Day 22: Genesis 43:1-45:28 “Joseph’s Big Reveal & Unimaginable Mercy And Forgiveness”

Unfortunately for Simeon, Joseph’s brothers didn’t return quickly. Jacob stayed adamant that Benjamin remain with him, fearing for his life. That all changed, however, when they ran out of food again.

Judah pleaded with his father to release Benjamin into his care. He vowed to take personal responsibility for his brother, but Jacob still refused. Finally, Jacob realized that his entire family would die without more provisions, so he sent Benjamin back to Egypt with his other sons.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he had them taken to his house for a feast. The brothers were afraid though.

18 They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”

It’s always interesting how people can fear the very thing happening to themselves that they have done to others.

The brothers explained to Joseph’s steward what had originally happened with the silver. They were assured of their safety so they prepared the gifts which they had brought for Joseph.

26-28 When Joseph came home, they presented to him they gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”

They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.

Joseph’s prophetic dreams had just come to fruition.

As Joseph met his full-blooded brother, Benjamin, he became very emotional and ran out looking for a place to cry. After he had washed his face, he came back out had the food served.

33 The men were seated in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked  at each other in astonishment.

Joseph commanded his servant to fill the brothers’ bags with all the food they could carry. He also instructed that their silver be returned and that his silver cup be placed in Benjamin’s sack. The next day after he sent the brothers on their way, Joseph sent his servants after them, accusing them of taking his silver cup. (On a side note, verses 5 and 15 mention Joseph using divination and one mentions the cup as a tool for this.) The brothers defended themselves, declared their innocence, and said the guilty one would become a slave. After Benjamin was found to have the silver cup, all the brothers returned with him to Joseph’s house. Judah pulled him aside, explained his vow to protect Benjamin, and asked if he could take his place as a slave.

Judah was the one who had originally talked his brothers out of killing Joseph. It’s interesting to see him now standing up to honor his commitment to protect his brother at his own expense.

45:1 Joseph could no longer control himself before all of his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!”

No one else was there when Joseph made himself known to his brothers, but the Egyptians heard him weeping and told Pharaoh’s house about it.

3-8 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 

Can you imagine the fear when realizing that the person you betrayed and considered killing has now become one of the most influential and powerful people in the world? It would be normal to assume that the wronged person would use that power for revenge, but not Joseph.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 

For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 

So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

This story shows that not only does God use people’s bad for good, but that maybe sometimes it’s all part of the big plan. The Lord knew what would happen and he forewarned Joseph about it when he was younger. In fact, his warning is what helped provoke his brothers in the first place.

Joseph told his brothers to send for his father and all that he had. He told them to bring his entire family to Goshen so that he could provide for them.

Pharaoh and all of his officials were pleased to hear about Joseph’s brothers, and Pharaoh even instructed him to have his brothers take animals to help them move.

18-20 I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.

“You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come. Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.'”

Again, God’s mercy, grace, and love are unfathomable. He forgives and shows kindness. How much more should we do the same?

I love the Bible for being transparent and relevant.

24 He sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”

The brothers went home and told Jacob about Joseph and his spirit was revived.

Lord, thank you for your unending mercy and grace. I can’t even understand your goodness, yet sometimes it’s easier to see in stories when your’e not having to also experience things like the famine and being sold into slavery. Joseph and Simeon both spent time in prison as innocent men and Jacob thought his son was dead, but I can see your good surrounding them. Help me to see the good surrounding me at all times. Let me have peace that anything which may come upon my life will be used for good. Grant me peace and patience and help us all love you and each other today.

 

 

Day 19: Genesis 34:1-35:29 “Rape, Revenge, and Sleeping With His Father’s Wife. And Yes, This Is The Word Of God.”

Once the family settled, Leah’s daughter, Dinah, went out to make some girlfriends. Verse 2 tells us Shechem “violated” her, but the next verse says his heart was drawn to her, he loved her, and he spoke tenderly to her.

In verse 4, Shechem told his dad to get him Dinah as his wife.

