This Week's Study Plan

• Day 1: Job 1:1–2:13
• Day 2: Job 3:1–14:22
• Day 3: Job 15:1–21:34
• Day 4: Job 22:1–37:24
• Day 5: Job 38:1–42:17
• Day 6: Psalm 5
• Day 7:  GOD’S TEST OF JOB

Job 1-2
World English Bible

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. 4 His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.

6 Now on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan also came among them. 7 Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
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Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

8 Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.”

9 Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”

12 Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.”

So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh. 13 It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

16 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

17 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

18 While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

20 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped. 21 He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.” 22 In all this, Job didn’t sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

2 Again, on the day when God’s sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh. 2 Yahweh said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

3 Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”
4 Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”

6 Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head. 8 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”

10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips. 11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him. 12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. 13 So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

Hang onto your hats as we're going to do a whirlwind (pun intended) tour of Job to study all of it in a single week.  The beginning and end are what we normally focus on, but there are some nuggets of truth and wisdom worth looking into in the middle.  I already studied this book on a slower pace before, so if you'd like to look at those passages, just click on the "Job" tag and look for my older blog posts (the more recent ones will be for this iteration of The Gospel Project which is trying to cover all the entire Bible in 3 years).  Onto today's text.

Job lived in the land of Uz.  While we're not exactly sure where the land of Uz, the book of Lamentations seems to associate Uz with Edom.  (See Lamentation 4:21).  We see raids by the Sabeans and Chaldeans, so that also is a secondary piece of information to let us know we're in the right vicinity.

Job was a very wealthy man (wealth at that time was measured in things like the number of servants, donkeys, camels, sheep and oxen.  We see that Job knows and fears the LORD, though we have no idea how he heard about the LORD.  He serves as a priest for his family, making intercession for them and making sacrifices on their behalf.  I think it's fair to say that we'll also see Job as a prophet (God reveals some things to him about who He is and His plan for humanity to share with those around him).  He is favored by God, and we see Satan accuse God of putting a hedge of protection around him, which means that Satan probably has tried to get to him in the past and has been unable because the LORD has prevented it.  

Satan comes to the LORD and requests permission to test Job, saying that if God removes his blessing and protection and Job suffers, he will curse God and not be faithful to him (Satan thinks he knows the heart of Job better than the LORD does).  The LORD allows the test but puts limits on it--Satan may attack Job's possessions and family, but he may not touch Job himself.  In a single day, Satan is allowed to cause all of Job's wealth to disappear.  His children, servants, and livestock are all gone by way of natural disaster, thieves or attack by raiders.  Only one person survives each incident to run back and bring the message that he alone has survived the disaster.

Job does not curse God.  In fact, he says "The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away.  Blessed be the name of the LORD."  Satan than says the problem was that the LORD did not allow him to touch Job's body.  He says, "skin for skin" and says that if Job feels physical pain and suffering, he will surely curse the LORD.  The LORD allows this but says that Satan may not take Job's life.  Satan is thrilled and attacks Job with boils from head to foot.  He has no comfortable position to sit in or lay in, and to add insult to injury, his wife tells him to "Cures God and die."  He refuses and says that he will not accept only the good from the LORD and not also accept the bad.  He understands that the LORD is sovereign and He has a plan, even if Job does not understand it.  In all this, Job did not sin.

The tests then continue as Job's three "friends" show up to "comfort" him.  You'll see why I include these quote marks as we go through the book.  They have heard of his demise and I think they genuinely want to help out, but Job is going to tell them later in the book that they were doing great when they were just sitting with him and saying nothing, but all that changed the moment they opened their mouths.  They will presume to speak for God when God has not given them a message (we see a true prophet of God attacked by the false prophets of the time in this book).

This is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and I wish we were going to spend more time in it, but I understand the need to move through it quickly because we want to focus on the overarching narrative of redemption.

Psalm 17
World English Bible

A Prayer by David.
17 Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea.
    Give ear to my prayer that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.
2 Let my sentence come out of your presence.
    Let your eyes look on equity.
3 You have proved my heart.
    You have visited me in the night.
    You have tried me, and found nothing.
    I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.
4 As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips,
    I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths.
    My feet have not slipped.
6 I have called on you, for you will answer me, God.
    Turn your ear to me.
    Hear my speech.
7 Show your marvelous loving kindness,
    you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye.
    Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who oppress me,
    my deadly enemies, who surround me.
10 They close up their callous hearts.
    With their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now surrounded us in our steps.
    They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.
12 He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,
    as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, Yahweh, confront him.
    Cast him down.
Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,
14     from men by your hand, Yahweh,
    from men of the world, whose portion is in this life.
You fill the belly of your cherished ones.
    Your sons have plenty,
    and they store up wealth for their children.
15 As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness.
    I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

David starts this Psalm by declaring how he believes he is blameless (not the same as perfect) before the LORD.  All his sin has been dealt with and atoned for and there is no unrepentant sin or rebellion that would prevent the LORD from hearing and answering his prayer.

