GENESIS 36-422012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Genesis 36-42

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012.

But we're starting in chapter 36 and working our way through chapter 42 this evening of the book of Genesis. These are the chapters that we've been reading this week in the Bible in three years. And so God has some great things in store for us as we review and remember those things that God spoke to our hearts. So Genesis chapter 36 is where we're starting and we'll be working our way through chapter 42.

As we look at the book of Genesis, we're talking about the subject of beginnings. That's what the word Genesis means. And we've seen the beginnings of all kinds of things. It's an appropriate name for the book because in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then we've been studying that history that follows and all of those things that have taken place.

Moses wrote the book of Genesis probably around 1446 through 1406 BC, which is roughly the time that they were wandering in the wilderness, which we'll be getting to in the next few weeks.

And so he wrote this down, recorded it for us, looking at really the first 2,000 years of history and the work that God was doing through his people to bring forth the Savior. And so we're looking at the beginning of the Hebrew nation and the establishing of God's people. And we've been seeing it, but we'll see it a little bit more clearly this week and then on into next week as we finish off the book of Genesis.

On our timeline for the things that we've studied thus far, we again started at the beginning in the book of Genesis at creation. And so we saw the life of Adam and Seth and Enoch and so on and so forth. We went through Noah, looked at the flood, the Tower of Babel. Then we saw God choosing Abraham and

calling him, giving him the incredible promises of the land of Canaan, as well as that one of his descendants would be the Messiah and that he would be the father of many nations. And then we saw how that promise was then transferred on to Isaac, Abraham's son. And he was given those same promises, those same details. And then that promise was then transferred on to Jacob,

who is later on named Israel. And those same promises, the promise of the land of Canaan, the promise of many descendants or many nations, and then the promise that the Messiah would come through his line, through his generations, was given to Jacob as well.

And so as we are looking at Jacob for the past couple of weeks, we got to see the 12 sons that he had. And as I shared a moment ago, we're looking at really the foundation of the Hebrew nation. These 12 sons of Jacob...

become the foundation upon which this nation is built. They become the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. Here's a picture for you of Jacob's family. And you might remember from last week, he had two wives, but then they also brought their concubines into the mix or their maidservants into the mix.

And so Jacob and Leah were married, and they had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven kids together. Six of them were boys, and then Dinah, of course, was the girl.

And then Jacob and Rachel also had kids, Joseph and Benjamin. Those were actually the youngest sons. And then Bilhah, who was Rachel's handmaiden, she had two kids with Jacob, named Dan and Naphtali. And then Zilpah, who was Leah's maidservant, had two children, Gad and Asher, with Jacob. And so these are the 12 sons and one daughter of Jacob. And we'll be...

following these guys and what God does through them this week and then on into the next couple of weeks as well. So these things, like I said, are kind of foundational for us and important for us to understand the chapters that are coming up as we see these 12 sons develop into the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel.

Well, here's a quick refresher on the geography of the things that we've been looking at in the book of Genesis. Up in the top there is Haran, and that is where Abraham was in Genesis chapter 12 when God called him out to the land of Canaan, to the land that God would show to him.

We've also revisited Haran a couple times. In Genesis chapter 24, the servant of Abraham was sent to Haran to find a wife for Isaac. And so he went there, found Rebekah, brought her back. And then we also saw in the life of Jacob, he went to Haran after he stole the blessing from Esau and Esau wanted to kill him. So Jacob fled and

went to haran and spent 20 years there with laban and then his two daughters rachel and leah he worked for them and and was able to marry them and develop his family there and we studied all that last week so we spent a lot of time in haran and then down a little bit farther on the south you have the the land of canaan which is right there on the the edge of the the mediterranean sea

This is what we know as the land of Israel. You can see the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, just to the right of the word Canaan there. And so that's the region that God promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And we'll be looking a little bit at things happening in Canaan today. And then we also saw the land of Edom last week, which was where Esau went. He moved down south of the Dead Sea to Edom. And then we also saw the land of Israel.

and began to inhabit there and rule in that area. And then also we've looked at Egypt a couple times as Abraham went over to Egypt and then Isaac tried to, but God told him not to. And then this week, of course, with the life of Joseph, we're spending quite a bit of time in the land of Egypt. So

That's kind of to give you a little bit of a layout of the geography for the things that we're talking about and help you put the perspective on where they're going and coming from as we see this. Well, we start out this evening in Genesis chapter 36. The key verse for Genesis 36 is verse 1. Now, this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom.

Now, chapter 36 is probably not one of the more exciting chapters that you got to read this week because it really is the genealogy of Esau. And it's looking at the names, the descendants, the sons, the kings, the rulers of the area of Edom and Mount Seir.

The chiefs of the sons of Esau, the chiefs of Esau, and just a lot of times it's the same names just said in different ways. And so we see here in Genesis chapter 36 this genealogy of Esau. Now we've seen genealogies in the past. This is one of those cases where we'll look briefly at this genealogy here in chapter 36.

But we will not follow it any farther than this. We won't come back and revisit. We won't pick up later on from this point and, you know, look at all the other descendants. We're just kind of getting a little bit of a glimpse of the descendants of Esau. But because the Messiah, the promised Savior, is not coming from Esau's line, we're not going to follow it. The scripture is really focused on recording the coming of Jesus.

