Letter to the Ordinary Egyptian (Gen 46 & 47)

Dear Ordinary Egyptian

I write this letter to you, not knowing you but understanding you were impacted by the events we read of in these few chapters.

The account focuses on the migrants, Joseph and his family but I wonder what life was like for you at this time of famine. As I read through I am aware you were suffering real hardship and you would have seen your ruler providing wagons for these foreigners. I am sure the wagons would have been identifiable in some way as being provided by Pharaoh, who seemed to be doing very well out of your suffering and having to give him all you had for food.

It says 70 people came into Egypt with Jacob. I wonder what size settlements were then and what impact an extra 70 people (and I am thinking this number may not be exact but rather may be one of ritual significance) have in each area they stopped. Did they share their food with the local inhabitants or not and if not did this build up resentment?

I suspect they were not the only people to come into Egypt at this time of famine searching for some pasture or anything which might help them survive.

When they took the best land they were given did you or others get displaced? I wonder what you felt about this. I can see how the disruption caused may have caused social problems and perhaps the rise of racism.

When the famine was at its most severe how did you feel about Joseph and Pharaoh? It seems that the worst aspects of the market economy are at play here. When supply fails and demand is high the prices increase and in this case actually require you to become exploited whilst the richest in society get rich through this. In this case it shows how you become surfs as a result of this natural disaster and yet you show gratitude for this because you say it was enabled you to survive.

Did the fact that the Canaanites had been able to buy food too cause division between your peoples?

I can’t get my head around quite what it must have been like. Yet we see different echoes in our own society. Greece is a country which is suffering economic suffering, in a large part as a result of the debt repayment conditions being put on it by the EU but they are also having to deal with a migrant crisis.

In terms of the ethics of it all reading through it helps me to understand how racism and division might grow but also it underlines that those who should be targeted are not migrants but rather those exploiting these situations for profit.

I know I am supposed to see Joseph as a kind of hero in this over all tale but to be honest I see him as a man who used his power to exploit others. The fact that God seems to be putting him in this position and almost encouraging the exploitation is something I find really problematic. Yet, I do wonder if through these actions more of your people’s lives were saved than if the famine had taken hold without any planning.

Letter to Joseph (Gen 42-45)

Dear Joseph

I am interested in the encounter you had with your brothers when they came to get the grain. It seems that you would have made a good capitalist selling the supply of grain for a good profit to the desperate. The famine enabled you to do very well for yourself.

That is not to criticise you totally. You provided good leadership which was important. I do wonder though how, in that situation, the poor faired. With this shortage of supply in relation to demand was there some way of ensuring that people were cared for who couldn’t afford the grain?

I live in a society where there is a safety net, although it is being eroded because there are those who would argue that such a safety net causes dependency. This is something I disagree with to a large extent. I believe that what matters is how aid and support are given – it can be disempowering but it can be done in ways which enable life and participation. However, I digress from your story.

With regard to your brothers coming to buy food. How did you keep it together? I wonder if any of them suspected you but then dismissed it from their minds reckoning it to be impossible.

There is that bit when you pretend to need an interpreter but actually hear what they are saying. This is an interesting one which suggests you were a good actor. Did those who were interpreting for you know you could actually understand?

With regard to finding out news on your family, I can see why you quizzed them carefully.

 

I know why you did what you did not taking the money and so on but did you also take a little bit of pleasure messing with your brothers heads.

When you revealed yourself and your brothers were dismayed at your presence was it all out of fear out of what you would do or was there some of the previous jealousy going on? I ask because it wasn’t exactly the warm reunion you see on tv. I can imagine them looking at each other and then to the floor and a couple muttering “oh bother” or words to that effect under their breath.

You telling them to not be distressed sounds like a good way to deal with a very awkward situation. I also suspect that you understood that there were going to be very mixed reactions to you not being death. Is that why you told them not to quarrel on the way back. I wonder if that worked, after all for those who may have been jealous it could have been quite patronising and could have increased resentment against you.

In terms of what we can learn and apply now from your story. I’m not sure really beyond you never who you will bump into in the future in what circumstances and that should be taken into account in your interaction with others.

Constance - Review of the Film

This review of the Constance Coltman film was first posted yesterday on my review blog, but I think it fits with this blog too and so I am posting it here today, Sometimes when reviewing it is necessary to understand the constraints that the producer of a piece of art or product may be under. I think this is the case with Constance.

