{"id":848,"date":"2014-01-15T17:00:01","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T21:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=848"},"modified":"2014-01-15T17:01:42","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T21:01:42","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-47","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=848","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">  var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);  (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> The Future of Esau and an Overview of the Joseph Story:  &#8211; Held on Sunday, January 12, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 01\/12\/14<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Previous Week\u2019s [12\/22\/13] Review<\/li>\n<li>Background to today\u2019s Reading<\/li>\n<li>Reading Gen. 36: 01 &#8211; 43<\/li>\n<li>Discussion<\/li>\n<li>Overview of the Joseph Story, Gen. 37:01 \u2013 50:26<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Previous Week\u2019s [12\/22\/13\/ Review<\/b><\/p>\n<p>As we can note, the \u201cPrevious Week\u201d was before Christmas.\u00a0 As I listened to that recording I was struck by how many insights were expressed by the group that gathered.\u00a0 I have selected three that seemed to me especially significant and which I reported in last week\u2019s blog.\u00a0 I think they merit clarification and some repetition.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In the passage we were discussing, Jacob in response to God\u2019s command to build an altar addresses his household who now number \u201cforeigner,\u201d non-Israelites, possibly referring to the women and children captured in the \u201cRape of Dinah\u201d episode.\u00a0 \u201cSo Jacob told his household and all who were with him: \u201cGet rid of the foreign gods among you; then <b>purify yourselves and change your clothes\u2026 <\/b>\u201c [Gen. 35:02]. \u00a0For the Israelites purification had a ritual component but implied much more.\u00a0 The \u201cmuch more\u201d is revealed in a story Tim shared.\u00a0 He was bothered by the fact that he really didn\u2019t like people.\u00a0 In reflecting on this, there came a moment in time when he realized that it wasn\u2019t that he didn\u2019t like people rather it was that he didn\u2019t like what they do.\u00a0 This is something that happened in Tim and it changed him.\u00a0 It may seem like a minor thing for the reader but it wasn\u2019t minor for Tim. Such an event and the corresponding change of mind and heart is what is meant by the scripture that says \u201cpurify yourself.\u201d\u00a0 Each of us might benefit by identifying such an event in ourselves for such an event is both our doing and God\u2019s.<\/li>\n<li>Ken in reaction to other\u2019s description of Jacob\u2019s character remarked how it is that we tend to pigeonhole people.\u00a0 We form an opinion of others, attend to whenever they say or do that confirms them in the pigeonhole we have placed them, and discount, reinterpret, or don\u2019t attend to whatever would be contrary to their fitting into\u00a0 our pigeonhole of them.\u00a0 I found Ken\u2019s observation both accurate and challenging.<\/li>\n<li>Faryl made a most telling observation.\u00a0 The passage tells of the rather horrific response that Jacob\u2019s sons made, killing, raping, and pillaging.\u00a0 They accomplished all of this by using a central religious symbol, circumcision.\u00a0 And nowhere in the passage is God even mentioned.\u00a0 Yet Faryl reminded us that God\u2019s promise was moving forward in the midst of this all.\u00a0 It is very difficult to realize the truth Faryl observed when we are in the midst of personal, social, and national evils.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The observations of these three persons enrich all of us, challenge us, and reveal the community of faith that binds us together.<\/p>\n<p><b>Background to today\u2019s Reading: Gen. 36: 01 \u2013 43.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Many scholars believe that the material that inform this chapter come from documents that probably were a result of the capture of this region under David\u2019s reign.\u00a0 Edom is a region located south of the Dead Sea.\u00a0 The material can be broken down into three settings described in genealogical form.\u00a0 It is easy enough to note the family, the clan, and the nation. \u00a0However, the only evidence of the names recorded are from the bible. \u00a0As has been stated over and over, the purpose of the biblical literature is not to provide us with an historical account of events but rather to provide with a religious meaning.<\/p>\n<p>What matters is that in this passage, there is religious significance.\u00a0 It allows us to discover the relationship of the non-chosen people to the chosen ones.\u00a0 This is especially meaningful if we think in terms of our global world and the relation between Christians and everyone else.\u00a0 In general numeric terms, there are 7 billion human beings, only 2 billion of which are Christian.\u00a0 How are the two groups related?