Category: genesis

One of those little known passages

Having a recent post from Adam Kotsko in the back of mind a verse in Genesis 35 stood out as though in bold print.  The context is an account of Rachel’s giving birth to the last of the twelve sons of Israel.  Verse 18 reads,

As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-Oni [Son of my Sorrow]; but his father called him Benjamin [Son of the right hand/strength].

The voice of sorrow dies with the mother and symbol of power arises with the father.  Thank God this perversion is at least recorded.  Oh and a couple of verses later the first born Reuben sleeps with Bilhah mother of Dan and Napthtali.

Lent 1 – Taking positions

An abbreviated version of my Lent 1 sermon this Sunday.  (For some other great reflections see here and here)

I can, quite clearly, remember a handful of times having an upset stomach when I was a child.  I don’t think this was any sort of chronic issue that I suffered.  The memory embedded itself because of its strangeness.  It was not like a cut or a bruise or even a headache where the source of pain or discomfort was readily and clearly identifiable.  An upset stomach was something a little more buried.  It was something that shifted and churned.  At one point it could be a pain and at the next moment a nauseous feeling would wash over me.  Something at the centre of me was out of place and it affected my entire orientation.  And so I remember trying to sit or lie down in certain positions.  I tried to find some way of being that would ease these subterranean flows.

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The Torah’s Vision of Worship – Part I – Creation’s Liturgy and the Cosmic Covenant

I don’t suspect that the next number of posts in this series will garner great interest (though I do indeed think Balentine’s work deserves a wide audience).  I have created a page above as I hope these posts will eventually build towards to a contemporary and constructive theological account of the priesthood as expressed in the Pentateuch.

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