Joseph goes to Egypt  

Ah, after 10 synopsis posts, we are on the final leg of Genesis at last. Parts 1-3 (two posts) told of the harmonious world God created with a man in his likeness in charge and man's corruption and fall. Parts 4-6 (2 posts) told of God starting over and sending Noah's family out to populate earth, with similar results. Parts 7-8 (3 posts) detailed God's epic promises to Abraham and how God blessed Abraham through life while simultaneously bringing Abraham to a place of faith through the birth of his son Isaac. Parts 9-11 (3 posts) Told of Isaac's wealth, and of God passing Abraham's covenant down to Isaac and then to Jacob, who God also brings through a process to bring him to a place of faithfulness to God.

And now, part 12 (this will be 3 posts as well).

Synopsis

Joseph, Jacob's 11th oldest son (older only than his full brother Benjamin), is 17, and is dad's favorite. His brothers hate them because of jealousy, because he brings a bad report to his father about them, because he gets a sweet coat, and, oh, he tells them about a couple dreams in which all of them plus his parents bow down to him.


Alright, so when they're way out far from home keeping the flocks, he goes to check on them for dad and they plot to kill him. The oldest, Rueben, tries to save him, but in the end he ends up being sold as a slave to Ishmaelites. (They trick dad into thinking he was killed by a wild animal.)

(Meanwhile, Judah has an interesting story with God striking a couple of his sons down and him eating some humble pie for using a prostitute and holding his third son from his oldest's widow, who ends up having Judah's kids.)

The Ishmaelites take him to Egypt and sell him to an Egyptian official named Potiphar. God is with Joseph and he's basically put in charge. Potiphar's wife would love to have an affair with Joseph, and since he isn't having it, she accuses him of trying to rape her. So he gets thrown into prison. But here God is with Joseph again and he is so successful he is basically put in charge of the dungeon as well.

This is where it gets interesting. Two of Pharaoh's servants are thrown into prison. After a while they both have dreams and by God's power Joseph interprets them both correctly: one is given his position back, and the other one is executed. Although the cupbearer (the one who is given his job back) promises Joseph he'll remember him and get him out, he forgets.

A couple years later, the Pharaoh has two dreams that nobody can crack, and suddenly the cupbearer's memory is jogged. They bring Joseph up right away, and he interprets the dreams, giving credit to God for the interpretation: Egypt will experience seven years of bountiful harvest followed by seven years of famine.

He tells Pharaoh that Egypt will need someone wise to fix it so the seven lean years are bearable, and Pharaoh can't think of anybody better than Joseph. So Joseph goes from an inmate to more or less the king of Egypt with the Pharaoh as a figurehead. Joseph stores up an absolute insane amount of grain during the first seven years, and when the famine comes, Joseph is able to begin supplying the whole world with grain.

Analysis

There's a few interesting points with this, the first third of Joseph's story. For one thing, it's clear by now that morals have developed in Genesis to mean something. At first, Genesis was just a series of stories and adventures with no moral lesson to learn. Since that, though, Genesis has gotten progressively concerned with morality, and by Joseph's story it is very important how he stays pure and doesn't lie, and it is bad how Judah denies his son's widow a husband and it's a disgrace that he uses a prostitute. I'm not sure when this light switch went on. Meanwhile Joseph is giving God credit left and right.

This part of the story is definitely the set up. It's funny because all of what I read today is 90% of what people know about this story, while the other 2/3rds of the story only make up 10% of our understanding of the passage. I guess it has to do with how quickly events move along. However, I'm guessing the main point Joseph's story (beside a moral exposition) is showing how Israel gets to Egypt. So this part of the story is really just the set up for actually making it happen over the next few pages.

One last note: Jacob/Israel still has his blessing/promise/covenant from God, and has not yet passed it on.

Response

I'm beginning to feel like an outsider. Early Genesis was beautiful commentary on the nature of man and God and our relationship. God's character was further demonstrated through Abraham and his family's story. But as his family continues down the road and Israel has his twelves sons and they'll be on their way to prosper in Egypt soon, the whole thing is transitioning to a story about the Israelite nation, of which I am not a member. I anticipate that a lot of the First Testament is going to seem like an exciting story that I'm viewing from the outside in. We'll see, though.

Genesis is getting closer to the end, and it's becoming evident that God's covenant with Abraham is not going to be completed at the end of the book. Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob are all definitely very blessed. We'll see how much there is of blessing all nations, making a great nation, and giving them the land is fulfilled by the end of the book. If they're not all totally fulfilled, then I will say that at least Genesis is a book that is very much looking toward the future.

I've been enjoying Genesis so much more by reading more of it per day and really charting out the unfolding story of the whole book. It's good reading and it's the beginning of a very passionate story that makes up the rest of the Bible.