ENCOUNTERING THE WORD IN THE WORLD The Story of Joseph

The Story of Adam and Eve • Genesis 37-50

• Relates the Preservation of Israel
• First Few Chapters of Genesis o Wicked People’s Survival
• Myth of Abrahamic Religions o Testimony of Divine Providence
• Adam and Eve = First Man and Woman o Moral of the Story à Genesis 50:20
• Humanity = Single Family (in essence) • Faithfulness of Joseph à True to Israel’s Ideals
• The Fall of Man / Original Sin • 11th Son of Jacob (Israel) and Rachel
o Not seen in Judaism and Islam o Isaac + Rebekah = Jacob (Israel)
o Abraham + Sarah = Isaac
o Isaac à 12 Sons à Home in Canaan
The Creation of Man and Woman

• Mankind = Image of God (Not Physically)

• Characteristics of God à Characteristics of Man
• Ex. Intellect, Emotions, Will, Decision-Making, and
Abstract Reasoning and Thinking
• Genesis 1:27
• Freedom and Disobedience = Genesis 2:16-17
• The First Good News = Genesis 3:15
o There will be one who will win over the snake
o They will bring humans back to paradise

The Story of Abraham • Joseph is a Child of Old Age = Genesis 37:50

o First Child of Favorite Wife, Rachel
• Genesis 12-22 o Favored Among All Brothers
• Sacred to Jews, Christians, Moslems, and the like • Coat of Many Colors à Mark of Preference
• Preface to the story of God’s people • Favoritism à Brothers’ Jealousy
• Abram à Following God’s Wishes à Abraham • Joseph’s Overlord Dreams à Brothers’ Jealousy+
• Was 75 years old when God told him to leave his home o Genesis 37:5-11
• Traveled with Lot (nephew) and Sarai (wife) • Joseph Murder Plot à Stopped by Eldest Reuben
• Haran à Canaan à 10 Years à Circumcision • Joseph’s Slavery à Joseph’s “Death” à Bloody Robe
• In between this, Abram got Hagar pregnant à Ishmael • Bought by Pharoah’s Captain of Guards, Potiphar
• 99-years-old à Circumcision Pact / Covenant • Potiphar’s Wife’s Seduction à Rebuffed by GigaChad
• Abraham = “Father of Many Nations” Joseph à False Rape Accusation by Beta Female
• Circumcision Aftermath and Promise = Genesis 22:17 • Interpretation of Pharoah’s Baker (Bad Ending) and
o Lots of Children à Great Nation Cupbearer (Good Ending) = Genesis 39:21
• Offering Isaac Prank = Genesis 22 • 2 or 3 Years Elapsed à Joseph Freed à Interpret
o Sarah’s Child à Determination Check Pharoah’s Dreams of Cows and Ears of Grain
o Angel Interrupts Prank à Ram Sacrifice • Prime Minister / Governor Joseph = Genesis 41:25-31
o “The Lord Will Provide” à Mt. Calvary • Joseph Manages Food à Brothers Buy Food
o Sacrifice of Isaac à Sacrifice of Jesus • 20 Years Elapsed à Did Not Recognize Joseph
• Tested Brothers à Imprisoned Simeon à Sent Them
Back à 2nd Meeting Must Have Benjamin à Israel
Won’t Allow It à Eventually Caved In
• Joseph Grand Reveal and Forgiveness à Orders of
Family’s Relocation to Egypt = Genesis 42:33-45

