GENESIS CHAPTER 36 ~ 40

GENESIS 36

1 This is the genealogy
Of Esau, who is Edom. 2 He,
Esau, took his wives from the daughters
Of Canaan: Adah from the daughters
Of Elon the Hittite, and then
Aholibamah, daughter of
Anah, who was the daughter of
Zibeon the Hivite again,
3 And Basemath, Ishmael's daughter,
Sister of Nebajoth. 4 Now her
Son, son of Adah and Esau
Was Eliphaz, and Basemath
Bore Reuel. 5 And no psychopath,
Aholibamah bore Jeush,
Jaalam, and Korah in her rush.
These were the sons of Esau who
Were born to him in Canaan's land.
6 Then Esau took both his wives and
His sons, and all his daughters too,
And all the persons of his house,
His cattle and all them that browse,
And all his goods which he had gained
In Canaan's land when it had rained,
And went to a country away
From his brother's, that's Jacob's, sway.
7 For their possessions were too great
To live together in one state,
And the land where they lived as strangers
Could not support stock without dangers.
8 So then Esau lived in Mount Seir,
(Esau is Edom), to be freer.

Like Abraham and Lot, two brothers could
Not live together for the weight of wealth.
So it was not hate nor the lack of health
That separated two men in the wood.
You give, Beloved, gifts of diverse regards
To keep brothers apart, lone beacons on
The deeper darkness that precedes the dawn.
Soon evidence of both is strewn in shards.
And yet their households both were full and great.
It was not a lone dervish separate
That each became. But separation in
Love and friendship, though it is never sin,
Leads to the rumours of hostility.
Beloved, from all such rumours set me free.

9 This is the genealogy
Of Esau, father of the free
Edomites living in Mount Seir.
10 These were the names of the yet freer
Sons of Esau: Eliphaz son
Of Adah Esau's wife begun,
And Reuel son of Basemath
The wife of Esau not in wrath.
11 And the sons of Eliphaz were
Teman, Omar, Zepho demur,
Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 Now there was
A concubine of Esau's son
Eliphaz named Timna who was
Mother of Amalek his son.
These were Adah, Esau's wife's sons,
With all their grace and benisons.

What multitudes of names suggestive, O
Beloved! Adah, adorned but with the show
Of being swarm, is also known as fragrance.
The names reach out to both great faith and vagrance.
Eliphaz, My strength's God, looks like it might
Be gold instead of strength. Who knows what night
Hides in the holy family. The friend
Of God, Reuel, has no sons here to tend
That heritage of Abraham, but gold
For God and strength are making five all told:
The south in Yemen, speech, a watch and wait,
The puny, and the side. I flee from hate
To Yemen, restraint for my concubine
And warlike rush to You and to Your wine.

13 These were the sons of Reuel:
Nahath, Zerah, to end the spell
Shammah, and Mizzah. These would tell
Esau's wife's Basemath's sons well.

The four gates to You, My Beloved, are wrote
In four names that Reuel's children quote.
The first gate, Nahath, is the calm of law,
In which the soul before Your throne in awe
Bows to its Master in perfect submission.
Zerah expresses the next gate's position,
Enlightenment of love, a rising star
To guide the longing heart to where You are.
Awareness is the third gate, devastation
Is its name, that with sudden protestation
The soul sees all things as You wish to see.
The devastated fields turn into fear
That melt into well watered earth with tear
And then in all their splendours cease to be.

