Old Testament Survey
Genesis 12-50
Rick Walker
1. God's Covenant with Abraham.
A. In Genesis 1-11 we saw how sin entered the world through the rebellion
of Adam and Eve. The results were devastating as sin spread
throughout the world
and ultimately brought the judgment of God through the
Flood in Genesis 6-8.
B. In Genesis 12-50 the focus narrows to God's call of Abraham.
1. God appeared to Abraham in Ur and told him to leave and
go to Canaan, but they
settled in Haran (Gen. 11:31; cf. Acts
7:2, 3).
2. At the age of 75, Abraham left Haran and went to the
land God promised he would
show him (Gen. 12:1).
3. Before he left, God made a covenant with Abraham
a. I will make you into a great nation
(12:2). Fulfilled in the Jewish nation.
b. All peoples of the earth will be
blessed through you (12:3). Fulfilled in Jesus
(Gal. 3:16).
C. Abraham goes to Canaan, where God shows him the land he will give Abraham.
"To your
offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 12:7).
1. Because there is a famine in the land, Abraham goes down
to Egypt to live (12:10).
a. Pharaoh takes Sarah into his palace to
be his wife (12:15, 19).
b. Abraham told Sarah to say that he was
her brother so that the Egyptians would
not kill him (12:13).
c. Pharaoh treated Abraham well and he
received cattle, sheep, donkeys and
servants (12:14-16).
2. Abraham leaves Egypt and returns to Canaan. Because
Sarah is in Pharaoh's palace,
God strikes Pharaoh's household with
diseases (12:17).
a. Pharaoh learns that the reason is
Sarah is Abraham's wife.
b. Abraham is told to leave with Sarah
and all his possessions.
3. Abraham and Lot (Genesis 13, 14). Abraham and Lot both
had flocks which were
so great that there was not enough
pasture to sustain them (13:5-8).
a. A dispute breaks out between their
herdsmen (13:7). Abraham and Lot agree to
live in different parts
of the land.
1. Lot chooses the
Plain of Jordan which was well watered (13:10). Thus he
"pitches his tents near Sodom" (13:12).
2. Abraham lived in the
land of Canaan (13:12).
b. Four kings join forces and attack
Sodom, Gomorrah and three other cities.
1. Sodom is defeated
and Lot is taken captive with others.
2. Abraham took 318 of
his men to rescue Lot.
3. During the night
Abraham attacked and was able to rescue Lot (14:15, 16).
4. After Abraham's
victory, Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God,
blessed Abraham and Abraham gave him a tenth of what he had (14:18).
a.
Melchizedek is a mysterious figure who is also mentioned a number of
times in Hebrews.
b.
Shows us that God had mechanisms in place to teach people about him.
Thus, there was truly no excuse for the ungodliness of the Canaanites.
c.
According to Jewish tradition, Melchizedek was Shem, son of Noah.
2. Isaac, Son of the Promise (Genesis 15-22). The story of Isaac centers around two
critical episodes: his birth and his marriage. Both were important for the
fulfillment of
the covenant God made with Abraham.
A. The Birth of Isaac.
1. God had promised Abraham that he would make him into a
great nation of people
(Gen. 12:2).
a. The difficulty here is that Abraham
does not have a son. How can he become a
great nation without
descendents?
1. Abraham expresses
his concern to God (15:2).
2. The alternative in
Abraham's mind is for his servant Eliezer to become his
heir
(15:2, 3).
3. God promises Abraham
that he will have his own son who will be his heir (15:4).
That
son would be named Isaac.
4. God promises Abraham
that his descendents will be as numerous as the stars
of
the sky (15:5).
5. Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (15:6).
b. God enters into a covenant with
Abraham (Gen. 15:9-21).
1. Abraham sacrificed a
heifer, goat, lamb and some birds and cut them in two,
except for the birds.
2. By this ceremony,
God established his covenant with Abraham.
c. Abraham's descendents to be enslaved
for four hundred years and then set free
from bondage.
1. That evening Abraham
fell asleep and a darkness came over him (15:12).
2. The Lord told him
his descendents would be enslaved and finally set free with
God's
help before they would inherit the land (15:13-16).
2. Birth of Ishmael (Genesis 16).
a. After ten years Abraham and Sarah grew
impatient waiting for God to fulfill his
promise (Gen. 16:3).
