This is introduced with the story of Joseph. The story of Joseph is one of the clearest places that we see a type of Christ.
We understand already the tensions that exist in Jacob's family. Joseph is the favorite son of Jacob because of his love for Rachel. Rachel's children know it and Leah's too. We see in this story how favoritism transfers into the lives of those children. Rather than placing their anger on their father Jacob, they place it on Joseph.
Genesis 37
Verses 1-4. The familiar phase "these are the generations." It introduces the life of Joseph and explains how the Israelites came to be in Egypt. Joseph is bringing a bad report to his father about the brothers. This would be highly offensive to the brothers, since Joseph is a younger brother.
"A robe of many colors" can also be interpreted "a coat of long sleeves." Not clear which is the correct interpretation, Jen says. She also says the coat of long sleeves describes the coat of an overseer. If it's a coat of the overseer, it explains why Jacob is treating Joseph the way he is - bringing a report of his brothers.
Joseph is consistently portrayed as a man of character. We want to make sure we interpret these verses in light of the whole story of Joseph, Jen says. If there is a failure in Joseph here at 17, it's probably also his youth and naivety, and not a moral failure.
Verses 5-8. Their emotion towards Joseph was hate. This dream is going to happen.
Verses 9-11. Why do you think Jacob is more circumspect about the dream? One thing is he loves Joseph, but there is another reason - Jacob had a dream as well of the heavens being opened remember?
Verses 12-23. Immediate obedience of Joseph. He is going to follow his overseer role to check on his brothers. But where? Shechem - a place of violence and danger.
Verses 14-17. Why is this man even in the text? Because we see the sovereignty of God here. The distance between Shechem and Dothan is a few days and during the time Joseph is wandering, a caravan is traveling down a caravan route toward Dothan. The caravan that will carry him to Egypt. If he would have arrived to Dothan early, he would have missed it, but the Lord arranges for things to happen.
Verse 18. How did the brothers recognize Joseph from afar? The coat.
Verses 19-22. What is Reuben doing? Reuben made a gross miscalculation in the former chapter. He is out of favor with Jacob. His status as firstborn is on the line. As the firstborn, he will be held accountable for Joseph's safety. He is interjecting himself into the way things are going in such a way that he can restore himself to favor with his father.
Verses 23-25. Very callous about Joseph, very uncaring - "they sat down to eat." The caravan comes.
Verses 26-27. Who speaks up next? Judah. We will want to pay attention every time we see his name in the text. He's the one from whom the line will come. It says "his brothers listened to him" in verse 27. This is significant. Where does he fall in the birth order? He's #4. The fact that they listened to him reveals the shift of family relations that has happened. They know that Reuben, Simeon and Levi are on the outs because of Shechem. Who is raising up to firstborn status now? Judah.
Verse 28. 20 shekels was the going rate for a slave.
Verses 29-30. What was Reuben's concern? that he be preserved.
Verses 31-32. What do they not say? Our brother's robe or not. What is the answer to their question "am I my brother's keeper?"
Verses 33-36. The sons of Jacob practice deception on their father with goats blood and a robe. Jacob practiced deception on his father with goats hair and a robe. He is reaping what he has sown.
Genesis 38
Without the story of Judah and Tamar we cannot possibly understand the rest of the story about Joseph. This will be a pivotal moment in his development.
Verses 1-5. Judah has taken a Canaanite woman and had 3 sons with her.
Verses 6-7. Not a lot of data on Er. All we know is that he was wicked and God struck him dead.
Verses 8-9. It was a provision in the law for the protection of a widow (Deut. 25:5). Onan stands to inherit the double portion as long as there are no children from his wife and himself.
Verses 10-11. God acts justly on Tamar's behalf. Onan dies. She is sent back to her father's house because Judah doesn't want his third son to die. So the story that follows should be read in the light that Tamar now is in a dangerous situation. She is now considered a second class woman with two failed marriages.
Verses 12-14. Tamar does a desperate act. She knows that justice has been withheld from her so she seeks it on her own terms.
Verse 15. Tamar knows her father-in-law's character that if he sees a prostitute, he will avail himself to her.
