Week 8 --- 11-13-14
Joseph Narrative
(chapter 37)
Favorite Son of Jacob
-He was Jacob’s favorite since he was Rachel’s firstborn.
-Joseph made him a coat of many colors. He was Jacob’s 11th son. His other brothers hated him. One reason was because he was a snitch and the other reason was because he had dreams.
The “Dreamer”
-In one dream, his brothers were bowing down to him. In other dream, his parents were bowing down to him too.
-Jacob sends his boys to Schechem and then sends Joseph to look for them. The brothers want to kill him but Reuben says no so they throw him in an empty well. It is Reuben’s intention to take him out once he returns but while he’s gone, the brothers sell Joseph to the Midianites.
Sold to Midianites (Ishmaelites)
-Reuben comes back and tears his clothes.
-Medianites sell him to Potiphar.
Head of Potiphar’s Household
-Captain of the Palace Guard for Pharaoh
-Potiphar made him his #1 slave because he could see the Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did. Joseph becomes his head of household.
-Joseph is wrongly accused and imprisoned because Potiphar’s wife says that he tried to rape her.
(Note: Every sin we commit is primarily against God and then against people.)
-The prison guard puts him in charge of the prison because he sees that the Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did.
-Joseph has the model attitude we should have during adversity. Joseph was going through a “Paradoxical Reality”. People are telling him they see that he’s walking in God’s favor while Joseph himself is thinking, what? My life has been a series of horrible events.
Interprets two dreams
Cupbearer: will go back to work. Joseph asks him to the tell the King about me once you get out.
Baker: will get his head cut off.
-He tells them both that God is the one interpreting.
Interprets King’s Dream
-Cupbearer mentions Joseph’s name to the King after all these years since the King is having dreams and no one can interpret them.
Joseph is now “Prime Minister of Egypt”
-He is second in command to the King. The King gives him his signet ring.
Joseph has two sons
-Manasseh and Ephraim
Time of Famine
-7 Years
Brothers go to Egypt
-Joseph accused them of being spies. He asks them questions about his father and brothers. He puts them in jail for 3 days.
-He tells them to return to Jacob without Simeon and bring back Benjamin, his brother.
Brothers leave and then return to Egypt
-They bring Benjamin with them as Joseph requested
Benjamin setup
-Joseph has his servant put his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. Judah tells Joseph that it will kill their father if you keep Benjamin as a slave.
Joseph reveals his identity
Jacob moves to Egypt
-Settles in Goshen
-Burial request: bury me at the Cave of Machpelah
Jacob blesses Manasseh and Ephraim
-Jacob blesses the youngest instead of the oldest. Joseph is upset.
Jacob blesses/curses his sons
-Reuben is cursed because he slept with Bilhah
-Simeon and Levi are cursed because of the Schemite incident
-Judah was blessed with the birthright as the oldest son since his older brothers were cursed.
Joseph’s forgiveness
-What you meant for evil, God meant for good.
Prophecy: God leading them into the Promised Land
Burial request: Take my bones to Canaan. Don’t leave them here.
Judah
(chapter 38)
Sons of Judah
-Judah is the 4th son of Jacob by Leah. Judah and his wife, Bath-shua,
had three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah
Er: wife was Tamar. Jacob picked her for his son, Judah.
- Er was very wicked in the eyes of the Lord so the Lord killed him
-During this time, there was what was called a “Levirate Marriage”. Deuteronomy 25:5 says that if a brother who is married, dies, it’s then the responsibility of the next brother to marry the deceased brother’s wife if they never had a son. The son that would be born would therefore be the deceased brother’s son and carry the deceased brother’s name.
Onan: disobedient.
-Onan was to marry Tamar now that Er was dead. However, Onan didn’t want to have a son that wouldn’t be considered his so he pulled out of Tamar at the last minute and spilled his seed on the floor.
-God killed him for being disobedient.
Shelah: too young to marry so Judah sent him away.
-Judah’s wife dies so he goes to Timnah. While he’s there, Tamar positions herself at the gates and appears to be a prostitute. Judah offers her a young goat if she agrees except he doesn’t have one on him at the time. She asks him for his signet ring, cord and walking stick. These three things are considered to be one’s own authority and identity. They sleep together and she gets pregnant. He is completely unaware of this. Judah later sends his servant back to Timnah with the young goat to retrieve his belongings and pay her. However, the servant cannot find her.