And the preparation for that, the line and the genealogy leading up to Jesus Christ goes through not Esau, but Jacob. And so we'll follow that genealogy all the way through into the New Testament, into the person of Jesus. Now, one thing of note here in Genesis chapter 36 is some have suggested that this is possibly the setting for the book of Job.

because there's a person there in verse 34 referred to as Jobab. And some believe that that is actually another form of the name Job. As you can see, the similarities Job and Jobab, it's very close. And so they thought maybe this is Job that we'll be reading about later on in the scriptures. And then to go along with that, verses 10 and 11 refer to people named Eliphaz and Teman.

And these are friends of Job, or at least friends of Job had those same names. And so all those three names being together in one chapter causes some to believe that this is possibly, you know, referencing those people who were actually in the book of Job that we'll be reading on later. Personally, I don't see a whole lot of evidence for that. There's a lot of times in the scriptures where we see very similar names or even the same names, but it's talking about

completely different people. So I wouldn't, you know, make any large bets on that or anything, but you can contemplate it and consider it and maybe it has some significance later on.

Here we have a picture for you of Esau's family. So this is kind of the layout of his children. It's kind of a visual of what we read through in Genesis chapter 36. So Esau, his eldest was Eliphaz, and Eliphaz had these sons, Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatham, Kenaz, Amalek.

And then Esau also had Rul, and Rul had Nehath and Zerah and Shammah and Mizah. And then Esau also had Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. Obviously those other sons had children as well, but it's just not recorded. And so these are the ones that we have recorded for us. Now one person of note here that we'll be looking back to in coming weeks is Eliphaz's son named Amalek.

And from him come the Amalekites, who we will be dealing with later on because they are very vicious against Israel and begin to attack Israel as they leave the land of Egypt. And so there'll be some revisiting of the Amalekites who really originate from Amalek here, who is the grandson of Esau. Well, Esau and his children settled in the area south of the Dead Sea, also known as the Salt Sea.

and they settled in what is known as the land of Edom. So it kind of pictures there on the screen for you the territory that they had. So they were south of the land of Canaan, south of Israel, although Israel today extends down to the Gulf of Aqaba there at the bottom. But at that time, Israel and the land of Canaan was north of Edom.

And so this is the area that Esau dwelt as well as the sons of Seir. They're on Mount Seir. And so this is the population of the land of Edom or the map of the land of Edom that was populated by Esau and his descendants. Moving along to chapter 37. More exciting stuff than chapter 36 for sure.

Genesis 37 verse 28 says, So here in chapter 37 now, we're zooming in on the life of Joseph.

We took a break real quick to look at chapter 36 and look at Esau. But now we're going to be looking at Joseph. We'll take another break in the next chapter to look at an instance in Judah's life. But pretty much the remainder of the book of Genesis is going to be focused on this man named Joseph, a very prominent son of Jacob. And so in verses 1 through 11, we have Joseph introduced to us and these dreams that he had.

He had two dreams, both with objects that were bowing down to him in his dreams. And we see in the dreams how the brothers and the family really understood that the interpretation of the dreams is clear. Joseph was dreaming that his brothers, as well as his mom and dad, were bowing down to him.

And so these dreams that Joseph shares with his family will become kind of the catalyst for some turmoil and tension that's going to be developing here in chapter 37.

as the brothers are not even able to really speak peaceably with Joseph after that. They're just very unhappy with him. In addition to these dreams that he had, we see here in chapter 37 that Jacob was playing favorites and he favored Joseph. That was the son that he loved the most. And so the brothers resented him for that as well.

And so we're looking at this man Joseph who had these dreams, who is favored by Jacob, and we're going to be walking through his life. Now, the reason why we're focusing on Joseph and not the other brothers so much is because it's through Joseph that God is going to do something incredible. Through Joseph...

God is going to establish the nation of Israel. I kind of think of it like incubation. Like he transports the people, Jacob and his sons, to Egypt. And they're kind of like an incubation period where they're growing into a great nation there in Egypt. And they're going to be brought out of it later on. You might remember in Genesis chapter 15 that God had told Abraham...

that he was going to do this. He told Abraham, know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and will serve them and they will afflict them 400 years. We've not read this account happening yet, but you know it's coming, right? As we head into Egypt and into the book of Exodus. And also the nation whom they serve, God says, I will judge. Afterward, they shall come out with great possessions.

And so God tells Abraham back in Genesis 15 that Abraham's descendants are going to go to a land. They're going to be afflicted there, but they're going to come out as a great nation and with great possessions.

And so Joseph is really the agent by which this happens, as the family is taken into Egypt, and we'll be reading that over the next week as we go forward in our readings. And so as we look at this life of Joseph, we're looking at a prominent character. Now, because he takes such a prominent part in the book of Genesis, it would be natural for us to think that Jesus is

Comes from the line of Joseph. But that's not actually true. We'll see that in the next chapter. Really the lineage of Christ goes back through the son named Judah, the fourth son. But Joseph is recorded in such detail because of his role in bringing the nation to Egypt and God establishing the nation there.

As we look at the life of Joseph, another kind of side note, we do see some incredible parallels between Joseph and Jesus. There's some neat things that maybe you could take and meditate on later on and get a better picture and understanding of Jesus by the life of Joseph. Because there's these parallels. Let me give you a few examples. Joseph was greatly loved by his father.

