At this point in our reading of Genesis, we have encountered multiple families that have complex, confusing and often violent encounters with one another. At the heart of many of these problems seems to be favoritism. Paying particular attention to Jacob's family, how do you understand the role of favoritism in his family? What values does this family seem to emphasize and prize? In what ways is Joseph as the favorite different from Jacob, Isaac or Abraham? In what ways is he similar? If you read about a family like this in a book that wasn't the Bible, what kind of conclusions and judgments might you make about them? Given the fact that this family is feature in the Bible, how does that change your understand of them? How does it change your understanding of the Bible?
In your answers, you should refer to specific moments and/or lines from the Bible to illustrate each of your points. You must include at least 3 examples from the text in your response.
In the story about Joseph, he has many brothers who are all very jealous of him because Joseph is the fathers favourite. However Joseph acts as if he is blind to it, and tells them his dreams even though they are all about the other brothers worshipping him. Ultimately the brothers decide to get rid of him, but Joseph is saved by God in Egypt many times, showing Gods and Jacobs favouritism for Joseph. This story is a bit different though because Jacobs favouritism towards Joseph is by Josephs manipulation and spying on his brothers. I find this strange because God does not want us to lie about others for our own good, yet Joseph is and he favoured. In the other stories, we have seen Gods outright favouritism, and then the anger of the other sibling is somewhat justified. If I were to read about this in a book I would be surprised that lying to put down you brothers would be considered good and it is rewarded. This makes me think about how Genesis is quite conflicted in some places such as here. This makes me more confused about its credibility as a literary piece.
ReplyDeleteFavoritism in the Bible is shown quite ofter and we see it most often in families with two boys. The three examples we have talked about so far have been Cain and Able, Ishmael and Issac, and Esau and Jacob. The most extreme example has been Esau and Jacob not in their actions but in how closely related they are. They are born just seconds apart and from birth the Bible foreshadows the envious relationship they will have. This is shown when Jacob grabs Esau's heel during birth and the Bible states in line 26 "he grasps the heel; he deceives". The twins have favoritism shown throughout their lives as their parents each favor one over the other and the God favors Esau. When we looked at this in class we talked about how Esau is willing to lie or deceive for his own good as well as force people to give up their birth rights. Then thinking about the fact that God favors Esau it seems that God values things differently than we do today. If in a book published today or in a TV show we saw fans or other characters favoring the character who deceives to get ahead I would be shocked and I think that if this were to happen people would favor the other character over Esau. This makes me change my perspective on God and his status as holy and all knowing because I would think that the writers of the bible would portray a "good person" and the holy one. It makes the Bible seem very conflicting and possibly hypocritical which lessens my respect for it as a literary or religious text.
ReplyDeleteI think that so far, the act of favoritism shown within the family of Jacob has been pretty unique. Within this family, the Joseph is favored over his brethren, and a great deal of this favoritism comes from Joseph's ability to manipulate others. He likes to twist his father's view of his brothers, in turn receiving the highest standing among everyone else, and also receiving a pretty nice coat, all the while being completely oblivious to his brother's detest for him. God clearly favors Joseph as well, because when Joseph is cast out by his brothers, God helps him every step of the way. In the story of Cain and Abel, the favoritism shown seems kind of arbitrary. God only liked Abel better because he gave him firstborn animals, while Cain could only farm and produce fruits and vegetables. So the way I see it, either one of the brothers could have been favored by God if they became the "offerer of the animals." In the story of Jacob and Esau, God favored Jacob more, and so did his mother Rebekah. Clearly, favoritism is a common theme in the chapters we have read so far. Paired with that, it also seems that jealousy amongst the less favored siblings is a recurring theme as well. If I were to see these stories outside of the Bible, I would probably favor the least deceitful of the siblings, and looking at the way God is portrayed in the Bible, I probably wouldn't like him as well. If he is supposed to be the ultimate example of kindness and benevolence, I feel that he shouldn't be constantly picking favorites, which is what starts the sibling rivalries in the first place.
