Tag Archive | Joseph & brothers

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 29

Jan29

Day 29. Reading in Genesis 48 – 50. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. Then, share your thoughts in the comments.

Genesis 48.

It’s been a glorious seventeen years for Jacob-Israel, living with his family in Egypt and seeing his beloved Joseph alive.  But he knows the time of his death is near, and he has some important things to accomplish. He’s already made Joseph promise to have him buried in the family tomb.

Next on the agenda is the passing down of the patriarchal blessings. Jacob-Israel does a very unusual (but understandable) thing.  He adopts Joseph’s sons as his own, giving his grandsons equal rights of the tribal Promises with his other sons.  This gives Joseph the birthright “double portion” in the land when they return. 

Joseph brings his sons to his father and puts his father’s right hand on his oldest son, Manasseh, and his left hand on the second-born, Ephraim, because Jacob had become blind like his father Isaac.  But Jacob crossed his arms, giving the top blessing to the younger son. Joseph tries to correct him, but it is as if God has made another choice to bypass the firstborn. 

  • “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel (of God) who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys, and in THEM let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Ephraim and Manasseh will become two of the twelve “tribes” of Israel.

  • As Jacob chose to adopt and include Manasseh and Ephraim into his immediate family, so have WE been adopted into God’s family by His choice because of his love for His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, we are known by his name. Not a tribe of Israel, but a child of God.  Praise Him!

Genesis 49.

And now, Jacob-Israel calls all his sons together to speak a prophetic blessing. (“…that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.”)  (Jacob doesn’t list his sons in exact birth order, but according to their mothers.)

Reuben, Simeon, and Levi all forfeit their birthright position because of their sin (incest and cruelty/violence). “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” The tribe of Simeon eventually became assimilated into Judah’s territory.  The tribe of Levi, chosen as priests of God after showing loyalty to Him, was “scattered” throughout Israel.

It’s the fourth son, Judah, through whom kings (like David, Hezekiah, and Joash) will come, as well as the eternal King of Kings. 

The personalities of the others are briefly stated, and their locations in the land for some. Dan would be unfaithful, give up their land, migrate far north, and host one of the worshiped golden calves. (2 Kings 10:29)  Dan is not mentioned in the list of tribes in Revelation 7:4-8.

Joseph’s blessing (applicable to his two sons, as tribes) is glowing and prosperous and points to God’s care. (Both Samuel and Gideon come from Joseph’s sons). 

Benjamin was a small but warlike tribe known later for their left-handed fighters. Both King Saul and the Apostle Saul/Paul were from this tribe. 

Then, after reminding them all that he was to be buried in the family tomb in Canaan, Jacob-Israel laid back and died.

  • This list of Jacob’s sons reminds me of the twelve disciples and how Jesus hand-picked each of them, knowing their personalities, strengths, and weaknesses.  The Lord knows ME, too – my tendencies to sin,  pride, and selfishness. But, by His Spirit, He’s graciously given me gifts to bless others and bring glory to Him.  He sees me from before I was born to my very last breath. 

Genesis 50.

After weeping loudly, Joseph made arrangements for his father to be embalmed (as was the Egyptian custom and very practical if his body was to be transported a great distance).  And after long days of mourning, the bier with a vast caravan made its slow way north. Joseph and all his brothers went along (not their children or flocks), all the elders of Joseph’s household and the elders of the land, complete with chariots and armed horsemen. “It was a very great company” that honored Israel’s last journey.

The inhabitants of Canaan were aghast at the massive company. There was “very great and grievous lamentation and mourning” as they laid Jacob’s body to rest in the tomb. (The last body to be buried there and the first instance of grouping the three patriarchs together.)  Then they all returned to Egypt.

(I wonder if Joseph looked around Canaan in recognition, remembering the places of his childhood… or if his eyes were only for his father’s coffin.)

.

Back in Egypt, Joseph’s brothers began to worry.  (Remember, it had been almost 20 years that they had lived with the generosity and care of their important brother.)  Now that Dad was dead, would Joseph “get even” for what they’d done to him?  (Oh, the lingering guilt.) They make up a story about Jacob asking Joseph to forgive them.

Joseph wept out of frustration to hear this.  “What??  Why would you believe I would “pay you back” like that??  I have totally forgiven you.  Yes, you meant what you did for EVIL, but God meant it for GOOD.  You all would have died of starvation if God had not arranged this way to bring you to Egypt.”

“Do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones.”

Later, when Joseph himself was nearing death, he made his brother’s families PROMISE that when God led them out of Egypt to return to “the promised land,” they would also carry his bones up from Egypt to the land God would give them. 

