Today's readings from the Chronological Plan are taken from Genesis 37:1-38:30; 1Chronicles 2:3-6; 1 Chronicles 8 and Genesis 39:1-23. Click here to read this passage online. To read without flipping, read Genesis 37-39 and 1 Chronicles 2:3-6,8. Click here to read it this way online.
Alot takes place in the readings for today, so much to discuss, I'm looking forward to hearing what you all learned and thought about it all.
The readings begin with Joseph's dreams. Its only a few verses in that we find out that Joseph is the favourite of Israel (Jacob). The brothers all know it too and Israel's favourtism encourages the hatred the brothers have for Joseph. I never really took much note of it before, but I assume that Joseph is the favourite because he was one of Rachel's sons.
In verse 14 we see again where Israel is not making things any easier on Jospeh, or his brothers when he asks Joseph to go and be his tattle tale and see what the brothers are up to. Its when they see him coming that they plot to kill him. Reuben tries to rescue him but while he is gone the brothers sell him to some merchants. Reuben is crushed when he finds out what has happened, but not crushed enough to go to his father and tell him the truth...
We then move on to chapter 38 and we are told the story of Judah who went to Canaan to find himself a wife, which then produced 3 sons. Poor Tamar didn't have much luck with the first two sons of Judah, one was wicked and the other didn't impregnate her like he should of according to the customs of that day. Judah (and his sons it appears) were deceitful just like Judah's father Israel and planned to not let Tamar have the last son.
Tamar was not going to give up though, she was determined to get what she was owed. I don't know what made her think that Judah would sleep with a prostitiute but obviously something in his character told her that he might be willing to do that. Tamar is very smart in that she gets "evidence" of "who" she has slept with so there could be no denying it later. Ended up working well for her because when she was found out and about to be killed for prostitution (at the shouts of her father in law) she let Judah know the child was his. A commentry I read pointed out that she didn't do it publically and scream injustice for all to hear, she privately went to him, I think that shows a little class. I know that when I am wronged I want people to know about it! Not right though, I am trying harder to work on that.
So Tamar has twin boys, Perez (ancestor of David, and ultimetly Jesus) and Zerah.
You can read more about Tamar here. What I do like that this article points out is that righteousness only comes from our faith in God. And that in this chapter we see divine providence "In chapter 38 God is at work, providentially assuring the fulfillment of His promise to provide a Messiah through the descendants of Judah (49:8-12)".
A pastor I once heard used this story as an example of perservance (Tamar not giving up) and that through praise (Judah) comes the breakthrough (Perez). I've always remembered that. When I'm having a hard time and need a breakthrough, I think of Tamar and how she kept pursuing and didn't give up.
The readings finish by going back to Joseph who is in Egypt and falsely accussed of trying to sleep with Potiphars wife. He is thrown in jail and the bit I love is that it says "The Lord was with him" so many times and that God gave him success in everything we do. To me, that's an encouragement that even when we are wronged or things aren't working out, if we stay true, and faithful God will stay faithful with us and help us to succeed and ultimately make it through.
Tomorrow's readings are Genesis 40:1-23; Genesis 35-28-29; Genesis 41:1-57. Click here to read online.
9 comments:
I never would have thought "perseverance" would be a lesson to be learned from Tamar's story, since she didn't exactly go about getting what she was owed in a way that would have been pleasing to God. I realize that given the era and culture in which she lived, she likely didn't have any other options, but doesn't giving her credit for perseverance sort of encourage this idea of "helping" God out with His plans when things aren't going our way? I don't know.
I do love how God uses so many ugly situations to His glory though ~ the Judah/Tamar story, the Joseph in Egypt story, and all the lies and deceit we've seen in Genesis already have been recorded specifically so we can see that God uses even bad things and weak humans for His glory. That should give us a lot of hope!
I found it interesting that the massacre at Shechem seems to have cured Reuben of his taste for murder. Of course, this is his own brother and not a stranger, but still, he seems very concerned they not actually kill Joseph, even though he obviously hated Joseph, too. Good observation about him not being quite upset enough about the situation to tell his father the truth!
I find it interesting how we can not only trace the ancestral lineage, but the lies and deceit as well. That seems to be part of the inheritance that keeps getting passed from generation to generation.
I have quite a different opinion of Tamar, Nicole - not having read any commentaries on the subject I'm just going with my own opinion. Judah didn't do right by her by not having his 3rd son take the place of his brothers, but to persevere through deceit and trickery ... Not being familiar with the way these things worked at the time, I don't know if she had any other recourse, but I still believe God would have kept his promise without her interference, one way or another. And the fact that she contacted Judah privately about his being the reason she was pregnant was probably to save her own skin. Don't forget - she was found guilty of prostitution, not considered to have been raped.
Once again, we see favouritism of a parent for a certain child in these chapters. I can't really say I blame Joseph's brothers for being angry with him - their father loved him best, he'd tattled on some of them already, and now he was being sent to check up on them again. I take issue, however, with what they decided to do about it! It shocks me that their first instinct was to kill him, but thankfully, God & Reuben intervened and they changed their plan. But still... to sell your brother into slavery is a pretty stiff punishment for tattling and being the favourite! It is sad that Reuben didn't tell Jacob the truth about what had happened to Joseph, which obviously caused Jacob great grief and suffering. Even though Jacob was a root cause of the problem, I feel sad for him when he believes his son to be dead.
