Monday, November 30, 2020

Sunday school lesson taught at Lake Marburg Baptist Church on Sunday, 11.29.2020 - Genesis, chapter 36 & 37

 


Genesis, chapter 36

Genesis 36:1 ¶  Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. 2  Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 3  And Bashemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. 4  And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel; 5  And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. 6  And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 7  For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. 8  Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

This passage is bracketed by two verses 1 and 8 which identify Esau with the region known as Edom and Mount Seir. The passage also names his children by these specific Canaanite women named. Judith is not mentioned here and may have died in childbirth or in some other circumstance. We can say the same probably about Bashemath, Adah’s sister. The duplication of women’s names should not cause confusion. For instance, Mormon patriarch, Joseph Smith, had multiple wives named Sarah.

34 ¶  And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: 35  Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

Esau and Jacob are not able to live in the vicinity of each other with their wealth and possessions any more than Abram and Lot were able to live together with theirs. So, here is confirmation that Esau claimed what became Edom, something we discussed earlier. Isaac’s sons are fabulously wealthy by that culture’s standards, by what they considered as true wealth. Esau will merge his worship with Canaan’s and be marginalized in God’s plan of reconciling mankind to Himself.

Genesis 36:9 ¶  And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: 10  These are the names of Esau’s sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau. 11  And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 12  And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife. 13  And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife. 14  And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. 15  These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, 16  Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah. 17  And these are the sons of Reuel Esau’s son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife. 18  And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esau’s wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. 19  These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

Genesis 36:20 ¶  These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, 21  And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 22  And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23  And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24  And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. 25  And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26  And these are the children of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. 27  The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan. 28  The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran. 29  These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah, 30  Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir.

Genesis 36:31 ¶  And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. 32  And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33  And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 34  And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead. 35  And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith. 36  And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 37  And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead. 38  And Saul died, and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. 39  And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. 40  And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth, 41  Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon, 42  Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar, 43  Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

What followed verse 8 was a brief history of the ancient kingdom of Edom, which flowered and decayed before Israel ever had a king, from the Horites who first possessed it through a few generations of Edomites. Edom, named after that red soup, symbolizes Esau’s foolish bargain. We have this memory forever emblazoned in the name of the Red Sea.

1Kings 9:26  And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

Add this fact to the list of things that keep us from forgetting what God did in the past. We drive on fossil fuels, the remnant of the fabulous biomass that existed before the great Flood of Noah’s time. We are divided by ethnic, linguistic, and racial groupings that remind us of the dispersion of mankind at the Tower of Babel. We repeat in each generation the wicked sins of the flesh and the mind that prove that we are spiritually bankrupt without Christ and have no hope in ourselves. These things should remind us of what God has done but we choose to be willfully ignorant.

Even judgment against us escapes our feeble thought processes. A hundred years ago the nations of Europe and the United States, who thought they were so righteous and each special vessels of God, bashed themselves upon each other in a terrible bloodbath called The Great War or World War One. God judged the nations and finding them wanting judged them with a war and then a great plague of disease that killed more people than the war itself. They did not see that it was God’s judgment but only chose to blame the loser and punish thereby setting up the next war and, indeed, a century of war and the extinguishing of a hundred million lives and displacement of half that many again as refugees. Yet, mankind is blind to it, a doddering idiot, stumbling about in the dark unwilling to be enlightened.

So it is, when we look at the Bible events we see evidence of them in our landscape, our maps, our economic systems, our politics, and elsewhere. But, alas, the stumbling idiot stumbles from one judgment to the next waving his flags, singing his patriotic songs, worshipping his nation-states, as he proudly steers a course for Armageddon.

This curious verse for which we are given no explanation is worthy of note.

24  And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.

Such a seemingly unimportant detail but important enough to God to be included in the short history of a people who provided little to history but a pathetic example.

