I am Nothing, without God Blog

Genesis 48-50

10/19/2018

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Chapter 48 starts off with Joesph visiting his father Jacob with his two sons because he had been told his father was sick. It went from a visit to Jacob doing the traditional blessings on all his sons and passing away.
Jacob expresses his gratitude to God again for allowing him to see his son Joesph and being blessed to see Joesph's sons. He then puts Joesph's sons to the status of being Jacob's sons. Basically giving Joesph the double portion blessing that traditionally would have gone to the first born Reuben.
Jacob blesses Ephraim over Manasseh even though he is the youngest. I find that interesting because Jacob was the youngest, even though it was by deceit, received the firstborn blessing too. While thinking about that Matthew 20:16 came to mind, "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen."
Jacob also gives a mountain slope that he had taken from the Amorites to Joesph instead of his brothers.
Chapter 49 Jacob blessed his sons according to how they had acted in the past and with a predictive element of their futures. I believe he was lead by God for these since only He knows what is to come.
Judah and Joesph get the longest blessings, which shows that Jacob believes that these two sons have important futures and so do their descendants. The Ephraimites do end up as one the leading tribes of Israel till they are rejected by God in favor for Judah. From Judah comes David and most importantly Jesus!
During Reuben's blessing Jacob explains why he lost the firstborn blessing. Reuben had slept with one of Jacob's servant wives.
Simeon and Levi's doesn't really sound like a blessing for them but more protection for others. Because of their anger and wrath they are to be divided and scattered as to not attempt to dominate the rest. This comes true for both tribes. The Levites end up with 48 cities distributed throughout all the tribes. The Simeonites get land within one taken by Judah.
Chapter 49 ends that right after the blessings Jacob tells them where he wants to be buried and then dies.
Chapter 50 isn't that long but there are three parts to it. The first being the burial of Jacob. They had him embalmed by Egyptian physicians in order to be able to make the journey to the burial site. It's believed they used physicians instead of the normal priests to show the it wasn't about the Egyptian religion.
To show just how high esteemed Joesph was in Egypt the funeral procession for his father was comprised of a large number of prominent Egyptian officials.
Now that Jacob was dead Joesph's brothers feared he hadn't really forgave them and was going to do something evil to them. They sent a messenger since they were too chicken to face him directly and lied saying their father said to forgive them. Joesph was kind to them and said while they were acting evil, God had it work for good.
Chapter 50 and the end of Genesis concludes with the death of Joesph. He made his family swear they would take his bones with them when they were called to the promised land by God. Moses does end up fulfilling that promise. Joesph is 110 years old when he dies and is embalmed. Him and his father are the only two that are mentioned in the Bible being embalmed.

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Genesis 46-47

10/15/2018

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Chapter 46 begins with Israel and his whole family headed for Egypt. It doesn't say he was apprehensive of the move but God coming to him in a vision and reassuring him to go and saying He would go with him implies it. He was probably hesitant since God had told Isaac not to go to Egypt during a previous famine.
Israel reuniting with his son Joesph obviously was a very emotional moment. He had thought his son was dead for years now he gets to embrace him. God gets just as emotional with such joy when we turn from our dead lives and accept Jesus to begin living eternal lives with Him!!
The famine was so bad people spent all their money, traded all their livestock and eventually even sold their land and freedom. Some may say Joesph was being harsh to them but he was keeping the peace and giving them food. They didn't seem upset in 47:25 they say "You have saved our lives." They seem grateful for the fact he didn't let them starve to death.
After living in Egypt seventeen years, Jacob was close to death and had Joesph swear to bury him where his fathers were back in the land of Canaan. Joesph agreed to do so.

