Theological Reflection on the stories of GENESIS

Reflection: What are the central themes contained in the stories of Genesis?

The Sacred Tools of Discernment indicated that the answer to this question may be obtained by reflecting on the primary influence of the tribe of Gad and the secondary influence of the tribe of Ephraim & Manassah; that is,  Warrior + Produce = Profit.

Betsa (beh’-tsah) in Hebrew means “gain by force” or “profit.”

The text associated with Profit (betsa) in the Hebrew Scriptures is the story about “Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers (see Gen 37:25-27).”

The story appears in the Changes section of the reflection cycle, which means that Outcome is still in process. The inference we can draw from this is that the end of the story regarding making a profit is still in process.

What profits us might be considered to be the prime directive of humanity. It is the intelligence underlying creation in its multiplication phase. Survival of the fittest is driven by the motivation to increase. Whether we can conclude that this was the prime motivation of the Tribes of Israel in their relationship with YHWH might be highly speculative. Nevertheless, it appears that the relationship the Hebrews had with YHWH was to gain Strength in battle and Abundance in life.

CHANGES
The text says, “Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed.”

OUTCOME
The outcome was that Joseph became a great man in Egypt and eventually prospered his brothers as well. Later, the situation changed again and began another episode in the ongoing saga.

TODAY’S WORLD
The saga continues in the Middle East…

References:
See Bibliography: Sacred Tools of Discernment by Jonn Lavinnder