Author: Asher Studies
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Difference and Preference (Genesis 25:27-34) Personal Reflection Preference … oh, how I know preference and the way in which it impacts familial relationships but somehow, we can’t seem to avoid it! My parents had their favorites.They will deny it but all the siblings knew exactly who my father loved and who my mother loved. My…
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The Birth of a Trickster (Genesis 25:19-34) General Reflection on the Jacob Cycle (Genesis 25:19-37:2) My mother’s favorite character in the Bible was secretly Jacob. She would probably tout David or Paul as her most cherished person in the Bible besides Jesus but she could not help but love Jacob’s tenacious focus. He knew what…
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The Death of Abraham (Genesis 25:1-18) Personal Context When I was attending Brandeis University, working on my doctoral degree, I knew a fellow student who was exploring death scenes in the Hebrew Bible at Harvard University. She eventually dropped out of the Ph.D. program, disillusioned with the whole process of getting her dissertation proposal approved…
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Isaac – Child of the Promise Personal Context When we became US citizens, my mother wanted to change our names. She wanted us to choose names from the Bible so we can live into our mission in life. I changed from my multiple Korean names (for immigration purposes) to Samantha (female version of Samuel, my…
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The Aqedah (“Binding;” Genesis 22:1-19) Personal Context Being my ornery self, one morning I asked my mother if she would be able to sacrifice one of her children like Abraham did with Isaac. Given my mother’s only-but-God devotion, I thought she would easily offer her children up to God. First, it was hypothetical and second,…
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Abraham’s Journey – Geographical References Personal Reflection I am not a lover of archaeology or geography; I just love stories, usually fiction more than history. But when I studied in Israel for a year, learning modern Hebrew, I made a point of knowing the land and its people, the landscape, weather patterns, people’s attitudes and…
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Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19) Personal Context I can’t remember how many sermons I’ve heard or the conversations I’ve had with people about the Sodom and Gomorrah story. It was THE story for condemning ‘homosexuality’ and explanation as to why we needed to ‘exorcise’ the gay out of people or ban same-sex marriages within the…
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Hagar and Ishmael Hagar (Genesis 16 and 21) The travails of Hagar, an Egyptian maidservant, as presented in Genesis 16 and 21 is a combination of J, E, and P sources. One can argue that Genesis 16 is mostly the product of the Yahwist and Genesis 21 is predominantly from the Elohist perspective. While it…
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Abraham, the Patriarch of the Israelites What kind of man was Abraham that God called him to lead his family out of Haran? And why did God establish a covenant with him and his descendants? In other words, who is Abraham that he was favored by God? To establish his legitimacy and authority as a…
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The Covenant – Berit Author’s Note – I was planning to write about Abraham in just one post … but there were too many traditions and therefore too many themes to unravel. It didn’t seem fair that I would dedicate 8 posts on the first 11 chapters but just one on Abraham which extended 14…