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Genesis 40-45

10/13/2018

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God shows Joesph favor through all the crappy circumstances he keeps getting put in. Being in prison he was ale to interpret dreams for two of Pharaoh's royal attendants. Two years later he was given the opportunity to interpret Pharaoh's dreams because the cupbearer remembered he had interpreted his correctly.
This is yet another example of learning to be patient waiting for God's timing. While in the moment it may seem like God had forgotten you He hasn't!! He is just waiting for the perfect timing! Joesph did that and look how it worked out for him. He goes from being in prison to being second in command of all of Egypt.
God our provider! Looking again at the big picture of all that happens with Joesph if he hadn't gone through it and got where he was potentially his family and many, many others would have starved to death during the famine!!
Joesph could have held a grudge and hated his brothers for what they did but by his actions you can see he loved them. He remembers those first dreams he had and can see how God was it all out for the good of all. He even tells his brothers to forgive themselves.

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Genesis 37-39

10/8/2018

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Joesph was Jacob's favorite because he was from Rachael who he loved and wanted to be married to from the start. This of course made all Joesph's other brothers jealous, then to make matters worse Joesph wearing the special robe from his father tells the brothers about dreams he had. These basically were interrupted that they would bow down to him. I don't feel like Joesph was bragging or trying to cause jealousy. He was excited about what God showed him and wanted to share it with his family.
Fratricide to me is a depraved and heartbreaking act since the fall. I don't always get along with my sister but I don't want her dead let alone want to kill her by my own hand. But that's exactly where jealousy drove them to want to do. If it wasn't for the first born Reuben stepping in which his motives are unclear why, they would have killed him.
God had different plans though and if you look at this whole story you can see repeatedly where something that was meant for evil against him God used to bless him. God still does this today for His children because He loves us so much!
Judah either by greed or trying to show mercy without letting his brothers realize it suggests making a profit for selling Joesph versus killing him.
Jacob's grief was so much for the loss of Joesph he says he would grieve till he died basically. "Sheol" is the proper name for the place people go after death. Having had three miscarriages, two after the eighteenth week mark I can sympathize with him. There are still days I grief for them.
Chapter 38 seems so random interrupting the story of Joesph to tell about Judah and his sons, especially the unusual birth of a set of twins, but nothing is really random with God. It's actually a very important part because it tells of about how the bloodline of Judah continued. The significance of the birth of Perez is that Jesus came through that bloodline. God sees the complete picture always!
In chapter 39, Joesph's pureness is a big contrast to what happened in chapter 38. Refusing to commit adultery he end up falsely accused and imprisoned.

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Genesis 32-36

10/5/2018

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Chapter 32 begins with Jacob worried about meeting his brother Esau after 20 years thinking he might still have a grudge against him. Jacob does some things in the natural like split up his blessing from God into two camps because of his fear. However, the best thing he did and something not really seen him do in the past is pray to God for His help. Seeking God will always be the best thing one can do.
Jacob is going to see his brother the next day but instead of getting a restful night of sleep, he spends all night wrestling with God. In doing so Jacob leavened the importance of God's blessing and it marked the end of his constant strife with others.
Chapter 33 Esau ran to meet Jacob which wasn't custom for men to run like that. It was a symbol of how Esau had no animosity towards him and was truly glad to see his brother again. Jacob still didn't trust him though so, he lied about following him to a different location.
The end of chapter 33, Jacob builds his first altar to God, previously he only built pillars. He named it El-Elohe-Israel which means God, the God of Israel. This is were Jacob who after the wrestling with God, God was renamed to Israel really commits to worshipping the Lord.
Chapter 34 one of Jacob's daughter is raped and while that is a horrible thing what two of Jacob's sons did in order to revenger her was overboard. It also risked the safety of Jacob's whole family. God protects them though.
God tells Jacob to go to Bethel and build an altar to Him. Jacob gets everyone in his household to put away all foreign gods and serve just the Lord before they start the journey. It shows how committed to just worshipping God he was.
During the journey God blessed Jacob and confirm that his new name is Israel.
Rachel dies giving birth to her second son which Israel name Benjamin.
Jacob/Israel did at least get to see his dad one last time before Isaac died at 180 years old.
Chapter 36 are the descendants of Esau also known as Edom after he sold his birthright for red stew. So they are the Edomites.

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Genesis 48-50

Genesis 46-47

Genesis 40-45

Genesis 37-39

Genesis 32-36

Stephanie

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