This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 42-44.

    I have heard many explanations as to why Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him. I really think it comes down to two things. First, and probably most important, Joseph saw all ten of them together, interacting as they always had. They only saw Joseph by himself, with no reason to connect him with any of themselves. Second, when Joseph was sold into slavery his brothers were grown men. However, at that time, he was barely more than a boy. People go through a lot of changes between the age Joseph was when he was sold into slavery and later adulthood. His brothers had already gone through that transition.

    The fact that Joseph’s brothers were fully adult when they sold him into slavery makes their change of hearts all the more significant. First, their mistreatment of their brother was not a “youthful indiscretion”. It cannot be passed of as them being too young to realize the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, all too many of us would have developed a justification for our actions to the point that, if we were one of the brothers, by the time we met Joseph we would have justified our actions thoroughly. Not Joseph’s brothers, they had come to regret their actions and to wish they had not done them.

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 39-41.

    This passage reminds us that false accusations of rape, or attempted rape, are nothing new, just as the story of Dinah tells us that rape is nothing new. Potiphar’s wife tried repeatedly to seduce Joseph, finally. when she was unsuccessful she accused him of attempted rape. Once again, I see Joseph’s naiveté. It never occurred to him that she would do such a thing. If it had, he would have been careful not to be alone with her in the house. There is a lesson here to take note of. Be careful about being alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. The temptation to do wrong will be great and if your are not tempted they may make false accusations against you to which you have no defense.

    While Joseph was in prison he, once more, made the best of a bad situation. As a result, he rose to a position of relative privilege. It is worth noting that Joseph did not rise to any of his positions of privilege because of favoritism. Rather, he rose to such positions because he remained faithful to God. While he was in prison two of his fellow prisoners had prophetic dreams. One of those dreams was good, one was terrible. We do not know why the cup-bearer received the good outcome and the baker the terrible one. The point of the story was that the interpretation Joseph offered for dreams was the one God gave him, not one which would please his audience. We need to be the same way.

    When Joseph gave Pharaoh the interpretation which God had given him for Pharaoh’s dreams, he also gave Pharaoh a plan to deal with the coming famine. In giving Pharaoh that plan, Joseph did not in any way suggest that he should be put in charge of executing it. Pharaoh wisely chose to put Joseph in charge. One of the reasons that made that wise was because Joseph did not present himself as the person to be put in charge. Joseph did not present his plan as a vehicle for advancing himself. He presented it as the best way to deal with the coming disaster.

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 36-38.

    Joseph was a spoiled young man, but probably naive. When Joseph had the two dreams recounted in this passage, I do not think he thought it meant that his father and brothers would be subservient to him. I think he thought that these were really cool, strange dreams. Nevertheless, he offended his brothers by telling them the dreams. This was just one of several things which Joseph did which irritated and angered his brothers. They were probably more angered by the fact that he acted as a spy on them for their father. I am guessing that it never occurred to Jacob that his other sons might not share his love for Joseph. For that matter, Jacob probably did not realize how much he favored Joseph over his other sons. There is a lesson here for parents about being careful about how they treat their favorite child.

    I have long interpreted the story of Judah and Tamar as partially an example of why the Egyptian captivity was necessary for the Israelites to truly become God’s people. The method which Tamar used to seduce Judah suggests that Judah (and his brothers) were starting to adopt some of the practices of the people among whom they lived. Judah willingly slept with what he thought was a temple prostitute. Despite resisting the attempt by the people of Schechem to assimilate them, Jacob’s sons were adopting the practices of the people among whom they lived. As a side note. I want to mention that Onan’s sin was not masturbation. His sin was a selfish unwillingness to provide his dead brother with an heir.

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 33-35.

    I find the negotiations between Jacob and Esau in this passage interesting. First, when Jacob hears that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 men, he is afraid that Esau is still angry. So, he sends a gift for Esau on ahead of the rest of his entourage. Then he divides his group up, putting his servant wives and their children first, then Leah and her children, and finally Rachel and Joseph. When they meet, Esau expresses his joy at seeing his brother once more.

    Esau and Jacob then have an exchange where they establish their relationship. It starts with Esau questioning Jacob’s relationship with the people he is traveling with. Are these people to whom Jacob owes loyalty? Jacob responds by explaining that they are people who owe loyalty to him. Next Esau tells Jacob not to beggar himself by giving him a gift. Jacob replies by telling Esau that he can spare the gift and wants to express his desire to live in peace with Esau. Then Esau offers Jacob the opportunity to join his household, but Jacob declines. Finally, Esau offers Jacob the opportunity to at least come under his protection (thus owing some fealty to Esau). Jacob declines. It is clear to me from this exchange that Esau was not expecting Jacob and his family to join him in Seir.

    There is more to the story about the rape of Dinah shows us something about the attitude towards women of the surrounding culture. An attitude which is still common in much of the world. Schechem saw a woman in the market who did not have any protectors which he thought he needed to be concerned about. After all, he was the ruler’s son and heir. When he and/or his father realized whose daughter Dinah was, they decided to try to take advantage of the situation. They saw it as an opportunity to bind Jacob’s interests, and his wealth, with their own. If they could convince Jacob to give his daughters and granddaughters to their sons as wives and his sons and grandsons to take their daughters as wives, they could assimilate Jacob and his family. Thus gaining control of their wealth and power. Jacob’s sons recognized the plan for what it was and refused to allow their sister to be used in this manner. Once again we see a different perspective on how women should be treated between the people of God and the culture in which they lived/

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 31-32.

