Family Relationships: Relating to Family
In the book of Genesis, “The Bible”, a reoccurring motif is the idea of family relations and trust of those family members. As shown when Jacob arrives unannounced at his uncle Laban’s house and ends up staying there for the majority of his life. At the first arrival, “Laban heard the news about his sister’s son Jacob, he ran to meet him; he embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house.” (Gen. 29.13)
In the case of family matters, Laban does not even know that Rebekah has a son, and even if he did know he puts so much trust into someone he has never even met of before.
This shows how different, the early biblical world is in comparison to the world today. People who show up unannounced at another’s house proclaiming that they are related would get the cops called on them. It is unfortunate how up tight our culture is but, it has good reason. Although there was crime in biblical ages there certainly was not as much organized and truly brutal crime as there is today.
The society in Genesis seems very trust worthy and easy going, and it is a shame that the world has evolved into a paranormal society, but at the same time also a blessing
Although the bond of family and concern within each other’s relatives occur throughout Genesis, I will have to disagree with you on the subject that these characters are trustworthy and easy going. The idea that no matter what, family is always welcomed does pertain to these Biblical stories. As well, this idea s has in fact lessened over the years. Yet, even with this bond, almost every page of Genesis is filled with deception and lies within these same families.
For example, although Laban welcomes Jacob like a son, later on in the story he deceives him and makes his nephew work more than necessary as well as tricking him into sleeping with his other daughter. This trickery occurs everywhere. We even see it with one of the very first stories with Cain and Abel.
Maybe crime has indeed escalated to an incredibly pertinent problem in modern times. However, your note that family, back in those days, was always trustworthy doesn’t seem as realistic. Yet, unfortunately not matter when or how it occurred, crime, lies, and deception have always occurred since the beginning of time.
Our society today, although it has brutal crime, has evolved in a way that makes it harder for this crime to occur. Modern security systems that we have in our households give a security blanket that people did not have in the biblical times.
Although I agree that we are brutal today, the biblical times were just as or even more brutal than current times.
Some people were trustworthy in biblical times, but many times people used deceit to get what they wanted (Not unlike today). I believe that the societies in the bible were the exact opposite of easy going and trustworthy. If someone nowadays, wants to get food or clothes, they can just drive over to the store to buy some. In biblical times, things were not so easy. The food they ate depended on the weather and the livestock the produced. In many ways, the biblical times had it way harder than our current society has it.
I see your point as to the difference between today’s society and in the time setting of the bible, but I also have to disagree with a few aspects. Not as much organized and truly brutal crime existed, but trickery between family members and acquaintances issued itself as a more proclaimed problem during those times.
Today, I am aware of inheritance getting the best of people and hatred arising between members of the same family, however the lengths people went in the bible for such blessings appeared more drastic. A potential murder may have been conspired during the days of the bible, while today, something with a result as permanent as death is out of the question to most sane people.
Following your example, someone showing up at a house claiming a relation in those days may be more plausible because of no possibility for a previous connection. Now, we can call, email, or use another form of technology to contact a person we wish to visit before we see them.
If someone unknown showed up unannounced, a worried call to the police may be in order but only because of the variety of paths the person could have used to inform an arrival. Without a warning, an entrance like this would be frightening now days, while in the past it may have been an exciting event. This also leads to the possibility of deceit through people using a guise to trick other characters.