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Abram/Abraham's Biography Abram was blessed by Yahweh to become the father of the nation of Israel. This makes him a prominent figure in bible history, therefore it is fitting to give a brief account of his life according to Genesis. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran fathered Lot and Milcah. Haran died at some point. Abram took Sarai as wife, and Nahor took Milcah as wife. Sarai was barren and thus bore no children to Abram. Terah dies at age 205. Next, God tells Abram to settle his family to a place He will show him, telling him He will bless him and make a great nation out of him. Abram was 75 years old at the time, and he took his family along with his nephew, Lot, and all their household and belongings and settled in Canaan. God confirms to Abram that this is the land He is giving him. They moved to another place within the region and started calling on the name of Yahweh. Later a famine overtook the land, so they all moved to Egypt. As they neared Egypt, Abram was afraid because Sarai, his wife, was so beautiful he thought the men would kill him so they could have her. So he instructed her to tell everyone that they were brother and sister. The ruse worked so well that the princes of the land took her to pharoah, due to her beauty, and pharoah treated Abram well on her account. He gave Abram livestock, and servants. God plagued Pharoah's house because he'd taken someone's wife. When Pharoah realized what happened he demanded an explanation from Abram, who gave it. As a result, Pharoah had his servants escort Abram and Sarai away. They left Egypt. At this point he left as a wealthy man: Much livestock, silver and gold, etc. He also still had Lot and Lot's household and belongings traveling with him, so that there were too many and too much for them to continue traveling together. Quarrels were popping up, it was crowded, etc. so Lot chose to go live in Sodom, and Abram chose to live in Canaan. God repeats his promise to Abram to give the land of Canaan to Abram's numerous descendants. About this time the regional kings were having their skirmishes. During this, the kings of the lands of Sodom and Gomorrah were involved with a battle against other kings and were defeated, and Lot and his family became captives of war because of it. A man escaped and told Abram about Lot's capture. Abram collected 318 of his trained slaves and fought their way to rescued Lot and his household and belongings. This impressed the king of Sodom as well as a few other kings, so they all came to Abram with bread, wine and much praise. Next Yahweh comes to Abram in a vision telling him He'd be Abram's shield and that Abram's reward will be very great. But Abram was childless, so he tells God that he fears his nephew, Lot , will have to be his heir. Yahweh tells Abram that he will have a son of his own to be an heir, not to fret about Lot. He tells Abram that his seed will be as numerous as the stars. After God directs Abram to make an animal sacrifice to Him, he also tells Abram that his seed will become an alien resident living in a land that is not theirs, and they will be enslaved and afflicted for 400 years, and then they will be released with many goods and belongings. And then again Yahweh repeats his promise to Abram to multiply his seed. Sarai sees that she still hasn't born a son to Abram, so she gives her maid, Hagar, to Abram in order to have a son for him through her. However, once Hagar finds she's pregnant, she starts treating Sarai very badly, so that Sarai drove her away. Yahweh sends his angel to speak to Hagar, to tell her to return and humble herself. The angel also gives her the message that her unborn son will also become a large nation, and she is to name him Ishmael. Hagar returned, and bore Ishmael to Abram. He was 86 years old at the time. Thirteen years later God spoke to Abram again. He changed Abram's name to Abraham, changed Sarai's name to Sarah. God repeats that he will make Abraham's descendants numerous and decreed that Abraham and all the males of his household must get circumcised, and from then on any newborn males must get circumcised at 8 days old. Yahweh goes on to add that Sarah will bear a son, and his name will be Isaac, who will be the start of the special nation that Yahweh had been promising him. Abram is worried that his other son, Ishmael, will not be blessed. Yahweh reassures him that Ishmael will indeed also become a mighty nation. However, the special nation will still be that sprung from Isaac. After Yahweh finished speaking with him Abraham went to circumcise himself and all the males of his household. Next Yahweh sent messengers to Abraham, who welcomed them and fed them a good meal. The messengers tell him that a year from that time Sarah would have the promised son, Isaac. Sarah laughed about this, because she was so old. Later the messengers got up and departed for Sodom, for the sin was great there, and God explained to Abraham that there was going to be an inspection of Sodom to see if there was anything worth saving there.This greatly distressed Abraham, so he questioned Yahweh about it. Yahweh agreed that if there could be found at least ten righteous men in that city then he wouldn't destroy it. At a later point in time, Abraham moved his family into the land of Gerar. Again, he tried to repeat the ruse of saying Sarah was his sister. As a