GENESIS CHAPTER 46 ~ 50

GENESIS 46

1 So Israel took his journey with
All that he had, both kin and kith,
And came to Beersheba, and there
Offered his sacrifices bare
To his father Isaac's God's care.
2 Then Ælohim spoke to Israel
In the night visions for a while
And said "Jacob, Jacob!" And he
Said "Here I am and here I be."
3 So He said "I am El God El,
God of your father, in this spell,
Do not fear now to go down there
To Egypt, for I'll make your share
A great nation while you are there.
4 "I'll surely go down with you to
Egypt, and I'll bring you up too,
And Joseph shall lay his hand on
Your eyes at evening and at dawn."

I lay the evening sacrifice and bow
Toward Your house, Beloved, and make my vow.
The universe is empty, silent, and
Meaningless until You state the command.
Your word in song makes darkness filled with light
And blindnesses' wrong disappear with sight.
The divine dream beyond the eye and ear
Awakens heart, makes disappear the fear
Of flight. For promises I step head high
Across Egyptian sands and let the sky
Take me above the worries in my breast.
Beloved, make food and shelter not the quest
Forever of these children. Let the place
Where they are always be before Your face.

5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba,
And Israel's sons from their zareba
And carried their father Jacob,
Their little ones, and wives in mob,
In the wagons which Pharaoh'd sent
To carry him and desert tent.
6 So they took their livestock and goods,
Which they'd acquired around the woods
In Canaan's land, and went down to
Egypt, Jacob and not a few
With all his descendants with him.
7 His sons and his sons' sons, and slim
His daughters and his sons' daughters,
And all his descendants and curs,
He brought to Egypt all that stirs.

What happened to the captives they had taken
When Simeon and Levi'd gone and shaken
The city Shechem to its roots, killed all
The men and taken children with the fall
And mothers too, and made them Jacob's slaves?
Had these been freed or were they laid in graves,
Or left to scrounge the Negev for a bite
Of honey, weed or anything in sight
That might save life? Or did they go along
To Egypt as servants without a count
To disappear without a trace or mount
Among the seething, breathing river throng?
Beloved, what nameless ones of these knew You,
Who walked the way to Egypt, sought the dew?

8 Now these were the names of the sons
Of Israel, Jacob and his sons,
Who went to Egypt: Reuben first
Of Jacob's, perhaps not the worst.
9 The sons of Reuben were Hanoch,
Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi's stock.
10 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel,
Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, for fuel
Zohar, and then Shaul, the son
Of nameless Canaanite woman.
11 The sons of Levi were Gershon,
Kohath, and Merari alone.
12 The sons of Judah were Er, and
Onan, and Shelah, Perez, and
Zerah (but Er and Onan died
In Canaan's land since they defied).
The sons of Perez were Hezron
And Hamul. 13 And the sons alone
Of Issachar were Tola and
Puvah, Job, and the last Shimron.
14 Zebulon's sons Sered, Elon,
And Jahleel. 15 These were the sons
Of Leah, whom she bore by runs
To Jacob in Padan Aram,
With his daughter Dinah and lamb.
All the persons, his sons and daughters,
Were thirty-three and without slaughters.
16 The sons of Gad were Ziphion,
Haggi, Shuni, and then Ezbon,
Eri, Arodi, Areli.
17 The sons of Asher, one plus three
Were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui,
Beriah, and Serah, their sister.
Beriah, who was no persister,
Had two sons: Heber, Malchiel.
18 These were sons of Zilpah, who fell
To Leah Laban's daughter, and
These she bore to Jacob well-manned:
Sixteen souls all, counted and scanned.
19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife,
Joseph and Benjamin for life.
20 And to Joseph in Egypt's land
Were born Manasseh's brother and
Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter
Of Poti-Pherah priest of On,
Bore to him by the Nile's broad water,
To be two sons not just his own.
21 The sons of Benjamin were Belah,
Becher, Ashbel, another fellow
Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim,
And Ard younger brother of Huppim.
22 These were the sons of Rachel, who
Were born to Jacob: fourteen few.
23 The son of Dan was Hushim. 24 And
The sons of Naphtali that stand
Were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer,
And Shillem too at last was there.
25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom
Laban gave to his daughter's room,
Rachel's, and she bore these to Jacob:
Seven souls all each morn to wake up.
26 All the souls who went to Egypt
With Jacob, who came and equipped
From his loins, besides his sons' wives,
Were sixty-six souls in all lives.
27 And the sons of Joseph who were
Born to him in Egypt's land were
Two souls. All the souls of the house
Of Jacob who went down to browse
In Egypt were seventy's transfer.