David next prays for protection from the wicked that are all around him.  He prays for the LORD to strike them down and protect him from what seems to be certain defeat (maybe even ending in death) if the LORD does not intervene.  They may live lives of ease and leave a good inheritance to their children, but it is the children of the LORD that will inherit eternal life and will dwell face-to-face with the LORD one day.

Genesis 48-50
World English Bible

48 After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. 3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’ 5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. 6 Your offspring, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”

8 Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”

9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.”

He said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn’t see well. Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11 Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.” 12 Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13 Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him. 14 Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 He blessed Joseph, and said,

“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads,
and let my name be named on them,
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

19 His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.” 20 He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in your name, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”

49 Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob.
    Listen to Israel, your father.

3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength,
    excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.
4 Boiling over like water, you shall not excel,
    because you went up to your father’s bed,
    then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers.
    Their swords are weapons of violence.
6 My soul, don’t come into their council.
    My glory, don’t be united to their assembly;
for in their anger they killed men.
    In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;
    and their wrath, for it was cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob,
    and scatter them in Israel.

8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you.
    Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies.
    Your father’s sons will bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub.
    From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down, he crouched as a lion,
    as a lioness.
    Who will rouse him up?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs.
    The obedience of the peoples will be to him.
11 Binding his foal to the vine,
    his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine,
    his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be red with wine,
    his teeth white with milk.

13 “Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea.
    He will be for a haven of ships.
    His border will be on Sidon.

14 “Issachar is a strong donkey,
    lying down between the saddlebags.
15 He saw a resting place, that it was good,
    the land, that it was pleasant.
He bows his shoulder to the burden,
    and becomes a servant doing forced labor.

16 “Dan will judge his people,
    as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan will be a serpent on the trail,
    an adder in the path,
that bites the horse’s heels,
    so that his rider falls backward.
18 I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.

19 “A troop will press on Gad,
    but he will press on their heel.

20 “Asher’s food will be rich.
    He will produce royal dainties.

21 “Naphtali is a doe set free,
    who bears beautiful fawns.

22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine,
    a fruitful vine by a spring.
    His branches run over the wall.
23 The archers have severely grieved him,
    shot at him, and persecuted him:
24 But his bow remained strong.
    The arms of his hands were made strong,
    by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
    (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
25 even by the God of your father, who will help you,
    by the Almighty, who will bless you,
with blessings of heaven above,
    blessings of the deep that lies below,
    blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my ancestors,
    above the boundaries of the ancient hills.
They will be on the head of Joseph,
    on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.
    In the morning he will devour the prey.
    At evening he will divide the plunder.”

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his own blessing. 29 He instructed them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah: 32 the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.” 33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people.  50 1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.

4 When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”

6 Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”

7 Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9 Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great company. 10 They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12 His sons did to him just as he commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre. 14 Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.” 16 They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying, 17 ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today. 21 Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

22 Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years. 23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. 24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Lots of things going on here today, but we are zooming through the story of Joseph because Joseph is not himself in the lineage of Jesus (that's a promise made to Judah, as we'll see today).  Joseph's family will struggle with wanting to be kings because they came from Joseph, but the birthright (leadership of the family and nation) will not belong to them.  Jacob does not try to force the blessings to come out the way he wanted in his timing like his father did.  He waits until he is legitimately dying and calls the family together to bless each of the sons according tot he words that the Spirit gives him--though we see a scene where Joseph very much tried to manipulate things to try to position his sons so that the one that he wanted to receive the blessing was on the favorable side and the one he wanted to receive the normal portion was on the less-favorable side, but Jacob crossed his arms and gave the blessing to the son that Joseph had not chosen, because the lesson continues for us that God is the Elector, not us.  Jacob also adopted Joseph's first two sons as his own in exchange for Joseph receiving no inheritance of his own--he would receive a "double portion" (the blessing) that would pass to his sons, but he would not have the birthright.

Reuben, though he was the oldest would never be king.  The LORD passed him over because he defiled his father's bed (you can look back in Genesis if you want to see that story.  I didn't cover it in depth at the time).  Levi and Simeon are also passed over for leadership of the family because of their actions with Shechem and Dinah.  That passes leadership of the family to the fourth-born son, Judah, and we are told that the scepter (the kingship) will not pass from between his feet until Messiah comes.  Remember that Jesus is called The Lion of the Tribe of Judah--he was born of this family, of David's line, so the scepter will actually never pass from between Judah's feet because Jesus will reign forever and ever.

There is very little that I want to point out about the other tribes other than we are already told that the tribe of Dan is going to be a serpent both for Israel's enemies and Israel itself.  Watch out for them later.  When it speaks of "Joseph" it is speaking of his son Ephraim.  We do pick up some interesting tidbits about the other tribes as well, and it's clear that the Spirit is telling Jacob all these things because there is no way that Jacob could know what portion of land the tribes would receive by lot in the time of Joshua (even Moses who wrote the book of Genesis down could not know that unless the LORD revealed it to his prophets many years ahead of time).

