Week of 23 September 2008

BIBLE
Week of 30 September 2008
THE FIRST MURDER

4:1 The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.” 4:2 Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 4:3 As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. 4:4 Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, 4:5 but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. 4:6 Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? 4:7 If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.” 4:8 Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” It happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.
The Bible writes about "dysfunctional families" from the beginning. Notice the first child is a murderer; the cause is envy. This kind of competing against one's neighbor, leading to sad results, cointinues. The Bible's style is to simplify what we think of as complex actions. But in the Bible we see the step by step process in simple form: Cain is rejected; his face shows anger; he invites his brother out to kill him.
4:9 Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”

He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Who is responsible? Another insight of the Bible writers. Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the snake. Cain asks is he responsible for his brother, even though he killed him.
    The French philosopher Rene Girard makes a lot out of what he calls the special gift the Bible has in exposing innocent victims. In other myths, he says, the victim is never called innocent. But the Bible makes a point of calling the victim innocent, from Abel, to Jesus. Girard considers this the special genius of the Bible, which gave voice to the victim.
4:10 Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. 4:11 Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 4:12 From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”

4:13 Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 4:14 Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.”
Note the escalation (increase) in violence. Anyone who kills Cain will be avenged seven times. There's a problem however. Who's going to kill Cain if he's the only one on earth besides his parents?
4:15 Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should strike him.

4:16 Cain went out from Yahweh’s presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 4:17 Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
Note that its the murderer who builds the first city. Below, we are back to the so-called Priest document, which we saw in chapter 1. Now we have a new phrase: "Documentary Hypothesis," identified with a man named Julius Weilhausen (1844-1918). This is also called the Source Hypothesis. I've already mentioned this but will discuss it now in more detail. The Documentary Hypothesis strongly shows that the first five books of the Bible (called the Pentateuch; pent=5; teuch=scroll) were not, as once thought, written by Moses. Rather they were edited together from 4 different sources.  The earliest is the J source; because this source uses the name Yaweh (translated as Lord); the next source is E, after the word for God, Elohim; E like P uses "God"; E is the least important for our study because the least preserved as far as we know. Probably the most famous E text is the binding ("sacrifice") of Isaac. P is important; we read him in ch. 1 and find him again below. He must have belonged to the Priest class because he is concerned with later Jewish ritual, which he then imagines back to the beginning. Thus "evening and morning were the first day" shows that the Priest ritual had already begun, as had the Sabbath by the time ch. 1 was written.  The final source is also important, called D because the entire book of Deuteronomy is written by this writer, as well as other books outside the Pentateuch.
    We find P again. Note there is no Cain, no Abel, no murder! There's only Seth. So Seth became a hero to some early religious sects, called Gnostics, who believed that man was not naturally "fallen"; so they traced themselves back to Seth and called themselves Sethians. Gnostics later influenced early Christianity, especially the Gospel of John. But we won't go too much into this, at least not now.

5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, he made him in God’s likeness. 5:2 He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name “Adam,” in the day when they were created. 5:3 Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 5:4 The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. 5:5 All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, then he died.

5:32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The human race is traced through Noah's 3 sons. >From "Shem" we get "semites" (Jews); from Ham the darker races; from Japheth Europeans or Asians. The story of the Flood is famous. Here, in a more confusing way, the J and P stories are combined, rather than separated by chapters. This for example is a J text; note the use of Yahweh:
6:5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6:6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 6:7 Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground; man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 6:8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
The following is the Priest text:
6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God. 6:10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 6:11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 6:12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

6:13 God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 6:14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch. 6:15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship will be three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 6:16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels. 6:17 I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die. 6:18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 6:19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 6:20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come to you, to keep them alive. 6:21 Take with you of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.” 6:22 Thus Noah did. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.
Once again the J text. Note that in the Priest text only 2 animals are taken to the ark, but in the J text 7. Why? Because the P would now allow anyone to sacrifice except the priest class. So he told the story without sacrifices. (If there had been sacrifices, one pair would not have been enough to continue the species after the flood.)
7:1 Yahweh said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation. 7:2 You shall take seven pairs of every clean animal with you, the male and his female. Of the animals that are not clean, take two, the male and his female. 7:3 Also of the birds of the sky, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of all the earth. 7:4 In seven days, I will cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights. Every living thing that I have made, I will destroy from the surface of the ground.”

7:5 Noah did everything that Yahweh commanded him.

7:6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came on the earth. 7:7 Noah went into the ship with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, because of the waters of the flood. 7:8 Clean animals, animals that are not clean, birds, and everything that creeps on the ground 7:9 went by pairs to Noah into the ship, male and female, as God commanded Noah. 7:10 It happened after the seven days, that the waters of the flood came on the earth. 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were burst open, and the sky’s windows were opened. 7:12 The rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

7:13 In the same day Noah, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ship; 7:14 they, and every animal after its kind, all the livestock after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 7:15 They went to Noah into the ship, by pairs of all flesh with the breath of life in them. 7:16 Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and Yahweh shut him in. 7:17 The flood was forty days on the earth. The waters increased, and lifted up the ship, and it was lifted up above the earth. 7:18 The waters prevailed, and increased greatly on the earth; and the ship floated on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth. All the high mountains that were under the whole sky were covered. 7:20 The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. 7:21 All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. 7:22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. 7:23 Every living thing was destroyed that was on the surface of the ground, including man, livestock, creeping things, and birds of the sky. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ship. 7:24 The waters prevailed on the earth one hundred fifty days.

