A Bible Study by the only people truly qualified to study the bible — those who don't believe.

Rachel's tomb

We must now head back into the Bible’s murky depths to cover Jacob’s fleeing the destroyed village of Shechem.  I know I told these tales a bit out-of-order and apologize for any confusion.  My mind tends to work in about the same manner as shit hitting a fan. It goes absolutely everywhere, and its damned hard to clean up afterwards.  I should install a PayPal button to get me some Ritalin.

As we left the Grand Patriarchy, Jacob’s boys had just massacred a village.  Blood is dripping from their swords, camels are packed with stolen loot, and the locals are not pleased, those that are left anyway. It’s a good thing that the little voice in Jacob’s head, that one he calls Yahweh, tells him to move to Bethel and build an altar there. Like so:

God said to Jacob: “Go up now to Bethel. Settle there and build an altar there to the God who appeared to you while you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”

I do love how God always refers to himself in the third person.  Either that or he is referring to another god.  An imaginary friend with other imaginary friends.  It remains puzzling, for the very next verse is:

So Jacob told his family and all the others who were with him: “Get rid of the foreign gods that you have among you; then purify yourselves and put on fresh clothes.  We are now to go up to Bethel, and I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my hour of distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone. They therefore handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and also the rings they had in their ears.

So many interesting points arise on such a verse.  It has a strongly polytheistic flavor.  Phrases like “Get rid of the foreign gods” or “build an altar there to the god” or “They, therefore, handed over to Jacob all the foreign gods” imply that Yahweh as just one God of many.   Combining this with other small clues indicate that when these myths were created, Yahweh was not  supreme or unique, he was but a single Deity in a pantheon of others. Far from an single all-powerful and eternal God, there were dozens or more. As the Hebrews became more powerful their God spread, but the early Hebrews do not seem to be wholly faithful to a monotheistic outlook.  They have relapses.  From the evidence it seems clear that this is a monotheistic culture slowly emerging from polytheistic roots, shedding gods as it expands.  It was a long struggle for monotheism to dominate polytheism. Just as it is for atheism to overpower theism.  We have just one more god to shed and we will emerge into the sunlight.  Maybe not as a beautiful butterfly, but we will progress. For our own survival we must.  Superstition can only lead backwards.  We’ve been there already, so let’s go someplace new!

So Jacob’s family handed over every god and earring they had and left the area.   As this occurs after his sons raze the village of Shechem, I can’t but feel that this is in fear of reprisals.  There were other people and towns nearby that would not have looked kindly on a nomadic people annihilating one of their clans.  The “call” from God to emigrate was a very good idea solely on a survival basis.  It just didn’t come from God, though. It came from the father of several reckless sons who was just trying to keep his family alive, regardless of their crimes.  Perhaps Jacob merely made up the whole “God Said move” thing as an expedient to get them to leave, or maybe he just had a bad dream based on the grumbling he heard from the locals.  Or maybe he was insane or on drugs.  Pick a door!  Whatever the case, he packed up in a hurry and left.

“Then, as they set out, a terror from God fell upon the towns round about, so that no one pursued the sons of Jacob.”

I’ll just bet they didn’t, but again God had nothing to do with it.  The towns in the area had heard that pillagers had recently sacked another village.  Murderers roamed the lands and the townsfolk were a bit nervous.  With their murderous reputation preceding them, the family of Jacob safely left the area.

However not all went according to plan.  On the journey Rachel began to go into labor and “suffer great distress.”  My God, I didn’t even know she was pregnant.  She struggled to birth another son for Jacob and, finally, died in the attempt.

With her last breath–for she was at the point of death-she called him Ben-oni; his father, however, named him Benjamin.

Nothing like honoring your favorite wife’s dying wish.  But he may have been doing the boy a favor for Ben-oni may mean “son of affliction”, and that would be somewhat hard title to live with.  For your information Benjamin means “son of the right hand” and that wouldn’t be nearly as psychologically scarring.  Rachel was buried beside the road and a memorial stone was set on the grave.

I do find this a bit sad, like the death of Patroclus or Hector.  Regardless of my solid atheistic viewpoint, these stories are such a part of our culture, I find them affecting.  Viewing the Bible as literal truth is absurd, but simply  looking at the human elements allows it to be a real story, one filled with a mass of seething flawed humanity who are ugly and selfish and brutal, but at the same time there are glimpses of beauty here.  Not many at times, I’ll admit, but they are here.  Like the works of Homer, I just think they would be better stories if you could weed the god or gods out of them.  Like in writing, less is more.  Did I actually say that?

Then a grand thing happens to bring everyone’s spirits up.  Reuben mourns his step mother’s death by sleeping with his father’s concubine, Rachel’s former handmaid, Bilhah.   Um… yeah.  I kid you not.  Just when the Biblical saga starts to  draw you in on a human level something like this always happens. Sleeps with his father’s wife, indeed. What a jackass!  Again, what I find most appalling is the sheer immorality of God’s chosen people. Leaving aside any sexual impropriety, the undeniable rudeness of it disturbs me.    The Bible says “When Israel (Jacob) heard of it, he was greatly offended”  I would imagine he was.

Jacob then went home to Isaac and Isaac soon died too.  Esau and Jacob buried him.

There is little else in this section until Joseph is sold into slavery, except Esau moves away and pretty much leaves the tale.  He has many descendants.

I’m sorry if this isn’t as coherent as other posts.  That is if anything I write could be termed coherent.  There was just a few small ends that needed to be tied up.  Next up Genesis 37, Joseph takes a little trip.