Ok . . . how important are Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph?

I got a little side-tracked from the broader Biblical story. My excuse is that the facts/customs/beliefs about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph seemed rather closely related (in more ways than one). The textual study of how Abraham is placed in Scripture is back in the March 25th and April 9th posts. But Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are also more than just characters in Genesis. Their names do appear in other Old and New Testament books. So, what was Scripture saying about Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph before the onset of modern archaeology?

Map from Bible History Online of the Twelve Tribe Settlements

Old Testament:

• Exodus 3:3-6, "So Moses said, 'I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.' When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then He said, 'Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' He said also, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God."
• Isaac and Jacob - portrayed as historical men.
• Why would you have a God of a historical Abraham who is at the very same time the God of an imaginary Isaac and Jacob?
• God speaking directly to Moses called Himself the God of Isaac and Jacob. Why would a real God identify Himself as the God of imaginary figures?
• Why would Moses be afraid of a God who identified Himself with mythology?
• Joshua 16:4-17:10, "The sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim [direct sons--see Genesis 41:50-52--with Manassah being the firstborn], received their inheritance. Now this was the territory of the sons of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth-addar, as far as upper Beth-horon. Then the border went westward at Michmethath on the north, and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh and continued beyond it to the east of Janoah. It went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to Naarah, then reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan [River]. From Tappuah the border continued westward to the brook of Kanah, and it ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families, together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages . . . Now this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war . . . The border of Manasseh ran from Asher to Michmethath which was east of Shechem; then the border went southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. The border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook (these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh), and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook and it ended at the sea. The south side belonged to Ephraim and the north side to Manasseh, and the sea was their border; and they reached to Asher on the north and to Issachar on the east."
• Joseph - portrayed as a historical man.
• How do you have real cities defining the borders of imaginary tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (see the Twelve Tribes Settlement map above, and the following Google Map)?
• Why would the real river Jordan and the real Mediterranean Sea define borders of imaginary tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh?
• How can you say real tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh) are descendents of imaginary people (Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph)?
• Why would firstborn status be important for the tribe of Manasseh, if the story of Manasseh being the firstborn son of Joseph was simply imaginative?

• Joshua 24:2-4, "Joshua said to all the people, 'Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt."'"
• Isaac and Jacob - portrayed as historical men.
• Why would Joshua's parting speech to the Israelite people be about imaginary characters?
• How could the descendents of a real Abraham be multiplied through imaginary figures (Isaac and Jacob)?
• How could an imaginary Jacob travel to a real Egypt?
• I Kings 18:36-39, "At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, 'O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel [Jacob], today let it be known that You are God in Israel [nation] and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.' Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, 'The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.'"
• Isaac and Jacob - portrayed a historical men.
• Why would Elijah call for aid from the God of imaginary figures?
• Why would God respond Elijah's request for real action after Elijah said He was the God of imaginary men?
• How could the people worship the real God of imaginary characters?
• I Chronicles 2:1-2, "These are the sons of Israel [Jacob]: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher."
• Jacob and Joseph - portrayed as historical men.
• Why would the twelve tribes (Many verses interchange Joseph with Ephraim and Manasseh. But Levi held no land, so the land-holding tribes still numbered twelve with Ephraim and Manasseh.) of Israel retain identical names to merely imaginary figures, such as Joseph? Wouldn't this grow old?
• Why would record be kept of the sons of an imaginary man Jacob?
• I Chronicles 29:10-19, "So David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, 'Blessed are You, O LORD God of Israel [Jacob] our father, forever and ever . . . But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours. Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You. O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision.'"
• Isaac and Jacob - portrayed as historical men.
• Why would David identify the real Israelite people as sojourners just like imaginary forefathers?
• Why would David acknowledge that "all things" come from God based in part on the sojourner status of imaginary forefathers?
• Why would David call an imaginary  Isaac and Jacob fathers of the real nation of Israel?
• How could the God of imaginary forefathers preserve the hearts of a real people and David's own son?
• Why build a temple for the God of imaginary forefathers?
• How did David and the nation of Israel know God's name was holy, if all they ever heard were tales regarding God's involvement in the lives of imaginary forefathers?
• Jeremiah 33:14-26, "'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David [Christ the Messiah] to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth' . . . The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven [stars] cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me."' And the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 'Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, "The two families which the LORD chose, He has rejected them"? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight. Thus says the LORD, "If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them."'"
• Isaac and Jacob - portrayed as historical men.
• How can the descendents of an imaginary man, Jacob, be as firmly established as nighttime and daytime?
• Why would the descendents of an imaginary Jacob be identified alongside those of a real King David, who is identified as the forefather of Christ (Branch of David)?
• Why would the name of an imaginary man, Isaac, be placed between those of two historical men, Abraham and Jacob?
• Amos 5:4-6, "For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel,
              'Seek Me that you may live.
        But do not resort to Bethel [Judges 1:22]
              And do not come to Gilgal [I Samuel 11:14-15],
              Nor cross over to Beersheba [II Chronicles 19:4];
              For Gilgal will certainly go into captivity
              And Bethel will come to trouble.
        Seek the LORD that you may live,
              Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
              And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel . . .'"
• Jacob and Joseph - portrayed as a historical men.
• Why say "house of Israel" if Israel/Jacob was an imaginary man?
• Why say "house of Joseph" if Joseph was an imaginary man?
• How could the descendents of an imaginary man Joseph live in real cities and later be taken into captivity?

