Genesis 22 as told by Louis CK

Genesis 1, 2 & 3

9min cover the first 3 chapters of Genesis

Genesis 4 again

I commented on Genesis 4 before which I have concluded that Genesis is a poorly written story full of contradictions and inconsistencies. Here is another good view of the story of Cain and Abel, the two boys of Adam and Eve.

The comments are worth a read too.

Genesis 26

Bible source http://kingjbible.com/genesis/26.htm
Skeptic annotated bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/26.html

A trick that works will work all the time, right?

In Genesis 12, Abram (later became Abraham) lied about his wife, telling the Egyptian King that his wife Sarai (later became Sarah) was his sister.

In Genesis 20, Abraham used the same trick to Abimelech king of Gerar.

Both times, with the threats of god, Abraham benefited and got his wife back:
[Genesis 12, he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.

Genesis 20, Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham,]

In this chapter, Isaac, Abraham's son used the same trick again. And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

Fair enough, for fear of your own death to lie about the real nature of your wife. But did the people kill him upon knowing the fact? No. So that's a precaution only.

When the king found out, this righteous king ordered his people not to touch this woman.

Now, compare the treatment of them from god. Did god ever bless the king? No! Ah, this god is Jew's god! Not god for everyone!

Genesis 25

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/25.htm
skeptic annotated bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/25.html

29 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; 30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” 33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

29 有 一 天 ， 雅 各 熬 湯 ， 以 掃 從 田 野 回 來 累 昏 了 。 30 以 掃 對 雅 各 說 ： 我 累 昏 了 ， 求 你 把 這 紅 湯 給 我 喝 。 因 此 以 掃 又 叫 以 東 ( 就 是 紅 的 意 思 ) 。 31 雅 各 說 ： 你 今 日 把 長 子 的 名 分 賣 給 我 罷 。 32 以 掃 說 ： 我 將 要 死 ， 這 長 子 的 名 分 於 我 有 甚 麼 益 處 呢 ？ 33 雅 各 說 ： 你 今 日 對 我 起 誓 罷 。 以 掃 就 對 他 起 了 誓 ， 把 長 子 的 名 分 賣 給 雅 各 。 34 於 是 雅 各 將 餅 和 紅 豆 湯 給 了 以 掃 ， 以 掃 吃 了 喝 了 ， 便 起 來 走 了 。 這 就 是 以 掃 輕 看 了 他 長 子 的 名 分 。

In these verses, bible taught its believers to use the weakness of other to have maximum gain. Esau sold his right to his father's heir for bread and lentil stew. What a deal!

Genesis 24

Abraham asked his eldest servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. The wife must be from my country, and to my kindred. Across ethnic culture marriages, obviously, is not encouraged by the bible, right?

That a side, there is one interesting way of swearing noted by Skeptic's Annotated Bible: verse 2 "Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:". What does it mean to "put you hand under my thigh"?

A bit of googling...
from YAREK OATH, CIRCUMCISION, GOD'S INNER THIGH, KNEELING & PRAYING HANDS

Genesis contains passages in which a male takes an oath by placing his hand “under the thigh” of the male to whom he is swearing. It has sometimes been interpreted as swearing upon, or touching, the testicles.

That's what I was reading and trying to find out ...

The Hebrew word in some passages is ‘yarek,’ meaning ‘thigh’ in the Old Testament. That ritual might derive from the belief that the thigh is a center of power, probably because it is near the genitals. Some interpreters argue that it is a swearing upon the genitals, with "under the thigh" being a euphemism in Hebrew.

Dr. Lee Stone, in his book “The Power of a Symbol,” said that the “most ancient way of administering the oath was by placing the hand between the thighs, on the genitals. These were regarded as the Christian and the Jew regard the Bible, as being the most sacred of tangible things” (10, pg. 45).

Dr. P. C. Remondino, in his book “History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present” said that “It was partly this custom of swearing, or of affirming, with the hand under the thigh, by the early Israelites,” which led many to believe that their hand was being placed on the testicles (11, pg. 35).

