My familiarity with the Bible is limited, but I have always thought of the Biblical heroes as characters and archetypes, not as real people. I think I’m finally making the transition toward thinking of them as humans, perhaps because of some insightful comments from the lovely people who are following Revelationogenesis. In any case, I think it’s hard to read about the “violation” of Dinah and her brothers’ reactions without thinking of them as real people, with human motivations and emotions.
Quick feminist plug: I love that Dinah sets off independently to visit the community’s women. It usually seems like the women in Genesis do whatever their fathers, brothers, husbands, or children need/want/would benefit from them doing.
Of course, Dinah’s independence doesn’t last long; Shechem quickly has sex with her. (Because there was a cultural taboo against premarital sex in Dinah’s time, should we assume that she didn’t appreciate Shechem’s advances? The Bible says that Shechem “spoke tenderly” to Dinah and that he loved her; did she enjoy his contact, or was she raped?)
Regardless of whether or not Dinah wanted Shechem’s attention, her brothers are furious that she was “defiled.” Obviously, the way Simeon and Levi murder the newly-circumcised villagers of Shechem’s home city isn’t exactly moral, but it is so very human. I remember stories of my uncle scaring off my mother’s potential suitors; moreover, while we don’t have a brother, my sister and I have a history of being too judgmental of anyone interested in the other of us.
I think that part of what bothered me about some of the immorality of the earlier stories is that the responses don’t quite seem human. I mean, I realize that it was a different time and place, but I think that some morals are (nearly?) universal and some human tendencies are innate. (Note to self: I so need to talk about the evolution of morality in a post sometime soon!) It’s harder to think about the morals present in the more “human” stories, but they are easier to read, in my opinion. And, it’s easier to see some of myself in them.
In closing, for those of you who know far more about the Bible and Christianity than I do, I have a question: Does Jacob actually wrestle with God in Genesis 32? I feel like that’s a dumb question, but I really struggled with that passage. Initially, I’d interpreted it as a metaphor, but I was confused by the discussion of Jacob’s hip being wrenched and the dietary consequences of the action. Does God actually appear to Jacob, or how do you interpret this passage? Thanks in advance!
Happy Friday!
Alex
Chapter 34 is so sordid. I think it’s interesting that God’s name ends chapter 33 and begins chapter 35 and is not mentioned at all in chapter 34. Whatever Shechem’s motivations for raping Dinah (whether it was genuine love or trying to absorb [v. 9-10] the emerging clan of Israel) the act of retaliation against him was disproportionate. It is interesting to me that until present time Israel still faces these two threats from its neighbors: absorption or hostility. As for Simeon and Levi, because they slaughtered the Canaanite men, their own descendants would be scattered far and wide (Gen 49:5-7).
The whole wrestling with God narrative is fascinating for several reasons. First God wrestled (ye’abeq) with Jacob (ya’aqob)- love the literary wordplay! I do think that this was a physical appearance. Jacob had wrestled with others throughout his life- first his brother, then Laban. Now God appears to him in such a form that Jacob could wrestle with Him successfully, yet He showed Jacob that He could disable him at will. (These notes are draw heavily from the Zondervan Study Bible.)
Israel as a nation represents believers today. Jacob physically wrestled with God. The nation of Israel wrestles with following God throughout its history. I struggle to obey and apply the lofty commands of scripture and bend my will to God’s. I love that what Jacob experienced literally, I experience figuratively on a daily basis. This image of wrestling with God has great spiritual significance.
I hadn’t looked for the mention of God, but I agree: That is an interesting observation. And, Simeon and Levi’s punishment is another one of those I’d-understand-so-much-more-if-only-I-could-write-after-reading-it-all sorts of things. Thanks for the foreshadowing! :^)
It’s very interesting to me that you believe that God actually appeared to Jacob. I was sure that I was going to be chastised for imagining that was even possible; I mean, why would the Creator of the Universe come to Earth to wrestle with one of His Creation? I appreciate that you remarked on the recurring theme of Jacob’s wrestling, and it intrigues me that you see the match as something both literal and figurative.
