Seder 38: Genesis 42:24---Why Simeon?

Joseph used his position as viceroy of Egypt to promote repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation in his family.  When his brothers came to Egypt to buy food furing a famine, he accused them of being spies, then  detained one of them---Simeon---and ordered the others to bring back their brother Benjamin.  

Genesis 42 doesn't tell us why Simeon was the one Joseph chose to detain.  A number of ideas have been proposed, as discussed by Nechama Price in her book Tribal Blueprints.  

One possibility is based on the fact that Joseph's oldest brother Reuben had not gone along with the proposal of killing Joseph  (Ge 37:21-22; 42:22).  Simeon was the second oldest and should be held responsible for what happened.  

Another possibility is that Simeon was more directly responsible for what happened to Joseph.  Perhaps he was the one who proposed the idea of killing Joseph.  After all, he and Levi had been the leaders in the Shechem massacre (Ge 34:25), and they seemed to have violent tendencies.  If Simeon and Levi together were the authors of the plan to kill Joseph, perhaps Joseph decided to split up this dangerous duo by detaining one of them.

Seder 34: Genesis 37:3----Jacob's Favoritism; Joseph's Precocity

 One source of tension in Jacob's family was the favoritism he showed toward the sons of Rachel, his favorite wife.  Jacob's special treatment of Joseph fueled the resentment of Joseph's brothers.  

Genesis 37:3 explains that Jacob had a special coat made for Joseph.  The traditional translation for the coat is "robe of many colors," but that may not be the best translation.  The ESV offers the alternate translation "robe with long sleeves."  Whatever the translation, the coat connoted status as well as favoritism.  As commentator John Walton puts it, the coat signified that Joseph was "management, not labor."  Jacob was grooming Joseph to be the future CEO of Israel Enterprises.  

There were reasons, beyond favoritism, for Joseph to train for this position.  He must have had obvious organizational skills, based on what happened later in Egypt.  Whatever enterprise he was involved in, Joseph soon ended up in charge.  Sharon Rimon suggests that this quality of Joseph's is reflected in his name, which means "may he add."  For Rachel, the name expressed her desire for additional sons.  For Joseph, it may mean that abundance and prosperity were added to those around him.  Joseph's fruitfulness is expressed in Jacob's blessing to his tribe in Genesis 49.

Seder 14: Genesis 16---Setting the Record Straight on Ishmael

 In their book Urban Legends of the Old Testament, David Croteau and Gary Yates discuss 40 common misconceptions about biblical passages.  One of the misconceptions they address is the idea that today's Middle East conflicts have their roots in strife within Abraham's family, and that today's jihadists are motivated by a "spirit of Ishmael."  

To our ears, the angel of the Lord's prophecy about Ishmael in Genesis 16:12---"He shall be a wild donkey of a man:---does not sound like a blessing.  However, Croteau and Yates point out that it is similar to Jacob's blessings for the tribes of Israel recorded in Geneis 49.  There, for example, Judah is compared to a lion's cub, Issachar to a strong donkey, Dan to a serpent, and Benjamin to  a "ravenous wolf."  The imagery of the wild donkey probably connotes independence and strength.  The descendants of Ishmael would not be city dwellers, but desert nomads, not following other people's rules.  Hagar was a slave, but her children would not be anybody's slaves.  

Certainly there was friction between Sarah and Hagar, leading to a parting of the ways (Gen 21), but there are also indications that Abraham and Isaac maintained a close relationship with Hagar and Ishmael.  For example, Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury their father (Ge 25:9-10).  

A certain amount of conflict between Israel and Ishmaelites is mentioned in the Bible.  It was to Ishmaelite traders that Joseph was sold (Ge 37:28), although of course it was Joseph's brothers who were responsible for the sale.  Gideon's forces did battle with some Ishmaelites (Jdg 8:24).  And Ishmaelites are among the antagonists enumerated in Psalm 83 (see verse 6).  But in the end there will be a coming together of Israel and Ishmael in the messianic kingdom (Isa 60:6-8).  

