the mysterious lacunae

It's been established that the Bible has a ridiculous amount of lacunae. Unless Abraham had some kind of mental disorder in which he lacked all emotions and silently obeyed everything he was told, there were a lot of things going on in Genesis 22 which are not explained or even addressed by the text. To the casual reader, this may be confusing or frustrating or otherwise unnatural. But think: if the Bible addressed every lingering question, it wouldn't even be a book. It would be about 100 volumes long, and with every volume would come more questions. Let's face it, even the Bible can't be perfect in itself (...we all know).

As Biblical scholars (I'm pretending to be one), we have to look at what we have available. None of it makes sense...why are some stories told twice with different details (why are Genesis 1 and 2 so blatantly contradictory?) whereas some stories aren't told at all when they seem to be extremely important? Again, the great Redactor had something to do with this. I'm fascinated by the Redactor(s). He/she/they had so much power! And his/her/their role(s) are shrouded in mystery, for the most part. Where's the material which was deemed unnecessary? Where did all the stories that made the cut originally come from? And why are certain stories juxtaposed?

I never get answers, only questions.

Having thought about the Bible's legitimacy a bit, I see how easy it is to explain away doubts and questions. Why didn't Abraham argue more with God, or at least show a little more emotion at the prospect of killing his only, painstakingly conceived, son? The easiest explanation is that he did, but if such petty details were included everywhere in the Bible it would never be contained in one book, it would be 100+ volumes. When I first started reading the Bible I came to terms with the fact that it's not perfect and not an account of perfection. Now I'm realizing that it is more of an overview than a fluid story of God's doings. If something isn't in there, that's not the Bible's fault. It can't be taken too seriously, even though I suppose religious people are required to take it seriously. Or maybe it's more of a guideline than a rule.

Lacunae. They're everywhere. They're necessary. They're mysterious. It's okay to use your imagination every once in a while...

langage?

I'm no Northrop Frye, and I don't claim to understand what he's talking about in The Great Code. But the Bible certainly uses language uniquely. From what I can tell, when people are speaking, their words are generally more powerful than present-day speech. Essentially, what is said happens, and that's that.

Then there is the narrative itself. I find it hard to analyze because what we are reading is an interpretation of a translation of an interpretation. Who is to say what it was "supposed to" be in the first place? Which brings me to one of my central questions about the Bible. Who decided when it was a "finished product?" The great Redactor, apparently. But was there one, or were there ten? Nobody knows. This is such a fundamental question that it leaves me wondering how the Bible gained all of its legitimacy.

I know the Bible is legit, but not in a cut-and-dry way. Wait...that's what this whole class is about.

Exodus: Post-deliverance

First of all, the Ten Commandments. If I understand correctly, everybody at the bottom of Mount Sinai listens to God speaking them. Right before the Ten Commandments begin, Moses is supposed to be bringing Aaron up the mountain after forbidding anybody else to climb Mount Sinai. But Moses just “went down to the people and told them,” (Exodus 19:25) and suddenly “God spoke all these words” (20:1). Then Moses goes “near to the thick darkness where God was” (20:21) and God repeats himself about not having any other gods (specifically, not gold or silver gods). Then he says “You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen” (20:24). This is rather ironic, because just a few chapters later God dedicates all of chapters 25-30 explaining precisely how the altar is to be built and how the offering is going to be made, and that is not the “only” thing God requires. He needs the tabernacle in which the altar will be placed to be made in a precise manner. There needs to be a lampstand, a curtain, a certain kind of oil for the lamp, ornate vestments for priests, ephods and breastplates, all painstakingly described to the most minute detail. This must be the work of P. Maybe J wrote chapter 20, when God didn’t seem so picky, but P had to jump in and insist that God was very demanding in his specifications. Is this another scare tactic or just a way to keep devout worshipers busy? It’s hard to say. Why does God need all of these things to be so expensive? Everything is gold, gold, gold, silver, fine linen, expensive, the best. God is certainly greedy. He isn’t even on Earth, it’s not like he can use them. Just the thought of this is frustrating to me. I want to tell God, Stop being so demanding! Isn’t it good enough for people to acknowledge you and worship you and try to live the way you’d want them to? Why do you need all of these extraneous things???

