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9 Nov, 29 tweets, 7 min read
Okay, we did it! #Genesis is done. If you missed anything, here’s a thread of it all, starting with the last major recap, up through Gen 36 (all previous recaps are embedded therein...I hope...)
Gen 37:1-11
Gen 37:12-17
Gen 37:18-36
Gen 38:1-11
Gen 38:12-30
Gen 39:1
Gen 39:2-23
Gen 40:1-4
Gen 40:5-23
Gen 41:1-13
Gen 41:14-36
Gen 41:37-46
Gen 41:47-52
Gen 41:53-57
Gen 42
Gen 43
Gen 44
Gen 45
Gen 46:1-7
Gen 46:8-27
Gen 46:28-34
Gen 47:1-12
Gen 47:13-26
Gen 47:27-31
Gen 48
Gen 49
Gen 50
And that’s that. Looking back over these, there’s so much more to say - not just about composition, but about interpretation and philology and literary art and more. But alas I mostly think about composition, so that’s mostly what you get from me. Hope it’s acceptable.

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More from @JoelBaden

Joel Baden Profile picture
27 Dec
#Exodus 7:8-13

The first wonder

The first encounter between Moses/Aaron and Pharaoh in the plagues/wonders cycle, and, alas, the source of much interpretive and compositional confusion - but a reasonable example of how P does this sort of thing.
YHWH instructs Moses and Aaron. The instructions are for Moses to tell Aaron to do something, to bring about a wonder. They do so, and then we hear about whether Pharaoh’s magicians can do the same. If they can, Pharaoh doesn’t care. That’s the basic structure here.
The confusion here comes in the content of the wonder itself. It is often assumed that this casting down of a staff and it turning into a snake is the “real” version of the “practice” one that Moses did back in Exodus 4. But it’s not, on multiple levels.
Read 9 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
26 Dec
#Exodus 7:1-7

Planning the plagues (not plagues)

One of the central distinctions between P and J in the section that we call the plagues narrative, upon which we are about to embark, is that in P they aren’t really plagues. Don’t @ me. Let me explain.
First, we’re still reading P here, continuing directly (originally) from Moses questioning his ability to speak to Pharaoh. YHWH’s response is to bring in Moses’s brother Aaron, who is explicitly identified as such here (in the uniquely P phrase “Aaron your brother”).
The key phrase in this section, of course, is “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” This is P’s major claim: that the purpose of all the shit that’s about to go down isn’t actually to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go, but to put on a big show of YHWH’s power.
Read 9 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
8 Nov
#Genesis 50

The end of the Joseph story

Three chunks of text here (one of which is embedded in another, but is easily identified). The chapter is mostly about the death of Jacob - Joseph’s death only comes at the very end (and only in one story).
The biggest part of the chapter is the fulfillment of Jacob’s request to Joseph at the end of Gen 47, that he be brought back to Canaan to be buried. Sure enough, as soon as Jacob dies, Joseph makes plans to carry out his father’s wishes.
Everything about how this is described conforms to the J story we’ve seen. Joseph having power in Egypt, but still having to ask Pharaoh for things carefully (as with the Goshen request), and Pharaoh being generous in response.
Read 14 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
7 Nov
#Genesis 49

Jacob’s final speech and death

The poem that is here attributed to Jacob’s final words is, as just about everyone recognizes, an originally independent piece. It’s a collection of tribal sayings, mostly with kind of confusing animal imagery and puns.
It might be pretty old - I think it probably is, at least in some original form - but that’s a separate issue. (I do think it’s been edited to account for the historical rise of Judah - the first few lines are quite different in form than what comes later.)
When we find an originally independent unit that appears in the text, we need to ask at what stage it was inserted. Into the canonical text? Into one of the sources? In this case, it’s pretty clear that the poem, whatever its origins, has been taken up by J.
Read 9 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
5 Nov
#Genesis 48

Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons

This chapter is mostly a continuous narrative. Jacob is sick and about to die, Joseph brings his kids, and Jacob blesses them, but switches hands, evidently intentionally, and makes a final deathbed request of Joseph.
On grounds exclusively internal to this chapter, there are two parts that stand out. One is the speech in 48:3-7. The problem here is that Jacob refers directly to Ephraim and Manasseh in this speech, and then in the next breath of 48:8 sees them and is like “who are they?”
The second problem is that Jacob blesses the little rascals (they’re probably full-grown adults, at least canonically) twice: once in 48:15-16, and once in 48:20a. And they aren’t quite the same blessing.
Read 17 tweets
Joel Baden Profile picture
2 Nov
#Genesis 47:27-31

The beginning of the end

Two summary statements from P, and one bit of dialogue from J as we near the end of the Joseph story and the various bits and pieces get wrapped up.
Israel settles in Egypt and acquires inheritable holdings (אחוזה) therein. The אחוזה is a P term and concept, and was referred to in the last P verse, 47:11. We have to read the reference to Goshen here as redactional, since that’s J; perhaps it read Rameses here originally.
Obviously the reference to being fruitful and multiplying in this verse is a dead giveaway for P. But what may not be clear is that this is it: this is the moment when Israel fulfills that aspect of the divine promise. It’s done, accomplished, never to be seen again.
Read 9 tweets

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