Seder 39: Gen 43-44---Another Test for Joseph's Brothers

 Joseph's brothers were apprehensive when they arrived in Egypt the second time.  Would the official who was holding Simeon in custody accuse them of being thieves as well as spies?  What further things would they suffer for their treatment of Joseph 22 years before?

The Egyptian official treated them kindly, hosting a special dinner for them.  At the dinner, he seated them according to their birth order.  How did he know so much about them?  (One midrash proposes that Joseph pretended to use his special divining cup to determine the seating arrangement, as a way to explain his knowledge of their ages and heighten their awe of the powerful official.)

Things went surprisingly well for the brothers, and they headed home with more grain.  Then disaster struck.  The Egyptian official's steward stopped them and accused them of stealing the official's silver divining cup.  

This situation may have reminded the brothers of a traumatic episode from their childhood.  When their family was escaping from their great uncle Laban, Laban had pursued them, accusing them of stealing his household gods (Gen 31:25-30).  An ugly argument ensued, with their father asserting his innocence and promising death for the thief.  (Jacob had not realized at the time that Rachel had stolen the items---vv 31-32).  

This time it was the brothers who insisted on their innocence and said that whoever had the cup should die (Gen 44:9).  Then the cup was found in the sack of Benjamin (v 12).  When the brothers saw this, they tore their clothes as their father had when he had seen Joseph's bloody coat (v 13; Gen 37:34).

The Egyptian official did not suggest the death penalty for Benjamin.  He proposed that Benjamin become his slave and the others go free.  Here was a final test for the brothers.  Would they abandon Benjamin as they had Joseph?  

Judah, the one who had proposed years earlier that Joseph be sold (Gen 37:25-28), took the lead in negotiating with the Egyptian official.  The stage was set for the climax of the Joseph narrative.

Seder 38: Gen 42---Joseph Meets his Brothers Again

 After 13 years as a slave in Egypt, Joseph was placed in charge of Egypt's "grain management and famine relief" program.  He supervised the stockpiling of grain during 7 years of plenty.  When the subsequent years of famine began, he supervised the distribution of grain to those who needed it.  

After his promtion to leadership, Joseph does not seem to have attempted to contact his family, although he would have been concerned about how they were doing.  He also surely wondered why they had not contacted him.  Jacob would have had the means to buy Joseph back, if only Jacob had known Joseph was a slave in Egypt.  

Having heard nothing from his family, Joseph may well have felt rejected by them.  Had he been sent away for some reason, as Ishmael and Esau had in previous generations?  In naming his oldest son Manasseh, he expressed a desire to put the past behind him (Gen 41:51).  Certainly he had plenty of responsibilities to keep him busy.

Then, after over 20 years, 10 of his brothers showed up in Egypt, seeking grain during the famine.  When they "came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground" (Gen 42:6), we are reminded of Joseph's dream about the sheaves in Gen 37:7.  Joseph thought of it too (Gen 42:9).  

At this dramatic moment "Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him" (v 8).  The word for "recognize" (nakar) is an important one in this account.  Earlier his brothers had asked their father if they recognized Joseph's bloody coat (37:32), and Judah had been asked whether he recognized the items that he had given Tamar as a pledge (Gen 38:25).  

In the failure of his brothers to recongize him, we see another way in which Joseph is a type of Jesus, since many in Israel did not recognize Jesus as Messiah when he came.  "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him," we read in John 1:11.  

In his sermon at Church of the Messiah on Jan 2, 2021, Rob Wilson emphasized the importance of our recognizing God's presence in the world and in our lives. 

Seder 35: Gen 38---Tamar Takes Action

 Chapters 37-50 of Genesis tell the story of how two of Jacob's sons---Joseph and Judah---became leaders in the family.  But the narrative does not start out well for either of them.  In Gen 37, Joseph is sold into slavery and taken to Egypt.  And in Gen 38, Judah experiences numerous setbacks in trying to build a family.  

Living in the region that would later become the allotment of the tribe of Judah, Judah married the daughter of Shua and fathered three sons, Er, Onan, and Shelah.  Er married a woman named Tamar, but before they had any children, Er was struck dead for wicked deeds not specified in the text (Gen 38:6-7).