Jacob and his sons found out what happened, the Bible clarifies that they had slept together, and Shechem’s father came to talk to Jacob. Hamor, Shechem’s dad, asked Jacob for their families to intermarry- for their daughters to marry each other’s sons. Shechem also asked Jacob and his sons for permission to marry Dinah, and he asked them to name any price for her.

Dinah’s brothers were upset by Shechem’s actions with their sister, so they lied and told Shechem they could all marry between their families on one condition- that Shechem and ALL of their family got circumcised.

Shechem agreed and went to go tell the men in the town and his family. They all agreed as well, and so all the men got circumcised.

25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male.

Jacob replied by telling them how much trouble they had brought upon the family, saying that the people in the land could easily band together and destroy his entire family.

31 But Simeon and Levi replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

God told Jacob to go settle in Bethel and build an altar there, so Jacob told his people the plan and told them to get rid of their foreign gods, to purify themselves, and to change their clothes.

5 Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

It’s amazing how God can protect His people. I definitely don’t understand his mercy and grace. Lot’s wife looked back and got turned to salt, but Dinah’s brothers killed all the men in a town. I’m just reminded that at the end of the day, we can’t lean on our own understanding.

Once in Bethel, God appeared to Jacob again to reaffirm his promises of Abraham and also to redeclare his name change to Israel.

As the family traveled on, Rachel died while giving birth to another son. With her last breath, she named him Ben-Oni meaning son of my trouble, but Jacob renamed him Benjamin meaning son of my right hand.

As a side note, Genesis 35:21 is the verse where the Bible starts referring to Jacob as Israel.

The next verse tells of Reuben, Leah’s first born, sleeping with his father’s wife, Bilhah, who was Rachel’s concubine that she gave to Jacob when she was barren. I guess this would have been his step-mother?

Jacob went home to Isaac, and at age one hundred and eighty, Isaac died.

God, I don’t understand your ways or your mercy, but I know You are good. Please have mercy on me where I have failed you and help me to follow you. Since we have been given these promises through faith in Christ, I come before you and ask also for your blessing upon my life and those reading this. Thank you.

 

Day 18: Genesis 30:25-33:20 “A Father-In-Law, Wrestling With God, and A Brother’s Reconciling”

After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob asked Laban if he and his family could return to his homeland. Laban insisted that they stay, saying that he had learned by divination that his blessings had come as a result of Jacob being there. Jacob felt that Laban’s attitude towards him was different. Also, the Lord told Jacob to go back to his relatives and that He would be with them.

This part is interesting because I have definitely seen this scenario in my own life. I think God sometimes prefaces a shift or move by decreasing the hospitality around us.

Jacob told Rachel and Leah that the Lord had instructed him to go back.

31:16 “Do whatever God has told you,” they said. At the end of the day, these women trusted their husband to hear from the Lord and lead their family.

Perhaps because of her own faith, Rachel stole her father’s household gods before she left. Since Laban had not approved of them leaving, Jacob took his family and left one day without his knowing. Laban found out about it 3 days later and pursued them, catching up with them a week later in Gilead.

24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

Laban confronted Jacob, asking why he had run off without even letting him kiss his daughters and grandchildren goodbye. He also asked why Jacob had stolen his gods.

31-32 Jacob answered, “I was afraid, because I thought you would take your daughters away from me by force. But if you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live.”

Rachel had put the gods in her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them.

35 Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” 

Jacob got angry with Laban’s accusations since he had no idea what Rachel had done, and Laban and Jacob made an agreement to keep peace between them. The next morning, Laban kissed his daughters and grandchildren and went home.

Jacob had been gone for 20 years, but he had originally left to escape Esau’s anger. As he approached his homeland, angels of God met him. Jacob sent messengers to Esau to assure peace, but they returned announcing that Esau and 400 men were coming to see them. In great fear and distress, Jacob divided everything and everyone into 2 groups so that at least 1 group could survive.

Jacob prayed to God, fearful, but remembering what the Lord had said about prospering him. The next day, he selected goats, ewes, rams, camels, cows, bulls, and donkeys to be sent ahead as gifts to Esau. Jacob instructed his servants to go in individual packs with distance between them. He hoped these gifts would make it possible for Esau to receive Jacob.

That night, Jacob sent his wives, children, and possessions across the stream, but he stayed back. A man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled the man.