After Jacob dies, Joseph's brothers fear that he will finally take revenge on them for how they wronged him so many years before.  They are still deceitful schemers and the come to Joseph and lie and said that their father's dying wish was that Joseph forgive them--Jacob said no such thing as we have his dying words.  Joseph weeps because he sees they are still carrying this guilt along with them, but also that they think he is just like them, and also that they really have not changed that much in all these years--they are still plotting and scheming.  He does forgive them and gives them a good theology lesson that points us directly to the cross, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today. Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.”  Joseph had no obligation to take care of the family--that was Judah's responsibility, but he freely chose to make peace and to take care of them at great cost to himself and his nation, and not just his immediate family, but all of their children and grandchildren to come.  Jesus's sacrificial substitutionary atonement took care of our sin and our guilt and offers us the blessings that we don't deserve, not just for ourselves, but for all the generations of people to follow us.

Jacob died and was buried in the cave that Abraham had purchased for the burial of his wife, Sarah.  He is there with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah (but not Rachel)  Later, Joseph would also be buried there.  Joseph kept his promise to his brothers as long as he lived, and as long as people lived who remembered Joseph, his promise was kept as well, but one day a Pharaoh would arise that no longer remembered Joseph and would question why the Israelites lived in the best land and ate the best food and paid no taxes and weren't required to do the same kind of work as the common people.  He would see them as a threat and would enslave them and try to commit genocide by killing all their male children so that they would die off within a generation--this is the beginning of the story of Exodus and we'll get there soon, but we're going to take a side-trip to the book of Job because it is chronologically the next book in the biblical timeline, even though it comes much later in the Bible as the books of the Bible are grouped by genre and it is part of the Wisdom Literature in the center of our Bibles (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon).  We will take very large passages of the book of Job and distill them down into a few main points--most of what Job's friends have to say is not worth listening to other than to realize their philosophies are still very much in the world today, but by new names.  People think they are believing something new when it's actually something ancient (as old as the book of Genesis and Job).  We'll take a look at these passages next week.

Genesis 46-47
World English Bible

46 Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. 2 God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

He said, “Here I am.”

3 He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. 4 I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.”

5 Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him, 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.

8 These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9 The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. 16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23 The son of Dan: Hushim. 24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26 All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct offspring, in addition to Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six. 27 The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.

28 Jacob sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. 29 Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”

31 Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father’s house, “I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, ‘My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’ 33 It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 that you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

47 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” 2 From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?”

They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.” 4 They also said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

5 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

7 Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

11 Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.

13 There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14 Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”

16 Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”

17 They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year. 18 When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it. 22 Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land. 23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”

25 They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”

26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s.

27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. 28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. 29 The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt, 30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.”

Joseph said, “I will do as you have said.”

31 Israel said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.

Remember Beersheba is currently the southernmost part of the territory that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (from Dan to Beersheba), so Jacob stops at the border and offers sacrifices and gives thanks to the LORD for sending Joseph ahead of them to make provision for them in Egypt so that they might survive the famine.  Do not read this story though as some prescriptive formula on how all refugees should be treated (I've heard some people try to do that)--this family is treated special because they are the family of the second-in-command to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh and the people honor the LORD, so they honor His people.

Jacob knows that shepherds were detestable to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, so Pharaoh would want to keep them far away from the populated areas in the land of Goshen (the Nile River Delta) where there was plenty of pasture land.  The people would not want to hear and smell the animals in the city, so Joseph told his family to tell Pharaoh that they were all shepherds and herdsmen like their fathers before them (this is somewhat true, but they also grew grain, but if they said they were farmers, Pharaoh would own their land and Joseph wanted to make sure that they were given land of their own .)  This explains why the land of Goshen from this point forward is included in the Promised Land--it was given by eternal covenant to Joseph's family.  To this day, Israel has claim to all of Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula, the Suez Canal region, and all of the northern part of Egypt (the land of Egypt), which was and is the Nile River Delta.  Some day in the future, this Land will be restored to them, though the world in general is unlikely to ever recognize and admit that this land agreement is still valid and enforceable (it is in the eyes of the LORD, even if is not in the eyes of the LORD).