The whole, Beloved, was seventy by count,
But at the bottom of the pecking score
There was only one tenth of that amount:
The seven souls of Bilhah and no more.
The weakest one is hidden at the core,
The secret of Ismail who disappeared
Before his father and the folk who feared.
Dan's set for judgement with a single son,
Hushim, the hasters, know the judgement's done
At every Sabbath eve. While Naphtali
Has four sons for four gates beneath the sky.
Jahzeel for God divides obedience,
Guni, coloured with love, Jezer the sense
Of form, Shillem in peace a recompense.

28 Then he sent Judah before him
To Joseph, to point before him
To Goshen. And they came into
The land of Goshen with its dew.
29 So Joseph made ready his car,
His chariot and went up and far
To Goshen to meet his father
Israel, where he and his sons were,
And he presented himself to
Him, and fell on his neck anew
And wept on his neck a good while,
While his brothers stood rank and file.

I rush to You, Beloved and Father, where
You wait in Goshen in the fresh sea air,
And fall upon Your neck as though the time
That separated me from You in mime
Had been a score of years, and yet one breath
Alone between my tender soul and death
Extends infinities of veils that rend
In one fell sound and then come to an end.
I rush to You, Beloved, and in that rush
I find straight footsteps turning in the hush
To whirl about since you are never found
At end of bourne nor at the break of bound,
But at the centre of all life and being,
Beyond and yet within both ear and seeing.

30 And Israel said to Joseph, "Now
Let me die, since I've any how
Seen your face, and you're still alive,
How you managed so to contrive."

Let me die then, Beloved, since I have found
Your face beside the river and the sound
Where the great Nile from Ethiopian strand
Comes once and all to meet the bright sea-sand.
Let me die then, since I have seen Your face
That none can see and live in any place,
Though in your presence there can only be
One face, one name and one eternity.
Let me die then and wake to the grand whole
That always was the psalter of my soul,
Where one voice still repeats the solemn rhymes
Upon whose walls Your living ivy climbs.
Let me die then, Beloved, and wake anew
More than I ever was embraced in You.

31 Then Joseph told his brothers and
His father's household, "By command
I will go up and tell Pharaoh,
And say to him, 'My brothers show
And those of my father's house, who
Were in the land of Canaan, do
Come down to Egypt and to me.
32 'And the men are shepherds, for their
Work's always been to feed and care
For livestock, and they've brought their flocks,
Their herds, and all they've got in stocks.'
33 "So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls
You and says, 'What is your profession?'
34 "That you shall say and make confession,
'Your servants' occupation's been
With livestock from our youth and in
Our lives till now, both we and all
Our fathers have followed that call,'
That you may live in Goshen's land,
For every shepherd and his band
Is an abomination to
Egyptians whether much or few."

No man among my fathers has kept sheep
Four hundred years since in the Scottish keep
Of fell and grassland the ancestors ploughed
The lowlands doubtless with an ovine crowd.
I do not say I'm so Egyptian that
Sheep are abomination where I'm at.
I only say I do not know the room,
And closer to my life and to my doom
May well be sheep stealer than shepherd fair.
Beloved, I shall keep sheep if only there
Can I find place to be within Your care.
I'll give up my wild ways in forest glade
And follow any sheep you wish or made,
I shall even become straight-laced and staid.

GENESIS 47

1 Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh,
"My father and in the first row
My brothers, their flocks and their herds
And all they have in tents and words,
Have come from Canaan's land, indeed
They're in Goshen about to breed."
2 And he took five men from among
His brothers and with that small throng,
Presented them before Pharaoh.
3 Then Pharaoh said to them "Hello,
What is your occupation?" And
They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants
Are shepherds all, from sons to aunts."
4 And they said to Pharaoh, "We have
Come here to live, pasture and calve,
In the land, since your servants have
No pasture for their flocks, because
The famine's severe above laws
In the land of Canaan. Now please
Therefore let your servants have ease
To live in Goshen's land and breeze."

Beloved, this place is ruled by You alone,
And yet I must petition iron and stone
To eat my bread and wear the woollen belt.
Let me not be bitter for earthly spelt.
The order that You set to run the world
And keep a flag of justice well unfurled
Is often better for the multitude
Than is the rule of bandit, squire and feud.
It shall receive its due in praise and fire,
And fail before the onslaught of desire.
We who prefer humbly to guard the sheep
Drink of the golden waters vast and deep,
While statesmen quaff the wine and go to bed
With stomach ache and terrors in the head.

5 Then Pharaoh told Joseph, and said
"Your father and your brothers bred
Have come to you. 6 "Now Egypt's land
Is before you. Have father and
Your brothers live in the land's best
Let them live in Goshen's bequest.
And if you know competent men
Among them, make them herdsmen then
In chief over my livestock blessed."