26-28, 30 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” 

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

“Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, so he divided his children, putting his maidservants and their children first, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph at the back. Jacob went ahead and bowed to the ground as he approached Esau.

4 But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

Esau wanted to accompany Jacob back home, but Jacob insisted that they go more slowly because of the children and young animals. Esau insisted that some of his men accompany Jacob, but Jacob insisted that he would come to him in Seir. Esau agreed and went to Seir, but Jacob went to Succoth where he bought some land for 100 pieces of silver and built a place for himself and his livestock.

Lord, I don’t understand your ways. Thank you for showing that your grace and mercy cover our failings. Your ways are bigger than our sin. If I am prone to judge Jacob for the way he treated his brother and wives, I’m sure I am prone to judge others as well. Forgive me and help me to love and accept all without finding fault or judgement. Help me to follow your ways.

 

Day 17: Genesis 28:10-30:24 “Competitive Women and Sex For Mandrake Plants”

Jacob left Beersheba. One night, he had a dream that there was a ladder extending from heaven to earth with angels ascending and descending on it. In his dream, the Lord told him that He would bless him with the blessings of Abraham, give him the land where he was laying, and be with him through his journey. When Jacob woke up, he took the rock which he had been resting on and set it up as a pillar to the Lord. He also made a vow that if God would be with him and provide for him, the stone would become God’s house and the Lord would be his God.

One day, Jacob arrived at a well with flocks and shepherds. He asked them if Laban was alive and doing well, and they said he was. They also pointed out Laban’s daughter, Rachel, who was a shepherdess. Jacob went over to Rachel and his uncle’s sheep. He rolled the stone away from the well so the sheep could be watered.

11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

He told Rachel who he was, she went to go tell her father, and Laban brought Jacob into his home.

14 Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

Jacob continued to work for Laban. A month later, Laban asked him what he would charge for his work.

18 Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”

20-21 Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. Then Jacob said, “Give me my wife. My time is completed, and I want to lie with her.”

Laban brought everyone together for a wedding feast, but when evening came, he gave Leah to Jacob instead. Jacob lay with her.

25 When morning came, there was Leah!

Jacob asked Laban why he deceived him, and Laban replied that it was custom to give away the oldest daughter first. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jacob had done to him something similar to what he did to his own father. I believe that as we plant, so shall we reap.

Laban told Jacob to finish the bridal week with Leah, and that if he worked another seven years,  he could have Rachel too. Jacob agreed to work, finished the week, and then took Rachel as his wife.

The Lord is compassionate.

31 When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

Leah gave birth to 4 sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, and hoped that with each child, Jacob would become attached to her and love her.

Rachel became jealous of Leah, so told Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!”

30:2 Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?”

Rachel followed in Sarah’s questionable footsteps and gave Jacob her maidservant to be his wife and have a child for him. The first son was named Dan, and the second son was name Nephtali “since I have had a great struggle with my sister, and I have won.”

It’s amazing how jealous and competitive women can get with each other over a man. If these heroes of faith were dealing with such things, I think we should be more accepting of the humanity that arises in similar situations. In todays world, we may not have multiple spouses at once, but this definitely arises when there have been multiple spouses or partners.

Leah saw that she had stopped having children so she gave her maidservant to Jacob to be his wife, and that woman gave birth to a son named Gad. Then the servant had another son, and he was named Asher.

14-16 During wheat harvest, Reuben went into the fields and brought Leah some mandrake plants. Rachel asked Leah for some, but she replied, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?”

“Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.”

 So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

God listened to Leah, and she became pregnant. She named that son Issachar. Leah bore another son and named him Zebulun. Later, she gave birth to a daughter, Dinah.

Rachel finally had another son and named him Joseph.

I have often heard men wonder why “they could have multiple wives in the old testament, but can’t now.” Let this story serve as a reminder of the struggles and trials that can arise in these kinds of situations. God is big enough to bring peace and harmony to any complex family situation, but I think there is also something to be accepted and expected from these situations as well.

Lord, thank you for your faithfulness. If there is any jealousy or bitterness, let it be released right now. Please give joy and contentment and patience to all reading this. Let us know that You are good and sovereign.