Week 2: Bible Women Unit Review (Essay)

The reading Unit I chose for week 2 was the unit which focused on Biblical Women.

I enjoyed this unit a lot. Most of the stories I was at least partially familiar with, since I grew up in a Christian household. However, some details of each of the stories surprised me, either because of details that I hadn't heard before or of aspects I had heard but weren't actually in the story.

My favorite of the stories were the story of Esther, Susannah, and Bathsheba. I had heard Esther's story many times, but it was always my favorite growing up. I had never heard Susannah's story before, but I thought it had a great message and I wish it was taught more. Bathsheba was another story I liked. I hadn't ever realized that the King George and the Ducky was based off this. That was my brother's favorite VeggieTale when he was little (mine was the Esther one). That may have been a big reason why the story of Bathsheba stood out.

I didn't like the Witch of Endor as much. I thought that the story didn't focus enough on her. The story just didn't seem to fit into the unit as well as all of the other stories. Besides that, I thought they were all great and fit well together.

I don't have any regrets about the unit I chose. The only thing that some people may want to know is that the stories are in the original King James Bible, and not one of the more modern translations. I didn't mind the old version at all but some people may not want to read the old English.

In this unit, I learned about two new stories, but I also learned a lot about how the women and stories I had learned about as a kid fit together into a timeline. The stories went in such an order where I could see more of a family history and timeline than I ever had with these stories before. That was really interesting to me. This was especially applicable in the first half's old testament stories where they went in order through a families generations, like Sarah to Rebekah, to Leah and Rachel.

By Dante Rossetti, "Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah"

Overall I thought this was a very good unit. I enjoyed the stories and think they will work well with the mythologies and ancient stories that we will be studying in this class. I would recommend this unit to anyone who is interested in women's stories from folklore.

YouTube Tech Tip

For this Tech Tip, I'm adding YouTube videos to a blog post. These are  fan made videos from two of my favorite TV shows.

This Video is of the Tenth Doctor's run on Doctor Who, in musical form. David Tennant is my favorite Doctor and this is one of my favorite Doctor Who fan videos. (Warning: One of the songs in this video contains strong language.) To see this video on YouTube click here.

Another TV show I love is Game of Thrones. In this short fan made video by Karliene Reynolds, she writes lyrics for the show's theme song, along with a beautifully made video of the characters. To see this video on YouTube click here.

Week 2: Nice for a Wife (Storytelling)

I was raised to be nice and hospitable to strangers. When I helped someone, I would feel like I had a good purpose.

I was sitting in the corner of the family room weaving when my mom shouted. “Rebekah! We need water. Can you go fetch some?”

“Okay, but if I do, I’m going to finish this pattern when I get back.” I motioned to the weaving I had been working on. It was just over half done. “I think it’s my best one yet.”

Mom rolled her eyes dramatically, “You say that about all of them.”

I grabbed the empty pitcher skipped towards the door. “Well they just keep getting better.” I glimpsed my mom’s smile as I shut the door behind me.  

The well was only a ten minute walk, but I would get distracted along the way. I stopped and talked with a friend of mine and then one of my mothers. I helped David, the old man who lived down the street, find his grandson who had wandered away during his afternoon nap.

Finally I made it to the well. 

I lifted up mom’s filled pitcher and balanced it on my shoulder, before turning to go back home. A man I’d never seen before stood nearby the well. He held ropes that circled many camels. He must me a traveler. The man walked towards me. He stared intently and looked a bit anxious.

“Excuse me, miss… May I have a drink from your pitcher?” He was still staring, studying me.  

I was a little nervous but I nodded to the man. “Of course.” I handed him the pitcher and he drank deeply from it. His camels were staring at me too, but not as intently as the man. The man handed the pitcher back to me. “I’ll go get more,” I said, “For your camels. If you were so thirsty, I’m sure they are as well.”

He smiled widely but continued staring. “Thank you, miss.”

After the camels had drunk what they wanted, I filled one more pitcher for my mom. The man never stopped studying me. I fidgeted uncomfortably under his gaze.  We made some small talk but soon he asked, “Who is your father? Do you live close by?” he asked. “Would your father have room for me and my camels for the night?”

“Umm… Yes, I do. And I think so. My father is Bethuel…” He didn't say anything else, just stood staring and smiling. “I’ll run home quickly and get everything arranged with my parents and brother.”

“Alright,” he said. “But before you go, I want you to have these… for your trouble.” He handed me an earring and bracelets he had been wearing, along with some money and gold.” I held the pieces in my hand, not quite knowing whether to accept. Eventually I thanked him and took off for home, spilling some water along the way. By the time I got home the pitcher was only half full.

