Abraham
To the end of Genesis
by
Gary DeVaney
“INTELLIGENCE IS CATEGORICAL”
“INSANITY IS CONTAGIOUS”
“A HIGH PERCENTAGE OF STUPID IS STUBBORN”
Genesis 25:13-17 Ishmael had 12 sons who became 12 tribes.
Were the upcoming 12 tribes of Jacob / Israel but a counter to Ishmael’s 12 Arabic tribes?
Robert Alter Ph.D. Professor of Hebrew: The Biblical writers worked both sides of the street. That’s part of the greatness of the Bible. Ishmael’s, the “wild ass of a man” in Biblical poetry is probably a positive image.
Genesis 25:23 God answered (spoke to) Rebekah.
God does speak to women. So far God has spoken to Eve, Sarah and now Rebekah. Rabbis mostly discount women in the Bible.
Genesis 25:20-26 Isaac and Rebekah had twins, Jacob and Esau.
Genesis 25:28 Isaac loved Esau. Rebekah loved Jacob.
Malachi 1:3 / Romans 9:13 God said: I loved Jacob and I hated Esau.
Behold: God’s word is hated – not loved less.
Stephan Mitchell, writer, poet, Zen healer: God’s favoritism, from Cain & Abel onward causes great pain.
Genesis 25:31-33 Jacob got (bought or cheated for) Esau’s birthright. (About 1970 BC)
Q: Is Jacob another wholesome, moral God model? Jacob duped his father, Isaac, and stole his older brother Esau’s birthright. Jacob proves to be a thief, a liar and a con man. Don’t God’s heroes serve as models and show the impressionable that if you want something bad enough you lie, cheat and steal for it? Doesn’t it show that God will bless you for it, especially if your mom, whom God has talked to, is your accomplice?
Believer: None of these things would ever cross my mind.
Now that this is pointed out to you – does it register in your mind?
Believer: Na.
Bill Moyers: This is a story of a mother / son team of con-artists, who connive through trickery and deceit to cheat a blind man and his oldest son out of the family blessing.
Genesis 26:2 God spoke to Isaac.
Later, God spoke to Jacob.
“Hope” always has an anxiety with it and a sense of discontentment. If it were not for “hope” 90% of therapists and 100% of clergy would be out of business.
One’s “misery” is usually in direct proportion to one’s “expectation”.
Exposing all these controversial Biblical C&Vs settles nothing. It is what you personally think and feel about these C&Vs that settles things for you.
Genesis 26:7-13 Isaac lied to King Abimelech of the Philistines saying that his wife Rebekah was his sister.
Just like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac did the: She’s my sister! She’s my wife con! Now, pay me off! God also made Isaac very rich. Was Isaac trying to be pimp number 2 like Abraham, his father, by God’s plan and consent? Did King Abimelech pay off Isaac like he paid off Abraham in Genesis 20?
Most parents don’t read these corrupt stories to their children because these stories tend to disturb both parent and child. Children tend to ask honest, point-blank questions. The parent may have to answer some sensitive questions concerning the Biblical God’s heroes’ ethics, fairness and morals that could prove awkward for all concerned.
When children hear these Biblical stories, most say innocently and accurately that God and His heroes were the bad guys. Is it when the children become parents that God is suddenly supported as the good guy? Why? Do parents tend to use God as an invisible supervisor and punisher on their children? Do children know right from wrong better than adults or does the God concept prove to be just an authoritative power-trip?
Note: The Old Testament Jews had no Satan, afterlife, Heaven, Hell nor salvation. Abraham’s “One God of Abraham” did it all. Some Jews started to write about Satan, afterlife, Heaven, Hell and salvation about 530 BC after being exposed and influenced by another religion. That story comes later.
Didn’t Abraham and Isaac both lie about their wives being their sisters? By these Kings taking their wives for sex, didn’t they both gain great wealth?
If your child did ask you what all this meant, what would you tell them?
Genesis 27:41-46 Esau bore a grudge for Jacob because Jacob got Esau’s birthright. He said: I will kill my brother. Jacob’s mother warned Jacob and sent him to her brother (uncle) Laban for safety – and to get a wife.