Sometimes, but rarely, it is true the state
Lifts head and sees advantage not too late
To pay the perfect for the good they do,
Although to him it may seem humble shoe.
Beloved, let me take from Your living breath
The wisdom to avoid the shibboleth
That power sets before the iron gates
Where empty scribbling warns of dire fates.
The real life is sheering, feeding and
Leading to water and in patience stand.
It is not in the record and the count,
But in the wind and gushing water fount.
The flocks are mine because I touch the wool,
And Pharaoh's because he is full of pull.

7 Then Joseph brought his father in,
And set Jacob before Pharaoh,
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and kin.
8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How old
Are you?" 9 And Jacob told Pharaoh,
"The days of the years of my cold
And weary pilgrimage are one
Hundred and thirty years soon done,
Few are the days and evil of
The years of my life, and above
The days of the years of the life
Of my fathers' pilgrimage rife
They've not attained though lived in strife."
10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went
Out from before the Pharaoh's tent.

The powerless alone have power to bless,
Because alone they live in righteousness.
Pharaoh is sure and rules the world of state
And guides the halls of justice to be great,
But must relinquish all the better part
Of blessing and rely on others' art.
The powerless have power to bless alone,
They have no wealth to give, nor can atone
The wrongs of progress nor praise gathered rights
When rarely these come to the peoples' sights.
Beloved, make me an instrument of blessing,
Though powerless, and late with futile guessing,
And I shall whirl with blessings in my hand
Both in and out of Pharaoh's finest land.

11 And Joseph placed his father and
His brothers, and gave in the land
Of Egypt possession to them
In the best of the land and stem,
In the land of Rameses, as spoken
By Pharaoh and commanded token.
12 Then Joseph nourished his father,
His brothers, and all with them there
Of his father's household with bread,
By family count were they all fed.

Indeed I dwell upon the land supported
By sun god and by his servants comforted.
My true place in Your house is dry and bare
Without the wealth of water, only air.
I flee to the house of another god
To herd another's sheep upon the sod
That bakes beneath the sun that tears my heart
While I and Your house are so long apart.
The weeks pass with the sun-god's celebration
Fed by the drunkenness of that whole nation
That bows to the empiric law of sun
In sciences so-called and in the run
To sell the sun's blood for a slave and smile.
I quietly rest here, but without guile.

13 Now no bread was in all the land,
For the famine was very grand,
So that the land of Egypt and
The land of Canaan languished by
The famine come to multiply.
14 And Joseph gathered all the gold
And silver found in Egypt's hold
And in the land of Canaan, for
The grain which they bought and bought more,
And Joseph brought the money to
Pharaoh's house as the thing to do.

Beloved, it seems that Joseph was a ruler
Who made reforms where he could, and no fooler.
He made the slaves rebel to dominate
Each one his or her own sexual estate.
And now he would release economy
Of its reliance on money and fee
By taking metals out of circulation
And setting foodstuffs as the staff of nation.
His theory may be good, but what will be
The end of the experiment in coin?
He risks to fail because they do not join
His hopes who rule the altar and the throne.
Just wait until rise up the hearts of stone.
One can oppress as well commodity.

15 So when the money failed upon
The land of Egypt, Canaan's dawn,
All the Egyptians came and said
To Joseph, "Now then, give us bread,
For why should we die before you?
For money has failed and is few."
16 Then Joseph said "Give your livestock,
And I'll give bread for your livestock,
If money has melted like dew."
17 So they brought their livestock to him,
And Joseph gave them bread to brim
For horses, flocks, cattle in herds,
And for donkeys, for all in words.
Thus he fed them with bread for all
Their livestock that year sans rainfall.

Here Joseph takes away one level of
Authority between herds and their love.
That cattle shall be owned by Pharaoh's hand
And man and beast be equal in the land.
Ah blessed return to Paradise ensured
In Joseph's plot both stable and inured.
Beloved, the benign communism sought
Was something that could never be untaught,
But must re-echo in the coming years
Not only of Egypt but in the ears
Of every empire fated to arise
And rule beneath Your ever silent skies.
Beloved, see that the donkeys always come
To savour that things will change in the sum.

18 When that year ended, they came to
Him the next year and told him true,
"We will not hide from my lord that
Our money's gone with dog and cat,
My lord also has all our herds
Of livestock. There's nothing but words
Left in my lord's sight but our land
And bodies. 19 "Why should we unplanned
Die before your eyes, and our land?
Buy us and our land for our bread,
And we and our land will instead
Be servants of Pharaoh, give seed,
That we may live and not in need
Die, that the land may not become
A desolation cumbersome."

