Week 16 Psalm 105
Psalm 105 retells some of the stories from Israel’s past.
One is the story of Joseph being sold-down-the-river by his brothers.
I look back at the story in Genesis. It’s about 90 verses long. So the psalm 105 version – 5 verses – is a real whittled-down version:
(The Lord) had sent a man ahead of (Jacob’s family) – Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
They hurt his feet with shackles; his neck was put in an iron collar.
Until the time his prediction came true, the word of the Lord tested him.
The king sent for him and released him; the ruler of peoples set him free.
He made him master of his household, ruler over all his possessions.
The full-length Genesis account of Joseph is one of the best stories in the bible. I prefer it to the condensed version. But whatever reason the psalm writer had for writing a short-version the important thing is that his version was accurate. Different but accurate.
I remember reading a guy’s explanation of Jesus walking across the Sea of Galilee. This guy figured there was a weather anomaly in the eastern Mediterranean where the temperature plummeted and froze the lake. Jesus was actually walking on ice. (I can do in Alberta and so I know there’s no miracle there.) Different and inaccurate.
Changing a story is okay. But an important rule is that when it gets changed it has to stay roughly the same story.
Note: quote from Psalm 105:17-21 (CSB)