Old Testament

A:It is now generally known that the Bible uses different Hebrew names for God, chiefly YHWH, which is usually translated as Yahweh or Jehovah, and 'El, or variations of it. El was the West Semitic father of the gods, while Yahweh seems to have become the national God of the Israelites at a fairly early stage. Scholars such as Mark S. Smith (The Early History of God) say that Yahweh was originally a storm god, very similar to the god Baal, who was also worshipped by the early Israelites. Gradually, Yahweh attracted all the attributes of Baal, and the separate worship of Baal seems to have diminished. Even El (or Elohim) became identified with Yahweh over the centuries, as Judah's religious views seem to have become somewhat monolatrous in the late monarchy. The Book of Genesis was written during the middle of the first millennium BCE, largely based on myths and legends from earlier times. Its portrayal of God partly reflects the views held at the time its authors lived, shortly before, during and after the Babylonian Exile, but also the views of earlier times, creating a complex mixture of divine images.

Genesis chapters 1 (strictly speaking verses 1:1-2:4a) and 2 (2:4b-25) tell two different creation stories that come from two different sources and portray God very differently in each case.

The first creation story is attributed to the 'P Source' (Priestly Source) who wrote during the Babylonian Exile. The P Source used the names for God that his predecessors had also used, but showed a strong preference for the name El Shaddai ('God Almighty'). In the first chapter of Genesis, he really did portray God as almighty. He simply spoke things into existence. By creating the sun, moon and stars, he not only proved his powers over the universe, he proved that the sun god and moon god of ancient times were nothing at all. There is no suggestion here or anywhere else in the Priestly writings that God could ever be found walking on earth.

The second creation story is much older in Judaism, being attributed to the 'J Source' (Yahwist), writing around the ninth century BCE. In this story, there are limits to God's power. There is no suggestion he created the sun and stars, and the plants were already there but God had not caused it to rain and there was no one to till the ground (2:5). God could not make Adam out of nothing, but needed dirt of the ground to create his form and then breathe life into his nostrils (2:7). Similarly, God created every other living thing out of dirt (2:19). Eve is made out of the rib, or side, of Adam (2:21). So in this story, God forms things, rather than really creating them. We begin to see God as human-like, speaking to Adam, and in chapter 3, we find him walking in the garden in the cool of the day (3:8).

This view of God continues through to the story of Noah's Flood, when God decided to kill all living people, except Noah and his family. Unable to simply will the people dead, God had to send a great flood that killed all the people and all living things. He was a wrathful God, but also a merciful one, since he created a rainbow as a sign that he would never send another such flood again. Of course, we now know that the laws of science mean that rainbows existed since earliest times.

There are other minor images such as the divine beings who appeared to Abraham and to Lot, as well as the god who wrestled with Jacob. This story creates problems for the modern monotheistic view, resutling in a variety of explanations, often based on Jacob's opponent being an angel, although the original Hebrew word means 'god'. Jacob was left alone and wrestled with a man all night until the break of day, when the man said he must leave (Genesis 32:24ff). Even though his leg was dislocated, Jacob refused to let his opponent go unless he blessed Jacob. That the 'man' was a god is amply demonstrated - Jacob asked for his blessing, he had the prerogative of changing Jacob's name, Jacob's new name was Israel (generally assumed to mean "wrestled with God') and Jacob called the place Peniel ('the face of God') because he had seen God face to face. If the man who wrestled with Jacob was a god, then Jacob was also a god in the very early tradition behind this passage, as demonstrated by the fact that he was such an even match for his opponent. And if the opponent was a god, he was also a sun god - daybreak signalled the end of the contest, he had to leave Jacob before the sun could rise, then the sun rose upon Jacob. This was the daily struggle in which the sun god defeats the moon god at dawn. This tells us that Jacob was indeed the moon god in early times, but the story had evolved ambiguously by the time Genesis was first written down, to suit the story of Jacob as a human ancestor of the Israelites. There is a great deal of evidence that the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) were originally incarnations of the moon god, but as religious beliefs evolved they all became regarded as Israel's human ancestors.

A:The twins, Esau and Jacob, fought in Rebekah's womb. Then, at the moment of birth, Jacob, the second born, held onto Esau's heel as if to hold him back, requiring a physical ability far beyond that of mortal babies. As a supposed historical account it is an implausible story without witnesses, presaging their rivalry in later life. Undoubtedly, the story of Jacob and Esau that we now have in the Bible was intended to be the story of two men, but this is more typical of the birth legend of pagan gods than a true story of ordinary mortals.

As we see the story now, the two unborn babies fought in the womb out of sibling rivalry, and Jacob sought to hold Esau back because he somehow already knew that the firstborn would inherit the birthright.

This is more than just improbable, but there is evidence that this story evolved from a very different story right back in the very beginnings of Israel. We now have compelling evidence that the Israelites were at all times polytheistic until the destruction of the kingdom in 722 BCE. Their gods included the moon god and the sun god, in many ways rivals just as the sun and the moon seemed to be rivals. It is very plausible that, in early tradition, Jacob was the moon god and Esau was the sun god, and it was only later that the story of the brothers became stories of extraordinary humans. Another story in the Book of Genesis, inserted into the story of Jacob and Esau shortly after a dispute between the brothers, underlines the identification of Jacob with the moon god.

