Joseph Sold Into Slavery

Believe it or not, I have been reading the Old Testament and am completely caught up with the lesson book outline. The lesson book skips over a lot of scripture, but I've been reading it all. I'm on the first few chapters of Deuteronomy. Scripture reading is time-consuming, and my priority is there and preparing Sunday school lessons (plus life, in general). Blogging about it takes a back-burner. But, oh, I have so much to say. I may (but probably won't) go back in more detail and ponderings, but for now, I'll just mention what stands out in my head.

Joseph Sold Into Slavery (Genesis 37 - 45)

This was a beautiful story. Hollywood couldn't have written it better. I was curious why Joseph was hated by his other brothers. I went back and reread and realized that Joseph was the first born of Jacob's beloved Rachel (I mention her a bit at the end of my last post).

Jacob (Error: I previously wrote Joseph. Pardon me. Jacob is Joseph's father) had four wives, but only loved and wanted one of them, Rachel. He had to marry Leah, her older sister, first in order to marry Rachel. Leah and Rachel each had hand maids that Jacob I guess had to marry, too. He hated Leah but managed to have several children with her. Rachel seemed to be barren, but after many, many years, she bore Joseph. She later had Benjamin, but she died during childbirth. So, Joseph and Ben had very special places in Jacob's heart, and he played favoritism towards Joseph. The other brothers grew jealous. It didn't help, either, that Joseph told his brothers he had a dream that they would one day bow down to him.

Anyway, it's a great story, easy to follow, great moral message, and a happy ending (Joseph's bondage allowed him to eventually put him in a place of power and help his family through a famine. He had a great attitude through all of his trials and stayed faithful. He readily forgave his brothers even before they asked for it).

Jacob had 12 sons (12 tribes of Israel) and one daughter, Dinah. For ultimate date-rape revenge, read Genesis 34.

Exodus, Numbers

Entertaining reading. Interesting stories. Testimony challenging.

(I'll expound on that later).