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The Story of Joseph: Evaluation o Treated as Independent Tribes, as Jacob’s
gift to his grandsons [EXCLUSIVE GIFT]
• Betrayal and Suffering à Redemption and o Tribes inherited individual portions of the
Reconciliation (with all of his brothers) Land of Israel
• Psalm 118:22 = Rejected Stone à Cornerstone • Joseph ruled Egypt for 80 years; died at 110 years
• Joseph is a metaphor for Jesus à Both were betrayed • Made his brothers promise to take him to the Holy Land
by brothers and one of His disciples
• Moses found and carried Joseph’s remains
• Jesus’ Death and Resurrection = Messiah Foretold
• Buried in Shechem
in Genesis = Foretold by Isaac’s Sacrifice and
• Yosef = Hebrew for “increase”
Joseph’s Rejection
• Yehosef = Add letter “hei” and preceding “yud”,
which stands for God (resisted Beta Female)
• Tzafnat Paanech = “One who classifies secrets”
The Story of Joseph: Comparing to Moses
• Grown a beard, which is why he wasn’t recognized
• First Israelite to become Prince of Egypt à Happened • Material Pursuits is not Spiritual Heights, but
way before the time of Moses Joseph managed to be pure in Egypt
• New King (Unacquainted with Joseph) oppressed
the Israelites because they were “too many”
o Placed supervisors over the Israelites The Story of Moses
o Put heavy burdens on them
o Sentenced to hard labor with mortar, bricks, • Exodus 1-18
and other kinds of outdoor labor; it was HOT • An Israelite from the tribe of Levi
• Despite oppression, Israelites continued to multiply • Prince of Egypt, raised by Pharoah’s daughter
and flourish for 400 long years = Exodus 1:1-14 • Called by God at the burning bush
• Physical Savior to Israelites by leading them to the
Promised Land of Israel
• Assumed the title of Tutmosis II, heir to the throne
• Left Egypt after committing murder
• Another man named himself Thutmoses II, prince

Ten Plagues
1.) Nile à Blood
2.) Frogs
The Story of Joseph: Additional Information
3.) Gnats
• One of the 12 Tribes of Israel
4.) Insect Swarms
• “The Righteous One” for not falling for Beta Female
• Born in the Mesopotamian town of Haran 5.) Disease on Beasts
• Left Haran with his family at 6 years old
6.) Boils on Man and Beast
• Lived in Hebron, Canaan
• Brothers were sons of Leah, Jacob’s 2nd wife 7.) Hail and Fire
• Benjamin was the only brother that was son of Rachel
8.) Locusts
• Family was relocated to Goshen, Egypt
• Pharoah gave him Asenath, his wife 9.) 3-Day Darkness
o Daughter of Potiphera, Priest of On
o Might actually just be Potiphar 10.) Death of Firstborn Men and Cattle
• 2 sons = Manasseh and Ephraim All were object lessons for Moses, Pharoah, and Israel
o Born in the 7 years of plenty
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 Kadesh Barnea

• 12 Spies in the Promised Land for 40 Days

• People grumbled and did not trust God to defeat them
• God tells them the adults will die and the children will
be the ones to inherit the land instead

Testing and Grumbling in the Exodus

• Pharoah’s pursuit à Parting of the Red Sea

• Israelites want bread à God provides manna
• Israelites want meat à God provides quail
• Israelites want water à God provides water thru rocks
• War with Amalekites à Moses raise hands = WIN

Sinai = The LAW

• Ten Commandments are given by God

• Golen Calf = Sin of the People
• God’s angry at Israel
• Moses intercedes for the people
• God changes his mind
• Moses is angry = Breaks the God-Written Tablets
• Moses makes them drink the calf
• Moses pleads with God to be the atonement of Israel’s
sin and God says “NO”
From Four Months to Forty Years

40 Years of Wandering • By the way of Mount Seir, only 11 days from Horeb to
Kadesh-Barnea (Deuteronomy 1:2)
• Moses records the law and history • 40 Years could have been done in 4 Months
• Pentateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, • Grumblings à Manna, Quail, Rock Water
Numbers, and Deuteronomy • Moses tapped the rock twice, but God said only once
o Tabernacle – Exodus says how to build it, • Moses died seeing Israel from afar, as punishment
while Leviticus says how to use it
• God sent flying snakes due to grumbling
o Numbers – God’s provision / protection
• 1.2 million Hebrews died in the Exodus
despite Israel’s disobedience
• Figure of Snakes à God used that to heal them
o Deuteronomy – Law is reaffirmed for country
• Moses à New generations à Parents’ lack of faith
and debauchery à wandered / died in the wilderness
• God did NOT want this to happen
• The new must learn from the old
• English version of “Joshua” is Jesus
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The Bible