It is likely that the passages above inspired the popular claim that the word ‘testify’ derived from ‘testicle,” but the claim is disputed with alternative derivations and interpretations.

A popular claim also alleges that Greeks and Romans would touch their own testicles while swearing, however there is no evidence in support. The "testicle" theory argues that the testicles were used for oaths because they represented virility, power, and represented the man’s future generations, and the source of life.

Interesting...

Genesis 23

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/23.htm
skeptic bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/23.html

Good move by Abraham. Sarah death was used as an excuse, for "four hundred shekels of silver", Ephron’s field, which was in Machpelah, which faced Mamre, the field and cave which was in it, and all the trees which were in the field, that were within all the confines of its border, were deeded over 18 to Abraham for a possession.

Genesis 22

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/22.htm
skeptic bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/22.html

Say you hear a voice in your head asking you to kill your pet (not your son or daughter), would you do that? If you do, what do you think would happen to you?

In this chapter, god wants Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering.



What I can add is the following;
1. This is really an immature and cruel god. Even if it were only for testing Abraham, the trauma that went through Isaac was totally ignored.
2. When Isaac was clever enough to ask his father where was the lamb for the offering, Abraham lied. Is that acceptable for Christians to lie?

Genesis 21

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/21.htm
skeptic bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/21.html

Verse 1: Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised.
What has god done to get Sarah pregnant? Interesting... right?

Let me ask you a question. What do you think of Sarah as a person?


First she gave her maid to Abram (previous name of Abraham) in order to have a child [Genesis 16]. Then because "when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes", Sarah dealt hardly with her. Eventually, god asked Hagar to go back to Abraham.

Now, Sarah herself has a child. She saw the two half brothers "mocking" hence ask Abraham to drive out this maid and her son, the reason being the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.

Let me ask you another question. If you were Abraham, what would you do? Would you drive out Hagar and her son and let them die in the desert?

OK, god may have his plan. S/he commanded Abraham to drive out Hagar and her son and then later saved them, God even make the son a great nation.

As far as morality goes, that's not very kind.

Genesis 20

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/20.htm
skeptic bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/20.html

As noted in the skeptic bible source,

Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister."
Honest Abe does the same "she's my sister" routine again, for the same cowardly reason. And once again, the king just couldn't resist Sarah -- even though by now she is over 90 years old. (See Genesis 12:13-20 for the first, nearly identical, episode, and 26:7 for another repeat with Isaac, Rebekah and the same king Abimelech.)

The author of Genesis must run out of ideas and was recycling old stuff. Or was Abraham, who was previously called Abram, that good in using the same trick twice (and will be a third time as noted by skeptic bible)

The above point is only a digression, god and Abraham were engaged in a kind of extortion - deliberately putting Abimelech in a trap and god threatened Abimelech in order to extort "sheep and oxen and male and female servants..." Only upon praying to god by Abraham that god healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children.

Oh, goodness! I can only hope that no intelligent human will take that book seriously and model our society using that as a moral reference.

Genesis 19

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/19.htm

Skeptic's bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/19.html

This is very likely to be one of the worse chapters in the Bible.

First, Lot offered his two virgin daughters to mob and do whatever they want.

“Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; [Verse 8]

In chapter 18, god promised not to destroy the city if there were more than 10 righteous men. Well, it seemed that god has already made up the mind to destroy the city anyway. The bible did not even bother to say whether god has checked and counted how many righteous men were there. Anyway, the city was destroyed sparing no one, not even children and infants.

Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. [Verse 24 & 25]

Modern moral systems generally consider incest as immoral. While I do not have any moral basis to suggest, nor object, incest, the bible definitely has described a case of incest. I look forward to finding out the consequence of this incident.

Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day. [verse 31 onward]

Genesis 18

bible source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/18.htm
skeptic's bible source http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/gen/18.html

This chapter contains parts of two stories: god telling Abrahan (formerly Abram) that he would have a son despite the couple were old, and the intention of god to plan a mass murder (version 18 onwards).