According to the ancient custom of levirate marriage, it was then Onan's responsibility to continue Er's line through Tamar.  Onan, however, refused to do so, and he too was struck dead for his refusal (vv. 8-10).  

With two sons dead, Judah was unwilling to risk having Shelah marry Tamar, even though the deaths of Er and Onan had not been Tamar's fault.  And then Judah's wife died as well.  At this point it was not clear that there would ever be a tribe of Judah. 

While he mourned his wife's death, Judah kept Tamar in a kind of limbo, not allowing her to marry Shelah and not releasing her from a commitment to his family.  When Judah's time of mourning was over, Shelah decided to confront her father-in-law on the road to Timnah, where he would be traveling for a sheep shearing.  It is worth noting that in some ancient law codes (e.g., the Hittite laws), the father-in law is next in line, after the dead man's brothers, to marry a childless widow.

We are not told what Tamar's intentions were when she waited for Judah at the entrance to Enaim (v 14).  Was she planning to pose as a prostitute and seduce Judah, or did she simply take advantage of his proposition?  In any case, she agreed to a liaison with Judah after Judah agreed to leave his signet, cord, and staff with her as a pledge toward full payment.  

Judah was not able to find the mysterious prostitute who now had his ID.  Meanwhile, Tamar's encounter with Judah had resulted in a pregnancy.  

When Judah found out about Tamar's pregnancy, he intended to have her put to death (v 24).  Tamar had the evidence that would exonerate herself, but she chose not to make public what Judah had done, Instead, she sent a messenger to Judah with the evidence (v 25), having faith that God would work things out in her favor.

This is a crucial point in the narrative.  According to one midrash Satan stole the evidence from the messenger, but then the angel Gabriel took it back.  

Tamar's message said, "Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff."  The words parallel those of Gen 37:32, where Judah and his brothers presented Jacob with Joseph's bloody robe.  What would Judah do now?  Would he cover up his deeds or finally accept responsibility for his actions?  He chose the latter course, and it was a turning point in his life. 

By admitting that he was at fault, Judah saved three lives, since Tamar was pregnant with twins.  One midrash says that because of Judah's actions, God later rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from death (Dan 3). 

In any case, Tamar gave birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah, and Perez would prove to be an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah.  After reading about Tamar's courage in Gen 38, we can understand why she is mentioned in Matt 1:3 in the genealogy of Jesus.

At Church of the Messiah on Dec 5, Kyle Kettering gave a sermon on this Seder.

Seder 34 Sermon: Dwelling Together

 Certain biblical passages are so familiar to us that we do not recognize how strange they actually are.

For example, isn't it amazing that Joseph's brothers became so resentful of him that they considered killing him, and as it was ended up selling him into slavery (Gen 37:20-28)?

And isn't it strange that Jesus, at age 12. remained behind in Jerusalem after the Passover week celebration without telling his parents what he intended to do, and then seemed surprised when they were worried about him (Luke 2:41-52)?   

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Nov 28, 2020, Kyle Kettering reflected on these two accounts, noting that people often behave in strange ways toward members of their families.  Even so, families are a blessing, and we grow in character through all the weird things that other family members do.  

In discussing Luke 2, Kyle mentioned an interesting reading of Luke 2:49 that is different from the one we most often hear.  In that verse, Jesus says to his parents, "Why did you seek Me?  Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"  (NKJV)

Usually we assume that Jesus was referring in v 49 to God, who was indeed his Father.  (That is what the NKJV assumes by capitalizing the "F" in "Father".)  But it is also possible that Jesus was referring to his legal human father Joseph, who is called Jesus' father in the previous verse.  (Steven Notley favors this reading.) We know that Jesus' family was notably pious, as evidenced by their frequent pilgrimages to Jerusalem and careful observance of the Torah in general (vv 22-24, 41).   So it could be that while Joseph was a carpenter, his real love was the Word of God, a love that he passed along to his son.  Jesus was honoring Joseph by pursuing that love, which was Joseph's real "business."