Of course, it's not a stretch of the imagination to say that Jesus was greatly loved by his father. But at the same time, Joseph was hated by his brethren. And we see later on in Jesus' life that he was hated by his brethren. His brethren plotted against and sold Joseph. In the same way, Judas plotted against, the religious leaders plotted against Jesus and sold him.

Joseph suffered unjust punishment in the same way Jesus suffered unjust punishment. But in the end, Joseph becomes the savior for those who had rejected him. And Jesus, of course, also becomes the savior for those who had rejected him. So there's a lot of parallels there that you can kind of meditate on and consider. And maybe God will show some things to you that you wouldn't have thought about otherwise.

Well, there's this issue of favoritism in the life of Joseph, though. The father is showing him much more love, and he demonstrates that with this special coat that's given to Joseph. We all know about the coat of many colors, right? Well, the coat of many colors may not be actually the best translation of the Hebrew there. It probably actually refers to a coat of long sleeves, right?

Because the idea was that Joseph was not a laborer. The people who wore long sleeves in those days were the overseers. They were the people in charge. And so what Jacob was doing was giving Joseph not only love, extra love, you know, he was the favorite of Jacob, but he was also saying, hey, you're going to be in charge. You're going to oversee. You're going to, you know, have authority in the family business.

even though he was one of the younger sons. And so again, this show of favoritism caused a lot of tension between Joseph and his brothers. And so what we see happening then is Joseph is sent out to check on his brothers in Shechem where they're watching the sheep. And as he goes, they're not there. So he goes and finds them in Dothan. And there they see him a long way off and they say, hey, now's our chance. Dad's way far away at home. We can get rid of this guy.

And so they conspired to kill him, but that doesn't, you know, it doesn't really pan out as they're talking about it. Reuben convinces them, let's just cast him into a pit because he thought I can save his life later on. And so they cast him into the pit, but then while he's in the pit...

they see this caravan coming through, these Ishmaelites coming through on their way to Egypt. And they decide, hey, you know, he is our brother. Maybe we shouldn't kill him. Maybe we could just make some money off him. And so they sell Joseph to these Ishmaelites as they pass by. We see that in verses 25 through 36. And so he's sold as a slave to the Ishmaelites as they journey on their way to Egypt.

Here's a map of Joseph and the things that went on. Now he's down near Mamre there, also known as Hebron. And so he heads up to Shechem and then on to Dothan there, the north of the map there. And so he heads up there. That's where he catches up with his brothers. And then that's where they see the Ishmaelites coming from the Gilead off the other side of the Jordan River. They cross over and they're heading down to Egypt.

Here's kind of a more complete map. Thanks for the cursor on the screen. So they would have started over there.

east of the Jordan River, crossed over the river, gone down next to the Mediterranean Sea and then over to Egypt on their trade route. And so this was a common route that they would go back and forth to trade with. And so as they're on their way, then the brothers catch up to them, sell Joseph to them, and he's transported to Egypt and sold as a slave.

Now, to go from Canaan to Egypt, it's roughly estimated about 300 miles, depending exactly on, you know, where you started, where you stopped, and what route you took. But it's a safe distance or safe estimate that it was about 300 miles to go from Canaan to Egypt.

So the maps paint a little bit of a picture, but also I want to paint a different picture with looking at Joseph's age throughout these events, because it is interesting to understand how old he was as these things were happening. Joseph was born while Jacob was in Haran. And so when Jacob leaves Haran, Joseph is about six years old at that time.

Then in Genesis 37, where we are right now, Joseph is about 17 years old. And so he's, you know, grown up a little bit, but he's not really fully an adult yet. He's mostly just a teenager. And then in Genesis 40, we're kind of jumping ahead quite a bit. But in Genesis 40, that's where, or that's how old he was when the prisoners shared their dreams with him and he interpreted them. He was about 28 years old at that time.

In Genesis 35, which that's going backwards, right? But that's where it's recorded for us that Isaac died. And so at Isaac's death, Joseph would have been 29 years old. So actually when Isaac died, Joseph was already in Egypt for some time. In Genesis 41, we'll see him be put in charge of Egypt. And that was done when Joseph was about 30 years old.

In Genesis 41, we also see the famine beginning. That happens when he's about 37. And then his family comes in Genesis 46 when he is about 39 years old. And then we jump to his death there in Genesis 50 at 110 years old. So he's a very young man as he's going through these things. And really kind of his early adult years are spent in this famine.

predicament of being a slave, being in prison, and then being thrust into great power in the land of Egypt. So there's a lot happening in his life and it's at a very young age for him. So we see definitely God's hand in this as God was preparing him for the responsibility and the role that he would have.

Well, in Genesis chapter 38, we take a break from the life of Joseph for a moment to continue on the genealogy of Jesus by looking at Judah. In Genesis 38 verse 26, it says, So Judah acknowledged them and said, She, that's Tamar, has been more righteous than I because I did not give her to Shelah my son, and he never knew her again.

What we have happening here in Genesis chapter 38 is the recording of Judah and his sons. He has three sons and he obtains a wife for his first son. The wife is named Tamar.

But something was going on with Judah's sons because, well, they were completely wicked, so much so that it says God killed them. So, Er was a wicked man, and so God killed him. And so, you have this woman now, Tamar, who is a widow.

And the custom and the tradition for them, which later on became included in the law in Deuteronomy chapter 25, the custom was that when there was a older brother who was married and there was no children from the marriage, that if that brother died, then the next in line, the next brother is to marry that woman, to bring forth a child in his brother's name, to carry on the line of his brother.

