Miracle #1

And Noah, being an husbandman, went forth and planted a vineyard, and drank of the wine and was drunk, and lay uncovered in the midst of his tent.

What Happened

Noah plants a vineyard and gets drunk. Instead of looking inward, he looks outward and curses an innocent. His shame, guilt, and embarrassment ruined the life of his own grandson and cursed an entire people to destruction, enslavement, and eradication.

The Reading

• Noah was the first man to work the ground after the big flood.
• He plants a vineyard of his own accord. No command given from God to do this. Purely a human project.
• God had already taken care of the whole food supply: “And all that moveth upon the earth having life shall be your meat: even as the green herbs so give I you all thing” (Genesis 9:3).
• A vineyard is a particular type of crop that requires you to stay in place (years to mature). This insinuates that “settled life” was about to resume with Noah and his vineyard and his family. It’s also considered a luxury crop that “cheereth both god and man” (Judges 9:13).
• Noah drinks the wine, gets drunk and naked, and passes out in the vineyard. His youngest son, Ham, finds him — undignified and naked in his shame. Noah informs his two older brothers, Shem and Japheth. They go cover and help their father. When Noah awakens, he realizes what has been done and curses his family. Specifically, he curses Ham’s son, Canaan (who is Noah’s grandson).
• He aimed his shame at the youngest member of the family and also an innocent in order to avoid taking accountability for his lack of control: “He said: Cursed be Canaan; and a servant of all servants be he to his brethren. And he said: Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan be his servant. God increase Japheth, that he may dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan be their servant.”
• This curse set in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, that continued to unfold all throughout the vineyard metaphors. This prophecy was not set in motion by God, but by man.
• Shem was singled out as the LORD. Japheth was “increased.” Ham was ignored. His son, Canaan, was called out to be the servant of servants.
  • The bystanders got blessings. The innocent got a curse.
• What did this set in motion? A legacy of shame, lack of control, and abuse of “fruits.”
  • Shem → Abraham → Judah → David → Jesus
  • Except Jesus was not of the same blood. He was by way of God.

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a ruler from between his legs, until Shiloh come unto whom the people shall hearken. He shall bind his foal unto the vine and his ass’s colt unto the vine branch, and shall wash his garment in wine and his mantle in the blood of grapes.

What Happened

Jacob’s family, with Judah on the throne, attach themselves to the “vine” in order to take the “fruit” of others.

The Reading

• Judah comes from Shem’s line, by way of Abraham; this ties directly to the above. He shares a direct line to the older brother who was blessed by Noah. The origination of this blessing: displaced shame. The core of this passage: man’s entitlement. In both situations, a man is speaking from God’s chair. Noah took it upon himself to curse his people; Jacob took it upon himself to assign power to Judah. Neither is a proclamation from God. Jacob is also the man who stole his older brother’s blessing by lying and tricking his blind father (with the help of his mother). It has consistently been a familial line of wrongdoings.
• In this situation, Jacob is literally telling Judah and his people to attach themselves to the “vine” and the “vine branch” and then to wash his clothing in the wine and the blood of grapes. He’s dressing up his outermost “self” (the part that is visible) with the work (the fruit) of others. He is “dyed” in the blood of others.
• This is exploitative. It’s entitlement on a throne, built by God’s people. Jacob even says “until the Shiloh come”, which means he is saying to take and take and take until the rightful heir comes forth.

And they came unto the river of Eshcol and they cut down there a branch with one cluster of grapes and bare it upon a staff between twain, and also of the pomegranates and of the figs of the place.

What Happened

God tells Moses to take his people through the valley of Eshcol into Canaan. Instead of leaving at once, Moses sends 12 spies, one from each tribe, to scout their new home. They carry a large branch of grapes back with them. However, ten return and report negative things (lies). Two report the truth (Caleb and Joshua). God is angry with the liars and the doubt, so he sentences the entire generation to 40 years in the wilderness (which is a direct echo of the tribes’ earlier complaints and demands). The next generation (along with Caleb and Joshua) are allowed into the valley of Eshcol.

