The Bible has been shocking to read this semester in many ways, but most shocking have been the tales of sexual escapades in the Bible. Reading David Plotz has helped me wade through the abyss of the Bible's many intricacies and also urged me to stay good humored about it, but I sometimes I just don't want to go on reading. Sometimes the Bible ends up being exactly the opposite of everything I thought it would be.
Until Genesis 39...
In this chapter, Joseph is confronted by a slave mistress who asks him repeatedly to 'lie with her'. Any other character in the Bible thus far would have done just that, but Joseph repeatedly rejects the woman. Even when the woman threatens to frame Joseph for rape, he refuses. Joseph stands as an unmarried, young adult male, and still is able to resist the temptation of a slave woman. I can't say the same for other characters; even their blood relation to another person won't stop them from having 'relations'. Joseph has breathed new life into the Bible for me. Plotz' take on the whole thing is quite amusing:
'Josephs willpower, in other words, is rooted in his faith and God's love. So far Genesis has described straight rape, attempted gay rape, father-daughter incest, coitus interruptus with a dead brother's wife, sex with one's own wife, sex with the wrong wife, sex with a concubine, sex with dad's concubine, and sex with a prostitute who is also a daughter-in-law. In any situation in which sex is available, men seize it. What's remarkable about Joseph is that he is the first person to resist sexual temptation. He's the best - or perhaps only - biblical argument for abstinence-based sex education' (28).
Amen.
Until Genesis 39...
In this chapter, Joseph is confronted by a slave mistress who asks him repeatedly to 'lie with her'. Any other character in the Bible thus far would have done just that, but Joseph repeatedly rejects the woman. Even when the woman threatens to frame Joseph for rape, he refuses. Joseph stands as an unmarried, young adult male, and still is able to resist the temptation of a slave woman. I can't say the same for other characters; even their blood relation to another person won't stop them from having 'relations'. Joseph has breathed new life into the Bible for me. Plotz' take on the whole thing is quite amusing:
'Josephs willpower, in other words, is rooted in his faith and God's love. So far Genesis has described straight rape, attempted gay rape, father-daughter incest, coitus interruptus with a dead brother's wife, sex with one's own wife, sex with the wrong wife, sex with a concubine, sex with dad's concubine, and sex with a prostitute who is also a daughter-in-law. In any situation in which sex is available, men seize it. What's remarkable about Joseph is that he is the first person to resist sexual temptation. He's the best - or perhaps only - biblical argument for abstinence-based sex education' (28).
Amen.
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