In yesterday's study we learned that Judah had three sons. Er, his firstborn, married a woman named Tamar but died not long after, leaving no children. Judah instructed his second born son, Onan, to marry the widow in the custom known as "levirate marriage". This would keep the property (Er's share in the family estate) that Tamar inherited from Er in the family because it would pass down to any son she had with Onan. Onan married her but refused to have a child with her. He too died soon after the marriage.
Judah has one son left, Shelah, who is not yet a legal adult. Judah would like to keep the shares of the property of his sons Er and Onan in the family, but at the same time he's afraid to give another son to Tamar in marriage. The Bible specifically told us that Er and Onan died young because they were so wicked, and I think Judah probably knows they weren't fine upstanding men, but at the same time he's superstitious about Tamar as if she caused the deaths of his two sons. In his heart he can't make a firm decision about what he should do, so he instructs Tamar to return to her parents' house and remain single until Shelah is of age. This puts Tamar in an awkward position. She ends up sitting around for years waiting for Judah to fulfill his promise. Meanwhile she's growing older and is missing opportunities for marriage and childbearing. If she's still unmarried when her fertile years run out, as she grows older she'll have no sons to take care of her. As the years pass she realizes Judah has no intention of keeping his promise. Her bitterness toward him grows. In our passage today she decides to take action.
We know years have passed while Tamar waits for Judah to keep his promise because the Bible says, "After a long time Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died." (Genesis 38:12a) A long time goes by. Judah's household has no woman to run it now that his wife has passed but still he doesn't send for Tamar to marry his son after the days of mourning are completed. Instead he decides to get out of the house for a while by attending a sheep shearing, which was a festive event. "When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him." (Genesis 38:12b)
Sheep shearing took place in the spring when the earth was blossoming and when the long dark days of winter were over. It was treated as a celebration. As soon as all the work was done (which could take a number of days depending on the size of the flocks) a feast would be held for several days and it was like an all-you-can-eat buffet with an open bar. There would be lots of eating, drinking, singing, and playing of instruments. The Bible tells us that Judah grieved for his wife. He loved her and he's been very sad. The sheep shearing festival sounds like something that will cheer him up and take his mind off his sorrow. He asks his best friend to go along with him and the two of them head off for several days of carefree fun. But when Judah goes to the festival instead of sending for Tamar, she realizes he never intends to. Now that the days of mourning for his wife are completed, and now that spring is bursting forth in all its beauty, it seems like the perfect time for Judah to arrange a wedding between Tamar and Shelah. Then Tamar could have taken over the running of the household and the supervision of the household servants. She could have provided a woman's touch in a house that now contains only two lonely single men, but Judah runs off to the festival instead and seems content to leave things as they are.
"When Tamar was told, 'Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,' she took off her widow's clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife." (Genesis 38:13-14) Sheep shearing was considered not only a time to party but a time to settle scores. Tamar is going to settle a score.
"When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, 'Come now, let me sleep with you.'" (Genesis 38:15-16a) Women who were known as "shrine prostitutes" in the land of Canaan put veils over their faces when they were, shall we say, open for business. These women served fertility goddesses in that pagan culture and part of their service included having sexual relations with men in exchange for money. When a man saw a woman with a veiled face sitting by the roadside, he naturally assumed she was one of these ladies of the evening. In our day a prostitute might stand on a street corner dressed in skimpy clothes while calling out to men driving by, but in Judah's day all a prostitute had to do was veil her face and place herself by a roadside or city gate and men would automatically know she was available. When Judah sees a woman sitting by the roadside wearing a veil over her face, of course he assumes she's a prostitute. Judah is a man out on the town looking for a good time. He's recently widowed and he misses the physical companionship of a woman. When he sees the veiled lady he propositions her. What he's doing is sinful and immoral, of course, but I don't think he's bothered by that.
Tamar intended him to believe she's a prostitute. "'And what will you give me if I sleep with you?' she asked. 'I'll send a young goat from my flock,' he said. 'Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?' she asked. He asked, 'What pledge shall I give you?' 'Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,' she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow's clothes again." (Genesis 38:16b) Judah doesn't have the goat with him and any woman in the business of prostitution would want to ensure that he keeps his end of the bargain. There's nothing odd about Tamar asking for personal items of Judah's to hold as a guarantee that he will send the goat as payment for their sexual transaction. Tamar wants to become pregnant by him and she knows the only way she can prove the child is his is if she has these personal items which he temporarily gave a supposed prostitute to hold until he sent the goat back. There weren't any paternity tests in those days and having his seal and its cord along with his staff will be the positive paternity test Tamar needs. A wealthy man didn't travel anywhere without the seal he used to sign official documents. Possessing his seal would be like possessing his legal form of ID. When Tamar makes the announcement that Judah is the baby daddy, having his seal in her hand is the same as producing a printout of paternity test results with his name on them.
Judah keeps his word about the goat. He has to if he wants his items back, but he doesn't go in person. As far as he's concerned, his personal dealings with the prostitute are over. He sends his buddy Hirah to conclude the matter for him. "Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. He asked the men who lived there, 'Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?' 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here,' they said." (Genesis 38:20-21) This scene amuses me. Hiram looks pretty foolish wandering up and down the roadway and around the city square leading a goat on a rope while searching for a veiled woman. Eventually he asks some men hanging around where the prostitute is. I can't help picturing those guys having a good laugh at his expense. No doubt they believe Hirah is the person who slept with the prostitute. They probably think he was too intoxicated at the time of the festival to recall where his transaction with the woman took place. They believe he's in the wrong location and say, "Man, are you crazy? How drunk were you? We haven't had any hookers here! Are you sure this thing even happened? Maybe you passed out and dreamed it." A lot of snickering and knee slapping probably ensued, to Hirah's embarrassment.
There's nothing Hirah can do but slink home and tell Judah he can't find the woman. "So he went back to Judah and said, 'I didn't find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, 'There hasn't been any shrine prostitute here.' Then Judah said, 'Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her the young goat, but you didn't find her.'" (Genesis 38:22-23) It's in Judah's best interests to speak no more of the matter. He doesn't want word to get out that he slept with a prostitute and can't find her to pay her. That will make him look foolish and give his neighbors something to gossip about. He certainly doesn't want anyone to think he slept with a prostitute and refused to pay her. He says, "Let's let this thing go. She can sell my personal items for cash if she wants to. It's not like I didn't try to pay her with the goat. You know and I know I tried to pay her. The men you spoke to in town know I sent the goat as payment. It's not my fault she isn't there anymore."
Judah thinks this is the end of the thing. But it's only the beginning.
Friday, February 21, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
In The Beginning. Day 143, Judah And Tamar, Part One
Jacob thinks Joseph is dead, but while he grieves deeply for his lost son, the Bible tells us, "Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard." (Genesis 37:36) We will join Joseph in Egypt soon, but in the meantime the Bible has things to tell us about Jacob's son Judah. Judah was perfectly fine with the idea of killing Joseph until he realized he and his brothers could profit by selling him into slavery instead. In today's passage Judah branches out on his own, away from the family, and may be using his share of the ill-gotten money to make his start.
While reading about the life and the mistakes of Judah, we must keep in mind that he is the son of Jacob through whose descendants the Messiah will come. I think Satan thought the ancestor of the Messiah would be Joseph. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son and almost certainly his intended heir. It would have made sense to the devil that the one who was the heir would also inherit the covenant promises that the Lord made to Abraham. Joseph, as we will soon see, was the most godly son of the bunch even though as a seventeen-year-old boy his faith was immature and his character was still impulsive and prideful. But because Joseph had a heart for the Lord, Satan believed he might cut off the line of the Messiah if he could get Joseph killed by his jealous brothers. When that failed, the devil probably thought sending him into lifelong slavery in Egypt would be enough to keep him from fulfilling his destiny as the forefather of the Redeemer. But the Lord intended that the ancestor of the Messiah and one who inherited the blessings of the covenant promised to Abraham would be a son of Jacob and his first wife Leah. That son is Judah. Right now Judah doesn't seem like a likely candidate to be found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, but as we read about his sins and poor choices we should be grateful to a God who has the power to change and redeem any life. Judah hasn't been very admirable so far and we aren't going to feel very impressed by him in our current chapter either. But the Lord is still working on him.
"At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah." (Genesis 38:1) Why does Judah leave his father's household? Well, "at that time" Jacob is mourning for Joseph and refusing to be comforted. No one can do anything for him, although they try their best as we were told in yesterday's passage. I like to think Judah's conscience is bothering him. At the very least, I think his father's household has become a place where Judah can no longer relax and enjoy being at home. He decides it's time to head out and make his own way in the world.
In Adullam he falls in love with a pagan woman. "There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him." (Genesis 38:2-5)
Judah intermarries with the idolatrous Canaanites and lives and works among these heathens. Yet a son he has with a Canaanite woman will become an ancestor of God's own Son. The Lord Jesus made Himself like us in every way possible, including having some very rascally characters in His lineage. He didn't come to the earth as a power-wielding king, although He could have and had the right to do so. He came humbly as a child into a poor family from a backwoods hick town in Galilee, with a whole bunch of liars, thieves, murderers, and ne'er-do-wells in His family tree. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have to go very far back in my family tree to find some bad apples hanging on its branches, and neither did the Lord Jesus. It fills me with wonder that the holy and perfect Son of God didn't consider Himself too good to be born into a family full of sinners. On the contrary, His entire purpose in coming into this world was to "seek and to save the lost". (Luke 19:10) He came here specifically to interact with man just as he was and to make man into something better.
Judah will father a son who will be the ancestor of the Messiah, but not through his first wife the daughter of Shua. The Bible doesn't even tell us the name of the mother of Judah's first three sons, and that's a clue to us that she's not in the genealogy of Christ. Another woman will be, and Judah's union with her will result in a child conceived in deception and immorality, yet this child's name is on a leaf of the family tree of our Lord, which proves to us that He is able to redeem even our worst mistakes. The woman who appears in the family tree of the Lord is a woman who is first married to one of Judah's sons. "Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death." (Genesis 38:6-7) We don't know what Er's sins were, but they were so heinous that the Lord took him out of this life at a young age before he fathered any children with his new wife.