result, the king of Gerar, Abimelech, took Sarah to be his wife. So Yahweh came to the king in a dream telling the king that he will be a dead man for taking another's wife. Abimelech explains his honest mistake to Yahweh, who already knew it was an innocent mistake. So the next morning Abimelech told his servants about the matter and they were all afraid. The king then demands an explanation from Abraham, who explains it in truth. Abraham also explains that Sarah is really his half sister as well as his wife, so that he didn't lie completely. Consequently, the king returned Sarah to Abraham and gave him livestock and servants and as well. Then Abimelech offered Abraham to stay where he wanted in his kingdom and gave him money to serve as a covering regarding Sarah. After this, God turned his attention to Sarah so that she became pregnant with Isaac. At about the time of Isaac's being weaned, Sarah noticed Ishmael poking fun at Isaac (looking at the chronology here, Ishmael would be about 16 years old by now, give or take). Sarah was enraged, and demanded that Abraham get rid of Ishmael and Hagar. This distressed Abraham because he loved his older son too, but Yahweh told him to listen to Sarah this time. Yahweh reminded him that because Ishmael is still Abraham's son too, that Ishmael will also become a nation. So Abraham dismissed Hagar and Ishmael. Later, he makes a pact with Abimelech that they wouldn't deal falsely with each other. After that, there was a dispute concerning a well that the king's men overtook wrongly. The dispute was resolved amicably. Some time later Yahweh puts Abraham's faith to the test. He tells Abraham to take Isaac and make him into a sacrifice to Yahweh. Abraham doesn't understand why, but starts off to do it anyway. Isaac is unaware of what is happening. Just before Abraham actually kills Isaac for the sacrifice, Yahweh sends his angel to stop Abraham. It is then that Abraham is told that his faith was being tested and he had passed the test. After that ordeal is finished, Abraham returned and went to Beer-Sheba. Here he got a report of his family: Nahor and Milcah had sons born to them named Uz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. Bethuel became father to Rebekah. Sarah dies at the age of 120 years old. Abraham was deeply grieved, and asked the local people if he could bury his wife in their land. They had much respect for him, so they let him choose where he wanted to bury her. Abraham tried to pay for the land, but the owner insisted on giving it free. Now Abraham sent one of his servants to find a suitable wife for Isaac in the land of his relatives. The servant departed with a caravan of camels loaded with provisions and gifts and went to the city of Nahor. The servant prayed to Yahweh to choose the girl to be Isaac's wife, the sign being that the girl who offers to water him and his ten camels will be the one. Right after he prayed Rebekah arrived. She was Nahor's granddaughter, Isaac's first cousin once removed. She watered him and the camels. After completing that chore the servant gave her some jewelry and asked about her identity. She identified hereself and offered to let him and his caravan stay at her home. The servant profusely thanked God. Here the servant meets her father, Bethuel and her brother, Laban, who recognizes the jewelry gifts as that from his kinsman. Laban welcomes him heartily and the servant explains his mission to find a wife for his master's son. Bethuel and Laban agree to let Rebekah marry Isaac. The servant returns with her after having been detained a while by Laban, and she marries Isaac, who grows to love her. She also gives him comfort for the loss of his mother. Abraham takes his next wife, Keturah. She bears him six sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. Later in life, he wills all his belongings away and dies at the age of 175. Ishmael and Isaac bury him with Sarah.
Ishmael, Abraham's First Son Ishmael was the firstborn son of Abram, (who was later renamed Abraham) . In the book of Genesis, Abram was promised by God that he and his offspring, or seed, would become a mighty nation. (Genesis 15:1-6) Abraham's wife, at the time named Sarai, had bore him no children, so she gave her egyptian maidservant, Hagar, to Abram in order to have a child for him through her. (Genesis 16:1-4) Of course, this was not what God had intended to happen, and this is shown by the fact that God had Sarai (later renamed Sarah) have a child of her own with Abram that was considered the heir for God's promise. (Genesis 17: 15-21 ) When Hagar became aware that she was pregnant, she began to despise Sarah, Abram's wife. The bible doesn't give detail on what exactly happened, but it was bad enough that Sarai drove Hagar away over it. Sarai first complained to Abram about the situation, so that Abram told Sarai to do what she saw fit about it. So Sarai humiliated Hagar so much that she left. Later, Yahweh sent his angel to speak to Hagar and advise her to humble herself and return to Abram and Sarai. This angel also gave Hagar the message that her unborn son would become a multitude and that she was to name him Ishmael. Later, Hagar bore the child and named him Ishmael. At this time, Abram was 86 years old. Later, God commissioned that all of the males in Abram's household be circumcised immediately (Abram, his son, and the male servants, and the sons born to any of the