Seder 34: Gen 37:21-36---Selling Joseph

 As they saw Joseph approaching them at Dothan, Joseph's brothers entertained the idea of actually killing him (Gen 37:20).  Then Reuben, the oldest, persuaded the group to spare Joseph's life but put him in a dry cistern that was nearby.  His plan was to go to the cistern later and release Joseph (vv 21-22).  

After putting Joseph in the cistern, the brothers sat down to eat.  When they saw a caravan approaching on a trade route that passed close by, Judah suggested the idea of selling Joseph to the traders.  His suggestion carried the day (vv 25-27).  

Verse 28 reports, "Then Midianite traders passed by.  And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver.  They took Joseph to Egypt."

There is some ambiguity in this verse about who sold Joseph, based on the identity of "they" in the phrase "And they drew Joseph up."  Two possibilities have been proposed:

(1) The usual interpretation is that Joseph's brothers sold him to the traders.  In this scenario Reuben, who apparently has been apart from the others for some reason, shows up at the cistern after the sale and finds Joseph already gone (vv 29-30).  

This raises the question of where Reuben was.  One midrash proposes that he was not eating with his brothers because he was fasting in an attempt to atone for his earlier sin with Bilhah (Gen 35:22).  

(2) An alternate interpretation is that the brothers overestimated the amount of time they had to get back to the pit before the traders arrived.  While they were eating, Midianites lifted him out of the pit and sold him to Ishmaelites.  Reuben left the meal early to rescue Joseph at the cistern and found him already gone.  

Twenty two years later, Joseph introduces himself to his brothers saying, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt" (Gen 45:4).  Proponents of scenario (2) argue that whoever sold Joseph, it was his brothers who were responsible for his enslavement, since they had put him in the pit.  Even if the Midianites had sold him, Joseph might have suspected that his brothers had cut a deal with the Midianites.

Whatever the details of the sale, the brothers proceeded to dip Joseph's special coat in goat's blood and take it back to Jacob, leading Jacob to believe that Joseph was dead.  Jacob, who had deceived his father with goatskins (Gen 27:16), was now the victim of his sons' deception.    

Seder 34: Gen 37:20 in the Parable of the Tenants

 Jacob's undiguised favoritism toward Joseph and Joseph's grandiose-sounding dreams led Joseph's brothers to resent him (Gen 37:4-11).  The extent of that resentment was surprising.  At one point Joseph was sent by his father to see how his brothers were doing.  It was a long walk---over 60 miles---from Hebron to Dothan where the brothers were tending the flocks.  But it seems to have been God's will that Joseph find his brothers, since God apparently put someone in Joseph's path to point him in their direction (vv 15-17).

His brothers, at a higher altitude, saw Joseph coming from a distance, and they began to vent their bitterness toward him.  "Come now, let us kill him," they declared (v 20).  

The Septuagint translation of these words from Gen 37:20 appears in Jesus' parable of the tenants (Matt 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-11; Luke 20:9-19).  The owner of a vineyard sends a series of representatives to the tenants of the vineyard, and the tenants treat them badly.  When the owner sends his son, the tenants echo Joseph's brothers, saying, "Come, let us kill him"  (Mark 12:7).  

Scriptural allusions in the parable help make clear that the wicked tenants in the parable stand for leaders of Israel who had persecuted the prophets in earlier times and in Jesus' day sought to kill Jesus himself.  The actions of these leaders are compared to those of Joseph's brothers.  

An ample quantity of scriptural allusion is one thing that sets the canonical gospels apart from other early writings about Jesus.  The Gospel of Thomas also includes a version of this parable (in saying 65), but with all scriptural allusion stripped away.  The result ia a cryptic saying rather than a powerful parable.  (This point is made by Richard Hays in his book Reading Backwards:  Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness, Baylor University Press, 2014.

Sadly, the parable of the tenants has been misused by some to draw anti-semitic conclusions.  But Jesus was only referring to Jewish leaders who sought to kill him, not to all Jews or Jewish leaders. 

Seder 34: Gen 37:11----What Child is This?

 Jacob loved his son Joseph, the older son of his favorite wife Rachel.  He was grooming Joseph to one day be a leader in the family, as evidenced by the special coat that he had made for him.  Still, he was taken aback by the dreams that the 17-year-old was having.  Joseph summarized one of the dreams this way:  "Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me" (Gen 37:9).  