The Reading

• The name Eshcol translates to cluster, which wraps into the vineyard theme. The 12 spies also carry back grapes so large that it requires two men to carry it back. It’s actual physical proof; yet they still lie. They claimed to have seen “giants” and that the city was walled in.
• In Numbers, it appears as if God says to “search the land of Canaan” but later on in Deuteronomy Moses tells the same story in a different way. He says God told them to go conquer it, to not be discouraged, and to take it for themselves. Then he admits that his people came to him and asked to search it out first, which he agreed to. This echoes Aaron and his calf, which is Moses’ brother. Bad leadership results in the punishment and death of others.
  • The land of Canaan is the land of the grandson that was originally cursed by Noah. It’s almost as if it were a self-fulfilling prophecy. Noah cursed his own family; the son and grandson played into that likely out of resentment and anger. It tells a tale of generational hurt, trauma, and built-up resentment.
  • God tells Moses to go take Canaan, however, not because of the curse but due to the wickedness of Canaan. They were sacrificing their children to Molech, practicing necromancy and witchcraft, and even involved in things like bestiality.
• God did not sentence these people to instant “death” as some may interpret it. He said everyone over the age of 20 must go back to the wilderness for 40 years. The next generation go into Eshcol without them, and the adults are left in the wilderness. He’s basically weeding them out. The tares mixed in with the wheat.
  • Moses’s retelling in Deuteronomy 1:27: “…and murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hateth us, therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and to destroy us.’” They believed God actively hated them and led them into harm’s way — after he saved them from the grip of Egypt. They even said they wanted to return to Egypt.
  • They are saying this with full stomachs. God had been dropping fresh bread (manna) for them every day for two years. Two themes: they wanted to return to their cage, and they did not trust their rescuer.
  • The punishment for refusing the gift is simply not getting the gift and going back into the wilderness (the wilderness was on the edge of Eshcol). As a kicker, God continued to feed them fresh bread for the entirety of the 40 years.

And the vine answered, “Should I leave my wine that cheereth both God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?” … And the furze bush said unto the trees, “…ye shall see that a fire shall come out of the furze-bush and waste the cypress trees of Lebanon!”

What Happened

Abimelech, funded by his heritage (the citizens of Shechem), hired a gang of men to help him kill his 69 brothers. He hired this gang with money he took from the town Shechem. This money came from a “town fund” that was being gathered to build an altar for Baal. Only one brother escaped, Jotham. Jotham climbs a mountain and shouts a parable down at the crowd, which ends up being a prophecy. He talks about the olive tree, a fig tree, and a grape vine refusing to go rule over the trees. The furze bush, however, accepts it and says a fire will come out of itself and lay waste to the trees of Lebanon. Jotham concludes by saying a fire will come out of Abimelech and consume the citizens of Shechem, and ultimately, it will also consume Abimelech.

The Reading

• Jotham compares Abimelech to a useless bush, whose only real worth is its flammability. It has no fruit; it can’t be used to build anything (the wood itself is weak), and it’s short and thorny (not good for shade).
• Jotham also calls out the crowd for choosing the furze bush, something that will ultimately consume them with its flammable nature (destruction, hostility, and lust for power).
• Jotham also says that the ones with real fruit (the olive tree, fig tree, and grape vine) would always choose their own fruit over power. Their fruit pleases both man and God, and that is greater than power over people.

Thou bringest food out of the earth: wine to make glad the heart of man, oil to make him a cheerful countenance and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

What Happened

Man is acknowledging God for providing (wine, oil, and bread). But he doesn’t just acknowledge what he provides for man; he also acknowledges what he provides for all creatures and “beasts” of the earth.

The Reading

• On the surface, man is thanking God for the abundance and the “fruits” of the earth that God provides. But below the surface, man is pointing to items that require man’s labor to produce: wine, oil, and bread. This is about co-creation. God provides the nutrients. Man works to create the products (fruit) of those nutrients (the vine).
• Compare this to the manna that the Israelites received fresh daily from God. The feeling is quite different. With the manna, the tribes received the bread, yet complained about it. They would rather go back to Egypt than continue to eat manna every day. Something freely given to them, with no labor on their end, was met with disdain. However, in this particular instance, man is thanking God for the resources, even despite being required to work in order to create something from it. It’s co-creation, and it’s gratitude. It is shared labor, and both share in the fruits of that labor.