14 These were Aholibamah's sons,
Esau's wife, daughter of Anah,
Who's a daughter of Zibeon's.
And she bore these sons to Esau:
Jeush, Jaalam, and last Korah.
15 These were the chiefs of Esau's sons.
The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn
Of Esau: Chief Teman, not worst born,
Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz,
16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, and when as
Last Chief Amalek. These were chiefs
Of Eliphaz in Edom's fiefs.
They were all the sons of Adah.
17 These were the sons of Reuel,
Esau's son: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah,
Chiefs Shammah, and Mizzah befell.
And these were the chiefs of Reuel
In the land of Edom for life,
Sons of Basemath, Esau's wife.
18 These sons of Aholibamah,
Esau's wife were: Chief Jeush, Chief
Jaalam, and at last Chief Korah.
These were the chiefs of every fief
Who came from Aholibamah,
Esau's wife, daughter of Anah.
19 These were the sons of Esau, who
Is Edom with sons not a few,
And all of these sons were their chiefs
In all their villages and fiefs.
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite
Inhabiting the land with more right:
Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
21 Dishon, Ezer, Dishan in manner.
These were the chiefs of the Horites,
Seir's sons in Edom's land and rights.
22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori
And Hemam who were neither sorry.
Lotan's sister was Timna too.
23 These were the sons of Shobal: Alvan,
Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, Onam.
24 These were the sons of Zibeon:
Both Ajah and Anah begun.
This was the Anah who found water
In the desert searching for fodder
For donkeys of his father Zibeon
Not to make of them an amphibian.
25 These were the children of Anah:
Dishon and Aholibamah
The famous daughter of Anah.
26 These were the sons of Dishon: Hemdan,
Eshban, Ithran, and last Cheran.
27 These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan,
Zaavan, and finally Akan.
28 These were the two sons of Dishan:
Uz and his brother called Aran.
29 These were the chiefs of the Horites:
Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal for lights,
Chief Zibeon, and Chief Anah,
30 Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan.
These were the chiefs of the Horites,
According to their chiefs and law
In Seir's land and for their mission.
31 Now these were the kings who reigned in
The land of Edom before sin
Set any king to rule the people
Of Israel or raise a steeple:
32 Bela the son of Beor reigned
In Edom, and no one complained
His city was called Dinhabah.
33 And when Bela died, Jobab son
Of Zerah of Bozrah'd begun
To reign there in his place for fun.
34 When Jobab died, Husham of the
Land of the Temanites reigned free
In his place. 35 And when Husham died,
Hadad the son of Bedad tried,
Who attacked Midian in the field
Of Moab, reigned and did not yield.
And his city's name was Avith.
36 When Hadad died, then it was with
Samlah of Masrekah to reign
In his place. 37 And when Samlah'd lain
In death, Saul of Rehoboth-by
The-River reigned in his proxy.
38 When Saul died, Baal-Hanan the son
Of Achbor reigned where he'd begun.
39 And when he died then Baal-Hanan,
The son of Achbor in the canon,
Hadar reigned in his place, the name
Of his city was Pau. The fame
Of his wife was Mehetabel,
Daughter of Matred, who was well
Sired by Mezahab truth to tell.
40 And these were the names of the chiefs
Of Esau, by families and fiefs,
And by their names: Chief Timnah, and
Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth's command,
41 Chief Aholibamah, Chief Elah,
Chief Pinon, 42 Chief Kenaz, a stele
To chief of Yemen and the south
Teman, Chief Mibzar, 43 Chief Magdiel,
And Chief Iram. As with one mouth
These were the chiefs of Edom's weal,
According to their dwelling places
In their possession, by their graces.
Esau was father we may call
Ancestor of Edomites all.

Belovèd, Ishmael sets the common pace
Found throughout Scripture that the holy race
Must come from twelve fruits on one sacred tree,
Brothers and sons of one great patriarch
Whose faith goes almost to the Pleasure park.
The pace was set, and so twelve there must be.
Behold the mortal genealogy:
Esau's chiefdoms make just eleven told,
While Jacob's sons are always counted, sold,
And bound as twelve, although the tribes are set
At thirteen, count the lists, what do You get?
They juggle Simeon, Manasseh, Ephraim,
Embarrassed with too many. One of them
Give to Esau, or make Yourself cadet!

WEEK 9 GENESIS 37

1 Now Jacob lived in the land where
His father was a stranger, there
In Canaan's land. 2 This is the history
Of Jacob. Joseph, without mystery
Was seventeen years old, and feeding
The flock with his brothers, and leading
The sheep with his father's wives' sons,
Bilhah and Zilpah were the ones.
And Joseph brought a bad report
Of them to his father, the sport.

Beloved, there's no one loves a tattle-tale,
And that's the truth, yet Joseph did not fail
In telling father what his brother's done.
The prohibition on backbiting won
Its place in law, but it too can be taught
To do its own injustice. I have sought
To live that what is told of me can stand,
And I need not hold tales in contraband.
Say of me what you wish, and it is true,
And I shall not rehear the tale with rue.
Who is oppressed has right to tell the story.
Say not backbiting when I show what gory
And evil deeds I know, am witness to.
Such prudery, Beloved, is beneath You.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than
All of his children to a man,
Because he was the son of his
Old age. He made him a cloak of
Colours by which to show his love.
4 But when his brothers see that their
Father loves him more than the fair
Of all his brothers, their hate is
Aroused so that they cannot speak
To him peaceably day nor week.