Abraham was 86 years old(16:16).
1. Sarah and Abraham
decided that he should impregnate Sarah's handmaiden,
Hagar
(16:2, 3).
2. After Hagar
conceives, she "despises" Sarah (16:4).
a.
Sarah mistreated Hagar so that Hagar fled (16:6).
b.
The angel of the Lord finds Hagar near a spring in the desert.
1. Tells Hagar to return and be submissive (16:9).
2. Promises that Hagar's descendents will be too numerous to count
(16:10).
3. The son born to her, Ishmael will be a "wild donkey of a man" and
will "live in hostility toward his brothers."
3. Abraham's suggestion
that his servant Eliezer and Sarah's suggestion that
Hagar
conceive on her behalf were both a part of the cultural milieu of
Abraham's day as reflected in the Nuzi tablets (Thompson, The Bible and
Archaeology, 32, 33).
a. In
1925-31 Professor Chiera of the American Schools of Oriental Research
found 20,000 clay documents which have been dated to the fifteenth century
B.C., about three hundred or more years later than the time of Abraham
(eighteenth century B.C. or earlier).
b. In
Mesopatamia, inheritance was a serious matter. Several systems were in
place to make sure that a man without a son would have an heir. They remind
us very much of the actions of Abraham.
1. The owner of property might adopt an heir, either a freeborn man, a
slave, or some relative. Thus, Abraham made the suggestion that Eliezer
would be his heir (Gen. 15:2, 3).
a. Typically, the adoption agreement was written on a clay tablet
after a proclamation of adoption had been made at the city gates.
Such tablets were found at Nuzi.
b. With the adoption process the adopter willed to the adoptee his
propetty,for which the adoptee agreed to serve theadopter during
his lifetime and give him a burial at death.
c. A provisio stated that if a natural son were born subsequently, he
would inherit the estate.
2. Second possibility for a childless man was for his wife to take a slave
woman and present her to her husband as one who would have a child for
him, as in the case of Sarah and Hagar (Gen. 16:2, 3).
a. If there were no other sons, the son of the slave woman became the
heir.
b. If a subsequent son was born, then he became the heir.
b. Thus, Abraham was the father of two
peoples.
1. Through Isaac, he
was the father of the Jews.
2. Through Ishmael he
was the father of the Arabians.
a.
(Gen. 17:20) God told Abraham Ishmael would be the father of twelve
princes. Arabians are the descendents of Ishmael.
1. Genesis 25 names the twelve princes that descended from Ishmael.
2. Eusebius, writing in 350 A.D. speaks of the twelve Arabian princes of
his own day (DeHoff, Why We Believe the Bible, 71).
b.
Muslims claim the Promised Land as their own because they are the
descendents of Abraham through Ishmael.
1. That is why Muslims and Jews are fighting over control for Palestine
to this day.
2. Of course this is not to say that Islam is truth. Islam arose in the
7th cent. AD. This is long after the promise that "through Abraham
all nations would be blessed" was fulfilled in Christ.
c. We
see the fulfillment of prophecy.
1. Ishmael did become the father of twelve princes.
2. The descendents of Ishmael live in hostility against their brothers.
3. The descendents of Ishmael to be like a "wild donkey." Their lifestyle
has traditionally been to roam the desert.
3. Birth of Isaac.
A. Birth of Isaac foretold (Gen. 17, 18).
1. God appeared to Abraham at the age of ninety-nine and
reminded Abraham of the
covenant (17:1, 2).
2. God commanded that every male descendent of Abraham
throughout the generations
be circumcised as a sign of the covenant
(17:10-12).
a. God changes Abram's name to Abraham
for he will be the father of many
nations (17:5).
b. Sarai's name is changed to Sarah
because would be the mother of nations
(17:16).
c. Abraham asks whether it is really
possible that Sarah will have a son. Will a
son be born to a man a
hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age
of ninety (17:17)?
1. God promised that
next year Sarah would have Isaac (17:19).
a.
Isaac means "laughs."
b.
Abraham fell down and laughed when God told him he would have a son
(17:17).
c. In
chapter 18, one year later, the Lord visits Abraham. When it is
announced that Sarah will have a child, Sarah laughs 10-12).