Genesis, chapter 37

Genesis 37:1 ¶  And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Having just given a list of Jacob’s sons, then an interlude where Esau’s brief genealogy is given,  the narrative returns to Jacob and focuses on Joseph, who, in many particulars is a type of Christ. Joseph is his father’s favorite. Christ, as the Son of God, is the Father’s beloved, as well. Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors. Note that this is kind of clothing was considered very valuable. This is reflected in Deborah’s victory song in Judges 5.

Judges 5:28  The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? 29  Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, 30  Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

It is the type of coat worn by King David’s daughter.

2Samuel 13:18  And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king’s daughters that were virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.

I have read reports that there have been Egyptian tomb paintings showing traders from the area of Canaan wearing such clothing, probably made more valuable by the costly work of dyeing the fabric.

Because Joseph was his father’s favorite his brothers were envious. The Jewish leadership were envious of Christ, as well, because of His influence on the people.

Matthew 27:17  Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? 18  For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

Here we see that Joseph’s brothers hated him, which I showed before meant to hold him in contempt, to despise him. They are jealous of Jacob’s love for Joseph.

Joseph gave his father a report of his brother’s bad behavior. As Matthew Henry’s commentary says one of the reasons his brothers hated him was, “Because he informed his father of their wickedness.”

Genesis 37:5 ¶  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Joseph’s two dreams indicate that he has been given knowledge that he will have supremacy over his brothers and, indeed, even over his father, in a manner of speaking. This adds fuel to the fire of his brothers’ envy against him. Jacob’s statement about Joseph’s mother, who was Rachel who died giving birth to Benjamin, seems to indicate that these dreams had been something he revealed some time previously that had helped create the resentment that his brothers felt for their father’s favorite. Matthew Henry noted that Joseph is more of a prophet than a politician in that he blurts these things out. He is a very young man, still a child by our standards today, though. But, while Jacob objected he still pondered what the dream that was spoken that seemed to include him meant.

One valuable note here of Bible definitions of words is the context of to reign over and to have dominion over in verse 8. To have dominion means to reign over here as it means to have power over and authority over in other places.

Psalm 8:6  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

And did not man have power and authority over life on earth?

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Joseph’s dreams will yet save a heathen nation from ruin and save his own people from starvation, setting off events that will reverberate through all history.

Genesis 37:12 ¶  And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13  And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14  And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15  And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? 16  And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. 17  And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19  And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21  And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. 22  And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

Here goes Joseph on another reporting expedition for his father. No wonder his brothers can’t stand him. Are they expecting another evil report?

Introduced into the narrative is someone who enters the picture several times in the Bible. He or she is a seemingly random person who accomplishes something important or is used as an example. His or her existence makes one wonder about the place of so-called “divine appointments” in our everyday lives denying our very concepts of randomness, luck, and chance. I am referring to the references to a certain man or a certain woman who do something noteworthy but whose name isn’t given. As two examples;

Judges 9:53  And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.

1Kings 22:34  And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.

A certain man found Joseph wandering, unsure of where to find his brothers. This anonymous individual lets Joseph know where to find them and exits the narrative.

Their hatred of Joseph is so great, their envy is so murderous, that they conspire against him as they see him approaching them. Jesus’ own brethren would not receive Him and conspired against Him.

John 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

He spoke against the Jews’ practices of His time and they conspired against Him. But, Joseph will yet save them all as we will see, as Christ came to save His own people.

They cynically and with blood in their hearts want to kill Joseph but Reuben, Jacob and Leah’s firstborn, refuses them their wish to end Joseph’s life and blame it on an animal. Here we see one of the definitions of evil as intending to do violence.

Reuben’s desire is to deliver Joseph, to return him to their father, Jacob. Reuben, who had before this committed the grievous sin of having sex with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, has a heart of mercy toward Joseph. This goes to show just how complex and really normal these patriarchs were in that they were not two dimensional but like us and all men were capable of evil and good. We do err when we paint the Bible’s human characters as having only one side; when we ignore Moses’ temper, Jeremiah’s doubts, or David’s sexual weakness. Only Christ, who is God in the flesh, was without sin, and, pastors, that includes Paul.

