Fulfillment refers to the fact that the Lord would speak through the prophets and His Son will be sent on to earth to save humans from sin. From the reading, it makes clear that Hosea’s quote which refers to the coming of Christ refers to the past. Matthew specifically cites Hosea saying “Out of Egypt I have called my son”. In this way, the words spoken through the prophets await fulfillment and “they find it in the return of the Holy Family from Egypt”. The words of Hosea announce a new exodus in which Jesus Christ will save us. From Matthew 2:15 we see how the fulfillment of these prophecies come through Jesus Christ when “Out of Egypt I called my son”. This relates back to what we spoke about in class on Friday since we saw that the Exodus acts as a template to see what God will do in our generation and generations to come. The theme of this “replicating pattern” and return from exile. In Matthew chapter 1, it is clear that Jesus’ very birth “fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophets”. In this case, what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3 to clear the way of the Lord. In Ezek 37.24 it states that “they shall all have one shepherd.” Referring to the sending of the Messiah, the opening chapters of Matthew illustrate the elements of the Old Testament we discussed last class and illustrate how Jesus Christ is the true Emmanuel foreseen by Isaiah who will lead Israel in a new exodus from death to life. 

The book of Joshua illustrates the culmination of the Israelite’s journey to the Promised Land. Moses death at the end of Deuteronomy 34 signifies the transferring on of that leadership role to Joshua. Though Moses doesn’t physically enter the promised land, he is able to view it from the border/outskirts and see God’s fulfillment of the promises he made to himself and the patriarchs. Deuteronomy paves the way for the Israelites to inhabit the land God has promised them. The book of Joshua opens with God calling on Joshua to be strong and obedient, similar to the nature of Moses. Joshua then leads the people of Israel across the land, takes it, and (eventually) divides it among the tribes. The text illustrates how the people of his generation were called on to have faith and obedience to the Lord. In Chapter 3, when the Israelites are crossing the Jordan River, the priests with the Ark of the Covenant (and Israelites) walked on dry ground, just as they did when leaving Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. At the end of Joshua Chapter 4, the text states “The Lord did this so that all the people in this country would know that he is very powerful. Then they will always be afraid of the Lord your God”. The 12 stones in this chapter serve to illustrate how events during this generation serve to bring glory to God as all things are done through him. Overall, these verses help teach about the faithfulness of God and His ability to fulfill his promises, along with the obedience and faithfulness of the Israelite people. 

According to the Bible, a woman was impure for 7 days from the start of her menstrual flow. Anyone who touched the woman during this period would then become unclean themselves. The idea of “purity” involves removing dirt, pollution, or contaminating matter from the physical self. The idea of impurity is the opposite, and can involve body fluids, diseases, corpses, disapproved sexual activity, and immoral acts. According to Leviticus 13:45, leprosy was a horrible disease that required the exile from society and into isolation. In a way this impurity symbolized a sinful person being cutoff from the spiritual Israel and the isolation of the person in the Lord’s covenant. The purity laws were set in place for the Israelite people because they associated dirt with disorder. Some examples of such purity are seen when animals for sacrifice must be without blemish, women must be purified after childbirth, and priests can only come into contact with death when their own close kin die. According to Mary Douglas ”…the idea of holiness was given an external physical expression in the wholeness of the body seen as a perfect container”(53). The dietary food laws developed the metaphor of holiness on the lines of unity, integrity, and perfection of the individual. God required the maintenance of purity in order to teach the people obedience so that they could progress spiritually and to point their minds toward the source of salvation in Himself. The dietary laws served as a teaching tool. By voluntarily abstaining from certain foods or by preparing them in a certain way, it shows a personal commitment to act in one’s faith. Overall, these laws acted a both a social instrument to keep the nation Israel together as one and a spiritual instrument to keep the people remembering God as the one true God. 

