If They Move Too Quick, They're Falling Down Like a Domino

What we do well when we tell the story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50): Remember that even when we think life sucks and is completely unfair, that we don't know the end of the story.

What we do poorly when we tell the story of Joseph (Genesis 45-47, Exodus): Remember that it's a cautionary tale about believing your own hype and forgetting your own mortality, and that every villain believes he's doing the right thing (and can even invoke God to prove it).

Joseph, after all, conducted the work of Empire.  He sought political solutions to spiritual problems.  By that, I mean that he had an opportunity to be a blessing to people -- to give them dignity and hope, using his political office as a tool -- and instead used it to increase Egypt's social and political sway, using his spiritual folklore as justification.  That, it seems to me, is why God is often referred to in the First Testament as "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", not "the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph".

And why movements like the "religious right" will always be doomed to irrelevance.

Comments

  1. go4tliNovember 1, 2017 at 5:28 AM

    The title comes from The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian".

    ReplyDelete

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