ripple effect: vacaville

Read Genesis 37:1-36

[Wow...we're skipping like crazy...

*Jacob finally got settle back in Canaan (the land promised to his grandpa) in a place called Shechem.

*Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, was raped by one of the local guys of Shechem. This guy, whose named happened to be Shechem (the prince of Shechem), told his day to arrange a marriage with Dinah for him. Jacob tried to keep this from Dinah's brothers; but, while the king was there with Jacob, the boys came in from the fields and heard about the rape. Schechem wanted to make a deal for her to be his wife. The guys had a trick up their sleeves and told the men of Schechem that the only way they'd go through with it was if the men of Schechem were all cicumcized. They agreed; so, after they had cut their stuff, Simeon and Levi went into the city and killed all the men while they were "sore." Jacob was mad that they took revenge like this; but, in a famous line in the Bible, they said, "Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?"

*God spoke to Jacob directly and told him to purify himself and his family (get rid of idols, etc.). God blessed Jacob and told him that his new name would be Israel. The cool thing about this is that HE gets the blessing directly.

*Rachel died shortly thereafter, giving birth to her second son (Jacob's 12th son), Benjamin.

*Out of nowhere, we get a litle anecdote that Rueben (the oldest son) decides to sleep with Bilhah, his father's concubine (a couple of his brothers' mom...weird!).

*Jacob finally visited his father again, and Isaac died soon after that.

*Esau's family got huge, so he went off to live farther away from Jacob in Edom. Have fun reading the list of all the people in his family. I'm sure this would have meant a lot to the people at the time...it'd kinda be like, "Oh, so that's where Louisianna came from!" But, to us, we don't really care.]

It just so happens, that I have an expert in the Joseph story with me today as I do this…so…I will infuse my thoughts with Logan’s (since he was in “Jospeh and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”):

1. Joseph was a bit of a tattle tale.
2. Preferential treatment…Jacob loved Joseph more. I don’t know how that coat became a “technicolor” dreamcoat in the musical. My favorite version of the Bible says it was a “varicolored tunic.” Have you ever had a sibling with something cooler than what your parents gave you?
3. So, yeah, the brothers are ticked at Joseph…
4. I wonder why the brothers hated these dreams? Yeah…so…they’ll all bow down to me! What’s the problem? No problem if you’re Joseph.
5. Interesting that dad chewed him out for telling the dream, but it says that he kept it all in his mind. Hmm…I’m sure he doesn’t like the idea of bowing to his son, but at least he respects God enough to know that it could be from him (he did have a wrestling match with God…B.W.E.)
6. Joseph gets sent to check on his brothers…where? In Schechem. Where were they? In Dothan. What were they doing there?
7. Nice brothers, they want to kill him. Reuben rises up and says not to kill him (he was planning on going back to get him later). But, they mugged him and tore up his varicolored tunic and threw him into the pit. Geez. I used to get in fights with my brothers…but not this bad!
8. They sat around and had a meal while their brother was sitting in the bottom of a pit! That’s cruel!
9. Ishmaelites (yeah…the descendants of Ishmael) rolled up, and they decided to sell him to them; and Joseph was on his way to Egypt.
10. Apparently, at some point, Reuben didn’t stick around for lunch, because he went back to rescue Joseph; and he was already gone. One, he was trying to rescue him. But, two, as the oldest brother, he is responsible. So…they hatch the plan to dip his robe in blood and say that it was a wild beast that got him.
11. When they get back, it’s CSI Shechem…Jacob looks at the robe and they ask if it is “[his] son’s robe.” Not our brothers…his sons. They didn’t even acknowledge him as their brother.
12. You don’t even want to visualize what an old man in sackcloth looks like. But…it means that he was mourning for his dead son. When he says that he will go down to Sheol mourning–Sheol is like Hades or Hell…he’s basically saying that his life is over now that Joseph’s life is over.
13. To be continued…Joseph is sold to an Egyptian nobleman, Potiphar.

That’s a lot.

What do you think about?

Jacob’s treament of Joseph
The way Joseph handles his dreams
The way Reuben handles the “plot”
The behavior of all the other brothers