Joseph died at 110 years. They embalmed him and put him in a coffin in Egypt.  He would remain there for 400 years. But when Moses led that “great nation” of Israel out of Egypt, they remembered the promise and took Joseph’s bones along with them. (See Exodus 13:19.)  Eventually, they buried them in the land Jacob had bought from Hamor near Shechem. (See Joshua 24:32.) 

The book of Exodus begins about 280 years after Joseph’s death.

 

  • Genesis begins with a sinless Adam in the beautiful garden of Eden and ends with Joseph in a coffin in Egypt.  Sin does indeed bring death. But God has initiated the “seed line” of the Savior who will defeat death and give all who receive Him eternal life.

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 26 – 27

Jan27

Days 26 – 27. Reading in Genesis 41 – 42 and 43 – 45.

Sunday and Monday’s studies are posted together on Monday. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and meditate on it. What stood out to you?

Genesis 41.

Today’s and tomorrow’s readings are fun, almost like reading a novel. Joseph is clever, his brothers are convicted, and Jacob is first in agony and then in ecstasy. And our promise-keeping God is sovereign over it all.

Two years after Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams of the baker and butler, Pharaoh had a dream. He knew it meant something ominous, but he couldn’t figure it out and neither could all his court soothsayers and wise men. 

A light bulb flashes on in the butler’s mind! “Oh, I remember my offenses today,” he cried, two years late for Joseph but in God’s perfect time. “When I and the baker were in prison, a young Hebrew man perfectly told us the meaning of our dreams.”

“Call the young man here!” ordered Pharaoh.  

Joseph is quickly brought out of prison, bathed, shaved, dressed in new “appropriate” clothes, and brought to the king.  Immediately, Pharaoh says that he’s heard Joseph can interpret dreams.  Of course, like Daniel many years later, Joseph says it is not he, who can interpret them, but God.

Pharaoh tells his repeated dream about the seven fat cows and plump corn ears eaten by the seven skinny cows and thin ears of corn.  Easy-peasy for Joseph (and God). Pharaoh’s fat and plump sevens pictured seven years of unequaled plenty in Egypt. The ravenous, skinny, ugly sevens pictured the following seven years of unequaled famine in the entire area (Egypt and beyond). Since the dream was repeated, it meant that God would shortly do it.

Then, without permission, Joseph, who had managed Potiphar’s estate and the entire prison so well, recommended a way to mitigate the years of famine to Pharaoh. 

“Good idea!” Pharaoh cried. “And who better to do it than YOU.  What did you say your name was?”

So Joseph was given wealth, authority, and honor in Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh.  He was also given an Egyptian name and an Egyptian wife (who bore him Manasseh and Ephraim). And Joseph did what he had suggested. He managed Egypt’s years of plenty wisely, so a great abundance of grain (like the sand of the sea) was stored up for the famine years.  And when those years came, and the people cried out in hunger, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold them the grain. And, when the surrounding peoples also suffered in famine and came to Joseph, he sold grain to THEM. 

And Egypt became “filthy rich.” How proud and pleased Pharaoh must have been with his prodigy. But it was God who orchestrated it all, and His reasons were many.

Genesis 42.

Back in Canaan, the famine hit hard. Jacob-Israel learned grain was for sale in Egypt, so he sent his ten older sons with donkeys and sacks of money to buy grain for them all. Little Bennie (about 33) stayed home with Papa.

In Egypt, Joseph recognized his brothers. As they bowed before him, he remembered his long-ago dreams (oh, wow!) and knew God was in all that had happened. Quickly, he counted only ten men and feared that perhaps they had also gotten rid of his little brother. He would test them.

“SPIES!” he yelled at them through an interpreter.  “You are SPIES, coming to see Egypt’s nakedness!”

“No, my lord,” the ten cried in terror. “We are the sons of one man. We have never been spies!”

“You are SPIES!” Joseph repeated. 

The brothers explain how they were twelve sons born to one man. “One is no more (Joseph), and the youngest is with our father.”

“No, you are SPIES.”  To test the veracity of their story, he tells them they can’t leave Egypt until the youngest brother comes as proof they are innocent. Then, he puts them all into custody for three days. 

Of course, guilt over what they had done to Joseph was still heavy on their consciences twenty years afterward.  “We SAW how Joseph begged us not to kill or sell him, and we didn’t listen. That is why THIS is happening.”  Reuben pipes up, defending himself. “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy???”

They don’t know Joseph overhears them and understands what they’re saying. At one point, he has to turn away and weep. (But he did learn that Reuben had stood up for him. Perhaps that’s why he held back the second oldest brother in prison.)

Joseph keeps Simeon in prison and sends back the nine with their paid-for grain and a warning. “Don’t bother returning for more grain without your young brother.” (He also has his steward put their money sacks back into their grain bags.)

