Tag Archives: Joseph

Read the Bible: Matthew 1

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3/4 of the Bible is the Old Testament. There is nothing I can do about that but we are going to break it up by switching back and forth. We will spend pretty much the entire month of June reading Matthew’s Gospel before getting back into the Old Testament at… Leviticus. Matthew tells Joseph’s side of the story of Jesus’s birth and has wise men. We will get to Luke’s account before Christmas which features Mary and the angels appearing to shepherds.

Matthew 1

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 50

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When I started reading Genesis at chapter 1 on March 1, it was an experiment really. It was an idea that I decided to try not knowing if it would work or if anything would come of it. We have finished one book of the Bible together… out of 66. There are many books shorter than Genesis; nothing in the new Testament is 50 chapters long but then again some Old Testament books are longer and a few are much longer.

We are finishing Genesis on Easter Sunday. As I have said, I don’t if that means anything but it is interesting. We will start the Exodus account tomorrow morning which should be familiar territory for most of us. Then we will take a break and read the Gospel According to Matthew before facing our biggest challenge yet: Leviticus. By my figures that will be June 19th, a date that is very important to me if no one else.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 49

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Jacob, aka Israel, calls all of his sons together to bless each of them before breathing his last. He dies at the age of 147, after living 17 years in Egypt.

Genesis 49

Jacob called his sons, and said “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 48

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Even after saying “Behold, I die” at the end of this chapter this is still not the end of Jacob. Most of chapter 49 will be blessings and prophecies as he recognizes each son by name. And I don’t know what it means – probably nothing at all – but we will finish the book of Genesis on Easter morning. We’re planning Good Friday worship services and thinking about the resurrection and at The Master’s Table I’m talking about Jacob’s sons and the 12 tribes of Israel. Not totally unrelated… this is the family through whom all the world will be blessed, after all.

Genesis 48

After this someone told Joseph “Your father is sick.” And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 47

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We’ve seen people coming from all over Egypt and Canaan to buy grain from Joseph. What happens when the money runs out? They start trading livestock for grain. What happens when that runs out? By the end of the famine the nation of Egypt will own everything in the country, including the Egyptians.

Genesis 47

Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh “My father and brothers, and their flocks, and herds, and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan and they are in the land of Goshen.”

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Read the Bible: Genesis 46

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This chapter gives us a review of Jacob’s family, repeating which son was born by which wife and then taking that forward another generation or two. The total number of the House of Israel going down into Egypt was 70. Jacob is reunited with Joseph and they prepare to settle in the land of Goshen.

Genesis 46

Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 45

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It must be sweeps week because here is the big dramatic reunion scene you’ve been waiting for. Overcome with emotion, Joseph drives everyone out except his brothers then tells them everything. He also tells them not to worry about selling him into Egypt because that was God’s doing.

Genesis 45

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all of them and he cried out “Make everyone go out from me!” And no man stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 

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Read the Bible: Genesis 44

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A few chapters back, I mentioned it would be a good time to talk about theater as a a metaphor for life. I wrote that copy before recording the scripture reading and the discussion. I then immediately forgot that I had even said that. The analogy will work anywhere between Genesis 40 and 50, and really the first chapter of Exodus. So let’s read Genesis 44 then I will explain what I mean about the theater.

Genesis 44

Joseph commanded the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 43

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They waited as long as they could but eventually the grain runs out and it becomes necessary to return to Egypt. Jacob does not want to let Benjamin go with them but they really have no choice as Joseph was quite clear. They are apprehensive about facing him again because of the money being found in each sack after their first visit. There is a lot that can go wrong on this second trip but by the end of this chapter it looks like everything will turn out great.

Genesis 43

The famine was severe in the land.

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Read the Bible: Genesis 42

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One of the things that got Joseph in trouble was his dreams, the ones that indicated his brothers and even his parents would bow to him. As the famine spreads across the region and drags on for what Joseph knew would be years, his family was bound to show up sooner or later.

Note: if you read a translation that says corn, or ears of corn in chapter 41, that is not necessarily wrong. Corn used to be a general term for all grain. Maize was indigenous to North America, the Egyptians did not grow what we call corn today.

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