Teenaged Wasteland

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“These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren…”
(Gen. 37:2)

Thus begins the “Joseph” story…

Joseph is then described as “a lad”, or the equivalent of “teenager” in Modern Hebrew (v.3).

But he is introduced as being SEVENTEEN?

Why? What is the significance?

Well, seventeen has always been an integral age.

Just check the ancient texts… or pop music:

“She was seventeen/you know what I mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare…”

-- The Beatles

“When I was seventeen/
It was a very good year…”

-- Ervin Drake, made famous by Frank Sinatra


"Just like the white winged dove/
Sings a song/
sounds like she's sing/
Ooo... baby ooo... said ooo"

-- "Edge of Seventeen," Stevie Nicks


Let's not forget Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light":

"Ain't no doubt about it/
We were doubly blessed/
'Cause we were barely seventeen/
And we were barely dressed"

And finally, ABBA's Dancing Queen:
"Young and sweet, only 17"


(oh, and of course, that soon-to-be classic film, the latest nugget of genius from the oeuvre of Zac Efron: “17 Again”)


It’s an impressionable age! Not quite a boy, not yet a man (gender-flipping that Britney tune).

It's the last year that a person is legally considered a minor… that’s what she told me, Officer.

When I was seventeen… I was in High school… and in Israel.
I lived in the Holy Land for a semester, traveling, studying-- the Bible, the land, and myself…

Some things have not changed in the ten years since that time.
I still love baseball, candy and movies.

But there are some differences, too.
Like now, I have a woman in my life who lets me see her naked.
I sure as hell didn’t have THAT ten years ago... certainly not a three-dimensional one.

Now, I have two degrees… and no job.
I have more chest hair… and less acne… more debt… and less disposable income.

But most importantly, today I know myself a lot better.

…and not in the Biblical sense
(hell, I when I was 17 I “knew” myself 20 times a week).

I might physically be in the same place I was in 17 years ago… but mentally, I’m miles away.




**FART**


Well, maybe half a mile.
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