Genesis 37:23 ¶  And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 24  And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 25  And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26  And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27  Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28  Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 29  And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30  And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

Joseph is now cast into a dry pit and they took off his coat of many colors much like Jesus’ garment was removed in Matthew 27:35 and John 19:23 although the similarity is limited to the removal only. Notice the difference in the nastiness of the dungeon Jeremiah will be thrown into in Jeremiah 38:6. It is then Judah, without Reuben present, who suggests they sell their brother to the Ishmaelite traders who are traveling to Egypt. This is done as an act of mercy as Judah says that it would be better to do this than to kill him. The brothers consent. This passage seems to indicate that the Midianites were also Ishmaelities; Midianites through Abraham’s wife, Keturah;

Genesis 25:1 ¶  Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2  And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

…and Ishmaelites through his concubine, Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar;

Genesis 16:15  And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.

So, we see how quickly the genealogies of the Ancient Near East became muddled.

Joseph’s life was worth twenty pieces of silver to the traders. Jesus was betrayed for thirty. To Reuben’s dismay, when he returned from wherever he had gone not knowing about or approving the sale of Joseph, his brother was gone. Tearing one’s clothing was a sign of grief in the Ancient Near East as evident in many places throughout the Bible.

What was Reuben going to do now?

Genesis 37:31 ¶  And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32  And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. 33  And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35  And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36  And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.

Joseph’s coat of many colors is now used to present false evidence that Joseph was killed by a wild animal. As explained previously an evil beast would refer to an animal intent on violence. It would have nothing to do with a supposed moral condition. Evil in this context has to do with an intention of malice and violence, not sin.

The lie worked and Jacob is grieving and like Job, those close to him seek to comfort him to no avail. He states that he will go to his grave mourning for Joseph, who is sold by the traders to an Egyptian officer.

If we create in our minds a spiritual comparison to what happens to Joseph and what happened to Jesus, understanding that types rarely hold up on deep examination, we might muse that the Midianite traders taking Joseph out of the pit are like angels transporting the souls of the dead to their destination.

Luke 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

And we know that Jesus went to Hell, which Joseph’s destination, Egypt, is like in type, not to suffer but to preach. (see Deuteronomy 4:20; 1Kings 8:51; and Jeremiah 11:4 for Egypt as an iron furnace.)

1Peter 3:18 ¶  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Potiphar is said to be captain of the guard. The Hyksos were a group of Asiatic people who conquered Egypt in antiquity.[1] Some scholars call The Hyksos the Shepherd Kings. I contend, as some scholars do, and we’ll have Biblical evidence later in Exodus, that Joseph and his family came into Egypt under their reign. The Hyksos are said to have ruled through Egyptian vassals who would have worshipped the traditional gods of Egypt and, of course, longed for an Egyptian revival, hating anyone who represented the shepherd economy of Canaan, longing to reestablish authority over not only their own country but Canaan as well. This will explain a couple of statements we will find later in the Bible in other books.

Exodus 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

This native Egyptian pharaoh of Exodus, like the rest of the Egyptians, would have held the shepherds from the area of Canaan in great contempt and hatred. He, or his dynasty, would have reestablished authority over Canaan and so, when the Pharaoh and his army are destroyed in the Red Sea disaster Canaan’s cities would have been without their protector. The Amarna Letters give us an indication that the Canaanite cities were vassals of Egypt and were under great threat around the time of the Exodus without Pharaoh’s army to protect them.[2]

Number 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

These are just some ideas that will help you connect the dots, so to speak, in the Bible. Apparently, God doesn’t regard them as all that important as He provides no great explanation through Moses, but it is interesting to think about, nonetheless.

Verse 35 shows us that either Dinah was not Jacob’s only daughter or daughters could logically include daughters-in-law as in The Ancient City De Coulanges talks about how ancient custom required a woman to leave her family and join her husband’s family.



[1] History World International, “The Hyksos,” http://history-world.org/hyksos.htm (accessed 3.5.3017).

 

[2] The History of Israel, “Amarna Letters,” http://www.israel-a-history-of.com/amarna-letters.html (accessed 3.5.2017).

 

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