Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and baker are sent to prison and put in Joseph's charge and these two new inmates have dreams that Joseph interpreted. Joseph tells them that interpretation of dreams below to God.
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The narrative picks back up with Joseph who is now in Egypt. Potiphar, Pharaoh's chief general, bought Joseph from the Ishmaelite band. “The Lord was with Joseph” and he immediately prospered in Potiphar’s house.
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In Deuteronomy 25:5-10, the brother of the deceased husband is to take his brother’s wife to raise offspring with her. The law was taken seriously within the immediate family, and the brother who refuses to perform the levirate marriage is shamed.
When we come to Genesis 38, this later law provides some perspective on what’s happening. The placement of this chapter might seem odd, an interruption to the story of Joseph. But it's a hinge chapter that connects with the previous and the following chapter.
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Joseph brings a “bad report” to his father about his brothers, sons of Bilpah and Zilhah. The text distinguishes Joseph from his brothers rather than presenting Joseph as a tattletale.
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Genesis 36 is another “these are the generations” section, this time the generations of Esau.
Esau takes wives from Canaan (Gen. 36:6). Such intermarriage is a problem in Genesis. Marriage outside of the covenant is forbidden.
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In Genesis 35, we see a continual breakdown with Jacob’s household. Simeon and Levi have just meted out personal vengeance in a way that brings disgrace and further insecurity to Jacob’s position in the land. Now, we read that foreign gods have accumulated in Jacob’s household.
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In Genesis, there is a war on women, which was announced as a result of the curse in Genesis 3:15. The woman and her seed are locked in a battle with Satan and his seed.
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Esau comes out to meet Jacob. Jacob goes out in front of him family and falls before his brother weeping. Jacob has tricked Esau out of his blessing from their father, but now seeks to make amends and peace. He’s already sent him many gifts (Gen. 32:13-21). Now he takes a position humility before his brother. And Esau runs, not to attack, but greets his brother in a tender moment: “[Esau] fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept” (Gen. 33:4).
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We learn more about Laban’s unrighteous dealings with Jacob. He has changed Jacob’s wages ten times (Gen. 31:7) and now Laban, after making a deal with Jacob, turns even more on him. Laban’s livestock has decreased and Jacob’s has increased.
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When Hagar bears a child for Abraham, Sarah becomes envious of her and her fertility. Now, Rachel, also barren, is jealous of Leah’s fertility. Like Sarah, she proposes Jacob take her maidservant to produce a child on her behalf. We see the rivalry between the sisters intensify as Leah offers her maidservant to Jacob to have children for her.
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When we encounter a well in Genesis, we should be prepared for an impending marriage. Jacob continues his journey and sees a well. Abraham’s servant meets Rebekah at the well in Haran and gets Laban’s approval. Now, Jacob meets Rachel at the well (and we will seek Laban’s blessing).
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Esau has vowed to kill his brother, so Rebekah sends him away to her brother in Haran where he was to find a wife. Just like Abraham wanted Isaac to find a wife among his kinsmen and not the Canaanites, so also Rebekah tells Jacob to go to find a wife in her homeland.
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Isaac favors his oldest son Esau, in no small part because he liked the food Esau could give him: “prepare for me delicious food, such as I love” (Gen. 27:4). He tells Esau to do this and he will give him his blessing before his death.
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For the third time in Genesis, we have a story of a husband telling his wife to say she is his sister as they journey in a foreign land. Like the first event in Genesis 12, the situation in Genesis 26 comes about because there was a famine in the land. Whereas Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 12 went to Egypt, here the Lord tells Isaac not to go into Egypt. In Genesis 20, Abraham comes into the territory of Gerar and meets Abimelech. Now, in Genesis 26, Isaac is in the territory of Gerar again and encounters a new Abimelech.
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Abraham gives his inheritance to Isaac before his death. Isaac and Ishmael bury their father in the same cave where Sarah was buried. We then read about the generations of Ishmael and then the generations of Isaac. Rebekah’s barrenness was not just a matter of personal anguish, but the threatened the continuation of the seed of Abraham. Barrenness and infertility will continue to be significant themes in scripture. The Lord heals Isaac and Rebekah’s infertility by Isaac’s prayer.
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Today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Before Paul was Paul, he was Saul, a famous persecutor of Christians. He meets the Lord Jesus Christ on his way to Damascus and learns that he is actually persecuting Jesus: “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” This shows us just how closely Jesus identifies with his church.
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Abraham’s servant swears an oath to him that he will find a wife for Isaac not from among the Canaanites but from among Abraham's kindred. Abraham assures his servant that the angel of the Lord will go before him. Abraham’s servant goes to the well “at the time when women go out to draw water.” He prays that the one who gives him a drink of water at the well will be Isaac’s bride.
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Abraham settled at the oaks of Mamre and built an altar to the Lord at Hebron (Gen. 13:18). Sarah died here. The Hittites are now in the land, and Abraham buys a tomb from Ephron the Hittite for a hefty sum. The narrative calls our attention to Abraham buying the field and tomb.
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