“Mom!” I yelled as I haphazardly took the pitcher off my shoulder and put it on the table, more water sloshing out. “There’s a guy by the well with a ton of camels and I gave him water and now he wants to stay here. And he gave me these.” I showed her the jewelry and money as I breathed hard. I was out of breath, both from the running home and the quick relaying of information.

“Who is he?” she asked, my brother came into the kitchen from the family room to listen.

“I don’t know but he’s waiting by the well. He kept looking at me weird, like he was studying me or something.”

My brother, Laban, laughed. “You’re too boring to study… or to give fancy presents to.”

I shot him a glare and turned back to mom, she was looking around the room. “Okay, Rebekah,” she said, “I’ll start getting things around here, why don’t you go get him. But on your way back walk slowly. The house isn't presentable yet.”

“Mom, please no! I don’t want to go get him and get stared at for another twenty minutes of slow walking. Let Laban go get him!”

My mother sighed but agreed despite Laban’s complaints. “How am I even supposed to know who he is, Rebekah?”

“It’s like I said, Laban, he’s the only one with a dozen camels.” Laban huffed out the door and mom started rushing around straightening everything. She sent me out to find dad. I told him what happened and the two of us went to the stables and moved around some things to make room for the camels. When we were done we went back inside where my mom was finishing up.

A couple minutes later Laban came in with the man. He greeted my family and quickly pulled my parents aside. Soon after my father called my mother and me outside, leaving Laban to entertain our guest.

My father looked seriously at me, “He’s a servant, sent to find a kind woman for his master’s son.” I stared blankly at my father trying to process what he said. “He thinks you’re the one.”

“What?” I asked dumbly. “Who does that? Send a servant to find a random wife?  What should I say?”

Mom and Dad both exchanged looks, “He is well off. You would have a good life. We think you should.”

I thought for a while, they both stared, similarly to the way the man had earlier. “If you want me to I will.”

A couple days later I was on the road, with the man and my nurse, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it. We traveled a long time before we finally reached a field. I saw a middle aged man walking towards us. “Is that him?” I asked.

“Yes.” And so began my new life as the wife of... wait... what's his name?

By Gustave Dore "Eliezer and Rebekah"

Author's Note: This is adapted from the story in the Bible about Issac's wife Rebekah. The story is found in Genesis 24 & 25, as well as the online version here. Issac sends a servant to go find him a wife. The servant devises a plan to find a kind woman who will allow him  and his camels to drink. Rebekah is the first to respond in the correct way and the servant asks her family if he can take her to Issac to become his wife. Everyone agrees and they soon leave. 

Work Cited: King James Bible (1611) Gen. 24-5

Week 2: Bible Women Reading Diary

For the Bible Women's reading homepage, click here.

Reading A: For this week, there were twenty different stories in the Bible Women's unit. Of the first ten, two stood out to me the most. Those were the stories of Jephthah's daughter and Hannah. Both of these stories involved loss of only children in one way or another. 

Okay, so first was Jephthah's daughter. Many elements of this story surprised me. One of those elements, in my opinion was the father's stupidity. I understand why he wanted to make a vow or deal with God to win the war. And it's obvious by his reaction when he sees his daughter he is distraught and regretful and expected to sacrifice some animal, but how he worded the vow led to that happening. 

This is a man who has been off to war for a while. So when he words the vow 'whatever greets me first at home'... does he think a sheep will walk up to him before his only child after he has been gone so long? He should have thought through his wording more and just promised God an animal or the 'first of my livestock that I see'. He could have been a tad more specific and everything would have worked out great for him.

Then there is his daughter, who seems scarily okay with her father killing and burning her. She agrees immediately and asks for time to more the loss of her virginity and life. I thought she wouldn't return after the two months and her dad would die or something. But she willingly returns and lets her father sacrifice her. I know this was a different time and I am not religious like these characters, but I feel like most children would not be okay with being killed for God. 

(By Debat-Ponsan, The Daughter of Jephthah )

 Now on to Hannah's story. This story I had more prior knowledge of but it brought up some similar questions to Jephthah's story although not nearly as extreme. Once again I understand where the vow came from. Hannah has been craving a child, and wanting to be a mother for years. But what I don’t understand is making a vow with God for a child, which will cause you to permanently lose that child from a young age.