-Three months later, Judah hears that his daughter-in-law is pregnant. He says that she should be burned. She sends him his belongings with word that the father of her unborn baby is the owner of these belongings. Judah finally realizes what he’s done and says that she is right and I am wrong. (He had previously promised her Shelah once he was of age, but Judah didn’t keep his word).
Sons of Tamar
Twins: Perez and Zerah. Jesus comes from the line of Perez.
Steve Leatherwood's notes:
RPC Bible College Notes – Old Testament Survey I November 13, 2014
Steven Leatherwood
Genesis Chapter 38
Judah – was the 4th son of Jacob and Leah:
-He married a Canaanite woman named Shua.
-Judah and Shua had three sons – Er, Onan and Shelah.
-Judah got a wife for his son Er named Tamar.
-Er was very wicked and so God killed him.
Note on Levirate marriage law: from Latin levir, "a husband's brother," the name of an ancient custom ordained by Moses, by which, when an Israelite died without issue, his surviving brother was required to marry the widow, so as to continue his brother's family through the son that might be born of that marriage (refer to Genesis 38:8 ; Deuteronomy 25:5-10 ; Compare Ruth 3 ; 4:10 ). Its objective was "to raise up seed to the departed brother."
Since God killed Er, Judah told Onan to “perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother” (verse 8).
-Er realized the offspring would not be his and so he was disobedient and spilled his semen on the ground. This was evil in the sight of God so he killed him too.
-This left Shelah to perform this duty but he was considered to be too young and so he was not given to Tamar in marriage.
-Judah tells Tamar to remain a widow until Shelah grows old enough to fulfill his duty to carry on his brother’s offspring.
Judah’s wife dies and he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite leave for Timnah to sheer his sheep. Tamar finds out about it and takes off her widow clothes, stops her mourning and follows him. She sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah and disguises herself as a prostitute by covering her face with a veil.
Judah sees her and negotiates with her to have sex, but he doesn’t recognize her as his daughter-in-law.
Judah asks her what she wants in return for sex and tells her he will send her one of his young goats. She tells him he must also give her his “signet ring, cord, and the staff in your hand” (verse 18) until the young goat could be sent. They have sex and she conceives.
Judah sends his friend Hirah the Adullamite and the young goat back to the woman to get back his items he had given her in return for sex, but she could not be found.
Judah’s friend Hirah the Adullamite returns to him saying the woman could not be found and furthermore there was not any woman in the town who matched the description he gave her as – “the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim”. So Judah decides to not pursue it anymore to avoid becoming a laughingstock.
3 months pass and Judah is told Tamar had been acting “like a prostitute” and was pregnant. Judah gets angry and summons for her and further says that she should be “burned to death”. When she is found and sent to him, she tells him she was pregnant by the man who gave her some items – all which turn out to be the signet ring, cord and staff that he gave her in exchange for sex.
Judah sees the items and realizes she was the woman and was “more in the right then him since he did not give her to his son Shelah”. Judah was not intimate with her again.
Tamar has twin sons – Perez and Zerah.
-Perez is an important figure as he is an early descendent of Jesus (see Luke Chapter 3 verse 33).
Genesis Chapter 37 & 39
The story of Joseph
Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob because he came from Rachel whom he loved the most. Because he was his favorite, he made him a coat of many colors.
Joseph’s brothers hated him because he was a snitch, he was Jacob’s favorite son and because he had dreams. They called him “the Dreamer”.
In one of his dreams, he saw his brothers and his parents “bow down” to him.
Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers at Shechem. He goes there but doesn’t find them and instead finds them at Dothan, a little further down the road. While he approaches them, his brothers plot to kill him.
One brother, Rueben, says they should not kill him but instead throw him into a pit.
They threw Joseph into the pit and then they saw some Midianites approaching. They decided to sell him to the Midianites for 20 pieces of silver.
Rueben returned to the pit and could not find Joseph there so he tore his clothes and also took Joseph’s color coat to his brothers and they sacrificed a young goat and dipped the coat of colors in its blood. They took the blood dipped coat back to Jacob who mourned for his son.
The Midianites bought Joseph and took him to Potiphar’s house.
-Potiphar was the captain of the guard of Pharaoh.
-Potiphar bought Joseph and made him his slave.
The Lord was with Joseph in everything he did and Potiphar noticed this and made him his personal attendant.
-Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority.
- From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph.
- Potiphar left all that he owned under Joseph's authority; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Because Joseph was an attractive man, Potiphar’s wife took notice and tried to seduce him to sleep with her. But Joseph refused saying he “couldn’t sin against God”.
Note: All sins are against God and other people in the end no matter what and we should keep this in mind.
Potiphar’s wife continues to try to seduce Joseph and one day when no other servants were around, she tries it once again and after grabbing his garment, he pulls away and leaves.
When she realizes he left his garment, she calls the other servants inside and tells them essentially Joseph tried to rape her and she waits until Potiphar comes home to tell him.
When Potiphar returns home, she tells him the story and he gets mad and throws Joseph into prison.
While in prison, God granted favor to Joseph and the head of the prison took notice and makes him over all prison affairs.
Note: Joseph has the model attitude that we all should follow while in adversity.
Genesis Chapter 40
Joseph interprets two dreams in prison – the cupbearer and the baker.
The cupbearer’s dream: his dream is described as a vine with three branches. Interpretation: In three days, Pharaoh would restore his position and service to him.
The baker’s dream: his dream is described as three bread baskets on his head. Interpretation: In three days, Pharaoh would hang him form a tree and the birds will eat his flesh.
So a feast was given on Pharaoh’s birthday and both dreams were fulfilled just as Joseph has predicted, but the cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph like he had asked.
Genesis Chapter 41
Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream and he was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
Then the cupbearer remembered he had forgotten Joseph and then told Pharaoh about him. Pharaoh summoned Joseph and asked him to interpret his dream.
Joseph listens to Pharaoh tell him his dream and he asks him what it means.
Joseph tells Pharaoh his dreams mean
-there will be seven years of a plentiful harvest in the land of Egypt.
-and then seven years of a devastating famine in the land of Egypt. He tells him to store food to prepare for the famine so they won’t be wiped out.
This pleased Pharaoh and so he made Joseph over all of the land of Egypt and removed his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, clothed him with fine linen garments, and placed a gold chain around his neck. Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On.
During the seven years of abundance the land produced outstanding harvests and Joseph gathered all the [excess] food in the land of Egypt during the seven years and placed it in the cities. He placed the food in every city from the fields around it.
Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived:
Manasseh (the firstborn) he named meaning "God has made me forget all my hardship in my father's house."
Ephraim (the second son) he named meaning, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."
Then the seven years of abundance came to an end and the famine began. Extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, "Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you."
The famine had spread across the whole country, so Joseph opened up [all the storehouses] and sold grain to the Egyptians and eventually the whole world.
Genesis Chapter 42
Joseph’s brothers heard there was food in Egypt so all of them but Benjamin went to buy some because there was great famine in Canaan. They didn’t take Benjamin because they were afraid something might happen to him.
As Joseph was in charge of everything in Egypt, when his brothers arrived they bowed before him but did not recognize him. Joseph accuses them of being spies and threatens them with being thrown into jail but they insist they are just there to buy food to take back to Canaan.
The brothers tell Joseph everyone is there but their youngest brother is back home with their father and one is “no longer living” (i.e. Joseph). Joseph rejects their plea and puts them in prison except one brother who is to go back home and bring their youngest brother in front of him as confirmation they are telling the truth they are not spies.
The brothers speak amongst themselves and lamented that they are finally getting the punishment they deserve for what they had done to their brother Joseph, but they didn’t realize he heard them and understood what they were saying. Joseph had Simeon bound before them and ordered their containers be filled with grain and other provisions for their journey. He also ordered their money be returned in their sacks.
The brothers started their journey back to Canaan and on the first night’s stop to rest, one of them opened up his sack and saw the money there he was afraid.
They got back home to their father Jacob and told them what happened. Then all the brothers opened up their sacks and saw their money there and they also became afraid. Jacob saw the money was there and he was angry because he felt they had taken Joseph from him, Simeon from him and now they wanted to take Benjamin away from him.
Rueben told Jacob that he would take personal responsibility for Benjamin’s safety and he could take his two sons from him (kill them) if he didn’t return Benjamin back home safely to him. Jacob refused to let Rueben take Benjamin with him.
Genesis Chapter 43
Judah tells Jacob he will take the responsibility for Benjamin and Jacob finally agrees but tells them to take twice the amount of money, and other gifts such as some balsam, honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds to give to Joseph. Then Jacob tells them “May God Almighty cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived” (verse 14).
