Tagged: slavery Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • DistroMan 21:00 on July 8, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , slavery,   

    2-Chronicles 2: And on it goes… 

    2-Chronicles Part 2 of 36

    1 Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

    As expected, this is just going to be an extension of 1-Chronicles.  Just more rehashing of previous Kings stories. Most probably about Solomon and a couple of others.

    2 Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them.

    3 Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, “As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, so deal with me.

    4 Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel.

    5 “The house which I build is great; for our God is great above all gods.

    Again, an admission there are other gods.

    6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain him? who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

    That’s my question.

    7 “Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided.

    8 “Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with your servants,

    9 even to prepare me timber in abundance; for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful.

    10 Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”

    Where did you get all this from though?  The people?

    11 Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, “Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them.”

    12 Huram continued, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

    13 Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father’s,

    14 the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

    15 “Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants:

    Or in other words ‘Pay Up!’…

    16 and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem.”

    or we won’t do the work.

    17 Solomon numbered all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

    18 He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

    Slavery.  Tart it up any way you want, but it still comes out to slavery.

    << 2-Chronicles 1      Index      2-Chronicles 3 >>

     

  • DistroMan 20:00 on April 29, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , slavery,   

    1-Kings 10: People? What people? Do I have people? 

    1-Kings Part 10 of 22
    The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon

    1 When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.

    2 Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind.

    3 Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.

    Easy to say, but what were these hard questions?  How to get the most out of slaves before they die?  What’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

    4 When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built,

    5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed.

    6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true.

    7 But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard.

    8 How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!

    Are the people really happy just because their king is rich and smart?

    9 Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

    10 And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

    So while the King gets richer, what happens to the people?

    11 (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood and precious stones.

    12 The king used the almugwood to make supports for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)

    13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

    I’m still not hearing that he has done anything for the people.  When do they get looked after?

    Solomon’s Splendor

    14 The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents,

    15 not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.

    16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.

    17 He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon.

    18 Then the king made a great throne covered with ivory and overlaid with fine gold.

    Does this feed the people?  Does it keep them warm?

    19 The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them.

    20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom.

    21 All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days.

    22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

    23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

    24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.

    Maybe they were hoping to find out how to help their people, but Solomon was clueless on that topic?

    25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

    26 Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.

    27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees in the foothills.

    28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the current price.

    29 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. They also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

    And the people got…

    << 1-Kings 9       Index       1-Kings 11 >>

     

  • DistroMan 20:00 on April 28, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , slavery,   

    1-Kings 9: It’s good to be King. Not so much for the slaves. 

    1-Kings Part 9 of 22
    The LORD Appears to Solomon

    1 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do,

    The slaves threw a party?

    2 the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

    3 The LORD said to him:

    “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

    What does ‘putting my Name there forever’ mean?

    4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,

    5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

    6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them,

    Again, he doesn’t say ‘false gods’, so is admitting there are other gods.

    7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.

    Pretty much the way it is now in a lot of the world.

    8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

    9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.’”

    Well, no.  They didn’t go off to worship other gods.  They’ve stayed with you to their detriment.

    Solomon’s Other Activities

    10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the LORD and the royal palace—

    If building useless buildings is the best you can do in twenty years and all you can find to put into a book about morals, you’ve got no right to be king.

    11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted.

    What you’re saying is that he gave the people to Hiram as if he owned them too.  I suppose he did then.  Abysmal behaviour.

    12 But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.

    Being king not good enough?   You have to have the best of everything?

    13 “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul, a name they have to this day.

    I await an answer.  tick tock tick tock tick tock…

    14 Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.

    15 Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD’s temple, his own palace, the terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.

    16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

    Some gift. “Hey kid? I just killed the whole lot of them. The town is yours.”

    17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon,

    18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land,

    19 as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.

    20 There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites).

    Who cares if they are not Israelites?  They are human and have rights.  Oh, sorry, not in God’s eyes.

    21 Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day.

    Exterminate?  Why doesn’t the use of that word surprise me?

    22 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers.

    23 They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects—550 officials supervising those who did the work.

    24 After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the terraces.

    25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.

    Meaning that he slaughtered innocent animals and wasted most of the meat.

    26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.

    27 And Hiram sent his men—sailors who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men.

    28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.

    Whose gold?  Mined or stolen? Plus, we never got an answer to that question. tick tock tick tock tick tock…

    << 1-Kings 8       Index      1-Kings 10 >>

     

  • DistroMan 20:00 on January 15, 2011 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , slavery,   

    Joshua 17: Where’s the goodness? 

    Joshua: Part 17 of 24

    So far this is nothing more than a story of a bunch of murdering thieves.  Will this change?  Are we about to see the first crumbs of goodness? We will see.