• From Israel prophets

• Master storytelling à Most complicated life questions

• Other Christian Groups have different number of books

• Biblical Hermeneutics à Art / Science of
Interpreting the Bible (Exegesis)
• Hermes à Hermeneuo (understanding / conveying
words from one language to another) à Hermeneutics
• Knowing the Bible’s context is not easy
• Old Testament ^ à Deutero-Canon à New Testament • God used flawed humans with biases to write it
• [Greek] Byblos (papyrus) à Biblos (books) à Bible • Historical Gaps (Ex. 400 B.C. vs. Present)
• Written in Papyrus Scrolls (a plant) • Cultural Gaps (Ex. Jewish vs. Non-Jewish)
• Many believe that God wrote the Bible • Linguistic Gaps (Hebrew / Greek vs. Vernacular)
• Chronicles His intervention in human history • Worldview Gaps (Ex. Old vs. New Science)
• Humans’ Response à Covenant à Revelation of God
• Israel = “Mom” à “Madam” in public
• Human Infidelity ßà God’s Faithfulness
• Old Israel = “Mom” à “Woman” in public
• Different genres of the books à Bible
• Must be sensitive to the limitations of the…
Different Stages of Writing
o Writers and their language
1.) Writing the original book o Socio-cultural background
o Message of the text in relation with other texts
2.) Making copies of the books • If not, the Bible can be misconstrued to support…
3.) Collation and translation of the books o Genocide and Murder
o Slavery and Homophobia
o Sexual Perversion
Original Languages and Other Facts • Exegesis à Leading out correct meaning of a Bible
Verse à Exeigesthai from Greek à Multi-Meanings
• Took hundreds of years, numerous debates, and many • Eisegesis à Opposite of Exegesis à Assumptions
Church councils to collate and translate
• Laboriously hand-copied for centuries
• No complete Bibles from the ancient world with all the
original languages included
• Ancient texts à Carefully pieced together à Passage
• Cross-referencing among thousands of manuscripts
• Hebrew (Old Testament), Aramaic Dialect (Old and
New Testament), and Greek (New Testament /
Alexander the Great) were used
• Collection of ~73 books; basically, a library
• Written from 1450 B.C. – 95 A.D. (1,500 years)
• Written by +40 different writers
• Written on stone / clay tablets, sheepskins, papyrus

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Reading the Bible • It’s actually not the case. In Hebrew, evil is rah, while
apple is tappuwach. The fruit might even be DATES!
• Some verses are prescriptive
• Serpent’s Curse à Crawl on belly; eat dust on ground
o Exodus 21:32 (Thou shalt not kill)
• Woman’s Curse à Pain in childbirth; submissive
o Mark 12:31 (Love neighbor)
• Man’s Curse à Ground labor to eat; human death
• Some verses are descriptive
o Exodus 21:32 (Reparation Terms)
o Ephesians 6:5 (Slaves, obey masters)
• Hebrew means “Wanderer”
• Narrative was started by Moses during the Exodus
• Bible = COLLECTIVE MEMORIES OF ISRAEL
• When they arrived in Canaan, that they rechristened as
Israel, only then were they called Israelites

