Day 12: Genesis 37-39

Day 12: Genesis 37-39

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

I am sure we all familiar with the music Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Well, at least the showtune queens and Donny Osmond fans of the group. Growing up I used to love performing numbers from Joseph, including Any Dream Would Do, One More Angel in Heaven and Close Every Door. Being such a fan, I was somewhat saddened by today’s reading.

Here we have Joseph, but there is no mention of “an amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” Really? No mention at all? All we read in today’s passage is that Joseph has a “long robe with sleeves.” Wow, I thought I could identify with Joseph, but not in some boring robe.

Robe aside (get your mind out of the gutter), I think we often find ourselves in situations like Joseph. We may be the youngest in the crowd, or maybe even the least experienced, yet we dream that someday we will be the one calling the shots; the one everyone bows down to. You can’t tell me that all of Joseph’s brothers didn’t have a similar dream, except the oldest that already had everyone bowing down to him.

The “hate” that was felt toward Joseph is intense. Thus far in scripture the word “hate” has only been used three times (at least according to the NRSV). Interestingly, each time the emotion is used when the disgruntlement is between family members. Why haven’t other people in the Bible “hated” those who were oppressing them or treating them unfairly? Even if feelings were intensely negative, the Bible does not use the word “hate.”

Going back to my roots as a counselor, I wonder if the Bible is not on to something very important here, with this simple word. The word “hate” is only used in situations where “love,” at least how we define it, should be the norm. I wonder if this wording helps us to see how love and hate are connected, or how love and hate are not connected. I wonder if the hate and love are extremes. I am sure we all have stories of how love and hate have intersected in our lives (trust me, I don’t even want to open that can of worms, and neither would my exes).

Onan and the Homosexuals

Many of us, especially the gay men of the group, have heard the story of Onan spilling his seed, or semen, on the ground and being struck dead. Several of us have also heard this story as a way to promote abstinence before marriage, non-use of condoms or other birth control measures and even masturbation. Although the story is short, it seems to have become a favorite of the Moral Majority.

Oddly, this story is in the middle of Joseph’s strife. Prior to Onan’s casual spillage, Jacob, Joseph’s father, has been informed that his son has been killed by wild animals. Prior to Onan, we delve into the story of Judah, Joseph’s brother. Somewhat randomly we are now focused on the story of Judah’s sons. The first son, Er, was wicked and thus struck down, although we are not really sure why. Then Onan was charged with impregnating Er’s wife, as was the tradition at the time, and necessary to carry on the birthrights of generations. Not wanting to follow this order, Onan prefers to spill his semen on the ground instead of in his dead brother’s wife. For this, Onan is also “put to death.”

This story gains another level of oddity after Judah sends the woman away for fear that she will cause the death of his youngest son. Tamar, the wife, moves away, but in time runs across Judah again. This time, in a clever disguise, she has sex with Judah and becomes pregnant. Again, where is the television crew when we need them. Tamar bares twins, which is another debacle.

There the chapter ends. But the sex exploits of the tribe of Jacob do not end there. In the next chapter we are back focused on Joseph. By now Joseph has been sold into slavery. The wife of his master finds Joseph to be attractive and tries to seduce him. *Cue the theme to The Graduate.* Joseph denies the woman and ends up in jail after she spins the story and makes him out to be a rapist.

Timing is everything to the Bible. These two stories of sex belong together. Our task is to find out why.

Are we to believe that Joseph is like Onan, opting to run out of the room naked or to spill his semen on the ground? Are we to believe that Joseph is like Shelah, Judah’s youngest son, opting to avoid the sexual encounters all together? Are we to believe that Joseph is like Judah, both being tempted by a woman? Or is there another explanation as to why these stories find themselves together?