Day 12. Genesis 34-36

Genesis 34-36

Genesis 34

¹And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

²And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.

Dinah's name means "judged, vindicated".

The Hivites are also descendants of Canaan. (Gen. 10:17). So they are black as well.

This incident is commonly referred to as, the Rape of Dinah.

³And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.

Shechem loved Dinah? Perhaps he was just infatuated. Unless it's love at first sight; except that's not real love, that's infatuation/lust/desire.

Shechem asked his father Hamor to get him to marry Dinah.

⁵And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.

Even though Jacob (at nearly 60) was able to wrestle god, and win until god cheated; he didn't want to get into a fight with Hamor... at least until his 11 sons were there to back him up.

⁷And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter: which thing ought not to be done.

Why is the land called Israel, when Jacob isn't yet? He was told his name was Israel, why isn't he going by Israel?

Hamor pleads with Jacob, saying his son really loves Dinah. Why don't your people and our people make marriages together. Well, Jacob is probably a racist like his dad and grandfather. Shechem asks what dowry they can provide so that he can marry Dinah.

¹³And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:

¹⁴And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us:

¹⁵But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised;

¹⁶Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

If your men become circumcised, then we will marry your daughters, and you can marry ours... even though they only had Dinah.

Hamor and Shechem thought this was a good idea.

²⁴And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.

Hamor and Shechem, and all the men of the city were circumcised.

²⁵And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males.

The men were sitting around, with their very tender penis'; and Simeon and Levi came to town with their swords and killed all the men. I like the word "boldly". It implies that Simeon and Levi had courage. How much courage does it take to fight against a man who has one hand on his extremely sore penis?

²⁶And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out.

They even killed Hamor and Shechem.

²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.

The rest of the brothers came and took all the livestock, and all the gold.

²⁹And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.

They even took the children and the wives. Those boys really wanted to revenge their sisters rape.

Jacob calls Simeon and Levi and says, you made the Canaanites hate us now. Now they are going to come after us.

³¹And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?

And that's how Dinah earned her name of "vindicated". Odd how Dinah got her name of "vindicated" when she was born, and then after her rape, the rapist, and his whole town got killed, thus providing her ultimate vindication.

I find it odd that this story would be included in the bible. Here we see the punishment for rape is complete destruction of the town that was the home of the rapist. Later, in Deuteronomy 22, we'll get the new law for rape. Here it is. Deut. 22: ²⁸If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;

²⁹Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

In Deut, we see the punishment for a rapist is he has to pay the father 50 shekels of silver, and marry the girl, additionally, he can't divorce her. In the Dinah rape story, we see Shechem offering to marry her, and also offered to pay whatever dowry Jacob and his sons asked. They asked for foreskins.

Why would Moses put in the law of 50 shekels and marriage, when precedence has already been set that you get to kill the rapists entire city?

It's because the Deuteronomy laws only deal with Hebrews amongst Hebrews. The Deuteronomy law for rape wouldn't apply to a Hivite raping a Hebrew anyway. Since the people were Hivites (descendants of Canaan) and black anyway, it didn't really matter that they were all killed. Jacob, like his father and grandfather, didn't want his sons marrying any blacks. He definitely isn't going to let his daughter marry a black.

Genesis 35

¹And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

That's really convenient of god to tell Jacob to leave when he's probably going to be chased out of town anyway.

²Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

Odd how Jacob allowed his people to have strange gods, except when they were going to Bethel.

⁵And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

This is the first use of the word terror in the bible. I find it interesting that the thing that causes terror (terrorist) is god.

⁸But Deborah, Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.

Who is Deborah? Why is she being carried around by Jacob? Rebekah was Jacob's mother, was she still around at this point? Why is she important enough to name here? This is the only mention of her. The next time we hear of a Deborah is in Judges. Apparently Allon-bachuth means "oak of weeping". Someone really loved Deborah.

¹⁰And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

He was already name changed back in Genesis 32:28, of course, that time it didn't stick, but now it will... probably.

¹¹And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

¹²And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

All these promises have been said before.

¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

How many times is this place going to be named Bethel?

¹⁶And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.

Rachel was pregnant again?

¹⁸And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.

Nice of Abraham to honor his dieing wife's wish and name the son that killed her the thing that she named it. Of course, Benoni means "son of my pain". What else could it mean? Benjamin probably means "son who killed my beautiful loving wife, I hate this boy". Nope, Ben means "son of" Jamin means "right" or "right hand" or "south". Some scholars say that his name is Benjamim, the mim meanding "days". Which would mean that Abraham named his son "son of days" referencing his old age.

¹⁹And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

²⁰And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

Well, the claim of "unto this day" is kind of doubtful. There is a place in Isreal, on the south of Jerusalem, that is named Kever Rochel "Rachel's Tomb". It is traditionally considered to be that. Somehow, the Hebrews managed to go into captivity in Egypt, come out, take over the whole land, and remember exactly where one person was buried. Additionally, they were carried away to Babylon, and returned, and knew where it was. Then the land was captured by the muslims... and they knew where it was...

