Tag: Genesis

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 43 Listen: (5:02), Read: Matthew 4 Listen: (3:09)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 43.11-14; 19-23

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

19 So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”

23 “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them

Reflection: Treasure in Our Sacks

By John Tillman

The brothers tried to pay for the grain from Egypt. Their silver ended up back in their sacks. When headed back to Egypt for more, they feared a misunderstanding.

Before they left, Jacob helped prepare a special offering of local products and things not commonly available in Egypt. Ever the schemer and diplomat, Jacob hoped these offerings would smooth things over with the harsh-tongued man his sons feared. Little did Jacob know that he had made a gift basket for his own lost son. It is hard to imagine that Joseph did not feel pangs of homesickness when he saw these familiar gifts.

We, at times, come to God as if he is a harsh-tonged bureaucrat with whom we must curry favor. We pack up our purest silver. We throw in our unique, most personal niceties. We put our best foot forward. We come to God with the false belief that we must buy blessings from him and the false pride that we have the means with which to do it.

When we do this we are making several key miscalculations.

We underestimate our need. Our spiritual famine is as destructive as the one that struck Egypt. Like the cows and the corn, our good deeds are eaten up by the horrors of our sins.

We overestimate our offerings. All the resources of Egypt could not outlast the famine. All the resources we can muster will never finish the job of covering our sins.

We underestimate God’s love. Just as Jacob had no idea of the deep love that Joseph bore toward him and his family, we do not fully comprehend God’s love for us. We have misidentified him as a harsh and vengeful ruler.

We underestimate God’s generosity. Like Joseph, Jesus doesn’t accept our payments, he suffered and made our payment in full. Not only that, he will give us more than we asked for. Rather than just a few bites to survive on, he will see us planted and flourishing in the best part of the land.

Focusing on the cross and seeing what Christ gave up for us is the best way to keep the depths of God’s love in mind. May we remember that we have no righteousness to bring, but in mercy, God will give us righteousness, like treasure in our sacks.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. — Psalm 119.174

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Truth in the Cistern

Joseph and Jeremiah share something else in common other than being held prisoner in a cistern—telling the truth put them there.

Read more: The Undeserved Banquet of the Gospel

We, the undeserving, motley, scandalous louts that we are, find ourselves with our feet under Christ’s table. Christ invites all to the banquet.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 40 Listen: (2:59), Read: Matthew 1 Listen: (3:29)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Read: Genesis 41 Listen: (7:30), Read: Matthew 2 Listen: (3:18)
Read: Genesis 42 Listen: (5:08), Read: Matthew 3 Listen: (2:17)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 40.7-8, 23

7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” 8 “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”

23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Reflection: Dream On

By John Tillman

From favorite to outcast. From a son treated like a prince to a slave treated like a criminal. From dream teller to dream interpreter.

The ups and downs of Joseph’s life sound exciting in a story but would be awful to live through.

Joseph was rejected, abused, and nearly killed for his dreams. After his brothers’ attack, the muck of the cistern, the shame of enslavement, the shock of sexual abuse, the scandal of false accusation and being imprisoned for something he did not do, he must have been questioning his and his family’s interpretation of his dreams.

Instead of the Sun, Moon, and stars bowing to him, Joseph is imprisoned. Instead of being the dreamer, he hears others’ dreams. Instead of sharing dreams that make others jealous, he hears others’ dreams and wishes for a similar outcome.

I’ve often wondered if interpreting the dreams of the prisoners was a flash of hope for Joseph or a mark of despair.

Was it exciting to use his skills? Or, was it a painful reminder of his apparent failure? Did it boost confidence that God would fulfill his dreams? Or did he wonder why these men’s dreams should be fulfilled within days while he waited years? Did he see them as encouragement from God? Or did he wonder why a pagan cupbearer’s dream should come true, when his dream, given by the one true God, seemed denied?

The repetition in the last verse of this chapter, I think, hints at Joseph’s mood. “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” (Genesis 40.23) Repeatedly, Joseph’s hopes were dashed and his dreams crashed.

Do you feel unremembered? Forgotten? Have you been in a downward spiral away from the dreams you thought God had for you? Have you gotten cast into cisterns, mired in mud, mistreated, or thrown in a prison of doubt?

Joseph’s journey is a picture for us of the path of Jesus, our suffering savior. As we follow Jesus, we will walk this path too.

Joseph was not forgotten in prison. Jesus was not abandoned in the grave. Certainly we are not forgotten or abandoned when the ups of our lives turn to downs.

Let us remain faithful in the downs and humble in the ups. Not every dream is of God, but every dream from God will come true. All God’s promises are “yes,” in Jesus.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. — Psalm 40.14

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Dream Like Joseph

Both of the Bible’s dreaming Josephs are sons of Jacob and lived for a time in Egypt.

Read more: Inaugurating The Era of the Servant

Jesus is the fulfillment of every era and every need. Today, his body, the church, is called to live out the era of love and service.

Dream on.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 39 Listen: (3:08), Read: Mark 16 Listen: (2:34)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 39.10-12

10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. 11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

Reflection: Not a Temptress but an Abuser

By John Tillman

Joseph is deservedly held up as an example of the distinct sexual ethics demanded of those who follow God. Even when it would be advantageous or pleasurable to give in to wickedness, God’s people must follow a higher standard.