At one point, one of them opens a bag of grain to feed the donkeys on the return trip and discovers the money pouch. YIKES, he yells. They all find the same when they open the other sacks.  “What has God done to us?” they cry. (By now, they know this is a just repayment for their long-ago deeds.)

At home, they recount all that’s happened to their father, Jacob.  They show him their returned money pouches.  and Jacob goes into mourning. 

“You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now, you would take BENJAMIN??  All this has come against me. My son shall NOT go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.” 

To be continued…..

 

Day 27 – Genesis 43 – 45

Genesis 43.

Another year has passed. The grain they purchased in Egypt is about gone, and Jacob asks his sons why they delayed. “Go back to Egypt and buy some grain.”

Judah speaks up. “Um, Dad, did you forget what the man said? Unless you send Benjamin with us, we won’t go.”

“Oh, why did you tell him you had another brother?”

“Because he ASKED us if we had one. We didn’t know he’d demand we brought him with us.”

Then Judah (whose idea it was 20+ years earlier to KILL Joseph) steps up and offers his own life in place of Benjamin’s.  He adds a plea for urgency. “If we hadn’t delayed, we could have been there and back two times.”

Jacob-Israel finally relents and, with a heavy heart sends ALL his remaining sons to Egypt, adding some good things from Canaan as a gift. “May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man.”  (Oh, Jacob, if you only knew!)

Joseph saw immediately that his brothers had brought Benjamin. How his heart must have swelled. He ordered a lunch at his home to be prepared.  Of course, the brothers were terrified about the returned money last time, so they approached the steward right away and assured him they’d brought double the money. 

“Nah, your God must have blessed you. I received your money before.” 

They are confused but very glad to see Simeon alive and well again. 

Joseph inquires about their father and is relieved to hear Jacob is alive.  Then he looked at Benjamin – a young teen when he left, and now a man – and his heart swelled.  He has to run to his room where he cries for joy. Afterward, he orders lunch.

After a wash-up the brothers are all seated in Joseph’s dining hall in order of their birth. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun (perhaps a space here for the “missing” Joseph), and Benjamin.  The brothers are shocked. HOW could this Egyptian lord know their birth order???

Joseph sends portions of delicacies from his own table, with five times more to Benjamin.  Was it just for the love of his full brother, or was he testing the others to see how they reacted to the preferential treatment of the youngest?

Genesis 44.

After lunch, Joseph orders all their sacks to be filled with grain, their TWO pouches of money, and, in Benjamin’s sack, Joseph’s own silver chalice.  The following morning, all eleven of Jacob’s sons left Egypt.  They are joyful to get away with all the grain and all the brothers. They are eager to return to their father with both Simeon and Benjamin.

Then, a dust cloud appears behind them. A chariot roars up and slides to a stop. The stern-faced steward gets out and accuses one of them of stealing the prized silver chalice from the Viceroy of Egypt. Immediately, the brother’s joy turns to terror. They deny it, open all their sacks, and proclaim their innocence. In whoever’s sack it’s found, that one will die, and we’ll all become your servants.

“I’ll only arrest the thief,” says the steward, “and all the rest of you will go free.”  

OF COURSE (as planned), the chalice is found in Benjamin’s sack, just where the steward put it. The brothers’ hearts stop. NOT BENJAMIN!!!  They ALL load up the donkeys and return to Egypt. Will this nightmare ever end? 

(Hey, Bros, how do you think your young brother felt being thrown into a pit, then sold to traders, taken as a slave into an Egyptian household, falsely accused, and put into prison for years??)

At Joseph’s palace, the brothers stood before the powerful man. “What is this that you have done?” 

A confession begins to tumble out. “What shall we say to my lord?  What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the chalice was found.”

“No, no, no,” says Joseph. “ONLY the man in whose hand the chalice was found shall be my servant.  You all can return to your father in peace.”

And now Judah shines. The one who said his daughter-in-law was “more righteous than he.”  The one who pledged to his father HIS own life forfeited for Benjamin’s sake.  This broken man (whose descendant would one day step into the punishment for OUR sake.) went to Joseph and pled for mercy for his little brother.

“My lord asked his servants if we had a father or a brother, We said our father was an old man, and we have a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him. We told you how we couldn’t bring the boy because our father would die if he lost this one. His life is bound up in the boy’s life. If he isn’t with us, our father will die. 

But you insisted and we finally convinced our father because I became a pledge of safety for him. I will bear the blame if he does not return. PLEASE, let me remain as servant, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Genesis 45.

At this change of heart and confession, Joseph can no longer control himself. He sends all his Egyptian staff out. and he wept aloud.

“I AM JOSEPH!” he cried in Hebrew.