And so this is what happens. Er is struck by the Lord and he dies. And so Judah says, all right, Onan, you got to, you know, step up. You got to be with Tamar and you got to bring forth a son in your brother's name. That'll be, you know, his descendant. But Onan, of course, is wicked as well. And so God strikes him. So

Three strikes, you're out. Tamar, we're not going to give you a chance with Shayla, Judah says. So two of his sons died with this woman. It wasn't her fault. She didn't do anything wrong. Understand that. But Shayla's younger. And so Judah says, hey, Tamar, go back to your dad's house. And then when Shayla's old, then you two can be married and carry on the lineage of Ur, your original husband.

But of course, Judah has no intention of doing that because he's already lost two sons and he's fearful of this third son being lost as well. But then in Genesis 38, what we have here is this relationship that takes place between Judah and Tamar there in verses 12 through 23.

And so she disguises herself as a harlot or as a prostitute when she knows that he's on the way. And so she kind of tricks him to have sexual relations with her. She conceives and that way,

the line of the Messiah is carried on. It's kind of, you know, not a glorious moment, you know, in the genealogy of Jesus, but it is glorious for the grace of God as it demonstrates that even though we're bozos and we mess up and we do stupid things, that God can still use it.

And so Tamar gives birth to twins there in verses 24 through 30. And those twins now are going to be carrying on the line of Judah and specifically the line of the Messiah. So here again is a picture of that. So you have Jacob and his sons. Judah is the fourth son that we're talking about here.

his three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah. And then Er has Perez and Zerah. Now it goes on through Er because again, the idea was that the offspring was to carry on the name of that husband who had died. And so Perez now becomes the next link in the line of the Messiah. And we'll follow on from there in later chapters looking at the genealogy of Jesus.

So that's Judah's family and Genesis chapter 38. Now as we go on into chapter 39, we're resuming again with the life of Joseph and the things that were happening there in Egypt. Genesis 39 verse 4 is the key verse. It says, "...so Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority."

Here in Genesis chapter 39, we see this incredible account of Joseph as he is sold as a slave, but then becomes, well, a person of authority in the house of Potiphar.

Now as you look at the life of Joseph, the account here that's recorded for us, really you have this incredible and amazing story of patience, of faithfulness, of diligence, and how God is working through the midst of these terrible things. You and I today, we have lots of verses that we hold on to. One in particular is Romans chapter 8 verse 28.

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Now you and I have that written down and so we quote it, we hold on to it.

Joseph seemed to know this verse already, even though it had not been recorded, in that he is trusting God to work through all of these terrible circumstances that he's going through. And here in the life of Joseph, we can see and understand that God sees the big picture. And through the midst of these things that we're reading about here, God is orchestrating things

Well, that are really hard to believe if you're in Joseph's shoes, right? He would never thought if he said, well, Joseph, you're sold into slavery, but in a few years, you're going to be second in command over all of Egypt. That would have been really hard for Joseph to believe. Well,

Or if you would have explained to him, God's going to use this and you're going to save your whole family and not just your whole family, but you're going to save other nations and the whole nation of Egypt with the wisdom and insight that God has given to you. That just would have not computed at all.

Because God is working behind the scenes and orchestrating things in ways, well, we just can't quite understand it because God's ways are not our ways. And so as we look at the life of Joseph, he's really a great example for us of trusting in God, believing that God will work all these things together for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. We also see that Joseph is a man of purity.

He's made the overseer or the steward of Potiphar's house there in verses 1 through 6. And so he's kind of risen to power over a certain amount of time. We don't know exactly how much time. But Potiphar notices him. He says, wow, you're a good worker. God blesses everything you do.

And so he puts him in charge. And in this position of being in charge now, Potiphar's wife really is attracted to him. He catches her attention. And so she is pursuing him religiously. That's not really a good use of the word religious. But she is pursuing him relentlessly. How about that one? That's better. She is constantly saying, Joseph.

Come on, let's go to bed. Joseph, come on, let's go. Joseph, lie with me. Joseph. Day after day, it says non-stop, she is pursuing Joseph. Joseph.

But we see the great integrity and purity of Joseph as he refuses, as he resists, as he continues to insist. And he says, how could I sin against God in this way? He recognizes not only would it be a violation of Potiphar's trust and all those things, but in reality, this is a sin against God. He says, look, God's been with me. I cannot sin against him in this way.

We see there in Genesis 39 verse 21 that the Lord continues to be with Joseph even though he's put into prison through no fault of his own. You read the account. He walks into the house one day and she's set up things perfectly for her plan. She's kicked everybody out of the house. So Joseph walks in. It's just them two. And she says, now's my chance. She grabs hold of him and

And he takes off, leaves the outer garment in her hands, and he takes off running. And so she accuses him, she's upset by this, and so she accuses him of trying to rape her, and Potiphar ends up throwing him in prison. And yet, in the midst of that, verse 21, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

And so we see all throughout this, God is pointing out, God is with Joseph. He sold into slavery, but God is with him. He's thrust into prison, but God is with him. And Joseph is not going through any of this for any fault of his own. It's not that, you know, Joseph was really rebellious and so God was using these things to break him and correct him and, you know, bring him back to righteousness. No.