The Israelites lived in Goshen rent-free and tax-free.  They were left alone to live life according to the way the LORD told them to (they could circumcise their children, make sacrifices to the LORD and worship Him freely, just as a few examples).  Pharaoh made sure they had everything they ever needed and they never had to pay anything back--everything that was given to them was a gift, not a loan.  So, the LORD greatly enriched Israel and allowed them to prosper and grow as a people so that this family that was 70 people at the time they came down will grow into a group of millions of people by the time the book of Exodus begins.  A family becomes a nation living within a nation, and that's going to scare the people of Egypt that come in future generations and don't have any idea why this family is living like royalty getting the best land, not having to live according to the law of their land, not worshiping their pagan gods, not paying taxes, and getting to be land owners (the crown owned all the land for the rest of Egypt because Joseph bought up all the land during the years of famine in exchange for feeding the people of Egypt).  He gave the Egyptians seed and collected a 20% tax from them on whatever produce their land made, then Joseph would turn around and sell these items back to them and put the money in the royal treasury and he used this money to take care of his family.   Only the priests of Egypt were exempt from paying the 20% tax (and at the time Genesis was written, the 20% tax rate still existed because of the policies that Joseph instituted).

As Jacob increased in age, he made Joseph swear to him that he would not be buried in Egypt, but that he would be buried in Canaan alongside Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and his wife Leah (but not Rachel--she was buried along the way near Bethlehem--she is not buried in the family tomb).  Joseph swears and this makes Joseph think of his desire to also be buried with his forefathers and he will make the people of Israel promise to him that when they leave Egypt one day, they will take his embalmed body with them (so there is a mummy in this tomb that has gone through the Egyptian embalming processed that we know belongs to Joseph and the book of Exodus will tell us that although they left in a hurry the night of the Passover, they did not fail to get the remains of Joseph and they carried him with them the entire time they wandered through the wilderness until they reached the Promised Land and laid him to rest alongside his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather).

Genesis 42-45
World English Bible

42 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 He said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die.” 3 Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4 But Jacob didn’t send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him.” 5 The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6 Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?”

They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn’t recognize him. 9 Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

10 They said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”

12 He said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

13 They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is today with our father, and one is no more.”

14 Joseph said to them, “It is like I told you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ 15 By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go out from here, unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.” 17 He put them all together into custody for three days.

18 Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God. 19 If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. 20 Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.”

They did so. 21 They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.” 23 They didn’t know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. 24 He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. 25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain, and to restore each man’s money into his sack, and to give them food for the way. So it was done to them.

26 They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. 27 As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. 28 He said to his brothers, “My money is restored! Behold, it is in my sack!” Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?” 29 They came to Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 We said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are no spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 The man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’”

35 As they emptied their sacks, behold, each man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”

37 Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons, if I don’t bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again.”

38 He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

43 The famine was severe in the land. 2 When they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little more food.”

3 Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you’ll send our brother with us, we’ll go down and buy you food; 5 but if you don’t send him, we won’t go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’”

6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?”

7 They said, “The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

8 Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy with me, and we’ll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones. 9 I’ll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I don’t bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever; 10 for if we hadn’t delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now.”

11 Their father, Israel, said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds; 12 and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man. 14 May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

15 The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and prepare; for the men will dine with me at noon.”

17 The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18 The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “Because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time, we’re brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys.” 19 They came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. 21 When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand. 22 We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don’t know who put our money in our sacks.”

23 He said, “Peace be to you. Don’t be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money.” He brought Simeon out to them. 24 The man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. 25 They prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to the earth before him. 27 He asked them of their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?”

28 They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed down humbly. 29 He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” He said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there. 31 He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, “Serve the meal.”

32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians don’t eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled with one another. 34 He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.

44 He commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in his sack’s mouth. 2 Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money.” He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4 When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? 5 Isn’t this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.’” 6 He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.

7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house? 9 With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

10 He said, “Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found will be my slave; and you will be blameless.”

11 Then they hurried, and each man took his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 He searched, beginning with the oldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.

14 Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed do divination?”

16 Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup is found.”

17 He said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

18 Then Judah came near to him, and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’ 21 You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy can’t leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.’ 24 When we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ 26 We said, ‘We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces;” and I haven’t seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’ 30 Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; since his life is bound up in the boy’s life; 31 it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, my lord’s slave; and let the boy go up with his brothers. 34 For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?—lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”

45 Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he called out, “Cause everyone to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?”

His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence. 4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.”

They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. 8 So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’ 12 Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15 He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. 18 Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ 19 Now you are commanded to do this: Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”

21 The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22 He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. 23 He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. 24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “See that you don’t quarrel on the way.”

25 They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. 26 They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them. 27 They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived. 28 Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

I wish we had multiple days to talk about all this, but I'll make the most of the time we have together today.  This passage teaches us much about sin, grace, and even the need for substitution (someone to take the punishment we deserve).  Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy grain and Joseph recognizes them, but they don't recognize Joseph.  They speak to him through a translator, though he understands their Hebrew perfectly.  He takes them in for questioning to accuse them of being spies so he can ask them all kinds of questions about where  they come from and their family and so that he can learn about if they will admit to his existence or will treat it like he never existed--though he is surprised to learn he has a brother he has never met.

