" 'come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams.' " (Gen 37:20). This is what Joseph's brothers decide to do with Joseph one day, when he comes to where they are grazing their flocks. By this point, he has told them about the dream where they bow down to him. When I read this, it made me wonder what caused them to snap that day. Yeah, there was the dream, and him being their father's favorite, but this was their brother after all. And maybe joseph had had these types of dreams more than once, so what was it that day that caused it all to come to a boil? It had to have been more than they saw him coming. In my teaching English in china book, there is a section on common sayings that have a Chinese equivalent, and one of them is: a frozen river is not the result of one cold day(or something similar to that). And I think it applies here. Favored or not, this was still their brother, and not liking him is one thing, resenting him is one thing, not wanting anything to do with him is one thing, but killing him is something altogether different. So I wonder what the full story was, you know? Why did they snap that day? This thought just occurred to me, I can kind of relate a little to his brothers being jealous of Joseph. Brent Bailey is My Joseph. He can do no wrong. He is favored by all, and if anyone ever has to pick between us, they will always choose and favor him. People like him better than they like me, I know it. and sometimes, I do feel jealous. Its hard not to feel jealous of someone who is always and has always been the favored one, and you are not ignored but...nothing. Even in our study of this story, we all focus on Joseph, on the favored one, and not on his brothers, the unfavored ones. I remenber this one time, last february I think, the bible department at ACU was doing the interviews for summer internships, and I was sitting outside the big hall where they were interviewing people. anyways, most everyone else had left, there were few people around, and I'm sitting there, near the sign-in table, when I hear this man who must be an intervewing talking to the guy from the bible department who is in charge of the whole thing talking about Brent. And of course its all positive things: the interviweing guy was saying/gushing how Brent Bailey came to interview, and how good it went, and what a big heart Brent has, how that was obvious right away, and then the bible department guy completely agreed, and how they did not have to do anything with Brent, they just got out of his way….and im listening to this, and its nothing I don't already know and have known for years, and I was sooo glad to hear that they saw all of that too, same as me, but at the same time...i hated it.listening to them talk about him like that, it made me feel...so...so much...so much less. People will never and have never and do not talk about me like that, and it just made me feel...heartsick. Bad about myself. I hated that he is always the one favored, always the good boy that can do no wrong. And now, reading Joseph's story, I think how much worse it must have been for his brothers: they had to live with Joseph 24/7. they had to hear all the time, every day, from Jacob about how awesome Joseph was. And they had to see how Jacob preferred Joseph, every day, not escape from it. at least I can escape it. so I can relate to Joseph's brothers a little. Its tough having a Joseph in your life.
when Joseph is sold by his brothers, and then sold to the pharaoh's captain of the guard by the people his brothers sold him to, I cant help but wonder, what was going through his mind at this point. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? Did he have any idea why his brothers hated him like that? Did he know that they resented him, or did it just come from left field? Was he angry, scared, both? What was going through his mind? i suppose we'll never know.
since the story of Joseph is so familiar to me, I did not really have any specially surprising thoughts while reading it. however, I do have some thoughts on it. the story of Joseph, like I mentioned earlier, is remembered as a story of faithfulness to God, and forgiveness. Those things are in this story, but I saw something else, which I am sure is obvious to everyone, but keep in mind, I was not a bible major, I'm not an M.Div., and I did not grow up with this stuff.
"when his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything potiphar had, both in the house and in the field."(Gen 39:3-5).
This is when Joseph is first sold into Egypt. Then later, when he ends up in jail: "the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything, under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and give him success in whatever he did."(Gen 39:22-23). I started to see a pattern to Joseph's life, and the pattern is that he always found favor, and ended up being someone who was given a position of power and authority, because of the LORD. It seems to me that whether he was at home, running the household of the captain of Pharaoh's guards, or in jail, or in pharaoh's palace, the same thing ended up happening. Seems to me that we can also from Joseph's story that what God wants for our lives, cannot and will not be changed, and despite the circumstances, God will accomplish his desire for us and our lives. So it did not matter where Joseph was. Maybe, the same is true of us. Maybe, it does not matter where we are, or the circumstances. What God wants for us, will come to be, no matter what or how. I wonder if Joseph saw this pattern as well.
