of the virtues they embodied many, many times.
So with that, it’s unexpected to find myself actually getting upset over the glaring moral failings these heroes of faith had. Jacob in particular offends my sense of justice. He's deceitful, cheats to get what he wants and comes across as a hapless, self-pitying, no-good parent (check out Gen 42:36 - "You have deprived me of my children....Everything is against me!", and his inability to maintain the peace among and be equitable towards his many sons). Yet, he gets rewarded for all that by receiving an awesome deathbed blessing, great prosperity and being chosen to spawn the nation of Israel and establishing the Messianic line.
Another thing I noticed is that Joseph, usually held up as an example of forgiveness and grace, set up traps for his brothers, yanked their strings, sent them back and forth from Egypt to Cannan, worried the crap out of them and got them to bow face down and beg for their lives a couple of times BEFORE saying “Hey bros, it’s me and I’m actually all cool with you all.” Which, while I'm not going all out and saying was a form of revenge, must have at least made it a little easier to let them off the hook at the end of it all right? Yes, I've heard it said that he was just testing them to make sure that they had repented of the wrong that the did in the past, but humour me here please.
So. These are just some hastily-collected impressions from Genesis. On to Matthew now.
(For additional reading, check out Fergus' impression of the Patriarchs.)
So, Fergus took up the bible-in-a-year challenge his church launched. He's maintaining a somewhat daily journal to record his journey and because there are usually doodles involved, I read his entries. Naturally, I've started to read the corresponding Bible chapters for that day too.
I’ve just finished Genesis and it’s been a thought-provoking journey. We talked a lot about the Patriarchs and I don’t think I’ve ever evaluated and reacted to them as much as I just have. Of course they’re very familiar ground - from Sunday school stories to the regular love affairs my church pastors have with them - I've heard how their life stories pan out and expositions of the virtues they embodied many, many times.
So with that, it’s unexpected to find myself actually getting upset over the glaring moral failings these heroes of faith had. Jacob in particular offends my sense of justice. He's deceitful, cheats to get what he wants and comes across as a hapless, self-pitying, no-good parent (check out Gen 42:36 - "You have deprived me of my children....Everything is against me!", and his inability to maintain the peace among and be equitable towards his many sons). Yet, he gets rewarded for all that by receiving an awesome deathbed blessing, great prosperity and being chosen to spawn the nation of Israel and establishing the Messianic line.
Another thing I noticed is that Joseph, usually held up as an example of forgiveness and grace, set up traps for his brothers, yanked their strings, sent them back and forth from Egypt to Cannan, worried the crap out of them and got them to bow face down and beg for their lives a couple of times BEFORE saying “Hey bros, it’s me and I’m actually all cool with you all.” Which, while I'm not going all out and saying was a form of revenge, must have at least made it a little easier to let them off the hook at the end of it all right? Yes, I've heard it said that he was just testing them to make sure that they had repented of the wrong that the did in the past, but humour me here please.
So. These are just some hastily-collected impressions from Genesis. On to Matthew now.
(For additional reading, check out Fergus' impression of the Patriarchs.)
1 comment:
athalia, i dont have ur contact,
there's a 5 setia gathering this saturday at leos at 9pm
its 18 april
see u there ! hope u can make it !
Post a Comment