{"id":873,"date":"2014-03-26T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T14:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=873"},"modified":"2014-03-30T08:06:17","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T12:06:17","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjavascript-ga-55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=873","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 Final Test &#8211; Held on Sunday, March 23, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Outline of Post on the Scripture Session held on 03\/23\/14<\/b><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>A Comment on Jacob\u2019s Blessing: Gen. 43:14<\/li>\n<li>Background to today\u2019s Reading<\/li>\n<li>Reading Gen. 44: 01 &#8211; 34<\/li>\n<li>Discussion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>A Comment on Jacob\u2019s Blessing: Gen. 43:14<\/b><\/p>\n<p>As we worked our way through chapter 43, one word caught my attention that we did not pay sufficient attention to.\u00a0 I thought a comment about that one word was warranted.\u00a0 In v. 14 we read, \u201d<b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">May God Almighty grant you mercy<\/span><\/b><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"> \u2026<\/span><\/b>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At first I wanted to find out what the word \u201cmercy\u201d might mean to us.\u00a0 The English word \u201cmercy\u201d is not one that is used often in common speech.\u00a0 It does resonate in the Liturgy, however.\u00a0 As an essential element in the Penitential rite, twice our refrain repeats the priest\u2019s: Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy; Christ have mercy, Christ have mercy.<\/p>\n<p>But what does that one word mean. I asked the study group if they use \u201cmercy\u201d in everyday speech.\u00a0 Heber spontaneous said, \u201cMercy be.\u201d\u00a0 When I asked him what that phrase meant, he said he didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 Ken remarked that the only usage that comes to mind occurs in movie scenes; usually someone who has done wrong is standing in front of a person of authority; for example, a king or a judge, and the character says have mercy on me.<\/p>\n<p>Here we have one of the most foundational words in the Jewish scripture woven into our liturgy but have no clear understanding of what it might mean.\u00a0 The word mercy is one English translation of the Hebrew word \u201cchesed.\u201d\u00a0 The opening of paragraph in this article <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bible-researcher.com\/chesed.html\">http:\/\/www.bible-researcher.com\/chesed.html<\/a> reads<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Biblical scholars have often complained that the word\u00a0\u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 [chesed]\u00a0in the Hebrew Bible is difficult to translate into English, because it really has no precise equivalent in our language. English versions usually try to represent it with such words as &#8220;loving-kindness,&#8221; &#8220;mercy,&#8221; &#8220;steadfast love,&#8221; and sometimes &#8220;loyalty,&#8221; but the full meaning of the word cannot be conveyed without an explanation, such as the one given in the article below. This article, by\u00a0Norman H. Snaith, is reproduced from\u00a0A Theological Word Book of the Bible, edited by Alan Richardson (New York: MacMillan, 1951), pp. 136-7.<\/p>\n<p>I would encourage your reading of the article in the link provided above.\u00a0 For Christians the fulfillment of YHWH\u2019s chesed is in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 At the end of the article you will find a list of verses in which the word occurs.\u00a0 Jacob\u2019s blessing meant so much to the Israelite people who knew the utter significance of God\u2019s steadfast love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, etc.\u00a0 No one word can hold what only a history of a people can tell.<\/p>\n<p>So one word, six paragraphs above and a reference to an article with 5 more paragraphs. Reading all of the above can move us to hear and say so much as we repeat, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.\u00a0 Meaningless or filled with meaning.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to you.<\/p>\n<p><b>Background to today\u2019s Reading: Gen. 44: 01 \u2013 34.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Final Test \u2026 Joseph sets his brothers up one final time in order to learn not that they say they are honest men but rather that they act like honest men.\u00a0 Words matter but only if they are illuminated by deeds.\u00a0 The brothers head back to Canaan loaded with food. That they know.\u00a0 In their sacks too is the money they thought they had given in exchange for the food.\u00a0 In Benjamin\u2019s sack, the silver cup, Joseph\u2019s cup of divinization.\u00a0 None of this do the brothers know.\u00a0 Joseph knows.\u00a0 The story teller knows so his audience knows and so do we know.<\/p>\n<p>The brothers have been driven by guilt to hide their shame.\u00a0 They hide it from their father.\u00a0 They hide it from \u201cthe man.\u201d\u00a0 The father doesn\u2019t know.\u00a0 \u201cThe man\u201d knows.\u00a0 The listener \/ reader of the story knows.