the part when Joseph says: "do not interpretations belong to God? tell me your dreams."(Gen 40:8), made me think that he was saying that God will interpret the dreams, not Joseph. "the chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him." (Gen 40:23).this was a verse that stuck out to me as well. We often are guilty of doing this as well. Someone helps us, and we quickly forgot them. do we ever stop to remember the guidance counselor who helped us with college applications? Do we thank the cafeteria ladies who help us stay fed? Or how about the person that approved our application for gradate school? Who hired us as a GA? Who gave us a job? The lady who was the cashier at the store? The boy who bagged our groceries? Or how about quite simply...our friends? Just made me think. Also, I found it interesting that all the magicians, wise men, etc. in all Egypt, could not interpret Pharaoh's dreams, but Joseph, a prisoner, could. Sometimes help comes from the least like and smallest places doesn't it?
I know that when Joseph's brothers come, and don't recognize him and he does recognize them but does not let them know who he is but treats them harshly, is often seen as Joseph testing them, seeing if they had changed. My opinion, as I was reading this, honestly...is that he was having some fun with them with a little bit of payback mixed in. It's like that scene in Sabrina Fair(the movie)when she comes back from Paris after 5 years and the way she dresses, looks, acts, her confidence, is so different, in a good way, that the guy whom she has been in love with for years, who ignored her who had known her for years, did not recognize her at all and she does not tell him its her. if I ran into Anthony soto, and he did not recognize me because I looked so different in a good way, and I was in a good position of authority, I would be lying my teeth out if I said I would not have some fun with him in that situation. Same if It was Trevor. Same with any girl who has ever been hurt by a guy. Same with any person whom has wronged or hurt us in the past, for whatever reason. I think he was paying them back, and having some fun with them. I'm sure that at this point, my bible degree friends are currently cringing at me, and already formulating an email to me letting me know how...not right...i am in this and why, but im not saying im right or wrong, just that that is my opinion as I read it.
"it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household."(Gen 41:51). I thought when I read this, that it sounds like God has helped Joseph move on from the troubles in his past. And now that im writing this, it does sound like he still holds a bit of a grudge, or did anyways, towards his brothers. One question I do have, that I did not understand, is why his brothers were upset when they discovered on their way back that their silver had been returned in their sacks. I found funny the part where they were talking, and not realizing that Joseph could understand everyword because he was using an interpreter. I can relate to being Joseph in this scenario. Spanish is my native language, but I don't look it and I don't really act like it or speak it a lot outside family, so I cannot tell you how many times people talk Spanish around me, not realizing I can understand every single word. Same thing with my Tattoo#3. not everyone knows I have it, so sometimes they start talking about how girls who get those type of Tattoos are doing it to get guys to look at them, to get attention, etc, not realizing I have one of those lol. I guess the lesson here is, don't ever assume.
I found towards the end of Genesis that God repeated his promise to Jacob, once again promising to bring him back to his Father's lands, making me think that maybe the promise at Jacob's Dream, of bringing him back to that land, might have meant Jacob's descendants, and not Jacob himself. And I could not understand why, why, Jacob would put his right hand on the younger son. History repeating himself. Seriously, this is starting to make me a little mad: do these people NEVER learn their lesson? do they keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, generation to generation? Finally, even towards the end, after Jacob dies, Joseph's brothers are still worried Joseph has not really forgiven them. makes me think that true forginesss is hard to give and feel, but also hard to accept. finally, when Joseph asks for his bones to be taken out of Egypt when they leave, made me think that even after all the power and authority, and good life there, he knew Egypt was not really home.
And with that, I HAVE FINISHED GENESIS!!!! It was a good book! Annoying, since people kept making the same mistakes over and over, but I had some good thoughts. I learned that even despite repeating the same mistakes, God stays with us and that God always does what He says, so He should always be believed.
now, on to Exodus! :)
