Here are the twelve tribes around which the nation’s history will revolve for centuries.
The long list of Esau’s family, constituting the nation of Edom, is not our favorite form of reading, but Genesis considers it essential to the story. As time goes by, the Edomites will appear again and again, generally in strife with Israel. So although Esau and Jacob are at peace (35:29), their descendants will dwell with the sword.
PRAYER: Grant me the grace, I pray, to hold deep convictions with a kindly spirit; to your praise. Amen.
What significance do you find in Jacob’s being called, at this point in his life, to build an altar at Bethel?
| GENESIS 37–38; PSALM 21 | Week 3, Day 4 |
We human beings are a complex lot, and we weave strands of life that continually entangle us. Jacob was inclined, it seems, to love much but not wisely; so even as he had loved Rachel to Leah’s hurt, now he loves Rachel’s son Joseph to the resentment of his siblings and to Joseph’s own pain.
And Joseph, though very bright, is nevertheless not tactful enough to handle his dreams and his ambitions well. The smoldering resentment grows into disaster, and the teenager is sold into slavery. Jacob thus pays dearly for his favoritism. He will spend the next long years of his life mourning the son he thinks is dead, while in truth that son is preparing the way for his family’s well-being. Probably much of our mourning comes from our ignorance. If we knew better how faithfully God is working behind the scenes, we would have more peace.
Not only does God work behind the scenes, but also the divine hand reworks many of our misshapen doings. So it is in the story of Judah and Tamar. Again, the story is told with candor; feelings and reputations are not protected. Judah denies his daughter-in-law the protection of the laws that were intended to provide for women, and Tamar uses a clever plan to make her case. Not much can be said for Judah’s conduct, but at least this: He acknowledged his sin (38:26). The end of the story—God at work behind the scenes—comes in the Gospel of Matthew, when we discover that out of this incestuous relationship came a child who is in the line of the Messiah, our Lord Christ (Matthew 1:3).
PRAYER: Give me the faith to see you at work, O God, even in our human sins and shortcomings; in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Putting yourself in Jacob’s place, list the positive qualities you see in Joseph. Now, putting yourself in the places of Joseph’s brothers, list the negative qualities you find in him.
| GENESIS 39–40; PSALM 22 | Week 3, Day 5 |
Joseph the dreamer must now see his dreams broken and delayed. At first all goes well: “The LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man” (39:2). But his very success and his being “handsome and goodlooking” make him attractive to Potiphar’s wife. Joseph is admirable in resisting her enticing, and his reasons are admirable. He feels a debt to his master and he knows that if he were to lie with his mistress it would be a “sin against God” (39:8-9). He has obligations to both God and society, and he means to fulfill them.
But in doing so he loses his position and, even worse, is thrown into prison. Doing what is right does not necessarily bring immediate reward. Perhaps not even on this earth, else what’s a heaven for? Even in prison Joseph’s character and God’s blessing combine for achievement; he is soon as trusted there as he was in Potiphar’s house. A wise writer will say later that if people’s ways please the Lord, even their enemies will be at peace with them (Proverbs 16:7). Joseph seems to demonstrate the point, and when the opportunity comes to exercise his gift of insight through the dreams of his fellow prisoners, Joseph’s future seems very hopeful.
But it is not to be so easy. “The chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him” (40:23). Sometimes faith shows itself best by our waiting.
PRAYER: If at times, O Lord, I am disappointed in life and in people, grant me the faith to hold steady; to your glory. Amen.
Joseph’s integrity in his conduct with his employer’s wife brings demotion and imprisonment. Recall some incidents, from history or from personal knowledge, where right conduct brought pain or loss.
| GENESIS 41–42; PSALMS 23, 24 | Week 3, Day 6 |
“After two whole years” (41:1)! I imagine Joseph waiting almost momentarily after the cupbearer has left the prison; then, slowly, hope dies. But there is a time and a tide. If the cupbearer had told Pharaoh of Joseph immediately upon his return to his office, Joseph’s name would have been filed under “applications received.” But now Pharaoh is in need of just the talents Joseph has, and now the cupbearer remembers.
Joseph credits God with his gift of insight, as well he should and as well all of us should. Pharaoh sees more in Joseph than simply a diviner of dreams; he also has obvious administrative skills. The bright teenager who alienated his brothers with his dreams has now been matured by life’s buffeting. He is prepared. And he has prospered. Rightly he names his second son, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes” (41:52).
But the best evidence of Joseph’s maturity is yet to be seen. It is sometimes easier to run an empire than to make peace with one’s own family, and easier to execute orders than to forgive injuries. In the course of time Joseph is visited by his brothers. The teenager is now a grown man, dressed in the regal garb of an Egyptian ruler so his brothers don’t recognize him. But he knows them. The situation is dramatically reversed from that dark day when they sold him into slavery. Now they are the suppliants and he is in command.
PRAYER: When I have moments of power, O Lord, help me use my strength with kindness and wisdom; in Jesus’ name. Amen.
When Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream, he gives credit to God. How does this compare with his attitude as a boy, reporting his dreams to his family?
| GENESIS 43–45 | Week 3, Day 7 |
When you read these chapters, you realize why the Nobel-prize winning German author Thomas Mann felt driven to expand the story into a four-volume novel. What a plot: Brothers sell their brother into slavery, then are dependent on him years later when he is in a position of absolute power. His father thinks his son long dead but now gets the unbelievable news that the boy is not only alive but as successful as only that boy could have dreamed.
And what a tangle of emotions! Follow the brothers, from resentment to revenge to deception to fear. Or the father, from despair and grief, to fear of losing his other “special” son, to a fantasy of reunion. And Joseph, of course. Surely during his slave and prison days, and perhaps even more in his position of power, he must have contemplated revenge.
But the issue to the writer of Genesis is more than plot or human psychology. He sees God at work. Even through the ugliness of human jealousy