servants). Abram was 99 years old when he was circumcised, and Ishmael was 13 years old at this time. Some time later, after the promised seed, Isaac, was born, Sarai (now renamed Sarah as per Geneisis 17:15) and Abram (now renamed Abraham, as per Genesis 17:5) prepared a feast in celebration of Isaac's weaning. Sarah kept noticing Ishmael poking fun during the feast, and became upset. So she demanded that Abraham make Hagar and Ishmael go away from them for good. Abraham didn't like the idea, being that Ishmael was his son, but God told him to listen to Sarah's demands. God also reiterated his promise that Isaac would become the promised seed, but that Ishmael would also be fruitful because he was also Abraham's son. The next mornn, Abraham prepared bread and a container of water for Hagar, and sent her and Ishmael away. Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness until the water supply was gone. She put Ishmael under a shady bush, and then put herself a distance away because she didn't want to see Ishmael dying from lack of water, and she wept. If you notice the chronology, Ishmael was approximately 16 years old at this time, give or take. This is shown by the previous scriptures, as stated above: Ishmael was 13 when he was circumcised, and it took a least a couple of years to wean his little brother, Isaac. Therefore, he was in his mid-to-late teen years at this time. Apparently, at this time, Ishmael was either praying, crying, or something, because Yahweh heard his voice and as a result sent an angel to speak to his mother, Hagar. The angel bears the message that God has heard Ishmael's voice, and not to be afraid. The promise to make Ishmael into a multitude is repeated, and then God showed her a well in which they could quench their thirst. Yahweh continued to be with Ishmael. He grew up in the wilderness and became an archer. He ended up living in the wilderness of Paran, and Hagar chose an egyptian wife for him. Later on, when Abraham finally died, Ishmael and his brother Isaac buried him next to Sarah. Now Genesis gives us the history of Ishmael: His sons were named Nebaioth (his firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah, a total of 12 sons, and these are the twelve chieftains promised from Yahweh. Ishmael lived to be137 years old. His offspring took up dwellling from a place in front of Egypt as far as Assyria. Apparently, Ishmael also had daughters, because Esau, the son of Isaac, took one of Ishmael's daughters as his wife.
Isaac, Abraham's second born Isaac was the second born son of Abraham, the promised seed of Abraham. The bible doesn't give an age, but sometime before Isaac became a man, Yahweh decided to test Abraham's faith. He tells Abraham to go to Mount Moriah and offer Isaac up as a burnt sacrifce to Him. Abraham did exactly as Yahweh said: Early in the morning he took Isaac and two attendants, split some wood and traveled to Mount Moriah. After three days of traveling Abraham saw the place from a distance and instructed his attendants to stay put while he and Isaac went on to the mountain. Abraham took the split wood and his son and the things to make fire and a knife and continued on to the place God designated for them.On the way, Isaac, in his ignorance, asked Abraham where the slaughtering sheep was. Abraham simply replied that God would provide. They reached their destination and built the altar. Then Abraham bound up his son and put him on the altar and pulled out the slaughtering knife, which is when Yahweh sent his angel to stop Abraham from going through with it. The angel explained it was a test of faith, which Abraham passed. God then provided a sheep for Abraham to make a sacrifice with in place of Isaac. Abraham then named that place "Jehovah-jireh"/ "Yahweh-yireh" (depending on the bible version you use), which started the phrase "God will provide". Some time later, after Sarah died (Genesis 23:1-2), Abraham sent one of his servants to find a suitable wife for Isaac from among the land of his relatives, because Abraham didn't want Isaac to choose a wife from the daughters of Canaan. The servant took a caravan of camels and came to the city of Nahor. He prayed to Yahweh to show him the right woman for Isaac through a sign. Yahweh listens to him and provides the sign, and thus the servant meets Rebekah. He gives her some jewelry and inquires about her identity. Rebekah reveals she is the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and his wife Milcah. Nahor, Haran and Abraham were brothers as per Genesis 11:26, and Milcah was the daughter of Haran. That means Nahor married his niece, and together they bore Rebekah. Rebekah invites the servant to spend the night at her property and then ran to her household to tell them of these things. Her brother, Laban, went out to meet the servant to inquire of his identity. He welcomed the servant warmly. The servant refused to eat until he stated his business: To bring home a wife for his master's son, Isaac. Rebekah's father, Bethuel, and brother, Laban, agreed, and the servant immediately gave gratitude to God. After being detained at their household for a while, the servant finally brings Rebekah home to Isaac, and Isaac falls in love with her, and she gives him comfort from the death of his mother, Sarah. The pregnancy proved to be a bit difficult for her, so she went to Yahweh about it. He informed her that the twins were two separate nations, and