    Over time, Jacob’s success aroused jealousy from his brothers-in-law. In addition, as Jacob’s wealth increased, Laban became less and less friendly. So, Jacob decided to return to the land of his father and grandfather (the passage tells us that God promised to be with him if he did so). So, Jacob told Rachel and Leah of his plans. They both fully supported his decision. Leah and Rachel expressed no concern over leaving their father. As a matter of fact, they seemed convinced that their father had no concern for their well-being, or that of their sons. Once again, we see it hinted that Laban considered women to be just another asset to be used to increase his wealth.

    We even see that in Laban’s reaction to Jacob leaving. While the passage does not give us numbers, the description of Laban’s action is very similar to what Abraham did when Lot was taken captive. Laban was not concerned about the well-being of his daughters or grandchildren. He set out to reclaim what he thought was his own. We see this in Laban’s statements after he failed to find his stolen idols. He told Jacob that everything Jacob had was really his, not Jacob’s. It is clear that the only reason Laban did not reclaim what he believed was actually his property was because he did not believe that he could do so.

    I may be reading too much into this but Jacob and Laban appear to have had different attitudes toward women. Laban viewed them as assets to be used to gain wealth. Jacob viewed his wives as partners to be consulted when he made important life decisions.

This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 29-30.

    Every time I read this story, I am reminded of the complications which arrive from straying from the monogamous marriage model laid out in the Garden of Eden. Despite the love the three apparently had for each other(Leah and Rachel, as sisters, Jacob for Rachel, as indicated, Jacob for Leah, as the mother of his sons), there was still jealousy and conflict. There is plotting and manipulation and even Jacob gets treated like an object (when Rachel and Leah negotiate between them whose bed he will spend the night in).

    Another thing we learn from this story is that the ancestors of the Israelites, God’s chosen people, were deceivers and cheaters. They kept the letter of their agreement, but not necessarily the spirit. This is not the first time that Laban attempted to cheat Jacob (after all, that is how Jacob ended up married to both Leah and Rachel), but it does show that that was not just a one off. This story, and yesterday’s, suggests that Laban did not value women. Otherwise, why would he be willing to cheat his son-in-law, who was married to both of his daughters, and was his nephew, in favor of his sons? (I will visit this idea again when we get to Jacob leaving Laban). This stands in contrast to the way in which Abraham and Isaac treated their wives and later how Jacob’s sons reacted to the mistreatment of their sister.
    I do not want to move on from this passage without noting that Jacob cheated his father-in-law right back. It seems probably that Jacob would have done something like this even if Laban had treated him fairly.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 26-28.

    The passage tells us that Isaac moved into the land controlled by the Philistines during a drought after being told by God not to go to Egypt. While among the Philistines, Isaac followed a strategy which his father, Abraham, had used. He, initially told everyone that Rebekah was his sister. However, Isaac could not help himself and treated Rebekah like a wife in public and Abimelech, the king of the area, saw this. It is interesting that Isaac told the same lie about his wife which Abraham had used twice. Both Abraham and Isaac are held up as men of great faith, yet both of them felt the need to lie about their relationship with their wives out of fear of what men would do to them. Perhaps, my faith is not as weak as I fear.

    When Isaac was getting old, losing his sight, and beginning to be in poor health, he decided to bestow his blessing upon Esau. However, Rebekah conspired with Jacob to steal that blessing for Jacob. Despite his deceitful behavior, God appeared to Jacob at Bethel as he fled from his brother’s justified anger. The key message in these stories is that even with our flaws God can use us to accomplish His great things.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 24-25.

    As I was reading this today, I was struck by the fact that, while Abraham wanted Isaac to marry a woman from among his relatives, he emphatically did not want Isaac to visit them. There is little in the passage to explain his reasons. It is even interesting how it came about that Abraham expressed this. When his servant asked him if he should take Isaac there to live if none of the young women were willing to travel to Canaan, Abraham not only told him no to that, but he told him to never take Isaac there. It reads to me that Abraham was afraid that if Isaac visited his relatives, Isaac would never want to return to Canaan. I think that this points up something we often overlook. Abraham’s father, Terah, had begun moving to the land of Canaan, but settled down before he got there. This passage suggests to me that God had spoken to Terah, just as He did to Abraham, but something about Haran caused Terah to not continue. Perhaps Abraham feared that if Isaac went to Haran, he would be seduced by the same thing which kept his father there.

    The story of Esau selling his birthright is a classic example of allowing the desire for instant gratification to overcome our long term best interest. Esau was hungry, Jacob had food. Esau traded away his birthright, which had many long term benefits for him for a quick bowl of soup. He came to regret doing so. We need to be careful not to make the same mistake.

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 21-23.

    God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah gave birth to Isaac at the time He said that she would. However, we see in this passage more of the consequences of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar decision. Sarah demanded that Abraham get rid of Ishmael and Hagar. Abraham was hurt by Sarah’s request because he loved his son, Ishmael, but he did as his wife asked. He gave Hagar some supplies and sent her away. It is worth noting that God assured Abraham that He would care for Ishmael and Hagar before Abraham sent them away and that He fulfilled this promise. Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel sympathy for Ishmael who suffered because of Sarah’s jealousy about a situation which she created (Abraham and Hagar share responsibility for this situation as well).

    The passage tells us that Abraham lived among the Philistines for a long time. At some point during that period, he felt compelled to sacrifice Isaac as an offering to God, showing his devotion to God. This would have been similar to practices among the Philistines of sacrifice their children. I do not know in what manner Abraham received the instruction to sacrifice Isaac, but I am convinced that at least part of that message was a product of the practices of the people among whom he lived. However it came to be that Abraham got the message to sacrifice Isaac, God made it clear to Abraham that He is not a God who desires us to kill our children. That message is the point of this whole episode.