The scripture gives no indication of that at all. Joseph was walking with the Lord. He was doing what he was instructed to do. And there he is going through these great difficult trials. Enduring affliction. Enduring this suffering through no wrongdoing of his own. 1 Peter tells us in 1 Peter chapter 2. He says it's commendable if because of conscience towards God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. That really pictures for us the life of Joseph. He was taking it patiently. He was suffering. He was put into slavery. He was put into prison, but he took it patiently.

It's commendable before God. Again, we see this incredible example in Joseph as he stands for righteousness, as he stands for purity, as he waits, as he trusts God through the midst of these insane trials. I mean, if you and I were in this situation, I wonder how we would respond. I wonder what our

would be? Would we be complaining bitterly against God? Would we give up on God? What would we do? Who knows? But Joseph here serves as a great example for us. Now, he's in prison for at least two years. We don't know exactly how long, but we know it's two years from the time that he interprets the prisoner's dreams to the time that he gets out. So it's at least two years. It could be a year or two before that as well. We don't know for sure.

He was a slave then for the other remainder of the time. So probably about 11 years as a slave and two years in prison or 10 years as a slave and three years in prison. It all works out to about 13 years that this whole trial and ordeal is going through. I like what David Guzik says about this part of Joseph's life. He says, during the times we think God isn't doing anything, he is doing the work most important to him.

developing our character and transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. Like Joseph, we go through things that we don't understand. Some of the things we do deserve, but we go through these trials and it seems like God is not doing anything. And David Guzik points out, it's during those times when we think, where are you God? What are you doing? How come you're not saving me? How come you're not working out this situation? Well, that's when God's doing the work that's most important.

where he's working within us, developing our character and transforming us into the image of Jesus. And so this 13 years for Joseph, as he's there as a slave, as he's put in prison, these are character-building years, these are transformation years, these are preparation years for Joseph, for the work that God is going to be doing through him.

And we'll see that develop over the next couple of chapters. Let's head on into chapter 40. Verse 5 is the key verse. It says, Then the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream. Both of them, each man's dream in one night, and each man's dream with its own interpretation. So now Joseph is there in prison and...

He's been given favor, so he's been kind of put in authority over the prison. And so although he's a prisoner, he's given charge of other prisoners and he tends to them and takes care of them. Well, during this time, verses 1 through 8 tell us that the butler and the baker of the Pharaoh are put in prison.

And as they're there in prison, they each have a dream. They both wake up in the morning and they say, man, I had a weird dream. Oh, you did? I had a weird dream too. And so they're understanding there's some significance. And Joseph walks in and he sees that they're sad. He sees that there's something going on. I love this about Joseph because we see even though he's in prison, he's paying enough attention to other people to recognize Joseph.

Oh, you're hurting. You're sad. You got some trouble and affliction. Oh, what's going on? How can I help? We see really a little bit of a glimpse of Joseph's heart throughout these chapters where he's not bitter and angry. I'm sure he's confused and he doesn't know exactly what God's doing. And he's not saying, oh, this is great. You know, I just want to kick back in prison for the rest of my life. He's not saying that either. We'll see that in this chapter as well. But at the same time, he's not

He's not upset at God. He's not, you know, caught up in his own self and consumed in his self and in bitterness and anger. He's, well, he's still seeing the needs of others and giving of himself to minister to those people, to meet those needs. It's really incredible, this example we have in Joseph. And so he sees the butler and the baker. They each have a dream.

And so Joseph says, well, God is able to interpret dreams. And so tell me the dream. And so in verses 9 through 19, we have Joseph interpreting the dreams as God gives him the insight into what the dreams mean. And so the dreams basically mean that in three days, something big is going to happen.

The baker, he's going to be put to death. The butler is going to be restored back to his position as Pharaoh's butler. Now what was happening here, we don't know exactly, but many scholars believe that what took place was an assassination attempt on the Pharaoh.

And so basically the butler and the baker were both suspects in this plot against Pharaoh. And so they were put in prison to, you know, allow the investigation to go on and find out who is at fault. And then at the end of the three days is when that...

investigation was concluded. The baker was determined to be guilty and so he was put to death. But the butler was proven to be innocent and so he went back to work for Pharaoh as his butler.

And so we have Joseph here interpreting the dreams. Then in verse 20 through 23, those dreams are fulfilled. So Joseph says, look, in three days, this is going to happen to you. This is going to happen to you. And then after three days came by, then that's exactly what happened. The dreams were fulfilled. The interpretation was fulfilled.

But we see Joseph say, hey, Mr. Butler, when you get out, remember me. Remember, I helped you. I interpreted for you. Remember? Remember me, okay? And so he, again, he's not just saying, I just want to stay in prison. This is wonderful. He's saying, I want out. But he's got a great heart about it. He's not bitter and angry. He's not caught up in that and consumed with himself.

He's saying, hey, just remember me. And hey, if God wants to use you to bring me out, then I'd really love that. You know, I don't want to stay in here. But we see there at the end of chapter 40, verse 23, that the butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. And so for another two years, Joseph is going to continue on in prison.

Now at this time, again, Joseph is about 28 years old. And so he has kind of grown into an adult now. He's now a man, but he's spent his last 10 years, 11 years in slavery and now in prison. He's going to spend another two years in prison. And then something amazing is going to happen as God puts him in charge of the nation of Egypt.

Well, that brings us to chapter 41 of Genesis. The key verse is verse 15. So here in chapter 41, Pharaoh now has a dream. There in verses 1 through 8.