<\/p>\n<p>When the money and the cup are revealed before their eyes, not a word only torn clothes.\u00a0 [So too Caiaphas when he hears Jesus blaspheme.]\u00a0 The brothers return, Judah becomes the spokesperson for the brothers and the family, for Israel.\u00a0 Judah, Judeans, Jews the story teller and the story\u2019s audiences.\u00a0 Spoken in faith for the sake of faith.<\/p>\n<p><b>Reading: Gen. 44: 01 \u2013 34 <\/b><a href=\"http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/44\">http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/44<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Discussion<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I read from the New Revised Standard Version while the study group read along in the New American Bible.\u00a0 Two different versions that are not exactly the same translation of the sources, mostly Greek.\u00a0 My goal was to allow the study group to experience the different translations.\u00a0 It sort of worked but sort of backfired as well.\u00a0 As Ken remarked, he began reading as I was reading the chapter.\u00a0 The differences between his reading and my reading were so confusing that Ken decided he better just listen.\u00a0 This does allow us to experience revelation not as words but as meaning.\u00a0 To discover the meaning begins with words, are limited by words, but meaning ultimately is the correct answers to questions.\u00a0 What is the meaning of the words, the sentences, the paragraphs, etc.<\/p>\n<p>We covered so much.\u00a0 Again I want to focus attention on two points that came out of our search for meaning.\u00a0 In response to the question, well what was the test, Tim responded with what I think was exactly the meaning of the Final Test.\u00a0 Would the brothers treat Benjamin in the same way as they had treated Joseph?\u00a0 By the end of the chapter we know that they didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Judah spoke out, committing himself to be true to the pledge he had given his father, in vv. 32 \u2013 33<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u00a0Besides, I, your servant, have guaranteed the boy\u2019s safety for my father by saying, \u2018If I fail to bring him back to you, father, I will bear the blame before you forever.\u2019<a href=\"http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/44#01044032-d\">d<\/a>33So now let me, your servant, remain in place of the boy as the slave of my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0We then entered in a long discussion, did the brothers through Judah also come clean on their guilt.\u00a0 I thought that they did.\u00a0 Ken would have given Judah a B on his test; Judah was completely open with &#8220;the man, [Joseph].\u00a0 Kai felt the expression of guilt in v. 16<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Judah replied: \u201cWhat can we say to my lord? How can we plead or how try to prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants\u2019 guilt.<a href=\"http:\/\/usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/44#01044016-1\">*<\/a>\u00a0Here we are, then, the slaves of my lord\u2014the rest of us no less than the one in whose possession the goblet was found.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0referred only to the discovery of the cup. \u00a0For Kai, it\u2019s not in the text in any way, shape or form in terms of the guilt involved with their treatment of Joseph.<\/p>\n<p>So what was our author telling us?\u00a0 Please remember that the meaning of the text is ultimately a correct answer to a question.\u00a0 One advantage of listening to a recording of the conversation a couple of days later is it gives me a chance to think.<\/p>\n<p>Here is why I think that Judah, on behalf of his brothers and before God, was acknowledging their guilt.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In the middle of v. 16 we read \u201cGod has uncovered your servants\u2019 guilt . . .*\u201d as translated in the New American Bible \u2013 The Catholic Study Bible with the * pointing to a footnote which reads, \u201c44:16: Guilt: in trying to do away with Joseph when he was young.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The only reference to God in the Judah\u2019s speech<\/li>\n<li>\u201cservants\u2019 guilt\u201d is plural<\/li>\n<li>\u201cGod has <b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">found out<\/span><\/b> the guilt of your servants . . .\u201d which expresses more clearly in my opinion that Judah is acknowledging that God knows what they have done.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So, if you have read so far, let us know what you think.<\/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 03\/23\/14 A Comment on Jacob\u2019s Blessing: Gen. 43:14 Background to today\u2019s Reading Reading Gen. 44: 01 &#8211; 34 Discussion A Comment on Jacob\u2019s Blessing: Gen. 43:14 As we worked our way &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=873\">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":[10,5],"tags":[7,6,19],"class_list":["post-873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-scripture","tag-modern-scripture-scholarship","tag-scripture-criticism","tag-scripture-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873","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=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}