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Genesis 37-38
Genesis 37
In keeping with Jesus’ command to His disciples to “see the log” in their own eyes, we find Jacob repeating behavior in his family that his parents, Isaac and Rebekah, were guilty of: favoritism. This story might also shed some light on Reuben’s dark behavior.
Notice the time reference, this means that they had been in Canaan about 15-16 years. This would make Reuben about 28 or 29.
Notice also that Joseph is with the sons of the maids, not the son’s of Leah.
So Joseph is a snitch and his father loved him more, and Joe was probably protected, and there is huge animosity toward him. What a neat place to grow up. What a nurturing environment. The stage is set.
Into this “accident waiting to happen” God interjects 2 dreams. The second one actually gets Jacob mad. Notice that Jacob refers to “his mother,” meaning Leah. Leah was the leading lady and Jacob later says that she was buried in the family burial site.
It’s interesting that the brothers had no hesitation to want to kill Joseph. Reuben has a secret plot to free Joseph, but Judah actually saves him, suggesting they get some “cash for the trash.” The brothers probably all bought Ipods from the Midianite caravan.
Notice also that Jacob the trickster is trumped by his sons. What an evil trick. They held this secret for years, rotting their souls, and it says later that Jacob’s spirit revived when he learned that Joseph was alive, meaning, his “spirit” “died” here. How sad.
Certain aspects of this story are suggestive of Jesus: being rejected by his brethren, being sold, becoming their salvation. It is interesting that it was Judah who came up with this idea, Jesus coming from his lineage. Judah will also play a role later in this story. Notice later that Jacob rejects Reuben’s offer to protect Benjamin, but accepts Judah’s offer. There is something good about Judah, that, even in all this dysfunction, we don’t see yet.
As disciples, there is something about this story that is important to see regarding God’s sovereignty and man’s sin. This complete family catastrophe was not God’s doing, but he used it. God often uses disharmony and malfunction to help us. We look at this story and understand that God was going to use Joseph to save the family and eventually grow the nation in Egypt, but do we see that God was protecting and preparing Joseph? Joseph was also a piece of work and a chip off the old “Jacob” block. God had to get Joseph out of that family to mold him through the trials of captivity and injustice. I don’t think there was a plan “b” in making Joseph the man he became and he might not have been that man any other way. Also, it is usually recognized that being sold into slavery, “saved” Joseph from the effects of Canaan’s sexually saturated culture and idolatry.
A couple years after one ministry malfunction I had in Germany, I realized that one of the “blessings” of this malfunction was that it created distance between our kids and a potentially devastating influence in the church. Not all relational malfunctions are bad.
This is all to say that when we see what happens in our lives or the lives of others, we shouldn’t automatically feel defeat if there is failure or disharmony or if hard events intervene. Just as in Romans 8:28, our confidence as disciples making disciples is that God uses everything in our lives as we love Him, even our deaths, for His good and His glory.
Chapter 38: The Adventures of Judah
So, why is this chapter here? We don’t yet know that Judah will be anyone important. Some suggest that this chapter shows the culture and influence that Joseph was “saved” from. Possibly.
The chapter definitely shows God’s sovereignty in preparing the line of Christ. Judah was either a bad dad or the power of the culture ruined the boys. His first two sons were evil and God put them to death.
Notice that the social “law” regarding continuing the lineage of the dead man, was already in place before the giving of the law. Created in the image of God, man creates order, imitating the order of the creator.
Tamar becomes the “black widow” here and Judah holds back giving her his last son. Obviously there is not a sense in any of this of anyone going to God and asking Him for advice. Everyone was just living from their “gut.”
Now, Tamar’s action was interesting. At this point in Jacob’s family, the promise to Abraham has been lost. There is no sense of anyone pursuing it. At least Jacob pursued it. It may have been that Tamar realized Judah was next in line to receive the blessing of the firstborn. I don’t know. It might have also been that the promise was why Judah didn’t want to give Shelah, his last and only son, to “the black widow.”
