Day 18
Genesis 36:1-37:36
(36 | 37)
Jacob and Esau are both prosperous men, and they both have a lot of livestock and possessions in general. The land can't support them both, so Esau decides to leave the area and settle in the hill country of Seir. Esau becomes the father of the Edomite people. Chapter 37 pretty much just lists his descendants.
Chapter 38 is about Jacob's twelve sons. Of his twelve sons, he loves Joseph - his eleventh son, and the first born to him by Rachel - the most. Jacob gives him a "richly ornamented" robe to demonstrate his favour. The rest of Jacob's sons detest him for it. Their hatred of Joseph grows even more when Joseph has two dreams and foolishly decides to share them; the first shows eleven sheaves of wheat bowing down to one erect sheaf; the second shows eleven stars, the sun and the moon bowing down before him.
One day, his brothers are out grazing the cattle. (Presumably Benjamin, the youngest, is not with them.) Jacob sends Joseph out to make sure everything's okay. His brothers decide to seize the opportunity, and plot to kill him. Reuben, Jacob's eldest son, convinces his siblings to throw Jacob in a nearby empty cistern instead of killing him. Reuben's plan was to rescue Joseph from the cistern and take him back to Jacob. However, the plan goes slightly awry, as Judah persuades the rest of his brothers to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelite traders. When Reuben comes back and discovers what has happened, he is devastated and tears his clothes. So the brothers take Joseph's robe and dip it in the blood of a slaughtered goat. They take the robe back to Jacob, telling him they found it and believe it might belong to Joseph. Jacob believes that his son has been killed by some wild predator and goes into mourning, tearing his clothes and putting on sackcloth. Tearing one's clothes seems to be the appropriate demonstration of mourning in the Bible, though I'm not sure why.
Meanwhile, the traders take Joseph to Egypt. There they sell him on to a man named Potiphar, who happens to be an official in the court of the Pharaoh, captain of the guard no less.
Matthew 13:18-35
(13:18-35)
Jesus explains the parable of the sower to his disciples. The seeds are the message of the Kingdom of God. The people hearing the message are the soil. Some people are the shallow soil on the rocks, and some people are in the thorns. When people's enthusiasm for the message dries up for whatever reason, we need to help them through it. And when people are on the path where the soil can't take hold of the seed, they aren't ready to hear the message. We have to keep trying. We all go through phases of feeling like we're the good soil, the soil in the rocky place or the soil in the thorns. We have to help each other through it.
Jesus shares another three parables. It's unclear whether these are to an audience or to the disciples. Either way, they concern the proliferation of the message, the growth of those who receive it, and what to do with those who do not.
Psalm 10:12-18
(10:12-18)
The psalmist recognises that God does, in fact, hear our pleas. They ask for God to take action, and to defend those who need defending, and to take action against the aggressors.
Genesis 36:1-37:36
(36 | 37)
Jacob and Esau are both prosperous men, and they both have a lot of livestock and possessions in general. The land can't support them both, so Esau decides to leave the area and settle in the hill country of Seir. Esau becomes the father of the Edomite people. Chapter 37 pretty much just lists his descendants.
Chapter 38 is about Jacob's twelve sons. Of his twelve sons, he loves Joseph - his eleventh son, and the first born to him by Rachel - the most. Jacob gives him a "richly ornamented" robe to demonstrate his favour. The rest of Jacob's sons detest him for it. Their hatred of Joseph grows even more when Joseph has two dreams and foolishly decides to share them; the first shows eleven sheaves of wheat bowing down to one erect sheaf; the second shows eleven stars, the sun and the moon bowing down before him.
One day, his brothers are out grazing the cattle. (Presumably Benjamin, the youngest, is not with them.) Jacob sends Joseph out to make sure everything's okay. His brothers decide to seize the opportunity, and plot to kill him. Reuben, Jacob's eldest son, convinces his siblings to throw Jacob in a nearby empty cistern instead of killing him. Reuben's plan was to rescue Joseph from the cistern and take him back to Jacob. However, the plan goes slightly awry, as Judah persuades the rest of his brothers to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelite traders. When Reuben comes back and discovers what has happened, he is devastated and tears his clothes. So the brothers take Joseph's robe and dip it in the blood of a slaughtered goat. They take the robe back to Jacob, telling him they found it and believe it might belong to Joseph. Jacob believes that his son has been killed by some wild predator and goes into mourning, tearing his clothes and putting on sackcloth. Tearing one's clothes seems to be the appropriate demonstration of mourning in the Bible, though I'm not sure why.
Meanwhile, the traders take Joseph to Egypt. There they sell him on to a man named Potiphar, who happens to be an official in the court of the Pharaoh, captain of the guard no less.
Matthew 13:18-35
(13:18-35)
Jesus explains the parable of the sower to his disciples. The seeds are the message of the Kingdom of God. The people hearing the message are the soil. Some people are the shallow soil on the rocks, and some people are in the thorns. When people's enthusiasm for the message dries up for whatever reason, we need to help them through it. And when people are on the path where the soil can't take hold of the seed, they aren't ready to hear the message. We have to keep trying. We all go through phases of feeling like we're the good soil, the soil in the rocky place or the soil in the thorns. We have to help each other through it.
Jesus shares another three parables. It's unclear whether these are to an audience or to the disciples. Either way, they concern the proliferation of the message, the growth of those who receive it, and what to do with those who do not.
Psalm 10:12-18
(10:12-18)
The psalmist recognises that God does, in fact, hear our pleas. They ask for God to take action, and to defend those who need defending, and to take action against the aggressors.
No comments:
Post a Comment