Beloved, give me no coloured cloak to waken
The envy of my neighbour, a garb shaken
From window and from housetop, worn in heat
And frost to rouse envy in those I meet.
Envy I have to meet and that to spare.
Give me rather in love the coloured air
That's free to all, the hundred coloured lake
That my forest hillside birch and fir make,
The meadowed steps about my door a-paint
With balsam and nasturtium and the quaint
Last blue forget-me-not. Beloved, no cloak
Of greater love ask I, instead invoke
The melting of the mists and rending veils
That separate me from You. All else fails.

5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he
Told it to his brothers for free,
And they hated him even more.
6 So he said to them, "Hear the score,
This dream of mine that I have dreamed.
7 "There we were, binding sheaves, it seemed,
There in the field. Then indeed, my
Sheaf rose and stood toward the sky,
While truly your sheaves stood around
And bowed themselves toward the ground
To my sheaf standing straight and high."
8 And his brothers said to him, "Shall
You truly wax imperial,
Reign over us? Or indeed shall
You have dominion over us?"
So they hated him even more
For his dreams of what was in store
And for his words and for the fuss.

There's hardly man alive who does not dream
To take precedence over brother's scheme.
Nor is it rare such dreams cause fuss and feud
Between siblings so righteously imbued.
Each recognizes the divine right in
His own heart and the other's awful sin
Of blasphemy to block the divine glory.
All this, Beloved, is just the same old story.
It is not strange for one to brave the boast,
Declaring his intentions to the host
Of low fraternal future servant peer.
What's rare instead is Joseph's chanticleer
Expecting praise and petting for his dreaming.
He is too good to stoop to boast or scheming.

9 Then he dreamed still another dream
He told for his brothers' esteem,
And said "Look, I have dreamed another
Dream. And this time, the sun, and mother
Moon, and eleven stars bowed to me."
10 So he told to his brothers gloomy
And to his father who rebuked him
And said, because his dream beduked him,
"What is this dream that you have dreamed?
Shall your mother and, as it seemed,
I and your brothers indeed come
To worship you to earth in sum?"
11 And his brothers envied him, but
His father kept in mind the spot.

Now even prophets must not be naive,
Expecting elders to give them reprieve
For proclamation of the honour due them.
No, no, the best plan is always to woo them.
Beloved, You cause Joseph the innocent
The suffering he endured where he was sent.
No father will condone a dead wife's station
Beneath a son, no matter what elation.
You ask, Beloved, too much of human pride.
Ask us for worship, fasting, and a side
Of charity to feed the poor, but not
That little brothers from whose noses snot
We've wiped away be raised to reign above
Their betters, no, the thing is unheard of.

12 Then his brothers went out to feed
Their father's flock on Shechem weed.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are
Not your brothers feeding not far
In Shechem? Come, I'll send you to them."
So he said to him, "Here am I."
14 Then he said to him, "Please go through them
And see if it's well or awry
With your brothers and well with flock,
And bring back word to me at dock."
So he sent him out of the Valley
Of Hebron, and to Shechem's alley.

One day these men are killing in the city,
The men both young and old and without pity
Who had converted to the faith and Lord,
For motive of wealth, yet unsheathed their sword
In gauge of their fidelity to You,
Sword limp and dripping blood and not the dew,
To find the missionaries come upon them
And slaughter all before it could dawn on them,
And now the same and ruthless pastors make
Of those blood fields a bed for their sheep's sake
And pasture for the literal in lambs,
Wealth got from their pastoral, churchly scams.
Beloved, Your missionaries always thought
They owned the lives of those they cut and taught.

15 Now a certain man found him, and
There he was, wandering in the land.
And the man asked him, saying "What
Are you seeking and what's the butt?"
16 So he said "I'm seeking my brothers.
Please tell me where they're feeding others."
17 And the man said "They have departed
From here, I heard them, when they started,
Say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So
Joseph went after them in tow
To Dothan and there found his brothers.
18 Now when they saw him afar off,
Before he ev'n came near the others,
They conspired against him to scoff
And kill him. 19 Then they said to one
Another, "Look, now let's be done,
This dreamer's coming to us fast!
20 "Come therefore, let's now kill him, cast
Him in some pit, and say, 'Some wild
Beast has killed and devoured the child.'
We'll see what comes of all his dreams!"
21 But Reuben heard, and stopped their schemes,
And told them, "Let us not kill him."
22 And Reuben said to them, "It's dim
To shed blood, cast him in this pit
Here in the desert, don't touch him!"
That he might save him and to wit,
Return him to his dad's outfit.