<\/p>\n<p>In this passage we can discover first of all the fact that being chosen or not does not in any way void the fact that the two groups are brothers.\u00a0 So we too, all 7 billion and growing are children of God our Father, brothers and sisters to one another.\u00a0 This is a theological fact.\u00a0 Second like the story of the chosen, the story of the non-chosen are that they too are blessed with land, progeny, and blessings.\u00a0 Being chosen is certainly a privilege but attended to that privilege is a responsibility.\u00a0 We are to be salt, light, leaven for the whole.\u00a0 We have a responsibility for the sake of the whole.\u00a0 We are not the whole, neither at any one time nor over time.<\/p>\n<p>We are invited to read this passage in the light of the above.<\/p>\n<p><b>Reading: Gen. 36: 01 &#8211; 43 <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/36\">http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/36<\/a>.\u00a0 <b><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Discussion<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The reading was daunting for all of us, a range of names, difficult to pronounce, the meaning of which is not at first ascertainable.\u00a0 But there it is, Esau\u2019s future in balance with Jacob\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p><b>Overview of Joseph, Judah, and Jacob\u2019s Family.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The next fourteen chapters [37 \u2013 50] bring Genesis to a close and set the stage for Exodus.\u00a0 Although these chapters are primarily an account of the ups and downs of Joseph, it takes us from Israel as an individual, Jacob, to Israel as a people, the Israelites.\u00a0 The geography moves us from Canaan to Egypt and in that move allows us to see the full range of Egyptian life; a life that is not, nor should not, be demonized.\u00a0 Despite the central role that Joseph plays in this narrative, Yahweh remains the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.\u00a0 Joseph becomes the symbol of the passage to a people.\u00a0 He ultimately does not seek revenge on his brothers.\u00a0 The narrative makes clear the importance though of the individual.\u00a0 It matters what Joseph says and does.\u00a0 God is at work throughout but nowhere does God appear to Joseph as he does with Abraham, with Jacob.\u00a0 Joseph builds no altar, is not the center of any place of worship.<\/p>\n<p>What remains for us is to uncover these points in the telling of the story.\u00a0 Ken observed that various TV specials have focused attention on efforts to uncover the historical evidence of this period of time in Egyptian history.\u00a0 And they have come up for the most part with little or no evidence of the Israelite slave position, the rise of Joseph, etc.\u00a0 Part of our nature as modern individuals, especially as far as the bible goes, is a near insatiable search for the historical evidence.<\/p>\n<p>What I would reiterate is first the bible is not history in that sense.\u00a0 Second the bible is a real collection of books spanning two time frames, the times being written about and the times of the writing.\u00a0 What is written about moves from the beginning to, for Christians, the Christ event.\u00a0 As I have said many times, it was written by people of faith, to people of faith, for the sake of their faith.\u00a0 The writing was initially a telling, and then a writing, and then an editing, and finally a community discernment of what edited writings were to become the bible.<\/p>\n<p>Modern scholarship has shed wonderful light on the writing of and thus has had a backward light on what has been written about.\u00a0 But always what is written about is by, to, and for faith.\u00a0 There is a mysterious and incarnate relationship between the books of the bible and the chosen people.\u00a0 Thus we read, study, and, most importantly, live so that individually and communally we can be salt, light, leaven.\u00a0 As Christ taught us to pray, thy Kingdom come \u2026 Already but not yet.\u00a0 <b>Already<\/b> present in the presence of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.\u00a0 <b>Not yet<\/b> until we believe.\u00a0 What else can I say.<\/p>\n<p>You are invited to respond to these or other questions that might arise within you as you read this passage.\u00a0 Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.\u00a0 See \u201ccomment\u201d link below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 01\/12\/14 Previous Week\u2019s [12\/22\/13] Review Background to today\u2019s Reading Reading Gen. 36: 01 &#8211; 43 Discussion Overview of the Joseph Story, Gen. 37:01 \u2013 50:26 Previous Week\u2019s [12\/22\/13\/ Review As we &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=848\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15,7,18,19],"class_list":["post-848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scripture","tag-historical-method","tag-modern-scripture-scholarship","tag-religion-and-culture","tag-scripture-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848\/revisions\/850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}