Incest is best?
Genesis 28:1-2 Isaac said to Jacob: You shall not marry a Canaanite woman. Go choose a wife from among the daughters of your uncle Laban. Catholic
By Isaac saying this to his son Jacob, Isaac promoted incest.
God is Bible C&V documented to be against incest. Incest is just fine with these Biblical Heroes!
Why not a Canaanite woman? Doesn’t The Land of Canaan eventually become The Promised Land? Oh, that’s right. God’s “chosen” had to murder all of the men, women and children so to steal their land. Oops, an information leak of “God’s Evil Deeds!” Sorry.
Genesis 28:12-17 In a dream, Jacob saw a ladder with God’s Angels ascending and descending on it. He saw God above it Who told him that He was God and that He would be with Jacob. Jacob awoke, was afraid and said: Surely, this is The Lord’s Place. How dreadful is this place! This is the house of God, the gate of Heaven. KJV
What do you think of God’s hero who actually said that God’s house was dreadful?
Some prefer to hide behind nonsensical “faith” because the Bible’s, chapter and verse, facts are too painful for them.
Bill Moyers: For me, Jacob’s dream would be a nightmare. Knowing what happened to the people after they were chosen I would say: Oh no! Not me! Take Esau!
Thank you Bill Moyers!
Genesis 28:22 Jacob vowed to God 10% back of what he gets from God.
Ah, Jacob provides the 2nd example, after Abraham, of paying regular, systematic, consistent and routine 10% tithes?
When God re-names Abram, Abraham, he always remains Abraham. When God re-names Jacob – Israel, God still calls him Jacob.
Israel:
Is = Isis / Ishtar (Gods)
Ra = Sun God
El = Elohim (God)
Is-Ra-El = Israel: Hmmm, interesting…
Genesis 29:10-11 Jacob met Rachel at a well and kissed her.
Jacob marries his Uncle Laban’s 2 daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob preferred Rachel whose Biblical hero son was Joseph.
But guess what! Leah is the wife that Jesus Christ’s lineage came through with her son, Judah.
Now for the bad news. You are probably not going to like this: Judah paid Tamar, his daughter-in-law for sex and they perpetuated Jesus Christ’s sacred lineage / bloodline. That’s one of 2 sex workers is Jesus’ bloodline. Rahab-the-Harlot comes later.
Believer: Well, I never!!! I never heard of that!!! And, how dare you write such a thing – even if it is true!!! I’ve never been so offended!!!
Hummm. Again, Jacob married his 4 cousins? That is incest. God commanded against incest.
In Exodus 2:15-21 Moses drove some men away for a well. Seven daughters told their father about him. Moses married Zipporah.
Zipporah means Lady-bird. That sounds like President Lyndon Johnson’s wife’s name. Coincidence?
It seems, in the OT, the old well / watering-hole is a sure fired place to meet the ladies, but only if you take sex serious.
Genesis 29:9-30 Jacob’s uncle Laban had 2 daughters, Leah and Rachel. Leah was older with lovely (weak) eyes (Torah). Rachel was well-formed and beautiful. Jacob met cousin Rachel watering the herds and kissed her. Jacob fell in love with Rachel and offered to work 7 years for her. After 7 years, Jacob asked for her but Laban, her father, tricked Jacob and brought him Leah, his elder daughter. Jacob consummated their marriage by having sex with her. Jacob asked Laban: Why did you dupe me? It is Rachel I worked seven years for. Jacob’s uncle Laban explained the custom of marrying-off the oldest first and then offered Rachel, for another 7 years work. Jacob consummated (had sex with) Rachel also and began another seven years work.
Isn’t the “good-book” full of lies and deceit? How about God’s Biblical Heroes? Is the Bible truly a “good” and “moral” model for your children? Does the Bible and it’s God promote and protect mental health?
Genesis 29:31-35 God saw that Leah was unloved. He made her fruitful while the loved Rachel remained barren. Leah bore four (4) sons.
Leah later bore Jacob six (6) sons total.
