Today’s passage: Genesis 37:1-36
Helpful thoughts:
- Verse 1 makes clear, what wasn’t true of Esau (who moved to the land of Seir) was true of Jacob. Jacob was the inheritor of the promise, and from here on out, the narrative will follow his descendants. The chapter begins with the trademark, “These are the generations of…” Jacob.
- Joseph was “loved more than all his brothers” by Jacob, he gave bad reports (A tattle tale?), and he dreamed dreams where they all bowed down to him. All this made for a poor relationship.
- Even Jacob questioned the meaning of the dreams, but he did not disregard them.
- The coat Jacob gave to Joseph likely designated him as the likely heir.
- The brothers became jealous.
- Caught up in their anger and jealousy, the brothers conspired to kill and then sold Joseph into slavery.
- The sons deceived their father with the blood of a goat, just as Jacob had deceived his father with the skin of a goat.
- The deception continued as the sons sought to comfort Jacob during his mourning (Knowing what they had truly done).
Questions to consider:
- What seemed to be true concerning the relationship Joseph had with his brothers? What kind of young man was he? Why did his brothers hate him so much? How much (If any) of that was his own doing?
- What could have motivated Reuben to seek to spare Joseph’s life? What could have motivated Judah to do the same, but in the form of selling Joseph into slavery? What might they have wanted?
- Joseph is seen as a type of Christ in the Old Testament. In what ways does the account of Joseph already remind us of what would later happen to Jesus Christ?