Abraham and his wife Sarah are promised a son. It’s taking a long time so she has Abraham impregnate her handmaid, Hagar. Hagar has a son called Ishmael. But eventually Sarah has her own son, Isaac, and casts Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness.
Isaac, the favoured younger son, marries Rebekkah, and has two sons. He favours the older son, Essau. Rebekah favours the younger son, Jacob. She tricks Isaac into making Jacob his heir instead of his favourite son.
Jacob falls in love with a woman but is tricked into marrying her older sister first. He ends up marrying both of them and having 12 sons with 4 women (his wives and their handmaids) and he favours the youngest two because they’re the sons of the wife he loves. The older sons sell the second youngest into slavery because they’re mad dad favours him.
I guess the moral is parents shouldn’t play favourites
I couldn’t get over Abraham repeatedly trying to get cucked and god cockblocking it by telling the other party in a dream every single time. I know it happens at least twice and I think three. He just kept tryin’!
Depends on the part of the Bible. The long descriptions of the temple are boring (unless you’re really into architecture) but the stories are interesting
You are on the right track. There is so much more to unpack. It’s all stories of family dysfunction all the way down. Cain and Abel squaring with whose sacrifice was more acceptable. Noah cursing one of his sons/grandsons after the flood for uncovering his nakedness (read Ham had relations with Noah’s wife and fathered Canaan). Even Joseph’s sons got the old switcheroo with their blessings.
Yeah, there’s a lot of weird stuff I left out. It’s a long book
Jewish people bless their children to be “like Ephraim and Menashe.” They are two of the sons of Joseph and pretty minor characters in the story, but they are the first brothers who are treated without favoritism and actually get along.
It’s good Joseph finally broke the cycle
Literally The Handmaid’s Tale right there
It was part of the inspiration for the Handmaid’s Tale. Literally in the book/show, Bible passages are used to justify the handmaid system. One of the red centers is named after Jacob’s wives
The cosmic family, in fact
