Genesis 37:1 - 37:25 June 10, 2024 - July 9, 2024
John Calvin comments: “Since the patriarchs fell into such a state of
insensibility, let us learn from their example to fear, lest by the
righteous anger of God the same lethargy should seize upon our senses.”
Genesis 37
New International Version
Joseph’s Dreams
Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels[b] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
3
-----------------------------------------------------------
Today’s passage dispels with great force any doubts that the hearts of Joseph’s brothers were dark and calloused. Immediately after casting Joseph into the pit, the other sons of Jacob have no problem sitting down to enjoy a meal (Gen. 37:25). There is a great deal of irony in all this. Originally, they planned to attribute Joseph’s death to being ripped to shreds (vv. 19–20), yet the brothers reveal themselves as the true beasts in this story when they can dine after assaulting him.
The brothers later recall how they ignored Joseph’s cries for mercy from the pit (42:21), and this indifference shows how vile they truly were. They have committed spiritual adultery, for they failed to see their wrongdoing — just like an adulteress (Prov. 30:20). Yet Israel’s sons were not lost forever; they were indeed blessed to be the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12). Nevertheless, they were not immune from gross sin, and neither are we. John Calvin comments: “Since the patriarchs fell into such a state of insensibility, let us learn from their example to fear, lest by the righteous anger of God the same lethargy should seize upon our senses.”
With Joseph in the pit, his brothers must now decide his fate, and a golden opportunity presents itself when some Midianites appear carrying gum, balm, and myrrh — wares used in medicines, perfumes, and candies. Judah suggests that they sell Joseph into slavery for a tidy profit; they earn twenty shekels of silver from the sale (Gen. 37:25–28). Since the normal yearly wage for a shepherd was eight shekels, this sum is handsome indeed.
In selling Joseph into slavery, his brothers hope to ensure his dreams will not come true (v. 20). However, the Lord will actually use their wicked deeds to fulfill Joseph’s visions (50:20). Still, though God’s providence is guarding Joseph, his life is not free of suffering. The same is true of us, as John Calvin writes in his comments on 37:19: “We, also, who have received the gratuitous adoption of God amidst many sorrows, experience the same thing. For, from the time that Christ gathers us into his flock, God permits us to be cast down in various ways,
so that we seem nearer hell than heaven.”
Coram Deo
Joseph may have been a spoiled brat at times, but he by no means deserved the suffering inflicted upon him. Though we do sin, there are also times when we will face pain from others that is undeserved. Yet though we do not discount the difficulty of these times, they are occasions to rejoice. For when we suffer undeservedly, we imitate Christ who chose to enter this world and endure pain even though He alone was truly and completely innocent.
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/egypt
----------------------------------------------------------
Genesis 39
New International Version
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
13 When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed. 15 When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
16 She kept his cloak beside her until his master came home. 17 Then she told him this story: “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. 18 But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”
19 When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. 20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did
6 Meanwhile, the Midianites[c] sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
-------------------------------------------------------------
John 8 NIV
13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid,-------------------------------------------------------------
Asenath wife of Joseph
Asenath (/ˈæsɪnæθ/, Hebrew: אָסְנַת, Modern: ʾŎsnát, Tiberian: ʾĀsnaṯ;[3] Koine Greek: Ἀσενέθ, Asenéth) is a minor figure in the Book of Genesis. Asenath was a high-born, aristocratic Egyptian woman.[4] She was the wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
There are two Rabbinic approaches to Asenath. One holds that she was an Egyptian woman that converted to marry Joseph. This view has her accepting God before marriage and then raising her two sons in the tenets of Judaism. This presents her as a positive example of conversion to Judaism and places her among the devout women converts. The other approach argues she was not Egyptian by descent, but was from the family of Jacob. Traditions that trace her to the family of Jacob relate that she was born as the daughter of Dinah.[5] Dinah was raped by Shechem and gave birth to Asenath, whom Jacob left on the wall of Egypt, where she was later found by Potiphar.[citation needed] She was then raised by Potiphar's wife and eventually married Joseph. However, in Bereshit Rabbah 80:11 she is not stated to be Dinah's daughter but rather her rape resulted in giving birth to Shaul the son of Simeon.[6][7]
Asenath's importance is related to the birth of her two sons, who later become forefathers of two of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.[4]
Asenath is mentioned in three verses of the Bible, all in the Book of Genesis. First appearing in Genesis 41:45, Asenath is said to have been given by the Pharaoh to Joseph as a wife.[10] Here, she is referred to as the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (Gk. Heliopolis).[11] Genesis 41:50 says that before the years of famine, Joseph had two sons with Asenath. The firstborn was named Manasseh and the second Ephraim.[12] Later, in Genesis 46:20, Joseph and Asenath are mentioned in the family of Jacob; the verse says that in Egypt, Joseph had two sons named Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore to Joseph.