The people themselves come to make the deal
And sell themselves beneath the donkey's heel.
Not Joseph and not Pharaoh ask the while
To enslave Egypt's people and with guile.
But rote democracy is sword enough
To equalize the better and the rough.
Beloved, there is no change upon the screen
Of nothingness that reflects divine dream.
That dream floats in the mind of multitude
And arms the populace for common feud.
I watch the power of populace sell all
Its freedom for the fun of bread and ball,
While fatted calves stand in the fatting stall,
And porkers run the ramp and hear the call.

20 Then Joseph bought all Egypt's land
For Pharaoh, each Egyptian's hand
Sold his field, since the famine was
Severe upon them. So the land
Became Pharaoh's under the laws.
21 And as for the people, he moved
Them into cities, the which proved
To be from one end of the land
Of Egypt to the other hand.
22 Only the land of the priests he
Did not buy, for the priests had rations
Allotted by Pharaoh, those rations
They ate which Pharaoh gave them free,
Therefore they did not sell their stations.

The priests of the sun-god remain aloof
From siren calls democracy of hoof
Send out as the only measure to make
The world safe for bread and for bakers' sake.
Remember that the baker met his fate
With well-filled baskets sitting on his pate
And all the birds came down to eat his wares.
The butler too can meet the public stares.
The priests of the sun-god take up the gold
And purge the land of everything that's sold.
Wait for them, they will end the common reign
With one more ringing of the neck and pain.
Beloved, Pharaoh may be a righteous man,
But what can he do now that the priests can?

23 Then Joseph said to all the folk,
"Indeed I have bought you and spoke
Up for your land this day to take
It for Pharaoh. Look, here's a stake
Of seed for you, and sow the land.
24 "And it shall come to pass as planned
In the harvest that you shall give
One-fifth to Pharaoh. You shall live
On four-fifths as your own, as seed
For field and food, for those who need
Of your households and as food for
Your little ones and any more."
25 So they said "You have saved our lives,
Let us find favour as arrives
In the sight of my lord, and we
Will Pharaoh's faithful servants be."
26 And Joseph made it law over
The land of Egypt to occur
To this day, that Pharaoh should take
One-fifth, except for what lands make
The fields of priests only, which did
Not become Pharaoh's by the bid.

The one-fifth to the ruler was a stake
That Joseph instituted for the sake
Of divine ruler in the years to come
Into a universal, bright kingdom.
Perhaps he did not know that right must fall
Into an occultation and a call
To live in passive obedience to those
Who have no mandate but that people chose
Or that they took by force the divine throne.
Or then perhaps he did know, since the loan
Of Enoch had been made before his day.
No men alive now but the guided say,
And their words are whispered beneath the pale
Of Four Books oft recited in the tale.

27 So Israel lived in Egypt's land,
In Goshen's country on the sand,
Possessions there they had and grew
And multiplied greatly there too.

WEEK 12

28 And Jacob lived in Egypt's land
For seventeen years with his own band.
So the whole age of Jacob nears
One hundred forty-seven years.
29 When the time drew near that he must
Die and Jacob return to dust,
He called his son Joseph and said
To him, "Now if there's favour shed
On me in your sight, please put hand
Under my thigh, and deal outspanned
In kindness and truth with me here.
Do not bury me in Egypt,
30 "But let me lie by fathers' bier,
You shall carry me from Egypt
And bury me there in their crypt."
And he said "I'll do as you've said."
31 Then he said "Swear to me with dread."
And he swore to him. On the bed
Israel lowly bowed down his head.

Let me lie, my Beloved, by Abraham
Who talked like Moses with the great I AM.
The promise is that death shall make the sleep
In Abram's bosom a safe place to keep.
Swear to me, my Beloved, that when my lips
Cease to repeat Your name in holy sips,
And I go down to wait the final call
To come before Your face with all and all,
That I shall rest upon the lovely breast
Of Abraham and find my mortal quest.
Keep all the acts of freedom I have made
Within Your house eternal and Your shade,
But let my weary life in slumber pass
In Hebron of the spirit, on its grass.

GENESIS 48

1 It came to pass after these things
That Joseph was told of lifesprings,
"Indeed your father's sick," and he
Took with him his two sons and free,
Manasseh and Ephraim truly.
2 And Jacob was told, "Look, your son
Joseph is coming on the run
To see you," and Israel strengthened
Himself and sat up on the bed.
3 Then Jacob told Joseph like friend,
"El El God the Almighty led
Me and appeared to me at Luz
In Canaan's land and blessed me, 4 "Who's
Said to me, 'Indeed, I will make
You fruitful, multiply and take
From you a multitude of folk,
And give this land of which I spoke
To your descendants after you
As everlasting residue.'
5 "And now these your two sons, who were
Born to you, Ephraim to prefer
And Manasseh, in Egypt's land
Before I came at your command
To you in Egypt, they are mine,
As Reuben and Simeon fine,
They shall be mine. 6 "Your offspring whom
You may beget after their room
Shall be yours, they will be called by
Their brothers' name as heirs for aye.
7 "But as for me, when I came from
Padan, Rachel died without crumb
Beside me there in Canaan's land,
Not far to go to Ephrath's stand,
And there I buried her upon
The way to Ephrath at the dawn
(That is, to Bethlehem withdrawn)."

