Monday, June 15, 2009
How holy are these guys, really?
I haven't been able to escape this feeling reading through Genesis that most of these revered forefathers of our faith are generally kind of jerks. Does anyone else feel that way? They play favorites (Abraham with Sarah/Isaac, Jacob with Rachel/Joseph), they deceive each other (Abraham & Isaac with all the lying about their wives being their sisters; Jacob with Esau x2; Jacob & Laban's sheep), they mistreat women (lots of examples, but most notably Judah in Gen 38; I know this was the "culture" or whatever, but still...), and there are very few references to any of them actually practicing their faith - worshipping, repenting, praying, even the vague "walking with God" isn't there. How are we supposed to understand this? Is it enough to say that God had made promises to them, so they were used by Him in spite of their blatant, public, unrepented sin? Or are their stories in there for the reason pastors sometimes like to say, so that we can be encouraged that they were sinners too and we don't have to be perfect? Something about that doesn't sit right with me...
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Sweet label. I'll post more in a bit.
ReplyDeleteI can think of the PCA answer to your question, but I don't know that it is a sufficient answer. Either way, I am encouraged by the "jerkiness" of these heros. Not because it justifies my sin, but because it justifies God's faithfulness. I often times have the opposite problem... that is, seeing God's grace in the old testament. Many times God seems so black and white and hard in the old testament that to think of Jesus as a picture of grace seems inconsistent with OT God. So, to see Him keep his promises and to be patient with the jerks is encouraging for someone who tends to think and act like those jerks.
ReplyDeleteKristina,
ReplyDeleteForgive me for not responding... I completely forgot about this. Here's my take:
Recently, I've been thinking of Genesis as more and more of a story. I can picture it being told from one Israelite history keeper to another (it didn't hit its final form until 1000 B.C., right? That sticks in my mind for some reason).
So, with these enormously long lives to pull information from, I think each point is in there for very specific reasons. Most of it advances the story, but some of it acts as foils, I believe. Joseph is set up as even MORE of an example because of his foil to his brothers.
I'm not explaining this very well. Here's another way: If I were to condense my own life to a story, I would have to pick very specific decisions that would highlight my larger life. Even though I sin every day, perhaps just one of my best moments is chosen. And Joseph may have been the same, but we see one major event at a time... the time he RESISTED temptation instead of succumbing.
Part two of my answer would be showing them as clear jerks or sinners enables later events to be part of character development that we can model our lives after. Think about the transformation in both name and acts from Abram to Abraham and Jacob to Israel. I also think about the reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. His brothers' shortcoming told earlier enables this part of the story to be even more powerful.
Just my take.