Letter to Jacob (Gen 28 & 29)

Dear Jacob,

It seems if your brother was the bad boy of the family you were the good one, but the taking of your brothers birthright shows that you were not perfect. I have to ask if that one was your idea or your mums? What was it like growing up with a twin your mum obviously struggled with?

I find it interesting that you come across as a thinker and somebody who was more comfortable at home. If you were alive now I think there is a good chance you would have been an academic more at home in a book filled office or academic seminar than anywhere else.

You obviously understood your parents views on racial purity in a way your brother hadn’t until it was too late. Did you agree with them or did you want to please them?

Had you had dreams before where God spoke to you or was it a new one?

The tithing system of giving a tenth seems to start being referred to for the first time in this book, (although we know that this was not the first book actually written). Why did you decide to do this? Was it that you were continuing a practice that already existed?

It seems it was really intense for you when you met Rachel? Was this because you had heard so much about your extended family but never met them before or was it because you knew that this girl or one of her sisters would be your wife and you felt nervous about this?

It seems that you felt very comfortable with this family and were happy to be part of them. Was it a coming home experience that some 2^nd and 3^rd generation people who have grown up in the UK now talk about when they go back to a place of heritage?

It seems that you wanted to stay there to build up relationship with Rachel, and thought you knew what the deal was. However, there seems to have been confusion around the customs of the culture you had entered. I think that there may have been a genuine confusion rather than you getting palmed off with the sister who would have been more difficult to marry.

I feel really conflicted about your treatment of Leah. It was not right, but I understand that it was to do with having wanted to marry for love and not being able to do so and feeling you had been tricked. Did your relationship improve once your children were born?

Letter to Esau (Gen 27)

Dear Esau,

I wonder what it was like for you? You knew you had swapped your birthright for food and your mother doted on your brother.

It seems that when you married Judith that was the last straw for your parents. What was it that you did which annoyed them so much? Was it that Judith bought them up in a Hittite way rather than following your ways?

Did you get on with Jacob or was he always plotting with your mum against you? I have these questions.

I can’t imagine what it was like when you and Isaac discovered that you had both been tricked by Rebekah and Jacob.

I can see that you were very angry and wanted revenge.

You may have noted this is a really short note not like my other letters. The reason for this is I can’t really connect with you. I don’t know if that is to do with how your story is written or what, but I can’t.

Letter to Abimelek (Gen 26)

Dear Abimelek,

I am interested in your rule. Did you have to deal with a large influx of migrants during the famine? Was it Isaac’s wealth that meant you allowed him to stay or were you giving refuge to a large number of people? I ask that but then wonder if he was wealthy because of when our scriptures tell us he became rich and wealthy.

I ask because in our time it appears that wealth is what gets many people immigration status.

Did you have any doubts about the relationship between Isaac and Rebekah before you saw them? Was it normal for people to kill people to take their wives?

You appear to fear the wealth that he gained whilst living in your country. Was it you feared he would attack you, or gain a party which wanted to dispose you around him?

I find it interesting that you note the power he has is growing due to God.

As I read your story and others in Genesis I am gaining a little more of an appreciation of your culture and of the risks which you were running the whole time. It is very different to our culture but still has stuff to speak into it about our own attitudes towards migration and fear of the migrant gaining too much power.

Letter to Rebekah (Gen 25)

Dear Rebekah,

I find you an interesting character. You seem to have known exactly what the deal was in Gen 24 and seem to have been happy when you met Isaac.

What was it like meeting Abraham for the first time?

I am confused slightly by the English wording of this chapter, it says he married again and had children but then concubine is later used to describe the mothers of all children apart from Isaac.

We know polygamy was the practice of the time and this is something that I find maddening .In a lot of the current debates around marriage the language used has been about promoting a biblical view of marriage and verses from Genesis have been used along with spurious arguments allowing marriage to be recognised on an equal basis for same sex couples may lead to polygamy. The truth is that same sex couples want monogamous committed loving marriage to be recognised and what was in the bible was not that.

What I worry about this chapter is the way it can be used to promote that it is ok for a man to have a wife who gives her a child who has the legitimate inheritance rights but also ok to have women who give birth to his children too, but are not recognised. This I know was the model used in the British Royal family in the 17^th and 18^th century for example. Today we have moved on and see this is not a healthy state of affairs and that monogamy is the ideal. Thus, when we look at Genesis I argue it should be used carefully and that we can easily see the use by fundamentalists is very selective.

I find it really interesting that Ishmael buries Abraham with Isaac. I take it from that contact had been re-established at some point between Ishmael and his father. I would love to know more about that relationship because it has so much to teach us about modern relationships between absent fathers and their children.

Was it when Sarah died that Abraham was able to re-establish contact or had it been there in some form all along. It is clear that whilst Isaac was the key inheritor that Abraham did give his other sons some of his wealth. Yet, also gave instructions to try and ensure that Isaac was able to prosper without the others around to give him a hard time.

