Joseph's delight

I am way far behind in my Friday Block Party blocks & I have a whole pile of patterns to work my way thru but last week's block made me stop & do just the one.  The block, if you are curious is Joseph's Delight, a good sized variation on one of my favorite shapes: the anvil (& not just because of the roadrunner et al, but that might be part of it).  I would have made the block sooner rather than later because I really do like anvil-type patterns, but then there was that name.  & that name always brings me to my second favorite bible character.  No not Joseph: Reuben.

For those of you who have not cruised Genesis in a while, let me get you started;  Reuben was Jacob's first born son.  His mother was Leah (you know the "trick" bride).  Joseph's mother was the originally desired Rachel.  I only mention this because it comes up.  It comes up A LOT.

For the most part Christians remember Reuben for a single big thought/statement/act.  It was Reuben who said "let's not kill Joseph, let's sell him instead".  Like his father before him, Reuben was master of the gray area & maker of decisions that would bite him in the ass.  Jews, on the other hand, have much more uhmmm just more stories about Reuben.  Yes, he is disinherited in favor of Joseph here, too, but there are some very strange versions of why.

The big one is that Reuben had sex with Rachel's handmaid (& mother of two of Jacob's other sons) Bilhah.  I admit for me this is the point I throw up my hands.  In addition to everything else he did (remember Esau?), Jacob is having sex with everyone, as had his father-in-law before him (Bilhah, in addition to being Rachel's handmaid was also her half-sister), but Reuben crossed a line?  Really?

But that is not my favorite version.  My favorite is the one where Reuben is disinherited because he moves Jacob's bed out of Bilhah's tent (where Jacob moved it following the death of Rachel) because it is some kind of Feng Shui insult to his mother.  In many ways I am disappointed that Jane Austen never tackled the Old Testament.  Can't you almost hear the regency dialogue where everyone talks about rearranging the furniture but it is all really code for who is sleeping with whom?  Maybe that's just me.

So, where was I?  Oh yes, quilt blocks.  So I made the Joseph's Delight block & it was indeed delightful.  It's good sized with many pieces, but they are much the same & can be made en masse & then assembled, so it goes together quickly.  I only regret that Reuben has no quilt block; wouldn't you know Joseph has several?

//my favorite character (&  book) is Esther.  I think it's has a certian Once Upon A Time quality.  My favorite New Testament story is, of course, the Good Samaritan.  Different friends of mine do things with different summer bible schools (different religions, different churches, different parts of the country).  I always ask but no one teaches the Good Samaritan anymore.  Why not?