{"id":11686,"date":"2017-12-15T06:37:47","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T14:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=11686"},"modified":"2017-12-15T06:37:47","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T14:37:47","slug":"biblical-naysayers-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let Elohim be true and every man a liar!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 42:27\u201328, 35, His money\u2026each man\u2019s bundle of money.<\/i><\/b> Some modern biblical scholars suggest a discrepancy in this account, thus ostensibly proving that this story draws from two different oral traditions and documents that have been combined to form the biblical narrative we now have.<\/p>\n

For example, J.C.L. Gibson states that \u201cthe brothers were dumfounded when they open their sacks at a staging post, on their first return form Egypt, and find their money in them (Gen 42:27\u201328). It is a dramatic moment, but it is stretching our credulity more than a little to find that they were likewise dumfounded on finding the money after they had returned to Canaan\u201d (Gen 42:35; Language and Image of the Old Testament<\/i>, pp. 39\u201340).<\/p>\n

There is, however, one small detail that this University of Edinburgh Old Testament professor fails to take into consideration. The Bible doesn\u2019t say in Gen 42:27\u201328 that each of the brothers opened his sack as the author incorrectly states, but, rather, that \u201cone of them opened his sack\u2026\u201d and that when they got home \u201cthey emptied their sacks\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact is that only one man opened his sack (that had presumably been sown shut) in order to provide food for the brothers for their journey home, but when they got home, all the brothers \u201cemptied their sacks\u201d (v. 35) presumably to transfer the grain into more secure storage vessels than sacks were the grain would be subject to destruction by fungus, weevils, moths and rodents. So the brothers were dumfounded the first time when the one sack was opened to find the money, and then dumfounded again when all of their sacks were opened at home to find each man\u2019s money.<\/p>\n

Considering that grain sacks are sown shut with a large needle and small cordage, and that once a sack is open, it is difficult to keep the contents from spilling out\u2014especially when being transported over a rough path in a jostling cart\u2014it is highly unlikely that the brothers would have opened any more sacks than necessary except to supply their food needs along the way. This is why only one sack was opened, and not all of them, just as the biblical account tells us.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t
 <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let Elohim be true and every man a liar! Genesis 42:27\u201328, 35, His money\u2026each man\u2019s bundle of money. Some modern biblical scholars suggest a discrepancy in this account, thus ostensibly proving that this story draws from two different oral traditions … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,64],"tags":[21,2114,2115],"class_list":["post-11686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scripture","category-weekly-readings","tag-genesis","tag-jacobs-sons","tag-sacks-of-wheat"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again | Hoshana Rabbah Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let Elohim be true and every man a liar! Genesis 42:27\u201328, 35, His money\u2026each man\u2019s bundle of money. Some modern biblical scholars suggest a discrepancy in this account, thus ostensibly proving that this story draws from two different oral traditions … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hoshana Rabbah Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-15T14:37:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natan Lawrence\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natan Lawrence\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Natan Lawrence\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\"},\"headline\":\"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-15T14:37:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":383,\"commentCount\":1,\"keywords\":[\"Genesis\",\"Jacob's Sons\",\"Sacks of Wheat\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Scripture\",\"Weekly Scripture Readings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again | Hoshana Rabbah Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-15T14:37:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/15\\\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hoshana Rabbah Blog\",\"description\":\"Midrash with Natan Lawrence\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df\",\"name\":\"Natan Lawrence\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Natan Lawrence\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.hoshanarabbah.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hoshanarabbah.org\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/natanl\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again | Hoshana Rabbah Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again | Hoshana Rabbah Blog","og_description":"Let Elohim be true and every man a liar! Genesis 42:27\u201328, 35, His money\u2026each man\u2019s bundle of money. Some modern biblical scholars suggest a discrepancy in this account, thus ostensibly proving that this story draws from two different oral traditions … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/","og_site_name":"Hoshana Rabbah Blog","article_published_time":"2017-12-15T14:37:47+00:00","author":"Natan Lawrence","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natan Lawrence","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/"},"author":{"name":"Natan Lawrence","@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df"},"headline":"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again","datePublished":"2017-12-15T14:37:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/"},"wordCount":383,"commentCount":1,"keywords":["Genesis","Jacob's Sons","Sacks of Wheat"],"articleSection":["Scripture","Weekly Scripture Readings"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/","url":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/","name":"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again | Hoshana Rabbah Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-15T14:37:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/15\/biblical-naysayers-wrong\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Biblical Naysayers Are Wrong Again"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/","name":"Hoshana Rabbah Blog","description":"Midrash with Natan Lawrence","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3ed5c40cd99881c4176aa291f72109df","name":"Natan Lawrence","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8060f68b3dd1beee389c8dd62002036bcb1a0dbba69cb744079eebb40555f65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Natan Lawrence"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.hoshanarabbah.org"],"url":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/author\/natanl\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2c0PM-32u","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11686"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11687,"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686\/revisions\/11687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}