Ah, the diabolical-mind and character of God. Would God have Rachel die in childbirth?
Note: For me, the Catholic “Easy-English” Bible is often easier to understand and clearer than the KJV. However, its content is, on occasion, one or more verses off the King James Version.
Genesis 30:1-17 Rachel was jealous of (her sister) Leah and gave to Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah. Jacob had sex with Bilhah and she conceived twice, both sons. When Leah saw she ceased to bear children, she gave Jacob her handmaid Zilpah and he had sex with her. She also conceived twice, 2 sons. Leah paid Rachel with mandrake, a fertility aphrodisiac, for an evening of sex with Jacob and she bore a 5th son.
Ah, Bible “Viagra” for God’s Biblical Heroes!
Sons Of Bilhah & Zilpah
Torah Notes: Some say that Bilhah and Zilpah were sisters. Others say they were also Laban’s daughters. If factual, this makes them all blood relatives to our 40-year-old stud, cousin Jacob.
What?
Yep! The Torah notes actually infers that all four (4) of Jacobs wives were daughters of Laban. If true, that’s pure cousin incest! God’s “chosen” 12 Hebrew tribes were all founded on incest!
Genesis 29:13-14. This is more evidence of Bible incest as was Sarah being the half-sister & wife of Abraham.
Genesis 30:18-19 Leah said: God has given me my reward for letting my husband have (sex with) my handmaid. Catholic
Wow! God rewarded Leah for letting her husband have sex with her handmaid? Oh, the sin! God rewards sin! Or, a wife letting her husband have sex with another woman is not sin in the Biblical God’s eyes. Which is it?
Leah then bore a 6th son.
What? Wow! The immorality! This must be misinterpreted! Oh, the sin! Kids, close your eyes!
Genesis 30:22-24 Then, Rachel bore her first son, Joseph (who goes on to control Egypt).
Is cousin Jacob (the stud) lucky or what? Through incest / inbreeding (if the Torah notes are correct) Jacob’s twelve sons become the 12 tribes of Israel. Righteous and healthy genetic roots, huh?
There was really no reason for inbreeding as there were plenty of people on planet Earth at that time. This Biblical God’s behavior displays some pretty kinky ideas.
Genesis 30:39-43 Jacob cheats his uncle Laban, father of his (2 or 4) wives, by herd selective breeding techniques and becomes a wealthy man.
Here is more C&V documentation that Jacob, the sacred father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, was a liar and a cheat. How could a “perfect” God choose such people?
Genesis 31:19-20 Rachel stole her father’s golden idols (controversial, pagan stuff). Jacob, behind Laban’s back, secretly departs.
Were Rachel, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah all pagans too? I doubt if Leah was as she was in Christ’s lineage.
Genesis 31:31-35 Jacob said: I left secretly because I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. If you find your gods with anyone here, let him not live. Jacob had not realized that his favorite wife Rachel had stolen them from her father. Rachel sits on and hides her father Laban’s stolen stuff and says: I cannot rise in your presence. The woman’s period is upon me.
Biblical reference: A woman did not perform due to having her period. Jacob, the father of God’s 12 tribes is an incest bigamist. Jacob cheats his brother and, along with his mother, coned his father. Jacob cheats, then sneaks away from, his pagan uncle / father-in-law, Laban. Rachel, the mother of 2 of the future 12 tribes is, by documented evidence, a thief and a liar. Is this all ok and to be overlooked by God – or you?
1. Reuben, Son of Leah
2. Simeon, Son of Leah
3. Levi, Son of Leah
4. Judah, Son of Leah – lineage of Jesus Christ.
5. Dan, Son of Bilhah
6. Naphtali, Son of Bilhah
7. Gad, Son of Zilpah
8. Asher, Son of Zilpah
9. Issachar, Son of Leah
10. Zebulon, Son of Leah
Joseph, Son of Rachel – there is no tribe of Joseph.
11. Manasseh, Son of Joseph’s Egyptian Wife
11. Ephraim, Son of Joseph’s Egyptian Wife
12. Benjamin, Son of Rachel
Genesis 31:52 With hostile intent neither may I pass beyond this mount onto your territory, nor may you pass beyond it into mine.