Jacob was left alone and wrestled with a man all night until the break of day, when the man said he must leave (Genesis 32:24ff). Even though his leg was dislocated, Jacob refused to let his opponent go unless he blessed Jacob. That the 'man' was a god is amply demonstrated - Jacob asked for his blessing, he had the prerogative of changing Jacob's name, Jacob's new name was Israel (generally assumed to mean "wrestled with God') and Jacob called the place Peniel ('the face of God') because he had seen God face to face. If the man who wrestled with Jacob was a god, then Jacob was also a god in the very early tradition behind this passage, as demonstrated by the fact that he was such an even match for his opponent. And if the opponent was a god, he was also a sun god - daybreak signalled the end of the contest, he had to leave Jacob before the sun could rise, then the sun rose upon Jacob. This was the daily struggle in which the sun god defeats the moon god at dawn. This tells us that Jacob was indeed the moon god in early times; it does not mention Esau by name, but is interleaved with stories of the rivalry between Jacob and Esau. All the stories of sibling rivalry began as stories of rivalry between two gods, only later becoming stories of rivalry between two human brothers, and the story of Esau and Jacob struggling in the womb is explained easily once we recognise that these stories were originally about two gods seeking supremacy.

A:The book of Isaiah, which at first glance appears to be solely the work of the eighth century prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, is considered by most scholars to be the composite work of three different authors separated by more than a hundred years. Because the other authors were anonymous, Isaiah, son of Amoz, is known as proto-Isaiah or First Isaiah. The other authors are known as deutero-Isaiah or second Isaiah, and trito-Isaiah or Third Isaiah.

First Isaiah is concerned with Assyria as the dominant power, threatening Jerusalem. He preached doom, the proximity of punishment, and the remnant concept. His theology was advanced for his time, approaching monotheism, but never quite achieving it.

Second Isaiah wrote during the Babylonian Exile and proclaimed that deliverance was at hand. He wrote that the punishment was past and their suffering was over.

Trito-Isaiah was probably a disciple or group of disciples of deutero-Isaiah, writing shortly after the Return from Exile. Theeir message includes a confession of sin and a plea to God not to maintain his anger forever.

A:The Bible says that Ahaziah was king of Israel for about two years (approx 852-851 BCE). Another Ahaziah is recorded as king of Judah for one year (approx 843-842 BCE).

Ahab's successors in Israel were his sons Ahaziah (parts of two years) and Jehoram (roughly seven according to 2 Chronicles, though the Deuteronomist gives him twelve years). In Judah, Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat reigned for at least seven years and Jehoram's son Ahaziah for less than a year. This means that Ahaziah and Jehoram ruled Israel for about eight years, and also that Jehoram and Ahaziah ruled Judah during approximately the same eight years.

The duplication of the names, even if in reverse order, is startling and has led to speculation that Judah was really under Israelite rule for this period, which the southern scribes were unwilling to acknowledge. We will probably never know for certain, but it is possible that Ahaziah, son of Ahab, really was king of both Israel and a defeated Judah (followed by his brother Jehoram).

One thought:

Reuben was the 'first born' to Jacob(Genesis 49:3), and so was entitled to the rights and responsibilities that went with the honor, including TWO portions of his father's estate, but because he acted recklessly, and disgraced his father, his 'first born' rights were removed(Genesis 49:4)(Genesis 35:21+22) and given to faithful Joseph, through his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh(1 Chronicles 5:1/Genesis 48:5).

Another Answer:

They were adopted by Abraham:

Genesis 48:5New King James Version (NKJV)

5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, aremine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

A:In Genesis chapter 32, Jacob wrestled all night with a stranger, until it was time for the sun to come up and it was time for the stranger to leave. Jacob refused to let the stranger leave unless he blessed Jacob. The stranger, who was clearly a god, told Jacob that henceforth his name would no longer be Jacob, but instead be Israel, for he had wrestled with God. And if the opponent was a god, he was also a sun god - daybreak signalled the end of the contest, he had to leave Jacob before the sun could rise, then the sun rose upon Jacob. And Jacob, now Israel, named the place Peniel because he had seen God face to face.

A little later, after meeting his brother Esau, whom he had feared, Jacob went to Shalem, where he bought land and built an altar, calling the place El-elohe-Israel.

There is substantial evidence in the Bible itself that Jacob was originally a moon god before the story evolved into one of a human Patriarch, so when he wrestled all night with the god who blessed him and changed his name to Israel, this could have originated as the daily struggle in which the sun god defeats the moon god at dawn, after the moon god had prevailed all night. And not only was Jacob likely to have once been a moon god, but his twin brother and constant rival (even before birth), Esau, was likely to have been the sun god in the earliest version of their story. If so, the 'man' who wrestled with Jacob was another incarnation of his own brother, Esau.

The name Israel (Yisra'el) is commonly translated as "Wrestled with God", but it can also mean "Champion (or Prince) of God", "Striver with (or against) God", "Ruler (or Prince) over God", "God Prevails", "God Rules", "God will Rule", or possibly "God Who will Rule".

Later, Jacob went to Bethel, where he had previously fled from his brother Esau. In an apparently independent account Genesis 35:10-12), because God did not seem to know that Jacob had already been renamed Israel, God appeared to Jacob and told him that his name would no longer be Jacob, but instead be Israel, and that he would father a great nation in fulfilment of the covenant with Abraham and Isaac.