Joseph insists that they leave one of their brothers with him in prison until they can return with their youngest brother to prove their story to be true.  He sends them him with full bags of grain and he instructs his men to return each man's silver to his bag so that they would receive the grain at no cost.  They are horrified when they get home and open the bags and see the grain and the silver, and Jacob says they can't go back because he doesn't want to let them take Benjamin with them and they will certainly be wanted men for taking the grain and the money that was meant to pay for it.  They listened to their father and stayed in Canaan until they ran out of food and Jacob told them to go back and get more, but they told him they could not go back without Benjamin--all this time, Simeon had been left in prison.

They did return with Benjamin and Joseph threw a feast for them.  They assumed they were in trouble because of their guilty consciences and they told the steward that their money was in their bags along with the grain when they got home, so they brought double the usual payment this time along with the best that their land had to offer to pay for this mistake.  However, the steward that it must have been a miracle by the hand of the LORD that their money was in their bags because he received their money.

At diner, they were seated separately from Joseph and the Egyptians for the circumcised Jews would not eat with uncircumcised men.  Yet, Joseph sat them by their birth order and gave Benjamin five times as much food as anyone else.  When it was time for them to go home, their bags were filled as full as they could be filled and each man's money was returned to his sack, but Benjamin's bag was filled with twice the money that he had brought and a silver chalice was put in his bag as well--this was a setup by Joseph to give a pretense to stop them and have Benjamin taken into custody so that Benjamin would stay in Egypt with Joseph.

The brothers said this evil had come upon them for the evil they had done to Joseph, and they tried to offer themselves in exchange for Benjamin, but Joseph was having none of that because the guilty could not take the place of the innocent.  (Also notice earlier he heard and realized Reuben had nothing to do with selling Joseph into slaver and tried to prevent it, so Joseph passed over him when picking. someone to stay behind in prison and went to the second-oldest, Simeon).  They plead with Joseph that Jacob and Benjamin cannot be separated or Jacob will die.

Joseph breaks down and tells them the truth about who he is and invites them to all come down and live with him so that he and Pharaoh can take care of them and give them the best land and take care of them during the remaining five years of famine (I don't think it was ever Joseph's intent for them to stay there long-term, but they ended up staying in Egypt for far longer than 5 years).  Pharaoh sent carts to bring back the elderly, the women, and children and all their possessions.  We will learn later that the LORD did this on purpose to get the Israelites out of Canaan while the wickedness of the Canaanites increased.  Jacob finds all this hard to believe but he has his son back from the dead (or so he thought because of the deception of Joseph's 10 older brothers).

​Again, there is so much more to unpack here, but I'll have to leave it there for now.

Genesis 39-41
World English Bible

39 Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there. 2 Yahweh was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand. 4 Joseph found favor in his sight. He ministered to him, and Potiphar made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake. Yahweh’s blessing was on all that he had, in the house and in the field. 6 He left all that he had in Joseph’s hand. He didn’t concern himself with anything, except for the food which he ate.

Joseph was well-built and handsome. 7 After these things, his master’s wife set her eyes on Joseph; and she said, “Lie with me.”

8 But he refused, and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, my master doesn’t know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”

10 As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 11 About this time, he went into the house to do his work, and there were none of the men of the house inside. 12 She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!”

He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside. 13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had run outside, 14 she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, “Behold, he has brought a Hebrew in to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. 15 When he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment by me, and ran outside.” 16 She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home. 17 She spoke to him according to these words, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me, 18 and as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment by me, and ran outside.”

19 When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” his wrath was kindled. 20 Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody. 21 But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, he was responsible for it. 23 The keeper of the prison didn’t look after anything that was under his hand, because Yahweh was with him; and that which he did, Yahweh made it prosper.

40 After these things, the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker. 3 He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days. 5 They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison. 6 Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad. 7 He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”

8 They said to him, “We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it.”

Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me.”

9 The chief cup bearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, 10 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters produced ripe grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.”

12 Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. 13 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his cup bearer. 14 But remember me when it is well with you. Please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. 15 For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.”

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, “I also was in my dream, and behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. 17 In the uppermost basket there were all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

18 Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation. The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you.” 20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cup bearer to his position again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; 22 but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cup bearer didn’t remember Joseph, but forgot him.

41 At the end of two full years, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river. 2 Behold, seven cattle came up out of the river. They were sleek and fat, and they fed in the marsh grass. 3 Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. 4 The ugly and thin cattle ate up the seven sleek and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. 5 He slept and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, healthy and good. 6 Behold, seven heads of grain, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. 8 In the morning, his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all of Egypt’s magicians and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today. 10 Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, with the chief baker. 11 We dreamed a dream in one night, he and I. Each man dreamed according to the interpretation of his dream. 12 There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. He interpreted to each man according to his dream. 13 As he interpreted to us, so it was. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh. 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

17 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river; 18 and behold, seven fat and sleek cattle came up out of the river. They fed in the marsh grass; 19 and behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness. 20 The thin and ugly cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle; 21 and when they had eaten them up, it couldn’t be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ugly, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 I saw in my dream, and behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, full and good; 23 and behold, seven heads of grain, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. 24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

25 Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. 26 The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one. 27 The seven thin and ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. 28 That is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Behold, seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming. 30 Seven years of famine will arise after them, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, 31 and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. 32 The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

33 “Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt’s produce in the seven plenteous years. 35 Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and store grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. 36 The food will be to supply the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; so that the land will not perish through the famine.”

