Topic AThe Joseph Saga
I hope you enjoy reading the Joseph Saga (Gen 36-50) as a tightly-knit drama where the actions of the characters have surprising results and unintended consequences. We will do something very different in this discussion thread. Follow these guidelines:
Beginning no earlier than Tuesday. Participants should write single sentence statements that will link the entire story together. You must follow this pattern:
If ________________ had not happened, then ____________________ would not have happened.
The blanks in the sentence pattern will not be single words, but events of the story. Add biblical citations to both of the events. This is a biblical citation: Gen 39:2-20. (See How to Read the Bible, Week 1, for more on biblical citations.)
What helpful information was provided in the footnotes of your NRSV study Bible? Paraphrase and cite, or quote and cite. Here is an example from Gen 37:3:
Theodore Hiebert, editor of Genesis in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, explains that the adjective paired with robe in Gen 37:3 is difficult to translate. NRSV’s a long robe with sleeves replaced the traditional translation of “coat of many colors,” which was based on the assumption in the LXX (ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) that the uncommon adjective was “multicolored” (66).
“37:3 The rare Hebrew term modifying robe appears to mean ‘the palms of the hands’ or ‘the soles of the feet,’ hence the NRSV’s a long robe with sleeves (see also 2 Sam 13:18-19). The traditional translation, ‘a coat of many colors,’ is based on the LXX [Septuagint], which took this unusual Hebrew term to mean ‘multicolored.'” Theodore Hiebert, “Genesis” in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha, 66.
To do this correctly you have to find out which scholar was responsible for the notes in Genesis. And you need to give the title and page number of your study Bible.