They all are stunned to silence, mouths agape.

“Come near me. I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t be distressed or angry with yourselves. God sent me before you to preserve life.  There are five more years of famine. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. It was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me a father to the Pharaoh, lord over his house, and ruler over all of Egypt.

“Hurry now. Go get my father. Tell him God has made me ruler in Egypt. Come down to me.  Hurry!”

After telling them he’s prepared a place in Goshen for them all to live and reminding them that it’s him (Isn’t he speaking in Hebrew to them?), he grabs Benjamin, hugs him tight, and kisses him.  Then the other brothers too.

Later, Joseph sent their grain with them and wagons filled with provisions for the journey for ALL of Jacob-Israel’s extended family, plus his flocks and herds. He also sent many gifts to his father, new clothes to the brothers, and to Benjamin, he gave 300 silver shekels.

“Don’t quarrel on the way!” he calls after them. (Oh, how he knows his brothers!)

.

Jacob-Israel sees the wagons. He counts all eleven of his sons.  Even before they stop, the brothers call out, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!”

Jacob is faint. He gasps.  “What? Joseph, still alive?  OHHHHHH GOD!!! It is enough! Joseph, my son, is still alive. I will go and see him before I die!”

.

What a glorious story, but it’s not over yet. The relieved brothers now have to tell their father the truth about Joseph’s disappearance.  They have to confess their wicked sin and deception. How will he respond? 

Stay tuned.

 

 

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 27

Jan27

   Day 27 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

Day 27 – Genesis 43 – 45 – (Joseph tests brothers, sends for Jacob)

Chapter 43. The second year of famine hits harder and Jacob/Israel’s family have run out of food again. The Patriarch tells his nine sons to go down to Egypt and buy more.  

Judah reminds him of the Egyptian ruler’s words – they must take Benjamin or not bother to come. When Jacob objects, Judah pledges HIMSELF as a surity for his kid brother. Jacob finally agrees to the inevitable, but tells them to take double money and some gifts.  And he prays, “May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man.”

When they arrive, Joseph brings them all into his house. He’s going to feed them a sumptuous meal, but THEY think they are doomed. Again the brothers bow down low to him. When Joseph sees Benjamin, emotion overwhelms him and flees to his bedroom to cry. After washing his face and returning as the stern vice-ruler of Egypt, he orders the meal.  He seats the brothers in birth order which amazes them. And, as a test to see if their jealousy toward Ben is really gone, heaps much more food and goodies on his younger brother. No reaction. (a good sign)

Chapter 44 tells of one more test Joseph gives his brothers.  He fills all their grain sacks to the brim, once again adding back their money, but also places his own silver chalice in brother Ben’s sack. ALL ELEVEN brothers leave, relieved at having escaped in tact.  But they soon see the dust of a chariot approaching them. Joseph’s steward accuses them of stealing his master prized cup. 

“What? No! We wouldn’t do that!!”  The Steward searches their sacks, and of course in the last one – Benjamin’s – it is found.  The brothers are terrified!  (Did they accuse their young brother of actually taking it?) The steward says only the thief will need to return, but they ALL go. They would rather face an angry Egyptian ruler than their own father if Benjamin is not with them!

Joseph feigns anger. Judah confess their guilt (selling of Joseph, but not stealing the cup) and tells him they all will be his servants.  But Joseph says only the thief stays, the rest can go home.

Now we see Judah at his best. (Remember his humble confession of sin back in chapter 38?)  Now he offers HIMSELF in place of Benjamin. (A picture of what Christ did!) He says that his father will die if Benjamin is not returned. What a change from when he first said, “Let’s kill Joseph,” with no regard to his fathers feelings. Judah has truely changed. 

Chapter 45. When Joseph sees Judah kneeling before him, offering his own life, he can stand it no longer. He sends all his servents out and breaks down. In Hebrew he confesses he is their brother, Joseph.  They are shocked, stunned, speechless, and scared to death. 

Joseph beckons them closer (to get a gook look at him) “I AM YOUR BROTHER, JOSEPH, whom you sold into slavery. Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves. God sent me before you to preserve life… to preserve for you a remnant on earth…to keep alive for you many survivors.”  He tells them of the five remaining years of famine yet to come. “It was not YOU who sent me here, but GOD. Now, hurry, go get my father and bring him to me!”

The brothers finally believe him, fall on him with mutual weeping and talk the night away.

The ELEVEN return to Jacob (can you imagine his joy at counting all the heads of his sons?). They convince him that it is true. Joseph is alive. Joseph is vice-Pharoah of Egypt. Joseph has prepared a place for them. Joseph want to see his father.

“It is enough,” Jacob cries. “I will go see my son before I die.”