8:1 God remembered Noah, all the animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ship; and God made a wind to pass over the earth. The waters subsided. 8:2 The deep’s fountains and the sky’s windows were also stopped, and the rain from the sky was restrained. 8:3 The waters receded from the earth continually. After the end of one hundred fifty days the waters decreased. 8:4 The ship rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat’s mountains. 8:5 The waters receded continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.
Note in the J version there are only 40 days to the flood; in the P version, 150 days.
8:6 It happened at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made, 8:7 and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth, until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8:8 He sent out a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from the surface of the ground, 8:9 but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him into the ship; for the waters were on the surface of the whole earth. He put out his hand, and took her, and brought her to him into the ship. 8:10 He stayed yet another seven days; and again he sent the dove out of the ship. 8:11 The dove came back to him at evening, and, behold, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from the earth. 8:12 He stayed yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; and she didn’t return to him any more.

8:13 It happened in the six hundred first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ship, and looked. He saw that the surface of the ground was dried. 8:14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

8:15 God spoke to Noah, saying, 8:16 “Go out of the ship, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 8:17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, livestock, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth.”

8:18 Noah went out, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives with him. 8:19 Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves on the earth, after their families, went out of the ship.

8:20 Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 8:21 Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I ever again strike everything living, as I have done. 8:22 While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
Note how God accepts the fact that humans are evil. This is the first of the four Covenants in the Old Testament. This is called the Noachide Covenant, an agreement made with Noah. The next covenant is made with Abraham (the Abrahamic Covenant), then with the Jewish people (the Sinai Covenant), then with David (the Davidic covenant). Now people start to eat meat as well as vegetables. But the blood of meat is forbidden. This will become a key issue for Christians when they decided to give up the Law, since Jesus replaced the Law.

9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 9:2 The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the sky. Everything that the ground teems with, and all the fish of the sea are delivered into your hand. 9:3 Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As the green herb, I have given everything to you. 9:4 But flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. 9:5 I will surely require your blood of your lives. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man. 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image. 9:7 Be fruitful and multiply. Increase abundantly in the earth, and multiply in it.”
Note above the basis for capital punishment (9:6). Also note how the passage is written like a recreation; as if God were making the world again, with the same commands: "Be fruitful and multipy," etc.
9:8 God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, 9:9 “As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your offspring after you, 9:10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ship, even every animal of the earth. 9:11 I will establish my covenant with you: all flesh will not be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, neither will there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 9:12 God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 9:13 I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 It will happen, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud, 9:15 and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 9:16 The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
This is what is called an etiological story. There are many of them in the Bible. An etiological story explains why something is the way it is, as in the case of a rainbow.

9:18 The sons of Noah who went out from the ship were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham is the father of Canaan. 9:19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these, the whole earth was populated.

9:20 Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard. 9:21 He drank of the wine and got drunk. He was uncovered within his tent. 9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 9:23 Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it on both their shoulders, went in backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were backwards, and they didn’t see their father’s nakedness. 9:24 Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him. 9:25 He said,

“Canaan is cursed.
    He will be servant of servants to his brothers.”

9:26 He said,

“Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Shem.
    Let Canaan be his servant.
9:27 May God enlarge Japheth.
    Let him dwell in the tents of Shem.
    Let Canaan be his servant.”
This is another etiological story; it "explains" why the Canaanites are treated like slaves. This text was a key text used to justify slavery in the US South.
9:28 Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the flood. 9:29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, then he died.

Now follows another famous etiological story explaining why there are so many languages on earth.
11:1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 11:2 It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there. 11:3 They said one to another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 11:4 They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”
Note the consistent language: "Come, let's" and "Come let's," until God "came down." Once again we see a step by step process. It shows the uselessness of fighting against God:
11:5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. 11:6 Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. 11:7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 11:8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city. 11:9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

11:27 Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot.
This is the beginning of the Jewish religion. Abram, later Abraham, follows God obediently, even leaving his home without pause. This is the beginning of Jewish monotheism as well as the Abrahamic Covenant. It's also important for Christians; because St. Paul valued the Abrahamic Covenant more than the later Sinai Covenant, based on Jewish laws. Abraham's religion was "by faith alone," which became an important idea for Paul and later Christians. Note how to save oneself one must turn one's back on everything: home country, parents. (We assume they were worshiping many gods in Abraham's home, so that home was a bad influence. To found a new religion, Abrahm had to leave. And he didn't hesitate. "GO!")
12:1 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Get out of your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. 12:2 I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”
V. 3 above seems to predict Christianity's appeal to "all families of the earth."

12:4 So Abram went, as Yahweh had spoken to him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. 12:5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls whom they had gotten in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan. Into the land of Canaan they came. 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. The Canaanite was then in the land.
Notice that 12:6b is a key verse for scholars of the Documentary Hypothesis; because we read that "The Canaanite was then in the land." Obviously this verse was written long after Moses had died!

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