Potipar’s wife is often held up as an example of women being wicked temptresses or making false accusations against “men of God.” Men have been taught to avoid being alone with women so they don’t get attacked or slandered like Joseph. Defenders of sexually abusive pastors often accuse victims and whistleblowers of being like Potiphar’s wife.

False accusations do occur but are extremely rare. (In the over 4,000 years of history covered in the Bible, this is the only example of a false accusation.) It’s foolish to say false allegations never happen but more foolish to exaggerate their frequency to defend accused abusers.

Equating sexual abuse victims to “Potiphar’s wife” is reading the passage backwards. Potiphar’s wife is the abuser and Joseph is the victim. If anyone in this story is analogous to a sexual abuse victim, it is Joseph and if anyone in this story is analogous to an abusive pastor, it is Potiphar’s wife.

Modern society didn’t invent sexual assault and abuse by leaders like CEOs, moguls, or pastors. It has been around a long time.

Any sexual abuse victim would spot the familiar pattern Joseph faced: unwanted attention, comments, messages, and contact, followed by the attack. Like many victims, Joseph tried to avoid being alone with his abuser, but she created an opportunity to take advantage of him. Then she manipulated the evidence to accuse Joseph of being the aggressor and make herself the victim.

Scripture doesn’t record Joseph telling Potiphar the truth. Perhaps Joseph did. Perhaps that is why Potiphar imprisoned him instead of killing him. But it seems more likely that Joseph, like many abuse victims, feared that the truth wouldn’t be believed, and never reported what truly happened.

We should emulate Joseph’s personal commitment to holiness. Even when it harms us to resist wickedness, as it did Joseph, we should do what is right regardless of the consequences.

We should empathize with Joseph’s unjust treatment and imprisonment, and advocate for today’s abuse victims. Many have been unjustly “imprisoned” by being ostracized from churches and communities. May we also be inspired to ensure our spaces are structured to keep people safe from “Potiphar’s wife-like” leaders.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

The Lord is King; let the people tremble; he is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake. — Psalm 99.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: No DARVO

How can we live in a world dominated by Sauls and Ahabs, the disciples of DARVO? How can we know what the truth is and who is telling it?

Read more: Woe to Abusers and Victimizers

God will bring justice to victimizers and abusers…They will be the ones naked and exposed and shamed.

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Genesis 37 Listen: (4:56)), Read: Mark 14 Listen: (8:37)

Scripture Focus: Genesis 37.1-8

1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

​​23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

Reflection: Truth in the Cistern

By John Tillman

Joseph and Jeremiah could tell you that, even without water, the bottom of a cistern is caked in thick, mirey mud.

During the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was thrown into an empty cistern and sunk chest-deep. The depth of mud in Joseph’s cistern is unknown, but there is little doubt that he would have been mired in mud. Death would have been slow—immobilized by the muck, struggling to breathe, succumbing to cold and starvation.

A sympathetic official sent thirty men to rescue Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 38.4-13) Joseph’s one sympathetic brother planned a rescue for Joseph but arrived too late. By the time Rueben got there, Joseph was sold into slavery.

Joseph and Jeremiah share something else in common other than being held prisoner in a cistern—telling the truth put them there.

The brothers’ hatred began when Joseph gave Jacob a bad report about them. It grew when Jacob honored Joseph with preferential treatment. It peaked when they realized what Joseph’s dreams meant. They didn’t need Joseph to interpret; they could interpret dreams, too. (Genesis 37.5-8)

Joseph probably wasn’t a blameless hero. There is biblical evidence that Joseph told the truth in ways that offended his brothers and even his doting father. (Genesis 37.10-11) But the brothers consistently followed a villainous path and one doesn’t have to be innocent to be a victim. Joseph could have been the world’s biggest braggart and the brothers’ actions would still be unjustified.

Do you feel like tossing someone in a cistern? Have you blamed someone’s “tone” for rejecting the true things they said? Have you been angered by or tempted to deny the truth?

Or do you feel like you have been tossed in? Have you been targeted for telling the truth? Have you told the truth, but in a way that brought offense rather than edification?

We must tell the truth despite consequences, but not without consideration. If we are attacked for telling the truth, let us have a clear conscience, knowing we communicated with sensitivity, mercy, and grace.

If we find truth offensive, let us examine our hearts to ensure that we are not, like the brothers, following our biases and hurt feelings. As surely as Joseph was stuck in the cistern, the brothers were stuck in their guilt for decades.

Whatever muck we end up in, God can pull us out. The only way to come clean is the truth.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Happy are those who act with justice and always do right! — Psalm 106.3

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Vengeance, Arrogance, and Partiality

Were the brothers vengeful and jealous? Was Joseph insensitive to the effect of his privileges? Was Israel blind to his partiality? Yes, and so are we.

Read more: Jeremiah, the Unpatriotic Prophet

Bonhoeffer foresaw the church would have difficulty speaking truth to power if patriotism became more highly valued than Christ.