37 The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 38 Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” 39 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one so discreet and wise as you. 40 You shall be over my house. All my people will be ruled according to your word. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.” 41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. 43 He made him ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh. Without you, no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-Paneah. He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. 48 He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. He stored food in each city from the fields around that city. 49 Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. 50 To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, “For”, he said, “God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.” 52 The name of the second, he called Ephraim: “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

53 The seven years of plenty, that were in the land of Egypt, came to an end. 54 The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.” 56 The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57 All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

The slave traders that Joseph's brothers sold him to take him to Egypt where he is bought by Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard.  Joseph serves the LORD by serving his master well so that his master puts him in charge of his entire household and worries about nothing.  Yet, Potiphar's wife desires to have Joseph as her own, though Joseph resists, for he knows it is not right to sleep with another man's wife (interesting coming on the heels of our last passage with Judah and Tamar--we see the contrast between the sexual sin of Judah and his sons, and the sexual purity of Joseph.)  Potiphar's wife has to falsely accuse Joseph of rape to get Potiphar to punish him for not doing what she wanted, and it cost Joseph his freedom.

He was thrown into a prison for political prisoners--as far as we know, everyone was expected to stay there until they died of natural causes or they were executed.  It was a place to keep such people out of sight and out of mind.  Yet, Joseph served the jailer while he was in prison so that the jailer also put him in charge of the other prisoners and allowed him great liberty and to move around freely.  Joseph was even allowed to intercede on behalf of two of Pharaoh's officials who had dreams they could not interpret to let them know that the LORD knew whether it was the cook or the cupbearer that was responsible for the plot to poison the Pharaoh, and that justice would be done.  Joseph told them that the cook would be executed, but the cupbearer would be restored to his place at Pharaoh's side.  Joseph only asked when he returned that he would speak to Pharaoh about his case so that Pharaoh might intervene.

Many years pass until Pharaoh has a set of dreams that disturb him and he seeks the wisdom of all his sages and wise men (magicians, sorcerers, priests and priestesses, and everyone else who studied the Dark Arts) and none of them could give him an interpretation because the dream was from the LORD and the interpretation belongs to the LORD.  It is only in that moment that cupbearer remembers how Joseph interpreted his dream and he tells Pharaoh that he is sure Joseph can do the same for him.  The LORD gives Joseph the interpretation--the whole world is about to experience seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.  The LORD wants Egypt to store up grain and other food supplies during its seven years of plenty so that it can ration and distribute food (for a price) to the whole world.  The LORD will give them enough to not only feed themselves for the seven years of plenty and the seven lean years that followed, but enough to sell grain to all their neighbors who did not know and therefore did not prepare, and everyone (including the Israelites in the land of Canaan) will have to come to Egypt--to Joseph--to buy food.

Pharaoh knows in his heart that this interpretation is from the LORD and that immediate action needs to be taken to get ready.  Who better to prepare for the coming disaster than the one with whom the Spirit of the LORD dwelt so powerfully?  So, Pharaoh made Joseph the second-in-command, giving him authority over all things in Egypt.  The only thing that differentiated Pharaoh's authority from that of Joseph was that Pharaoh sat on the throne--he was the final and ultimate authority (and the people also believed him to be a god that they worshiped).

Joseph immediately began to buy up all of the farm land so that the crops belonged to the state and he ordered everything to be put into storage and he rationed the food, even during the years of plenty to make sure they would have enough when they needed it.  What he took from the people through heavy taxes, he made them buy back from him later during the famine, but the children of Israel would not have to pay anything for their grain or land when they came (we'll see that next time) as they were treated better than any of the people of Egypt as even the Pharaoh would understand that something was different about the LORD's people that Joseph came from and he would take great care of Joseph's family--they would receive the best land, pay no taxes, and live like royalty in the land of Egypt for as long as the Pharaoh and Joseph and all those who remembered them lived.

This week at a glance:

• Day 1: Genesis 37:1–38:30 
  
• Day 2: Genesis 39:1–41:57
• Day 3: Genesis 42:1–45:28
• Day 4: Genesis 46:1–47:31
• Day 5: Genesis 48:1–50:26
• Day 6: Psalm 17
• Day 7:  GOD WAS WITH JOSEPH

Genesis 37-38
World English Bible

37 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colors. 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.

5 Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”

8 His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 9 He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” 10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?” 11 His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

12 His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.”

14 He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.”

17 The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”

Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes. 20 Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”

21 Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him; 24 and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

25 They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. 28 Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.

29 Reuben returned to the pit, and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 He returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more; and I, where will I go?” 31 They took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 They took the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, “We have found this. Examine it, now, and see if it is your son’s tunic or not.”