I think that one of the things I struggle with in these daily readings is whether or not to interpret the Bible as one might interpret literature. Was the Bible designed to be read and reread and critiqued and criticized and twisted and turned inside out, or are Christians supposed to take it at face value?
Thanks, as always.
These “appearances” of God, or the “Angel of the Lord” throughout the Old Testament are mysterious. Scholars debate about whether or not they are the pre-incarnate Christ or a messenger with all the authority to speak for God. But I think of the Angel of the Lord finding and speaking tenderly to Hagar when she had been driven away by Sarah is a good example- He appeared in the form that she needed at that time.
The Bible can be difficult to read (and difficult to understand) and you have accepted such a HUGE undertaking (like, I don’t know if I could do it in a year!) 66 books, 40 authors, written over 1500 years. There is prose, history, genealogies, poetry, parables, etc… So the interpretations depend on the author’s intent. Did the author intend for it to be taken literally? Well, in the case of Jesus’ parables the answer is no. The parables usually point to one (or two) main themes. Is the Song of Solomon literally talking about the Shulamites’ breasts being fawns? No. Are the ten commandments to be taken literally? Yes. The grammar indicates an imperative structure. Are there areas of mystery where God-fearing (sorry, had to say it)
believers disagree about an interpretation? Sometimes. But much of the time understanding historical context and language use will give clues about the author’s intent.
That’s one thing that fascinates me about the Bible. I can read a passage once and get a nugget out of it. But when I really study cross-references, original language (thankfully I live with a walking Greek-and-Hebrew-speaking-concordance), and get good historical context, much of the time a whole new level of depth is opened to me. I read your post about Judah and Tamar. This story blows me away- it’s just way too daytime-TV to be scripture. But what I love about it is that Tamar is the first of four women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. (And the other women didn’t exactly have squeaky-clean pasts.) But I know that there is a reason for men to marry the bride of a dead brother. I think it has something to do with land distribution and making sure that no one family ever had more land than another. But I need to spend more time looking into it. I suspect that this story will be one that will make more sense (but not necessarily be less shocking) when I have a chance to do some research. But alas, my sweet children have the stomach bug and it may be a couple days before I will get to it.
Until then, love the posts. Thanks SO MUCH for the dialogue! Can’t wait to hear more from you.
Just a note on “askthebigot’s” mention of the law about marrying the brothers wife. I actually remember this from my Bible school days, which are longer ago than I wish to admit. Anyhow, as I remember the cultural law at the time was that the oldest brother was to get the largest share the inheritance, pretty standand, but if said oldest brother died with and heir, that heir would get the money. If he died without an heir but was married it was the responsibility of the next brother to marry the wife and produce the heir that would be recognized as his brothers. Therefore ensure that the wife would be cared for and continue to hold her place in the family. Onan most likely didn’t want to get Tamar pregnant because he was hoping that if she didn’t have a child he would eventually get his brother’s inheritance which was just greedy and selfish on his part. Tamar, in their culture is treated so shamefully that it seemed to, in their minds, justify her little plot.
Hi Alexandra, I replied in a couple of your other posts from my other blog but I’m just logged into this one more know so it’s easier. Anyway, I have to see your questions are really challenging and making all us Christians (and our study Bibles) work hard. I’m also lucky enough that I went Bible College for 2 years but it was so long ago that I don’t remember as much as I wish I did. I think you bring up an interesting point about whether things are literal or meant to be taken as parables. My fellow Evangelics tend to be extremely literal while I guess I’m struggling a bit with this right now. I at this point in my life I kind of take the possition “If it’s not fundamental to my own faith, I don’t have to have a hard position on the matter. There are many denominations out there that feel that this particular passage about Jacob wrestling is figurating. I think it really, realy doesn’t matter. Because if it was a physical occurance than it happened to signify Jacob’s personal struggles with God.
