The Women of the Word will meet every morning during Holy Week, starting next Monday, April 18, at 9:00 a.m.

                         Women of the Word, April 14

Genesis 50
The first eleven verses of this final chapter describe Jacob’s (here called Israel by the priestly writer) death and Joseph’s mourning for him. Because he died in Egypt, Jacob’s body was embalmed, and he was mourned for 70 days, the number of completion. At the end of that time, Joseph secured Pharaoh’s permission to take Jacob’s body back to Caanan for burial in the ancestral cave at Machpelah. They traveled through the trans-Jordan with a massive retinue, a sign of the great respect accorded to the patriarch.

When Joseph and all the company returned to Egypt, his brothers were afraid that Joseph still held a grudge against them for their long ago actions, so they approached him and claimed that, on his deathbed, Jacob had asked Joseph to “forgive your brothers’ crime and wickedness,” although there is no mention of this request in Jacob’s dying blessing in Gen. 49. Kneeling before their brother, the others said, “You see, we are your slaves,” thus fulfilling the dream prophecy that Joseph had made to them as a boy (Gen. 37:5-10). Joseph, however, set their minds at ease, reminding them, as he had earlier, that although they had meant him harm God had turned that to good “by preserving the lives of many people.”

Joseph lived to see the birth of his great-great-grandsons; when he was dying he told his family and his brothers that “God will not fail to come to your aid and take you from here to the land which he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He made them promise that when that happened, they would take his bones with them “from here”; Moses would fulfill this promise when he led the exodus out of Egypt (Ex. 13:19). In the meantime, Joseph was embalmed and buried in Egypt.

This finishes that part of the Torah that shows what the chosen people thought of themselves culturally and spiritually as they reflected on their origins. Genesis is a study on how to recover and rebuild. You do this by taking care of the tribe; it is protected and defended, moved when necessary. Sometimes this meant losing a battle but never giving up or losing identity. The writers are true to the story; it is presented as it happened. There is no attempt to clean up or gloss over those actions that put any of the actors in a bad light; they are pictured, warts and all, in their place in early Hebrew history.

REMINDER AND INVITATION:
The Women of the Word will meet every morning during Holy Week, starting next Monday, April 18, at 9:00 a.m. Monday we will meet in the Library. Tuesday through Friday we will meet in our usual venue in the Guild Room. Barbara Suhar will be discussing various aspects of the liturgy involving the week, the Last Supper, the role of the women around Jesus, Joseph of Arimathaea, and much more. Anyone who is interested is welcome to join us!

Submitted by Karilyn Jaap