33 He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s tunic. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.” 34 Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” His father wept for him. 36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.

38 At that time, Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There, Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite man named Shua. He took her, and went in to her. 3 She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. 4 She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. 5 She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah. He was at Chezib when she bore him. 6 Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in Yahweh’s sight. So Yahweh killed him. 8 Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 Onan knew that the offspring wouldn’t be his; and when he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. 10 The thing which he did was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and he killed him also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;” for he said, “Lest he also die, like his brothers.” Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

12 After many days, Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite. 13 Tamar was told, “Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” 14 She took off the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn’t given to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her by the way, and said, “Please come, let me come in to you,” for he didn’t know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?”

17 He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.”

She said, “Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?”

18 He said, “What pledge will I give you?”

She said, “Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand.”

He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand, but he didn’t find her. 21 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, “Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?”

They said, “There has been no prostitute here.”

22 He returned to Judah, and said, “I haven’t found her; and also the men of the place said, ‘There has been no prostitute here.’” 23 Judah said, “Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this young goat, and you haven’t found her.”

24 About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute. Moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution.”

Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “I am with child by the man who owns these.” She also said, “Please discern whose these are—the signet, and the cords, and the staff.”

26 Judah acknowledged them, and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I didn’t give her to Shelah, my son.”

He knew her again no more. 27 In the time of her travail, behold, twins were in her womb. 28 When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This came out first.” 29 As he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out, and she said, “Why have you made a breach for yourself?” Therefore his name was called Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.

Again, lots going on in these two chapters, and this passage contains the second passage that I was giving a warning to parents about last week.  Let's remember that things in this passage are descriptive and not prescriptive and we already see how God is able to move His good plans forward despite our sinful mistakes that we make.

First, we see a spoiled and probably proud seventeen-year old Joseph.  His father and mother are both alive when he brings back a bad report to his father about his brothers (they likely were doing something wrong, but Joseph was also a tattler and spy).  His brothers hated him (that is not too strong a wrong) because he treated with much favoritism and in their fathers eyes they could do nothing right and he could do nothing wrong (this is likely after the incident with Dinah and Shechem).

Joseph was given a dream by the LORD that was meant for him and him alone, but Joseph had to tell all his brothers and mother and father that, one day, all of them would bow down to him.  His mother believed and treasured these things in her heart.  His father questioned how this would come true, and his brothers hated him even more because of the dream and how he wouldn't stop talking about it.  They decided that the only way to keep God's plan for Joseph from coming true was to kill him (this sounds much like the murderous plot of the Pharisees against Jesus, and it is the first many ways in which we see the story of Joseph linked with the story of Jesus).

They see Joseph coming from a long distance away because he is wearing a "coat of many colors" or "a coat with long tails" (a royal robe) when he goes to look for them and bring back word to his father.  They were supposed to be tending the flock near Shechem (notice how this puts this even close to the events we talked about earlier with Dinah, because Jacob left Shechem to go to Bethel, and then to Bethlehem shortly after those events and we don't see that he ever returned there again, so these events are in close proximity to those events).  His brothers who have refused to believe the dream given to Joseph by the LORD said "Her comes that dreamer" and "Let's kill him and cast him into one of the pits" and they would claim that he had been eaten by a wild animal.  Reuben, the oldest of the eleven sons of Jacob (Benjamin was not born yet) discourages his brothers from killing Joseph with the hopes of coming back to rescue him later, for he knew how it would destroy the spirit of his father.  The other nine conspired while Reuben was away saw some Ishmaelite/Midianite (your version may vary in what it says here, remember that Ishmaelites had no land of their own and so they probably were Ishmaelites sojourning in the land of Midian) who were taking their goods to be sold in Egypt.  Now, these people already had the reputation of being engaged in slavery and human trafficking, so the brothers (with Reuben not present) decided that they might as well make some money off of Joseph to get rid of him and they would not kill him themselves.  They sold him for 20 pieces of silver (we have found historical evidence that this was the exact price for a slave at that time where the price would have been lower in previous years and gone up in later years).  This gives us another connection to Christ as he was betrayed and sold for the price of a slave--in Jesus' day, this was 30 pieces of silver (see Zechariah 11:12-13 and Matthew 26:15 and 27:3-9).

Reuben returns and finds that Joseph is gone and he is very grieved.  Joseph will remember that Reuben had nothing to do with this and he will hold the oldest one that was among the group (Simeon) responsible for the actions of the entire group later, but we're not to that part of that story yet.  The sons go back and tell the lie they have agreed upon to their father.  They take Joseph's coat of many colors and they dip it in the blood of a male goat to trick their father (isn't it funny how things have come full circle and Jacob and Rebekah used a goat to trick Isaac many years ago to make him think it was a wild animal that Esau had taken in a hunt, and now his sons use the blood of a goat to trick Jacob into believing that it is his Joseph's blood on the coat of many colors that they have torn to shreds to make it appear that he was torn to pieces by a wild animal.)