one's seed will be stronger and the older son's seed will serve the younger son's seed. She gave birth to fraternal twins. (we know this because according to the descriptions, the boys did not look alike). The first one to be born had red hair all over his body, and he was named Esau. The second boy came out holding the heel of the first, and the second was named Jacob. At this point, Isaac was 60 years old. As the boys grew, Esau became known as a good hunter, while Jacob was a tent dweller. Isaac had an affinity for Esau because he was a good food provider for the family, whereas Rebekah had an affinity for Jacob. Sometime later there arose a famine, so Isaac desired to move his family to a better area. Yahweh told him to move to a specific place and that He would multiply Isaac's seed, so Isaac moved his family to Gerar as was indicated. If you remember in Genesis 20:2, Gerar was the place Abraham moved with Sarah, and claimed he was her sister, so that King Abimelech took her to be his wife, not knowing the situation. Well, Isaac tried the same ruse, because Rebekah was so beautiful. Isaac told everyone she was his sister, but after they had lived there a while, lo and behold King Abimelech catches Isaac and Rebekah having a "good time" with each other. The kings demands an explanation, in which Isaac admits his fear that others would kill him to take his wife. The king then issues a decree that anyone touching Isaac or his wife would be put to death. Yahweh began blessing Isaac so that he had much land, produce,and livestock so that the Philistines living there began to envy him. Out of their jealousy they started causing problems, so King Abimelech asked Isaac to move his household out of the area. So Isaac moved to the torrent valley of Gerar and proceeded to settle there. After a while, his servants and the other local shepherds started quarreling over the wells dug there, so they moved again, had another quarrel over a well, and so move again, and there were no more quarrels. After these things, God appeared to Isaac and repeated his promise to multiply his seed. Meanwhile, King Abimelech noticed how much Yahweh was blessing Isaac and proceeded to make a peace pact with Isaac. As Isaac grew old and his eyes grew dim, he summoned Esau to make a meal from his hunting for him, so that he could bless him before he died. Rebekah overheard this conversation, and so instructed Jacob to disguise himself as Esau in order to get the blessing while Esau was out hunting. The ruse worked, and Jacob received Esau's blessing. Later, Isaac sends Jacob to live in the land Laban, Rebekah's brother, to find a wife for himself. Isaac lived to be 180 years old and then he died. Esau and Jacob buried him. Jacob/ Israel, Isaac's twin son Jacob became a blameless man who dwelled in tents. Jacob acquired Esau's birthright Jacob also managed to trick their father into giving him a blessing meant for Esau, which made Esau so angry he wanted to kill Jacob. Thus their mother, Rebekah, arranged for Jacob to leave the land and live with her brother, Laban. As Jacob traveled to his destination it was quite some distance, so he had to bed down outdoors for the night. He used a rock for a pillow and fell asleep. This night he dreamed of a ladder that reached to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. Then God's voice came and promised that the land Jacob was in would be given to him and his descendants. Because of all this Jacob re-named the place Bethel (but it was the land of Luz). Then he made vows to God and continued on his way. Jacob found himself in the land of Haran next to a well, where he met those who knew Laban. Laban's daughter, Rachel, showed up with a drove of sheep to the well. He introduced himself to her, and she went running to tell her father. As soon as Laban heard, he ran to meet Jacob, and Jacob stayed with them for a month. Since Laban was the brother of Jacob's mother Rebekah, that would make Rachel his cousin. Jacob worked for Laban and so Laban offered him wages of whatever Jacob chose. Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, and so chose to work for Laban for seven years if he could marry her. Laban agreed, but then proceeded to trick him into marrying his other daughter, Leah. Jacob was outraged and demanded to have Rachel instead. Laban said he could also marry Rachel, but that he still had to keep Leah. So Jacob ended up with two wives. Laban also gave over two maidservants that served the two sisters. Jacob expressed much more love for Rachel than for Leah, and God saw this so he compensated Leah by allowing her to bear sons for Jacob while Rachel was made barren. Leah bore one son after another. This made Rachel jealous, so she gave over her own maidservant to Jacob in order to have sons for him through her. Meanwhile, Leah saw that she stopped bearing children, so she too gave over her own maidservant in order to have more sons for Jacob through her. Eventually, Leah did bear two more sons for him herself. Finally, God permitted Rachel to bear a son for Jacob. After all this, Jacob decided to take his families, household and belongings and move to his country. He and Laban struck a bargain regarding the sheep and Jacob left with his flock and helped Laban watch over his flock. Jacob learned how to cause his flock to flourish thus his became more numerous and stronger than Laban's flock. When Laban noticed this, he