2. Abraham circumcises
Ishmael (17:23).
B. Destruction of Sodom (Gen. 18:16-19:29).
1. It is announced to Abraham that the Lord will destroy
Sodom(18:16-21).
a. The reason Abraham is told about Sodom
is because Abraham would become a
mighty nation and God
wanted him to be able to "direct his children after him
to keep the way of the
Lord by doing right (18:19).
b. Abraham pleads for Sodom, asking God
if he will destroy the righteous in the
city because of the
wicked men who live there (18:22).
1. Abraham asks God if
he will destroy the city if there are fifty righteous
men
there (18:24). God says he will not do it if there are fifty.
2. Abraham asks, what
if there are forty-five righteous men? God says he will
not
destroy it if there are forty-five (18:28, 29).
3. What if there are
forty (29)?
4. What if there are
thirty, twenty, ten? Not for the sake of ten righteous
men
(30-33). There were not even ten righteous men in the entire city.
2. Lot Flees Sodom. Remember that when Abraham and Lot had
a dispute over pasture
land, they separated and Lot
"pitched his tents toward Sodom (Genesis 13).
a. Two angels come to Sodom and are
invited to stay the night at Lot's house
(Gen. 19:1-3).
b. After dark the men of the city beat on
Lot's door and demanded that he send
his guests out so that
they might have sex with them (19:4, 5).
1. Lot offered his two
daughters instead, but the men wanted the men (19:7, 8).
2. They tried to force
their way past Lot (19:9).
a.
Angels pulled Lot inside and struck the men blind (19:10).
b.
Angels warn Lot to flee the city with his wife, daughters and their
husbands (19:12, 13).
c.
Lot flees the city with his wife and daughters.
1. His sons-in-law would not flee because they thought Lot was joking
(19:14).
2. God rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah.
3. Lot's wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt (19:26).
They had been commanded not to look back (17:27).
3. Lot and his
daughters.
a.
After the destruction of the city, Lot and his daughters were living in
a cave (19:30).
b.
Daughters want to have children, but their husbands had been killed in
the destruction (19:31).
1. They get their father drunk and seduce him. They both become pregnant.
2. The oldest daughter has a son named Moab, who was the patriarch of the
Moabites (19:37).
3. The youngest daughter has a son named Ben-Ammi, who was the patriarch
of the Ammonites (19:38).
C. Isaac is Born (Genesis 21)
1. Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born
(21:5).
Sarah was ninety (Gen. 17:17).
2. Abraham circumcised Isaac on the eight day of his life
(21:3)
3. Caused some problems between Sarah and Hagar.
a. Ishmael is not about thirteen years
old and he mocks Isaac.
b. Sarah insists that Hagar and Ishmael
be sent away so that Ishmael will have no
share in the
inheritance (21:10).
c. Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away,
but God promises Hagar that he will
make Ishmael into a
great nation (21:18).
d. God also told Abraham that it was
through Isaac that the promise would be
fulfilled (21:12).
4. Abraham's Faith is Tested (Genesis 22).
A. After all the years of waiting for Isaac to be born, God put Abraham's
faith to a
test by telling him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering
sacrifice on Mt. Moriah
(Gen. 22:1, 2).
1. Tremendous test of faith because Abraham is being asked
to sacrifice the son
through whom the promise of a great
nation is to be fulfilled.
2. If Isaac is dead, how can he become the father of a
nation? Hebrews 11:19 states
that Abraham reasoned that God would
raise Isaac from the dead.
B. Abraham traveled for three days with Isaac, two servants, a donkey,and
wood for the
fire.
1. When they arrived, Isaac asked his father where is the
sacrifice (22:7).
2. Abraham replied that God would provide a lamb.
3. Isaac was bound and placed upon the altar, but as
Abraham was ready to come down
with his knife, the angel of the Lord
stopped him.
a. A goat was caught in the thicket which
was offered in the place of Abraham.
b. Abraham named the place "The Lord
will provide" (22:14).
c. God promised that because Abraham had
not withheld his only son, he would make
him into a great nation
(22:17) and bless all nations through his offspring
(22:18). The offspring
is Jesus (Gal. 3:16).
5. Death of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 23, 25).
A. In Genesis 23 Sarah dies and Abraham purchases a cave in Hebron from the
Hittities to
bury her.