I think it is fair to say that Jacob never recovers from this.  In fact, I'm nearly certain that this along with what happened to his daughter Dinah is what led him to the state of questioning everything the LORD had told him and made him want to return to Bethel to talk to God again.  His sons realized how much they had messed up and that they might lead their father to an early death or that he might even take his own life because of his sorrow, but there was nothing they could do to reverse their decision, and, in their minds, telling Jacob the truth would not help anything--it would only make him want to take vengeance on them.  We need to hold onto this story because it will explain several of Reuben's conversations with Jacob later.

Most people skip over chapter 38--you probably never studied it in Sunday school and I'm nearly certain you never heard a sermon at church preached on it unless your pastor goes book by book, chapter by chapter and doesn't skip over anything.  I remember reading through the book of Genesis with one of my friends a few years ago as part of our discipleship time together and he specifically said something like "We never talked about his part of the Bible in my church."  The Bible does not hide the "ugly" parts of the people that we would want to call its "heroes."

For some reason that we will not understand fully until the book of Matthew (unless we pay very close attention to specific passages before that), we look at the family of Judah.  To say it is a dysfunctional family is an understatement.  Let's start with the fact that Judah went to find a wife from among the Canaanites (we already know this is bad news).  She bore him two sons--Er and Onan--who were wicked (no surprise there).  Judah took a wife for his older son Er (again, probably from among the Canaanite women of the land) and her name was Tamar--don't forget this name, in fact, you might want to go look for it right now in Matthew 1:3 (it's also in the book of Ruth to tell us the lineage of Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David.  I'll summarize here to day that Er was wicked and refused to give himself sexually to his wife so that she could have children--he intentionally made his semen come out on the ground instead of having intercourse with her.  The LORD saw what he was doing and killed him for it.  Then, Tamar was given to Onan to be his wife, but he was also evil and did the same thing, and the LORD killed him as well.  This left Tamar unable to go back to her people (they had made it appear she was no longer a virgin) and she no longer had a husband or sons to take care of her.  She stayed in the house of Judah and he took care of her, promising her that when his youngest son Shelah was mature enough to take a wife, he would give Tamar to him.

As time passed, it became obvious to Tamar that Judah was never going to give her in marriage to Shelah, probably because he knew Shelah would do exactly the same thing his older brothers did and he too would die.  So, she took matters into her own hands and dressed up as a prostitute and waited for Judah to come back from sheering his sheep (she knew his route he would be taking and exactly when he would be going out and coming in so she could wait for him, and she knew him well enough to know he would take the bait).  He has no money so she makes him give her his staff and chord with his seal on it is a pledge (these were basically the equivalent of your identity documents , and anyone who had them would be able to do business in your name under as if they were acting on your behalf--what we would call "power of attorney" today.).

Judah goes back to look for her to retrieve the items he has given to her in pledge, but she is gone, and none of the people of the town know what he is talking about--they don't have any prostitutes that they let hang around their city.  Time passes and Tamar becomes pregnant (obviously not by any of Judah's sons).  Judah accuses her of sexual sin and demands to know what man has had sexual relations with her.  She says she does not know the identity of the man, but only has his staff and chord  and seal and produces Judah's staff and chord and seal that he gave in pledge to the "prostitute" that he know realizes was his daughter-in-law in disguise.  He then realizes that it is he who has sinned, not her--he lied to her about giving her to his youngest son and he is the one who had sex with a woman he thought to be a prostitute.  Though what she did was wrong, he says that she was more righteous in what she did than he was in what he did and he has no place to judge her.  She gives birth to twin sons--Perez and Zerah.  It is through Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar, that the Messianic line will continue (again, see Matthew 1:3).  This story makes no sense interrupting the story of Joseph until we realize that God needs to show us that in the midst of all these terrible things happening to Jacob's family, He is preserving the promise of "The Seed of the Woman" and "The Seed of Abraham"--the Messiah that was promised.  The One through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed.  We might be tempted to think that Joseph was the next main character in the Messianic narrative, but he is not.  The rest of Genesis focuses in on him, but it will be made obvious to us at the end of the book of Genesis that the scepter (the birthright, kingship, and leadership of the family) will belong to the tribe of Judah, not the tribe of Joseph (Ephraim).  In fact, much of the Old Testament is dedicated to a struggle between these two "houses" as the kingdom of Israel will be divided and the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi will form the kingdom of Judah, and the other tribes will rally under the leadership of Ephraim in the northern kingdom that they will call Israel and they will make its capital city Samaria (so it will sometimes be called by that name).  This book is truly that "beginning" (that is what its name means) of a great many things, but, most importantly, it is the beginning of the gospel narrative.