Now we see Judah advising his next eldest son to enter into what was called a "levirate marriage" with Tamar. It would not have been called this in Hebrew, for "levir" is a Latin word meaning "brother-in-law". We will find more references to this type of marriage in other places in the Old Testament, but its purpose was to keep the property and the wealth of the dead brother in the family. If his widow remarried outside of the family then everything she inherited from her dead husband would pass on to the new husband and then in time it would pass on down to children she had with the new husband. If a man died with a son and heir, there were no worries about anything passing out of the family. But if a man died without an heir, the custom was that one of his brothers would marry the widow. The property would then pass on down to the children he had with his brother's widow. If the man had other wives, the property could not be inherited by children he had with them. It could only go to the children he had with his brother's widow. Not only did this carry on his brother's name and his brother's estate, but it provided a living for the brother's widow. She would have sons who were property owners who could take care of her in her old age.
"Then Judah said to Onan, 'Sleep with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.'" (Genesis 38:8) I don't believe Judah is telling his son to have relations with Tamar outside of marriage. That's not how the process worked. She would have become a legal wife of Onan, though perhaps not his first or only wife.
Onan goes through the motions of being obedient to his father and respectful of his dead brother, but he ensures that no children will result from his union with Tamar. "But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death also." (Genesis 38:9-10) Onan uses a form of birth control because he doesn't want to have a son with Tamar named after his brother and he doesn't want his brother's property to go to a son he fathers with this woman. I assume Onan either despised his older brother so much that he wants his name to die out or else he was too prideful to father a son who would appear in the genealogical records as the son of Er, not as the son of Onan. He would never be able to take the credit for being the child's father, for his name would be entirely left out of that particular branch of the family tree. Even though Er did not literally father the child, he would be listed as the father on the birth certificate, so to speak.
Some people have used what Onan does in Genesis 38 to condemn the use of birth control. His sin is not in using birth control. The Lord doesn't take him out of the world by death because Onan uses birth control. If he and Tamar agreed together that they would use birth control, that would be their own private business as a married couple. The Lord doesn't put people to death for deciding not to have children. Onan's sin is in not fulfilling his vows or his duty. Tamar is not in agreement about never having an heir to inherit her husband's property and to take care of her in her old age. I think what Onan does is a symptom of his heart being cold and hard toward everyone. He's rebellious toward his father even though outwardly he pretends to obey him. He's rebellious toward the customs of the day. He doesn't care anything about his dead brother or about what happens to anything that belonged to him. He doesn't care whether the name of his dead brother dies out. He doesn't care what happens to his brother's widow, who is the innocent party in this whole mess. Due to his complete lack of compassion for those around him, and due to his rebellious spirit which evidently would never have changed, the Lord takes him out of this life.
Judah has one more son but he's not old enough to marry yet. He promises his son to Tamar when he comes of age, but until that time he instructs Tamar to move back in with her parents. We must assume Tamar is still a very young woman, possibly much younger than her two previous husbands, and that there would not have been enough of an age difference between her and Shelah to matter. "Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, 'Live as a widow in your father's household until my son Shelah grows up.' For he thought, 'He may die too, just like his brothers.' So Tamar went to live in her father's household." (Genesis 38:11)
Judah knows something is wrong with his sons, I think, but he superstitiously blames their deaths on their marriage to Tamar. It's not her fault they were wicked men. It's Judah's fault for marrying into a pagan culture and for not raising his sons in the reverence of the Lord. But he's afraid to arrange a marriage between Shelah and Tamar, either because he feels any man married to Tamar is cursed or because he knows Shelah isn't going to turn out any better than his older brothers did. If Shelah marries Tamar and does the same thing Onan did, Judah fears the Lord will let Shelah die. Judah promises Shelah to Tamar but appears to have no intention of following through.
His deception puts Tamar in a difficult position and the Lord doesn't like it when widows are put into difficult positions. The Bible has a lot to say about how sinful it is not to care for widows and orphans. Judah doesn't care about the widow of his sons Er and Onan but has merely come up with a way to put her off and get her out of his household. In order to make her think he really intends to let Shelah be her husband, he instructs her to "live as a widow" and not marry again until Shelah is old enough to marry her. But without a husband, if her father dies she has no one to provide for her. Without a husband, she can have no sons to provide for her. She might end up a beggar on the street corner someday and Judah couldn't care less. She is being treated very poorly and will decide she isn't going to put up with it. She's going to take matters into her own hands and deceive a deceiver. She's going to get what is owed to her by this family and she's going to do it by using something that has brought down many a carnally-minded man: sex appeal.
Join us tomorrow as this story becomes even more sordid and complicated and when Judah fathers an ancestor of the Messiah by Tamar who passes herself off as a prostitute. It's stories like these that prove to us that our Redeemer is able to redeem anything from our past. Many of the characters in the Bible have shameful pasts, but when they finally allow the Lord into their hearts, He takes even their worst failures and turns them around.
While reading about the life and the mistakes of Judah, we must keep in mind that he is the son of Jacob through whose descendants the Messiah will come. I think Satan thought the ancestor of the Messiah would be Joseph. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son and almost certainly his intended heir. It would have made sense to the devil that the one who was the heir would also inherit the covenant promises that the Lord made to Abraham. Joseph, as we will soon see, was the most godly son of the bunch even though as a seventeen-year-old boy his faith was immature and his character was still impulsive and prideful. But because Joseph had a heart for the Lord, Satan believed he might cut off the line of the Messiah if he could get Joseph killed by his jealous brothers. When that failed, the devil probably thought sending him into lifelong slavery in Egypt would be enough to keep him from fulfilling his destiny as the forefather of the Redeemer. But the Lord intended that the ancestor of the Messiah and one who inherited the blessings of the covenant promised to Abraham would be a son of Jacob and his first wife Leah. That son is Judah. Right now Judah doesn't seem like a likely candidate to be found in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, but as we read about his sins and poor choices we should be grateful to a God who has the power to change and redeem any life. Judah hasn't been very admirable so far and we aren't going to feel very impressed by him in our current chapter either. But the Lord is still working on him.
"At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah." (Genesis 38:1) Why does Judah leave his father's household? Well, "at that time" Jacob is mourning for Joseph and refusing to be comforted. No one can do anything for him, although they try their best as we were told in yesterday's passage. I like to think Judah's conscience is bothering him. At the very least, I think his father's household has become a place where Judah can no longer relax and enjoy being at home. He decides it's time to head out and make his own way in the world.
In Adullam he falls in love with a pagan woman. "There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him." (Genesis 38:2-5)
Judah intermarries with the idolatrous Canaanites and lives and works among these heathens. Yet a son he has with a Canaanite woman will become an ancestor of God's own Son. The Lord Jesus made Himself like us in every way possible, including having some very rascally characters in His lineage. He didn't come to the earth as a power-wielding king, although He could have and had the right to do so. He came humbly as a child into a poor family from a backwoods hick town in Galilee, with a whole bunch of liars, thieves, murderers, and ne'er-do-wells in His family tree. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have to go very far back in my family tree to find some bad apples hanging on its branches, and neither did the Lord Jesus. It fills me with wonder that the holy and perfect Son of God didn't consider Himself too good to be born into a family full of sinners. On the contrary, His entire purpose in coming into this world was to "seek and to save the lost". (Luke 19:10) He came here specifically to interact with man just as he was and to make man into something better.
Judah will father a son who will be the ancestor of the Messiah, but not through his first wife the daughter of Shua. The Bible doesn't even tell us the name of the mother of Judah's first three sons, and that's a clue to us that she's not in the genealogy of Christ. Another woman will be, and Judah's union with her will result in a child conceived in deception and immorality, yet this child's name is on a leaf of the family tree of our Lord, which proves to us that He is able to redeem even our worst mistakes. The woman who appears in the family tree of the Lord is a woman who is first married to one of Judah's sons. "Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death." (Genesis 38:6-7) We don't know what Er's sins were, but they were so heinous that the Lord took him out of this life at a young age before he fathered any children with his new wife.
Now we see Judah advising his next eldest son to enter into what was called a "levirate marriage" with Tamar. It would not have been called this in Hebrew, for "levir" is a Latin word meaning "brother-in-law". We will find more references to this type of marriage in other places in the Old Testament, but its purpose was to keep the property and the wealth of the dead brother in the family. If his widow remarried outside of the family then everything she inherited from her dead husband would pass on to the new husband and then in time it would pass on down to children she had with the new husband. If a man died with a son and heir, there were no worries about anything passing out of the family. But if a man died without an heir, the custom was that one of his brothers would marry the widow. The property would then pass on down to the children he had with his brother's widow. If the man had other wives, the property could not be inherited by children he had with them. It could only go to the children he had with his brother's widow. Not only did this carry on his brother's name and his brother's estate, but it provided a living for the brother's widow. She would have sons who were property owners who could take care of her in her old age.
"Then Judah said to Onan, 'Sleep with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.'" (Genesis 38:8) I don't believe Judah is telling his son to have relations with Tamar outside of marriage. That's not how the process worked. She would have become a legal wife of Onan, though perhaps not his first or only wife.
Onan goes through the motions of being obedient to his father and respectful of his dead brother, but he ensures that no children will result from his union with Tamar. "But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the Lord's sight; so the Lord put him to death also." (Genesis 38:9-10) Onan uses a form of birth control because he doesn't want to have a son with Tamar named after his brother and he doesn't want his brother's property to go to a son he fathers with this woman. I assume Onan either despised his older brother so much that he wants his name to die out or else he was too prideful to father a son who would appear in the genealogical records as the son of Er, not as the son of Onan. He would never be able to take the credit for being the child's father, for his name would be entirely left out of that particular branch of the family tree. Even though Er did not literally father the child, he would be listed as the father on the birth certificate, so to speak.
Some people have used what Onan does in Genesis 38 to condemn the use of birth control. His sin is not in using birth control. The Lord doesn't take him out of the world by death because Onan uses birth control. If he and Tamar agreed together that they would use birth control, that would be their own private business as a married couple. The Lord doesn't put people to death for deciding not to have children. Onan's sin is in not fulfilling his vows or his duty. Tamar is not in agreement about never having an heir to inherit her husband's property and to take care of her in her old age. I think what Onan does is a symptom of his heart being cold and hard toward everyone. He's rebellious toward his father even though outwardly he pretends to obey him. He's rebellious toward the customs of the day. He doesn't care anything about his dead brother or about what happens to anything that belonged to him. He doesn't care whether the name of his dead brother dies out. He doesn't care what happens to his brother's widow, who is the innocent party in this whole mess. Due to his complete lack of compassion for those around him, and due to his rebellious spirit which evidently would never have changed, the Lord takes him out of this life.