Especially in the biblical time period, while children were loved, they were also needed to work, to carry on the family line, and to care for the parents in their old age. Promising to give a child up if you are given one seems counter intuitive for many of the desires for a child. To me it goes to a debate that have heard, is it better to have and to lose or to never have had at all. 

(By Van Den Eeckhout, Hannah Presents Her Son)

For Reading B: The two stories I'm going to discuss from the second half of the readings are of Susannah and Herodias. All of the other stories from this unit I had encountered at least once before, although some only briefly. However, the stories of Susannah and Herodias I had never heard or read before.

I'll talk about Susannah's story first.  I had never even heard of Susannah before this. Her story is one that I wish was still in the modern Bibles. The story was disturbing and thought provoking. The story itself, of attempted rape, is very applicable even today in modern society.

Susannah stood up for her principles even when it would have been easier to give in. And because of her morals, she is sentenced to death for a crime she didn't commit. Susannah is the type of woman that people should admire and look up to.

I also found it interesting that this story had a young Daniel in it. I had grown up hearing about the lion's den and such but I loved that the story included this well known biblical hero standing up for a girl who everyone else condemned.

by de Boulogne, "Daniel and the Elders" 

The story of Herodias just generally disturbed me. This woman was obsessed with having John the Baptist executed because he called her and her husband out about marrying when her previous husband had been brothers with her current husband.

But I think the most disturbing thing about her is that she used her daughter, Salome's request to have John executed. When her daughter came to her for advice on what to do with the request, she could have helped her make a wise decision that would have bettered her daughter's future. Or if she was intent on John dying, she could have just asked to have him killed. But instead she tells her daughter to ask for John's head at the feast they are attending.  This is just overall disturbing in so many ways.

(by Ansaldo,"Herodias and Salome". )

Week 1: Storybook Favorites

In the past Storybook list that we were given, there were many interesting and unique topics. While there were many topics I enjoyed reading about. These are three that I thought were very interesting.

The first storybook that I found interesting was the Rocky Mountain Tales. I am particularly interested in this book because I lived for twelve years in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. I liked that they incorporated different types of stories, from the Native American tribes to the stories from later settlers. The color scheme and set up of the site were very outdoorsy and went well with the Colorado mountain theme. The writing was also very easy to read unlike some of the multicolored storybooks.

The next was a storybook about the Women in White. One of my favorite television shows is Supernatural, and the Pilot episode of Supernatural is about the Women in White, which originally drew me to that storybook. After looking at the book, I thought it was very interesting how it was written in first person, like a blog entry, from a 'ghost hunter' with a PhD in Parapsychology. I thought this idea was original and well researched throughout. The voice of the person speaking is also very unique and believable.

The last storybook that I will talk about was Stories from Australia. This storybook also interested me because of personal experience. In one summer in high school, I spent almost a month in Australia. We visited an Aborigines village and stayed with Australian residents for a few days. I thought that the layout of this blog was very simple, but I liked the blocks of color and pictures used a lot. I have also done research papers on different parts of Australian Aborigines lives throughout history. The background I have drew me to this storybook immediately.

There were many other storybooks that I looked at and liked, but these three were some of my favorites. I think this will be a very interesting and unique assignment to complete.

Week 1: Exploring the Un-Textbook

The following are some selections that I may read for our Un-Textbook throughout the semester, in no particular order. 

1. Grimm (Ashiman): All of the Grimm brother's stories are interesting to me. In particular, I've always loved the story of Rumpelstiltskin, so that is one reason I want to read this section. Also I'm interested in the new story mentioned in it about Adam and Eve. 

2.Turkish Fairy Tales: I have always loved Fairy Tales and have read some from Europe and Asia. The description of the Turkish, involving wizards, princes, and fairies makes me very interested. Also I'm not sure I've ever encountered Turkish fairy tales during any of my previous readings.

3.Voyages of Sindbad: I've heard about the legends of Sindbad in many many books and movies, but I have never read them. In the description of this reading, it also interested me that the writings were written in first person through Sindbad's perspective. So many of the hero legends are either and omnipresent narrator or a third party observer, I'm very interested to see how this is written and how it works with the story.

4.Dante Inferno: I have never read Dante's inferno but have heard a lot about it in many classes I've taken. Last semester I took a History of Heaven and Hell class and the professor briefly touched on Dante's Inferno and I thought it sounded really interesting. 

5. Eskimo Stories: I've always been interested in Ghost stories and legends. And if I'm being completely honest, I like the Disney movie Brother Bear, the description made me think of that movie a little.

I like the idea of the Un-textbook very much. I think it will be hard to chose the readings every week because each one sounds interesting in its own way. I think this will be a very interesting and unique class. I'm greatly looking forward to it. 

