The Bible Recap - Day 024 (Genesis 35-37) - Year 3

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Yesterday, we left off with Jacob's son, Simian and Levi, slaughtering all the men of Shechem, the town that just moved to, in order to avenge the rape of their sister Dina. Today, we see Jacob and his family preparing to move out of Shechem. Good call. As he packs up, Jacob makes it known to all of his family that from here on out, they're only going to worship Yahweh,

Starting point is 00:00:34 and he buries all their gods. As they pass through the nearby cities, God made all the locals afraid of them. We don't know how he did it, but God actually created terror in the hearts of those who oppose him, in order to protect his people. This is the only place in the whole Bible where this Hebrew word for terror is used. Most of the time when we refer to things like the fear of God, it means something different

Starting point is 00:00:58 than this word being used here. Usually, it carries a connotation of reverence and awe, but here, this word has only the connotation of sheer terror. We'll talk about this more in a future episode, but I just wanted to plant that seed while we're here. God called Jacob to settle in Bethel. You may remember Bethel as the place where God appeared to Jacob in his famous ladder dream. Back then, in chapter 28, Jacob set up a pagan pillar on that spot. But he's a new man now with a new heart, so God sends him back and he replaces the pillar with an altar. Just like the altar he set up in yesterday's reading after he wrestled with God, this whole scene is important because it shows us Jacob's change of heart and his increased

Starting point is 00:01:42 understanding and faith. He's tearing down the old things that dishonor God. He's putting up new things that honor God and point to him. Then something happens that seems weird. God changes Jacob's name. It seems weird because we've already seen this. Is this just the same story repeated for emphasis because it's important? Possibly, it wasn't uncommon in ancient storytelling to repeat things. In fact, we saw this on day one with the creation of humans in Genesis 1 and 2. God didn't create them twice. He just told us about it twice.

Starting point is 00:02:17 Maybe you're wondering also why God keeps switching back and forth between the names Jacob and Israel, especially after he's changed his name at least once. Well, a lot of people think the switching back and forth is a subtle way of indicating which direction Jacob's heart is focused at the time. Jacob is the old man who looks to himself, but Israel is the new man who looks to God. There's an anonymous poem I love that illustrates this back and forth between being Jacob and being Israel. It's only four lines and it goes like this. Two natures beat within my breast. The one is foul, the one is blessed.

Starting point is 00:02:52 The one I love, the one I hate, the one I feed will dominate. Sometimes scripture gives us a little bit of an insight into which nature Jacob slash Israel is feeding just by his name. But to be fair, the name switching also could just be for the sake of clarity. Since by the time Genesis was written down, the name Israel had come to represent far more than just Jacob. While they're at Bethel, God blesses Jacob and reiterates his covenant promise to this family of people to be their God and establish them in the land he gave them. And again, he points out that it's going to be about way more than just them.

Starting point is 00:03:30 He says, a nation and a company of nations shall come from you. At some point, they continued on to Ephraff and Rachel had a baby along the way. Did this surprise you guys? Do you remember all that back and forth between Rachel and Leah about children? I'm shocked that we didn't even get a hint that Rachel was pregnant again, and here she is giving birth to Benjamin Jacob's 13th child. She dies in labor, and Jacob puts a pillar over her tomb. Now don't let that pillar alarm you, not all pillars are bad. This particular pillar was more of a memorial or a marking stone than a pagan worship site. After all this, Jacob goes to visit his father Isaac,

Starting point is 00:04:08 whom he hasn't seen since he tricked him decades ago. And shortly after he visits him, Isaac dies. Jacob has lost his beloved wife and his dad in a short time frame. The timing of God's blessing and promise to Jacob was perfectly suited to the time when God knew he was bringing Isaac's days on earth to a close. A time when God knew Jacob would need to be reminded of his nearness. Chapter 36 gives us a long line of Esau's descendants. This is the longest genealogy we've hit so far, but it's still far from the longest.

Starting point is 00:04:42 If you struggle with reading a list of names like this, we've got a short encouraging article for you in the show notes today. I want to encourage you in genealogies to let your eyes fall on every word. They are there with intention. Genealogies have helped us link archaeology to scripture in places where secular historians have previously been dismissive. They established timelines and bloodlines,

Starting point is 00:05:05 and they occasionally give us some foreshadowing. There's even some in there for you today. In chapter 37, we meet Joseph again, and we're going to be in history for a bad week, so let's make sure we know who he is first. Joseph was the first son of Rachel, Jacob's second, but preferred wife, so Jacob's affection for him was several notches above that of his brothers. Joseph and his brothers didn't have a great relationship, which is nothing new for this family, but it was only made worse by Jacob's preferential treatment of him. The most well-known instance of this was when Jacob made Joseph a really fancy robe. And it's up for debate, but the actual Hebrew word used here probably describes a long robe with long sleeves, not a multi-killered robe, and certainly not a techniculler dream coat. And I'm sorry if that crushes you.

Starting point is 00:05:54 Joseph had a dream that his brothers would worship him, which is honestly the kind of thing you should keep to yourself, no one wants to hear anyone's dreams, and especially not that kind. But in a move that was either foolish or arrogant or possibly both, Joseph told his brothers about that dream, and they hated him even more for it. As a result of all this, Joseph's brothers conspired to kill him, but his oldest brother Ruben pipes up and saves his life. Earlier in chapter 35, there were these two short sentences that told us Ruben had slept with one of his father's concubines, which was basically his stepmother, and his father found out about it. Some people believe this was Ruben's attempt to win back his dad's favor,

Starting point is 00:06:35 but others believe he just had mercy on Joseph. And that's where I land as well. I'll tell you why in a minute. Joseph's brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites, who were descendants of Guess Who? Ishmael. These were semi-close blood relatives, remember, but they didn't worship Yahweh. This group is also called the Midianites, which is another line from Abraham. Since they're referred to as both the Ishmaelites and the Midianites, it's likely that there may have been some intermarriage or partnership between the two groups. They bought Joseph and took him south to Egypt and sold him into slavery to a man named Potterfer, who was pretty high up in the ranks of Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. Meanwhile, Joseph's brother sent his robe, covered in goats' blood, back to his father Jacob, who is inconsolable.

Starting point is 00:07:21 This scene is a bit of a flashback to the time Jacob deceived his own father Isaac, using a stolen cloak and a slaughtered goat. What did you see about God in the midst of Jacob's trips to Bethel, Rachel's and Isaac's deaths, Esau's descendants, and Joseph's enslavement? Here's my God shot. There are a lot of obvious things that I wanted to latch onto and share with you, but this phrase kept jumping off the page at me, so forgive me if it seems like I'm reaching here. In 3722, when Rubin is trying to convince the brothers not to put Joseph to death, it says his hope is that he might restore him to his father. Rubin, the older brother, intervenes on behalf of the one who has gotten himself into big trouble.

Starting point is 00:08:07 He demands that they not shed his blood and ultimately saves his life that he might restore him to his father. Does that remind you of anything? Jesus, our older brother, intervenes for us. And because of his intercession and intervention, our lives are spared, that we might be restored to our Father.

Starting point is 00:08:30 Today Rubin showed me a picture of Jesus, an imperfect one for sure, but he reminded me of the great intervening hand of God in a world where I have been the cause of my own demise and I cannot save myself. He intervenes to restore me to my father, and he's where the joy is. The Bible recap is going to Israel, and we want you to join us. To find out more about our trip, visit mydgroup.org or word slash Israel and fill out the interest form. Then we'll send you details on the upcoming trip. You can also swipe up in the show notes for a direct link.

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The Bible Recap - Day 024 (Genesis 35-37) - Year 3

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