Day 13. Genesis 37-39

Genesis 37-39

Genesis 37

¹And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

Jacob's father was Isaac. In Gen. 15:13 god told Abram that his seed would live in a land where they are a stranger.

²These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

Joseph was 17 and was a tattle tale.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

Why? Benjamin was the son of his oldest age. Either way, because Jacob loved Joseph more, his brothers hated him. This verse makes no sense. Jacob was the 11th son born. He was born during the 6 year period from 1811-1805. This verse does lend credence to the old Jacob theory, as opposed to the young Jacob. It makes more sense having Jacob be 71 when he moved to Laban, than for him to be 40. Joseph was born 20 years after Jacob moved to Laban's. He was either 60 or 91. But then all the boys except Benjamin were born when Jacob was 54-60 or 85-91.

Joseph has a dream.

⁷For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

A sheaf is a bundle of cereal plants, tied together after harvest. In Joseph's dream, his brothers bundles bowed down to his bundle.

⁸And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

His brothers aren't very much older than him, they are all pretty much the same age. Jacob moved to Laban, then 7 years later got married, 7 years later married again, 7 years later left. It was when Joseph was born that he left. So, the oldest brother (Reuben) could only be 14 years older than Joseph. Joseph is now 17, Reuben might be 31.

⁹And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

Sun and moon were the parents (even though his mother was dead) and the 11 stars were 11 of the other symbols of the Zodiac. We don't know which one Joseph was. Based on the era, I'd expect it to have been Taurus.

Joseph told everyone his dream. The older brothers hated him more, but Jacob listened and enjoyed the story.

¹²And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

¹³And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

Odd that the brothers would actually go back to Shechem. That place is named after Shechem, the guy who raped Dinah, and then the brothers killed. Jacob and his boys fled there because they were afraid they would be killed in retribution.

¹⁴And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

Jacob goes looking for his brothers. They weren't there, so he asks a man where they went, and the guy said to Dothan. Dothan is about 100 km (62 miles) north of Hebron (they left from the "vale of Hebron" vale=valley). So, Jacob sends his son, who he loves the most, about 60 miles, by himself, to go find his brothers. He sends him to an area where Jacob himself has fled, scared for his life, because his sons killed the male residents of an entire city.

As Jacob approached his brothers, they saw him, and conspired to kill him.

¹⁹And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

²⁰Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Why not just say that the Hivites killed him as revenge for Shechem?

²¹And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.

Reuben to the rescue. Some people say Reuben did this because he was attempting to make up for his sleeping with Bilhah. That Reuben spent the rest of his life, trying to make amends for that; attempting to get back into the good graces of his father. What better way to do it, than to help his father's favorite son survive.

²²And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

Did Reuben actually plan to return Joseph to Jacob?

²⁴And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

They put him into a pit, not a well.

²⁵And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

Ishmeelites, are descendants of Ishmael, they were Arabs. Ishmael was born in 1970 BC. I'm not exactly sure what year this is (I'll fix that in a bit), but it's long enough that the 10 oldest sons of Jacob don't recognize their cousins by name. Ishmael is their grandfather Isaac's brother.

²⁶And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

²⁷Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

Judah devises a plan to sell their brother. The brothers agree.

²⁸Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

As the brothers were plotting to sell their brother to the Ishmeelites, some Midianites did it instead. Midian was one of the other sons of Abraham (possibly the full brother of Ishmael; definitely the half brother of Isaac). So, the boys relatively close cousins, sold their brother, to another set of their close cousins.

²⁹And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.

³⁰And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

Reuben is scared that Jacob is going to beat the crap out of him, for losing Joseph. Why even come up with a story? When Jacob asks where Joseph is, just tell him, you never saw him.

³¹And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

³²And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.

Ok, they kind of used the "we never saw him story". Throwing in the coat, made it that much better. When Jacob saw the coat, he knew is was Joseph's so he expressed grief.

³⁵And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

³⁶And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

Sons and daughters? Jacob only had one daughter, Dinah, this verse must mean the older boys' wives.

Potiphar means "he who Ra gave". Other than the bible, there is no evidence that Potiphar ever lived.

Genesis 38

¹And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

²And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.

Judah had a buddy named Hirah, from the town of Adullam. They were at a party together, and Hirah introduced Judah to a Canaanite woman named Shuah. Judah proceeded to have sex with her.

³And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.

⁴And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.

⁵And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.

Judah had 3 sons with Shuah. They were Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er's name doesn't really mean anything. In Hebrew it's עֵר which when read backwards is "evil". So Er was so evil that his name shouldn't be spelled correctly, his name is actually, Re. Onan means "strong". Shelah means "petition".

⁶And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar.

Tamar was extremely beautiful.

⁷And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.

God killed Er (Re) for being extremely wicked. It seems like god himself did the killing, but it was probably an angel who did it for him, either way, god is very hands on right here.

⁸And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.