Abraham’s Journey: Additional Information

• In the middle of Abraham’s journey, 3 strangers arrived

• They said that Sarah will have a child soon
• The three men were actually 3 angels
• Muslims believe that Ishmael, Hagar’s son with
• 1st King Saul à Became Evil Abraham, is their ancestor! The angel of Gabriel
• 2nd King David à Adultery and Murder was the one who protected them in the Quran!
• 3rd King Solomon à 300 wives, along with 600 • Isaac was sacrificed to Mt. Moriah à Solomon built the
concubines à Worshipped Gods of his women Great Temple of Jerusalem à Jesus was crucified
• Solomon’s sons warred, and split into 2 kingdom there, which is now called Mt. Calvary
• Israel was conquered by Assyria (modern day Iran)
• Judah à Jews à Conquered by Babylon
• Good kings in Assyria and Babylon à Sent them back Isaac’s Journey: Additional Information
to Israel à Jews were called Israelites again
• Esau was eldest child; Jacob was youngest
• Rebekah made her younger son be blessed
• Esau did not make the food, but Jacob did
Story of Creation: Additional Information
• Esau is the origin of the word “isaw”
• First is Cosmic; Second is Anthropocentric
• God created man on the last day of creation
• In Michelangelo’s Painting on the Sistine Chapel, Jacob’s Journey: Additional Information
Adam should not have a belly button, Adam’s apple.
• Jacob ran from his brother
Bonus are the ribs and abs.
• Wrestled with God, whose name must not be known
• In Latin, evil à mali. In other Biblical Books, apple
• If you know His name, you will die
is mala or malum à So Fruit is Apple à WRONG
• Jacob was rechristened as Israel by God

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 • Jacob meets Rachel, daughter of Laban The Book of Job: Overview
• Jacob then marries Leah, older sister of Rachel, in
1.) Setting / Place
order to get Rachel’s hand in marriage
• (You cannot marry a younger sister if the elder sister • Land of Uz
remains unwed; Israel “took” slaves) • Far away from Israel
2.) Setting / Time

• Unspecified
3.) Characters

• All are non-Israelites

4.) Structure

• Prose and Poetic Sections

• Joseph and Benjamin were Rachel’s sons 5.) Literary Style

• Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin • Highly stylized literary Hebrew
• Joseph’s book in the Bible was 49 chapters • Scholars say it is one of the most complex books
• Joseph’s story is also the longest story in the Bible
• Cupbearer / Winemaker = Free à Baker = Hanged 6.) Author
• Became Vice-Pharoah à First Hebrew Prince of • Unknown à Could be more than one
Egypt à Second Hebrew Prince is Moses • Could have been compiled by one person
• Brought his family (which numbered 70) into Egypt
• 430 years of bondage until Exodus
The Book of Job: Plot

The Book of Job • Satan à Name means “to be opposed”

• He wants to test if Job is really faithful
• Poetic Book from the Old Testament • God allows Satan to inflict suffering on Job
• Comes from the Three Books of Wisdom • Chapters 1 and 2 à Still Faithful
• Proverbs à God is good • Chapter 3 à Inner Feelings à Cursing his birth
• Ecclesiastes à *Is* God wise and just? • Next 34 Chapters à His friends ponder why
• Job à Why does God allow suffering? o “Perhaps you did something wrong”
• BELIEVING DESPITE SUFFERING o “God is using your situation as a warning
against other sinners!”
o “It’s all part of God’s plan”
o Job still defends his innocence

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 • Job’s emotions are all over the place • Behaviors do not determine our circumstances
o Sometimes accuses God • Theodicy cannot be applied to INNOCENT suffering
o Sometimes blames God • The Book of Job is not in defense of Theodicy
o Sometimes has faith in God
• God comes in the form of a storm cloud to Job
• He took Job on a tour of the universe
• He shows him all the complexities God considers
• “Can you run it? God does, and he runs it intimately”
• God shows Job two beasts
• He tells them how great they are; still dangerous
• “They are just part of God’s good world / not evil”
• It is all part of God’s plan, even if we don’t get it
• This leaves Job with humility and fear of the Lord
• God gives Job *double* what he has lost
• Losing was not a punishment; getting was not a reward
• Now, Job chooses to be faithful; no matter what
good or bad things may happen to him

• Begs the question: “Why can’t God just stop evil?

The Problem of Suffering and Evil

• There is suffering and evil in this world

• Therefore, God (the all-powerful, all-knowing, & all-
loving Being) does not exist

Theodicy

• Coined by Gottfried Leibniz in 1710

• Counterarguments for how the existence of evil, pain,
and suffering is compatible with the existence of God
• Two Types of Evil
o Natural à (Pandemics, Fires, Earthquakes)
o Moral à (Abuse of Freedom)

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