Now, about the offerings themselves. Again, Exodus 20:24 just says “burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen.” But 29:38 says two lambs a year old need to be sacrificed every day. I don’t care how many lambs were on the earth at that time, that is way too much wasted life and meat. Plus, God also wants things which will provide “pleasing odors.” This comes back to the question of a “jealous God” or as Nick suggests, a “lonely God.” Now I’m pretty convinced he’s a greedy God, and maybe a little OCD (very OCD). What is he going to do with all of those lambs? He’s God, he doesn’t eat them. Does he really need reassurance twice a day that his followers are willing to perform such wasteful and ridiculous acts just because he told them? Now that I think about it, it’s like a power trip. Maybe even funny. Ha ha, look at those people killing their best livestock and the future of their flock just because I told them to. After they already used everything they own to build me an ornate tabernacle and are living in poverty. Now maybe they’ll starve to death. I’m so cool, I’m God.

The only reason people need God to provide is because he forces them to give him everything, at this point.

Maybe I took this a little too far, but it frustrates me.

Anyway, back to chapters 21-24. Does anybody else think it’s weird that one of the first things God specifies (after his first, brief altar “law”) is the slave law? God says, “When you buy a male Hebrew slave…” (21:2), which confuses me a little. Aren’t God’s followers Hebrews? I mean, they are referred to as Israelites, but Merriam-Webster says the two terms are basically synonyms. So is God condoning slavery of one’s own people? To be fair, what God then describes sounds more like indentured servitude (if I remember correctly, it is almost exactly like the indentured servitude of people trying to become American citizens back in the day). Then there are female slaves, and I can’t figure out if they are merely sex slaves or wives bought at a price, because 21:10 says “If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife.” I’m not a fan of God at this point. He hardly thinks of women as people, which pisses me off, to say the least. From what I can tell, he thinks of them as sexual objects. This is not okay.

I can tell farming and herding were of extreme importance, because about half of the laws relate to them, and they are very specific.

I am no longer phased by the thought of people killing in the name of the Lord, because God just loves killing people, for a large number of reasons he is sure to specify. The most ridiculous incidence of mass murder occurs right after Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai and is pissed to find out about the golden calf.

Side note: The people have very recently heard the voice of God and feared him and refused to go near him or see him. Now they somehow forget this and want something they can see to worship. I guess this is just another incidence of how incredibly stupid people can be.

So Moses gathers the few people “on the Lord’s side” and tells them, specifically, “each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor.” HE DOESN’T EVEN SAY “THE PEOPLE WHO WORSHIPPED THE GOLDEN CALF.” HE WANTS THEM TO KILL THEIR BROTHER, FRIEND, AND NEIGHBOR. This is, to put it bluntly, fucked up. Then he praises them for it! “Today you have ordained yourselves for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of a son or a brother, and so have brought a blessing on yourselves this day” (32:29).

Let me get this straight. If I kill my brother, friend, and/or neighbor (let’s just throw in, because they don’t worship God), then I will be blessed? I’m not sure about this whole idea.

THEN, to make things even better, Moses tells the surviving sinners, hey, maybe I can ask god to forgive you now. You’re lucky you didn’t know any of the holy men who just went on a killing spree! Now you can be redeemed. At least God doesn’t give in to Moses’ suggestion this time, and instead opts to send a plague on the calf-worshippers.

That's pretty much my rant on Exodus. Since I've been on such a blogging hiatus, maybe more will come tonight...there's still lacunae to be addressed about Abraham and Isaac, not to mention Northrop Frye.

a new beginning.

I have finally finished Genesis.

It is true that I may be a little behind the times in this accomplishment, but now that I've done it I have a little more hope that reading the Bible is not impossible.