Judah has one more son but he's not old enough to marry yet. He promises his son to Tamar when he comes of age, but until that time he instructs Tamar to move back in with her parents. We must assume Tamar is still a very young woman, possibly much younger than her two previous husbands, and that there would not have been enough of an age difference between her and Shelah to matter. "Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, 'Live as a widow in your father's household until my son Shelah grows up.' For he thought, 'He may die too, just like his brothers.' So Tamar went to live in her father's household." (Genesis 38:11)
Judah knows something is wrong with his sons, I think, but he superstitiously blames their deaths on their marriage to Tamar. It's not her fault they were wicked men. It's Judah's fault for marrying into a pagan culture and for not raising his sons in the reverence of the Lord. But he's afraid to arrange a marriage between Shelah and Tamar, either because he feels any man married to Tamar is cursed or because he knows Shelah isn't going to turn out any better than his older brothers did. If Shelah marries Tamar and does the same thing Onan did, Judah fears the Lord will let Shelah die. Judah promises Shelah to Tamar but appears to have no intention of following through.
His deception puts Tamar in a difficult position and the Lord doesn't like it when widows are put into difficult positions. The Bible has a lot to say about how sinful it is not to care for widows and orphans. Judah doesn't care about the widow of his sons Er and Onan but has merely come up with a way to put her off and get her out of his household. In order to make her think he really intends to let Shelah be her husband, he instructs her to "live as a widow" and not marry again until Shelah is old enough to marry her. But without a husband, if her father dies she has no one to provide for her. Without a husband, she can have no sons to provide for her. She might end up a beggar on the street corner someday and Judah couldn't care less. She is being treated very poorly and will decide she isn't going to put up with it. She's going to take matters into her own hands and deceive a deceiver. She's going to get what is owed to her by this family and she's going to do it by using something that has brought down many a carnally-minded man: sex appeal.
Join us tomorrow as this story becomes even more sordid and complicated and when Judah fathers an ancestor of the Messiah by Tamar who passes herself off as a prostitute. It's stories like these that prove to us that our Redeemer is able to redeem anything from our past. Many of the characters in the Bible have shameful pasts, but when they finally allow the Lord into their hearts, He takes even their worst failures and turns them around.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
In The Beginning. Day 142, Joseph Sold Into Slavery
When we closed yesterday, the older brothers of Joseph saw him coming to check on them and they hatched a plot to kill him. Reuben is going to balk at using such extreme measures to rid themselves of their father's favorite son and intended heir. Judah is going to agree with him about not resorting to murder, but not because he feels compassion for his seventeen-year-old brother. Judah will come up with a plan that allows them to be rid of Joseph and that will provide them with monetary gain at the same time. Jacob will be deceived by these men who are going to convince him Joseph is dead.
Joseph is approaching the group as they talk among themselves. "'Here comes that dreamer!' they said to each other. '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.'" (Genesis 37:19-20) We don't know which brothers make this statement. It might have been all of them with the exception of Reuben and Judah, two of the sons of Leah. The other two sons of Leah, Simeon and Levi, have already murdered men before and may think little of doing it again. We were told earlier in our chapter that the sons of Jacob by the maids Bilhah and Zilpah hated Joseph, so I have little doubt these men are part of the conspiracy to murder. Benjamin, Joseph's younger full brother, I am certain is not with them but is at home. Joseph is the age where young men were tasked with management of flocks and herds, but Benjamin is several years younger and would only have been expected to perform simple chores at home. Some scholars estimate that Benjamin was probably no more than ten years old here in Chapter 37, but there's no way to know his age for certain.
Reuben is horrified at the idea of killing his half brother and he tries to talk the men down. "When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. 'Let's not take his life,' he said. 'Let's not shed any blood. Throw him into the 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 their father." (Genesis 37:21-22) Reuben hasn't been a very upstanding man so far in the Bible. He's been rebellious and disrespectful. He's looted and pillaged. He's committed adultery. Based on his actions so far, we might have thought there's nothing he wouldn't do, but he won't kill Joseph and he won't allow anyone else to kill Joseph if he can help it. Why didn't he simply stand against these men and rescue Joseph from their hands right now? Some of the commentators whose works I consulted are very critical of Reuben for not doing this, but I tend to think his own life would have been in danger if he'd outright refused to go along with them and if he'd said, "I'm taking Joseph back to our father right now and I'm going to tell him what you almost did!" These guys are a violent bunch. If they're perfectly willing to kill one brother, no doubt they wouldn't mind killing a second brother at the same time. Reuben is outnumbered. He'd have to fight nine tough, physically fit men to rescue Joseph. Even if Joseph joined in the fight with him, it would still be two against nine and the two of them would easily be overpowered.
Reuben's brothers have no idea he intends to sneak back and pull Joseph out of the cistern. Throwing a man into a cistern and leaving him there was a death sentence, but less of a hands-on method of murder than if they beat or stoned him to death or stabbed him. They like Reuben's idea and decide to take him up on it. They will seem even more convincing when they protest their innocence about Joseph's disappearance if their father sees none of his blood on their garments. "So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe---the ornate robe he was wearing---and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it." (Genesis 37:23-24) The brothers take away the robe that symbolizes the disproportionate love their father feels for the eldest son of Rachel. They must have been so sick of seeing this seventeen-year-old boy strutting around in it as if he is their master. Every morning at the breakfast table they must have been sickened by the sight of the heir-apparent wearing his special robe while their father made a bigger deal of Joseph than of anyone else. They can't stand the thought that when he dies in the cistern and the cistern becomes his grave, he will forever be interred while adorned in this robe.
There's no water in the cistern, so he doesn't drown while his brothers sit down nearby and unpack their lunches. Imagine how hard-hearted they must have been to be able to enjoy a meal to the sound of his pitiful cries! I think the sound of his pleas for help must have been music to the ears of all of them but Reuben. I feel some sympathy for Reuben right now because even though he intends to come back later and pull Joseph out of the hole, there's nothing he can do at the moment to ease the boy's fear and torment. I don't believe he's able to bear the sound of his brother's cries and that he walks away from the rest of the group. I don't think he sits down and has a picnic lunch with them, and the reason I believe this is we will see that he's not present a few minutes later when the men come up with a different idea to rid themselves of Joseph. "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." (Genesis 37:25)
This is when a lightbulb comes on over Judah's head. I can't help picturing him pausing with his full mouth hanging open when it occurs to him that he and the others can not only rid themselves of Joseph forever today but that they can also make a handsome profit at the same time. "Judah said to his brothers, 'What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 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.'" (Genesis 37:26-27) He cloaks his greed with feigned compassion for the boy. He says, "If we let Joseph die here, we'll be rid of him but we really won't be better off financially. Not until our father's death anyway. But if we sell him to these traders we won't be guilty of his death. He'll be alive somewhere else, far away from us, and we'll have the price of a slave to divide among ourselves. Besides, he is our brother even though we despise him. Surely selling him is a better option than bearing the guilt of having killed a man who shares our blood."
"So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, 'The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?'" (Genesis 37:29-30) A period of time passes in which Reuben is not with the rest of the group. The men have gone back to tending the flocks and when they're far enough away he sneaks back to the cistern intending to pull Joseph out but finds him missing. He's so grief-stricken that he tears his robes in an age-old gesture of anguish. He rushes to find the others and in his distress his intention to save Joseph becomes clear to them, but the deed is already done and they don't lay a hand on him for being upset with them. Reuben, as the firstborn of Jacob, feels responsible for what's happened today. He feels guilty for being too afraid of his gang of unscrupulous brothers to try to fight them all to save Joseph. He wonders what more he could and should have done. He thinks he ought to have been able to maintain control over this whole mess but he didn't know how and now he's overwhelmed with the knowledge of what has happened to Joseph. How can he face his father? What will he say to him? What excuse can he give for the fate of Jacob's favorite son? Reuben has already disgraced himself by announcing his candidacy for head of the family by adulterously sleeping with one of his father's wives. Obviously,he was wrong about his abilities and he's not capable of leading the family, as the events of our chapter today prove. But his father has already dismissed him as the primary heir and if Jacob realizes Reuben failed to save Joseph then Reuben risks being disowned entirely and excommunicated from the family.
Knowing Reuben would prefer not to have to account to their father for what's happened today, the others draw him into the deception they plan to perpetrate upon Jacob. If Reuben will go along with this plan he will never have to admit any guilt to their father. If Jacob thinks Joseph was attacked and killed by a wild animal on his way to check on the brothers, it will never occur to him to cast a suspicious eye on any of them. "Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 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.'" (Genesis 37:31-32) I bet they're congratulating themselves on tearing the robe off Joseph in the first place. Having him in his plain tunic helped them pass him off as a slave to the Ishmaelites and now the robe dipped in blood helps them pass him off as dead. I have a feeling Reuben is completely silent during this sad gathering with their father. In my mind I picture him standing in the shadows in a corner, not willing to come close enough to look his father in his eyes. Although he knows Joseph is alive, depending on what type of work he was expected to do as a slave, it could mean a life of backbreaking hard labor and an early death. I think Reuben is struggling with this knowledge, with his inability to keep this from happening, and with having to watch his father cry tears of grief over a son he believes is dead.
"He recognized it and said, 'It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.' Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 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." (Genesis 37:33-35) Jacob believes in the eternal life of the soul. He thinks Joseph is dead and that his remains are eaten and scattered. There's no gravesite beside his son in which he can be buried. When he says he's going to join Joseph some day, he's talking about being reunited with him after death. He says, "I will mourn my son until the day I see him again in heaven. I will never be happy again until then." King David said a similar thing about a son he lost. While his baby boy was sick, he fasted and prayed day and night for him to be healed, but the child passed on. David made this statement of faith about seeing his son again: "I will go to him, but he will not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:23) David couldn't revive his son from the dead. His baby boy's soul had gone on to be with the Lord. But all was not lost because, although he would not see his son again in this life, he would be reunited with him again after death in the presence of the Lord.