Jacob gives Joseph two shares of the pie,
Already cut up slender with a sigh
In twelve portions. I cut the noble grape
In forty and see all the fare take shape.
What's blessed is just enough to reach the strength
Of all the needs of man and beast and length
Of land. The portion brings to mind the sight
Of Ephrata and what dusty road might
Conceal of fate. Poor Rachel could not wait
To come to where the lands capitulate
To hills, but lay down by the road to sleep.
Even today the women come to weep
Beside the tomb and ask a double share
To comfort for the pilgrimage of care.

8 Then Israel saw Joseph's sons, and
Said "Who are these by my command?"
9 And Joseph said to his father,
"They are my sons, and I defer,
Whom Ælohim has given me
In this place." And he said freely,
"Bring them to me, and I'll bless them."
10 Now Israel's eyes with age were dim,
So that he could not see. And so
Joseph brought them near him to go,
And he kissed them and hugged the beaux.
11 And Israel said to Joseph, "I
Had not thought to see your face nigh,
But Ælohim has also shown
Me your offspring almost full grown!"

I had not thought, Beloved, to see Your face,
Since You are not born in my time and place,
And have no form that I can grasp or see,
Who don't become as I, but only be.
I had not thought to see Your face since I
Am blind and see alone with human eye.
But now that Joseph has brought You nearby,
I find Your presence precious without sight,
And know Your fond embrace without the light.
Enlighten my soul never with the bliss
That mystics see beyond Your hug and kiss.
I shall not see, nor do I wish to see,
For seeing means that You are far from me.
Let me give up the mystic sight for Thee.

12 So Joseph brought them from beside
His knees, and bowed down in his pride
With his face to the earth and land.
13 And Joseph took them both in hand,
Ephraim with his right hand toward
Israel's left hand, without a sword,
And Manasseh with his left hand
He placed toward Israel's right hand,
And brought near him the both as planned.
14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand
And laid it on Ephraim's head,
Who was the younger though well-fed,
And his left on Manasseh's head,
Guiding his hands both knowingly,
Manasseh was the firstborn, see.

I cross my hands in faith against the world
That has its mind made up, its coiffure curled,
And still progresses in stable oppression
By wealth's seniority without confession.
I cross my hands in faith and choose the small
And set the great at nought, despite their call.
The younger son is purer, without hope
Of being king or governor or pope.
I cross my hands in faith because I'm blind
To false discriminations based on kind,
But stop to know the name of morning come
And linger with the setting of the sum.
I cross my hands, Beloved, and then choose You
Because where I turn choices become few.

15 And he blessed Joseph then, and said
"Ælohim, before whom my dead
Fathers faithful Abraham and
Isaac walked by the Lord's command,
The God who's fed me all my life
Unto this day, 16 The Angel's fife
Who has redeemed me from all bad,
May He bless each and every lad,
Let my name be named upon them,
And the name of my fathers' gem
Of Abraham and Isaac, and
Let them grow many in the land."
17 When Joseph saw his father laid
His right hand on Ephraim's head,
It displeased him, so he took hold
Of his father's hand, trembling, old,
To take it off from Ephraim's head
And place it on Manasseh's head.
18 And Joseph said to his father,
"Not so, my father, please concur,
For this one is the firstborn, put
Your right hand on his head, not foot."
19 But his father refused and said
"I know, my son, I know, I'm led.
He also shall become a folk,
And he also shall be no joke,
But truly his younger brother
Shall be greater than he, don't err,
And his descendants shall become
A multitude of folk in sum."
20 So he blessed them that day, and said
"By you Israel will bless your head,
Saying 'May Ælohim make you
As Ephraim and as Manasseh!'"
And thus he set Ephraim to do
Before Manasseh in the way.

The prophet Joseph without fault or fear
Was not wise in the annual of mere
Being and knowing what's behind the cloud
Of witnesses that rise up in the crowd.
He knew to tell the meaning of the dream
He had before his brothers split his beam.
He knew to make the Pharaoh hear his word,
And what he prophesied indeed occurred.
But even Joseph did not know the real
Behind illusion and what he might feel.
He took his father's hand to right his choice
And in exasperation raised his voice.
Beloved, let me submit my will to Mine,
And kiss the darkness that's behind the shine.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "See,
I'm dying, Ælohim will be
With you and bring you back unto
The land of your fathers [ancestors] and true.
22 "Moreover I have given you
One portion above your brothers,
Which I took from the hand and spurs
Of the Amorite with my sword
And with my bow when unimplored."