God is an ultimate being who fills in the gaps at the limit of our own powers. In our moments of earthly life, it is a being that we can look to in times of need and failure. God is the creator of the heavens and the Earth. This can be proven through reason alone when posing the question “Who put the Earth here?” And “Where did we come from?” God is more than just the Creator of the universe, he is our Creator. Secondly, the fact that God made everything into being means that he is transcendent, or infinitely great. When Moses asks who he is in the burning bush, he responds “I AM Who Am”. He is personally present in each individual and walks with us on our journey of faith. According to Foster’s article, “God has become one of us and so he has become the truly nameable, standing in coexistence with us” (135). Through God, we are capable of living and loving as beings made in his likeness. It is through God that evil can be turned into goodness. God works for good even when others intend things for evil because God is love. By freely choosing as humans to trust in the Lord, we are able to partake in Him by not only glorifying God, but also being able to share in his love and divinity. 

The story of Joseph found in Genesis clearly reveals the theme of the “beloved son” emerging from the Bible. It is clear that Jacob has won favor in the eyes of his father, meaning that his inheritance will trump all his other brothers. While his brothers return to their father with a “bloodied garment” to show how he has died, Joseph actually is dropped into a pit, then taken into Egypt, and sold as a slave. When the brothers go to Egypt for grain during the famine, a silver cup is found in the youngest brother’s bag. Joseph plants the silver cup in his brother Benjamin’s sack, along with money in order to test his brothers. He planted it as evidence that would link the brothers, and more specifically, Benjamin to a serious crime. Joseph is giving his brothers another chance to act in another way and NOT abandon Benjamin. The brothers this time, “…may once again act to rid themselves of a favored sibling, spurning their father and leaving Benjamin behind in Egypt” (Anderson, 208). I think that Anderson’s commentary on Joseph as the beloved son is fascinating in many ways. Comparing Joseph’s lowering into the pit to Christ’s body being played out after his death, he emphasizes that he “redeemed his own from death”. “Those who hatefully tried to slay him found their very existence dependent on that rejection.” Similar to the way Jesus was given the title “Savior” and “Redeemer”, Joseph likewise acts in such a way by redeeming his brothers from famine and building a new life for himself, eventually elevated to a throne. When Benjamin and the other brothers return to their father, they state “Joseph is alive again! What’s more, he is the ruler over all of the land in Egypt” (Genesis 45:26). This, also, is similar to the elevation of the beloved Son Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. In this way, his return as ruler of Egypt is like a resurrection in glory (Anderson, 208). 

In this encounter, Jacob is fighting with a being greater than himself, relying on his own strength in the middle of the night in a foreign land. In the scene of Jacob wrestling, he is wrestling with a man- some might call an angel. Kass explains that this “tutelary angel” is a stand in for Esau given Jacob’s ongoing fear about Esau coming for him. In this encounter, he is given the name of Israel “owing to his persistent striving with God and man” (Kass, 406). I found it interesting that this scene in the Bible was based on the pagan folktales in which the hero is confronted by “river spirits”. Jacob ends up winning the fight and receiving a blessing from this figure who is fundamentally God in the form of man. He earns a new name as the first patriarch to acquire a name tied to God’s name. Yet, God also wins because Jacob proves himself. He endures the fight, strives, and struggles against the adversity that is presented. Ultimately, this is the virtue most needed to transmit God’s new way and God’s word. Jacob earns his place as patriarch, rather than just inheriting it as a descendant of Abraham. Jacob prevails because God grants him the blessing he asks for and changes his name to Israel in order to make a better future for him.

Religion is the belief in something greater than oneself. Fundamentally, it looks to answer the question of the meaning of our existence. It is one unified system of beliefs and practices in which humans can implement rituals and assign meaning to important things pertaining to that religion. For example, Catholics will emphasize holy water, an object that in other ways has no religious symbolism. Likewise, early human religious culture would emphasize hunting and agricultural fertility to explain things like weather or the nation’s prosperity. Religion can vary from anything from believe in spirits/one main spirit to believing in a way of living. Religion is a system that connects ordinary events to extraordinary powers and values. It doesn’t necessarily have to have a tradition aspect, but often times religious aspects in rituals will be passed down within the community. For example, Islam has the 5 pillars which emphasizes practices such as fasting and almsgiving. Religion can reach into the lives of people all around the world as well, making it cross cultural. For example, people in the United States can practice Taoism, a traditionally Chinese way of living. Overall, religion has major effects on writing, social organization, and culture. Often times emphasizing moral and ethical codes, religion even weaves its way into modern-day government and politics. 