Beloved, that's par for brothers everywhere.
There's one in ten not to kill of the fair
In fratricide when in the situation.
That one, though, makes no public acclamation.
I've lived to learn the man who calls me brother
Is there to stab me faster than another.
The act is justified experiment
To see where all my failing dreamings went.
Joseph was right when he whirled in the field
Of Shechem without aim until appealed
To by the stranger and asked for his goal.
Let me, lone dervish, find there my lost soul
Where You alone are present. Grant no church
Of brothers to leave me soon in the lurch.

23 So it turned out, when Joseph had
Come to his brothers, and was clad
In coloured cloak, they stripped it off him.
24 They took him then as if to shroff him
And cast him in an empty pit,
One that had no water in it.
25 And they sat down to eat a meal.
Then lifting eye, they saw a deal
Of Ishmaelites, with camels coming
From Gilead, bearing spices, drumming
Both balm, and myrrh, and on their way
To Egypt to sell things for pay.
26 So Judah told his brothers, "What
Profit is there to kill the mutt
Our brother and conceal his blood?
27 "Come and let's take him from the mud,
Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites,
And let us not take such delights
In killing, for he is our brother
And our flesh, and so let's not smother
Fraternal feelings." And they heard
His brothers did, and kept his word.

Beloved, if I knew not the better sight,
I'd say You had become anti-Semite.
You say that Judah said "What profit comes
Of killing brothers when we could make sums?"
You seem to think a Jew will sell his brother
As soon as he's the chance, and tell the other
He'd sold him in compassion not to take
His life, but sold him for his own sweet sake.
Beloved, I'm stripped of cloak and honour too,
Cast in a pit to die, by one not Jew.
I'm here to tell You violence to mate
Knows neither race nor creed nor civil state.
You meet me in the pit, I'm honour-clad,
And fed and drunk where desert had gone mad.

28 Then Midianite traders passed by,
So they pulled Joseph from the dry
Pit and sold him to Ishmaelite
For twenty silver spots for spite.
And they took Joseph to Egypt.
So Joseph's brothers sinned and slipped.

Beloved, You have no better picture of
The Arab than the Jew, both whom You love.
If Jew will sell his brother, Arab's willing
To make a child a slave for twenty shilling.
One nation out for profit, one out for
The servant institution more and more.
The Filipina slave, the Indian chore,
Rivals the flesh traffic in Amsterdam,
Which city only shows that Abraham
Is not alone in children for whom greed
Remains forever the primary need.
Beloved, have pity on one here indeed,
And cleanse me of the veiling lust to take.
Give me the giving heart beside tent stake.

29 Then Reuben returned to the pit,
And indeed Joseph was not there,
And so he tore his clothes and hair.
30 Returning where his brothers sit,
He said "The lad's no more, and I,
Where shall I go or shall I die?"

Beloved, I turn to find You in the pit
Where I had hidden You, who had not fit
For shame the company I sought to keep.
And on a moment I woke up from sleep,
And knew I had turned from the jewel to loss,
From love to preening at the smoking dross.
Ashamed to claim my own Love, I hid You
In a dry pit beneath the stars and dew.
But when I woke in terror and forlorn,
Repenting of the Love that I'd foresworn,
I rushed to find You where the freshly morn
Had glistened in Your hair and brightened thorn.
I came, but found the empty pit and sand,
Dry, whisper-silent, stealing on the land.

31 So they took Joseph's outer cloak,
Killed a kid of the goats to soak
It in the blood. 32 Then they sent it,
The bloody coloured cloak, brought it
To their father and said "We've found
This bloody garment on the ground.
Do you know whether it's your son's
Or some one of the other ones?"
33 And he knew it and said "It is
Indeed that coloured cloak of his
A wild beast has with tooth and claw
Devoured Joseph with cruel paw."
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, and put
Sackcloth on his waist, and barefoot
Mourned for his son for many days.
35 And all his sons and all his daughters
Arose to comfort for his slaughters,
But he refused comfort, compassion,
And said "For I shall in this fashion
Go down into the grave in mourning
My son." Thus was Jacob's forlorning.