was not so happy with Jacob anymore, so God told Jacob to move with his family, and Jacob obeyed. Jacob had not told Laban that he was leaving. When he found out he went after him and started to catch up with him several days later. God then came to Laban in a dream and told him to be careful in his dealings with Jacob. Laban caught up with Jacob and spoke with him. Laban also accused Jacob of stealing his gods from the house when he left. Jacob didn't know that Rachel had done so when they left (Gen. 31:19) and so told Laban to search through their belongings. Rachel managed to be able to conceal the stolen items from her father anyway. After this Jacob and Laban had a quarrel because of this situation. But after much discussion they made a pact and parted ways. Part of the pact was that Jacob was not to take other wives. As Jacob traveled, he met up with his brother. This was more than twenty years after he and Esau had their quarrel. (because Jacob had lived with Laban for twenty years as per Gen.31:38), Although Jacob was anxious about the reunion, they ended up hugging and kissing and welcoming each other happily. On his way to meet Esau, Jacob traveled part of the way by himself. It was at this point that a man started grappling with Jacob, and they wrestled until morning. When the man couldn't prevail over Jacob, he touched Jacob's thigh socket and put it out of joint. After that , the man wanted to go, but Jacob demanded a blessing first. So the man told Jacob that he was to be re-named Israel, and then Jacob realized he was speaking with an angel. After Jacob and Esau parted, Jacob settled in a place called Succoth. Later he went on to make his home in the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan. He bought a tract of land there and set up an altar to the God of Israel. It was here that Jacob's daughter, Dinah, was defiled by a Canaanite man named Shechem. Shechem then decided he wanted Dinah as wife, but her brothers, Simeon and Levi, tricked him and all the men of the city and proceeded to kill them all for what happened to their sister. They plundered the city and took all the wives and children. Jacob was upset at the magnitude of their vengeance. After that Yahweh came to Jacob and told him to return to Bethel and worship only Him. Thus Jacob instructed his entire household to discard all their idols and false gods and prepare to move to Bethel, and they complied. Next Yahweh comes to Jacob and repeats that his name is no longer to be Jacob, and changes it to Israel. Then He repeats that He is giving the land to Israel's descendants and they will become a large nation. Sometime later, Jacob moved his family again, and while they were en route, Rachel proceeded to give birth to a second son of her own, but it was difficult. She died shortly after he was born. She named him Benoni on her dying breath, but Israel renamed the baby Benjamin.
Jacob continued to dwell in Canaan. When his son, Joseph, was seventeen years old, his other sons conspired to sell Joseph into slavery, and then told Jacob that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Jacob mourned for many days, for Joseph was his favorite son. All the sons and daughters of Jacob tried to comfort him but to no avail. As time went on, Joseph became an important man in Egypt, and through dream signs from Yahweh, he managed to come up with a plan to save the country from an upcoming famine. When the famine grew severe, Jacob sent some of his sons to Egypt to buy food. The sons had to get the food from Joseph, though they did not recognize him by this time. So Joseph played along, and demanded that the next time they come that the bring Benjamin - who was Joseph's only full blooded brother. Jacob was afraid to let him go, because he didn't want to lose the only child he had left from Rachel. Eventually they had to return for more food, therefore he had to let Benjamin go. When they got to Joseph, he tests his brothers to see if they are still so mean. He sees that they have indeed changed for the better, and then can't hide his emotions any longer and reveals his true identity. He then arranges for Jacob and the rest of the family and household to move to Egypt to be near him, and upon hearing the news Jacob is ecstatic. God promises Jacob/Israel that he will bless him to become a prosperous nation in Egypt, and so the entire family moved. The pharoah of Egypt welcomed them into the land and let them live in the land of Goshen. Later on, Jacob in his old age proceeds to bless Joseph's sons, and after that Jacob blesses his own sons. He also lets Reuben know that he knew Reuben laid with his concubine in the past. (Genesis 49:3-4) Then he tells his sons where he wants to be buried at his death: In the cave in the field of Ephron the Hitite, where his Grandparents Abraham and Sarah were buried, where his parents Isaac and Rebekah were buried, and his first wife Leah was buried. At that, Jacob died. Joseph was quite grieved at his father's passing, and commanded his servants to embalm Israel, which took the customary forty days. The Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. Then he asked pharoah's permission to bury his father according to his father's dying wishes, and permission was granted. Joseph, his household, his brothers and his father's houselhold all went together in one group to finish the burial.
