So, I actually did the reading this morning, but I ran out of time to do a blog post. Which means that I had all day to think about what I read. Which I didn't do. As I said, busy busy.
Anyway, today I read Genesis 35-37.
And a lot happens in these chapters.
First, Jacob moves to Bethel, and God officially renames him Israel, and tells him that he will become the father of a great nation.
Which makes sense, because Jacob has a lot of kids. Twelve sons and who knows how many daughters.
That's right. I said twelve sons.
Sons of Leah:
Reuben (firstborn)
Simeon
Levi
Judah
Issachar
Zebulun
Sons of Rachel:
Joseph
Benjamin
Sons of Bilhah (Rachel's maid):
Dan
Naphtali
Sons of Zilpah (Leah's maid):
Gad
Asher
Any of these names sound familiar?
What about Joseph?
See, what happens next is a familiar story to most people.
Joseph has these dreams, visions from God, of the future. Later, we learn that Joseph has also been given the gift from God of interpreting dreams. But we aren't there yet. Right now, he's dreaming the dreams.
So, Joseph tells his brothers about these dreams he has about his brothers bowing to him, where he is in an exalted place above them.
And this makes his brothers very angry.
In fact, it makes most of his brothers angry enough to want to kill him.
If not for Reuben (good ol' Reuben), they might have.
See, this is the part of the story I don't remember. According to Genesis 37:21, "But Reuben heard this [their plot to kill Joseph] and rescue him out of their hands and said, 'Let us not take his life.'"
What I remembered was all of his brothers except Benjamin wanting to kill him. But Reuben, the oldest, voted in favor of his younger brother, his father's favorite.
And what Reuben suggests instead is leaving Joseph in a pit until he could return the beloved son to their father.
Oh, did I mention Joseph is Jacob's favorite? No? Oops. That's pretty important. It's also a reason his brothers dislike him so much. Joseph is Jacob's favorite because he was Rachel's firstborn. Remember? Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah, his first wife.
Joseph is so favored by his father, that Jacob gives him a multi-colored (read: valuable) coat.
And so most of his brothers want to kill him. But Reuben talks them out of it. However, before he can rescue Joseph, his brothers sell him into the hands of Midianite traders, who then sell him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard.
And then Joseph's brothers take a torn multi-colored coat, soaked in the blood of a goat, so Jacob believes his favorite son is dead.
It's not looking good for Joseph, is it?
What I love most about the story of Joseph is how we shouldn't lose hope no matter what happens to us.
But we aren't there yet, so today my focus is on Joseph's dreams.
Some dreams don't mean anything. You ate something weird. You watched a movie. You were thinking about people you miss. And your dream reflects that. But some dreams do mean something. And Joseph knew that his dreams meant something.
And his brothers hated him. But he still told them about the dreams.
Sometimes you may have dreams (literal sleeping dreams or something you carry inside your heart) and others may hate you for them or they may make fun of you or try to talk you out of them like you're crazy. But you know what you know, especially if you seek God in all areas of your life.
God will give you dreams. Don't be afraid of them. You don't have to tell everyone you meet, but don't be afraid to tell some people, even if they don't like your dreams.
God turns all things around for us.
Just wait and see what happens to Joseph.
Tomorrow I'll be reading Genesis 38-40.
I hope this encouraged someone today. If it's not encouraging because of what's happening to Joseph, just wait. His story gets a lot better.
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