²²And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

Reuben lay with his dad's concubine? Reuben was the oldest. Sleeping with his father's concubine was a grievous offense. Oddly, this is considered incest, and taboo, but marrying your cousin isn't.

Next is a list of Jacob's sons.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher.

²⁷And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

²⁸And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

²⁹And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Isaac dies at 180. If Isaac now dies, this is at least 20 years after Jacob stole the blessing. He lived with dim vision for a long time. Isaac was 60 when the boys were born, so they were 120 when Isaac died. If they were 40 at the time of the blessing incident, then Isaac was 100 and this is now 80 years after that.

Genesis 36

¹Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.

Edom, means red, Esau was red.

²Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;

³And Bashemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth.

Uh... what? Gen 26:34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: and Gen. 28:9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.

Gen 26:34/28:9 says he married Judith Beeri and Bashemath Elon and Mahalath Ishmael.
Now, Gen 36:2/3 says he married Anah Zibeon and Adah Elon and Bashemath Ishmael.

There's a bit of inconsistency there. This is a whopping 10 chapters later that it can't get the wives of Esau correct. Since lineage is so important, why can't they get it right?

⁶And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.

⁷For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.

Very similar to Lot and Abraham. The land couldn't hold both, son one of them moved away.

What follows in verses 9-43 is a list of the offspring of Esau. Remember, the bible is supposedly an accurate historical document. We see it can't get the history right, does it still get the theology right?

Points to ponder:

1. If Esau became the father of the Edomites, then was the blessing that Isaac bestowed upon him correct?

2. Does murdering an entire town justify the rape of your sister?

3. Is the lineage important?

Day 7. Genesis 19-21

Genesis 19-21

Genesis 19

¹And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

In Genesis 18:2 there were three men, now there's only two. One of them, the one who was god, left.

²And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

The angels didn't go to Sodom to find ten righteous people. They went to go get raped. They wanted to destroy the people in the plains. It's like a guy who goes to a bar, wanting to get into a fight. They provoke someone into hitting them, and then manage to justify their actions by saying "he hit me first". It reminds me of the tv show Bait Car. Apparently police can't catch criminals when they actually commit crimes, instead they can only catch them when they are entrapped.

"The individual who's arrested in a bait car did not have intent to commit crime until law enforcement created the opportunity. It's like having a great-looking undercover female police officer on the corner, [dressed as a prostitute] who's hoping to solicit an inquiry. They're creating crime. There may not have been any intent until he saw the attractive police woman, until the cops lured him into the trap.

The people who lived in Sodom weren't planning on raping any angels. It wasn't until the angels showed up that they thought it would be fun. Then, the angels say they want to stay in the streets. They went there with the intent of soliciting. Sodom was set up.

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:

⁵And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

Know, as in the same way that Adam KNEW Eve.

⁶And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him,

⁷And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.

Lot tries to calm down the crowd of people who wanted to KNOW the angels. But they weren't calming down. He came up with a compromise.

⁸Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.

Lot, being a good father, and a righteous man, offers up his daughters to the crowd. Saying, don't bother these angels, please, rape my two virgin daughters.

The angels pulled lot back, and then blinded the gathered mob.

¹²And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

¹³For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.

Hast thou here any besides? Does Lot have any more family?

¹⁴And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

Wait, what? Lot had two virgin daughters, who were married. What kind of a crappy marriage did those guys have? Especially in a town that is known for it's sex. Lot had two married virgin daughters. No wonder the crowd didn't want those daughters, they probably knew all about them.

Why would Lot, (the only righteous man in Sodom) allow his daughters to marry non-righteous people? What happened to all of Lots workers? Remember, Abraham and Lot separated because their men were getting into fights. All of a sudden, all of Lot's men are gone. Additionally, they weren't righteous. Perhaps they all died when the four kings from the Babylon area attacked.

¹⁵And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

Lot's wife is never named. Lot, his wife, and two daughters are four people. Lot's daughters were married; I find it hard to believe a righteous man, with two righteous daughters and a righteous wife would allow his daughters to marry non-righteous people. That would make 6 people in town who were righteous. There would only have to be four others in town to avert the catastrophe. Apparently, they weren't there.

¹⁷And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

Don't look back.

Instead of going directly to the mountain, Lot asked if he could just go to Zoar (also known as Bela). The angels agreed. Lot goes to Zoar.

²⁴Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

The cities that were destroyed were: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim. God didn't destroy Zoar.

Here's the timeline:

Lot, wife, and two daughters leave town (verse 20)
Lot enters Zoar (verse 23)
The cities are destroyed (verse 24)
Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt (verse 26)

According to verse 23, the angels weren't going to destroy the cities until Lot was safely in the other city. Now, in verse 26, it seems like Lot and his family were on the run, as the destruction was raining down. Then, Lot's wife becomes a pillar of salt.

Lot's Wife is a pillar of halite on Mount Sodom in Israel. For thousands of years, this pillar has been claimed to be Lot's wife. (Halite is rock salt).