GENESIS 49

1 And Jacob called his sons and said
"Gather together round my bed,
That I may tell you what shall come
On you in the last days in sum:
2 "Gather together now and hear,
You sons of Jacob, do not fear,
And listen to Israel your father.
3 "Reuben, you are my firstborn, rather,
My might and starting of my strength,
The excellence and also length
Of dignity and of my power.
4 Unstable as the water's hour,
You'll not excel, because you went
Up to your father's bed, defiling,
He went up to my couch, reviling.

Like Cain, the great hope of his mother Eve,
Reuben, the first son was a cause to grieve.
He always started well, but then he failed
Because when clouds came up he often quailed.
His mother's hope and father's pride, he set
His sights on what things were nearby to get,
Instead of weighing wish upon the heart
And finding love the better part of art.
Like water, he ran downhill and beside
He let desire remain to fire his pride.
I too like water seek the lowest place,
But place instead desire upon the trace
Of Your burnt offering on the slaughter's floor.
I find, Beloved, that water's stable shore.

5 "Now Simeon and Levi are
Brothers, vessels of cruelty
Are in their dwelling place by far.
6 Let not my soul enter freely
Into their council, let not my
Honour be joined to assembly,
For in their anger they slew one,
A man, and in their self-will done
They hamstrung an ox by the by.
7 Cursed be their anger, it is fierce,
And their wrath, for it's cruel to pierce!
I will divide them in Jacob
And scatter them in Israel's hub.

Your law, Beloved, is sweet to tooth and maw,
But there's a better way than divine law.
Without the law Dinah and Shechem saw
The bliss of heaven and paradise to gain,
But Simeon and Levi chose the rain,
Because they thought that justice was not vain.
But all is vain without the loving touch,
And even Shechem could have said as much.
Save me and this poor world, Beloved, from law
That's in the angry hand and cutting claw.
Let right lead into love, and not the might,
And scatter wrath from nothing in Your sight.
There's no commanding love is thought true still,
But that's all that one can command, not will.

8 "Judah, you are he whom your brothers
Shall praise, your hand on neck of others,
Your father's children shall bow down
Before you and before your crown.
9 And Judah is a lion's whelp,
From the prey, my son, without help
You have gone up. He bows down, lies
Down as a lion, and as tries
A lion, who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not in his cup
Depart from Judah, nor lawgiver
From between his feet, nor deliver
Until he comes to whom belongs,
And to him shall obedience
Of all the people before sense.

Some say the one to come is some Messiah
Not yet appeared but who'll be both pariah
To wicked ones, and Saviour of the true.
Some say the one to come has come already
Named Jesus or Muhammad or some Freddy.
I doubt not that the three great forms of posing
As faithful to Your law will find a closing
To their debate and quarrel when there comes
The prophesied Dajjal and Anti-christ.
Until then all may fight for silver sums
And soak themselves in whiskey and get iced.
The one who unites all with derring-do
Will not be sent, Beloved, I know from You,
Who have Your own state and law for the few.

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey's colt to the fine
Vine, he washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eye darker than wine escapes,
And his teeth whiter than the milk,
That flows out shining on the silk.

The fourth son then touched the reality:
Reuben was simply law and failed to be,
While love and true awareness of the two
Was spent on Levi and his brother's due.
A lion and a donkey represent
Judah, the two best beasts where Judah went.
The sceptre is Judah's alone until
The one desired shall come to take his fill.
Let everyone guess who the prophesied
May be, but knowledge only takes the ride.
A cryptic Bacchus with milk, grape and wine
Comes riding on the donkey doing fine,
Clothing drenched with the purple blood of grapes,
And peacocks calling to the dancing apes.

13 "Zebulon shall live by the haven
Of the sea, He shall be a haven
For ships, bordered by Sidon graven.
14 "Issachar, a strong donkey, lies
Down between two burdens, and cries
15 That rest is good as he can see
And that the land is fair to me,
He bowed his shoulder down to bear,
Became a band of slaves to care.
16 "But Dan shall judge his people right
As one of Israel's tribes in sight.
17 And Dan shall be a serpent by
The way, a viper for ally,
That bites the horse's heels so that
Its rider falls from where he sat.
18 I've waited for salvation, YHWH!
19 "Gad, troops shall tramp upon his few,
At last he'll triumph in his due.
20 "Bread from Asher is rich and sweet,
He'll bring dainties to royal feet.
21 "And Naphtali's a deer let loose,
With fine words culminating truce.