Just wanted to leave you with another thing I’ve kind of come up with about OT times is that if you look at other religions their stories relied heavily on the sorts of quests and trials to prove themselves. If that’s how people thought than God needed work within peoples logic (and moral) code to speak to them.
About the hip and dietary law, you are going to see a lot of that, and it does seem VERY strange to us now but life before the Messiah, life under the law, as I it is often referred to, greatly stressed rituals to remember the lessons of God. Remember they were pretty much all illiterate.
I guess the cultural stuff kind of rolls off my back now a days. I had the unique experience of living in Afghanistan for 18 months. I remember our tailors friend was in jail for having sex with his gf. The gf was dead because here brother had killed her, perfectly within his legal rights. Lately I’m starting to think that there is some crazed psycological thing with men where they can’t abide by women’s sexuality in anyway. Even in our supposibly evolved culture men still call woman “sluts”, families disown pregnant daughters, and well must her lots of stories from other girls who’ve come out. I personally plan to do a blog post on this topic in the future. Also in regard to the hip, in Islamic counties you can’t kill spiders because Mohommad was saved by a spider. This type of thinking is not unusual. BTW, did you study socialogy? Just sort of sound like it
Keep it up, love your blog. – Sarahj
Sarah,
I’m glad you’re enjoying the questions; I’m sincerely appreciating all the feedback and answers you all are giving me. :^)
I think I can appreciate the peace that you’ve come to with the Bible. A good friend of mine (my facebook husband, but that’s another story) had once spoken about that sort of balance: If it’s relevant to my life, I should seek to understand it; otherwise, I have enough faith that passages I disagree with or that seem arbitrary simply don’t matter.
Oh, I love the historical note about quests and trials! People talk about how things are lost in translation; I think it can be hard to remember that, in addition to the confusion with the words themselves, the context in which they were written must be considered. I must admit that I don’t know very much about the actual writing of the Bible. (I should look into that…) Additionally, I can see your point about the importance of rituals intended to help an illiterate people remember the stories that now we can simply read about. That’s a very interesting point.
What took you to Afghanistan? (What a horrible story!) Where do you live now?
As for your discussion of sexuality, I’d love to talk to you more about that, and I’ll look forward to reading your post. Yes, while we say that our society has come through the “sexual revolution,” there is still a tremendous gender bias toward “slut-shaming” and other related ideas. Around here, I don’t know of pregnant daughters who have been turned away from their family’s houses; instead, pregnant 16-year-olds are encouraged to marry the fathers of their babies. As for “coming out” stories, my family has been amazing, but I have several friends who have been thrown out of their homes. And, then, of course, I know far too many people who will forever live in the closet because they’re afraid (understandably so) that their families will disown them if their families knew how they feel. And, then there’s the whole “ex-gay” movement that we hear far too much about, but I won’t go there yet…
Haha…I love that I sound like a sociologist. I was actually an environmental studies major, but I did minor in anthropology. :^)
Cheers!
Alex
Hey Alex, I was a contractor in Afghanistan. I actually wrote about some of my experiences there as a woman on an Army base in my last post, http://womanwithoutacountry.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/the-invisible-war-can-the-military-change-its-culture/
I just started this blog and am having trouble hitting my stride as I am more used to travel writing. I also have a travel blog: http://sarahinladaland.wordpress.com. About being an expat mostly. I currently live in Moscow, Russia. I married a Russian I met in Kabul.
I’m quite passionate at the moment about the whole issue of female sexuality in our culture and the way human sexuality in general is being dealt with, or in most cases, not dealt with. I think we have come along way in how we treat women in society but we still have a completely unequal view when it comes to sexuality. Definitely intend to write more about that issue in my own blog. I like that expression “slut-shaming” btw. Really fits.
Sarah