The 5 Books Meander, Week 9 (Va-Yashev)

In brief:
We meet Jacob’s second-youngest-son Joseph, who is beloved by his father, and a bit of a twerp. Speaking of Joseph’s father, despite being renamed by the Lord, which you would think would count for something, so-called “Israel” is actually still called “Jacob.” This naming thing is complicated.

Joseph is sold into slavery. In a side story, Jacob’s son Judah’s daughter-in-law Tamar is twice widowed. Through some exceptionally tricky trickery , she ends up having twins with her father-in-law Judah. And along the way, at least in my translation, she gets called a “cult prostitute” for her troubles. Oh, and we meet her second husband, the infamous Onan — more on him in a moment.

Joseph goes down to Egyptland as a slave, resists temptation in a scene that feels straight out of To Kill a Mockingbird, gets thrown in jail, and delivers some exceptionally good news to the cupbearer, and some less positive news to the baker. (Spoiler: don’t get attached to the baker.)

A couple of thoughts:

• Joseph has some exciting dreams involving all sorts of people bowing to him. Which is great. And then he shares these dreams with everyone. Which is less great. There’s something wonderfully human though about meeting this young obnoxious Joseph and realizing, just like his dad, and just like all of us, he’s on a journey. He’s flawed and, let’s hope, capable of improving over time. As a young ‘un though, I’m not sure he deserved being thrown in a pit. But I’m not not sure either.
• I was fairly stoked to run into the infamous Onan, namesake for the sin of self-pleasure (aka “Onanism”). Turns out, and stay with me on this: Onan’s brother Er died, Onan is told to marry Er’s widow Tamar, and Onan’s sin is that because he wouldn’t get legal credit for any kid they might co-procreate, he chose instead to “let [his seed] go to waste, whenever [they] joined.” OK, so first off, I’m pretty sure that’s not masturbation. And isn’t Onan’s sin really just being a total jerk? So there it is, if someone’s a total jerk, feel free to call them an Onanist and tell them the Lord doesn’t approve. And if they question you, just say: “Genesis 38:10, mic drop.” The mic drop part is really important. If you don’t do that part, you are an Onanist.

If you’d like to join in… this is the place for comments and commentary on Va-Yashev (Gen 37.1 – 40.23)
Next up: Mikkets (Gen 41.1 – 44.17)
-Cecil