Beloved, this Jacob knows to flatter sons,
He has them decked in famous names by tons.
The one's a donkey while the other's claim
To fame like viper’s striking at the chain
Of every passing steed put on parade.
With such reminders these sons are unmade.
A deer seems better to be pictured by,
A deer with fine words makes me rather shy.
The deer I've known are quiet in their way
Despite the snort and rare stunt for their say.
For all the flying ships of Zebulon
I still vote for the coming seventh son
Who follows rest with justice in a ride,
A carousel that leaps and bucks beside.

22 "Joseph's a fruitful bough to tell,
A fruitful bough beside a well,
His branches run over the wall.
23 The archers bitterly gave call
And grieved him, shot and hated him.
24 His bow stayed strong and was not dim,
His arms in hand grew stronger still
By Jacob's Mighty God's own will.
(From there's the shepherd, and the stone
Of Israel who's his sent alone),
25 By the God of your father who
Will help you, by Almighty who
Will bless you with the blessings of
The heaven above, the heaven above
And blessings of the deep that rests
Beneath, and blessings of the breasts
And of the womb. 26 The blessings of
Your father have excelled above
The blessings of my fathers to
The highest bound of everlasting
Hills. They shall be on the forecasting
Head of Joseph, and on the crown
Of the head of him who with frown
Was separated from his brothers,
Lived in Egypt without the others.
27 "Benjamin is a ravenous
Wolf, in the morning without fuss
He shall devour the prey, and at
Night too divide the spoil of that."

Beloved, both Israel's shepherd and her rock
You come to Joseph and here You take stock.
This is the son that's truly blessed to be
With heaven and earth, and with the mighty sea.
His grief and patience is at last rewarded,
Though most who suffer such can ill afford it.
His brother is a wolf and spoiling prey
While Joseph wears the crown and holds the sway.
I too look to the hills, the everlasting,
And like good Joseph also cease my fasting.
Alone in Egypt I have learned a thing
As well, and that's not to rely on wing
Of brotherhood, but stand upon the wall,
The only soul at last to hear the call.

28 All these the twelve tribes of Israel,
And this is what their father's spiel
Spoke to them. And he blessed them, he
Blessed each one and accordingly.
29 He charged them and said to them then,
"I'm to be gathered to my folk,
Bury me with my fathers, men
In the cave that's from Ephron's yoke,
The field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 "In the cave at Machpelah's site,
Which is before Mamre, a place
In Canaan's land, which in his pace
Abraham bought with Ephron's field,
Ephron the Hittite, bought and sealed,
Possession for a burial place.
31"There they buried Abraham and
Sarah his wife, there, by command,
They buried Isaac and his wife
Rebekah, and at end of life,
I buried Leah after strife.
32 "The field and the cave that is there
Were purchased from the Hittites fair."
33 And when Jacob finished commanding
His sons, he drew his feet from standing
Up in the bed and breathed his last,
Was gathered to his folk aghast.

All men die daily, my Beloved, though not
With sons about their sofa to be taught,
Though not with feet drawn on the braided bier
Embroidered in gold threads, shrouded in sere
Silk canopies. All men die daily, breath
To breath invites the living soul to death.
I exhale and life leaves my inner cave
Abandoned and dark, but You come to save
And with Your divine kiss breathe in again
The breath of life that animates all men.
I share that kiss of life with all things that
Breathe on the clay, both beast and those that chat.
Breathe still on me the sacred name of YHWH,
Beloved, until my soul comes back to You.

GENESIS 50

1 Then Joseph fell upon his face,
His father's face and wept a space
Over him, and kissed in embrace.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants
The physicians, for the observance,
To embalm his father. So they
Embalmed Israel that very day.
3 Forty days were required for him,
As is embalming Egyptian,
And the Egyptians mourned for him
Full seventy days. 4 And when the days
Of his mourning were past, for praise,
Joseph spoke to the household of
Pharaoh, and said "If now I have
Found favour in your eyes, then speak
In the hearing of Pharaoh, seek,
5 'My father made me swear, and said
"Indeed, I'm dying, in my grave
Which I dug for myself a bed
In Canaan's land, there you shall go
To bury me." Now therefore, show
Me favour, let me go up there
And bury my father, I swear,
And I'll come back from his grave there.'"
6 And Pharaoh said "Now go up there,
Bury your father, as you swear."

By forty days of mourning reading Psalms
I was introduced in this path of palms.
In forty sips of wine and with each breath
I wept for Jacob's passing and the death
Of Abraham and Isaac, Hagar, Sarah,
Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, and not narrow,
For Zilpah and for Bilhah, Miriam,
And even for Isaiah where I am.
I wept for dead Muhammad and for him
Who wept himself beneath the olives dim
In old Jerusalem, and for Hussein
In thirst beside the river on the plain.
Upon the seventieth day of weeping
I entered, my Beloved, the house You're keeping.