The interesting thing I can note here is that Abraham seemed to be of higher moral standard than god. At least he was able to ask if it would be just to kill all the people in a whole town if there were still 'righteous' men in town.

Another interesting, and very disturbing observation I can made is that god was much crueler than Abraham - "As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.". God was NOT interested in sparing the town for less than 10 righteous men!

What is the moral of this story?

Genesis 17

source http://nasb.scripturetext.com/genesis/17.htm

There is a voice in your head:

"I am going to make you very rich and have many children. But you must cut off the foreskin of your penis and the same for all your children."

Will you do that?

In today's standard, that's in humane. However, that is exactly what god requires Abram to do - circumcise!

Again, I do no understand why an almighty god would require one of his creation to do that AND then give special "blessing' to Abram? Why not all his creation?

Genesis 3: God punishes all mankind for the disobedience of two

In my first reading of Genesis 3, I pointed out the lack of "kindness" and "love" of the god in this myth. I felt uneasy of the concept of "original sin". Here is why from the post linked in the title:

Let’s say your grandfather is the worst man in the world. He raped and killed a thousand women and the truth finally came out. The judge pronounces the sentence: yes, this man must die, but not just him — his sons, daughters, and grandchildren must be killed as well. We would scream, “Injustice!” and remove him from office.

Genesis 16

I am sure bible is written by man. Woman and servant are just properties. Ladies, let me just translate into today's language and see if can agree on the moral values given in this chapter.

Abram has no child. Sarai, his wife, gave her maid (Hagar) to him in order to have a child. After having a child, Hagar despised her mistress. When Sarai told her husband that, Abram told Sarai to do whatever she liked to do on Hagar. Being treated badly, Hagar escaped but was told by god to go back and submit to her authority.

In today's moral standard, Abram, although his wife did not have a child, took a maid as wife. That is adultery!

Sarai treated her maid as a property which can be given to her husband. God told Hagar to submit to her mistress. That's is slavery in plain text.

Our moral standard has advanced. Bible can no longer be the basis of any moral discussion!

Genesis 15

version 9;

So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

This god is truly and surely suffering from serious inferiority complex. If god has really created the Universe and man, why is he so unsure as to constantly require reaffirmation from his own creation?

I guess god just like blood!

Genesis 13, 14

Nothing I would say about these two chapters.

Genesis 12

source http://kingjbible.com/genesis/12.htm

What is our relationship with our wives? Is my wife my property or partner?

According to verse 12, Abram treated his wife more like a property, may be used to trade for shelter and other pleasure. He is happy to let his wife to serve Pharaoh as "wife".

妻子是財產或夥伴？

對亞伯蘭,妻子是一個財產，可用於兌換住房和其他享受。他很高興地讓他的妻子擔任法老王的“妻子” 。

Genesis 11

The story of Genesis really describes a very bad god. If moral standard were based on religion such as those that based on old testament, we would all be in stone age still.

Because "now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them" (verse 6), god decided to confuse man's language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.

I really cannot understand the motive. If I were the creator of something intelligent, would I like to see my creation furnish to its full potential? Is god afraid of man creating something? What would that be? The truth that god actually does not exist?

創世記描述的是一個非常壞的神。如果道德標準是基於舊約,我們都將仍在石器時代。

因為以後他們所要作的事就沒有不成就的了, 神就使天下人的言語變亂.

我真的無法理解神的動機。如果我是創作者，我會希望我的創作能充分發揮其潛力？神就是怕人類的創造？或怕我們發現真相--神實際上並不存在？

Genesis 9

From verse 2, we can see what is the main motivational force god will use:

The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.

God blessed Noah so that every beast of the earth will be fearful and be terrified by Noah. Is it the same tactic god uses towards man? God wants man to be fearful and terrified by him. For an all-loving god, there would be other ways to gain the respect from man, right?

Verse 22:

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father ...

What is the big deal of seeing the nakedness of your father? Why while Ham saw the nakedness, yet Noah cursed Canaan?

What is kind of justice the bible trying to convey?