They came and told me You were caught and bound,
Who had been Sovereign, free, in sight and sound,
And meshed in Trinity and creed and crown,
And set up golden in a palace down,
Where rich and poor might come in pilgrimage.
They said that You were taught, no sacrilege,
By priest and church and baked in hopeful bread,
Who had fled joyous on the face of dawn
With wings that sped infinities and on
And then came back to pledge and comfort me.
And what they said filled my free heart with dread.
So now I bend and genuflect to see
Your face cut in such marble that I flee
To veil my eye and heart and mourn for Thee.

36 The Midianites had sold him in
Egypt to Potiphar, who's been
An officer of Pharaoh and
Captain of the guard in the land.

GENESIS 38

1 It happened at that time and came
To pass that Judah, praise and fame,
Departed from his brothers, and
Visited Adullamite's land
Whose name's Hirah, Nobility.
2 And Judah while there chanced to see
The daughter of a Canaanite
Whose name was Shua, and he married
Her and went in to her. 3 She carried
And gave birth to a son, and he
Called his name Er, or Watchfully.
4 She conceived again and gave birth
To son named Onan, Strong on earth.
5 And she conceived yet again and
Gave birth to a son, called and planned,
By name of Shelah. He was at
Chezib when she gave birth to that.
6 Then Judah took a wife for Er
His firstborn, and her name's Tamar.
7 But Er, Judah's firstborn, did wickedly
Before YHWH, and YHWH killed him quickedly.
8 And Judah said to Onan, "Go
In to your brother's wife and so
Marry her, and raise up an heir
To your brother who's not to spare."
9 But Onan knew the heir would not
Be his, and so when he had got
In to his brother's wife, that he
Emitted on the ground, lest he
Should give an heir to his dead brother
Instead of for himself another.
10 And the thing which he did displeased
YHWH, so He also killed the sleased.
11 Then Judah said to Tamar his
Daughter-in-law, "Remain, that is,
A widow by your father's throne
Until my son Shelah is grown."
For he said "Lest he also die
Like his brothers." So by and by
Tamar went home to mourn and sigh.

The levirate was once law and the custom,
Though time and weather have done much to rust them.
It does not seem inheritance of wife
Was always joyous in the ancient life.
Your Word is where I flee, however, for
Another thing impressing me much more.
When a man is a wicked one, You blow
Him down with sudden death and at one go.
The wicked now continue in their sport
Live with evil as witches live with wart.
Strike down, Beloved, the wicked one in me.
If even promise does not set You free
To slay the wickedness, I take up arms
Against my self, take refuge in Your charms.

12 In time Judah's wife, Shua's daughter,
Died, and Judah was comforted,
And went to Timnah to the slaughter,
Or rather sheering of the sheep,
He and that friend of his both did,
Hirah Adullamite, to peep.
13 And it was told Tamar, "Look, your
Father-in-law is going for
To shear his sheep at Timnah's store."
14 So she took off her widow's weeds,
Covered herself with veil, as needs,
And wrapped herself, and sat out in
An open place, as though for sin,
Which was on Timnah's road, for she
Saw that Shelah was grown, and she
Was not given to him as a wife.
15 When Judah saw her, by his life,
He thought she was a harlot, for
She'd covered up her face and more.
16 Then he turned to her by the way,
And said "Let me lie with you, say,"
For he did not know she was his
Daughter-in-law. So she said "Is
Your dowry to me up to price?"
17 And he said "I will send a nice
Young goat from the flock." So she said
"Will you give me a pledge for bed
Until you send it?" 18 Then he said
"What pledge shall I give you?" So she
Said "Your signet and cord let be,
And your staff that is in your hand."
Then he gave them to her command,
And went in to her, and she was
Pregnant by him by all due laws.

If Judah thought a temporary marriage
Then fit the bill in circumstance and carriage,
Let him look to the matters of deceit
With which such confrontations are replete.
The issue of legality can bear
Its debates and discussions anywhere.
But on the dusty road and after feast
Of labour and of song, two men increased
Their lusty cogitations there together.
Such meetings always end in nasty weather.
Guard, guard the chambers of the soul unless
I should lose signet, cord, and staff and dress.
Beloved, I turn to You instead of neighbour
When fleeces are all cut and I cease labour.