From Genesis 31:52, I, Gary DeVaney, developed a perspective that I call “22 Acres”!
Genesis 32:8 Jacob fears meeting his brother Esau. He divides his holdings into two (2) companies; hoping, if confronted, he would not lose more than one (1) of them.
God chose Ishmael and Isaac, according to the Bible and the Koran. For over 4,000 years, Islam, and Hebrews (Arabs and Jews) have slaughtered each other throughout Earth’s history. Islam, later brought war on 9-11-2001 to the USA.
Why does “The One God / Allah” require a constant buffet of sacrifice, destruction and murder between them, especially if He is the one God / Allah and the one boss over both of them?
Genesis 32:24-29 Jacob wrestled a man… KJV
King James stated just one (1) time that Jacob wrestled a man, not an Angel nor a God. The Catholic version, Genesis 32:25-30, emphasized Jacob wrestled a man five (5) times and then it turns “the Angel” (a messenger of God) into God Himself. This is evident because Jacob stated in verse 31 that he had seen God face to face.
Genesis 32:30 Jacob said: I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. KJV
Genesis 32:31 Jacob said: Because I have seen God face to face. Catholic
Genesis 33:10 Jacob said to Esau: I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God.
When Jacob gets excited, it seems that he sees God’s face everywhere.
Contradiction: Exodus 33:20 states no one sees God’s face and lives.
Does anyone see a major contradiction here? Do you? How would you spin or discount it?
Jacob had lied earlier to his brother Esau.
Jacob deceived his father for his stolen birth-right.
Jacob lied to his uncle / father-in-law Laban.
Character investigators may view Jacob’s word and credibility to be a little shaky.
How do you view Jacob?
Bill Moyers: To wrestle is the embrace of adversaries, not love. A Jewish friend of mine said: I wish Jacob had lost because our people have paid a price far greater than that wound on the thigh. It isn’t worth it to have been chosen.
John Barth: Professor / writer: “But that’s to miss the other side of God, the terrifying side of God. I would like your picture of God to be like the God in the Bible, but as I read it, it’s only half the picture. The other half is that He is a mysterious, terrifying, wounding adversary against whom we all struggle. The God whom Jacob confronts terrifies him.”
John Barth
Genesis 33:1-4 Jacob saw Esau approach with 400 men. He placed the handmaids with their children in front (to be slaughtered 1st) then, Leah and their sons next and behind them Rachel and Joseph. Jacob prostrated himself seven times as he approached his brother. Esau and Jacob just hugged and kissed.
Burt Visotzky: “Jacob puts the concubines and their children up front. He then puts Leah and her children behind them and Rachael and Joseph he keeps at the back. Then he actual cries out loud: If somebody’s got to go, let it be the front troops. We’ll save the guys in the back. How horrible it had to be for his sons to hear their father say: Ok, you guys in the front lines, you’re cannon fodder. If you die it’s not so terrible as long as the boys in the back are saved. The horror they must have felt.”
Genesis 34 Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, age 12, was raped by Shechem the Hivite. He fell in love and wanted to marry her. He, and his father, pleaded the matter of marrying her when Jacob’s sons became righteously indignant. They said that they would agree to the inter-marriage and forgive if all of Schechem’s men would get circumcised. They agreed and did get circumcised, and while they were in pain, Jacob’s sons and their men massacred Schechem, his father, every male and stole their wealth, flocks and made all their women and children captives.
Women – Children Captives
Aren’t these God’s “chosen” models who became the “sacred” 12 tribes of Israel?
Genesis 35:9-10 God appeared to Jacob again and said: You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.
Then, in Genesis 35:14,15 & 20, the Bible immediately refers to Jacob again as Jacob. Why? Jacob is called Israel 3 times and then Biblical scripture reverts back to again calling him Jacob.
A proper English teacher would probably criticize the Bible’s content and continuity.
Then, Genesis 35:21-22 starts out with: “Israel” moved on. In Gen 37, he is referred to as “Israel”, then starting chapter 47 it’s back to “Jacob”.