Esau grew to be a good hunter. When the twins were grown, the other twin, Jacob, was making lentil stew. Esau came along, tired and hungry, and asked Jacob to give him some of it. This is why Esau is also referred to as Edom. Jacob agreed only if Esau would give the firstborn birthright to him. Esau agreed. Because Esau sold his birthright for a mere bowl of stew, this showed disrespect for his birthright. At the age of forty Esau took wives from the Hittite nation: Judith, daughter of Beeri, and Basemath daughter of Elon. Isaac and Rebekah were not happy with those women. When his father, Isaac, was advanced in age, he summoned Esau to him in order to give him a blessing. Rebekah heard about it and helped Jacob trick Isaac into giving HIM the blessing instead while Esau was out. The trick worked. As soon as Esau found out about it, he was furious, and demanded that his father bless him as well, since Jacob had taken his blessing. Due to all this, Esau harbored animosity towards Jacob and planned to kill him once their father died. When Rebekah found out about that, she told Jacob and advised him to go live with her brother, Laban. Meanwhile, she told Isaac that she wanted Jacob sent away so that he could find a good wife for himself. Quite some years later, after Jacob had acquired wives, children, servants and livestock etc. he was on the move with all that he had. Jacob sent messangers ahead of him to Esau, in the field of Edom (apparently Edom was the place named for Esau). Jacob wanted to make peace with him. Esau sent back the massage that he would come out to meet Jacob. Jacob was anxious so he divided his camp into two separate places and prayed that Yahweh would keep them all safe. Jacob went out to meet Esau with a gift of 220 goats, 220 sheep, 30 camels, 40 cows, 10 bulls, and 30 asses. He sent the livestock with servants ahead to Esau. As Jacob traveled, he finally saw Esau in the distance with his 400 men. Esau was so happy to see Jacob again that he ran to meet him and they they embraced and cried and had a great reunion. Later, when Isaac died, Jacob and Esau buried him. If you notice, here the scripture says Basemath was the daughter of Ishmael, yet in Genesis 26:34 it says Basemath was the daughter of Elon. The bible doesn't explain this. It could be the practice of the time to refer to the grandfather as a father, thus if Ishmael were the grandfather she'd still be called his daughter. Adah bore Eliphaz, Basemath bore Reuel, and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and Korah. All these sons, as well as some daughters, were born in Canaan. Some time after that he took all his family and belongings and moved away from Jacob's area, because he and Jacob's families had grown too large for the area to accomodate them both. Esau took up dwelling in the mountainous region of Seir. Esau is Edom. Eliphaz had several sons: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz through his wife. Amalek through his concubine named Timna. Reuel's sons were: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah . More family genealogy is discussed at this point. Notice that several times in this chapter Esau is pointed out as being Edom and the father of the nation of Edom (the Edomites). Genesis 36: 8,9,19,31,43 The Edomites were the brother nation to the Israelites. The region of the Mountain of Seir was given to the Edomites by God. Joseph Jacob/Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons. (Genesis 37: 3). When Joseph was a boy of seventeen all his other brothers became hateful of him because their father loved him most of all. Israel even made a special garment for him. Later Joseph had a prophetic dream: Each of his brothers had sheaves of wheat. Their sheaves proceeded to bow to Joseph's sheaf. Later he had another prophetic dream: The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing to Joseph this time. When Jacob/Israel got to hear of the dreams, he didn't fully understand yet he kept quiet and sat back to observe. The brothers, however, became jealous and began to hate Joseph even more than ever. Later, Jacob/Israel sent Joseph out to see how his brothers were faring as they were tending the sheep. When they saw him in the distance they began to plot against him. They wanted to kill him, though Reuben spoke up against that idea. Instead he talked them into throwing him into a pit. He was intending to come back later to get him out of it. When Joseph came near, the brothers took his garment Jacob had made and threw him into an empty waterpit. Then they sat to eat, and spied a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt. Judah decided they should sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. Some passing Midianite merchants helped bring Joseph out of the water pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces. The Ishmaelites brought him to Egypt. Apparently Reuben wasn't there when the brothers sold him off, because later when Reuben retuned to the water pit to retrieve Joseph, he was gone. Reuben was quite upset by this and went to inquire of the other brothers on what happened. That's when they hatched the plan to take Joseph's special garment, dip it in goat's blood, and take it to their father. Of course, he thought Joseph had been killed by a wild animal and grieved for many days. All his children tried to comfort him, but it was no use. Joseph was eventually sold to Potiphar, an Egyptian court official to the pharoah. Yahweh