In the Book of Jubilees, generally considered to be apocryphal, Asenath is said to be given to Joseph to marry by the Pharaoh,[13] a daughter of Potiphar, a high priest of Heliopolis, with no clarification as to whether or not this Potiphar is the same Potiphar whose wife falsely accused Joseph of attempting to rape her. While in the Midrash and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, she is said to be the daughter of Dinah, Joseph's sister, and Shechem, born of an illicit union, described as either premarital sex or rape, depending on the narrative.[14][15][16] A later-date apocryphal publication written in Greek, believed to be a Christian document, called Joseph and Aseneth, supposedly details their relationship and their 48-year long reign over Egypt; in it, Asenath weds Joseph, whose brothers Dan and Gad plot to kill him for the sake of Pharaoh's son, who wants Asenath to be his wife, only for their efforts to be thwarted by Joseph's younger brother Benjamin.[17]
Name
Her name is believed to derive from the Ancient Egyptian js.tj-(n)-n(j)t, meaning "belonging/she belongs to Neith". Neith was an Egyptian goddess.[2][8]
"Asenath" or "Osnat" is a commonly used female first name in present-day Israel.[9]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
ChatGPT
Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were born to Joseph, the son of Jacob (also known as Israel), and his Egyptian wife, Asenath. While their father Joseph was of Hebrew descent, their mother was Egyptian.
As for the languages they spoke, it's reasonable to assume that they were bilingual, speaking both Hebrew and Egyptian. In the context of ancient Egypt, being part of the ruling elite or closely associated with it, they likely had exposure to and proficiency in Egyptian. On the other hand, being descendants of Israel, they would have also been raised in the Hebrew language and traditions.
Ephraim and Manasseh played significant roles in the history of Israel as two of the twelve tribes. Ephraim, in particular, became one of the leading tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel after the nation split following the reign of Solomon.
In terms of their characters, the biblical accounts don't provide extensive details about their personalities as individuals, but they are generally depicted as part of a larger family narrative. However, considering their upbringing in the context of ancient Egypt and their heritage as descendants of Israel, they likely embodied qualities such as resilience, adaptability, and a sense of identity shaped by both their Egyptian and Hebrew roots.
The division of Israel into northern and southern kingdoms occurred after the reign of Solomon, the son of David. Solomon's reign was marked by significant centralization of power and heavy taxation, which caused discontent among the northern tribes. After Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king. When the northern tribes requested relief from the heavy burdens imposed by Solomon's policies, Rehoboam responded harshly, leading to the revolt of the ten northern tribes.
The division resulted in the formation of two separate kingdoms: the northern kingdom of Israel, consisting of ten tribes, and the southern kingdom of Judah, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, along with portions of other tribes. The northern kingdom retained the name "Israel," while the southern kingdom was often referred to as "Judah" after the dominant tribe.
Ephraim and Manasseh, along with the other tribes that comprised the northern kingdom, were not literally descendants of Jacob (Israel) in the sense of being his direct sons but were rather part of the wider Israelite family descended from Jacob's sons. Ephraim and Manasseh, as grandsons of Jacob through Joseph, became significant tribes within the northern kingdom of Israel due to their population size, influence, and territorial holdings.
Their prominence in the northern kingdom likely stemmed from factors such as their tribal strength, historical significance, and perhaps also political alliances and leadership. Ephraim, in particular, became a dominant tribe within the northern kingdom, and its name was often used to represent the entire kingdom in biblical texts.
The story of Jacob's blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh is found in Genesis 48. In this account, Joseph brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father Jacob (Israel) to receive his blessing before Jacob's death. Joseph positioned his eldest son, Manasseh, at Jacob's right hand, intending for him to receive the greater blessing traditionally reserved for the firstborn, while Ephraim, the younger son, was placed at Jacob's left hand.
However, Jacob intentionally crossed his hands, placing his right hand on Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh, thereby conferring the greater blessing upon Ephraim. When Joseph attempted to correct this, Jacob explained that he knew what he was doing, indicating that Ephraim would become greater than Manasseh.
The reasons for Jacob's decision to bless Ephraim over Manasseh can be interpreted in several ways:
Divine guidance: Jacob may have been guided by divine inspiration or prophecy in his decision to bless Ephraim over Manasseh. This interpretation suggests that Jacob was acting according to God's will, which foresaw Ephraim's future prominence.
Symbolism: Jacob's crossing of his hands symbolized a reversal of expectations and traditional norms. By blessing the younger Ephraim over the older Manasseh, Jacob may have been making a statement about God's sovereignty in choosing whom to bless, regardless of birth order.
Prophetic insight: Jacob may have had insight into the future roles and destinies of Ephraim and Manasseh, foreseeing that Ephraim would play a more significant role in the history of the Israelite nation.
Personal preference: It's possible that Jacob had personal reasons for favoring Ephraim over Manasseh, such as a stronger bond with Ephraim or specific qualities he saw in him that made him more suitable for receiving the blessing.
Overall, Jacob's decision to bless Ephraim over Manasseh remains a significant event in biblical narrative, shaping the destinies of the tribes descended from these two brothers.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments
Post a Comment