The men took this gift, double the amount of money, and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, "Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon” (verse 16).
But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph's house. They said, "We have been brought here because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys” (verse 18).
They told the stewards they had only come to buy some food but they found there was money in their bags and they did not know who put it there so they wanted to return it in double.
Then the steward said, "May you be well. Don't be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your money." Then he brought Simeon out to them. (verse 23).
Then Joseph came home and they bowed before him and presented their gifts. Joseph asks them if their father is still alive and they told him that he was still alive.
Joseph sees Benjamin and asks the brothers if this was their youngest brother. They said yes and he blessed him and then he went into his inner room to weep. After regaining his composure, Joseph washed his face and told the servants to begin the meal.
Portions were served to them from Joseph's table, and Benjamin's portion was five times larger than any of theirs. They drank, and they got drunk with Joseph (verse 34).
Genesis Chapter 44
Joseph commends his servants to fill his brother’s bags with food and also tells them to put a silver cup in Benjamin’s bag along with their money and send them back home. The servants do this and the brothers start their journey back home to Canaan.
They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, “Why have you repaid evil for good?” (verse 4).
So the steward did as he commended and stopped the brothers while they were on their way. He asked them to look in their sacks and whoever was found to have the silver cup would become a slave to Joseph. They did this and it turned out Benjamin had the cup and the brothers returned to the city to beg him not to take Benjamin.
So they approached Joseph and begged him not to take Benjamin. Judah speaks for his brothers and asks Joseph to not take their youngest brother from their father for if he did this their father would die.
Genesis Chapter 45
So Joseph could no longer keep his composure and so he sent everyone else out of the room but his brothers so he could tell them his true identity.
When he revealed himself, his brothers were afraid but Joseph told them to not worry about it that “God sent me ahead of you to preserve life” (verse 5) and “to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance” (verse 7).
Joseph then tells his brothers to go back to their father Jacob and tell them the good news and to tell him to come to move to Egypt as “there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you, your household, and everything you have will become destitute” (verse 11).
Joseph also tells them to “tell my father all about my glory in Egypt and about all you have seen. And bring my father here quickly” (verse 13).
Then Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin and wept, and he kissed each of his brothers as he wept, and afterward his brothers talked with him (verse 14 and 15).
Then Joseph told Pharaoh about this brothers and he told Joseph “Get your father and your households, and come back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you can eat from the richness of the land” (verse 18).
Joseph sent his father the following: 10 donkeys carrying the best products of Egypt, and 10 female donkeys carrying grain, food, and provisions for his father on the journey. But when his brothers arrived in Canaan Jacob did not believe their story that Joseph was alive.
However after seeing everything that Joseph had sent back with his brothers, he was finally convinced of the story and said he would go to Egypt to see Joseph his son before he dies.
Genesis Chapter 46
Jacob leaves for Egypt and has a dream whereby God tells him to not worry about the journey to Egypt. God told him that Joseph would bless him and make him a great nation there.
Jacob arrives in Egypt where he meets with Joseph finally. Both weep and Jacob tells him he can finally die now that he has seen his son.
Joseph tells his brothers when asked what their occupation is they are to say “Your servants, both we and our fathers, have raised livestock from our youth until now. Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians” (verse 34).
Genesis Chapter 47
Joseph introduces his father and brothers to Pharaoh and they tell him what Joseph said to say “they are shepherds”. Jacob blesses Pharaoh and he tells them they can settle in the land of Goshen.
Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded (verse 11).
But there was no food in that entire region, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted by the famine. So the Egyptians came to Joseph and asked for food in exchange for livestock.
The Egyptians came every year to exchange livestock for food until they had nothing left except their bodies and land. So they sold themselves and their land to Joseph and this is how all of it belonged to Pharaoh.
The only land he didn't acquire was that of the priests, for it was their allotment from Pharaoh. They lived off the allotment Pharaoh had given them; therefore they did not sell their land (verse 22).
Then Joseph gives the Egyptians seed and tells them to sow the seeds in the land they sold to Pharaoh so that “At harvest, you are to give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths will be yours as seed for the field and as food for yourselves, your households, and your dependents” (verse 24). The people were pleased that they had been saved and agreed with this arrangement.