Verses 17-18. Why does she ask him for those items? Proof of his identity. In Ruth, Tamar is celebrated as a righteous woman. She gives birth to two kings. David and Absalom name daughters after her.
Verses 20-23. Judah is not concerned that she cannot be found.
Verse 24. Judah has the power of life and death over this woman.
Verses 25-27. "She is more righteous than I" he says. He's saying she is righteous and he is not. This is a moment of awareness for Judah that will shape his behavior moving forward. He understands himself in a way he hasn't before. This woman is contending for the justice he should have given her and he has failed to bring about justice. We will see his own sense of justice shaped by this moment.
Verse 27. Notice what the Lord does. The last shall be first again. Perez comes out first. He ends up in the line of the geneology of Christ. Why? Because he comes from the union of Tamar and Judah. Tamar's name shows up in the geneology with only a handful of women listed there.
We are to see her as a righteous example of a Canaanite woman who entered into the line of a Jewish savior. She represents the bringing in of the Gentiles into the kingdom. In the geneology, the men there behaved terribly. Tamar's name there isn't for us to say "oh God can use anybody even a prostitute." The geneology through Christ demonstrates how God works through people who are broken and fallen and through people who are righteous.
Genesis 39
Joseph is working for him as his steward. He rises to favor as a steward and ends up being in charge of all he has. Things go well for a while but then....
Verse 6. This tells us Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
Verses 7-9. Joseph does not want to offend God. He understands that God is with him everywhere he goes.
Verse 10. Do you hear the repeated and persistent nature of how she comes after Joseph? He is consistent and persistent in his refusal.
Verses 11-18. Joseph doesn't feel safe to even remain in the room with her. He flees. But in the following verses, she accuses him of attempted rape. She tells her husband.
Verse 19. Potiphar's response. It doesn't say his anger was kindled against Joseph.
Verse 20. Joseph is put in prison. Do you know what the penalty was if Joseph had in fact attempted rape? It was death. Jen says she suspects Potiphar's anger was kindled against a woman he knew pretty well. He finds a way to spare the life of Joseph by sending him to prison because he knows he's a man of integrity.
Verse 21. We have seen Joseph laid low then exalted to a position of honor and now we see the cycle repeat with his time in prison.
Genesis 40
He meets a cupbearer and a chief baker who have also been in prison. They have dreams. They tell Joseph who interprets their dreams.
Verses 14-21. Joseph asks one thing of the cupbearer that is when he is restored to remember him. Both dreams are fulfilled but the cupbearer forgets Joseph.
Genesis 41
Verses 1-24. Two years have passed. Pharaoh now has a two sets of dreams that are saying the same thing. The cupbearer remembers Joseph and Joseph is sent for.
Verse 25. Consistent pattern here when Joseph interprets the dreams. We see Joseph always attributes the interpretation to thwat God is doing. The interpreters that worked for Pharaoh would not do that. There is going to be 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine, Joseph tells Pharaoh. Joseph also has a plan.
Verses 33-36. Joseph tells his plan to Pharaoh. Joseph brings blessing to a land that has held him captive.
Verses 37-40. Joseph is placed over the entire household.
Verses 41-42. The signet ring would signify authority. The clothing would signify dignity. The chain would signify honor. So he clothes him in authority, dignity and honor.
Verses 42-46. Pharaoh called him Zaphenath-panah which means "revealer of secrets." Joseph was 30 years old when he entered Pharaoh's service. So what do we know? 13 years had passed from the time he was thrown in the pit until the time he rose to power over Egypt. He also gets married.
Verses 50-52. Two sons are born to Joseph - Manassah which the text tells us is about forgetting. Ephraim also which means being fruitful in the land of his affliction. God gives him the gift of forgetfulness and fruitfulness. To the original audience they would hear these names and it would connect some dots for them. These two names will become two tribes that are spoken of in later portions of the Bible.
Verses 53-55. Egypt was known as the "bread basket" of the ancient world.
Verses 56-57. Can you see how Joseph is whispering to us the Christ?
Jen then gives analogies to trace the picture of Christ in the life of Joseph in this session. I will post those in another post called "Tracing the picture of Christ in the Life of Joseph."
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