What? Of course it matters, due to the fact that God said: He would no longer be called “Jacob”. Why would the Biblical God fib?
The Biblical writers didn’t follow God’s direction, you say? It’s not important?
Then, at his death in Genesis 47:27-31, “Jacob” is suddenly “Israel” again.
Genesis 35:19-22 Rachel died in childbirth having Benjamin. Reuben, one of Jacob’s sons by Leah, had sex with Bilhah, one of Jacob’s concubines. When Jacob heard about it, he was greatly offended.
God takes Rachel, whom Jacob loved. Jacob suffered greatly. So, this is how God blesses His “chosen”.
But, don’t worry about Reuben’s transgression of having sex with one of Jacob’s women. God’s blind justice obviously peeks again.
Genesis 35:23-26 Jacob’s sons by Leah were: Reuben, Simon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulon; by Rachel were: Joseph and Benjamin; by Bilhah were: Dan and Naphtali; by Zilpah were: Gad and Asher.
So what – you say? So, these 12 model sons started the 12 Biblical tribes. What is strange is Joseph did not become a tribe. Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s sons by an Egyptian mother, became tribes. Why?
Perspective for debate: Mostly, how we were created and behave is promoted by our genes. Our behaviors are altered by reward and punishment (the tools of dog training) by those who raise, educate and assume authority over us. The need to “believe” is mostly a need to “obey”. Individuality seems to be instinctive in the genes. No psychiatrist nor brain surgeon has ever located, within the brain, where the sub-conscious mind / ego resides. The sub-conscious mind / ego has to function in relation to the genes. As adults, can we change or re-program our genes? If we stick to stubborn “belief”, won’t we remain unlearned, or the way we are? Thinking brings change. Only if we dare to think and grow, can we make decisions to change and better our lives. An unchanging ego, like the unchanging Biblical God, just can’t be wrong.
Isn’t questioning, searching for, finding and acknowledging facts better than living a lie?
Joseph
Genesis 37: Joseph, Jacob’s and Rachel’s oldest son, was hated by his brothers because he told them that in his dreams the brothers knelt down to him and he ruled them. They plotted to kill Joseph. Instead, they sold Joseph (age 17) to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They, in turn, sold him to Potiphar, The Pharaoh’s steward. (About 1870 BC)
Jacob deceived his father, Isaac, with a fur skin pretending he was his brother Esau. Jacob was deceived with a bloody coat by his sons saying his son Joseph was dead. What irony.
Genesis 41:45 & 46:19 Joseph marries Asenath, an Egyptian woman, and has two (2) sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Again, didn’t Ephraim become the biggest of the 12 tribes? Why did that tribe carry the name Ephraim, Joseph’s son who is half-Egyptian, instead of being called the tribe of Joseph? Wasn’t marrying a pagan Egyptian a sin for a “God-chosen” Israelite? Manasseh also had his own tribe.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, PhD. Islamic Professor: The Qur’an speaks of Joseph as a prophet of great beauty, and the love between Joseph and Zulaykha, another great beauty, who is Potiphar’s wife. In the Islamic world many women are called Zulaykha. She is a heroine. Persian miniatures depict the love of Joseph and Zulaykha. She is a major romantic hero in Islamic literature. When Muslim women get married, they open the Qur’an to the story of Joseph.
They have a love never realized on the human plane but represents the intensity of the attraction.
Rabbi Burton Visotski: Joseph is 17 years old. He is very attractive to men and women alike and he knows how to use this beauty. He knows the full heat of a seventeen-year-old. How could he have resisted the charms of Potiphar’s wife. He’s damned if he does and he’s damned if he doesn’t. She is his boss. He is her slave. And she commands him to lie (have sex) with her. Maybe for the first time in his life he’s faced with a delicious choice and goes to jail for saying no. He is so sexually ambiguous that he appeals to both men and women. Like women, he is the one who gets caught in the trap.