New Testament: (this is getting a little long, so I'll postpone the New Testament verses)

Noah--Looking back . . . (Part II)

Resuming exploration of the Biblical Flood in terms of present-day facts and beliefs:

• Subterranean water
• Trapped water - Potentially three times more water in the mineral ringwoodite, 400 miles below Earth's surface, than in surface oceans.
• Aquifers - Supplying ~70% (or more) of fresh water for irrigation and drinking.
• Genesis 7:11, 7:19, 8:3, 8:14, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened . . . The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered . . . and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased . . . In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry."

• Geysers, showing the reality of forceful expulsion of water from subterranean regions
• Hardly requires a specific source. Here is a Wikipedia list, where most are located in the United States or New Zealand.
• Genesis 7:11, "In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened."

• Worldwide, water-deposited sedimentary rocks
• Limestone: Formed by precipitation of calcite from water or by deposition of marine organisms.
• Limestone: Composes ~15% of sedimentary rock in the Earth's crust.
• Oil & Gas Shale (a.k.a. "mudstone"): Found in 46 countries, including vast landlocked regions, as shown in the linked EIA map.
• Genesis 7:17-19, "Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered."

• Un-ending summer, winter, planting, and harvest
• The regularity of seasons is confirmed by the global success of agriculture (talking in general here, not denying localized floods and hurricanes).
• Abnormal seasons are still newsworthy/noteworthy, not commonplace. One example was "The Year Without a Summer", which was still marked by rain rather than snow.
• Genesis 8:20-22, "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, 'I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains,
              Seedtime and harvest,
              And cold and heat,
              And summer and winter,
              And day and night
              Shall not cease.'"

• Mankind filling the earth
• This requires no specific source.
• Genesis 9:1, "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.'"

• Animals' fear of man
• Seen by anyone who tries to walk up to a deer or a bird in the wild. An animal has to be domesticated to subdue this fear.
• Genesis 9:2, "'The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given.'"

• Distastefulness of eating live meat (of animals with blood circulation systems)--(Edited 3/14/2016)
• Generally accepted, with exceptions mainly just dishes prepared for sensational effect.
• Genesis 9:3-4, "'Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.'"

• Retribution of death to murderers
• This may require a specific source today, although not in the past. About 55 countries, according to Death Penalty Worldwide, still consider murder to be punishable by death.
• Genesis 9:6-7, "'Whoever sheds man’s blood,
              By man his blood shall be shed,
              For in the image of God
              He made man.
        As for you, be fruitful and multiply;
              Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it.'"
  

Day, night, morning, and evening--here comes controversy . . .

