History of the Jews

1. History of the Jews • Pre-history: the Creation • B.C. 2000: Patriarchy: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob • B.C. 1800: the Egyptian Era • Jacob in power • Slavery: B.C. 1700-1250.

2. B.C.1250: Moses: in the wild, B.C. 1250 • Ten Commandments: B.C. 1250-1210 • Conquering: Joshua, B.C. 1210 • The ruling of the judges • The Era of the Kingdom: Saul, B.C. 1030-1010

3. History • Kingdom: King David, B.C. 1010-970 • King Solomon, B.C. 970-931

4. History • Separation the Kingdom: • North South • Judah B.C. 931-587or6 Israel B.C. 931-722 • Captured and Return to Jerusalem:

5. Creation Myth • The Bible • Egypt • The Middle East • China • Norse • Indian

6. Flood

7. Characters: God • 1. Unique and almighty, lonely • God said; God saw, God looked upon; God divided—all are proceeded solemnly in accord with the mode that God preset • The motif of divide/separate– symbolizing the world God created is well organized and ordered. No species can transcend their limit/category. • 2. From a creator to a destroyer: God is beyond human’s understanding.

8. Characters: Adam and Eve • separation—one of the origins of sufferings • When does separation from God arise? • Knowledge: What kind of knowledge did Adam and Eve search for? And why? • (the power to control like God; be blessed by God) • The nature of blessings: being fruitful and multiply, fortune, power, the sense of unity between man and the nature, self-fulfillment; the sense of completeness)

9. Characters: Adam and Eve • The eating of the forbidden fruit: desire for life and God’s blessings • Sin and Punishment: Is it all Eve’s fault? • The effects that sin bring in: • God’s punishment: • Eve: the pain of giving birth • Adam: lost of the power to give blessings to the creature in the world

10. Characters: Cain and Abel • Cain’s jealousy: the evil in humans • Who should be responsible for Cain’s evil doing? • God’s partiality: Is God all loving? • One of the most difficult lesson in life: Love cannot be distributed evenly and it is irrational. • Sibling rivalry: one of the motif in the Old Testament

11. Character: Noah • Flood: the demoniac God • The Ark: inside and outside • Noah: a man of virtue? Or an obedient goat? • Comparison: Noah and Abraham • The drunken Noah:

12. Character: Abraham • God and Abraham: • God’s another experiment to test human’s obedience and faith: 1. Asking Abraham to leave his homeland (Ur)—the first step to establish faith, to separate from the past and to face the fear of the unknown; 2. Promising Abraham a son • God’s fragile and unforeseeable promises and Abraham’s doubts • Abraham’s imagination (vision): needed to cultivate truth faith

13. Lot • City and civilization: generating sufferings, crime and incest • Lot: a man without vision • Choosing to go east (meaning going far away from the God • Choosing to live in the city (the beginning of his degeneration)Incestuous

14. Abraham and Isaac: • The meanings of having descendents in genesis: • immortality. Having descendents assures that human beings can defeat death. • Without descendents = emptiness, void and chaos before in the beginning of the world • A family full of violence and hurts: • Abraham: a merciless father (in contrast to his mercy for the people in Sodom) • Ishmael: a forgiving son • Isaac: a traumatized son; a blessed man but without vision; blind in eyes as well as in mind.

15. Esau and Jacob: another story of sibling rivalry • Twins: representing self division • Two extremes: Esau— emotional, no self-reflection, imprudent Jacob— cautious, cunning, calculative,) When the two extremes are in conflict with each other, the inner peace of mind is lost.

16. Esau and Jacob: another story of sibling rivalry • Esau = Jacob’s second ego (his hidden ego) Jacob’s deception of his brother=self conflicting • So even though Jacob was blessed by his father, the blessings never came true until he was finally reconciled with his brother Esau (= self-compromise) Compromising with the second ego = 充實圓滿的生活 (true safety and harmony);

17. Esau and Jacob: another story of sibling rivalry • Jacob: a mysterious person • His name meaning ‘he will deceive’ • Described as a plain and quiet person but in fact play tricks to his father and brother (the word “quiet” describe a person who is innocent and simple-minded) • A man of partiality favoring Rachel and Joseph without any reason; his partiality buried the seed of hatred and jealousy in his family); genetically cruel (for example, he turned down Leah)

18. Leah and Rachel • Leah: disliked by Jacob (Why?), but blessed by the God (fertility) —Her pain and suffering are reflected in her sons’ names: Reuben (having a son); Simeon (hearing); Levi (unifying); Judah (laudation; praised be the God); Issachar (having values); Zebulin (living together); Dinah —Zipah’s (Leah’s maidservant) sons: Gad (thousands of blessings); Asher (blessedness)

19. Leah and Rachel • Rachel: infertile • —Rachel’s sons: Joseph (adding); Benjamin • —When Rachel gave birth to Joseph, she didn’t thank God with rejoices, but said that God dismisses (asaf) my shame from me. May He adds (yosef) me one more son. In her battle with her sister, Rachel didn’t win. She suffered as much as her family (her sister, Jacob’s sons). (Envy ate into her heart.) • —Bilhah’s sons: Dan (my gravamen being justified); Naphtali (competing)

20. Family Tragedy • Instead of being the course of life and harmony, Jacob brought death and conflicts in his family. • Dinah: • Rachel’s death when giving birth to Benjamin: Benjamin = my son, my capable assistant • Reuben: trying to claim his status of being the first birth (sleeping with his father’s concubine Bilhah)

21. Family Tragedy • Joseph: • self-centred (revealed in his dreams); an arrogant young lad unaware of his brothers’ envy of him. • In Joseph’s dreams, the God didn’t appear, which means Joseph believed that he was born a great leader.)

22. Family Tragedy • Judah: in Jacob’s family, the first person who knows ‘mercy’.