Genesis 47: Just Turn Them Into Slaves

Today's Podcast

Jacob's Family Settles in Goshen (v. 1-12)

Joseph took some of his brothers to Pharaoh and asked his permission to move to Goshen, Pharaoh said sure. The Joseph brought Jacob in to see Pharaoh and Jacob blessed the Pharaoh twice. Pharaoh asked how old he is and Jacob replied 130 years. Interestingly, Jacob also said his life has contained evil and is shorter than the life of his fathers.

Jacob blessing the Pharaoh seems strange to me, but I guess Jacob was incredibly successful. Perhaps one powerful person blessing another is just a sign of respect. Still the person in need blessing the person with plenty seems backwards.

According to Guzik, I seem to have the right idea here

Pharaoh acknowledged Jacob was a man of God by accepting his blessing. In the Egyptian religion, Pharaoh himself was thought to be a god. They considered Pharaoh the human embodiment of Ra, the sun god. This means that it was remarkable that he allowed Israel to bestow a blessing on him.

I try to take things at face value for my analysis as much as possible, but it seems to me that this was likely inserted here to add legitimacy to the story. "Look, even the powerful Pharaoh accepted Jacob's blessing". Obviously just a guess, but the whole thing certainly seems strange.

I also found the idea of evil in his life making him live less time interesting. I know people often claim that the people right after the fall lived very long (~900 years) and their years grew shorter as sin crept in. As I recall, there's wasn't a lot of actual biblical evidence for that, is this some indication of that type of thing? Furthermore, is the claim that sin will generally make people live shorter lives? This seems like it could be easily falsified.

I love how Guzik just reads into this whatever he wants to see. In describing how old he is, Jacob uses the word pilgrimage, and it is interpreted this way

Jacob confessed he was on a pilgrimage. He knew that his real home was somewhere else: heaven.

Didn't they not even have an idea of heaven back then, but instead it was all about living on through your offspring? I wish I had a good reference for this, but I'm pretty damn sure that the whole concept of heaven didn't come along until much later.

Joseph and the Famine (v. 13-31)

The famine was very harsh and everyone used all of their money to buy food from Joseph, which went into the coffers of the Pharaoh. The people then complained that they had no money and had to buy food, so Joseph said he would take their livestock. The next year they came back and said they had no food or animals and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their land and for them to work the land as slaves to Pharaoh. Since the Pharaoh owns the land, from now on he will get 20% of whatever is produced.

The biggest problem I have here is that they are buying their own food back from the government. They got taxed very severely in the times of plenty and are now having to give up everything they own to get the food back that they grew themselves. Then at the end it is declared that since they are owned by the Pharaoh they have to pay him 20% of whatever they make from now on. But that's what they had to pay for the 7 years before the famine, so what has changed? They should have just given the food back to the people, when people are starving, how does it make sense to give them food in exchange for their ability to produce more food in the future?


Jacob lived another 17 years and they prospered in Egypt, but when he was about to die he made Joseph promise to bury him where his fathers were buried rather than in Egypt.

Wait a minute, I can't believe I didn't notice this until just now. Jacob had two fathers, apparently gay marriage is endorsed in the bible. Case closed.

Genesis 41: Let a Slave Run the Country

Today's podcast

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams (v. 1-36)

The Pharaoh has a few dreams and nobody is able to interpret them for him.

The very fact that no one is able to interpret these dreams is pretty suspect alone. Even if you buy into everything else, that God is talking to Joseph and everything, I find it pretty hard to believe there isn't one scam artist seer who will make up some stuff to tell the Pharaoh.

His cupbearer remembers his time in prison and suggests that Pharaoh have Joseph interpret his dream. Joseph says the dreams mean there will be 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. He suggests that the government should collect a portion of everyone's grain during the good 7 years so no one will starve during the 7 bad years.

That's a pretty good suggestion! Setting aside resources in times of plenty for upcoming times of scarcity. In fact, this would be a smart thing to do even if they didn't know that famine was coming.

Guzik points out that Joseph here gives credit to God. He could have very easily taken credit for the reading, and yet he says that God is the source of the reading. At first I wasn't sure if this should count as humility as he was setting himself up as a prophet, but a subsequent reading makes me lean toward agreeing with Guzik. Pharaoh was already seeing value in Joseph's ability, so the appeal to God wasn't necessary to make him an asset. I think it does come off as humble.

Something noticed when reading for the podcast, verse 32 says "And the doubling of Pharaoh's dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about." It doesn't say why God does this, just that he does. The pain and suffering caused by the famine are completely on God here. It makes me think of the problem of evil.

Joseph Rises to Power (v. 37-57)

The Pharaoh was pleased with Joseph and put him in power, he was second only to Pharaoh in Egypt.

What? He was a slave in prison, then he interprets a dream and becomes the second most powerful man in the country? Seriously?

Tried some coloring, I think it went well. (Comic Archive)

v.38 "And Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?""

