Journal

I recently read "The Red Tent" which Leah loaned me. It was an interesting book and the descriptions of daily life of Jacob and his wives and children was quite well done. The story made me curious about how closely it correlated with the biblical rendition - about all I remembered about Jacob was that there was a ladder and Jacob had a fight with an angel in a dream. So I got out the Bible and read the applicable part of Genesis and it was amazing how closely the author followed the Genesis story including the part where Rachel hides the little statues from her father: "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images." One part of the book I was sure must be totally fiction was when Jacob and sons said the Shechmites had to be circumcised before Dinah could marry Shechem but there it was -"and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of the city. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore...". Once Dinah goes to Egypt then it is all fiction wi†h the exception of the Joseph story. I also found interesting that the phrase "gave up the ghost" was from Genesis - "And Isaac gave up the ghost and died".