Faith is fundamental when it comes to understanding God. Building off Saint Augustine’s writing, Wilken states that faith and reason work together. He states “Faith enables reason to exercise its power into realms to which it would otherwise have no access.” (Wilken, 185) Humans desire to know the world around us, along with the creator of these things- God. According to the words of Saint Augustine, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” This is evident when we have “run ins” with God in our everyday lives where we feel God’s grace working in us and in others. Wilken elaborates on this point being made by stating that God works in indirect ways; “It is always mediated, usually through another human being”. (Wilken, 180) Faith is unavoidable in the fact that it binds human nature together. Augustine states “Nothing would remain stable in human society if we determined to believe only what can be held with absolute certainty”. Faith is a necessary part of the human existence. It is beneficial in the fact that it aligns with love and obedience. Faith is so powerful that it draws other people in. Our own personal faith brings God’s people together, and the faith of an entire community strengthens our own relationship with God. Faith is a lifelong process in which we are able to grow closer to God only if we open our hearts and minds to His will. 

1. Abraham agrees to the request made of him by God because he realizes that he was chosen and he has faith in the Lord. Prior to this, when God asked Abraham to get up from Babylon and make a great nation elsewhere(Canaan), he obeyed. Abraham’s faith in the Lord is strengthened when the deepest longings in Abraham’s heart are fulfilled. From Kass’ analysis of the passage, I learned that God called on Abram with a command and promise and only LATER does God reveal himself to Abraham. Abraham’s faith is so strong in God that he understands in some way that God has a plan and will fulfill his promises. In a way, one might interpret Genesis 22:5 as a lie; in Genesis 22:5 it states “We will worship and then we will come back to you” implying that both him and his son will be returning (even when he had in mind that he would kill his son). However, this goes back to how Abraham’s faith in the Lord is so strong since he understands his son will, in fact, also be returning from the mountain with him. Abraham speaks correctly in line 8 when he says “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering…” God tests Abraham’s faith to see if he will really listen and obey his request. Prior to Genesis 22, God states in Genesis 21:12 that Abraham’s nation and offspring will be brought out through Isaac. In Abraham’s trust in God, he knew that in some way God would fulfill His promise. In many ways today, God tests our own faith. The ultimate measure of ones faith can be measured in times of challenge and controversy. In this instance, God is very praiseworthy because he looks to test Abraham in his faith while also never going back on the promises He made. It is evident that God will be with us through all trials and tribulations and walk with us in our faith. I think in the account of Abraham in Genesis, he can also be considered praiseworthy because he accepts God’s word and will and proceeds to go out and go through with killing his son. This stands in direct contrast to the actions of Adam within Genesis 3 where he willfully rebells against God’s word and alienates himself and other human beings through sin. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son as a testament of his faith similar to the way God sacrificed His only Son Jesus to save us from sin. Overall, this test proves to God that Abraham was obedient and genuine in his faith and trust in God, therefore, making him praiseworthy. 

In Genesis chapter 6, God calls on Noah, a man of faith and obedience, to build an ark to endure the flood. Genesis chapter 6 emphasizes how sin was rampant on Earth and God was very displeased; He, therefore, seeks to erase the evil that has populated His Creation. Following the eating of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God said to Adam and Eve that they will work very hard throughout their life until they die and become dust again- “for dust you are and to dust you will return”. In chapter 6 God repents His Creation seeing that humanity is corrupt, violent, and sinful. Rather than completely erasing it, He sends a flood to cleanse humanity. The flood symbolizes the cleansing of the earth from evil that entered the world through the first sin which occurred in Genesis 3. The themes of freedom, reason, pride, shame, and sin brought out in Genesis 3 carry on to Genesis chapter 6. Noah’s virtues directly contrast those of Adam and Eve in that he is obedient and righteous and never questions God’s instructions. It is important to note that the death and sin that entered the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden still carried on to Noah and his descendants. For example, Original Sin is still present in all of humanity along with being mortal beings. Like Adam, Noah must also be fruitful and multiply and take care of God’s creation. Overall, after analyzing Genesis Chapter 1-11, the variation on the theme of the condition of human nature and its relationship with sin(and with God) is clearly a fundamental part of Genesis.