When watching this Kevin Snyman film I was disappointed at how short it was, expecting something much longer which covered more of the remarkable Constance Coltman’s life and work. Yet, I understand the film makers have done the best they can under difficult circumstances and it was a film I enjoyed.

Watching this URC supported film about the first woman to be ordained as a minister in an English mainstream religious denomination I was struck by the impact this woman had. However, the impact shown at the beginning was that she had upon the great and the good. I would have liked to have seen a condolence letter written by an “ordinary person”. Part of the reason for this is I had the privilege to hear talked of warmly by a now deceased member of her congregation, a man who had been ministered to by Constance and Claude in Wolverton (near Milton Keynes). Unfortunately there was no mention of her ministry there, even in the credits.

What this film did was show the strength of character it took for her to be accepted for training. Within this short film I find it most interesting what it says about call and how she had to show her call was beyond her gender yet God was also calling her in a significant way because of her being a woman in a situation which excluded women.

What I had not been aware of prior to watching it was her pacifism or her links to the suffrage movement, the latter of which of course would have been there but which I had never picked up upon previously.

I was caught between being pleased and frustrated that the hook for the film was her relationship with her husband Claude. Somehow turning this into a mini chick flick based around their love story seemed inappropriate for a feminist film, yet their relationship was pivotal to their ministry which was in many ways a joint ministry.

This is not a film about one woman though. It is a film which shows she had a prophetic voice and which is seeking to talk into our current situation.

I would therefore recommend you watch this film which is available to be shared on a not for profit basis under a Creative Commons licence and then share it. Constance’s story is one which should be shared and celebrated not forgotten.

 

Letter to the Cup Bearer (Gen 40 & 41)

Dear Cup Bearer,

I am writing to you, another biblical character who has an occupation but not a name. You are as so many others identified by your place in the class structure of the time.

My first question is what did you and the chief baker do which displeased Pharaoh? Was there some kind of food poisoning which he traced back to you two or was it you were somehow seen to not be following protocol enough?

What was your understanding of the significance of dreams? I know they are seen as really important by some people. Personally I have not had the type of dream which would need interpreting. It seems a key part of your culture though to have had dreams interpreted and for them to have meaning.

I am interested by the role Joseph played in prison. In the modern prison system we have people who act as listeners to other prisoners. That seems the nearest parallel we have to what Joseph was doing there. He was clearly sensitive to how other people were feeling around him which shows a sensitivity.

When he offered to interpret the dreams and gave you a positive interpretation how did you feel. Did you believe him or not? Then when the baker was given a negative interpretation what did you think? I do wonder what those three days were like where you were waiting to find out whether the interpretations were correct. I think that it must have been quite tense.

When you got out you forgot Joseph. I wonder if that was because you were suffering some king of PTSD and so blocked out that experience of the prison you had gone through or was it you were initially looking for an opportunity but that opportunity never came. That is something I think a lot of us suffer, including when we want to talk about Jesus and share him with others. It can be that we want to but never quite feel it is the right time. Was it you felt others would be embarrassed if you talked about that negative time in your life which others had responsibility for?

It seems when there was an emergency in the palace you remembered, but with some shame for not having mentioned Joseph earlier.

Were you given a slightly higher status in the court for having recommended Joseph or was there some kind of gift to you in recognition?

I could have asked so much more of you but I think that is enough, others can answer the other questions I have.

Letter to Potiphar's Wife (Gen 39)

Dear Mrs. Potiphar,

I write this letter with slight trepidation knowing I am about to go where angels fear to tread. You were a woman who made a false rape allegation and put an innocent man in jail as a result.

The behaviour of women such as yourself together with the attitudes of men who try to justify their actions mean that many genuine rape victims find it hard to be believed.

However, this passage suggests that you were so motivated by your own desires that you had little time to consider the impact of your actions on others.

Was the problem you had that this man, who was a slave was not giving you power over him? He was a foreigner who belonged to your husband and yet he rejected your advances.

You obviously found him sexually appealing on the basis of his appearance or was it due to more that? Did you also find his success appealing?

You seem to have had a desperation to sleep with him and I wonder if you had been a man, and him a woman, whether you would have raped him because you seem totally consumed by love. From the way it is described with him fleeing as you held his garment it appears that you had moved on from verbal sexual harassment of Joseph to physical sexual harassment.

When you are making the false allegations you bring his ethnicity in to it. Did that make it easier to make the allegation?

What were your feelings when Joseph was taken to the prison? Did you regret your actions or not? Were there others who had their suspicions about the truth of the matter?

I ask these questions because I find it difficult to understand your actions.