Doesn’t Rabbi Visotski infer here that men are attracted to Joseph because of how Joseph looked and acted? What could the Holy Bible and Rabbi Visotski both be inferring here? Hummm…
Francisco O. Garcia – Treto, Ph.D. Minister: God does not appear in the story of Joseph as a character. I have to deal with the Joseph story and the Bible. It’s part of my tradition.
Phyllis Trible, PhD. Writer: The Bible is not a sanitized book. It does not have a single point of view. It comes to us full of conflicts and contradictions and problems. A text may one day be the word of God and another day it may not be the word of God.
Rabbi Burt Visotzky: The words don’t change. They’re always the same words, whether it’s Genesis or Deuteronomy. What changes is the way we read.
Bill Moyers asked Rabbi Visotzky: How do you read this and find God in it?
The Pharaoh of Joseph’s time seems like a nice guy. Did the relationship with the Jews turn the Pharaoh about Moses’ time 400 years later into a mean guy? Other than Joseph, didn’t the Jewish experience and their God turned out to be disastrous for Egypt?
Genesis 38:9-10 Onan, when he had sex with his brother’s widow, would waste his seed on the ground. What he did greatly offended God, so, God murdered him. KJV
Was it masturbation or the birth control that offended God? What? Both, you say?
Genesis 38:15-18 Judah saw Tamar and not realizing she was his daughter-in-law, asked to have sex with her. She replied: What will you pay me for letting you have sex with me? He pledged payment, and got her pregnant.
What kind of models has the “Holy” Bible given boys and girls over the generations?
Genesis 38:24-27 Judah was going to have Tamar burned for adultery until he found out the kid(s) were his. She (Tamar) conceived twins.
What hypocrisy! What would he have done if these twins were not his?
Tamar sold sex to Judah. Tamar proved to be at least a one-time hooker. Tamar, through her son Perez, was in King David’s and Jesus Christ’s lineage and bloodline.
Believer: What?
Sorry, don’t miss Hagar-the-Harlot. She also was in King David’s & Jesus Christ’s bloodline, lineage.
Morality check: Some object to taking issue with the Biblical God or God’s “heroes”. This Bible project takes issue with the evil and controversial C&Vs written in the Bible. Would you knowingly protect evil out of fear?
Genesis 39: Where Joseph stayed in Egypt, the Potiphar’s wife, Zalikhah, kept after him to have sex with her. He refused her and she told her master (husband) he tried to rape her. Potiphar threw Joseph in jail.
Islamic women, who are getting married, especially value this story?
Genesis 40-43 Joseph successfully interpreted some dreams with prison cellmates. One got out. Two years later the Pharaoh complained of bad dreams. Joseph’s former cellmate told the Pharaoh about Joseph and Joseph foretold the future of Egypt for Pharaoh. Pharaoh made Joseph the Governor of the country in charge of the grain, and food. Jacob sent Joseph’s eleven brothers, minus Benjamin, to Pharaoh to buy grain. Joseph recognized his brothers bowing before him. The brothers did not recognize Joseph. He called them spies and then threw them in jail for three days. Joseph kept one brother, Simon, in jail, and sent the rest of his brothers back to their father with full grain sacks and all their money. Jacob said: (42:36) Why must such things always happen to me? They took gifts, their brother Benjamin, double the money and went back to Joseph. Joseph invited them for dinner but did not sit with them. Egyptians may not eat with Hebrews; it is abhorrent to them.
Genesis 44-50: Joseph sent them all back with sacks full of grain, all their money and his silver cup. They were stopped and accused of stealing the cup. Emotions rise! Joseph comes clean and exposes who he really is and they are all one happy family. Joseph sends for the whole family to move to Egypt.
The 12 Tribes Of Israel
The 12 named tribes of Israel are: Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Levi, Judah, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Manasseh and Benjamin.
Question: What happened to the tribe of Joseph? His tribe is named after his son Manasseh, but the biggest tribe of Ephraim is missing? Why? Some inquiring minds want to know.
Genesis 47:27-31 Jacob requests a pledge of loyalty by having Joseph put his hand under his thigh (hold Jacob’s testicles in his hand) while swearing an oath.