The narrative of Genesis is going to move back and forth for a period of time to keep us updated on Joseph's life in Egypt and on his family's life in Canaan. Joseph's family believes they will never see him again. Jacob and his wives and his son Benjamin and his daughters think Joseph is dead. The other ten know he is alive but believe he will be a slave in Egypt for the remainder of his life and that they will never lay eyes on him again. But all of these events are part of God's plan. Sometimes the things that happen to us in this world aren't pleasant. Sometimes those unpleasant things are a result of our own errors but other times they are part of God's plan for us. Joseph's family will see him again, and when they do, the one they tried to kill will save their lives. The one they hated so much will have forgiven them, will have recognized that the Lord used his circumstances to accomplish something of enormous importance and eternal significance, and will say to them: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." (Genesis 50:20)
Joseph is approaching the group as they talk among themselves. "'Here comes that dreamer!' they said to each other. '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.'" (Genesis 37:19-20) We don't know which brothers make this statement. It might have been all of them with the exception of Reuben and Judah, two of the sons of Leah. The other two sons of Leah, Simeon and Levi, have already murdered men before and may think little of doing it again. We were told earlier in our chapter that the sons of Jacob by the maids Bilhah and Zilpah hated Joseph, so I have little doubt these men are part of the conspiracy to murder. Benjamin, Joseph's younger full brother, I am certain is not with them but is at home. Joseph is the age where young men were tasked with management of flocks and herds, but Benjamin is several years younger and would only have been expected to perform simple chores at home. Some scholars estimate that Benjamin was probably no more than ten years old here in Chapter 37, but there's no way to know his age for certain.
Reuben is horrified at the idea of killing his half brother and he tries to talk the men down. "When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. 'Let's not take his life,' he said. 'Let's not shed any blood. Throw him into the 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 their father." (Genesis 37:21-22) Reuben hasn't been a very upstanding man so far in the Bible. He's been rebellious and disrespectful. He's looted and pillaged. He's committed adultery. Based on his actions so far, we might have thought there's nothing he wouldn't do, but he won't kill Joseph and he won't allow anyone else to kill Joseph if he can help it. Why didn't he simply stand against these men and rescue Joseph from their hands right now? Some of the commentators whose works I consulted are very critical of Reuben for not doing this, but I tend to think his own life would have been in danger if he'd outright refused to go along with them and if he'd said, "I'm taking Joseph back to our father right now and I'm going to tell him what you almost did!" These guys are a violent bunch. If they're perfectly willing to kill one brother, no doubt they wouldn't mind killing a second brother at the same time. Reuben is outnumbered. He'd have to fight nine tough, physically fit men to rescue Joseph. Even if Joseph joined in the fight with him, it would still be two against nine and the two of them would easily be overpowered.
Reuben's brothers have no idea he intends to sneak back and pull Joseph out of the cistern. Throwing a man into a cistern and leaving him there was a death sentence, but less of a hands-on method of murder than if they beat or stoned him to death or stabbed him. They like Reuben's idea and decide to take him up on it. They will seem even more convincing when they protest their innocence about Joseph's disappearance if their father sees none of his blood on their garments. "So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe---the ornate robe he was wearing---and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it." (Genesis 37:23-24) The brothers take away the robe that symbolizes the disproportionate love their father feels for the eldest son of Rachel. They must have been so sick of seeing this seventeen-year-old boy strutting around in it as if he is their master. Every morning at the breakfast table they must have been sickened by the sight of the heir-apparent wearing his special robe while their father made a bigger deal of Joseph than of anyone else. They can't stand the thought that when he dies in the cistern and the cistern becomes his grave, he will forever be interred while adorned in this robe.
There's no water in the cistern, so he doesn't drown while his brothers sit down nearby and unpack their lunches. Imagine how hard-hearted they must have been to be able to enjoy a meal to the sound of his pitiful cries! I think the sound of his pleas for help must have been music to the ears of all of them but Reuben. I feel some sympathy for Reuben right now because even though he intends to come back later and pull Joseph out of the hole, there's nothing he can do at the moment to ease the boy's fear and torment. I don't believe he's able to bear the sound of his brother's cries and that he walks away from the rest of the group. I don't think he sits down and has a picnic lunch with them, and the reason I believe this is we will see that he's not present a few minutes later when the men come up with a different idea to rid themselves of Joseph. "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." (Genesis 37:25)
This is when a lightbulb comes on over Judah's head. I can't help picturing him pausing with his full mouth hanging open when it occurs to him that he and the others can not only rid themselves of Joseph forever today but that they can also make a handsome profit at the same time. "Judah said to his brothers, 'What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 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.'" (Genesis 37:26-27) He cloaks his greed with feigned compassion for the boy. He says, "If we let Joseph die here, we'll be rid of him but we really won't be better off financially. Not until our father's death anyway. But if we sell him to these traders we won't be guilty of his death. He'll be alive somewhere else, far away from us, and we'll have the price of a slave to divide among ourselves. Besides, he is our brother even though we despise him. Surely selling him is a better option than bearing the guilt of having killed a man who shares our blood."
"So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, 'The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?'" (Genesis 37:29-30) A period of time passes in which Reuben is not with the rest of the group. The men have gone back to tending the flocks and when they're far enough away he sneaks back to the cistern intending to pull Joseph out but finds him missing. He's so grief-stricken that he tears his robes in an age-old gesture of anguish. He rushes to find the others and in his distress his intention to save Joseph becomes clear to them, but the deed is already done and they don't lay a hand on him for being upset with them. Reuben, as the firstborn of Jacob, feels responsible for what's happened today. He feels guilty for being too afraid of his gang of unscrupulous brothers to try to fight them all to save Joseph. He wonders what more he could and should have done. He thinks he ought to have been able to maintain control over this whole mess but he didn't know how and now he's overwhelmed with the knowledge of what has happened to Joseph. How can he face his father? What will he say to him? What excuse can he give for the fate of Jacob's favorite son? Reuben has already disgraced himself by announcing his candidacy for head of the family by adulterously sleeping with one of his father's wives. Obviously,he was wrong about his abilities and he's not capable of leading the family, as the events of our chapter today prove. But his father has already dismissed him as the primary heir and if Jacob realizes Reuben failed to save Joseph then Reuben risks being disowned entirely and excommunicated from the family.
Knowing Reuben would prefer not to have to account to their father for what's happened today, the others draw him into the deception they plan to perpetrate upon Jacob. If Reuben will go along with this plan he will never have to admit any guilt to their father. If Jacob thinks Joseph was attacked and killed by a wild animal on his way to check on the brothers, it will never occur to him to cast a suspicious eye on any of them. "Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 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.'" (Genesis 37:31-32) I bet they're congratulating themselves on tearing the robe off Joseph in the first place. Having him in his plain tunic helped them pass him off as a slave to the Ishmaelites and now the robe dipped in blood helps them pass him off as dead. I have a feeling Reuben is completely silent during this sad gathering with their father. In my mind I picture him standing in the shadows in a corner, not willing to come close enough to look his father in his eyes. Although he knows Joseph is alive, depending on what type of work he was expected to do as a slave, it could mean a life of backbreaking hard labor and an early death. I think Reuben is struggling with this knowledge, with his inability to keep this from happening, and with having to watch his father cry tears of grief over a son he believes is dead.
"He recognized it and said, 'It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.' Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 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." (Genesis 37:33-35) Jacob believes in the eternal life of the soul. He thinks Joseph is dead and that his remains are eaten and scattered. There's no gravesite beside his son in which he can be buried. When he says he's going to join Joseph some day, he's talking about being reunited with him after death. He says, "I will mourn my son until the day I see him again in heaven. I will never be happy again until then." King David said a similar thing about a son he lost. While his baby boy was sick, he fasted and prayed day and night for him to be healed, but the child passed on. David made this statement of faith about seeing his son again: "I will go to him, but he will not return to me." (2 Samuel 12:23) David couldn't revive his son from the dead. His baby boy's soul had gone on to be with the Lord. But all was not lost because, although he would not see his son again in this life, he would be reunited with him again after death in the presence of the Lord.
The narrative of Genesis is going to move back and forth for a period of time to keep us updated on Joseph's life in Egypt and on his family's life in Canaan. Joseph's family believes they will never see him again. Jacob and his wives and his son Benjamin and his daughters think Joseph is dead. The other ten know he is alive but believe he will be a slave in Egypt for the remainder of his life and that they will never lay eyes on him again. But all of these events are part of God's plan. Sometimes the things that happen to us in this world aren't pleasant. Sometimes those unpleasant things are a result of our own errors but other times they are part of God's plan for us. Joseph's family will see him again, and when they do, the one they tried to kill will save their lives. The one they hated so much will have forgiven them, will have recognized that the Lord used his circumstances to accomplish something of enormous importance and eternal significance, and will say to them: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." (Genesis 50:20)
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
In The Beginning. Day 141, Joseph's Brothers Plot To Kill Him
Joseph's brothers already hated him because he's their father's favorite and appears to be Jacob's intended primary heir. Now Joseph is having dreams in which his family bows down to him. This is the final straw for his brothers and they conspire to kill him.
"Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 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 said. 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." (Genesis 37:12-14a) Shechem is the city where Simeon and Levi slaughtered every grown man, yet Joseph's older brothers are grazing their father's sheep near there. The Bible told us that the Lord put fear in the hearts of the peoples surrounding Shechem so they would not attack Jacob's family to avenge the men of Shechem. The Lord showed Jacob's family more mercy than they deserved, but we could say the same of the mercy He's shown to us. I've made some bad choices in my life. Some of those choices were deliberately sinful and others were just stupid decisions that I wouldn't have made if I'd spent enough time considering my options, but the Lord prevented me from receiving the full penalties and consequences that should have naturally followed. There were some consequences here and there of course, but the Lord in His mercy prevented disaster from following my bad decisions. That's what the Lord did for the family of Jacob. Dysfunctional though they may be, they recognize Him as the one true God whereas the men of Shechem were heathen idolaters. The Lord protected Jacob's family because they have not denied His name, unlike the men of Shechem who refused to serve Him.