One of the things I am finding as I read these passages is how they relate to modern debates. The book of Genesis includes the stories of genuine rape victims as well as yours. In a world where the victims voice needs to be heard but each allegation needs to be fully examined this book explains why this is necessary by looking at both sides of the debate through different stories.
**for anybody who read this earlier overnight I don't know if I was hacked or if there was an unfortunate dyslexic/poor proof reading moment but I would like to clarify I have never made a false allegation of this kind.

Letter to Judah (Gen 38)

Dear Judah,

I find yours a fascinating story which has much to say about sex and sexual ethics. In a world where we struggle with the way in which society seems to be misusing sex and families often appear dysfunctional so much I think it is really interesting to examine.

Firstly, I want to go back a step to your suggestion that you sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him because he was your flesh and blood. It seems that you had an understanding of what was happening was wrong.

I wonder when you went away whether it was because of resources and managing scarcity or because of guilt. I am sure you must have chatted to Reuben and realised that in your trying to save Joseph’s life you actually stopped him being rescued and increased your fathers distress.

I wonder what wickedness Er was guilty of which led to his death. We don’t know but as it was mentioned straight after you getting Tamar as his wife I do wonder if it was domestic violence or adultery which he was guilty of. The sin does implicitly appear to relate to his treatment of Tamar in some way.

You seem to understand the duties you had towards Tamar or was it you were concerned about the continuation of your bloodline?

Did you know the feelings that Onan had towards getting Tamar pregnant? He seems very concerned with the idea of any biological son of his being acknowledged as such. This passage has been used to condemn masturbation in my own culture at points. However, it is clear reading it that it is not the wasting of the seed which is the problem but rather his treatment of Tamar who in your culture he had a responsibility towards.

How did you feel about telling your son he had to go and sleep with this woman he may not have wanted to sleep with? It seems that you had a lax attitude towards sex and the use of women, yet also sharp moral codes. Yet you also have a fear of what you don’t understand. This latter is shown by your reluctance to let Tamar sleep with Shelah because you were scared of the death of another child.

You were happy to go and sleep with a prostitute, that is something I find interesting and a sign of double standards – something I think applies to a lot of people who use sex workers today. You went and slept with this woman yet you were willing to burn Tamar when you thought she had had promiscuous sex.

How did you feel when you discovered that it was you she had slept with? Your reputation was clearly important to you and you did not want to be laughed at by others or shamed her apparent actions.

That encounter when she identified you as the father of her children, because you had not given her Shelah obviously had a great impact on you because you knew why in her desperation she had acted in this way. It is like you have your eyes opened to some of the effects of patriarchy and what you had been doing to her through your abuse of power.

Did you get to spend much time with the twins before you passed away? I ask because you were obviously in older years when they were born.

I wonder what your relationship was afterwards with Tamar. Did you treat her, and indeed the other women around you with more respect?

It is interesting yours is a story I had caught in passing before but not really taken on board. Yet, it is one of the ones which has caught my attention most so far through this project. 

Letter to Reuben (Gen 37)

Dear Reuben,

You were the eldest of Jacob’s sons and Joseph was one of the youngest. I am guessing for a long while you would have been one of Jacob’s favourites and so understood something of the difficulty Joseph had in terms of being a son who was loved more than others.

Was there a relationship between the love of a son and who the mother was? It seems that this is the case with Joseph, I am wondering if the children of Leah, such as yourself, were also favoured more than those born to the concubine.

Whilst this is a story of sibling rivalry which may seem difficult for us to apply to today’s society, I think that you would have had a lot in common with many people today. We have a number of children in our society who are born to the same mother from different fathers, or conversely fathers who have a number of children from different mothers. Our society does not have polygamy but it does have serial monogamy and unfaithfulness within it.

I am interested that you appear to be the one who acts as a protector trying to ensure that Joseph can be rescued at a later point.

How did you feel about the dreamer? He was arrogant but I feel that he struggled to know how to communicate effectively. I am not sure how old he was in these dreams but I am guessing he could not have been that old.

I relate to the not knowing how to communicate appropriately sometimes. Having moved into a new home in a strange and somewhat complex context I am finding myself having to negotiate a new set of norms and explain myself and my hopes for the next two years to people who don’t know me. I am struggling with this and making mistakes in the process. I suspect that Joseph was also struggling to know how to communicate and making mistakes which pissed people off in the process.

Your father was clearly distraught about Joseph’s loss. How did you cope with that. Did you carry a lot of the guilt as the eldest?