Joseph

Recap:

Last week we looked at Isaac and Jacob. We’ve been seeing how God is working to fulfil his promises that he made to these people, and how they are working, even if the people are being less than faithful.

When we looked at Isaac, we focussed mainly on the story of his finding a wife. Remember, Abraham sent his slave back to his home country because he didn’t want his son marrying from among the Canaanites. The servant was worried, but set off anyway. After arriving in Abraham’s hometown, he prayed to God to prosper his mission, and even said that he would only choose a woman if she said some particular things. Rebekah came along, and said exactly those things. He knew then that she would be the woman to marry Isaac, and she was.

Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons. The firstborn was called Esau, because he was red, and he grew up to be a man’s man. He was hairy, strong, and loved to hunt. The second son was called Jacob, because he was gripping on Esau’s heel. This is a Hebrew expression for deceiving somebody. Indeed, Jacob lives up to his name.

He manages to rob almost everybody he knows. He tricks Esau out of his birthright as the eldest child, and he then tricks the blind Isaac into giving him his brother’s blessing. And that’s just at home. After this, Jacob flees to his uncle Laban’s house. On the way he has a dream in which God reinforces the promises he made to Abraham. Remember, one of the points of the book of Exodus is to give the basis, or the background, for the nation of Israel. God promises Jacob that he will be the one through whom these promises carry on.

After this, Jacob goes through an ordeal where he ends up married to two women, and has 12 sons between them and their maidservants. Again, this 12 is an important number to remember in light of everything that comes next, because there will be 12 tribes of Israel, named after these 12 sons.

Well, then, where does the name Israel come from? I’m glad you asked. One day, after Jacob has run away from both Laban and Esau, he has a man appear to him in the night, and Jacob and this man wrestle through the whole night. Eventually, the man tells Jacob to let go of him, and Jacob says only if you bless me. It turns out that this man was an angel of the Lord, and so he changes Jacob’s name to Israel, which means struggles with God.

The final story we looked at was God reaffirming his promises to Jacob. At the end of his life, with all Jacob’s foibles and misdemeanours, God nevertheless still desires to carry on his line through Jacob. Now, we’re going to see how this took place by looking at the story of Jacob’s favourite son, Joseph.

Summarise the Story