Joseph is an obedient son. He knows he's the favorite son and I'm sure this made him somewhat spoiled and selfish in his youth, but he immediately agrees to his father's wishes. We can already see that this young man is someone the Lord can use. A person who respects and honors his parents is a person the Lord can use, for that person already knows how to graciously accept and obey instructions. "When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around the fields and asked him, 'What are you looking for?' He replied, 'I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?' '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." (Genesis 37:14b-17)
I tried and failed to find any commentaries that assigned any importance as to why Moses mentioned the man who gave Joseph directions. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there's something going on here. There was really no need for Moses to provide this seemingly inconsequential detail, yet he records the conversation between Joseph and this unnamed man. I don't know if this is another Old Testament appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ, or whether this is an angel, or whether this is an ordinary man who (by design of the Lord) happened to overhear where Joseph's brothers were going. But if Joseph had not met this person, he might have given up on finding his brothers and returned home. Or if he had wandered about for a day or two until he found them, it might be that the anger of his brothers wouldn't have been burning so hotly toward him. The events that need to be set in motion require Joseph to meet up with his brothers in a particular place on a particular day. I really believe his meeting the man in the field is a divine appointment, whether the man is someone special or just an ordinary guy. The Lord has plans for Joseph's life and those plans depend on him finding his brothers, upon his brothers plotting to kill him, and upon his brothers coming up with an alternate solution that sends Joseph to another country where he will fulfill the Lord's will for his life.
Joseph doesn't dread meeting up with his brothers. He seems oblivious to their hatred of him, just as he seemed oblivious to their indignation when he told them his dreams. I think he might not be a very perceptive person when it comes to picking up on body language and tones of voice. Or maybe he's been made so self-centered by his father's favoritism that he believes everyone loves him. I get this, in a way, because I was the baby of my family and a big deal was always made of me by everyone in the family. So everywhere I went, I expected people to just naturally like me. It wasn't that I thought I was something special and that everyone was obligated to like me; it was just that I wasn't used to being disliked or disciplined or held accountable for anything. I like everybody and just assumed everybody I ever met would like me too. When I started school and realized that not everybody likes everybody, it was a hard and confusing lesson but it was a lesson that needed to be learned. Joseph is about to learn a hard lesson from his older brothers. "But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him." (Genesis 37:18)
Murder had to already be in their hearts for them to come up with such a heinous idea so quickly. Between the time they spot Joseph coming and the time he reaches them, they've come up with a plan to take his life. They didn't spend much time thinking about it. They didn't have to. I think most or all of them had already thought about how much better life would be if Joseph had never been born or if something happened to him. We need to keep in mind that Joseph's full younger brother, Benjamin, is not among the conspirators. He's still a child and is at home. The ones who plot to kill Joseph are his older brothers, the sons of Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah.
Two of Joseph's brothers have already committed murder. The rest of them looted and pillaged the town of Shechem following the slaughter of all the men there. Their hearts were already hard before they committed these horrible sins at Shechem and, since they haven't repented of their actions there but instead justified their actions to their father in a previous chapter, their hearts are even harder now. They thought nothing of slaughtering an entire town full of men with whom they had worked and socialized. They now think nothing of killing Joseph who is their own flesh and blood.
Thankfully, one of them will shrink back from following through with the plot. Reuben, Jacob's oldest son who rebelliously lost his place as primary heir, will be the voice of reason in the midst of madness. Join us tomorrow when the brothers agree to a compromise in which they do not kill him but still find a way to permanently rid themselves of him---or so they think.
"Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 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 said. 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." (Genesis 37:12-14a) Shechem is the city where Simeon and Levi slaughtered every grown man, yet Joseph's older brothers are grazing their father's sheep near there. The Bible told us that the Lord put fear in the hearts of the peoples surrounding Shechem so they would not attack Jacob's family to avenge the men of Shechem. The Lord showed Jacob's family more mercy than they deserved, but we could say the same of the mercy He's shown to us. I've made some bad choices in my life. Some of those choices were deliberately sinful and others were just stupid decisions that I wouldn't have made if I'd spent enough time considering my options, but the Lord prevented me from receiving the full penalties and consequences that should have naturally followed. There were some consequences here and there of course, but the Lord in His mercy prevented disaster from following my bad decisions. That's what the Lord did for the family of Jacob. Dysfunctional though they may be, they recognize Him as the one true God whereas the men of Shechem were heathen idolaters. The Lord protected Jacob's family because they have not denied His name, unlike the men of Shechem who refused to serve Him.
Joseph is an obedient son. He knows he's the favorite son and I'm sure this made him somewhat spoiled and selfish in his youth, but he immediately agrees to his father's wishes. We can already see that this young man is someone the Lord can use. A person who respects and honors his parents is a person the Lord can use, for that person already knows how to graciously accept and obey instructions. "When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around the fields and asked him, 'What are you looking for?' He replied, 'I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?' '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." (Genesis 37:14b-17)
I tried and failed to find any commentaries that assigned any importance as to why Moses mentioned the man who gave Joseph directions. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there's something going on here. There was really no need for Moses to provide this seemingly inconsequential detail, yet he records the conversation between Joseph and this unnamed man. I don't know if this is another Old Testament appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ, or whether this is an angel, or whether this is an ordinary man who (by design of the Lord) happened to overhear where Joseph's brothers were going. But if Joseph had not met this person, he might have given up on finding his brothers and returned home. Or if he had wandered about for a day or two until he found them, it might be that the anger of his brothers wouldn't have been burning so hotly toward him. The events that need to be set in motion require Joseph to meet up with his brothers in a particular place on a particular day. I really believe his meeting the man in the field is a divine appointment, whether the man is someone special or just an ordinary guy. The Lord has plans for Joseph's life and those plans depend on him finding his brothers, upon his brothers plotting to kill him, and upon his brothers coming up with an alternate solution that sends Joseph to another country where he will fulfill the Lord's will for his life.
Joseph doesn't dread meeting up with his brothers. He seems oblivious to their hatred of him, just as he seemed oblivious to their indignation when he told them his dreams. I think he might not be a very perceptive person when it comes to picking up on body language and tones of voice. Or maybe he's been made so self-centered by his father's favoritism that he believes everyone loves him. I get this, in a way, because I was the baby of my family and a big deal was always made of me by everyone in the family. So everywhere I went, I expected people to just naturally like me. It wasn't that I thought I was something special and that everyone was obligated to like me; it was just that I wasn't used to being disliked or disciplined or held accountable for anything. I like everybody and just assumed everybody I ever met would like me too. When I started school and realized that not everybody likes everybody, it was a hard and confusing lesson but it was a lesson that needed to be learned. Joseph is about to learn a hard lesson from his older brothers. "But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him." (Genesis 37:18)
Murder had to already be in their hearts for them to come up with such a heinous idea so quickly. Between the time they spot Joseph coming and the time he reaches them, they've come up with a plan to take his life. They didn't spend much time thinking about it. They didn't have to. I think most or all of them had already thought about how much better life would be if Joseph had never been born or if something happened to him. We need to keep in mind that Joseph's full younger brother, Benjamin, is not among the conspirators. He's still a child and is at home. The ones who plot to kill Joseph are his older brothers, the sons of Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah.
Two of Joseph's brothers have already committed murder. The rest of them looted and pillaged the town of Shechem following the slaughter of all the men there. Their hearts were already hard before they committed these horrible sins at Shechem and, since they haven't repented of their actions there but instead justified their actions to their father in a previous chapter, their hearts are even harder now. They thought nothing of slaughtering an entire town full of men with whom they had worked and socialized. They now think nothing of killing Joseph who is their own flesh and blood.
Thankfully, one of them will shrink back from following through with the plot. Reuben, Jacob's oldest son who rebelliously lost his place as primary heir, will be the voice of reason in the midst of madness. Join us tomorrow when the brothers agree to a compromise in which they do not kill him but still find a way to permanently rid themselves of him---or so they think.
Monday, February 17, 2020
In The Beginning. Day 140, Joseph's Dreams
The Genesis narrative moves back to the family of Jacob today and to the subject of prophetic dreams experienced by Jacob's son Joseph.
"Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 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." (Genesis 37:1-2) Joseph doesn't find the work satisfactory of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Some commentaries find fault with Joseph for complaining to his father about the work of his older half brothers as if he is a meddlesome tattletale. I tend to think that there really is something wrong with their performance and that Joseph has a legitimate complaint. But we can see how resentment would have arisen among these older sons of Jacob toward a younger brother who thinks he is their boss.
Jacob himself has caused a great deal of the dysfunction and the growing resentment in his large family. He has fostered a bossy attitude in Joseph and he has lavished so much adoration upon him that the other sons feel like he considers them nothing but chopped liver. "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 robe for him. 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." (Genesis 37:3-4)
Jacob is clearly in the wrong for showing so much favoritism to the oldest son of his preferred wife Rachel. His excuse is that, "Aw, he's just a youngster! He's the baby I had in my old age. Why shouldn't I spoil him?" Benjamin is actually the baby of the family, and Jacob was older when Benjamin was born than when Joseph was born, but Rachel died right after having Benjamin due to complications of childbirth. Benjamin's birth is inextricably linked with grief in Jacob's mind. As a result, instead of affectionately spoiling the motherless youngest child of the family (something the much older brothers might have been able to understand), Jacob has placed the largest portion of his affections upon Joseph and appears to be making it clear that Joseph is the heir-apparent of his estate.
As we noted earlier in Genesis, Jacob's three eldest sons by his first wife Leah have disqualified themselves as his primary heir. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, slept with Jacob's wife Bilhah in an act of defiance, rebellion, and sexual immorality. Simeon and Levi plotted and carried out cold-blooded murder in the city of Schechem, slaughtering every man there because one young man violated the honor of their sister. It's my opinion that Jacob intends to skip over all the sons he had with Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah in favor of leaving his estate to his eldest son by Rachel. I feel he is making his intentions clear by providing Joseph with a special robe that marks him as someone of status and authority. Jacob gave his son a robe which indicates he is an overseer, not a laborer. This explains why he is supervising and reporting on the work of his older brothers in the field. His father is training him to take over after Jacob's death. Naturally all of Joseph's older brothers feel resentful, unloved, and bitter.
