Written by Delaney Harrington
Like perhaps many of you, I have never had an extensive amount of experience with the Old Testament in my life. I believed the myths that it was boring and legalistic, not relevant anymore and that the “Old Testament God” is portrayed as mean and vengeful. It only took coming to college to realize that the Bible is not like the VBS stories. Au contraire. The Old Testament, specifically the Pentateuch, is teeming with themes and symbolism that we as a society have barely begun to scrape the surface of. The English major in me is constantly amazed at the intentionality of words written millennia ago. It seems that she pulls at my pant leg, gasps and cries, “Symbolism! Themes! Symbolism! Themes!” every time I learn something new about the Pentateuch.
To prove my point, I want to give you an example of the themes present in a story of the early Pentateuch: the story of Joseph.
The theme that permeates Joseph’s story is that of clothing. My Old Testament Bible professor has these wonderful, pithy sayings to summarize the major patriarchs’ stories in Genesis. Joseph’s is “Humiliation to exaltation through wardrobe malfunctions and their corrections.” Every time Joseph’s luck changes (for better or worse), the change is punctuated by a new set of clothes. Wardrobe malfunction number one is the famed coat of many colors. This coat initially exalted him over his brothers but ultimately humiliated him after they sold him into slavery.
Wardrobe malfunction number two is when his head-of-the-household servant uniform, designed to cover and protect him, does exactly the opposite. After Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph and grabs his clothes, he runs out naked. She then uses this to frame him for sexual misconduct. Joseph’s humiliation was magnified when he was ultimately sent to jail. However, his luck starts to turn with clothing correction number one. Joseph prospers in prison (exaltation within humiliation) and is eventually granted a meeting with Pharaoh because of his gift for interpreting dreams. As a foreshadowing of his much-anticipated exaltation, Joseph changes clothes. Genesis 41:14 says, “And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.” He then finds favor in Pharaoh and is made second-in-command, a decision which is accompanied by Pharaoh giving Joseph his cloak. Joseph eventually flips the script when he is reunited with his brothers. Instead of being angry, he is overjoyed and gives them many gifts in Genesis 45:22, including new clothes. With this in mind, I say I misjudged the Old Testament. The Pentateuch should be read as an epic saga on the level of “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey.” To Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, I say this — I’m sorry. I’m here now.