blessed Joseph and made him successful in Potiphar's household so that he became the manager of the house. He grew to be a handsome man as well. Because he was so handsome, Potiphar's wife began to lust after him and made several attempts to seduce him. Joseph continually refused, knowing it would be a sin against Yahweh. Eventually, she grabbed ahold of him in her attempt to seduce him, so he ran out of there, leaving his garment in her hand. At this she grew wrathful, so she claimed that he'd tried to rape her. Potiphar believed his wife and imprisoned Joseph for it. However, Yahweh blessed him in prison, granting him to find favor in the eyes of the chief officer. He elevated Joseph to manager of the prisoners and he did a fine job. Yahweh made him successful. Some time later the Pharoah imprisoned his cup bearer and his baker. As they were in prison with Joseph, they both had dreams: The cup bearer's dream there was a vine with three twigs with blossoms that ripened into grapes. He squeezed the grapes into Pharoah's cup and gave it to Pharoah. Joseph gave the meaning of the dream: The three twigs means three days. In three days Pharoah would reinstate the cup bearer into his household. Joseph asked him to remind the Pharoah of him when he goes back. The baker's dream was this: There were three baskets of white bread on the baker's head. The top basket had all sorts of edibles for the Pharoah and there were birds eating the product from out of that basket. Joseph gave the meaning: The three baskets means three days. In three days Pharoah will behead the baker and hang his head up so that the birds will eat the flesh off it. Three days later, both dream meaning came to be true. When the cup bearer was reinstated, he forgot about Joseph. Two years later, Pharoah had a dream: He was standing by the Nile river where there were seven beautiful, fat, healthy cows. Across the river were seven, ugly, scrawny cows. The ugly, scrawny cows proceeded to eat the fat, healthy cows. Pharoah woke from this dream. But when he went back to sleep he had another dream: Seven fat, healthy ears of grain grew on one stalk. Then there were seven scorched, thin ears of grain coming up. The thin, scorched grains swallowed up the fat healthy grains. These two dreams upset him. So he sent for his magic men and priests to interpret the dreams for him, but they couldn't. This is when the cup bearer remembered Joseph and his ability to interpret dreams correctly. He informed Pharoah and Joseph was immediately sent for. Pharoah told Joseph the dreams he had, and Joseph gave the interpretations: The seven healthy cows and healthy grain heads are the same meaning. The seven ugly cows and ugly grain heads also mean the same thing . The healthy ones meant seven years of great fertility and produce for the land and food will grow in abundance. The seven ugly ones mean that afterwards will be a seven year period of drought and famine. Joseph advised Pharoah to select a sensible man to take care of this problem in this way: During the seven years of plenty, set aside 1/5 of the land for produce to store away so that when the famine comes there will be plenty of food for the people. Pharoah listened to him and selected Joseph himself to oversee that project. Pharoah placed Joseph as second in command over Egypt and gave him Asenath as wife. Joseph was thirty years old. During the seven years of plenty Joseph continually collected food for saving, putting it in the cities. He kept piling up so much that eventually they quit keeping count of it. Duing this time Joseph's wife bore him two sons: The firstborn was Manassah, the second was Ephraim. Eventually the years of famine came. As families started to starve they'd go to Egypt for food, and all would be directed to Joseph. The famine had a strong grip on the people of Egypt and surrounding lands. At about this time Jacob had to send his other sons to Egypt in order to get food. They had to go to Joseph to obtain it, as he was the man who had power in the land. Joseph immediately recognized them as his brothers, but they didn't recognize him, especially since the Egyptians had changed Joseph's name to Zaphenath-paneah. They bowed low to him Joseph remembered the dreams he had when he was still living at his father's home. Joseph did not reveal himself to them yet. Instead he dealt harshly with them, accusing them of being spies. Of course the sons of Jacob denied this and tried hard to convince him that they were merely hungry people seeking food. Joseph stated that none of them could leave except for one who was to go home and return with the youngest brother. He then put them in custody for three days. After the three days he told them all could go except for one, as a security. He claimed that he wanted to do this as proof that they were not spies. At this the brothers conferred amongst themselves and decided this was God's way of punishing them for what they did to their young brother Joseph so many years ago. Reuben gave them an "I told you so" (remember, he didn't want them to hurt the boy). They still didn't realize who Joseph really was yet, and so didn't think he could understand their own language as they spoke these things. (Joseph had an interpreter present as part of his ruse). Joseph kept up the pretense, but was overcome with emotion so he had to leave the room for a bit so they wouldn't see him weep. When he returned, he took Simeon into custody and let the others go with food. He also commanded his servants to return their money to them by hiding it in their food bags and to give them provisions for the journey back home. On the way home, one of the brothers opened a bad to get some food, and found the money pouch right on top inside. This made all the brothers afraid, as they didn't want any more accusations against them.
