Day 4 ~ Desperate Housewife

I was able to read through without any distractions this afternoon for a change of pace. The entire passage for today recounts Joseph, the son of Israel (Jacob) and his relationship with his brothers. Here are my observations for day four.

• In spite of the actions of Er and Onan (which cost them their lives), God is determined to fulfill the lineage to the Messiah thorugh Tamar.
• Judah reminds me of the old joke about plummers at a convention and their extra-curricular activities when they are out of sight and out of mind. (38:12ff)
• Our "desperate housewife" is Potipher's wife, who tried to seduce Joseph, then lied and had him imprisoned.
• I don't recall in my reading of these passages any description that Joseph, a Hebrew, would be recognized as such by his physical appearance. When Moses is in Egypt many years later, he is recognized as being non-Egyptian by his appearance. 45:12 seems to draw attention to how Benjamin and Joseph, born of the same mother and father, shared common physical characteristics.
• Joseph is blessed with the gift of dream interpretation, which he clearly gave God credit for providing the solution in at least two circumstances. He interprets two of his own dreams, the dream of the Butler, the Baker, and of the Pharoah.
• Are repeated dreams always from God? (41:32) If so, then I need someone to explain the recurring dream I had as a teenager being chased around the top of the State Fair Coliseum by a really big snake. I had that dream several times. Does the pork tent have anything to do with this old dream?!
• Let's review the sons of Jacob who will be the tribes of Israel that will become a great nation (35:21, from yesterday). 1) Reuben, 2) Simeon, 3) Levi, 4) Judah, 5) Issachar, 6) Zebulun, 7) Dan, 8) Naphtali, 9) Gad, 10) Asher, 11) Joseph, 12) Benjamin. The ones listed in bold will later receive an inheritance in the promise land. As will two other names: Manessah & Ephraim, who are introduced as Joseph's sons from his Egyptian wife in 41:50. Presumably, they will take their father's inheritance. So what happened to Reuben and Levi? Levi's tribe becomes priests and they are provided for from each of the tribes, but Reuben? Remember when Israel found out about Reuben and Bilhah in 35:23? That looks like it will be even more significant (Reuben's inheritance is technically outside the promised land on the east of the Jordan; Gad eventually loses his western land to others). See a map of the tribes here: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/tribemap.html
  
• Joseph's brothers deceptively describe themselves as "honest men" (42:1) to the one person who knew the truth. In what ways do we elaborate on the truth when we describe ourselves?
• Guess they didn't care enough about getting Simeon back from Egypt until the food ran out (43:2).
• Egyptians think it is an abomination to eat with the Hebrews. Again, Joseph's physical appearance did not keep him from eating with the Egyptians.
• Where does "Hebrew" come from, and what does it mean? It was used one time before, in describing "Abram the Hebrew" (14:13) and then several times in the description of Joseph in Egypt.
• Joseph's silver cup was used for divination. Was that bad? Was that how God talked to him, or was it an ungodly practice? He describes himself as using divination to find things out, but to us it is obvious that he didn't need divination to know who had the cup, because he had instructed it to be placed in Benjamin's bag. Laban used the term divination in 30:27 as a way of finding out that the Lord had blessed him. I guess I've always considered divination to be aligned with satanic rituals. Divination would be an interesting word study. For another day. or year.
• Joseph knew his greater task with all his power was to save his family God's promise of a so a great nation would be the fulfilled (45:7). The promise is reiterated again in 45:12.
• Is the Job of 46:13 the same Job we know from the later OT book?
• Why so precise a count of the lineage of Israel that traveled into Egypt?
• The Egyptians also hated shepherds, and sent the new Hebrew arrivals off to Goshen.

Enjoy your long weekend, those of you fortunate enough for three days in a row off work - the weather promises to be absolutely wonderful. Take time to see God in his creation!