"The Round House"

It sure is interesting how my classes in seminary always seem to speak to one another and the current situation of my life... 

I am currently working on paper for my Hebrew exegesis class on Genesis 40: 1-8.  This passage is part of the Joseph narrative.  In chapter 39, Joseph was put into prison by pharoah for alledgedly trying to rape Potiphar's wife.  In chapter 40, two of pharoah's officers are put into the same prison because they sinned against pharoah and made him angry.  The prison is referred to as "the round house".  Now, the NRSV does not translate it as "the round house", but I do.  The phrase is in construct:  בבית הסהר.  The first word (in Hebrew word order) is "in a house" and the second is "the roundness".  I choose to translate this as "the round house" and BDB (Hebrew and English lexicon) seems to agree :)  I find this incredibly interesting, particularly because of what Abramsky tells us about prison architecture in his book, American Furies.  In 1787, English philosopher Jeremy Bentham developed a circular prison model where "every nook and cranny was accessible to the warden from his central command post" (page 18).  This architectural design/prison model for behavioral modification did not take off the ground in the 18th century; however, this model is alive and well in the new 'Supermax' prisons of the 21st century.  For all of you Decatur peeps, check out the DeKalb County Jail off of Memorial Drive.  I find this connection very interesting and intriguing and I am continuing to think about it.

On another note,

In regard to the visit of the Metro State choir, Voices of Hope, visit to CTS last Wednesday-all I can say is THANKS BE TO GOD.  Thank you, Lord, for this amazing experience and thank you for your presence in the lives of all of your children, no matter where they are.  These women were truly inspiring and voices of hope in a broken world...a world where we are ALL held captive to sin and broken beyond measure.