Guzik says "This is the first mention in the Bible of the Holy Spirit coming upon a man. Pharoah saw that Joseph was fileld with the Spirit of God."

This seems like a pretty dishonest reading to me, it seems like he's just zeroing in on that word and projecting the trinity on it whenever he can. We've seen him do it with Jesus, now he's doing it with the holy spirit. Plus, I thought the whole in in Acts 10 was the first time the holy spirit was given to people. Wasn't that supposed to be some big changeover?

Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of storing up grains, so he went all around Egypt and collected grains for storage during the time of plenty. When the famine came people complained to Pharaoh that they were hungry and he sent them to Joseph. Not only those in Egypt, but even people outside of Egypt came to Joseph to buy grain.

They had to buy the grain? If he collected the grain from them in the bad time, shouldn't he give it back in the good times? Did he buy it from them in the first place? It doesn't seem to indicate this at all. 

Guzik ends his commentary with a 34 point list comparing Joseph and Jesus. It's pretty ridiculous, but also pretty long, perhaps I'll look into them more closely and make it a post of its own.

for the verses of note post

--Greed--

Genesis 41:56 Joseph sells the people's grain back to them

"So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt."

--Humility--

Genesis 41:15-16 Joseph gives credit to God, rather than taking the credit himself

"And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.' Joseph answered Pharaoh, 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.'"

--Prudence--

Genesis 41:35-36 Joseph suggests saving in the good times to survive the bad times

"And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. 36 That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine."

Genesis 34: Most of Those Guys Didn't Do Anything Wrong

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The Defiling of Dinah (v. 1-31)

Dinah is the daughter of Leah, and she gets raped by Shechem, the prince of the land which the are currently in. He fell in love with her and asked for her to be his wife. He said he would give pay any "bride price" for her. Jacob and his sons weren't really interested in giving Dinah to him since he raped her, but they said that they would give her to him and they would settle in the land if all of the men of the city would become circumcised.

It's always about the cock with these people.

So Hamor (the father of Shechem) figures if he gets all of his people circumcised, Jacob and his people will settle in their land and they can take all of their stuff. But shortly after they were circumcised "when they were sore" two of Jacob's sons killed all of the men in the city and took all of their stuff. Jacob was upset at his sons for what they did because now other people in this region might try to kill them. His sons felt justified because their sister was raped.

Shechem is definitely a piece of shit here, he certainly deserves whatever he gets. His father is also a scheming dirtbag, so fuck him. Still, this seems like quite an overreaction. Kill all the men in the city and steal all of their stuff including their women. Aren't they just committing a worse version of the crime they are all up in arms about? "You had sex with one of our women, we are going to kill all of you and take all of your women"

My comic archive

Wow, I gotta hand it to him, Guzik seems to have a similar take on this chapter as me, a quote

This chapter contains one of the most shameful incidents in Israel’s history.

He goes in to much detail, but basically he talks about how what they did defiled the name of God, defiled the ritual of circumcision, and is a very difficult passage to get much from. If anything it is a story of warning. I'm impressed.

From Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Hypocrisy and deceit, in all cases vicious, are infinitely more so when accompanied with a show of religion

Agreed!

For the verses of note post

--Deception--

Genesis 34:13-15 Jacob's sons tricked people into getting circumcisions to weaken them

"The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. Only on this condition will we agree with you--that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised."

--Greed--

Genesis 34:27-28 Jacob's sons killed everyone in the city to take everything of value

"The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field."

--Violence--

Genesis 34:27 Jacob's sons killed everyone in the city

"The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister."

Genesis 12: Abram is a Coward

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The Call of Abram (v. 1-9)

God told Abram to travel from his country and leave his kindred and he would make a great nation for Abram. God says he will bless those who honor Abram and curse those who dishonor him. With such a promise, Abram predictably packed up and left, he took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot. He also took all of their possessions and "the people that they had acquired in Haran" and set out to Canaan.

So far this story seems reasonable, if God promised you a great nation I why wouldn't you set out to found it? I do wonder about the people that Abram had "acquired" though. It sounds like slavery at first, but is it really? The best thing here seems to be to look at different translations, 2 say it is slaves and 3 say it is servants. Quite a few say "acquired" like this one, I'm going to go out on a limb and say these are Abram's slaves.

As Abram passed through Canaan, the Canaanites were there and God appeared to Abram and said he would give the land to Abram's offspring, so Abram built an altar to the lord.

Umm...What about the Canaanites? Why is it okay for God to just take the land from them to give to Abram's kids?

As usual, these points are either never considered or completely ignored. Guzik has only this to say on the subject

Abram never owned any of this land except his burial plot (Genesis 23:14-20). Yet God’s promise was enough evidence to assure Abram that he did indeed own the whole country.

There is no mention of how unfair this is to the Canaanites. 

Gill doesn't mention how unfair this is to the Canaanites, although he does point out that since God is talking to Abram he must be in human form, and therefore it must be Jesus. Hows that for a few leaps of logic?

