924
Lectures Watched
Since January 1, 2014
Hundreds of free, self-paced university courses available:
my recommendations here
Peruse my collection of 275
influential people of the past.
View My Class Notes via:
Receive My Class Notes via E-Mail:

VIEW ARCHIVE


Contact Me via E-Mail:
edward [at] tanguay.info
Notes on video lecture:
The Biblical Motif of First Born Son
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
Esau, Rachel, Manasseh, Jesus, God, backfires, birthright, wives, shepherd, David, despised, birth, hatred, agrees, Reuben, father, Abraham, Baptist, Philistines, Ephraim, trickery, ill, Leah, least, jealous, colors, prestigious, innocent, New, Laban, strange, favorite, tactic, favored, shepherds, slaves, humiliation, beset, reprimanded, surprise, arrogant
image of Joseph as                 
he's shepherding the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Leah and Rachel's             )
this a                detail because we know that Joseph is a                  of his fathers
the ranking of children in terms of prestige followed            order
and the most                        wives would be Leah and Rachel
if Joseph were really important, he would be shepherding the sons of Leah and             
and especially with         's sons, these were Jacob's first four sons
yet Joseph is tending the flocks with the            significant sons of Jacob
the portrayal of Joseph as a shepherd speaks to his exaltation, i.e. Biblical symbol of a leader
but his shepherding the flocks with the least significant children of the family, points to his                       
this detail foreshadows the difficulties that Joseph is going to encounter for most of this story
also how is he going to come to terms with the fact that his brothers are                of him
we find a similar tension with            in his family
I Samuel 17
Isreal is at war with the                       
a war and a battle in which David will slay the giant Goliath
prior to that moment, David has snuck away from his              and run to the front lines of the battle to see what was happening
when his brothers saw that David had snuck away from his flocks to observe Israel's army in battle, were not pleased with this
his older brother                        him: with whom have you left your sheep?
we might assume that something similar to this happened to Joseph in order that he was assigned to tend sheep with the sons of least significance
Joseph is not only                by his father, but he uses this to his advantage and to the disadvantage of his brothers
Genesis 37:2 "Joseph was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought an        report of them to their father."
to speak badly of other people was a                  characteristic
Joseph is seen as an                  young man who uses his position of prestige
Jacob is not                  regarding the tensions which are welling up inside this family
he contributes to the problems that are going to            this family
e.g. he vests Joseph with a special coat
often translated as a "coat of many             "
singles him out from his brothers
the coat made the brothers know every day that Joseph was this special loved child within this family, loved more than them
this contributed to the brothers'              of Joseph
why would Jacob adopt a              like this?
it is ill-advised for the health of the family
if we look back at Jacob's own childhood, he had to deal with circumstances that were equally not so easy
he was the preferred son in God's eyes
he was not the preferred son in his father's eyes
as a result, to secure the blessing of his father, he had to use                 
enraged his brother
resulted in pain for Jacob
brother wanted to kill him
Jacob ran into exile where he served as a slave to his father-in-law           
so Jacob wants to correct the mistake his father made
wanted to make it clear from the start who the favored son was, so Joseph would not have to achieve this status by trickery
         is the progenitor of the Edomites and the elder twin brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites
Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandsons of                and Sarah
Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields
Jacob offers Esau a bowl of lentil stew in exchange for Esau's                     , i.e. the right to be recognized as firstborn son with authority over the family, and Esau             
but Jacob's plan                    and his preferential treatment of Joseph nearly results in the death of Joseph himself
beloved sons are often depicted as rulers and                   
true of Joseph, David, and it will be true of            as well
the choice of the beloved son often comes as a                 
ancient custom and Biblical law would suggest that the father would prefer the first-born son
therefor Esau and              should have been the favored sons
but in both cases the firstborn son was passed over in father of a latter born son
a pattern that continues with the ordering of Jacob's           
Rachel, the second born, is more beloved than Leah, the first born
Jacob will famously bless               , the second born, over Manasseh, the first born
Jacob, Joseph's father, adopted Joseph's two sons,                  and Ephraim, to share in Jacob's inheritance equally with Jacob's own sons
we'll see this pattern in a slightly different form in the        Testament
John the                will concede divine favor to Jesus even though he will say he came first
one function of this motive of preferring the latter son is to say        is in charge and not human beings

Vocabulary:

prescind, v. to withdraw one's attention, stop thinking about something, to leave out of consideration  "But if we look at the larger context of the chapter, we'll see that Joseph's father Jacob is not innocent in the tensions that are welling up within his family, as Jacob, after all, is the paterfamilias, the head of the family, and it is his responsibility to make sure that order is kept, but he prescinds from this responsibility by not rebuking Joseph for his actions, and in fact exacerbates tensions which we will see are going to beset this family."
Eponymous Ancestors in the Bible
The Story of Jacob and his Sons
The Biblical Motif of First Born Son
The Shepherd Motif
Joseph's Dreams
The Problematic of Chosenness: Samuel and Joseph
Joseph in the Pit: Descent and Ascent
The Three Descents and Ascents of Joseph
Change in the Non-Elect
Joseph's Prison Dreams
The Symbolic of Joseph's Dreams as Service Not Power
Judah Pleads to Joseph for Benjamin
Judah as Most Important Son of Jacob
The Concept of Salvator Mundi
Transition from Israel to Jesus
Elijah and the Restoration of Israel
Preparing for the Restoration
Historical Jesus and the Importance of Criteria
The Historical Jesus and the Criteria of Coherence
Jesus: Who Do You Say I Am?
Chosenness and Responsibility to Love and Service
Discipleship as Service to Others
The Travel Narrative: Humanity's Blindness
Who was Responsible for the Death of Jesus
Rembrandt's Depictions of the Trial of Jesus