To make matters worse, Joseph begins having dreams he believes are prophetic in nature. As it later turns out, they are, but he would have been smart to have kept them to himself. I think he's a bit full of himself due to being the spoiled favorite child of Jacob. He can't resist talking about the exalted position in which he finds himself in his dreams. "Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, 'Listen to this dream I had: 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.'" (Genesis 37:5-7)
His brothers are understandably unimpressed by this information. "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." (Genesis 37:8) Do they think his dream is prophetic and that they will actually bow before him someday, faces to the ground? Probably not. They can't imagine any situation that would make such an action necessary on their part. Even if Jacob makes Joseph his heir, this doesn't mean Joseph's brothers ever intend to grovel at his feet. They think his dream is a product of his spoiled, ambitious, selfish young mind and they ask, "Who do you think you are? Do you really believe we are going to bow at your feet and beg for anything from your hand? Do you think you're going to stand over us like a king someday while we grovel in the dust? Get real!"
But Joseph has another dream, and even though his telling of the first dream wasn't met with a positive reaction, he can't keep the second dream to himself. "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.'" (Genesis 37:9) Joseph says, "Look, guys, this dream about you bowing to me wasn't a one-time thing. If it was then I guess you could make fun of me and tell me I'm just being a brat. But the Lord sent me another dream much like the first. This has to mean something!"
Jacob didn't speak up when he heard about the first dream in which all Joseph's brothers bowed before him. Since Jacob intends to make Joseph his heir, and since everyone in the family is painfully aware of it, he can understand his son having an exalted vision of himself someday ruling over the estate and being superior in rank to his brothers. But now, in this second dream, Jacob himself is bowing at the feet of his son! Feeling insulted by the idea, he scolds Joseph. "When he had 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?' His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind." (Genesis 37:10-11) Indignant though Jacob may be, he senses that the Lord is up to something. He can't dismiss these dreams as the silly ambitious musings of a young man who knows he's in line to inherit great wealth. Jacob feels there's something more going on.
Joseph's biological mother, Rachel, is dead. I believe we can safely assume that when Jacob refers to Joseph's "mother" he is making a reference to Leah. Leah is the sister of Rachel and is the obvious choice to be step-mother to Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin. It's not likely Jacob would have assigned this important task to either of the servant women who are his secondary wives. Leah is the aunt of Joseph and Benjamin and I think she took them in as her own sons. She deserves credit for her good influence on Joseph, for he is going to become one of the most godly men of the Bible. Would Rachel have done as good a job? Honestly, I think not. As I've said before during our study of Genesis, if Jacob had allowed the Lord to lead him to the right wife, I feel Leah would have been the Lord's choice for him. A great deal of Bible scholars feel the same way and that makes me think I'm on the right track. Rachel wasn't a bad woman, but the Bible speaks more of her outward beauty than of her inward beauty. That's likely because she wasn't as spiritual as the wife of Jacob needed to be. Leah, the less outwardly attractive of the two sisters, was said to have had kind eyes and several times we find her talking to the Lord and giving Him the credit for her blessings. It's my opinion that the Lord would have preferred Leah for Jacob and that He wanted her to be Jacob's only wife.
In our passage today Joseph comes across as spoiled, prideful, and insensitive. We don't yet see him as one of the finest examples of godly living that can be found in the Bible. But before we become too critical of him right now, I think we have to keep in mind that he is only seventeen. Do you remember what it was like being seventeen? Wasn't it just about the silliest time of your life? Didn't you find yourself being reckless and impulsive? Didn't you make some decisions that could have had lifelong consequences---and perhaps did have lifelong consequences? Joseph is only a teenager. He hasn't yet learned that "discretion is the better part of valor". He can't keep anything to himself. He's excited about these dreams and is unable to keep from talking about them even though it would be in his best interests to remain silent. He seems unaware that he's being insensitive to his brothers and that they find his dreams and his attitude about the dreams offensive. Joseph's words are going to set in motion something that will have lifelong repercussions, for him and for his whole family.
But God is going to use Joseph's reckless impulsiveness and his brothers' resentment in His plan. The dreams are prophetic. Joseph, who has a heart for God but who just hasn't yet matured in his faith, knows the Lord intends to do something huge in his life. His brothers don't want to hear such things; to them it's bad enough that their father is always doing something huge for Joseph. But the Lord, in His great mercy, is going to do huge things for all of them. He is going to use all of their faults and failures to create a situation in which the dysfunction of their family can be healed. In spite of all the mistakes they will make, He's going to make this misfit band of scrappy, scoundrelly brothers into a great nation upon which His blessing will always rest.
"Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 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." (Genesis 37:1-2) Joseph doesn't find the work satisfactory of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. Some commentaries find fault with Joseph for complaining to his father about the work of his older half brothers as if he is a meddlesome tattletale. I tend to think that there really is something wrong with their performance and that Joseph has a legitimate complaint. But we can see how resentment would have arisen among these older sons of Jacob toward a younger brother who thinks he is their boss.
Jacob himself has caused a great deal of the dysfunction and the growing resentment in his large family. He has fostered a bossy attitude in Joseph and he has lavished so much adoration upon him that the other sons feel like he considers them nothing but chopped liver. "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 robe for him. 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." (Genesis 37:3-4)
Jacob is clearly in the wrong for showing so much favoritism to the oldest son of his preferred wife Rachel. His excuse is that, "Aw, he's just a youngster! He's the baby I had in my old age. Why shouldn't I spoil him?" Benjamin is actually the baby of the family, and Jacob was older when Benjamin was born than when Joseph was born, but Rachel died right after having Benjamin due to complications of childbirth. Benjamin's birth is inextricably linked with grief in Jacob's mind. As a result, instead of affectionately spoiling the motherless youngest child of the family (something the much older brothers might have been able to understand), Jacob has placed the largest portion of his affections upon Joseph and appears to be making it clear that Joseph is the heir-apparent of his estate.
As we noted earlier in Genesis, Jacob's three eldest sons by his first wife Leah have disqualified themselves as his primary heir. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, slept with Jacob's wife Bilhah in an act of defiance, rebellion, and sexual immorality. Simeon and Levi plotted and carried out cold-blooded murder in the city of Schechem, slaughtering every man there because one young man violated the honor of their sister. It's my opinion that Jacob intends to skip over all the sons he had with Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah in favor of leaving his estate to his eldest son by Rachel. I feel he is making his intentions clear by providing Joseph with a special robe that marks him as someone of status and authority. Jacob gave his son a robe which indicates he is an overseer, not a laborer. This explains why he is supervising and reporting on the work of his older brothers in the field. His father is training him to take over after Jacob's death. Naturally all of Joseph's older brothers feel resentful, unloved, and bitter.
To make matters worse, Joseph begins having dreams he believes are prophetic in nature. As it later turns out, they are, but he would have been smart to have kept them to himself. I think he's a bit full of himself due to being the spoiled favorite child of Jacob. He can't resist talking about the exalted position in which he finds himself in his dreams. "Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, 'Listen to this dream I had: 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.'" (Genesis 37:5-7)
His brothers are understandably unimpressed by this information. "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." (Genesis 37:8) Do they think his dream is prophetic and that they will actually bow before him someday, faces to the ground? Probably not. They can't imagine any situation that would make such an action necessary on their part. Even if Jacob makes Joseph his heir, this doesn't mean Joseph's brothers ever intend to grovel at his feet. They think his dream is a product of his spoiled, ambitious, selfish young mind and they ask, "Who do you think you are? Do you really believe we are going to bow at your feet and beg for anything from your hand? Do you think you're going to stand over us like a king someday while we grovel in the dust? Get real!"
But Joseph has another dream, and even though his telling of the first dream wasn't met with a positive reaction, he can't keep the second dream to himself. "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.'" (Genesis 37:9) Joseph says, "Look, guys, this dream about you bowing to me wasn't a one-time thing. If it was then I guess you could make fun of me and tell me I'm just being a brat. But the Lord sent me another dream much like the first. This has to mean something!"
Jacob didn't speak up when he heard about the first dream in which all Joseph's brothers bowed before him. Since Jacob intends to make Joseph his heir, and since everyone in the family is painfully aware of it, he can understand his son having an exalted vision of himself someday ruling over the estate and being superior in rank to his brothers. But now, in this second dream, Jacob himself is bowing at the feet of his son! Feeling insulted by the idea, he scolds Joseph. "When he had 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?' His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind." (Genesis 37:10-11) Indignant though Jacob may be, he senses that the Lord is up to something. He can't dismiss these dreams as the silly ambitious musings of a young man who knows he's in line to inherit great wealth. Jacob feels there's something more going on.
Joseph's biological mother, Rachel, is dead. I believe we can safely assume that when Jacob refers to Joseph's "mother" he is making a reference to Leah. Leah is the sister of Rachel and is the obvious choice to be step-mother to Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin. It's not likely Jacob would have assigned this important task to either of the servant women who are his secondary wives. Leah is the aunt of Joseph and Benjamin and I think she took them in as her own sons. She deserves credit for her good influence on Joseph, for he is going to become one of the most godly men of the Bible. Would Rachel have done as good a job? Honestly, I think not. As I've said before during our study of Genesis, if Jacob had allowed the Lord to lead him to the right wife, I feel Leah would have been the Lord's choice for him. A great deal of Bible scholars feel the same way and that makes me think I'm on the right track. Rachel wasn't a bad woman, but the Bible speaks more of her outward beauty than of her inward beauty. That's likely because she wasn't as spiritual as the wife of Jacob needed to be. Leah, the less outwardly attractive of the two sisters, was said to have had kind eyes and several times we find her talking to the Lord and giving Him the credit for her blessings. It's my opinion that the Lord would have preferred Leah for Jacob and that He wanted her to be Jacob's only wife.
In our passage today Joseph comes across as spoiled, prideful, and insensitive. We don't yet see him as one of the finest examples of godly living that can be found in the Bible. But before we become too critical of him right now, I think we have to keep in mind that he is only seventeen. Do you remember what it was like being seventeen? Wasn't it just about the silliest time of your life? Didn't you find yourself being reckless and impulsive? Didn't you make some decisions that could have had lifelong consequences---and perhaps did have lifelong consequences? Joseph is only a teenager. He hasn't yet learned that "discretion is the better part of valor". He can't keep anything to himself. He's excited about these dreams and is unable to keep from talking about them even though it would be in his best interests to remain silent. He seems unaware that he's being insensitive to his brothers and that they find his dreams and his attitude about the dreams offensive. Joseph's words are going to set in motion something that will have lifelong repercussions, for him and for his whole family.
