Genesis, Abraham and Joseph
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Page 52. THE ERA OF THE PATRIARCHS2.2. THE ANCESTORS OF ISRAELAbraham and LotRemember that the beginning phase of the third cycle of the patriarch’s era consists of the slow Semitic ascension in Mesopotamia (see The Era of the Patriarchs). During this epoch, Abraham is born toward 2010 BC. He lived in the city of Ur (Gen 11:31), which was once the Sumerian capital. Abraham’s history begins with chapter 12 of Genesis, which no longer contains multiple references. The account hence relates the events chronologically. This is why the cycles can more easily be demonstrated, because one only has to recapitulate his history: God invited Abraham to emigrate in the country where God planned to make a great people out of his descent (Gen 12:1-3). So he left Ur with his nephew Lot and settled in the country of Canaan (Gen 12:4-5). He married Sarah but she was sterile. One day, three mysterious men appeared to him. He invited them in his house and offered them a meal. They announced him that Sarah will bear a son in spite of her advanced age to make true God's promise (Gen 18:1-15). These events belong to the first phase. Looking toward Sodom, the three men said: "The Sodom and Gomorrah outcry is loud and their sin is very grievous" (Gen 18:16-20). The faulty behavior of the inhabitants of these cities therefore was important. This of course indicates the phase of sin, which caused the destruction of the region, the phase of judgment. Abraham begged the three men to save Lot from it (Gen 18:23-33), which is already the first sign of the revival phase. So God sent two angels to take Lot and his two daughters outside the city (Gen 19:12-22). Then, all the plain with its cities and its residents was destroyed by the fire (Gen 19:23-25). One effectively knows today that during the lifetime of Abraham, that is to say towards 1900, an earthquake accompanied by volcanic eruptions took place in the region of the Dead Sea, which forms part of a long crevice in the terrestrial crust. During this earthquake, the plain where the two cities lay, that is to say the Valley of Siddim at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, was literally gobbled up by the depths of the earth and, because of the subsidence of the ground, flooded by the sea. Today, one still finds underwater remains of a forest the high salt concentration of the Dead Sea has perfectly preserved (Werner KELLER, The Bible as History). The survival of Lot and of his two daughters, who united with their father to give him descendants, namely that of Moabites and Ammonites (Gen 19:31-38), constitutes the phase of revival, since this one is essentially characterized by the formation of new nations from a single man during the patriarch’s era. Yet the revival applies more to Abraham, who, by insistently praying to God to save Lot, played a more important role and who, as father of Isaac, the son promised by the three men, and grandfather of Jacob, became the ancestor of the Israelite people, the holder of a new era.
Joseph and his brothersBefore the birth of this people, there is still a fourth and last cycle in the era of the patriarchs, which begins with the more or less peaceful events Isaac and his son Jacob lived (Gen 20-35), the father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel. He is also the father of Joseph, who holds a special role among the patriarchs. He was Jacob’s most loved son because he was born after a long sterility from his real woman, Rachel, whom Jacob preferred to his other wives (Gen 29:16-30:22; 37:3). This was why his brothers hated him deeply (Gen 37:4). When he once told them a dream, according to which he will become an important man considered by them, they detested him even more (Gen 37:5-11) and decided to get rid of him as soon as an opportunity would appear. They finally sold him to passing Ishmaelites, who took him away to Egypt (Gen 37:18-28). In this country, the Lord made Joseph succeed in all that he undertook (Gen 39:1-6). One day he correctly interpreted a dream of the Pharaoh, according to which seven years of large abundance and seven of famine will arrive. This is why the Pharaoh gave him a large authority over the Egyptian kingdom (Gen 41:1-49)1. During the seven years of abundance, Joseph stored up grain "like the sand on the seashore" in view of the seven future poor years (Gen 41:47-49). When the latter arrived, he opened the stores and all the population of the country came to him to buy corn (Gen 41:53-57). However, the famine raged not only in Egypt but also in the entire region and thereby also in the country where his father and his brothers lived, who therefore one day also came to Egypt to buy corn from him (Gen 42-44). Thus the dreams of Joseph were fulfilled, according to which his family will prostrate itself before him one day. Hence the phases are manifest: it is the rejection of Joseph by his brothers, the phase of sin, that entails the usual judgment, that is the famine, which indeed not only touches his brothers but an entire population. This one is not truly punished though, since Joseph has gathered enough food for the survival of the people. It is rather his brothers who are affected by this judgment, since they are humiliated being obliged to go to him in Egypt and beg for food2. This travel also leads to the phase of revival, that is to say to the reunion with his father and to the reconciliation with his brothers (Gen 45:1-15; 46:28-34; 50:15-21), who go living with him in Egypt (Gen 45:16-47:12), where their descendants become very numerous (Gen 47, 27; Exod 1:7). |
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NOTES
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