19 So she arose and went away,
And laid aside her veil and stay,
And put on weeds of widowhood.
20 And Judah sent her, as he should,
The young goat by the hand of his
Friend the Adullamite, that is,
To get his pledge back from her hand,
But he found no one in the land.
21 Then he asked the men of that place,
"Where is the harlot who showed face
Openly by the roadside here?"
And they said "No harlot was here."
22 So he returned to Judah and
Said "I cannot find in the land
Such a one, also, the men there
Said there was no harlot to spare."
23 Then Judah said "Well, let her take
Them for herself, lest for her sake
We be shamed, for I sent this goat
But you found of her not a mote."
24 And it came, about three months after,
Judah was told, the thing was dafter,
"Tamar your daughter-in-law has
Played the harlot, and further as
Is with child by her harlotry."
So Judah said "Bring her to me
And let her be burned publicly!"
25 When she was brought out, she sent to
Her father-in-law, saying "You
Say by which man I have conceived,
His things are here to be believed."
And she said "Please determine whose
These are: the signet and cord, choose,
And also staff." 26 Judah did see
And recognize them and said "She
Has been more righteous here than I,
Because I did not give her by
The right time to Shelah my son."
And he took her no more for fun.

What Judah here admits, Beloved, as fault
Is not his one arrangement for his salt,
But that he did not give his son the dame
Who waited for the child to gain his name.
When Judah knew who was the father of
The child of Tamar, he gave not a glove
To repent of his lying with a harlot.
He thought his contract binding with the starlet,
And equal to a marriage. This gives cheer
To two kinds of agreement: levirate
And temporary marriage for career.
Results of both speak for themselves and grate
On human happiness if not on gall.
Beloved, I'd rather wait here for Your call.

27 Now it came, at the time of birth,
That indeed, twins were in her girth.
28 And so it was, when she was giving
Birth, that the one put out a living
Hand, and the midwife took some red
And bound it on his hand, and said
"This is the one that came out first."
29 Then it happened, as at the worst,
He drew his hand back, that his brother
Came out surprising all and other,
And she said "How did you break through?
Therefore this breach be upon you!"
And so his name was called Perez.
30 After his brother, without fez,
Came out with scarlet on his hand.
And his name was Zerah unplanned.

What pagan connotations there may be
In Perez, Breaking Out, there's more to see
In Zerah, Rising Sun, no doubt allusion
To the red thread and the midwife's confusion.
The story smacks of mythic rising of
The sun from earth's dark womb to sail above
The forest and the sea with streaming red.
I flee to You, Beloved, from all that's said
In loving confirmation of the world
And deity of beauty when unfurled.
I bow to neither sun nor to the light
Of my illumination or my sight
Awakened in remembrance, contemplation,
Or whirling beneath stars and sun in station.

GENESIS 39

1 Now Joseph had been taken down
To Egypt. Potiphar, renown
Officer of Pharaoh, captain
Of the guard, and an Egyptian,
Bought him from the Ishmaelites who
Had taken him down there in crew.

O my Beloved, I look about for You,
In haste I glance from face to face but few
Regard my hopeless search, and no one cares.
The king is known by regal clothes he wears.
But You, Beloved, have neither form nor mask
Nor even any whereabouts to ask.
Without associates and without parts,
One without limits known to human arts,
How can I find You who is without where?
From dungeon to king's gates I only dare,
At last I find You standing to be bought,
A slave in the slave market, You I sought.
Beloved One, I should buy You in a trice,
But I have not the silver of Your price.

2 YHWH was with Joseph, a success,
In the house of Egyptian master.
3 His master did not have to guess
That YHWH was with him, but saw faster
That YHWH made all he did succeed,
All in his hand from flour to seed.
4 So Joseph found grace in his sight,
And served him. Then he gave him right
To oversee his house, and all
He put under his beck and call.
5 So it was, from the time that he
Had made him overseer to be
Head of his house and all he had,
That YHWH blessed the Egyptian's pad
For Joseph's sake, and YHWH's blessing
Was on house and field impressing.
6 Thus he left all he had in hand
With Joseph, and in his command,
He did not know what he had but
The bread he ate and in his gut.
Now Joseph was a handsome lad,
Form and appearance not too bad.

Like David and Joseph, there are some men
That all men love and turn and love again,
While others, like Renoir, arouse suspicion.
There’s charismatic and the bleak edition.
My sense of caution lacks conformity,
And I suspect the brash and favour-free.
But sometimes virtue is and virtue seems,
And beauty goes beyond the skin and dreams.
Beloved, Your love of Joseph's not misplaced,
Despite the trammels that his travels traced.
I see Your Self peer through his harnessed trial,
And stop to give the sweet young man a smile.
I give You, my Beloved, my wealth's command
And only know my pot of peas at hand.