But God is going to use Joseph's reckless impulsiveness and his brothers' resentment in His plan. The dreams are prophetic. Joseph, who has a heart for God but who just hasn't yet matured in his faith, knows the Lord intends to do something huge in his life. His brothers don't want to hear such things; to them it's bad enough that their father is always doing something huge for Joseph. But the Lord, in His great mercy, is going to do huge things for all of them. He is going to use all of their faults and failures to create a situation in which the dysfunction of their family can be healed. In spite of all the mistakes they will make, He's going to make this misfit band of scrappy, scoundrelly brothers into a great nation upon which His blessing will always rest.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
In The Beginning. Day 139, Esau's Family, Part Four
Today we'll conclude this section dealing with genealogy and lists of early rulers of the land that Esau and his family gradually took over. Esau is not the son of Isaac who inherited the covenant of God regarding someday possessing the promised land, but he became a very powerful man in his own right and his descendants became a very powerful people. They intermarried with the chiefs, rulers, and kings of the region of Seir (renamed Edom after a nickname of Esau's---Edom meaning "red"). Today we'll finish by looking at who the kings were in the times before Israel became a nation and had kings of her own.
It's important to note that the remainder of Chapter 36 may or may not have been written by Moses. In Moses' day Israel had no king, yet we find the author referencing the Edomite kings who existed in the region "before any Israelite king reigned". This makes it appear as if whoever inserted the remaining verses lived in a time after Israel became a monarchy. Prior to having a king, Israel was led by men like Moses and Joshua and then later by the judges. Centuries are going to pass between Genesis 36 and the coronation of Israel's first king. This suggests that whoever wrote verses 31-43 lived several centuries later than Moses and inserted the verses after the royal line of Israel had been established. Then again, Moses could have written these verses if he was speaking of the future kings of Israel by faith, for the Lord promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that kings would come from their bloodline. Moses would have known this and could have spoken about the coming kings with full confidence that the Lord always fulfills what He promises.
"These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah." (Genesis 36:31-32) Scholars believe the kings in this list were elected officials. We will see that the crown isn't handed down a family line. Dinhaba's exact location is not known but some archaeologists believe it lies under the modern city of Dibdiba, northeast of Petra. It's original name may mean "robbers den" and if that's true we can speculate that it wasn't a very wholesome place.
Now we take a look at a king who may be someone famous in the Bible. "When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king." (Genesis 36:33) Many scholars over the centuries have equated this Jobab with Job of the Book of Job. The Bible tells us very little about Job's origins, but we know he was from the land of Uz, an Edomite territory. This means he lived in the same territory as Esau and Esau's descendants. The region of Uz was likely named after Uz the son of Seir the Horite, and we know that Esau dwelt in the land of Seir and that Esau's family later drove the Horites out of the territory and took it over during the time period between Genesis and Deuteronomy. So we see that the Job of the Book of Job was living in the same area where King Jobab would have been living. The Bible tells us that Job was devoted to the Lord and that because of his faithfulness the Lord had richly blessed him. These blessings may well have included his election as king since the Bible tells us that during Job's lifetime he was "the greatest man among all the people of the East". (Job 1:2b) Job himself makes references to his power in Uz, and at the very least must have been a judge, for he sat in the gate and rendered verdicts. But he seems to have had more power than a judge would have, for he also states that princes kept their silence in his presence and that he was the head of the army. This sounds very kingly to me. Princes would not hold their peace before a mere city judge. A judge would not ride at the head of the army. In those days kings led their armies, riding out in front of the troops. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that Job was indeed a king, though he never calls himself by that title. Job was a man of such humility that I can imagine him not making a big deal of his title. Job recognized only one King: the Lord Almighty, and Job knew that everything he was and everything he had was due to the Lord being bountiful with him.
Though the Book of Job is placed much further down into the Bible than the five books Moses wrote, the Book of Job is actually the oldest book of the Scriptures, written several centuries before Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Job lived long before Moses was born and could easily have been alive during the time period we are studying here in Genesis 36. In the Book of Job we learn that Job acted as priest for his entire family, which means he lived in a time long before the priesthood of Israel was established, long before the nation of Israel was ever enslaved in Egypt, and long before the Lord called a man named Moses to help the children of Israel make their exodus into the promised land. It is not until after the exodus that the priesthood is established upon command of the Lord; prior to that the man who was the head of his clan performed the duties of priest.
Lending further proof that Job lived in the same territory as King Jobab and that he was possibly related to or socially mingled with the descendants of Esau is the fact that one of his best friends was Eliphaz the Temanite. The Temanites were a tribe that came from Esau's grandson Teman who was the son of Esau's son Eliphaz. Job's friend Eliphaz was probably named after Esau's son as a way of honoring his ancestral heritage.
We can't be sure whether Job was King Jobab, but we can be certain who he wasn't. He wasn't an Israelite. He lived centuries Israel became a nation. Yet he served the one and only living God with his whole heart. That's really something, considering he lived in a pagan culture. He's not the only person named in the Bible who came to know the Lord while living among heathen idolaters, but you can bet it was much more difficult to come to faith in the Lord while being continually surrounded by idolatry and witchcraft and heathen rituals. It took a great deal of courage and faith to swim against the stream and stand up for the Lord and obey the Lord in every personal decision and every legal ruling he made. So whether or not Job and Jobab are one and the same, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to recognize the faith of Job and commend him for it.
"When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith." (Genesis 36:34-35) There was a man named Midian who was the son of Abraham by Keturah, the wife he married after Sarah's death. Some scholars believe this is the same Midian mentioned here. It's quite possible due to the long lifespans of the people in Genesis. After all, Abraham's son Isaac just died in our previous chapter and he would have been Midian's elder by a number of years. Archaeologists are uncertain of the location of the city of Avith but believe it was somewhere within the region of Bozrah.
"When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king. When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab." (Genesis 36:36-39) Baal-Hanan's name reflects the worship of the Canaanite god Baal. His name means "Baal has been gracious". The father of this king named him in honor of a false god, whom he credits with being gracious to him in the giving of a son. King Baal-Hanan's wife's name means "whom God makes happy", but whether her name is a reference to the God of Abraham or to some other god (perhaps Baal), we do not know. Some scholars believe she served the one true God and that this is why a queen's name is mentioned in the king list. The person who wrote the final verses of Chapter 36, whether it was Moses or someone else, may have granted Mehetabel the honor of having her name in the Bible because she believed in the Lord. The exact location of her husband Baal-Hanan's city, Pau, is not known as no definitive archaeological remains of it have been found.
The author of this portion of Scripture closes the chapter by reminding us of the names of the chieftains who descended from Esau. "These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. This is the family line of Esau, the father of the Edomites." (Genesis 36:4-43)
Esau is not given the honor of having his age and place of death recorded in the Bible. We don't know what happened in his life after he had to move a distance away from Jacob (due not to any discord between the brothers but due to the enormous size of his and Jacob's flocks and herds). Some scholars interpret the lack of continuing information about Esau as an indication that he was still not a very spiritually-minded man and that he accomplished nothing of eternal significance during the remainder of his life. I don't think we need to draw that conclusion. It's evident that Esau forgave his brother and that the two of them mended their relationship. It think it must have taken the help of the Lord for Esau to forgive such a huge trespass, and it's very difficult for the Lord to help us if we do not submit ourselves to Him. I think Esau must have allowed the Lord into his heart; otherwise I can't fully explain Esau's enormous change of heart and change of personality. Esau may never have been as spiritual as Jacob, but I don't think he abandoned the God of Isaac and the God of Abraham. I believe what's going on here is the same thing we will see time and time again: the Bible keeps its main focus on the line from which the Redeemer will come. That is Jacob's line. That is Jacob's son Judah's line. At every turn we are going to see the Bible keep directing our attention to a specific tribe of Israel and to the direct genealogy that leads us to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow the Bible directs our attention back to the family of Jacob and we will begin a very exciting and action-packed portion of Genesis.
It's important to note that the remainder of Chapter 36 may or may not have been written by Moses. In Moses' day Israel had no king, yet we find the author referencing the Edomite kings who existed in the region "before any Israelite king reigned". This makes it appear as if whoever inserted the remaining verses lived in a time after Israel became a monarchy. Prior to having a king, Israel was led by men like Moses and Joshua and then later by the judges. Centuries are going to pass between Genesis 36 and the coronation of Israel's first king. This suggests that whoever wrote verses 31-43 lived several centuries later than Moses and inserted the verses after the royal line of Israel had been established. Then again, Moses could have written these verses if he was speaking of the future kings of Israel by faith, for the Lord promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that kings would come from their bloodline. Moses would have known this and could have spoken about the coming kings with full confidence that the Lord always fulfills what He promises.
"These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned: Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah." (Genesis 36:31-32) Scholars believe the kings in this list were elected officials. We will see that the crown isn't handed down a family line. Dinhaba's exact location is not known but some archaeologists believe it lies under the modern city of Dibdiba, northeast of Petra. It's original name may mean "robbers den" and if that's true we can speculate that it wasn't a very wholesome place.
Now we take a look at a king who may be someone famous in the Bible. "When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king." (Genesis 36:33) Many scholars over the centuries have equated this Jobab with Job of the Book of Job. The Bible tells us very little about Job's origins, but we know he was from the land of Uz, an Edomite territory. This means he lived in the same territory as Esau and Esau's descendants. The region of Uz was likely named after Uz the son of Seir the Horite, and we know that Esau dwelt in the land of Seir and that Esau's family later drove the Horites out of the territory and took it over during the time period between Genesis and Deuteronomy. So we see that the Job of the Book of Job was living in the same area where King Jobab would have been living. The Bible tells us that Job was devoted to the Lord and that because of his faithfulness the Lord had richly blessed him. These blessings may well have included his election as king since the Bible tells us that during Job's lifetime he was "the greatest man among all the people of the East". (Job 1:2b) Job himself makes references to his power in Uz, and at the very least must have been a judge, for he sat in the gate and rendered verdicts. But he seems to have had more power than a judge would have, for he also states that princes kept their silence in his presence and that he was the head of the army. This sounds very kingly to me. Princes would not hold their peace before a mere city judge. A judge would not ride at the head of the army. In those days kings led their armies, riding out in front of the troops. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that Job was indeed a king, though he never calls himself by that title. Job was a man of such humility that I can imagine him not making a big deal of his title. Job recognized only one King: the Lord Almighty, and Job knew that everything he was and everything he had was due to the Lord being bountiful with him.