Speaking of leaps in logic, Matthew Henry seems to be interested in demonizing the Canaanites here, I guess part of him can recognize how unfair this whole thing is and he has to find a way to justify it. He says that they are "likely to be but bad neighbors and worse landlords" and that they are accursed. He also said this about Abram's arrival in Canaan.

One would have expected that Abram having had such an extraordinary call to Canaan some great event should have followed upon his arrival there, that he would have been introduced with all possible marks of honour and respect, and that the kings of Canaan should immediately have surrendered their crowns to him, and done him homage. But no; he comes not with observation, little notice is taken of him, for still God will have him to live by faith, and to look upon Canaan, even when he was in it, as a land of promise

I don't think the Canaanites are even aware that Abram was coming (it just says Abram was passing through), or that God has promised him their land. Why would they react this way? It's crazy to me how much extra stuff is necessary people put in these stories to try to make sense of them.

Abram kept travelling, when he went through Bethel he stopped and built an altar to the lord, then continued on toward Negeb.

How many altars does the lord need? What does it take to make an altar? Seems like it would be an annoying part of travelling with Abram.

Abram and Sarai in Egypt (v. 10-20)

Due to a famine Abram went down to Egypt. Since his wife Sarai was so beautiful he was afraid that the Egyptians would kill him to get her, so they pretended she was his sister. When they saw her they took as a wife for the Pharaoh and gave Abram a bunch of stuff for her (sheep, oxen, donkeys and servants). But then God plagues at Pharaoh and somehow he realized the cause was Sarai. So Pharaoh brought in Abram and asked why he told him Sarai was his sister instead of his wife. He returned Sarai to Abram and let them go with all of their stuff.

Matthew Henry addresses the fact that there is a famine in one place and apparently plenty in another

See how wisely God provides that there should be plenty in one place when there was scarcity in another, that, as members of the great body, we may not say to one another, I have no need of you. God’s providence took care there should be a supply in Egypt, and Abram’s prudence made use of the opportunity

So the fact that there was food somewhere is proof of God? Ridiculous. This reminds me of people who escape an accident where a bunch of other people died and thank God that they lived. With this type of logic there is no way for God to lose.

Wow this is a terrible story. First, Abram is a huge coward. Out of the blue he just assumes that since his wife is so beautiful that Pharaoh is going to kill him for her. His solution isn't to fight for her, or simply go somewhere other than Egypt, he just decides to give her to the Pharaoh. 

Guzik points out that the lie is actually a half truth, as Sarai is Abram's half sister, he references Genesis 20:12 (also mentioned by Gill). Note that Guzik does go on to condemn the lie, the fact that it is a half truth is not an excuse as the intention was to deceive which is what is important. 

The flavor text should read
"All creatures are now named Abram"
Wizards of the Coast

Second, he's apparently greedy as hell. When Pharaoh gave Abram a dowry for his wife, he demonstrated he was at least somewhat honorable. Abram could have cancelled the whole thing and come clean right then, but instead he took all of the wealth he was given for his wife. Also, when Sarai was given back to him he apparently didn't give back the dowry.

From Matthew Henry

We cannot think that Abram expected this when he came down into Egypt, much less that he had an eye to it when he denied his wife; but God brought good out of evil. And thus the wealth of the sinner proves, in some way or other, to be laid up for the just.

What about this story tells us that the Pharaoh was evil or that Abram was just? The Pharaoh did nothing wrong here and got totally screwed.

Third, Abram is apparently a horrible judge of character, the Pharaoh is clearly an honorable man. Think about this story from his perspective, a beautiful woman comes into town, it turns out she is single and travelling with her brother. So as is customary, he takes her as his wife and pays the brother. Later his is afflicted with plagues and finds out that his new wife was actually married to the man you thought was her brother. He is pissed at the guy and yells at him, but ultimately returns the woman and sends them on their way in an effort to make the plagues go away. Who is the good guy and who is the bad guy in this story?

Gill says that since these are a lustful people, they would rather be guilty of murder than adultery, which is why he was afraid of them killing him to get Sarai. This is apparently wrong based on how the story ended, yet it is still the justification given.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to find anything good to say about this story, but Matthew Henry said something that I suppose would quality. He said that this is a story where we are supposed to admonish him even though he is one of God's chosen. I suppose then the lesson is that everyone can make mistakes. Seems like a stretch, but all I can come up with.

For the "Verses of Note" post:

--Cowardice--

Genesis 12:11-13 Abram is willing to give up his wife for his own safety

"When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, 'I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.'"

--Greed--

Genesis 12:15-16,20 Abram took a dowry for Sarai and didn't give them back at the end

"And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels...And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had."

--Justice--

Genesis 12:6-7 God promises to give someone else's land to Abram's descendants

"...At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your offspring I will give this land...'"

Genesis 12:17-18 God punished Pharaoh even though the whole situation was Abram's fault

"But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?"

--Slavery--

Genesis 12:5 Abram owns slaves (look at multiple translations)

"And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran,"