ReplyDeleteSo far in Genesis, the "Family Strife" has come from Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his eleven brothers. Favoritism plays a big role in deciding who is cursed and who is blessed. For example in Jacob's family, Isaac likes Esau more than Jacob but Rebecca likes Jacob more than Esau. This family seems to value putting themselves higher than each other. For example, part of the blessing that Isaac plans on giving to Esau involves him getting all the inheritance while Jacob is pushed below Esau and gets nothing being forced to be his servant. Of course, Jacob and Rebecca value these things too as seen when Jacob takes Esau's birthright and Mother and son conspire to steal the blessing. All because of favoritism. Joseph was a different story in that he was the youngest of twelve. The story continued out as the rest did: first, a parent or God shows favoritism, then, the other sibling(s) plan to harm the favored sibling. If I saw another family like this that wasn't in the Bible, I'd just be confused on why there is so much favoritism and why are blessings more important than your own flesh and blood. My understanding of the Bible hasn't changed but is does make you wonder about the favoritism in Genesis because it is never stated why siblings are favored over others. Why?
ReplyDeleteJacob’s family is divided due to favoritism between the children. Isaac, Jacob’s dad, favors his son, Esau; for when Isaac was old he asked Esau to “take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison…” and not Jacob. (pg. 36, line 3) This shows that Isaac trusts Esau to gather better food than Jacob. This family emphasizes the importance of asking for help and when asking for help, it is important to support them. For example, when Esau was weak, he asked Jacob to feed him, and “Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way..” (Pg. 34, line 34) Although, Jacob helped Esau in this situation, Esau had to do something in return, “he sold his birthright unto Jacob.” (pg. 34, line 33) So, their family seems to value helping others, but the person receiving help usually has to do something in return. What is different with Joseph’s favoritism is that since Israel loved him more than all of his other children, his siblings despised him. Where in Jacob’s situation he is favored by his mother, but is not hated by his brother, because his brother is also favored. People despised Joseph so much that he was taken into a pit, where when Jacob was favored, jealously did not lead to a life threatening encounter. Jacob’s and Joseph’s favoritism is different, but also similar. For, both Jacob’s and Joseph’s favoritism involves their families and the conflicts that arise between them. In Harry Potter, Dudley is favored by his parents compared to Harry. I guess this is a little different considering they are not truly his parents, but his aunt and uncle; but they are technically a family. I concluded that their parents favored him because Dudley is officially part of the family and is more similar to his parents than Harry. Harry is not liked by his “parents” as much because he is a wizard and not truly a part of the family. When relating Harry Potter to the Bible, I come to the conclusion that parents favor certain children because of traits they may have, or because they might have more in common with them. I have come to realize that there must be more supporting evidence as to why certain parents favor their children more; but we are just not given all of the evidence in the Bible. Harry Potter has taught me to be more understanding of parents who favor certain children over others.
ReplyDelete(Help and ideas from Yasmin Abdella)
The main difference between the favoritism in Jacob and Joseph's family is that it seems to be right in Joseph's case. Joseph has many brothers, not just one and they resent him so much that they eventually plot to get rid of him (1). Joseph is unaware of being favored. He probably doesn't even know his brothers hate him or acts as if they don't. In Jacob's case it is between him and his one brother Esau, his twin. Jacob isn't described as having as many good qualities as Joseph (2). It isn't mentioned that Esau hates Jacob, and if anything it is the other way around. Jacob only agrees to spare Esau's life if he gives up his birthright (3) which is pretty cruel. This makes me really conflicted about the Bible. I can see why God would favor Joseph, but it's almost torture to his brothers. I don't fully understand why God favors Jacob because he seems pretty nasty so far and isn't as worthy as Joseph both in his description and based on his actions we have seen so far. In another book, the favored character usually is good, or you see more of them and sympathize with them no matter how wrong they might be. The favoritism in the Bible makes it seem as though God is void of feelings or even illogical (he favors Joseph to the point where his brothers try to to kill him, why would you want that?). It is likely that God favors for a reason that makes the plot of the Bible what it is, or at least that's what is expected of readers of