A race to the end!
OK, so I haven’t judged this very well and with this the last day of September, it’s going to be a race to the end. A bit like my Sunday dinners – all lovely and relaxed at first, then a mad rush and panic to get everything ready at the same time!
So here are some thoughts on Genesis 38 to 50! Hope you have half an hour at some point today to sit down and read these chapters, so you can join me in saying you have read the whole of Genesis in September.
Chapter 38: Judah’s son had a wife called Tamar.
But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord put him to death. Genesis 38:7
Harsh. Again a human explanation and rationalisation for an inexplicable death – blaming the gods or God was all the rage back in the day. Anyway, Judah’s second son takes on Tamar following tradition, bet every time he slept with Tamar, he spilled his semen on the ground because he didn’t want children with her, So the Lord killed him too. I’ve heard this passage used as a warning against masturbation, which is not about at all, but it does seem to be the first example of the withdrawal method of contraception! Judah makes excuses to keep his third son away from Tamar because he is scared he will die too. But Tamar tricks Judah by dressing as a shrine prostitute and gets pregnant by Judah himself and takes tokens from him to bring out when the time comes to prove Judah is the father……..fancying this as a filmscript anyone?
And then we return to Joseph. Just like that.
Chapter 39:
The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered. Genesis 39:2
This seems like the start of prosperity gospel thinking which I hate with a passion. Again a simplified explanation in my view. Anyway, Joseph is good at his job and is trusted by his employer until Potiphar’s wife tries it on with him repeatedly and makes up false accusations about him. Throughout his business life, my husband has always been careful to avoid any kind of situation like this – he always quotes the well-known example of Billy Graham, who never ever met with a woman with the door closed…..not because he didn’t trust himself, but because he wanted his meetings to be completely transparent and free from the risk of allegation. We had this drummed into us on fostering training too – that’s why Andy will never ever take one of the kid’s friends home in the car alone. It may all seem a bit extreme, but it’s an important bit of safeguarding for all parties in our view.
And so the chapter ends with Joseph in prison doing what he does best – being the best he can be. I love that. Wherever he is, he gives of his best. Whatever situation we find ourselves in and whatever we are asked to do, we can always give of our best and be the best we can be.
Chapter 40: So Joseph continues to serve faithfully and gain respect from those around him – and then gets the opportunity to interpret the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners. I like that approach too. I’ve always felt you have to earn the right to speak to people and the best way is to wait for them to come to you with questions or problems…..being around people and getting to know them first and letting them get to see who you are first is all-important. And Joseph is honest – he doesn’t just say what they want him to say. Telling the baker that his dream means he is going to die is a pretty harsh truth. My friends all know they will get the truth from me whether they like it or not. In fact, one friend avoided me for quite a long time recently, because she didn’t want to hear what I had to say! Not that I take the opportunity to be deliberately harsh or cruel, but what are friends for if not to reveal to us the things we cannot see clearly for ourselves? Thank God I have a couple of people in my life who keep me right too!!!
The cupbearer who gets to survive promises to remember Joseph and then of course does not. How often does that happen too? ‘We must keep in touch better.’ ‘I’ll ring you and we’ll go out sometime.’ ‘I’ll give money to that charity later when I have more money.’ Better to say nothing than promise and not deliver……..
Chapter 41: A full two years have passed. Two years! God sometimes allows us to stay in places and situations a lot longer than we would like, that’s for sure. When Pharaoh has dreams and needs an interpreter, the cupbearer finally remembers Joseph. He interprets the dreams as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine and recommends saving for a rainy day (well, the opposite of course, but you know what I mean! And we all know the theory of that and the good sense in it but how hard is it to actually do when we have money in our hands and those shoes in OFFICE are calling out to us?!) So Joseph gets put in a position of authority to oversee this process – and he is still only 30 years old. He discovers the power that comes with stockpiling when all the other nations come to buy grain from Egypt.
Chapter 42: So ten of Joseph’s brothers go to buy grain and come face to face with Joseph. He recognises them but they do not recognise him. He tests them and gets his own back in some small way by putting them in prison until their youngest brother is sent for…. they actually say to themselves that they are being punished for what they did to Joseph, but of course, they do not realise that he can understand their every word and
he turned away from them and began to weep. Genesis 42:24
So Simeon is left in prison and the others return home with the grain to fetch Benjamin – and all their silver is returned to them! (which they obviously don’t understand and are terrified about – an act of kindness of Joseph’s part that they have no way of making sense of).
Chapter 43: When all the grain is gone, the brothers have no choice but to return to Joseph with Benjamin this time. They take him treats – including pistachio nuts! – and he invites them to his home for a meal (which they are naturally very suspicious about) and return Simeon to them. I love the human touch here –
Deeply moved at the sight of his brother (Benjamin), Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. After he had washed his face, he came out and controlling himself, said ‘Serve the food’. Genesis 43:30,31
Humans all those thousands of years ago were the same emotionally as humans today. There is something about family that moves us. And here comes the favouritism again – when they were served, Benjamin’s portion was five times bigger than everyone else’s!
Chapter 44: This is where Joseph has his silver cup planted in Benjamin’s sack and we get that great song – the Benjamin Calypso – with the line ‘Benjamin is honest as the coconuts’! A bit of light relief there!
Save him, take me! Who would you say this for?
Chapter 45: And now the big revelation! Joseph can see with hindsight that all has worked out for the best and
it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. Genesis 45: 5
That takes a lot of wisdom and courage – to see the good in all that has happened.
Pharaoh welcomes all of Joseph’s family to Egypt – setting the scene for the next chapter/book of our series Exodus.
Chapter 46: God comes to Jacob in a vision at night to reassure him that going to Egypt is going to be OK. It’s part of the plan. And Joseph goes out to meet him on the way – another great reunion.
Chapter 47: So Jacob and his entourage settled in Goshen in Egypt. The famine in Egypt continues until the Egyptians have to sell all their livestock and land to Joseph in return for grain. They grew crops and gave a fifth of their harvest back to Pharaoh.
Chapter 48: Jacob blesses Joseph and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh – and gives Ephraim the younger the greater blessing (as has happened before in this amazing family line of topsy turvy tradition!
Chapter 49: Jacob knows that his time is near and blesses his sons with a host of weird and wonderful blessings – glad that isn’t how it’s done these days; I’m not sure I could cope with being described like Issachar as
a scrawny donkey lying down between two saddlebags. Genesis 49:14
When he has given them clear instructions as to where he wants to be buried, he dies.
Chapter 50: They buried him exactly as he had requested with great mourning. The brothers worry that now Jacob is dead, Joseph will exact vengeance on him but I love his response –
Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:19,20
I’d love to write a whole lot here about forgiveness and not holding a grudge and being able to see the good in every situation and moving on and……but the dog is waiting for his walk and you have read enough for today – if you have even made it this far!
Genesis ends with the death of Joseph. We’ve come a long way and met a lot of colourful characters. We’ve ended up in Egypt but with the same promise as throughout the journey –
God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Genesis 50:24
