Review 2: Old Testament

04/26/2008

Joseph

The Coat of Many Colors(by Ford MadoxBrown 1821-93)

Joseph the dreamer

1. Hate and envy of siblings: A. Joseph’s being favoured by their father. B. Joseph’s dreams (the sheaves; the bowing of the sun, the moon and the eleven stars): In the Bible, dreams present the true being that human beings sense or the foretelling of the future. So Jacob considers Joseph’s dream as a symbol that he was chosen by God.

Joseph the dreamer

B. Comparing Jacob’s and Joseph’s dreams: God-centred and self-centred. God never speaks directly to Joseph, so he has to find out the interpretation of his dream by himself. Although having the gift of foretelling the future, he is not truly enlightened. He proudly flaunts his dream, revealing his ignorance of the coming hazard

Joseph the dreamer

C. His brothers’ plot: C1: Reuben: trying to release Joseph from the pit. (What’s his motivation?)C2: Judah:Selling Joseph to Ishmaelites. (Why?)C3: Joseph: has to struggle for life. The biblical characters are never spared of fear in life because of their belief in God.

Joseph the dreamer

C3: At this moment, the seemingly bright future (the prophesy) doesn’t give him any confidence. Like other heroes in myth, Joseph can get true enlightenment after going through difficulties and the shadow of death.

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

Joseph meeting his brothersBy Peter VonCornelius1789-1867

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

Jacob gave his blessing to his grandsons

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

1. The slave in Potiphar’s household: the Lord was with Joseph for Potiphar was not only a wealthy man but upright, a man of honro as well as rank; favoured by his upright master; seduced by Potiphar’s wife2. The prisoner in the jail: The lord was merciful to him and gave him favor in the eyes of the keeper of the prison;

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

2. the chief butler’s and the chief baker’s dreams: God’s gift to Joseph as a dream interpreter: But Joseph was an experienced dreamer himself; and also he believed in God.3. The Pharaoh’s dreams: seven fat cows and seven lean cows; seven rich ears of corn and seven thin ears of corn.

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

4. Joseph came into power in Egypt: being the ruler second to Pharaoh; marrying a priest’s daughter and having two sons, Manasseh (to make forget) and Ephraim (to make prosper). In Genesis, naming the new born baby has profound meanings. It reflects one’s mentality. Joseph, when naming his sons, does’t bear his hate against his brothers. But he hasn’t transcended totally from his past suffering yet.

Joseph in Egypt: The Lord was with him

5. Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers: Judah’s role; Joseph’s forgiving: arrogance? (Who is responsible for Joseph’s suffering? God? His brothers? Himself?6. Jacob’s blessings (Genesis 48-49): compared with Isaac’s blessings (blindness=dull mentality)

Moses: Exodus

Moses in the bulrushes

Moses: Exodus

1. Exodus: definition2. The burning bush: definition (In Horeb, the mountain of God, God revealed himself in a burning bush and commissioned him to return to Egypt, and with the help of Aaron, to lead the Hebrews out of the land of oppression.3. Signs and plagues: the blood river, the frogs, the lice, the flies, the disease on the Egyptians’ herds, boils, hailstones, locusts, eclipse, the firstborn

Moses: Exodus

4. The Passover: A holiday beginning on the 14th of Nisan and traditionally continuing for eight days, commemorating the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. Also called Pesach.

5. Into the wilderness:5A: securing good drinking water, oversaw the receipt of quails and manna, directed the war with the Amalekites, and established judges to hear and adjudicate the people’s disputes.Manna: definition

Moses: Exodus

5B. The Ten Commandment:

Moses: Exodus

6. The golden calf: Moses’s efforts on de-culturating the Hebrews from Egyptian pantheism (to establish monotheism). A process of building identity (religious, cultural, national)

Moses: Exodus

7. Land of Milk and Honey:The location

Moses: Exodus

7. Exodus 3:7-8The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

Moses: Exodus

7. Land of Milk and Honey:Canaan (low land):locating between the Dead Sea and Mediterranean, east of Jordan, one of the areas where agriculture origins.Milk is the important source of food for the nomads, and honey is common in Palestine. Both milk and honey serve as the symbol of a land of wonder, like the Eden.

Moses: Exodus

Numbers 14:7-9Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.

Moses: Exodus

Numbers 14:7-9:Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them." (a land bestowed by God = the excuse of plunder and invasion?)

Samson and Delilah

Samson and Delilah

Samson and Delilah

1. Samson = Sham-sun (little sun or sun-like) 2. Samson’s life = the course of the sun in a day (from sunrise to sunset)3. The metaphors: 300 fire foxes symbolizing the energy of the sun; Samson in the dungeon = sunset;

Samson and Delilah

3. The metaphors: Samson’s hair (like the beams from the sun) = masculine power

The Unsandlled

Deuteronomy 251. The unsandled = those who would not marry their widowed sisters-in-law.