Deception In The Bible: The Story Of Rebekah

Prophecy, poetry, songs, and genealogy lists are just a few of the many genres found in the Pentateuch. However, the two dominant genres include biblical law and biblical narrative. In fact, 40 percent of the Old Testament is narrative (“Lecture 1,” 2015). Key to interpreting different texts within the Bible, it is critical to understand the genres themselves. Each genre possesses unique features that, when understood, assist in the interpretation of the text. Understanding the key features of biblical law and biblical narrative genres will affect how an individual interprets Scripture in the Old Testament.

The Heart of the Old Testament written by Ronald Youngblood is an informative and insightful book. Youngblood identifies the nine themes that form the foundation of the Old Testament. These themes show that the Old Testament is not any different from the New Testament and should not be consider irrelevant when compared to the New Testament. The nine themes include monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant, theocracy, law, sacrifice, faith and redemption.

When God proclaims that he favors Abel's gift over Cain's, Cain becomes angry and jealous towards Abel and he eventually kills him. Although God is fully aware of what has transpired, He asks Cain where Abel is, and Cain answers Him untruthfully saying, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:2-5). After God reveals to Cain that he knows of Abel's murder, God banishes Cain to another part of the land and places a mark on him so that no man will kill him.

“Reality is easy. Deception that's the hard the hard work” -Lauryn Hill. In the novel the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses literary elements such as symbolism, irony and conflict to show deception and secrecy can lead to self-destruction. This relates to the Scarlet Letter because in the book the protagonist character commits an act of sin that was more than just frowned upon. Not only does the community gossip and turn their cheek to the sinner but a sickness comes along from keeping a secret from the community.

Later, lost all trust in Joseph and put him in jail after a false accusation

A defining characteristic of humanity is our unparalleled ability to reason, to see the world in new ways and to reinvent it within our minds. Yet, a human mind without knowledge, one ignorant to the workings of its surroundings, is limited in what it can achieve, and changed in how it will act. In humankind’s creation stories portrayed in the Hebrew Bible and the Popol Vuh, the gods utilize human ignorance in difference ways. I will argue that while ignorance is used as a tool by the gods to guarantee human worship and thus their own existence in the Popol Vuh, the god of the Hebrew Bible concedes that total ignorance is detrimental to the advancement of the human race and uses it rather as a tool to advance humanity’s own success.

Throughout Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible, the downfall of the Price family is enclosed through the words of each family member. One may blame Nathan Price, the father of the Price family, for the downfall of his family. Therefore, his preaching is poisonous to his loved ones. During their time in the Congo, the women of the Price family constantly wish to return back home, but it is Nathan who forces their stay. Nathan poisons his family through his abusive behavior towards his family, and ultimately kills his daughter, Ruth May. Aside from poisoning his own family, Nathan Price also poisons the African people. Towards the end of the novel, Adah Price goes into detail about the mistakes that have taken place in the copies of the Bible. For

Abigail’s lies. Mary tries confessing her “sin” but the judges don’t believe her and now

Throughout the many stories of Genesis, sibling rivalry is a consistent theme. In both the story of Cain and Abel, as well as the story of Jacob and Esau, we see two brothers who compete against one another, one in each pair utilizing deceitful tactics to get what they desire. Specifically, in the 4th chapter of Genesis, we are faced with an interesting question. Does God designate one be the protector of those whom share our blood, or should we be fending for our own better interest? Furthermore, we may ask what it means to be one’s “brother’s keeper” as when Cain asks God if this is his duty (Genesis 4:10). It seems imperative to decide whether he is asking this in a sarcastic manor, or simply wants to know if this was a designated responsibility

She swears now that she never saw Satan; nor any spirit vague or clear, that Satan may have sent to hurt her. And she declares her friends are lying now.(page 99).” John went into the court to prove the court that Abigail is lying and so are her friends. Then Elizabeth went into court and said, “My husband-is a goodly man sir.(page 113.)” Elizabeth lied about her husband’s lechery and that shows that they both would lie for each other; Lying for each other shows that this awful event brought them to reality that they truly love each

When Abigail lied to everyone and said she could see the devil and the spirits, she is deemed as deceitful. She lied to the other girls and convinced them that they all see the spirits and to all lie to the courts. They all lied to the courts to convict many people of being witches that were in fact not witches. Abigail and the girls were very dishonest and lied to everyone and got many people killed.

The Bible is composed of many different stories and narratives. Each one of these individual stories contributes to the greater story of the Bible; sometimes called the Grand Story of Scripture. Within each Story, they have elements that define the setting, characters, climax, and themes. The overall Grand Story of Scripture contains these elements in each of the five divisions: prologue, epilogue, and three acts in between.

There were at least 3 views of how the Old Testament was composed which include the critical view, the compositional view, and the common view. Each view was somewhat similar and different in the aspects that gave it it's own characteristics. The main point of this discussion is to focus on the similarities and differences of each view which are but not limited to how the bible was created, the process, and design.

Another brother story in the Bible is that of Esau and Jacob. The prophecy of these brothers was that the younger would rule the elder. Esau was a hairy man that was skillful in the hunter – gatherer ways and Jacob was somewhat of a “mamas boy”. One day while their father Isaac was dying he told Esau that he would bless him. Jacob then deceitfully went into the place of his father and was blessed as if he was Esau. When Esau returned he was very upset and was going to kill his brother. Jacob fled and was out of touch with his brother for a long time. Then Jacob sent word to meet his brother again and heard that Esau followed by 400 men were coming to him. Afraid and distressed about what Esau might do, Jacob had a dream in which he wrestled with God and was there blessed. With the new name of Israel he met his brother Esau and gave him many gifts. Esau came to his bother in open arms not needing any gifts because the only gift he wanted was to see his brother. Again united Esau and Israel showed that being brothers was more important than any childhood feud.

The first 39 books of the larger work called the Bible, is called the Old Testament. The Bible itself is arguably the best selling and most read book of all time, yet it’s well known to be quite challenging to read through and understand. The Old Testament portion of the Bible, notably the most difficult portion of the Bible for most to study and follow, yields 39 books from multiple authors, and spans over 4000 years of crucial world and church history. If that were not enough to take on, the Old Testament comes our way through multiple styles of authorship and formats, including but not limited to, books of history, law, proverbs, ethics,