At first, every time I came across an account of incest, polygamy, unjustified mass punishment, slavery, polytheism, or any other event/theme generally considered to be unholy, unjust, morally wrong, against religious values, etc., I was indignant. I kept asking, Why is this in the Bible? Why do people live by the Bible when they obviously are opposed to these things? How is religion even a solid institution when the so-called "Holy Book" contains accounts of sins committed by God's chosen people?

Then I realized what I think Dr. Sexson has been trying to tell us about reading the Bible. I realized I need to think of the Bible as a story, not an account of perfection. Because that's what it is, no matter how you spin it. Finally, my mind was at peace. At least, it was peaceful enough for me to read Genesis with an open mind. And I noticed many literary qualities of the text, such as parallelism (Jacob and Rachel, the tricksters), repetition (although I'm pretty sure a lot of this comes from compilations of multiple writers' accounts), and foreshadowing (Joseph's dream, for one). There are also several main themes, which I understand to be the inescapable evil of human nature, deceit (everyone's deceiving everyone, sometimes for no reason at all. I really don't get it), stubbornness (if God tells you, just do it! but many people seem to miss the message and need to get told several times. not to mention Pharaoh...), and the importance of offspring ("I will make of you a great nation...").

So I may not be enlightened, but I am at least encouraged. And since I just got my copy of The Great Code in the mail, I know what my bedtime reading will be...

movement of jah people?

I realize that by reading Exodus I am out of sync with everybody else, but to be honest to make any headway in the Bible I had to skip over Genesis for a while — it's a hump I can never get over when attempting to read the Bible, so I figured I'd save it for later.

Why does God make everything so complicated? I realize it makes for a better story, but I never thought God would tell Moses to "perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go" (Exodus 4:21). This is like a holy soap opera; we already know there's going to be major drama. Why couldn't God soften Pharaoh's heart instead, and make things easy for Moses while saving the Egyptians from plague and misfortune? It appears that God really does like collective punishment, just for the fun of it. If God was six years old, humans would be his Legos. He is a bit impulsive; just a few lines later he tries to kill Moses (or his son?) but Moses' wife is smart enough to remember that everyone is supposed to be circumcised, and she pleases the Lord by circumcising her son on the spot. Weird circumstance? Very. This is another instance that seems randomly inserted to urge everyone to get circumcised ASAP.

Most of the beginning of Exodus is not a bad read; I'd say it's more like J's style. P probably jumps in during chapter six, when suddenly the genealogy of Moses and Aaron becomes important enough to interject in the middle of the deliverance story. It's not even explained well. P is not an efficient writer. That's why I also think he is more likely to have written God's quoted speech in Genesis and early Exodus. God likes to repeat himself and speak far longer than necessary a lot of the time.

Exodus 7. God says he will "harden Pharaoh's heart" again. Then, he plans to deliver the Israelites "out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment." This is completely unfair! Pharaoh doesn't even have a chance to do the right thing because God already plans on "hardening his heart" again. God's already plotting out his next punishment, and what is he punishing? the wrong decision he is forcing Pharaoh to make? Talk about playing favorites. My only explanation is that the Egyptians have not worshipped the Lord because they are of the wrong religion (or are not religious), so that is their great sin which deserves punishment. Now I see why people would worship God out of fear.

Shortly after this incident, God tells Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go" (Exodus 7:14). Really? That should be obvious, since God said he was going to make things that way. He gives Moses a task and then makes it ten times more difficult than it should be. I swear, people are just God's pawns he plays with so he can laugh at all the problems he makes for them.

I find it funny that Pharaoh's heathen magicians can perform all of the "miracles" God performs for Moses and Aaron. I mean, once Egypt was covered in frogs it would probably be better to work a magic to get rid of them, not to bring on a whole other plague of frogs to prove a point...all of those extra frogs only exasperated Pharaoh to ask Moses to make it stop. Why didn't he ask his magicians first? It's a mystery. Then they try to produce more gnats, which luckily they fail at. Are they stupid? Did they really want to be surrounded by more gnats? Another mystery. This story really makes Egyptians look bad. And every time the Pharaoh won't let the people go, it's because God "hardens his heart."