It's actually two dreams, and they're really troubling to him. I mean, he recognizes this isn't just, you know, I had a bad dream or a silly dream. He recognizes, no, there's some significance to this. And so he calls all his magicians and leaders together. Tell me what this dream means, but they're unable to. And as that's going on, the butler remembers, oh, Joseph,

He could interpret dreams. I totally forgot about him. And so he tells Joseph, or tells Pharaoh, hey, there was this guy when I was in prison, and he interpreted my dream, and he could probably interpret your dream too. And so there in verses 9 through 24, Joseph is now brought to the Pharaoh. And the Pharaoh says, hey, I hear you can interpret dreams. But again, we see such an incredible example in Joseph. Because what does he say? He says...

interpreting dreams belongs to God. It's God who can do that. It's not in me. It's not my power. It's not my wisdom or my insight or my, you know, my great education. It's God who can do it. And so Joseph is careful to give God all the glory. And so Joseph hears the dreams from Pharaoh and

God gives him the interpretation. He shares it with Pharaoh. And the interpretation is basically this. There's going to be seven good years where there's lots of crops. There's great abundance. Things are going to be wonderful. But then after those seven years are completed, right upon their heels are going to be seven bad years of great famine. And the famine is going to be very severe and devastating.

And that's what those dreams mean. And so Joseph now gives him some advice. He says, so what you need to do, Pharaoh, is you need to prepare. You got seven good years, so get ready. Here's what you do. Put a man in charge of this. Collect this much and so on and so forth. Make these preparations so that when the famine comes, then you'll have those resources that you can pull from in order to provide for the people.

Pharaoh hears the idea. He looks around at his servants. He says, who's more wise than this guy who has the spirit of God within him? Again, Joseph, we see he's just, he's shining forth God. He's giving glory to God. He's

Being a great example for us. Many, many things that we could look at here. But he looks at Joseph. He says, there's no one like this guy. The spirit of God is in him. So Joseph, you're the man. I'm putting you second in charge of the nation of Egypt. The only person higher than you is me, Pharaoh. What an incredible move of God. To go from, I mean, you talk about rags to riches, right? To go from prison to

To that afternoon, you are second in charge of the world empire of the day. I mean, this was an incredible work of God. Incredible work of God. Well, then in verse 46 through 57, we see the famine now hits the land and becomes very severe.

Now, as we look at this part in Joseph's life, you know, this really resonates with me because it goes along with what I've experienced of God working. And I share it with you just briefly, but a lot of times in our lives, we can look around and we can think, man, what is God doing? It really doesn't seem like you're in the midst of this situation, God. It seems like you're really not doing anything.

And often that goes on for a long time. There's a good season where it's like, what's happening? I don't see God working. I don't see God. I don't see his purposes. I don't see his plans in these situations. There's all this difficulty and affliction. But God, I don't see what you're doing through this. And so you're praying and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying and you're praying. But nothing seems to be happening. But then God says, okay, now it's time.

And then, bam, it all happens at once. I don't know if that's your experience, but in my experience, that's many times how God works. You know, you're praying for something. You're praying for deliverance. You're praying for victory. You're praying for, you know, something over here, over there. And it just seems like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing is happening. And then all of a sudden, it's not really overnight because God's been using all this time to set it up, but it's all behind the scenes. You can't really see what's going on. And then the time comes.

And boom, God makes it happen. This is the way many times God works. And so many times we're in prison. We've been in slavery for, you know, 10 years and we don't understand. It doesn't seem like God's doing anything. But then God says, well, here's what I'm doing. I'm setting it up. I'm preparing it. And now, Joseph, you're in charge of Egypt.

Now, as we look at this encounter with Joseph and the Pharaoh or the king of Egypt, many people wonder, well, who is this? Is there, you know, secular history that goes along with this? This is from Answers in Genesis. There's a couple different accountings of time periods for the Egyptian pharaohs and stuff. So I'm relying upon them and their expertise because there's other accountings as well. But this is a good example.

glimpse at who the pharaohs were. So back in Genesis chapter 12, when Abraham went to Egypt, he had contact with Pharaoh probably, I don't know how you pronounce that, Khufu, something like that. And so that was who was in charge of Egypt in that day. Here in chapter 41 verse 15, Joseph is speaking with Sessostris I, who is the pharaoh in that time.

Later on in Exodus chapter 1, we'll get to in a couple weeks, is the Pharaoh that began to oppress Israel. And that's Cessus Trist the third. And then in Exodus chapter 5, we'll be dealing a lot with that Pharaoh who is saying, no, your people can't go out into the wilderness. Moses says, God says, let my people go. That's Nephihotep the first. So in case you want to know, in case you want to look those up and consider some of the Egyptian history,

then you can do that there. Also, answers in Genesis also suggest that Joseph is also probably identified in Egyptian history as Mentuhotep, who is the prime minister of Egypt under Sesostris I. So if you want to look up those things, you're able to kind of dig in a little bit more and see some of the history there.

Again, Joseph's age here, he's in chapter 41. He's 30 years old as he stands before Pharaoh. There's seven good years. And then the famine begins when he's about 37. And so that's when, you know, his brothers are now going to come visit him. And so he's grown up now. He's 30 to 37 during this time as he's in charge and collecting the grain, putting everything in place in order for them to be prepared for this famine.