Week 1: Friends and a Bear (Storytelling)

There were once two young men who had been friends for years. Their names were John and Marcus. Both spent most of their days together working as blacksmith’s apprentices. While forging swords for the knights, both men had said they would fight for and protect each other, as they were like brothers.

However, those promises never required action, as the men led simple and uninteresting lives. When work was slow, John would practice with the swords, while Marcus would read about the world. He read about life in the deserts of the South, the oceans to the West, and the forests that surrounded their town. “You’re always reading those books,” Said John as he struck the blade into one of the wooden poles in the room.

“Yes, I am,” Marcus laughed. “I want to be a blacksmith who’s as clever as one of the fancy scholars.”

“Well,” said John, “If you want a skill that is actually useful in the world, you should train with me. I’m becoming as brave and strong as a knight. A book won’t save your life.”  But Marcus kept reading, and John kept swinging his sword.

One day the men were working when the blacksmith entered. “Boys,” he grunted, “I need you to go to the next town for some new tools.” The old man instructed them on what they needed and sent the boys on their way. They hadn’t gone on an errand before for the blacksmith, so both were excited for the adventure.

Later, John and Marcus were walking through the woods, on the narrow dirt road. The men were talking and laughing, telling stories from their childhood, and complaining about the old blacksmith. Then they heard something in the trees off to their left. Both froze.

The stood still and listened. They hadn’t seen another person on the road for over an hour and were still well away from the next town. The sound went quiet for a moment before continuing moving closer to them. They backed away and stood on the far side of the road, watching and waiting. After a moment, a huge brown bear came out of the tree line. The bear wasn’t paying the men any mind, at least not until John squealed in fear. The bear looked at the men curiously and began walking toward them.

John shook and began scrambling towards the trees behind him, knocking Marcus out of the way as he rushed away from the bear. When John reached the trees he scrambled up the nearest one, climbing half way to the top.

Marcus seemed calm outwardly, as he was trying not to startle the bear more. However, his mind was racing. He thought, Forests. Bears. Bears in forest., Bears killing people in forests. I must have read something about how to not get killed by bears in the forests. Then he remembered, he had once read that bears wouldn’t mess with the dead. As the bear neared him he dropped to the ground. He lay still, holding his breath, with his eyes closed. 

He could hear the bear moving towards him, and soon he felt the bear’s breath on his face and neck. The bear sniffed him a time or two, and then nudged his neck with a huge black nose. The bear soon became tired and lost interest in Marcus. As the bear lumbered back into the woods, Marcus sighed in relief, with ragged breaths, and slowly sat up.

After the bear had completely disappeared, John jumped down from the tree, still shaking. He collapsed next Marcus. “I thought you were dead for sure,” John said, staring huge eyed at Marcus. “It looked like he whispered to you, he was so close.”

“He did,” Marcus said still trying to catch his breath.

John looked at his friend skeptically, “Bears can’t talk.”

Marcus nodded, “This one did.  He said, ‘find a friend who’s brave like a knight and won’t let you get eaten by a bear.’” John turned red with embarrassment and Marcus laughed, though he was still angry with John. “The bear also said to keep reading books, as I would be dead if I depended on your bravery.” Marcus laughed again stood. John soon joined him and they continued down the road.

While the men worked together and remained friends. They never made any promises to one another again. Both men had seen how fear affected John. The encounter with danger had shown each of their true natures.

By: John and Karen Hollingsworth. "Big Brown Bear Urcus Arctos" Public Domain Image

Author's Note: This is a retelling of Aesop's fable entitled, "Two Travelers and a Bear". The story is of two men who are walking in the forest when they encounter a bear. One man leaves the other and climbs a tree, the other pretends to be dead to fool the bear. The bear leaves and the man on the ground told his friend that the bear said, "It is not at all wise to keep company with a fellow who would desert his friend in a moment of danger." The original fable and many others can be found in the book listed below, which is online for free by The Project Gutenburg. 

Bibliography: "Two Travelers and a Bear" from The Aesop for Children with pictures by Milo Winter (1919) Web Source: The Project Gutenburg

Tech Tip 1

The template that I chose for my blog is one of the Travel Templates. I liked the color scheme of it, as well how the posts were framed in the screen. I haven't done much blogging before, so I don't know how the format compares, but I like the template I chose. The way the template frames the posts is like a few of the blogs I follow. I like the blocks of color, where the blues make the blog stand out some, but the text is easy to read with the traditional white background and black lettering.