    1 This was the allotment for the tribe of Manasseh as Joseph’s firstborn, that is, for Makir, Manasseh’s firstborn. Makir was the ancestor of the Gileadites, who had received Gilead and Bashan because the Makirites were great soldiers.

    Hmm, no.

    2 So this allotment was for the rest of the people of Manasseh—the clans of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher and Shemida. These are the other male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their clans.

    3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters, whose names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah.

    Not yet.

    4 They went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our relatives.” So Joshua gave them an inheritance along with the brothers of their father, according to the LORD’s command.

    5 Manasseh’s share consisted of ten tracts of land besides Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan,

    6 because the daughters of the tribe of Manasseh received an inheritance among the sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.

    7 The territory of Manasseh extended from Asher to Mikmethath east of Shechem. The boundary ran southward from there to include the people living at En Tappuah.

    8 (Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah itself, on the boundary of Manasseh, belonged to the Ephraimites.)

    9 Then the boundary continued south to the Kanah Ravine. There were towns belonging to Ephraim lying among the towns of Manasseh, but the boundary of Manasseh was the northern side of the ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea.

    Not seeing it.

    10 On the south the land belonged to Ephraim, on the north to Manasseh. The territory of Manasseh reached the Mediterranean Sea and bordered Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.

    11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh also had Beth Shan, Ibleam and the people of Dor, Endor, Taanach and Megiddo, together with their surrounding settlements (the third in the list is Naphoth).

    12 Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region.

    13 However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.

    Could this be it?  Nah, this is slavery.

    14 The people of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one allotment and one portion for an inheritance? We are a numerous people, and the LORD has blessed us abundantly.”

    15 “If you are so numerous,” Joshua answered, “and if the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go up into the forest and clear land for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaites.”

    16 The people of Joseph replied, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the plain have chariots fitted with iron, both those in Beth Shan and its settlements and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”

    17 But Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment

    18 but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”

    Yeah, go on another hack and slash foray!  You’re pretty used to it by now.  Well folks, we’ll have to wait for another day to see this supposed ‘goodness’ the bible contains.  My advice would be to NOT hold your breath. This could be a long ride.

    << Joshua 16      Index      Joshua 18 >>

     

  • DistroMan 20:00 on November 17, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , , , depravity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , slavery,   

    Numbers 31: More laws and crap 

    Numbers: Part 31 of 36
    Vengeance on the Midianites

    1 The LORD said to Moses,

    Bob, it’s party time!  Get your dancing shoes on.  We’re about to boogie…

    2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

    Moses!  Dude!  Run away, run away!

    3 So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the LORD’s vengeance on them.

    Why should they die at the end of a sword, spear or knife, just to satisfy the bloodlust of this supposed god?  I’ve asked many times already, why can’t he just blink them out of existence instead of going through this barbaric act over and over?  Does Barbara Eden have more powers than God?  It seems so.  The best he can do is locusts and sprouting staffs.

    4 Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.”

    5 So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel.

    6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

    7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man.

    Are you imagining what this must have been like?  Don’t hide from it.  Think about this deeply.  This is what ‘God’ wants.

    8 Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

    9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.

    10 They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.

    Destruction for no reason whatsoever.

    11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,

    Theft and slavery.

    12 and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

    13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.

    14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

    I have not read past this point as yet, but I expect that this will be typical of what we’ve come to expect.

    15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them.

    Okay, maybe it will be worse.

    16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the LORD’s people.

    17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,

    Killing children must make God feel so big and brave.  Every woman who has slept with a man?  All of them?  Why kill the ones who were faithful to their husbands and had not slept with an Israelite?

    18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

    Yeah, because rape is just fine by God.  You can’t gather wood on the Sabbath, but you can rape girls.

    19 “Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives.

    20 Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.”

    Of course they’d love to purify the captives.  Thousands of virgin girls running around naked and scared must really get God’s juices flowing.

    21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what is required by the law that the LORD gave Moses:

    22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead

    23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water.

    Ah yes, the water of cleansing.  The water that was mixed with the ashes of a dead body.  Very cleansing that is.

    24 On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.”

    Dividing the Spoils

    25 The LORD said to Moses,

    Pay close attention here Bob.  I’m going to kill you soon and I want this job done right beforehand.

    26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are to count all the people and animals that were captured.

    27 Divide the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community.

    28 From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the LORD one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep.

    What is God going to do with virgin girls I wonder?

    29 Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the LORD’s part.

    Now it makes sense.  It’s Eleazar who wants the girls.

    30 From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the LORD’s tabernacle.”

    31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

    32 The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep,

    33 72,000 cattle,

    34 61,000 donkeys

    35 and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.

    36 The half share of those who fought in the battle was: 337,500 sheep,

    37 of which the tribute for the LORD was 675;

    38 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the LORD was 72;

    39 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the LORD was 61;

    40 16,000 people, of whom the tribute for the LORD was 32.