It seems that Isaac and Ishmael got on or atleast were able to work together whilst grieving for their father. How did you feel about it all.

It seems as if the sons of Ishmael were well aware their father was the eldest and really should have been the prime inheritors rather than Isaac, if all had been different. That probably explains their hostility. I also wonder though if it were to do with poverty.

Sorry, this letter is to you, yet I am talking about the others and people you probably thought relatively little of.

When it describes you as barren what was the acceptable length of time in your society between getting married and having children? At what time did you find yourself being described as barren? I find this fascinating, the number of women in the bible who get described as being infertile but than can actually give birth. It makes me wonder if there was something in the genetics of the line of Abraham which caused problems. I have referred before to the inter-breeding worries I have and I wonder if this was one way they were manifested, also as if nature were trying to deal with the problem. That then takes me on to wondering if you did get pregnant but miscarried, something which is not discussed in the bible.

What was it like with the twins? You must have been so glad when you realised you were pregnant and going to go full term? Yet t doesn’t sound like your pregnancy was easy and if you went to ask the Lord what was going on it sounds as if you were scared about what you were feeling inside you.

I find it interesting the description of Jacob and Esau. Was it because of what the Lord had said to you that you favoured your younger son or was it just he was easier and Isaac loved the elder more? It sounds as if Esau sums up what the ideal of a masculine man was whilst Jacob appears somewhat effeminate. I have heard Peterson Toscano talk about this before in a way which was really interesting. He makes the point that Jacob would be described as having the characteristics with gay men today, whilst Esau represents the ideal which the ex-gay movement for example put forward about masculinity.

Had you told Jacob about what the Lord had said about him going to be the more powerful of the two and inheriting? Did you advise him to look out for opportunities to cheat his brother? If so why did you dislike Esau so much you would do that? Was it that he took Isaac’s time and attention away from you? Or were you always having to defend Jacob to Isaac when he compared him to Esau. Or I wonder was it that Esau had a negative view towards women, including yourself?

A Letter to Abraham's Chief Servant (Gen 24)

Dear Servant,

 

We don’t even know your name, just that you were Abraham’s chief servant. What were you called? You are known by your job and position in the household rather than as a person. How did that make you feel?

It is clear you were trusted and close to Abraham but at the end of the day you were an employee – however powerful you were. What was your nationality? Where did you come from? Had you started off as one of the pay offs Abraham received one of those times he tried to pass Sarah off as his sister?

What was this business of putting your hand under a person’s thigh to make an oath. It seems very, very odd or was it to show that if you did not do as you had promised you might be emasculated as a result?

You seem a practical type of person who thought ahead about potential problems. I guess in your job you had to be a strategist to ensure survival.

You obviously had a knowledge of God and from this I wonder if you had been a child of one of Abraham’s original servants or if you had been a youngster when they first left the land they came from. Yet later on in verse 12 you pray God of my master Abraham which suggests it may not have been your original God.

Abraham appears to want to maintain some kind of racial purity whilst also not wanting Isaac to go back to where he had come from. It seems as if when Abraham said an angel would be sent before you that it was a natural statement and one which was not designed to freak you.

It reinforces my own view that angels do exist but often they may take the form of people, ordinary people rather than some kind of other form. It’s what the Genesis texts seem to suggest.

Did you take the standard dowry or a little bit more incase? I ask because I know that you would have had to weigh this all up carefully to ensure you got it just right.

I guess this was an important job getting the right girl and I guess your prayers were very real. English history tells what can happen to those who didn’t get choosing a wife right.

How did you know Rebekah was a virgin, was it her dress, hair or what? I am guessing that there is some cultural sign which was so common it didn’t need making explicit in this text.

What was it like going up to this beautiful woman? Was beauty something much treasured in your society? Today we put too much focus on it as a society, failing often to recognise what is beneath and putting lots of pressure on women to conform. The church tends to take an implicit line of wanting women to look after themselves but not be too alluring so as not to act as a temptation.

I guess that when Rebekah said she would give your camels some water too she knew why you had them there, and that it would not have been unusual.

She must have known you were watching her. How did that make you feel? Did you have any feelings of arousal yourself whilst you were watching her or were you able to keep it strictly professional? I ask because it must have been a bit of a strange situation studying this woman.

It seems during all this she would have been presenting herself in some way going through a series of rituals that she may have been taught ready for such an eventuality.

I guess relief went through you when you were allowed to stay the night and it seemed that this was going to be ok.

There seems to be a point at verse 28 in our bible where the tension breaks after you had given her the nose ring and bracelets. Were these the indications that you had been approached. It seems that there may have been quite a lot of ritual tied up with what you were doing.

I guess that things took another delicate turn when Laban came out. I wonder why their father was not the first to talk to you, was it that the brother was home and the father wasn’t or was it that the brother had been given the job of setting up the place for you to stay.

