Trickster theme in Genesis

[Jeff Lebowski]

In reading through the book of Genesis again, it seems like one of the main themes in the book is trickery.

- Jacob is tricked into marrying the wrong daughter and working an extra seven years
- Jacob/Rebekkah conspire to cheat Esau from his birthright blessing
- Jacob makes an agreement with his FIL about taking the striped livestock and then puts stakes in front of the feeding animals to induce the birth of striped offspring
- Simeon and Levi ask the men of Shechem/Hamor to get circumcised and then they kill them all while they are recovering in revenge for the rape of Dinah.
- Josephs brothers conspire to get rid of him, Joseph is framed, Joseph frames his brothers

(I am probably missing a few - feel free to add)

In the commentary of my Oxford bible, it says that it is common in the legends/myths of that time for powerful leaders to use trickery to gain an advantage. Anyone aware of other stories from antiquity featuring such trickery?

Any other thoughts on the trickery theme?

I noticed that Alan Dershowitz wrote a book on Old Testament justice. I haven't read it but it looks quite interesting. It appears that he argues that much of the trickery and anarchy in the early part of the OT sets the stage for the introduction of the ten commandments.

Amazon.com: The Genesis of Justice : 10 Stories of Biblical Injustice That Led to the 10 Commandments and Modern Morality and Law (9780446676779): Alan M. Dershowitz: Books

[Babs]

The whole of Greek and Roman mythology is composed of the gods playing tricks on the mortals, or on each other, or helping favored mortals trick and cheat other mortals. It's an interesting commentary on their perception/conception of deity that the Greeks would have their gods rely on deceit as a means to achieve their desired ends.

[creekster]

I am not sure if you will see this as relevant or not, but the most prominent demi-god in many polyneisan myths is Maui and he is known as Maui the trickster. Many of the tales about hiim involve hiim tricking gods ro demi-gods into giving up secrets that Maui then uses for man. I think this seems like something that a tribal based culture might appreciate more, for a variety of reasons. In fact, as I was in gospel doctrine yesterday I made this same connection.

[Moliere]

Dang! I was hoping this would be a thread about Radiohead.

http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showpo...6&postcount=10

[creekster]

Dang! I was hoping this would be a thread about Radiohead.

http://www.cougaruteforum.com/showpo...6&postcount=10

It sure is a shame you are wrong. We so rarely see anything about Radiohead on the board.

[Solon]

It sure is a shame you are wrong. We so rarely see anything about Radiohead on the board.

Hermes is the quintessential trickster in ancient Greek myth. He's always pulling shenanigans. Dionysus fits into this category too, to some degree.

Another Greek trickster is Prometheus. Although most famous for stealing fire, in Hesiod we learn how he tricked Zeus. Prometheus put the inedible parts of the sacrificed animal under the gleaming and appealing fat. He then put the grody entrails atop the tasty meat and asked Zeus to choose. Zeus chose the one that looked better, allowing humans ever after to offer the inedible parts of the sacrifice to the gods while roasting up the tasty meat for themselves.

There are tons of trickster tales in folklore throughout the world: coyote in the American southwest; Raven in the Pacific northwest; Rabbit in West Africa (became Brer Rabbit in the American South).

Claude Levi-Strauss has worked on coyote and raven trickster myths in Native American societies.

Susan Niditch considers Samson to have trickster characteristics: "Samson as Culture-Hero, Trickster, and Bandit," Catholic Bible Quarterly 52 (1990): 608-624.

Apparently people have compiled all sorts of deception stories from the Bible (see, for instance, this blog), but I think there's an important distinction between a "trickster" figure and someone just telling a lie.

Tricksters are often buffoons, but also account for the civilizing elements in society (like Prometheus with fire or Raven with the Sun). They deal with boundaries like life and death, civilized and uncivilized, order and chaos.

Two years ago, Slavic Review published an article about "Borat the Trickster." (http://www.jstor.org/pss/27652763) and (http://www.slavicreview.illinois.edu...bstracts1.html)

[tooblue]

Hermes is the quintessential trickster in ancient Greek myth. He's always pulling shenanigans. Dionysus fits into this category too, to some degree.

Another Greek trickster is Prometheus. Although most famous for stealing fire, in Hesiod we learn how he tricked Zeus. Prometheus put the inedible parts of the sacrificed animal under the gleaming and appealing fat. He then put the grody entrails atop the tasty meat and asked Zeus to choose. Zeus chose the one that looked better, allowing humans ever after to offer the inedible parts of the sacrifice to the gods while roasting up the tasty meat for themselves.

There are tons of trickster tales in folklore throughout the world: coyote in the American southwest; Raven in the Pacific northwest; Rabbit in West Africa (became Brer Rabbit in the American South).

Claude Levi-Strauss has worked on coyote and raven trickster myths in Native American societies.

Susan Niditch considers Samson to have trickster characteristics: "Samson as Culture-Hero, Trickster, and Bandit," Catholic Bible Quarterly 52 (1990): 608-624.

Apparently people have compiled all sorts of deception stories from the Bible (see, for instance, this blog), but I think there's an important distinction between a "trickster" figure and someone just telling a lie.

Tricksters are often buffoons, but also account for the civilizing elements in society (like Prometheus with fire or Raven with the Sun). They deal with boundaries like life and death, civilized and uncivilized, order and chaos.

Two years ago, Slavic Review published an article about "Borat the Trickster."

Oh great, now I'm going to have to think of Samson and Borat as one and the same

[creekster]

Hermes is the quintessential trickster in ancient Greek myth. He's always pulling shenanigans. Dionysus fits into this category too, to some degree.

Another Greek trickster is Prometheus. Although most famous for stealing fire, in Hesiod we learn how he tricked Zeus. Prometheus put the inedible parts of the sacrificed animal under the gleaming and appealing fat. He then put the grody entrails atop the tasty meat and asked Zeus to choose. Zeus chose the one that looked better, allowing humans ever after to offer the inedible parts of the sacrifice to the gods while roasting up the tasty meat for themselves.

There are tons of trickster tales in folklore throughout the world: coyote in the American southwest; Raven in the Pacific northwest; Rabbit in West Africa (became Brer Rabbit in the American South).

Claude Levi-Strauss has worked on coyote and raven trickster myths in Native American societies.

Susan Niditch considers Samson to have trickster characteristics: "Samson as Culture-Hero, Trickster, and Bandit," Catholic Bible Quarterly 52 (1990): 608-624.

Apparently people have compiled all sorts of deception stories from the Bible (see, for instance, this blog), but I think there's an important distinction between a "trickster" figure and someone just telling a lie.

Tricksters are often buffoons, but also account for the civilizing elements in society (like Prometheus with fire or Raven with the Sun). They deal with boundaries like life and death, civilized and uncivilized, order and chaos.

Two years ago, Slavic Review published an article about "Borat the Trickster." (http://www.jstor.org/pss/27652763) and (http://www.slavicreview.illinois.edu...bstracts1.html)

Coyote might have been a trickster, but he was no match for Roadrunner.

[Babs]

Coyote might have been a trickster, but he was no match for Roadrunner.

meep meep.

[Solon]

meep meep.

I got the best of both by buying stock in ACME.

My kid loves these books: http://www.geraldmcdermott.com/tricksters.htm