Well, also there is Joseph is given this great position. He's also given a wife and he begins now to have his own family with two sons that are born. And so here we have Joseph's family. Now, again, this is Jacob and all his 12 sons. And there under Joseph, you see Manasseh as well as Ephraim.

Now you can tell, again, a little bit of a glimpse of Joseph's heart through all of this by the way that he names his sons. Manasseh, his firstborn, means one who forgets or forgetfulness. And so he's saying, I've forgotten. God's done such a good work. I suffered for such a long time, but God's helping me to forget that. And so you can understand that Joseph was

You know, although he went through those things and we look and we say, wow, what a great example. He went through those trials with flying colors. It didn't mean that it wasn't hard for him. He had things that he wanted to forget. There was hurt. There was heartache that he didn't want to keep with him. And so God was, through Manasseh, helping him to forget.

And then we also see him have another son named Ephraim, which means fruitfulness. And so God is doing a new work is the idea that Joseph is saying here. He's helping me to forget. He's giving me new fruits, a new kind of chapter in my life. And so you see a little bit of a glimpse of Joseph and that, you know, he was not just, you know, some guy who nothing bothered him. He didn't really care. You know, it didn't really matter if all these bad things happened. These were hurtful. You know, they were real for him.

And yet God was able to bring him through. Well, now that we have Manasseh and Ephraim in the picture, I want to kind of give you a glimpse here of the tribes of Israel.

Because Jacob's 12 sons become the tribes of Israel, except for Joseph actually is replaced by Manasseh and Ephraim. You'll see this in the reading this week, but just to kind of give you a glimpse of that so you can understand it when you get to it. So all of the other sons, each of them become a tribe of the nation of Israel. But Joseph...

He actually is split into two tribes. And so instead of 12 tribes of the nation of Israel, there's actually 13 tribes to the nation of Israel as Manasseh becomes its own tribe and then Ephraim becomes its own tribe. And so you'll see that happen this week.

As we read through our portion and finish up the book of Genesis this week, you'll see the blessings and Jacob tell Joseph, hey, I'm taking your two sons as my own. And so that makes it the 13 tribes of the nation of Israel. We'll deal with that more in the book of Exodus as well. But just to give you a glimpse of that. Well, we finish it off this evening in Genesis chapter 42. Verse 3 is the key verse.

So Joseph's 10 brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. So the famine has hit the land and it's not just in the region of Egypt that has been affected, but also the land of Canaan where Joseph's family is. They are also experiencing this famine and this severe drought.

And so there in verses 1 through 8, we have Joseph's brothers now going to Egypt to get grain in order to bring back to feed the family. They had to go to Egypt in order to get the food. Well, Joseph there begins to

Throw some curveballs at them, what they weren't expecting. He accuses them of being spies. He demands that they bring back Benjamin to prove that they're not spies, that they really are who they say they are. And we see that there in verses 9 through 24 as they come to Egypt to buy food. Well, ultimately there in verses 25 through 38, Joseph's brothers return home with their food and

Minus one brother, Simeon, stays behind in prison as security for them to come back with Benjamin later on. And that's where we ended up in our portion today. Tomorrow, as we continue on in the reading, we'll get to see that take place as Benjamin is brought back or brought to Egypt and the things that happen now as this story continues to develop.

A couple interesting things here in chapter 42. You get a glimpse not only of Joseph through these things, but you also get a glimpse of the heart of Joseph's brothers as their conscience is really convicting them. They're quick to decide or they're quick to say, oh man, we're having this trouble because of what we did to Joseph. And so although it's, you know, 20 years later,

They still have this heavy conviction of what they did to Joseph and selling him into slavery. And they didn't know, they didn't recognize that it was Joseph. And so something bad was happening, someone's giving him a hard time. Oh man, this is because I messed up and I sold Joseph into slavery. And so it was just this burden of guilt that was looming over them.

And it had become quite a, you know, a thing for them. So even, I think it's interesting there in verse, was it verse 1? It says, verse 1, when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, why do you look at one another? And so you can kind of look at that two ways. This could be saying, why do you look at one another about the food situation? Or it could be saying, hey, why are you guys looking at each other like that?

with this thought of Egypt because they sold Joseph into slavery into Egypt through the Ishmaelites. And so it could be that they heard Egypt and they're like, oh man, they're just reminded of what they did. And they're looking at each other like, oh my God, is Pop going to find out now? Is he going to understand or is he going to know what happened? What's going on? And they're reminded of what they did in selling Joseph into slavery.

So we get to see their conscience as it comes out now. And they're like, oh man, this is happening because we sold our brother into slavery. Now, another interesting thing that I think is important for Genesis 42 is verse 9. It says, then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them and said to them, you are spies. You have come to see the nakedness of the land. When Joseph begins to treat them harshly,

It says there in the first part of verse 9, it's a direct result from him remembering the dreams which he had dreamed about his brothers. I think this is really important because, well, it's easy to look at chapter 42 and consider that Joseph is just trying to get even with his brothers. He's just given them a hard time because of what they did to him. And so he's just trying to get back at them.