But the famine was severe, and they had to return to Egypt to get more food eventually. Jacob sent them, but Judah reminded him that they absolutely had to bring Benjamin with them the next time. This really agitated Jacob, so Judah spoke up and said he would ensure that Benjamin returned safely. So Jacob decided they could go, but had to bring gifts as well, in hopes of appeasing the man in Egypt who was in charge of the food. Again they were directed to Joseph when they arrived. As soon as Joseph saw his youngest brother he immediately commanded his servants to take the brothers to his own home, slaughter livestock, and make a great feast because the brothers were to eat with him that noon. Since the brothers didn't speak Egyptian they probably didn't understand what was going on. They did become afraid about being taken to Joseph's house, thinking they were in trouble regarding the money that was returned to them the previous time they went to Egypt. So the brothers attempt to initiate "damage control" by speaking with a house servant, insisting that all they wanted was to humbly buy some food. That they didn't know why the money was in their bags on the way home.And that they planned to return that money along with the current monies for the buying of new food. The servant informed them to not be afraid, that it was he that put the money in their bags, and then he brought out their brother, Simeon to them. The servant made sure the brothers' feet were washed and fed their donkeys. Meanwhile, the brothers prepared the gifts they brought, for they heard that Joseph was coming to dine with them at noon. When Joseph arrived they gave him their gifts, and Joseph inquired of their father's well-being. Joseph formally met Benjamin, and then set about in a hurry to prepare things because his emotions were starting to well up within him. He went into another room to weep, got it out of his system, and then returned to the brothers. He then commanded for the meal to begin. He kept feeding them and feeding them, favoring Benjamin. After all this, he commanded his men to fill the food bags as much as possible, return the monies to the bags again, but this time also put Joseph's special silver cup into Benjamin's bag. He wanted to make a test of this brothers' attitudes. The servant did just so, and the next morning the brothers all left with their filled bags. Joseph waited a little while, and then commanded his men to catch up to them and accuse them of stealing. Of course, the brothers were ignorant of the ruse, and so made the oath that if any of them were found guilty, that brother would be put to death. Naturally, there was that cup in Benjamin's bag. The brothers were all mortified, and were taken back to Joseph's house. Judah tried to make entreaty and to get them out of this trouble. So instead of death, Joseph said that Benjamin would have to become his slave. Judah humbly approached Joseph and explained their story as best as he could, and explained that if he didn't return with Benjamin, their father would surely die of grief, so would he allow Judah to take Benjamin's place as slave instead. At this point, Joseph sees how his brothers had changed for the better, and emotion was overcoming him again. Joseph sent all the servants out of the room and began crying loudly, right in front of the brothers. It is then that Joseph reveals his true identity, and the other brothers are plain and simply stunned! After the initial shock, Joseph explains to them how he came to be such a powerful man in Egypt with God's help. He then tells them to bring their father and to move into Egypt, into the land of Goshen. There was yet five years of famine to go through, but Joseph promised to provide for them. Pharoah got to hear of all this and also welcomed them all into the land of Egypt. Pharoah ordered that provisions were to be given to them Jacob/Israel was overjoyed to hear that his long lost son was indeed alive, and rejoiced. After they all moved into Egypt, Joseph reported it to Pharoah, who inquired of them and Joseph introduced them. The famine continued on. The famine became so severe that people were running out of money to buy food and had to start trading their livestock for food. When their livestock was depleted, people started selling their land for food. So it ended up that Joseph acquired much for Pharoah. Meanwhile, Israel prospered in the land of Goshen. After 17 years of living in Egypt, Jacob was upon his deathbed. He blessed Joseph's sons, and his own sons. After Jacob's death, Joseph and his brothers buried Jacob according to Jacob's wishes. After this, the brothers were afraid of Joseph, thinking that perhaps he was waiting for their father to die before exacting revenge upon them for what they did when he was seventeen. So they attempted to appease Joseph over these matters, but Joseph let them know he was not harboring ill will against them. Joseph lived on for 110 years, he was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt. |