³⁰And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

Lot was in the town of Zoar. He knew that it wasn't destroyed. However, he was afraid to stay there because he figured the townspeople would blame him for the destruction of the other cities. As though he was a bad omen, or a curse.

So, he went and lived in a cave, with his daughters.

³¹And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

The daughters then plan to get Lot drunk, then have sex with him, and get pregnant. Verse 31 makes it seem like the daughters think that there are no other people left on the earth. "There is not a man in the earth"; except they were just in the town of Zoar, and left because they feared for their safety. They knew there were other people in the world.

³³And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

The next night the other daughter did the same thing.

Now, we are supposed to believe that the girls were virgins when this happened. They had been married, they lived in a town known for it's sexual depravity, they got their dad passed out/black out drunk, then were able to give him an erection that lasted long enough to ejaculate and get the girls pregnant, and we are supposed to believe that they figured out how to do this the day after the cities were destroyed. That part of the story makes absolutely no sense.

³⁶Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

³⁷And the first born bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

³⁸And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

The older daughter was the mother of Moab, the younger was the mother of Benammi. We'll hear about the Moabites a lot.

Oh, I left this out...

²⁷And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:

²⁸And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

Abraham looked at the cities, but he didn't turn into a pillar of salt.

Genesis 20

¹And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

Abraham was on the move again.

²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

Abimelech did what pharaoh did, he took Sarah. Wasn't she like 90 at this point? She already had reached menopause. She much have been one of the hottest old ladies ever.

³But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

⁴But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

God goes to Abimelech in a dream, and says he's going to kill him for taking Sarah.

There must have been absolutely no communication at all during this point in history. Abimelech doesn't seem to know who Abraham is. Abraham is the guy who beat Hammurabi with 318 people. Abraham is the guy who went to Egypt and managed to cause plagues there. Abraham is the guy who has 300+ servants. Abraham is the guy who is the uncle of the only man to survive the destruction of the cities of the plain. Abimelech doesn't know who he is. How is that possible?

⁶And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

⁷Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

I love verse seven. It's so poetic. There's so much "th" in it. Therefore, the, thee, thou, thou, thou, that, thou, thou, that, thine. I'd like to hear a preacher with a lisp read Genesis 20:7.

⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

Maybe Abraham was trying to get rid of Sarah. He'd been with her for at least 60 years. She's been nagging about not getting pregnant, she then nagged about him knocking up her handmaiden, she didn't like the way he treats his son; I'll be Abraham was happy to have some peace while she was staying with Abimelech.

¹¹And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

¹²And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

Abraham didn't fully lie, Sarah is his half sister. Abraham then tells the story that he likes to have her tell people she's his sister and not his wife because people would kill him if she's his wife.

¹⁴And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

Once again, Abraham was given gifts to take Sarah away from a king.

¹⁷So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

¹⁸For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

How long were Abraham and Sarah separated? Long enough for the people to realize that they weren't getting pregnant anymore. That's at least several months. Abraham must have enjoyed the peace of not having her around.

Genesis 21

God visits Sarah.

²For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Then Sarah had Isaac. On the 8th day, Abraham circumcised him. Abraham was 100.

⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

¹⁰Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

Sarah was rather bitchy. Remember, it was her idea in the first place to have Abraham knock up Hagar. So, Sarah tells Abraham to kick out his other wife.

¹²And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

God said don't worry about Ishmael, let them go, Isaac will be the one that I will have my people come through.

¹⁴And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

Abraham the righteous man, who was given 1000 pieces of silver (Gen 20:16) and sheep, oxen, menservants, womenservents and other things from king Abimelech; Abraham, who led 318 men into a battle and defeated the people who attacked the cities of the plain; Abraham, who was rich beyond belief... sent his firstborn son and that child's mother into the wilderness with some bread and a bottle of water.

This is the man who, pretty much, is the father of the Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

¹⁵And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

They ran out of water, so Hagar put Ishmael under a bush to die.

God called to her:

¹⁹And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

Because of that water, they lived.

²⁰And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

²¹And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

Ishmael would have been at least 14 when he was sent away.

Many people believe that Hagar was one of the daughters of whatever Pharaoh was around when Abraham and Sarah went to Egypt. Jewish tradition holds that she was given to Sarah by the pharaoh as a slave. What father gives up his daughter as a slave? It's the same morals listed as will allow a father to send his son away in the wilderness to die.

Abimelech and Abraham then get into a dispute over a well. Abraham sent Abimelech seven sheep to settle the dispute of the well.

This was done at Beersheba. Be'er is the Hebrew word for "well"; Sheva means either "seven" or "oath". So this story at the end of Genesis 21 tells why the area of Beersheba is named Beersheba.

Points to ponder:

1. Why did the angels go to Sodom?
2. Angel rape may be a crime, but it's not that angels don't like sex, remember in Genesis 6:4, they like to be with pretty women. Why did angels stop coming down and having sex with girls?
3. Did Sodom really deserve to be destroyed?
4. Are Abraham's morals worthy of being followed?