But I really have a completely different perspective of Joseph than that. And I think that it doesn't match up with his character that we've seen all along in his life. And what we see here is Joseph is remembering the dreams which he dreamed about his brothers. And in the dream, all of his brothers were there, those sheaves of wheat, they were bowing down to him. And so Joseph knew that

God wanted to bring all the brothers to Egypt. And then there was the second dream where it was all the brothers plus the sun and the moon. The whole family was there bowing down to Joseph. And so Joseph knew what God wanted to do. And so I would suggest to you that Joseph is not just, you know, bitter and angry and just having some fun trying to get back at his brothers. He's not just

But he is obedient to God. We even get to see this in his heart when he's overwhelmed. He's got to turn away. He's weeping as he hears them talking about, oh, this is happening because of what we did to Joseph. You see, he's not angry at them. He's not bitter towards them. If it was up to him, I think Joseph would say, hey guys, I'm Joseph. Everything's okay. You know, I'll give you everything you need.

But it's not really up to him. God's giving him instruction and reminding him of those dreams so that he does the work that God wants him to do. And so I believe that Joseph is still being obedient and faithful to the Lord through the midst of this in his treatment of his brothers in this way. And it's not just him being vindictive or trying to get back at his brothers.

And so there's some amazing things here in the account of Joseph. Again, he's such a great example for us, an example of purity, an example really of not being bitter as he's able to see the needs of others even in the midst of his prison experience. He's faithful.

and diligent, even under harsh and unfair circumstances. Through all of it, he's trusting God. He's making sure to give God glory. I mean, over and over again, we have these incredible examples in the life of Joseph. And so there's some great things there for us to glean from and for God to speak to our hearts. But one final thing I'd like to share in closing, as we see Joseph interpret the dream for Pharaoh. He said, there's gonna be seven good years,

and then seven bad years. And so the counsel he gives to Pharaoh is, use these good years to prepare for the bad years. And I think that this is an important principle for you and I today. Use the good seasons to prepare for the difficult ones. You don't know what's around the corner. Well, God may give you a dream and reveal it to you, but generally that's just not the case.

And so you and I, while we have opportunity, it's easy to, you know, while we have the good times, just kick back and relax and put our feet up and, you know, not really be serious about life or our spiritual walk. But I would suggest to you that God would say, look, you have times of abundance right now. You have times where you can relax a little bit. It's okay to relax. It's okay to enjoy life. But you also need to prepare.

Notice Joseph didn't say, all right, during these seven years of abundance, we need to take 90% of what the land produces. No, he said 20%. Take one-fifth of what the land produces this year. And that will supply us for those difficult years. So I'm not saying, you know, don't have a good time, never enjoy life. But I'm saying, look, when there's good seasons in your life, you all know what it's like. There's really tough seasons in our life and then there's good seasons in our life. And it comes in waves and it comes and goes.

And in those good seasons, we need to be diligent. You know, during the hard times, we're seeking the Lord, we're praying, we're searching the scriptures like, oh man, Lord, speak to me. And then the good seasons come and we're like, ooh, what's on TV? You know, we're just flipping the channel, just having a good time, right? 20%, give 20% towards your preparation for the things that are to come. Take some time. It doesn't have to be all your time that your life has to be consumed, but take some time to seek the Lord.

You know, when your schedule loosens, you're like, alright, finally I can just, you know, sleep in, I can relax. That might be the time that it's most important for you to get to church or to get involved in some way or to serve in some capacity or attend a Bible study. Use those good seasons to prepare for the bad. Now, that's for those who are in the good seasons, right? The relaxed seasons. What about those who are in the hard seasons? In those seasons, we have the example of Joseph, right?

And so for those of you who are really going through it right now, I mean times are tough, things are difficult, let God prepare you for what He's going to do next. Trust Him. Be faithful. Be diligent. Don't be bitter. Don't be angry. Let go of those things and really trust God because those hard years also are preparation for the next season. Every season is preparation for the next season.

The good seasons, we need to prepare. The bad seasons, we need to let God prepare us for the work that He's going to do. And so we surrender to Him and submit to Him. And we are obedient as He speaks to us and directs us. And so the lesson we see here from the life of Joseph, at least the element that God highlighted for me to share with you, is that we need to be prepared. And if things are good, prepare yourself. And give some extra time.

To equip yourself to prepare yourself for the next season. And if things are really tough, then look at the example of Joseph and learn to trust God like that and rest in Him. And be diligent and faithful even though things are so difficult. Let's pray. God, as we look at these examples and this call to preparation, I pray that You would help us to prepare. Lord, that we wouldn't just...

Take things for granted that everything's going to continue tomorrow as it was today. That we don't have to worry about the next season or nothing bad is going to happen or nothing difficult is going to hit our lives. Lord, I pray that you would help us to see the urgency and the need. Lord, that while things are good, we need to prepare. We need to seek you. We need to give you extra time so that you can work in us and establish in us those things that are so necessary that will carry us through.

The next season, that will be much more difficult. So Lord, help us to seek you. And Lord, for those who are going through great difficulty, Lord, we see that it says that you are with Joseph and you showed him mercy. God, I pray that you would help those who are struggling, who are going through such great difficulty. Lord, that they would know, first of all, that you're with them.

And if you're with them, who can be against them? But secondly, that you're also showing them mercy. And Lord, it doesn't feel like that in the moment. But Lord, you are. You're showing mercy. And you're at work and you're doing things behind the scenes. And so God, help them to trust you.

To believe you at your word that you work all things together for good to those who love you and are called according to your purpose. And so God, I pray that you would draw us near to yourself. Lord, that we would seek you, that we would love you. Lord, that we would be those who are called according to your purpose. Lord, that you might work all things together for good. That you might be glorified and that your name might be known through us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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