    Eleazar gets 32 virgins?

    41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the LORD’s part, as the LORD commanded Moses.

    42 The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men—

    43 the community’s half—was 337,500 sheep,

    44 36,000 cattle,

    45 30,500 donkeys

    46 and 16,000 people.

    47 From the Israelites’ half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people and animals, as the LORD commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the LORD’s tabernacle.

    48 Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses

    49 and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.

    50 So we have brought as an offering to the LORD the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”

    51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted articles.

    52 All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.

    53 Each soldier had taken plunder for himself.

    54 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.

    I’m truly perplexed as to how any female can follow this outrageously misogynistic religion considering what we’ve just read.  How can they bend the knee and silently give consent to their daughters being treated in this manner.  If religion gets the power it is obviously after, this is the kind of thing we would see happening once again.  Also, how can any people whose ancestors were kept as slaves approve of this book and it’s teachings?  Do they wish themselves and their descendants to go through that again?

    << Numbers 30      Index      Numbers 32 >>

     

  • DistroMan 20:00 on August 10, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , fratricide, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , slavery   

    Genesis: The Post Mortem 

    Genesis: What was it all about?

    Well, that’s the end of Genesis.  It’s been a long boring ride and frankly I’m glad it’s over.  Firstly, let’s list a few of the things we’ve seen:

    Lies, Polygamy, Murder, Genocide, Rape, Incest, Slavery, Adultery, Conspiracy, Favoritism, Misogyny and Prostitution.

    What purports to be the ‘Good Book’ starts off by telling us a whole range of ridiculous rubbish about how the universe began, then goes on to throw the above ‘virtuous’ traits at us page after page.  I have no idea how this could be thought to be a book of morals and ethics unless you call it the book of ‘What Not To Do’.

    The endless genealogical passages have nothing to do with the story.  Not once does it really put a positive spin on anything.

    To go on and on about naming things everytime they stop their camels does nothing to impress me in any way whatsoever.  Then of course there is the ridiculous renaming of people as in the case of Jacob/Israel which then goes on to use both names either on their own or together which just confuses an already confusing piece of literary garbage.

    If this book is supposed to be the inerrant word of God, then it just shows that he was only teaching them to be nice to their own people and not to anybody else.  All outsiders were only to be used up and then killed if they got in the way.  Rape is excused if the rapist wants to then marry the girl he attacked. Murder is also fine if you still don’t like the rapist.  Further in we have attempted fratricide, (killing of a brother) which turned into selling him into slavery.  He then is accused of attempted rape and thrown into jail.  He then gets out of jail by doing what he says only God can do.

    To finish, the creation rubbish is just that.  The rest is just begatting and petty jealousies ending in betrayal, theft and murder.

    All in all, Genesis is nothing but a pile of lies, coated with immoral behaviour by a group of unethical people.  This wouldn’t even make it to television as a D Grade Soapie.

    Let’s hope for better reading in Exodus, up next…

    << Genesis 50       Exodus 1 >>

     

  • DistroMan 20:00 on July 27, 2010 Permalink
    Tags: , , , , , , , , slavery   

    Genesis 37: Did anyone hear what God said? 

    Genesis: Part 37 of 50

    Joseph’s Dreams

    1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

    Are we talking about Jacob/Israel or some other Jacob?

    2 This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

    Aha, it seems it is Jacob/Israel.  Why can’t they stick with one name?

    3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.

    Neither of those reasons are even close to being good for playing favourites with your children.

    4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

    And it’s all Jacob’s fault.  Playing favourites always causes problems amongst siblings.  Poor parenting.

    5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

    6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:

    7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

    Well, Joseph knowing that they hated him would have been better off keeping his idiot mouth shut.

    8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

    9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

    This kid is asking for trouble.

    10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

    11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

    Joseph Sold by His Brothers

    12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,

    13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
    “Very well,” he replied.

    Back to Israel again.  Do they not understand how damned annoying and hard to follow this is?

    14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,

    15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

    16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

    17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.

    18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

    One wonders if this was a common theme in families at the time.

    19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.

    20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

    21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.

    22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

    This doesn’t make much sense either.  They want to get rid of him altogether, not just annoy him and maybe make him an even bigger pain in their side.

    23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-

    24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

    25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

    26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

    27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

    28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

    29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

    30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”

    31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

    32 They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

    Such loyalty and honesty warms the cockles of my heart. :)

    33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”

    34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

    35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.” So his father wept for him.

    36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

    So much hot air just to say that Jacob’s son Joseph got sold off as a slave by his brothers because he couldn’t keep his big mouth shut.

    << Genesis 36      Index      Genesis 38 >>

     

c
compose new post
j
next post/next comment
k
previous post/previous comment
r
reply
e
edit
o
show/hide comments
t
go to top
l
go to login
h
show/hide help
shift + esc
cancel