More English to Hebrew to Genesis:

"Day" - yō-wm, hay-yō-wm, ū-lə-yā-mîm, and bay-yō-wm

• yō-wm (Strong's 3117) - in order of priority, it can mean day rather than night, a day noted by morning and evening, the day of the Lord, or a longer period of time

Gen. 1:5, "God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."

Gen. 1:8, "God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."

Gen. 1:13, "There was evening and there was morning, a third day."

Gen. 1:19, "There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

Gen. 1:23, "There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day."

Gen. 1:31, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

Gen. 2:2-3, "By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

• hay-yō-wm (Strong's 3117) - same root word as yō-wm

Gen. 1:14, " . . . 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;'"

Gen. 1:16, "God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also."

• ū-lə-yā-mîm (Strong's 3117) - same root word as yō-wm

Gen. 1:14, " . . . 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;'"

• bay-yō-wm (Strong's 3117) - same root word as yō-wm

Gen. 1:18, "and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good."

Gen. 2:2-3, "By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

"Night" - lā-yə-lāh, hal-lā-yə-lāh, and ū-ḇal-lay-lāh

• lā-yə-lāh (Strong's 3915) -  in order of priority, it can mean dark night (as opposed to day), or a figurative night

Gen. 1:5, "God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."

• hal-lā-yə-lāh (Strong's 3915) - same root word as lā-yə-lāh

Gen. 1:14, " . . . 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;'"

Gen. 1:16, "God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also."

• ū-ḇal-lay-lāh (Strong's 3915) - same root word as lā-yə-lāh

Gen. 1:18, "and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good."

"Morning" - ḇō-qer

• ḇō-qer (Strong's 1242) - in order of priority, it can mean end of night/dawn/sunrise, or bright joy

Gen. 1:5, "God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."

Gen. 1:8, "God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."

Gen. 1:13, "There was evening and there was morning, a third day."

Gen. 1:19, "There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

Gen. 1:23, "There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day."

Gen. 1:31, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

"Evening" - ‘e-reḇ

• ‘e-reḇ (Strong's 6153) - means sunset/onset of darkness

Gen. 1:5, "God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."

Gen. 1:8, "God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day."

Gen. 1:13, "There was evening and there was morning, a third day."

Gen. 1:19, "There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day."

Gen. 1:23, "There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day."

Gen. 1:31, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day."

I know this was really long, but these words seemed important to group together.

Has the Genesis account of creation endured?

Gen. 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

• Yes, we still see the starry heavens above.
• Yes, we live on the Earth.

Gen. 1:2, "The earth was formless and void . . ."

• Yes, there are many accounts of creation with the Creator fashioning a relatively "void" world

Gen. 1:3, "Then God said, 'Let there be light . . .'"

• Yes, we definitely still see visible light today.

Gen. 1:4, ". . . and God separated the light from the darkness."

• Yes, we don't see light everywhere.
• We still "see" darkness.

Gen. 1:5, "God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and morning, one day."

• Yes, we still have a name for lighted time (not talking about the exact word here)--"day" in English.
• Yes, we still name the darkened time--"night" in English.
• Yes, we still combine one lighted time and one darkened time into a single unit--"a day" in English. We talk about six days until Christmas, not six days and six nights.

Gen. 1:6, "Then God said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.'"

• Sounds like this is talking about an empty space of air, or sky, surrounding the Earth (see Gen. 7:11), but some uncertainty, as the opening of the "floodgates", or "windows", of heaven in the account of Noah's Flood may have changed the nature of this "expanse".
• We do have water on or in the earth separated from water above our heads (which we see fall as rain today).

Gen. 1:9, "Then God said, 'Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear . . .'"

• Yes, we still have much dry land separated from surrounding water.

Gen. 1:10, "God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas . . ."

• Yes, we still name the dry land--"earth", "ground", or "land" in English.
• Yes, we still name large bodies of water visible from the Earth's surface--"seas", or "oceans" in English.

 . . . (to be continued) . . . (unless everyone is bored to death)