Saturday, March 27, 2010

GENESIS 45, or "Peace out, bro"

Wherein Joseph finally reveals the truth to his brothers

Moved by Judah's pleas, Joseph clears the room of everyone except for his brothers. He then tells them the truth: he is Joseph, the brother that they believed to have been dead (or possibly enslaved).

After that, there's a lot of astonishment, explaining, and hugging. Joseph tells his brothers to go back to Canaan and bring their father to Egypy, where their family will be given the best land of the nation.

The brothers do as Joseph asks, with the chapter concluding with Jacob about to travel to Egypt, hoping to see Joseph before he dies.

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This is a pretty straightforward chapter, and I'm struggling to think of something further I can say about it. So instead of exploring something relating to the chapter, how about another name of God, hmm?

Since the last time we visited this topic we focused on El Shaddai, a name for God that might have come from the word "destroy," lets focus on the kinder, gentler "Shalom," which is most simply translated as "peace."

Though the word "shalom" occurs many times in the Old Testament, it is only used as a name for God once, in Judges 6:24: "So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites."

More than referring just to peace, "shalom" comes from the Hebrew root "shalam" which means "safe" and "complete." It can also be used as way of saying hello or goodbye. Even though shalom can be used to express all these things, since it is a name of God, one must be careful when and how it is used. For example, uttering a name of God in an unholy place, such as a bathroom, is strictly forbidden under Jewish orthodoxy.