Genesis

This semester I'm taking Survey of the Old Testament. Unfortunately I've missed 4 out of 5 of the classes because of mono. If having mono doesn't make it hard enough to get to class, then the fact that the class starts at 7:30am should. AHH! Fortunately, we're going to be tested over more of the reading than the lectures and I have some great friends in the course who are willing to help me keep up with the lecture material. Anyway, I'll be reading the whole Old Testament this semester and I've already started to learn some things and I'm only on Genesis! I just have never spent time in the OT so its very new to me.

Here are some weird things that I've learned:

1. Abraham kept hiding behind his wife's beauty and telling people she was his sister. Then they'd find out and fear the Lord because they were afraid God would curse them for sleeping with Sarah who was, in fact, Abraham's wife. Wot. The clencher is that Sarah was actually Abraham's half-sister... [Gen. 12 & 20]

2. Poor Ishmael was circumcised when he was 13. Ouch. [Gen. 17]

3. Jacob wrestling with God is one of the weirdest stories to me and I don't really understand it theologically. [Gen. 32]

4. Every male in the Shechem's city was circumcised JUST because he wanted Dinah as his wife. Then, while all the men were incapacitated, Jacob's sons killed them all, took Dinah back and looted the city because Shechem had had sex with her before marrying her. Tough loss for the Shechemites... [Gen. 34]

5. God renames Jacob, Israel, twice...(?) [Gen. 32 & 35]

6. Joseph is CONSTANTLY weeping. [Gen. 43:24; 43:30; 45:2; 45:14; 46:29; 50:1]

That's all for now...maybe tidbits on Exodus later.