Though the Book of Job is placed much further down into the Bible than the five books Moses wrote, the Book of Job is actually the oldest book of the Scriptures, written several centuries before Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Job lived long before Moses was born and could easily have been alive during the time period we are studying here in Genesis 36. In the Book of Job we learn that Job acted as priest for his entire family, which means he lived in a time long before the priesthood of Israel was established, long before the nation of Israel was ever enslaved in Egypt, and long before the Lord called a man named Moses to help the children of Israel make their exodus into the promised land. It is not until after the exodus that the priesthood is established upon command of the Lord; prior to that the man who was the head of his clan performed the duties of priest.
Lending further proof that Job lived in the same territory as King Jobab and that he was possibly related to or socially mingled with the descendants of Esau is the fact that one of his best friends was Eliphaz the Temanite. The Temanites were a tribe that came from Esau's grandson Teman who was the son of Esau's son Eliphaz. Job's friend Eliphaz was probably named after Esau's son as a way of honoring his ancestral heritage.
We can't be sure whether Job was King Jobab, but we can be certain who he wasn't. He wasn't an Israelite. He lived centuries Israel became a nation. Yet he served the one and only living God with his whole heart. That's really something, considering he lived in a pagan culture. He's not the only person named in the Bible who came to know the Lord while living among heathen idolaters, but you can bet it was much more difficult to come to faith in the Lord while being continually surrounded by idolatry and witchcraft and heathen rituals. It took a great deal of courage and faith to swim against the stream and stand up for the Lord and obey the Lord in every personal decision and every legal ruling he made. So whether or not Job and Jobab are one and the same, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to recognize the faith of Job and commend him for it.
"When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king. When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith." (Genesis 36:34-35) There was a man named Midian who was the son of Abraham by Keturah, the wife he married after Sarah's death. Some scholars believe this is the same Midian mentioned here. It's quite possible due to the long lifespans of the people in Genesis. After all, Abraham's son Isaac just died in our previous chapter and he would have been Midian's elder by a number of years. Archaeologists are uncertain of the location of the city of Avith but believe it was somewhere within the region of Bozrah.
"When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king. When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king. When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king. His city was named Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab." (Genesis 36:36-39) Baal-Hanan's name reflects the worship of the Canaanite god Baal. His name means "Baal has been gracious". The father of this king named him in honor of a false god, whom he credits with being gracious to him in the giving of a son. King Baal-Hanan's wife's name means "whom God makes happy", but whether her name is a reference to the God of Abraham or to some other god (perhaps Baal), we do not know. Some scholars believe she served the one true God and that this is why a queen's name is mentioned in the king list. The person who wrote the final verses of Chapter 36, whether it was Moses or someone else, may have granted Mehetabel the honor of having her name in the Bible because she believed in the Lord. The exact location of her husband Baal-Hanan's city, Pau, is not known as no definitive archaeological remains of it have been found.
The author of this portion of Scripture closes the chapter by reminding us of the names of the chieftains who descended from Esau. "These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and regions: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they occupied. This is the family line of Esau, the father of the Edomites." (Genesis 36:4-43)
Esau is not given the honor of having his age and place of death recorded in the Bible. We don't know what happened in his life after he had to move a distance away from Jacob (due not to any discord between the brothers but due to the enormous size of his and Jacob's flocks and herds). Some scholars interpret the lack of continuing information about Esau as an indication that he was still not a very spiritually-minded man and that he accomplished nothing of eternal significance during the remainder of his life. I don't think we need to draw that conclusion. It's evident that Esau forgave his brother and that the two of them mended their relationship. It think it must have taken the help of the Lord for Esau to forgive such a huge trespass, and it's very difficult for the Lord to help us if we do not submit ourselves to Him. I think Esau must have allowed the Lord into his heart; otherwise I can't fully explain Esau's enormous change of heart and change of personality. Esau may never have been as spiritual as Jacob, but I don't think he abandoned the God of Isaac and the God of Abraham. I believe what's going on here is the same thing we will see time and time again: the Bible keeps its main focus on the line from which the Redeemer will come. That is Jacob's line. That is Jacob's son Judah's line. At every turn we are going to see the Bible keep directing our attention to a specific tribe of Israel and to the direct genealogy that leads us to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tomorrow the Bible directs our attention back to the family of Jacob and we will begin a very exciting and action-packed portion of Genesis.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
In The Beginning. Day 138, Esau's Family, Part Three
I had originally intended to finish our study of Chapter 36 today regarding Esau's family line and the people with whom his family intermarried. But this section is quite long so we will divide it in two and study the remainder tomorrow. After this chapter we will not see Esau mentioned alive again, but that doesn't mean he dies around this time. Jacob will live on for many more years and we can assume his twin Esau did as well. But the Bible is mainly concerned with following the family line that will produce the Messiah, so after we conclude Chapter 36 we will rejoin Jacob and his sons.
The author of Genesis now tells us who the rulers were in the land during the centuries before Israel became a nation in the region or had any kings of her own. These are the peoples who inhabited the hill country of Seir before Esau and his family became so powerful in the region that it came to be named Edom, which is a reference to Esau who was very red when he was born. Just as Jacob is sometimes called Jacob and at other times Israel, and just as the nation of Israel is sometimes called Jacob, Esau is sometimes called Edom---the name of the powerful clan he founded. Esau's family would have mixed with the inhabitants of Seir and, in the case of the Horite tribe, the descendants of Esau became so powerful that they drove them out and took over their territory.
"These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Horite chiefs." (Genesis 36:19-21) The Horites are mentioned later on in Deuteronomy when we are told, "Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession." (Deuteronomy 2:12) What did the Lord have against the Horites that He allowed the descendants of Esau to drive them out of Seir and that He allowed the descendants of Jacob to drive them out of the promised land? The Bible doesn't say, but since the tribes driven out of the promised land by the Israelites were wicked idolaters who rejected the living God, I think we can safely assume the Horites were equally offensive to the Lord.
"The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan's sister." (Genesis 36:22) We were told in Genesis 36:12 that Timna was a concubine of Esau's oldest son. So we see that not only were Esau's sons chieftains in the land, but they married into families of chieftains. Timna was the mother of Amalek from whom will come the Amalekites, and they will be fiercely opposed to the descendants of Jacob. If only Esau had married a God-fearing woman as his parents wanted, and if only he'd made certain his sons only married believing women, he wouldn't have been the ancestor of one of the most warlike tribes in the Bible. The Amalekites are going to attack the children of Israel in the book of Exodus after the Lord brings them out of Egypt. They are going to continue to oppose Israel at every turn and will be so wicked that the Lord is going to instruct Israel to wipe them from the face of the earth.
"The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the desert while he was grazing the donkeys of his father Zibeon." (Genesis 36:23-24) One of Esau's wives is the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon. It appears Anah was quite famous for his discovery of the hot springs.
"The children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah." (Genesis 36:25) Anah had one son and one daughter. Likely the only reason the daughter is named here is because she is married to Esau.
"The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These were the Horite chiefs, according to their divisions, in the land of Seir." (Genesis 36:26-30)
I know genealogies of ancient peoples can sometimes seem uninteresting, but the author of Genesis (believed to be Moses) is laying a foundation for us that will come in handy after the exodus of Israel from Egypt. When the time comes for Israel to begin taking possession of the promised land, they will meet with many of the descendants of the peoples mentioned here in Chapter 36. Reading Chapter 36 will give us a better understanding of who these tribes are when later the Lord tells the nation of Israel who they are to drive out of the land.
The author of Genesis now tells us who the rulers were in the land during the centuries before Israel became a nation in the region or had any kings of her own. These are the peoples who inhabited the hill country of Seir before Esau and his family became so powerful in the region that it came to be named Edom, which is a reference to Esau who was very red when he was born. Just as Jacob is sometimes called Jacob and at other times Israel, and just as the nation of Israel is sometimes called Jacob, Esau is sometimes called Edom---the name of the powerful clan he founded. Esau's family would have mixed with the inhabitants of Seir and, in the case of the Horite tribe, the descendants of Esau became so powerful that they drove them out and took over their territory.
"These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Horite chiefs." (Genesis 36:19-21) The Horites are mentioned later on in Deuteronomy when we are told, "Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession." (Deuteronomy 2:12) What did the Lord have against the Horites that He allowed the descendants of Esau to drive them out of Seir and that He allowed the descendants of Jacob to drive them out of the promised land? The Bible doesn't say, but since the tribes driven out of the promised land by the Israelites were wicked idolaters who rejected the living God, I think we can safely assume the Horites were equally offensive to the Lord.
"The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan's sister." (Genesis 36:22) We were told in Genesis 36:12 that Timna was a concubine of Esau's oldest son. So we see that not only were Esau's sons chieftains in the land, but they married into families of chieftains. Timna was the mother of Amalek from whom will come the Amalekites, and they will be fiercely opposed to the descendants of Jacob. If only Esau had married a God-fearing woman as his parents wanted, and if only he'd made certain his sons only married believing women, he wouldn't have been the ancestor of one of the most warlike tribes in the Bible. The Amalekites are going to attack the children of Israel in the book of Exodus after the Lord brings them out of Egypt. They are going to continue to oppose Israel at every turn and will be so wicked that the Lord is going to instruct Israel to wipe them from the face of the earth.
"The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the desert while he was grazing the donkeys of his father Zibeon." (Genesis 36:23-24) One of Esau's wives is the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon. It appears Anah was quite famous for his discovery of the hot springs.
"The children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah." (Genesis 36:25) Anah had one son and one daughter. Likely the only reason the daughter is named here is because she is married to Esau.
"The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran. The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These were the Horite chiefs, according to their divisions, in the land of Seir." (Genesis 36:26-30)
I know genealogies of ancient peoples can sometimes seem uninteresting, but the author of Genesis (believed to be Moses) is laying a foundation for us that will come in handy after the exodus of Israel from Egypt. When the time comes for Israel to begin taking possession of the promised land, they will meet with many of the descendants of the peoples mentioned here in Chapter 36. Reading Chapter 36 will give us a better understanding of who these tribes are when later the Lord tells the nation of Israel who they are to drive out of the land.
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