Judah - in Sturgis, SD?

A few weeks ago, Mel and I were sitting at a table in a local pizza place after our English class. If I remember correctly, we had just read the part of Joseph's story where his brothers sold him to the traveling Midianite merchants who were on their way to Egypt. We were talking about the story, about how it is interesting that the Bible doesn't hide the truth about people’s characters. Jacobs’s sons are a case in point.

I grew up in the church, attended Sunday School from a very young age, went to Pioneer Girls, youth groups, camp every summer, church on Sunday morning, Sunday evening and often to prayer meetings on Wednesday nights as well. Yes, I grew up in the church. It was a good church. Fundamental in it’s' beliefs, but we were not the stereotypical church group that is associated with that word today. I knew my Bible very well by the time I was in my teens, practically inside out. In fact, sometimes I think I knew it better then than I do now (those mid-life memory lapses - I know it is in there somewhere....!!!). I even went to Bible College for a year and a half. That's where I met Mel. Church has always been very important to me, even before Mel was in the ministry and before we came here to Ukraine. The Bible has always been the book above all books, the Word of God.

So, it came as a shock to me, as I sat there across the table from my husband, quietly shouting about the sons of Jacob at each other above the music - it came as a shock to me that Judah - or Simeon - or Levi, or any of the others were men, just like my husband is a man.

Oh, in my head I've always known they were "men." Male persons. Different from me due to those XY chromosome designations. But they were guys who herded sheep, dressed in robes and sandals, grew long beards and carried a staff in one hand. And they spoke funny (I was weaned on the Authorized KJV 1611 Scofield Reference Bible, and even when we progressed to the New King James or the RSV, they still talked funny). But sitting there at Pan Pizza, surrounded by really loud EuroBeat music, cigarette smoke and the Russian language, waiting for our dinners to arrive, it dawned on me for the very first time that Judah was a man, just like my husband is a man.

Take off the robe (no, this is not getting racy!) and give him some black leathers to wear, trim the long beard a bit, put his hair in a ponytail and set him on a Harley and he'd have been a great biker and would have visited Sturgis, SD every summer. Take away the sheep and give him a herd of cows and a horse to ride, some chaps, a cowboy hat and boots, and a pistol on his hip and he'd have been a great cowboy (probably a gunslinger in Deadwood, SD - Judah would have been just a SD kind of guy, I guess). Dress him in a business suit and tie ... no, sorry, that image just didn't fit with the sons of Jacob. They were rough and tumble guys. Oh, yes, well, give him a black business suit, shirt, hat, shoes and sunglasses and a personal driver and he'd have fit in well with The Family, this is true.

These sons of Jacob were men, real men, rough men, the kind of guys you don't want your daughter dating. They didn't talk funny. They didn't look funny. They didn't act funny. They were normal guys for that time period of history. These guys got up every morning and did everything a man does first thing in the morning (except shave). They had normal passions, tempers, laughter. They told each other bad jokes, checked out the neighbors brand new camel (do camels have 'horsepower?') and had the occasional argument with their wife with the resulting time of making up. They laughed as their children learned to walk, worried when they were ill, cried silently when a loved one died. They smelled bad when they came in from the fields, stinking of sheep and goats and sweat. They might have cut themselves sharpening a knife, burned their tongue occasionally when the lentil stew was too hot and relished a long, cool drink of water on a hot summer's day.

Yes, Gad and Naphtali and Reuben and Dan and all the others were men, real men. They lived and loved and hated and sinned and repented and murdered and committed adultery and felt extreme jealousy and lied and even sold their brother away because they hated him so much. Oh, I'm sure they were nice sometimes, maybe even tender at moments with their wives or children or newborn lambs. They were human. They were real.

I wondered if I would have been attracted to any of them? Would I have found Simeon good looking? Would I have enjoyed listening to Issacar sing, enjoyed watching Zebulon dance? Would I have thought Judah was sexy? If they lived today, in the here and now, would I be intimidated by them, frustrated by them, attracted to them?

I tried to imagine it in the opposite direction. What if Mel were back then? That was much harder to do. I can't imagine Mel in a robe other than a bathrobe, he already wears sandals occasionally, has a beard, is very, very male - but he is just not their type. I think. I am not sure. Maybe if he had been born during that time period he would have been just like them. I'm glad I'll never know, because I like him and love him just the way he is.

I wonder if the sons of Jacob are in heaven (other than Joseph, I'm sure he's there) and I'll get to meet them one day. It will be very interesting, to say the least.