Potiphar's wife has always really irritated me whenever I've read this story. "He won't sleep with me, so I'll get him in trouble. That'll show him." It bothers me a bit that Potiphar just automatically believed her, since Joseph had always shown himself to be trustworthy, but at the same time can we fault him for believing his wife? I'm a little torn about that. I would want my husband to believe me if I told him I'd been wronged by someone, but then, I'd be telling the truth.
Oh, when I said God would have kept his promise, I don't mean to Tamar - there was no promise to her. But I do believe that the line Jesus was born into was to come through Judah and God would have accomplished that one way or another anyway.
Ugh, the favouritism thing again. The brothers anger is really misplaced - it's not really the child's fault if the parent favours them, it's the parent's!
Judah is not necessarily any better than the other brothers, just because he came up with the idea to sell Joseph instead of kill him. It probably appeased his conscience slightly, plus it benefited his monetarily, and in those days slavery likely wasn't much of an improvement over death. Either way though - we can see God's hand in this.
God has a plan. When we decide to go against that plan, we hurt ourselves, but we don't thwart His plan. The Israelites were supposed to be in Egypt for 400 years - but God's plan was not for the brothers to act in such a sinful manner. They hurt themselves. But God still worked it out for His glory.
Nicole - I've heard some speakers speculate whether or not Potiphar truly believed his wife. If he truly believed her, he likely would've had the option to have Joseph executed instead of "just" imprisoned.
What faith Joseph had!! And I love his response to Pharoah, giving God the glory for interpreting the dreams. May we always do the same!
The Judah/Tamar story is so sad. Judah had left his family, became friends with a very worldly man and quickly became entrenched in sin. He lied to Tamar and didn't give her the son he had promised her. Obviously Tamar knew he would sleep with a prostitute, so it likely was not the first time he had done this. However, it seems like this was perhaps a turning point in his life. He recognized how wrong his deeds had been, he did not sleep with Tamar again, and in later chapters we see that he moved back with his family.
Another reminder to surround ourselves with godly friends. Obviously we need to befriend non-Christians as well, but our truly close friends need to be people who build us up, who challenge us in our Christian lives, who hold us accountable. Not ones who drag us down into sin with them.
I think the customs and things of the time made it difficult for Tamar. She wasn't a believer in God as far as I am aware, so how would she know that God would intervene if she didn't?
I'm off for the weekend on a holiday, I'll catch you up in a few days :)
Oops, my comments about Joseph got a little ahead of today's readings :)
I agree with you Nicole...I think it was great perseverance by Tamar. She could of left while she was yet young and found a new husband, but she waited through these horrible husbands whom God had to kill for their wickedness and dissobedience, and then until the third son grew up. After waiting all those years, Judah didn't keep his promise and marry her to his third son. She did what she felt she had to do. Even Judah said that she was more righteous than he in the situation. And she did show class, just telling him and not screaming it to the whole world. I don't think that was a solely selfish action. I don't look at it as she did this to take the action from God and interfered, I look at it as God already knew before the earth was created that she would do this...this wasn't a new event for Him. He knew that the line would be kept through the family because of her doing this. It doesn't mean He condones it obviously, but He knew this is how it would happen.
Judah was no better than his other brothers Tammy...ecxept Reuben. He wanted to send his brother back home to their father, and in his absence Judah and the others sold him. I often wonder if Judah knew that Joseph would be returned and Reuben wouldn't let them kill him, so this was the next best thing.
I think Potiphar knew his wife was lying. He would have killed him I think if he believed her. But he also had to do something, or he was going to look bad with everyone knowing his wife was sleezy. (sorry couldn't find a better word)
What I love about Joseph is the testimony that he held. Most of what was done in his life was by the testimony that he held. God protected him and worked miracles, but until this point, God had to do a lot of divine intervention to uphold the promises to His people, where as Joseph was able to be blessed many times just by his testimony and his faithfulness. So uplifting!
I agree with you Kristi that Tamar showed great character in waiting through her two horrible husbands, and waited for the 3rd son as promised to her by her FIL. I agree that she felt she had no other course of action. It was still wrong, but Judah was right when he said she was more righteous than he. I wonder how God would've worked this situation out had Judah been obedient.
The end result is never in doubt with God. But boy can we sure cause ourselves a lot of heartache by not going along with His plan to begin with.
I also agree with you on Reuben. I wonder if he was possibly trying to make up for his previous sin against his father (by sleeping with his concubine)?
I definitely think Potiphar knew his wife was lying - but that put him between a rock and a hard place, leaving him with little choice. I think everyone knew she was lying - since she pestered him daily I'm sure numerous servants were aware of how things really were.
Tammy, I too would have loved to see how God would of had things to go, if Judah would have been obedient!~I also agree with you that many had to of known about Potiphar's wife...how you do keep that hidden, when you pester someone daily?!
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