The sons have still not returned to Egypt. We’re told they could’ve made the trip there and back again twice! This time, Judah pleads with his father to let him take Benjamin with him. Jacob yields and sends them back with “double the money” to return what had been put in their saddles.
Read More“All the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain...” (Gen. 41:57). Joseph is God’s servant who will feed the world. That includes feeding his own family.
Read MoreIn Genesis 37:24, Joseph’s brothers throw him into a pit. They raise him up out of the pit and sell him to the Midianites. In Genesis 41, Pharaoh raises Joseph up from another pit—the pit of prison where he has been for two years.
Read MorePharaoh'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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreJoseph 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.
Read MoreGenesis 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.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreEsau 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).
Read MoreJacob has just escaped from one enemy in Laban. As he comes back to Canaan, he must once again face his rival from birth: Esau. Jacob sends messengers ahead to Esau who return with the news that Esau is coming out to meet Jacob with 400 men.
Read MoreWe 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.
Read MoreWhen 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.
Read MoreIn Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus retraces Israel’s story and proves to be the true Israelite. The connections between Matthew and with Israel’s story are most pronounced in chapters 1-7.1
Read MoreWhen 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).
Read MoreEsau 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.
Read MoreIsaac 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.
Read MoreFor 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.
Read MoreAbraham 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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