So, apparently it is a tradition that one Israelite man would hold another Israelite man’s “balls” in his hand while swearing an oath. Wow! I’m glad that tradition never caught on.
This holding of testicles is also where the word “testify” comes from.
Torah Notes: Jacob’s family of about 70, comes to Egypt, builds over 400 years into a total population estimated to be between 2 to 3 million people – which Moses took out of Egypt. Actually, about 1 million were of other races and nationalities. Many were black Africans who joined in with the Hebrews.
This becomes Moses’ Exodus from Egypt. Their God promised them “A Promised Land” flowing with milk and honey. What could God have in mind for them? Peace? Harmony? Na, God kills most of “His Chosen” by ordered them to murder foreign cities full of men, women and children. God did this to steal their “Promised Land”.
Excerpts from Time Magazine, October 28, 1996:
Rabbi Burton Visotzky PhD used to think of God’s Biblical guys as heroes. He was an expert on the Torah. But by going through a divorce, he experienced a religious crisis: As he read the Torah aloud in temple, he saw Abraham and his wife bickering and acting appalling toward their children. The blinders fell off. He said: This dysfunctional family was my family in every way.
Rabbi Visotzky: “Abraham allows Sarah, his wife, to be taken into Pharaoh’s harem both to ensure the couple safe passage through Egypt and so all may go well with me.”
“Abraham got rich with Pharoah and did it again later. He’s an incest practicing pimp!”
G: Wow! Rabbi, you’ve got balls!
Rabbi Visotzky: “Sarah, who is barren, offers her slave, Hagar, to Abraham as a surrogate mother, but when Hagar gets pregnant, Sarah becomes jealous and abuses her.”
“Lot has sex with his daughters.”
Genesis 34:5-7 Jacob, enraged at the rape of his daughter, talked a group of men into being circumcised and then murders them.
Much of this is unpunished by God and seems to fulfill God’s purposes.
Here is an honest and courageous Rabbi with top credentials, exposing God’s Biblical models as being dysfunctional. Sometimes, I don’t feel so all alone.
A medieval Rabbi, borrowing from the image of the story of Noah’s drunken disarray in (Genesis 9:21), suggested that: “As dutiful children, let us cover the nakedness of our fathers in a cloak of favorable interpretation”.
Is this why believers cover-up God’s deeds?
Karen Armstrong, author / former nun: “God (in Genesis flood) is an undeveloped child. He has got to grow up and learn like the rest of us how to relate to other people”. (From Bill Moyer’s great book: Genesis.)
Karen Armstrong: “God is not some nice, cozy daddy in the sky. He is behaving in an evil way, introducing mankind to justifiable genocide. Noah, a damaged survivor, says no word about those drowning around him, much less tries to help them.” (Time Magazine.)
Q: So, what need is there for any Satan or Devil except as a scapegoat for God?
Some do profess: God’s logic is impeccable – man’s understanding is wanting.
Settle the issue for yourself. Study your Bible for yourself, chapter & verse.
Conflicting dogmas: Man is inherently sinful. God created man in His own image.
Saint Jerome, who translated “the word” from Hebrew into Latin grumbled that many of the narratives were rude and repellent.
Samuel Proctor: Baptist Minister / Professor: “Many preachers are intimidated about discussing these things. There is nothing risked. God is God. We don’t need ignorance out there protecting God. The point is that humans can use their freedom in such a way as to make God sick and tired. God said (concerning the flood): “It grieves my heart. Bam! We’re going to start all over again”.
Rev. Roberta Hestenes: “This is a story in which the major player is God, not just the human participants.”
Jack Miles, author of God, A Biography: “Much of what the Bible says about God is rarely preached from the pulpit because, examined too closely, it becomes a scandal”.
Azizah Y. Al-Hibri Islamic-law expert: “In the Koran, it is Ishmael, not Isaac, who Abraham offered up as a sacrifice. Ishmael said very clearly to Abraham: Father do it, because we’re doing it for God”. Finis: Time Magazine.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr provides a contradiction: The Qur’an does not mention the name of the son of Abraham offered for sacrifice. Later Qur’anic religious authorities gravitated toward Ishmael.