7 So Joseph went to bury his
Father, and with him went all his
And the servants of Pharaoh, too,
The elders of his house, not few,
And all the elders of the land
Of Egypt, 8 as well as was planned
All the house of Joseph, his brothers,
And his father's house, all the others.
Only their little ones, their flocks,
And their herds they left in the docks
Of Goshen's land. 9 And there went out
With him both chariots and the shout
Of horsemen, a great gathering,
A great crowd not like anything.
10 Then they came to the threshing floor
Of Atad, that's beyond the shore
Of Jordan, and they mourned him there
With great and very solemn share
Of lamentation. He observed
Seven days for his father deserved.
11 And when the people of the land,
The Canaanites, saw mourning band
At Atad's threshing floor, they said,
"This is a deep mourning of dead
For the Egyptians." That is why
Afterward that place is known by
The name of Abel Mizraim,
Which is beyond the Jordan's rim.
12 So his sons did for him as he
Commanded them instructively.
13 For his sons carried him into
The land of Canaan, and to do
As he said, bury him in cave
Of Machpelah's field and the grave
East of Mamre, which Abraham
Bought with the field, he bought it from
Ephron the Hittite as possession
For burial place and in concession.
14 After he had buried his father,
Joseph returned to Egypt rather,
He and his brothers and all who
Went up with him for father's due.

There is a chance that I may be occulted,
Beloved, and taken up, and not insulted
By earth's stains on my shroud within the grave.
Unlike some I do not pray You will save
Me from the greater baptism of death.
I know its sting already with each breath.
But I do pray that when my passing here
Arrives, and I finish with shedding tear,
That I shall not go to the grave alone,
But that a woven shroud cover my bone
And washen skin. A woven shroud's enough
I need no bin of lead or wooden rough.
I naked dance alive upon this floor,
So let me enter clothed death's open door.

15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their
Father was dead, they said "Beware,
Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and
May even take vengeance he's planned
For all the evil which we did
To him and from our father hid."
16 So they sent to Joseph, and said
"Before your father died in bed
He said commanding, 17 'Thus you must
Say to Joseph, "I beg you first,
Forgive the trespass of your brothers
And their sin, just as to the others,
For they did wickedly to you."'
Now, please, forgive the trespass, do,
Of your father's God's servants true."
And Joseph wept to hear them speak,
Because they thought he'd vengeance wreak.
18 His brothers also went and fell
Down before his face, and they tell,
"Indeed, we are your servants well."
19 Then Joseph said to them, "Do not
Fear, for am I surely in plot
With Ælohim? 20 "But as for you,
You meant evil against me, true,
But Ælohim meant it for good,
In order to bring out what should
As it is this day, to save many
People alive, should there be any.
21 "Now therefore, do not be afraid,
I will provide for you arrayed
And for your little ones." And he
Comforted them and spoke kindly.

I weep that Sacred Book reports to me
Commandment clear and often, though I'm free,
That I must not kill or steal from my brother,
Despite my knowing that there is no other
Besides You, my Beloved, to lend the knowing
Of conscience on the screen's reflected showing.
I weep that law insults my love for You,
The You that hides revealed in all You do,
In every face created in the image
Of universe that shows Your own sublimage.
I weep to be reminded that I share
Responsibility for crimes that bear
Another's name for scapegoat just because
That other's hand performed against Your laws.

22 So Joseph lived in Egypt, he
And his father's household freely.
And Joseph lived one hundred years
And ten years more and without fears.
23 Joseph saw Ephraim's children to
The third. The children of Machir,
The son of Manasseh, were too
Brought up on Joseph's knees for cheer.
24 And Joseph told his brothers, "I
Am dying, but Ælohim's by,
And He will surely visit you,
And bring you from this land to do
As He swore to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob and crew."
25 Then Joseph made the children of
Israel swear to the thing above,
"Ælohim will surely visit
You, and you shall carry up fit
My bones from here to Canaan's land."
26 So Joseph died, one hundred and
Ten years old, and they embalmed him,
And he was put in a coffin
In Egypt for the interim.

When Joseph died there was no court to know
The lovely things he did for Pharaoh's show,
The friends he'd had, the elders of the people
Were lying dead beneath the village steeple.
The kings and princes that knew Joseph's name
Had died before him, took with them his fame.
There was no grand march into Canaan's land
To fetch him to Machpelah by command.
And so he waited in the lonely chest
For when his folk might go up from the west
And find a place at last where slave might rest.
Beloved, the story takes hold of my soul
Enjoying Egypt's pyramids and scroll.
I wait the coming Exodus and goal.


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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