7 It happened after these things that
His master's wife cast her eyes at
Joseph in longing, and she said
"Lie with me here upon the bed."
8 But he refused and told the wife
Of his master, "Look not for strife,
My master does not know what is
With me in the house, and what's his
He has committed to my hand.
9 "There's no one greater in this band
Than I, nor has he kept back any
Thing from me, not the slightest penny,
But you, because you are his wife.
How then can I do this great rife
And wicked thing, and sin against
Ælohim?" 10 So it was commenced,
She spoke to Joseph day by day,
That he did not heed her, nor lay
With her or to be with her there.

Joseph, leader of slave rebellion, sought
To make slaves master of their destiny,
To make an honest day of labour wrought,
And then refuse to part with chastity.
Most slaves prefer the opposite, and rest
Beneath the flogging foreman with the best,
And then when chastity is thrown aground,
Consider as slaves there's no freedom found
But due compliance. Joseph's was command
And it was duty to obey in hand
Mistress as well as master. Joseph's fate
Was in that innovation that made great.
There is a choice beyond determination
For those determined to supply the station.

11 But it happened, not to ensnare,
About this time, when Joseph went
Into the house to do his work,
And none of the men of the tent
Were in the house, and to his irk,
12 She caught him by his garment, saying
"Lie with me now, and don't be playing."
But he left his coat in her hand,
And fled and ran out in the land.
13 And so it was, when she saw that
He had left his coat in her hand
And fled outside across the sand,
14 That she called to the men that sat
In her house and spoke to them, saying
"See, he has brought in here for staying
With us, a Hebrew to mock us.
He came to lie with me, a fuss
I made about it with loud voice.
15 "And so he heard, and made his choice,
When I cried out aloud he left
His garment with me, and was deft
To flee and went outside." 16 So she
Kept his coat with her until he
Came home, his master did. 17 Then she
Told him with words like these, and said
"The Hebrew servant, bought or bred,
Whom you brought to us came to me
To mock me and to lie with me,
18 "So it happened, I lifted my
Voice and cried out, and that is why
He left his coat with me and fled."

Beloved, the wife of Potiphar looked out
On useless, idle days and without doubt
Wished that something might come to claim her own,
Instead of merely being wife alone.
She could buy everything she saw for sale,
But nothing bought could dignify her tale.
All saw her as the wife of Potiphar,
While she would be in her own right a star.
No wonder she was angry when her lust
Was thwarted by a servant and whose trust
Saw her as nothing more than master's wife.
For God and angels, she'd have her own life.
Beloved, all are such passioned paupers here
Who are dissatisfied when they appear.

19 So when he heard what his wife said
"Your servant did to me like this,"
His master's anger went amiss.
20 Then Joseph's master took and put him
Into prison, and there he shut him
In with the king's captives confined.
And he was there in prison, mind.
21 But YHWH was with Joseph and showed
Him mercy, and gave him abode
And grace before the prison's keeper.
22 The prison keeper gave command
Of all the prisoners in his hand,
So Joseph did what was done there
To all the captives to be fair.
23 The prison keeper did not look
Into a thing that Joseph took
To do, because YHWH was with him,
And YHWH made what he did right trim.

GENESIS 40

1 It happened after these things that
The butler and the baker sat
In sentence from their lord the king
Of Egypt for offensive thing.
2 And Pharaoh was angry with his
Two officers, butler, that is,
And the chief baker. 3 So he put
Them in custody hand and foot
In the house of the guard's captain,
In the prison Joseph was in.
4 And the captain of the guard charged
Joseph with them, and thus enlarged
His service duties for a while,
While those two sat in gaol for guile.

The situation is surrealistic:
The perfect man, prophet and cabalistic
Is set to serving criminals, some true
And some manipulated there with rue.
The task of Joseph is in part like mine.
Beloved, You set all servants to divine
Illusion from the True. Let me in this
Great task and pure not turn my mind amiss
To sigh and sorrow for accommodations
And harsh dealing from those of other stations.
The master is not he who wields the whip
But rather he who knows the ardent sip
Of Your wine in its ecstasy of showing
That You are one and that is worth the knowing.

