Seder 44: Gen 50---The Deaths of Jacob and Joseph

 So great was the respect of the Egyptians for Joseph and his family that they embalmed Jacob's body and mourned his death for 70 days (Gen 50:1-3).   God had promised to make Abraham's name great (Gen 12:2), and we see here further fulfillment of this promise.  

Even so, Joseph's request that he go to Canaan to bury his father was a sensitive one (vv 4-6).  Some interpreters--e.g., Rashi---have proposed that Jacob had Joseph swear to take his body to Machpelah (Gen 47:31)  in order to give Joseph more leverage with Pharaoh.  It has also been proposed that this request caused the Egyptians to begin to question the loyalties of Joseph and his family, a first step toward the enslavement that came later.  The request reminds us of the later even more difficult requests that Moses and Aaron made to a later Pharaoh.

An impressive funeral procession, including Egyptian dignitaries along with Israel's children, traveled to Canaan for the burial.  We are reminded of prophesied times when the nations will accompany Israel to Zion to worship the true God (Isa 2:1-4; Zech 8:20-23; Zech 14:16).  

The procession was also a sort of Exodus, with Egyptian horsemen and chariots as part of the entourage.  We do not know the location of the threshing floor of Atad---which side of the Jordan it was on depends on the vantage point of the writer---but if Atad was near the Jordan, then the route followed by the procession  bore some resemblance to the actual exodus route.   

With Jacob gone, Joseph's brothers worried about what steps he might take against them.  They still felt guilty about selling Joseph into slavery.  They needn't have worried.  Joseph had always shown himself to be concerned about what God thought (Gen 39:9), not about what any human being might think.  Joseph repeated what he had told his brothers 17 years before (Gen 45:5-8).  God had worked out events in order to save many lives and further his plan.  

Early in the book of Genesis, brothers Cain and Abel had been unable to get along.  At the end of the book of Genesis, we see reconciliation among brothers.  

Joseph was about 56 years old when his father died.  He went on to live another 54 years.  Commentators point out that in ancient Egyptian culture, 110 is considered to be an ideal lifespan. 

We might imagine that since the patriarchs lived long lives---Abraham lived to be 175, Isaac 180, Jacob 147, Joseph 110---that people typically lived longer lives then.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.  In his commentary on Genesis, John Walton points out that evidence from Egyptian mummies indicates a life expectancy of 40 to 50.  The long lives enjoyed by the patriarchs were part of God's blessing to them.  

When Joseph died, he asked that his bones be taken back to Canaan when the Israelites returned there.  In doing so, he showed faith in God's promises (Heb 11:22).  This time there was no big funeral procession to Canaan, a possible indication that Joseph's influence and prestige had already waned a great deal by then.

Kyle Kettering gave a message on Seder 44 at Church of the Messiah on Feb 13, 2021.

Seder 36: Gen 39-40---Though in Prison, Joseph Does not Give Up

 When Joseph would not respond to the advances of Potiphar's wife, she retaliated, telling her husband that Joseph had tried to rape her.  Potiphar then had Joseph put in the palace prison.  

The fact that Joseph was not put to death is evidence that God was with Joseph.  Some have speculated that Potiphar suspected Joseph was innocent but had to do something to appease his wife.

To Joseph it must have seemed that no good deed goes unpunished.  He had done what was right under difficult circumstances, and he had been rewarded with imprisonment.  

But Joseph clearly did not give up.  Again his abilities were evident, and he was placed in charge of the other prisoners (Gen 39:21-23).  

We see Joseph's positive, can-do attitude, and his faith in God, in his interactions with the cupbearer and baker of Pharaoh who were also in the prison.  When both of them had troubling dreams on the same night, Joseph urged them to tell him about their dreams (Gen 40:5-8).  

Both dreams were full of "threes":  three branches for the cupbearer, three baskets for the baker.  The cupbearer dreamed that he was back at work, filling Pharaoh's cup.  The baker's dream had him trying to provide Pharaoh with bread, but he was in a more passive role,  with birds taking the bread from him.  

Joseph knew from his own experience that dreams with divine messages come in pairs.  He also probably knew that a birthday celebration for Pharaoh was coming up in three days.  These things may have helped him see the meanings of the dreams.  At any rate, God led Joseph to a correct interpretation by some chain of reasoning.  

Joseph's dream interpretations planted a seed in the mind of the cupbearer.  That seed would bear fruit in due time.  

Seder 36: Gen 39---Joseph Resists Temptation

Genesis 39 resumes the saga of Joseph, who was sold as a slave in Egypt to Potiphar, the captain of the guard under Pharaoh.  Joseph's managerial talents soon became evident, and Potiphar eventually felt confident placing Joseph in charge of his household affairs (vv 1-6). 

Potiphar's wife, however, had a different kind of household affair in mind.  In an ancient example of sexual harassment, she tried to seduce Joseph.  The Book of Jubilees pictures her putting pressure on him for a year.  

But Joseph withstood the pressure and refused to give in to Potiphar's wife.  Although he was far from home, he had not lost his connection to the God of Jacob and the teaching he must have received from Jacob as a child.  

Joseph's example has always been important for those who are striving to resist sexual temptation.  Paul had Joseph's example in mind when he admonished early Christians to  "flee from sexual immorality" (1 Cor 6:18).  

The book of Fourth Maccabees, a philosophically-oriented work from the Second Temple period, holds up Joseph's example as proof that it is possible to obey the 10th commandment (You shall not covet) by the mastery of reason over emotion (4 Macc 2).