If you are anything like me, you probably opened up to today’s reading, and thought “holy crud, two pages of nothing but names…..!”, and you were half tempted (more like 99%) to skip over all of those names about descendants and who’s son belonged to whom, and so and so had this person, this person was father to these 40 people, and the list goes on and on. I think you get the point. Not to mention you need a master’s degree just to be able to pronounce most of the names. I think the biggest reason why we tend to skip over these sections of the bible is because we really have no idea who most of these people are. Sure, we might see one name or so that we recognize, but in all honesty, it’s just a list of names to us. But I would like make a challenge to you, it will only take a couple minutes, but it will get the point across. Grab a piece of paper and start writing down the names of every single person in your family that you can remember starting with the oldest. First you would write down your great great or your great grandparents, then your grandparents, then probably your parents. You would then think of all your aunts and uncles and their kids, then you would get to you and your siblings. Then, if you are married, you would think about your spouse’s family, and for those you know you would start doing the same for that side. Then you might get to the spouse’s of your siblings, then your kids and their kids, then still depending on how old you are, you might start adding their husbands and wives and then their kids (which if you are keeping up, this would end up being your grandchildren), and the list goes on. Now try doing the same thing for maybe some friends that you know, who their parents are, who their kids are, and anyone else you know that could be associated with them. The point I am trying to make is this: without even trying to do so, while you thought of every family member you could think of, a memory of that person popped in your mind at the same time. It could have been bad, good, hilarious, whatever, but the point is, it happened. You may not like most of your family, but you know who they are, and that is why you had a memory about them. God is the exact same way. We may not see the point or the purpose in having chapter after chapter of names of people you have no clue or no desire to know who they are (I say that because you will come across a lot more lol), but God knows who they are, because every single one of us are important to Him. The same way you look at your list of family and think of memories about them, God does the exact same thing. Because He knows everything about us, even down to how many hairs on our head. That is how much He loves us, and how well He knows us, and how much He longs to have a relationship with us. So we have established how well He knows us, and I leave you with this question, how well do you know God?
Tanner
Good post tanner great point. Do you know how many of Jacob's descendants there were at this point? 70, with Joseph family that was already in Egypt. It's crazy to think what God did with those 70 people and how he blessed them in the land of Egypt.
ReplyDeleteHere is a question for everyone to think about and try to find the answer to. How old was Joseph when he last saw his father? How old is he now, and how many years have passed? Good luck
Pastor Pete
i believe the answer is close to Saturday's reading, the Pharo aksed, "hey how old are you anyway??"
ReplyDeleteJust a hint..
Did anyone notice that Joseph was not ashamed of his family's heritage or occupation even though shepherds were "detestable" to the Egyptians? I personally am guilty of judging people by their degrees or accomplishments and not by their inner qualities. I personally have enjoyed all of the family lineage. It has helped with picking out baby names!! I did like your idea Tanner.
ReplyDeleteCan somebody answer me why Benjamin received more silver and sets of clothes (Jan. 30 reading)? Why is he favored? Did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteStephanie, The answer can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. First it is important to remember that the custom of the day was not built on fairness when it came to loving children or dividing things up among them. Today we would never think of loving one child more then another, or giving some more and others less. But It was common for a father mother or both to give preferential treatment to a child, generally but not always to the oldest. Joseph was not the oldest child in the family, but he was the first-born child from Rachel whom Jacob greatly loved. Jacob gave Joseph the richly ornamented robe, and seemed to favor him which really did not make him very popular with his older half brothers. Then he has the dreams and that does not increase his favor any either and thus they sell him and his story in Egypt begins.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin is Joseph’s only full brother and that is why Jacob was so reluctant to let him go to Egypt. After Joseph was “killed” it seems that Jacob kept Ben close to home and sort of became a bit over protective. However Jacob has no choice but to send him to Egypt. Many believe Joseph did this as a test to see if his brothers had learned their lesson. By giving Ben more, the older brothers would again have reason to become mad and perhaps do something to the younger brother again like they had done before with Joseph. This may be why he warns them not to fight on the way home and slip back into their old ways. Still others believe it was just because Joseph had a stronger connection with his blood brother verses his half brothers. And therefore wanted to give him more, and bless him with more things then the others (not uncommon for the day). Still others say, it’s because Ben had nothing to do with selling Joseph that he decided to rub it in a bit and show the other brothers what they could have had. There really is not a solid answer on this as far as I know, I hear and read many different arguments on the subject. Personally I think it is probably one, or both of the first two options. I don’t think the third has much merit. The bottom line is he blessed them all with more then they deserved, and Joseph is interested in being re-united with his family, and providing for them more then he is getting revenge in my opinion. This is a good observation keep it up! Hope this helps some, I have another book at the office that might have a different view of this. I will check it in the morning and post if there is anything different in it.
Thanks for clarifying that. I was wondering myself about that. The same thing happens during the Feb. 1 reading. How come Jacob crosses his hands during his blessings to Joseph's children and the younger one Ephraim will be greater? Did the younger one have greater favor with Jacob? Shelly
ReplyDeleteThanks Pete for taking the time to give such an informed explanation. I forgot that Ben was Joseph's only full-blooded brother, it stated that somewhere I think. I could see that there could be some favoritism, especially since that seemed to happen often. But in the end, it was divine providence that brought them all together again. Thanks.
ReplyDelete