This whole reading the Bible/blog thing is impossible.

something about Genesis

Having read into Plotz's book relatively far into his account of Genesis, I've noticed a few interesting things I'm compelled to comment on.

First, circumcision. Why? This is such a random requirement for God to make up. Was this just a convenient place to throw the idea that circumcision is the way to go into the Bible so people would know and get circumcised? Which brings me to another point, the Creation story. Frankly, I think it reads like a list because it tries to answer every question about why things are the way they are in as few words as possible. What's the sun? The great light God made to light the day. What's the moon? The lesser light God made to light the night. Not very legit explanations, if you ask me. This is a first grade thinking level here. The Bible attempting to explain everything and why it is and why men should get circumcised.

Next, collective punishment. I don't want to get political, but Christians as well as religious people of many kinds can get quite crazy in their campaigns against gays and their rights or abortion or whatever and they do not think on an individual level. I can't think of the best example right now but I do know that if God let his rage get out of control a lot and destroyed whole cities and the majority of the world in random outbursts it's no wonder mobs of religious people can get violent.

Finally, I have to talk about Lot and his daughters. What? First, Lot tries to offer them to an angry mob of rapists, knowing that they are virgins and using that as a sales tactic to appease the mob. Then God saves the whole family anyway, except Lot's poor wife, who apparently didn't pay enough attention to detail when she was listening to the instructions. Then, Lot's daughters turn the tables on him and take advantage of him because he "is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us." First of all, direct language? We know what those daughters want. But they obviously have mental issues, because their father could not have been the most sexually exciting man. In fact, the idea disgusts me. Anyway, I think the daughter's rape is karma for Lot's eagerness to let them be raped. Basically God's saying take that, Lot! Rape is not so great after all. At least Lot seems to be an accomplished alcoholic, as it is quite the feat to impregnate somebody while blackout drunk two nights in a row. Maybe Lot still had some prowess after all. Anyway..

My name is Karen and I was raised Catholic. I attended church every week and a little CCD for a few years and when I was young I tried a little bit to be faithful. For a while I prayed every night, I had a little stint where I liked to try to say the Rosary, but mostly I just thought about things I wanted to happen or whatever and asked God to help. I had a brief stint with the Bible in which I read about eight chapters into Genesis, and otherwise my knowledge of the scriptures includes what was read to me in church or at some point.

When I was in about seventh grade, I started to question the whole church thing. I didn't buy it. Everything was too simple. Was I supposed to be some stupid drone who assumed I would go to heaven just because it said so in some book and that was that? Not so fast. I was critical, and by eighth grade my mom had stopped making me go to church. I was a Christmas and Easter person for a while, now sometimes I don't even attend then.

Now, I guess you could say one thing I like to believe in is karma. Which I mentioned above, about Lot. It helps me cope with events in my life and answers some questions, not about where I will go when I die or why the sun exists, but I like to live in the moment.

One last thing. I read a few books into Exodus and came to the conclusion that God has trouble communicating. He really does repeat himself a lot...and still doesn't make much sense.

a start

When I titled this blog "attempting to read the Bible" I was thinking about attempting to finish the whole Bible in this semester, because I am sure I'll be one of those people who just doesn't spend enough time reading it. Then, I actually started reading the Bible and the title took on a different meaning — it really was an attempt to read the Bible without much success. It didn't help that it was late and I was tired, but two chapters into Genesis my eyes started drooping and I had to give it up. It was then I realized that reading the Bible took great willpower and focus. That was Tuesday night. I haven't picked up the Bible since.

I know I've been slacking — I only got a few chapters into Michael Plotz's blog-version of "the Good Book" when I gave that up too. I'm thinking the best way to tackle this is to set aside at least an hour a day to really focus on this reading. Even though I've been slacking, I am kind of excited to tackle the task because the class has been very intriguing so far. My next blog will hold great insights, I'm sure.