All we know is that the line of the promise continues through Judah and this story is somehow important. My guess is that the promise, somehow, figures into the actions of Judah and Tamar.
So, what do you see in Judah that makes him a better man than his brothers. I think it is in v 26, actually two things indicate that Judah was a different man.
Notice that the son’s are not listed as Er’s sons, they are Judah’s, and the line of the promise that flows to David and then to Jesus is via Perez, meaning that the line of Jesus was Latino, which is why we can dance and sing for joy. 
Matthew 12:22-45
12:22-32
This is a major confrontation and shows what the religious leaders finally came up with to “explain” and discredit Jesus.
For us as disciples, what I find interesting is that Jesus was very relaxed in dealing with this accusation. Mark 3:23 says that when Jesus heard this, He called them to him and tried to show them the silliness of their logic. I think we disciples need to have that same relaxed sense of hearing what is being said, and then seeking to give the other side of the story, firmly, with meekness, humility and a smile. In 2000 years, Christianity has not crumbled in the face of “facts” or “accusation.” We need to be confident in God.
I tend to define the sin against the Holy Spirit very narrowly. I think you actually had to be there, hear Jesus, see Jesus do a miracle, and then say, “that was of the devil” to have committed the unpardonable sin. I don’t think we can sin like this today.
12:33-37
This was a challenge and an accusation aimed at the religious leaders, who put on a “front” of being good, but were really evil within, that evil, being defined as in Rom. 1:18, resisting and suppressing the truth. The real challenge for all of us here is that God is keeping track of what we say and, if needed, will prove by our own words that He is just.
Apparently the desire to see a sign was not honest. Jesus’ words are, accordingly, hard.
The unclean spirit description, I think, is real. I think Jesus is telling us something that happens in reality. However, the real point of the story is that if you just clean up morally, but don’t put something in place of the evil that was there, the evil returns worse than before.
Jesus’ presence drove back the spiritual forces and many people were cured. Nationally it was a good time. But the warning was “if nothing takes the place of what went out,” that is, if you don’t let me in, “what happens next will be worse.”
Notice that the spirit returns. In bringing with it other, more evil spirits, it was making sure it couldn’t be driven out again.
As disciples, we don’t offer people restored marriages or personal order, etc., as important as those things might be. We offer people the ability to be forgiven and have God enter their lives and save them and break the power of sin and lead them. Anything less is just cleaning the house, not filling it with the Savior.
Psalm 16
David wrote most of the psalms after running from Saul and being in constant danger. As disciples, it may not be until we are put down for trying to live for Christ and make disciples, that we will appreciate what David and the Spirit have written here.
For me, verse 2 has the deepest meaning. All of what I really want in this life, or to see before I leave this place, is in Christ, “to do the will of Him who sent (I’d substitute “saved” for “sent”) me, and to accomplish His work.”
Proverbs 3:27-32
27-28
Two years ago the Lord really hit me with these verses, to give aid to people immediately. So, for this reason, I always carry cash to just give out if I sense someone needs it.
30…especially when driving or talking to someone in lower management who didn’t make the decision I’m mad about.
As disciples we often envy the “decisive person of action,” but God can use all kinds. None of his cleverness really helped Jacob. We don’t have to take assertiveness training to be better disciples. We need to fall deeper in love with Jesus and dare to share his story and make disciples.
It was a scared Sunday school teacher who finally overcame his fear and walked into a shoe store and shared the gospel with a shoe salesman who had been attending his class. That salesman was saved and he walked away from his shoes to save soles. DL Moody’s life was changed forever and the Lord used him to change countless other people. All because of a timid Sunday school teacher.
God uses all kinds, so we don’t need to envy anyone. We just need to follow Jesus as disciples.
I'm writing these comments to and for those at New Song who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. We're meeting weekly and discussing the texts, not necessarily my comments. We're growing together, learning to become and make disciples who make disciples. We will all be leading others in this process and training them to do likewise.
The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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