5 Then both butler and baker of
The king of Egypt, push and shove,
Who were confined in prison there,
Had a dream, both of them his share,
Each man's dream in one night and each
Man's dream with meaning out of reach.
6 And Joseph came in to them in
The morning and looked with a grin
At them, and saw that they were sad.
7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers
Who were with him in custody
Of his lord's house, saying and bade,
"Why do you look, as it occurs
So sad today?" 8 And they said free
To him, "We each have had a dream,
And there's no meaning, it would seem."
So Joseph said to them, "Do not
Interpretations fall the lot
Of Ælohim? Tell them to me."

I'm not cunning Joseph, Beloved, it seems.
I would not dare to interpret one's dreams,
Although I know a pair or three who do,
Despite the fact they know some less than You
Or I. Of course he had experience
Of his own dreams and how his dreams made sense.
No doubt his faith in dreams come true made it
A tad more hopeful to make fortune fit.
Without his dreams he might succumb to doubt
That he would be a slave and not come out
Of either bondage or his prison. I,
Despite the many stories that go by,
And are I daresay true, dream's not my cup.
I'd rather be awake when I look up.

9 Then the chief butler told his dream
To Joseph, spoke to him, made free,
"Indeed, in my dream was a vine
Before me, 10 "and three branches fine,
It was as though it budded, then
Its blossoms shot forth, and then when
Its clusters brought forth ripe grapes, 11"I
Had Pharaoh's cup there in my hand,
And took the grapes and by command
I pressed them in Pharaoh's demi,
And placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand."
12 And Joseph said to him, "This is
The meaning: three branches are his
Three days. 13 "Now within three days he,
Pharaoh indeed will set you free,
Lift up your head, restore your place,
And you will put Pharaoh's cup in
His hand as at the origin,
When you were his butler. 14 "But now,
Remember me before his face
When it is well with you, allow
Kindness to me and make mention
Of me to Pharaoh once begun,
And get me out of this house. 15 "For
Indeed I was stolen and more
And brought from the land of Hebrews,
And also I've done but my dues
Here that they should put me into
The dungeon with the derring-do."

A little lack of satisfaction shows
In Joseph's speech, he's not a flower that grows
Without complaint as best it can and makes
Do with the acid or the base, and takes
The weather as it comes, without a word.
Despite the divine banquet that occurred
From day to day to turn the prison to
A heavenly palace, still the prophet's shoe
Seeks freedom from the bars. One thing is true,
The body and the soul live not two lives,
But both receive the impulses and drives
That share the beauty of the world and pain.
Awakened yet to Truth, the self knows gain
And how to make distinctions sun and rain.

16 When the chief baker saw the meaning
Was good, he said and without keening
To Joseph, "I also dreamed dream,
And there the three white baskets seem
To be upon my head. 17 "And in
The uppermost basket for bin
Were all kinds of baked goods I made
For Pharaoh, and the birds that stayed
Ate from the basket on my head."
18 So Joseph answered and he said
"This is the meaning: the three baskets
Are three days, (might as well be caskets).
19 "Within three days Pharaoh will lift
Off your head from you, that's the drift,
And hang you on a tree. The birds
Will eat your flesh from you like curds."

If I had to be prophet in this world,
I'd hate to be a true one and an earled.
The fate of prophets false must be the better,
Despite the fact they often miss the letter.
A false prophet in this case could have given
A good report to both and then been shriven.
To get half right is good enough almost,
At least to keep alive if not to boast.
This bringing bad news never hits the spot,
And this time only made the baker's lot
Seem sadder than was needed since it robbed
The man of three days' hope from being cobbed.
Just wait, Beloved, and see if gratitude
For good news even makes the latitude.

20 It happened now on the third day,
Which was indeed Pharaoh's birthday,
He made a feast for all his men,
His servants, and he lifted then
The head of the chief butler and
Of the chief baker by command.
21 Then he restored the chief butler
Again to his butlership's lure,
To place the cup in Pharaoh's hand.
22 But he hanged the chief baker, as
Joseph had prophesied with snazz.
23 Yet the chief butler did not make
Remembrance of poor Joseph's sake,
But just forgot him on the take.

I too have been forgotten for the good
I've done, although that is as may and should.
But like Joseph, I fail to make complaint.
Perhaps the evil is forgotten too,
And thus I'm neither criminal nor saint
For all the good and all the bad I do.
It's neither good nor bad that makes one's fame
These days, but advertising is to blame.
Because he had no website for his dreams
Joseph's release would have to wait, it seems.
Beloved, let me dream on without Your meaning,
And I shall just as quickly, without screening,
Forget both dream and meaning and the bars
That once stood between me and all the stars.


AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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