Why didn’t you eat first was it that you felt a bit sick with nerves or you wanted to get the business out of the way before pleasure?

Did Laban remember Abraham or had he just heard stories about him? It sounds as if you were well prepared with introducing yourself and your role and were quite articulate.

I am interested that Rebekah was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother. Does that mean her mum had been Lot’s sister or had there been more than one brother? It raises and interesting question for me, which I have alluded to before, about the risks of genetic disability amongst the patriarchs. This inter-breeding could not have been good, but then I have recently started reading a book on Queen Victoria and have realised how closely related most of the royal family have been for many years. What was going on there seems no different to this and Nahor seems to have been like the small part of Germany that was responsible for so much of the European royalty in the 19^th century.

When did Bethuel turn up? It seems there you are talking to Laban and suddenly you are talking to the father too.

They seem to have a resigned fatalism about losing their daughter feeling that they had to go along with whatever if it was ordained by God.

It’s clear that they were all going to miss Rebekah, why wouldn’t you stay with them that extra few days. Was it you were worried about them all changing their minds or was it that you wanted to get home because you weren’t sure how much longer Abraham had and you wanted to get back whilst he was still alive. Perhaps it was all to do with missing your own family? I don’t know, but it was clear you didn’t want to stay there longer than you had to.

I find it interesting that after it is all sorted then Rebekah is asked for her opinion. Were you surprised when they asked her if she was willing to go with you.

Was the nurse sent as a chaperone or was this older woman expected to go along too. For me all I can think about when I hear this is Shakespeare in Love and the nurse in that film. How many maids were there? It seems that the household she was coming from was wealthy too. It’s interesting as I read this I cannot imagine it in the times and culture it was written but it all seems to make sense if I think about it in terms of what I know about the Tudors.

The last bit of this chapter when you take Rebekah to meet Isaac all seems a bit cheesy to be honest. I guess it wasn’t but it is written a bit like a soppy movie. I wonder how you felt about it all? Were you glad and probably relieved your job had been done well and Isaac seemed happier than he had since his mothers death or were you too busy worrying about the detail which I guess you were in charge of. Was there much more ritual to be organised which is again not made explicit in these verses?

As you can tell I am curious about you and your job, not just this episode. We know of the powerful but don’t know so much about the “ordinary” people of the time and that is what fascinates me, knowing more about people like you who were important to the wider story.

Letter to Ephron (Gen 23)

Dear Ephron,

 I am writing a very short note because I am struck by the exchange between Abraham and yourself over the cave which he wanted to use for Sarah’s tomb. You appear to want to give it to him but he is determined to pay.

I wonder if this was a cosmetic exchange on your part, something which would have been culturally expected or not? I suspect your willingness to give the land was genuine because you seem to respect Abraham as someone of great standing in your community. Even though he was a foreigner in a culture where people seemed to hold on tight to ethnic identity you appear to be extremely welcoming.

What was it you understood about migrants that others did not or was it the wealth and apparent power which Abraham had which you focused on?

Whatever I appreciate your generosity but I can also understand where Abraham was coming from. He wanted full legal claim to the land and that was important to him. I guess if you are building a tomb in a foreign land it is important that you can show it is your land for when your descendants may want to come back.

In a book where few people have shown me positive attributes you are a breath of fresh air Ephron. You don’t seem concerned with power or material goods. Rather you simply seem to want to do the right thing.

Letter to Isaac (Gen 22)

Dear Isaac,

Ok I want to focus on one specific incident in this letter, that time you went up the mountain with your dad and were put on the alter before another offering came along.

Reading through the story I wonder what sort of God tests somebody in that way. Sometimes I have to come to the conclusion that God is a bit sick – I mean if somebody tried the same thing today they would be done for emotional harm to their child.

What did the servants who went with you think of it all? Did they have any idea of what was going on? I don’t imagine your dad, Abraham was exactly happy on the journey.  What must it have been like for him as he cut the wood he thought he might be required to sacrifice you on.

As you left the servants behind and went off alone with your dad what did you think? I mean you were obviously of a reasonable age because you were able to carry the wood for your dad.  Did you have any idea what was going on? Was that why you asked the question?

I can’t imagine what it must have been like. Did you have an idea and choose to go along with offering yourself as a sacrifice? I mean, as I once heard a preacher on this passage explain, you were a fit young man and your dad was old. You would have been able to overpower him if you had wished.

I can’t get my head around it as your dad raised the knife.

Was there an audible voice? What was it like?

I just can’t get my head around the fact God tests you in this way and then blesses you and your dad for doing it. It’s a bit like having to go through some really scary thing to win the competition. But God had already promised Abraham blessing so I don’t get why this was necessary.

I know I am meant to say this illustrates how God tests us and how he will provide if we are faithful, but to me I have to say what on earth was God playing at?