the Bible but at this point it doesn't make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJoseph and Jacob are similar in the sense that they both manipulate others to get what they want. Though they are both God's favorites over their siblings, they feel the need to deceive others. For example, when Joseph was young, he spied on his brothers, then "brought unto his father their evil report" (line 2, chapter 37). And Jacob pretended to be his brother so that he would get his father's blessing. This makes me question why they were favored by God in the first place. Favoritism plays a big part in Genesis, "the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect." (line 4 and 5, chapter 4). God's favoritism of Abel caused Cain to get mad, and kill his brother! But it's not only God who chooses favorites among siblings. The parents in Genesis also pick a preferred child, which would be pretty unusual in another text. "And Isaac loved Esau", "but Rebekah loved Jacob" (line 28, chapter 25) .So, why isn't it as weird when this occurs in Genesis? This makes me question why a religious text would contain themes like this.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking upon the topic of favoritism in Genesis, there are many examples that come to mind. Between siblings these include, Isaac and Ishmael, Cain and Abel, and perhaps the most notable, Jacob and Esau. The two's envious rivalry is apparent from birth, as Jacob latches on to Esau's heel in order to prevent him from being born first. (Line 26). As the two grow older, even Isaac and Rebecca even pick favorites, as Isaac favors Esau more than Jacob, while Rebecca prefers Jacob over Esau. However God seems to favor Esau, more than his brother, which ignites the envy between them even more. I think that Joseph is similar to Esau in the fact that he personally tries to manipulate others into liking him more. Esau on the other hand, seems to have had the competitive nature ever since birth. Since Joseph was the youngest in his family, he has learned the ways of deceit through growing up in this family. Jealousy and favoritism seems to rule this family, for example when Isaac gives Esau all of his belongings while Jacob gets nothing. After this happens, as Mola has stated, when Jacob and Rebecca plan to take the blessing away from Esau. The fact that Rebecca conspires against her own son reinforces the fact that this family is corrupted by favoritism. If I saw this in real life, I would push for the underdog, the child that is thrust below his brother. Of course, these events should never occur between a family in the real world. I have always known that the Bible contained much jealousy, but I never knew that it could take over and corrupt a family to this caliber.
ReplyDeleteSo far in Genesis, there have been three prominent situations where God favors one son over the other. These Examples include Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau. The situation that stands most out to me is the relationship between Jacob and Esau. Esau is the favored one in this relationship. Genesis leaves me to think “Why does God exactly choose Jacob, or why does God pick favorites?” Jacob and Esau are twins, who born minutes apart, making it all the more competitive to be the best. Before the true conflict began between the brothers, there was symbolism mention in the story of their birth. During birth Jacob grabbed onto Esau’s foot as if pulling him back into the womb. This foreshowed that Jacob would “try to drag Esau down,” but not succeed. The situation just become more complicated because the parents of the twins both favor different children. God may favor Esau more than Jacob because Esau is willing to lie, something God does not abide by, for his sake. And adding onto the sacrifices he makes, he gives up all the land and property he has, his birth rights. I feel like God would favor Jacob more now, because he has most of the land and seems to be doing better than Esau, but no. God values specific characteristics in man, such that Esau has. It seems slightly conflicting, as Genesis seems to always be, because one would think that Jacob is “the holy one,” but is not.
ReplyDeleteIn Genesis, families are extremely complicated. We see this as far back as Adam and Eve's family. Able was favored by God which caused anger and jealousy in the brotherhood between Cain and Able causing Cain to kill his brother. Favoritism cause hatred and anger no matter who you are in a family. In Isaac's family, Esau is favored by Isaac which makes Jacob build the desire to take all that his brother has. He took the birthright from Esau and afterwards disguised himself so his parents thought he was Jacob. Not only did he trick his older brother but he tricked his parents as well. It seems that the lesson in the Bible about families and favored members is to accept it and move on. Yet it seems wrong that you are supposed to accept the idea that you are lesser than all members of your family especially when you are sibling. It almost impossible not to become envious of a sibling who gets all of the love in your family.
ReplyDelete