Since Joseph had 11 brothers, Jacob could see what the dream symbolized.  This was a bit too much, even coming from his talented son.  "What is this dream that you have dreamed?"  he asked Joseph.  "Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?" (v 10)

Still, Jacob had experience with messages from God that came in dreams (Gen 28:12-15; 31:11-13), so he "kept the saying in mind" (v 11).  Its meaning probably would become clear later.  

Genesis 37:11 is one example of a motif that runs through ancient Jewish literature, and through the Scriptures in particular.  A person hears a remarkable saying, a prophecy or something said by and/or about a precocious child.  In that situation, the person will "keep the saying in mind" or "hide it in their heart" to see what might happen later.

There is another example in Daniel 7, after Daniel had a dream vision about four beasts, representing four kingdoms.  Those kingdoms would be followed by an eternal divine kingdom ruled by "one like a son of man" (vv 13-14).  After this dream, Daniel says, "My thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart" (v 28).  

There are further examples in Jewish literature of the Second Temple period.  Two of them involve Levi, another one of Jacob's sons.  One comes from the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a fictional work from the first or second century BC that pictures the deathbed advice of the sons of Jacob to their descendants.  In his testimony, Levi describes a heavenly vision in which he is told by the Most High, "I have given thee the blessings of the priesthood until I come and sojourn in the midst of Israel (T Levi 5:2-3).  After the vision Levi says, "And I kept these words in my heart" (T Levi 6:2-3).  

A similar statement appears in the Aramaic Levi Document, a text that may have been used by the author of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.  Fragments of this document have been found in the Cairo Genizah and in Caves 1 and 4 at Qumran.     

An additional example comes from another Dead Sea Scrolls text, the Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20).  In column 6 of this document, Noah receives a vision and afterward says, "And I hid this mystery in my heart, and did not make it known to anyone." 

This motif appears in the New Testament twice in Luke 2.  Shepherds near Bethlehem are told by an angel, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).  When the shepherds told Mary, the mother of the baby, what the angel had said, "Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart" (v 18).  

Later, when Jesus was 12, he stayed in Jerusalem for a few days after the Days of Unleavened Bread and became separated from his parents.  When they finally found him at the Temple, engaging in discussions with the sages, he asked his parents, "Why were you looking for me?  Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" (v 49)  

Mary, like Jacob, did not understand then what he was saying, but again, she "treasured up all these things in her heart" (v 51).

This is one of a number of ways in which we will see events in the life of Joseph pointing forward to Jesus.

Seder 23: Gen 25:1-19---Abraham's Increase

 After Sarah's death, Abraham lived for another 38 years.  Through an additional wife, Keturah, he fathered six more sons.  Genesis 25 records more information about how Abraham became a father of many nations (Gen 17:4-6).  

The name Keturah is related to Hebrew words for "smoke" and "incense".  Historically her children are associated with the spice trade (Isa 60:6, e.g.).  

Gen 25 also shows how God's promises to Ishmael were carried out.  Ishmael was the father of 12 princes, as promised in Gen 17:20---see Gen 25:12-18.  They were known to be nomadic herders and merchants--see for example the biblical references to the tents and flocks of Kedar (Ps 120:5; Song 1:5; Isa 60:7; Ezek 27:21).  They seem to have had lots of interaction with the tribes that came from the sons of Keturah (e.g., Gen 37:25-28, 36).

Abraham continued to follow a policy of promoting peace by spreading his extended family out over a wide region.  Isaac and Ishmael came together to bury Abraham (Gen 25:9).  Later the Midianites from Jethro's family were friends of Israel.  On the other hand, other Midianites would later oppose Israel (Num 25; Judges 6).  

Only one of family lines descending from Abraham would lead to the Messiah---the line through Isaac---but God's plan is to bless all nations, and he has all of them in mind.  

Although the Bible tells us little about Keturah, she was important to Abraham.  In his sermon at Church of the Messiah on Aug 22, Kyle Kettering set aside time for men in the congregation to praise their wives.