Even though god himself had Er (re) killed, Judah thought Er should have an offspring. This is one of the parts of the bible that I find to be really interesting. Apparently, according to Hebrew law/tradition (we'll get into it again later), if a brother dies (without an heir), then his younger brother is to get the widow pregnant, and that child is considered to be the offspring of the dead brother. That will keep the original brother's name alive.

⁹And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

¹⁰And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.

Onan didn't want to be the father of Er's child, so he didn't inseminate Tamar. According to one Tamar myth, she was so beautiful, that the brothers didn't want to spoil her beauty, by making her pregnant. Some people think that when a woman becomes pregnant, they are more beautiful, Er and Onan didn't want Tamar to get birthing hips.

Genesis 38:9-10 is the reason that most Judeau-Christian religions say that masturbation is a sin. They equate Onan spilling his seed to masturbation, and also coitus interruptus. If you ever were made to feel guilty about masturbation, Gen. 38:9 and 10 is the reason.

¹¹Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.

Judah sends Tamar to her parents place. He then intends for her to marry Shelah, when he comes of age.

¹²And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

Judah is out partying again with Hirah. Tamar hears that Shelah is old enough to marry, and she's wondering why she isn't married to him yet? She took off her widow clothes and put on a veil.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face.

Judah was apparently drunk enough to not recognize his daughter in law, the girl who married two of his sons. Remember, alcoholism runs rampant in this family.

¹⁶And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?

Judah talks dirty to her: "let me come in unto thee". Sounds so much more poetic than "i want to f--- you". Even though, that's what he said. She said "you want to f--- me, what will you give me?"

¹⁷And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?

Wow, a whole kid from the flock. He didn't have it with him, so she asked for a pledge.

¹⁸And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.

So, she asked for his seal, and some bracelets, and his staff. Well, he went "in unto her" and she got pregnant.

What happened to his wife Shuah?

Later, he goes back with the goat, to get his things back, and asks where the harlot was. The townspeople are like "ain't no harlot here". Judah was like "and I brought the goat for nothing".

²⁴And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

Someone tells Judah that Tamar was pregnant. He gets angry, and wants to burn her.

²⁵When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff.

Tamar says, the man who got me pregnant is this guy... it just happens to be Judah's stuff. Judah realizes his error, in not giving her to Shelah.

She was pregnant with twins. One put his hand out first to be born, and the midwife put a red thread on his wrist. He then pulled his hand back, and the child without the red was born first. The one without the ribbon was named Pharez, the one with the ribbon was named Zarah. Zarah means "sunrise" because that was the color of the thread; Pharez means "breach" since he was supposed to be born second, but knocked his brother out of the way.

The tradition holds that the first children born to a widow are the dead husband's. So, even though Pharez and Zarah are Judah's children, they technically are Er's.

Genesis 39

Back to the story of Joseph.

¹And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.

Joseph now belonged to Potiphar; yes, we knew that.

²And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

Joseph was the top slave.

⁵And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.

Everything Joseph did turned out good.

⁷And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.

Verse 6 says Joseph was well favoured, not exactly sure what that means, but it probably means he was very attractive. He comes from a line of women who are extremely hot, he probably was a very handsome man as well.

¹⁰And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

She REALLY wanted to lie with him. He was having none of it.

¹²And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

Really wanted to lie with him. She had a piece of his clothes.

¹⁴That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:

¹⁵And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.

Since he wouldn't lie with her, she decided that she'd say he did, and get him in trouble.

¹⁹And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.

²⁰And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

So, Joseph was put in jail. Oddly, he wasn't killed. A slave raping the master's wife should really be a capital crime. Even if it's only attempted rape. Somehow, Joseph managed to get out of it.

²¹But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

²²And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.

Joseph managed to work his way to the top of the prison hierarchy, just like he did Potiphar's house. Joseph was really good at doing that.

Points to ponder for today:

1. Would a man who truly loves his son, send him 60+ miles to go check on his brothers? Especially if they are in an area where there are death threats against them.

2. Why didn't the brothers recognize their cousins the Ishmeelites, or the Midianites? Why didn't those cousins return their cousin to Jacob? Surely they would have made introductions at the pit.

Hello, I'm Reuben, the son of Jacob (Israel), the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
Hello, I'm ... uh... bob, the Ishmeelite, the son of (maybe) Nebajoth, the son of Ishmael, the son of Abraham.
Oh my gawd, we're cousins.

Meanwhile some Midianites come by.

Hi, I'm Tony the Midianite, the son of bill, the son of brad, the son of Midian, the son of Abraham.

What a small world running into two cousins out here in the field of Shechem. (Reuben continues) Hey, you guys want to go kill some Hittites?

3. Er, Onan, and Sheleh, the first three sons of Judah. Then there's two more, Zarah and Pharez, one of those 5 sons is important later. The other just is all about masturbation.

4. If Potiphar never existed, then does the story hold up?