So Joseph made it a law, still in effect today in the land of Egypt, that a fifth [of the produce] belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land does not belong to Pharaoh (verse 26).
Israel (Jacob) settles in Goshen and tells Joseph “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh [and promise me] that you will deal with me in faithful love. Do not bury me in Egypt” (verse 29). Jacob makes Joseph swear he will do as he asked and so Joseph tells his father he will do what he asked.
Genesis Chapter 48
Israel (Jacob) blesses Ephraim and Manasseh and tells Joseph they also are his sons just like Benjamin and Simeon.
Jacob reveals to Joseph that while he was returning from Paddan, Rachel died along the way, some distance from Ephrath in the land of Canaan. He tells him he buried her there along the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem) (verse 7).
However Ephraim received the greater blessing from Israel (Jacob) and Joseph believe it was a mistake. Israel (Jacob) tells him there is no mistake that the younger of the two boys would receive the greater blessing. He tells him “his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation” (verse 19). So he blessed them that day with these words: Israel will invoke blessings by you, saying, "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh," putting Ephraim before Manasseh (verse 20).
Israel (Jacob) tells Joseph that he is about to die and tells him that “God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers” (verse 21) and “Over and above what I am giving your brothers, I am giving you the one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow” (verse 22).
Genesis Chapter 49
Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come” (verse 1). Then he begins to pronounce blessings and curses on his sons.
He tells Reuben his firstborn that he will “no longer excel, because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it-he got into my bed” (verse 4).
He tells both Simeon and Levi they are cursed because their “knives are vicious weapons” (verse 5) and “in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen” (verse 6) and “their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel! I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel” (verse 7).
He tells Judah his brothers will praise him and “your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you” (verse 8).
He tells Zebulen he will “live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships” (verse 13).
He tells Issachar he is a “strong donkey who bears the load of a forced laborer” (verses 14 and 15).
He tells Dan he will “judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel” (verse 16) and he will be a “snake by the road, a viper beside the path that bites the horses heels so that its rider falls backwards” (verse 17).
He tells Gad he will be “attached by marauding bands, but he will attach their heels”(verse 19).
He tells Asher his food will be “rich and he will produce royal delicacies” (verse 20).
He tells Naphtali is like a “doe set free that will bear beautiful fawns” (verse 21).
He tells Joseph he is a “fruitful vine beside a spring. The archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile towards him. Yet his bow remained steady and his strong arms were made agile by God” (verses 22, 23 and 24). He says Joseph has the “deep and eternal blessings that will be a crown on his head” and he will be a “prince to his brothers” (verses 25 and 26).
He tells Benjamin he is a “wolf who tears his prey” and in the morning he “devours his prey” while in the evening he “divides the plunder” (verse 27).
Israel (Jacob) then gives his sons his burial instructions. He tells them he wants to be buried with his “fathers” in the cave of Machpelah in the land of Canaan. This is where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah are buried there.
Note: Rachel is not buried there but she is buried at Ephrath (near Bethlehem).
Then Israel (Jacob) dies.
Genesis Chapter 50
Joseph wept and kissed his father after he died and instructed his servants to embalm his father. Then he began to mourn his father.
When the days of mourning were over, Joseph tells Pharaoh he made his father Israel (Jacob) an oath to go back to Canaan to bury him. Pharaoh tells him to “Go bury your father in keeping with your oath” (verse 6).
Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him except their children to bury Israel (Jacob).
Joseph mourned again for seven days for his father when they reached the threshing floor at Atad, which is across the Jordan river (verse 10).
So Israel’s sons did for him what he asked – they carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him at the cave of Machpelah.
After Joseph buried his father he returned to Egypt along with his brothers.
When they returned, Joseph’s brothers began to be afraid that he would repay them for their transgressions now that their father was dead. They went to Joseph and bowed before him but he tells them to not be afraid and that what they had planned for evil against him, God planned it for good. The good was the survival of his people. He further tells them he will take care of them (verses 15 to 21).
Joseph and his father Jacob’s (Israel) household remained in Egypt until he was 110 years old.
Joseph tells his brothers he is going to die but that God will rescue them and then asks them to take an oath for him: When God comes to their aid, they are to carry his bones from Egypt to the land promised to his forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (verses 22 to 25).
Then Joseph dies at the age of 110. They embalm him and place him in a coffin in Egypt (verse 26).