B. In Genesis 25 Abraham dies and he is buried with Sarah.
C. Heb. 11:13 "All these people were still living by faith whey they
died. They did
not receive the things promised; they only saw them and
welcomed them from a
distance.
1. They died not having received the land -Abraham had to
take money and buy a field
in the land God promised to give his
descendents.
2. Yet they never lost faith in the promise of God to give
them the land.
6. Isaac and Rebekah. We said that two key events are important in the life of Isaac for
the fulfillment of the covenant: birth and marriage. Genesis now turns to the
marriage
of Isaac. It is only through marriage that he will be able to father children
and grow
into a great nation.
A. Before Abraham died he sent his servant to go to Paddan-Aram and get a
wife for Isaac
from among his relatives (Gen. 24:1-4).
B. Servant went to Paddan-Aram and prayed that God would show him who to take
to be
Isaac's wife by having the girl offer him and his camels
some water (Gen. 24:12-21).
1. The girl who does this is named Rebekah (24:15).
2. Rebekah's brother (Laban) asked that she be allowed to
stay with the family ten days
before going to marry Isaac (24:55).
3. Rebekah is taken to Isaac and she becomes his wife
(24:67).
7. Jacob: Father of the Patriarchs (Gen. 25:19-36:43).
A. Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons named Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:21-26).
1. The two boys "jostled" inside Rebekah (25:22).
2. The Lord said, Two nations are in your womb, and two
peoples from within you will
be separated; one people will be stronger
than the other, and the older will serve
the younger (25:23).
a. The oldest son was named Esau.
1. whole body was red.
2. body was hairy like
a garment.
b. Younger son named Jacob.
1. Jacob was born with
his hand grasping the foot of Esau.
2. Jacob would be the
one through whom the blessing would come.
a. It
"rightfully" belonged to Esau as the oldest.
b.
But the prophecy was that the "older would serve the younger" (Gen.
25:23).
B. Jacob gets the inheritance and Isaac's blessing.
1. (Gen. 25:27-34). Jacob is able to get Esau's
inheritance.
a. Esau was a man of the fields and
Isaac's favorite son (25:27).
1. After hunting
Esau came into the tent famished.
2. Asked Jacob
for a bowl of meaty stew. Jacob was a man who stayed among the
tents and was Rebekah's favorite (25:27).
b. Jacob agreed to give Esau a bowl
of stew in exchange for his inheritance
(25:31).
1. As the oldest
son, Esau would have received a greater portion of the
inheritance.
2. Esau foolishly
agreed to give his inheritance in exchange for a bowl of
stew.
a. The inheritance passed to Jacob.
b. Whatever we may say about the ethics of Jacob, we must admit that
Esau had a hand in his own undoing. He was very foolish for making
such a deal.
c. Heb. 12:16 warns Christians not to be foolish like Esau. He exchanged
what was seen for what was unseen. He could bring about no change in
the situation, though he sought it with tears.
2. Jacob is able to get Esau's blessing (Genesis 27).
a. When Isaac was very old he was not
able to see well (27:1).
1. He called for Esau,
his favorite son, and told him to go hunt some meat,
make
some stew, and he would give him his blessing before he died.
2. It was the custom
for the patriarchs to bless one of their sons before
they
died. It meant that they would become the religious and social head of
the
family (New Bible Dictionary,"Jacob," 545).
b. Before Esau is able to return, Rebekah
tells Jacob, her favorite son, to dress
up like Esau and take a
bowl of stew to Isaac.
1. Because Isaac cannot
see well, he gives his blessing to Jacob,thinking he
is
Esau (27:18-26).
2. The blessing is
found in Genesis 27:27-29.
c. When Esau returns, Isaac and Esau both
become very angry when they
learn of the deceit of
Jacob.
1. Isaac tells Esau
there is no blessing left for him, they have all been
given
to Jacob (37).
2. The blessings were:
a.
given new wine and grain
b.
made Jacob ruler over Esau
c.
made all his relatives the servants of Jacob.
3. Esau sets out to
kill Jacob, who flees to his uncle, Laban (28:41-43).
a.
One thing that might help you deal with the ethics of this situation is
to understand that what passed from Esau to Jacob was not eternal
salvation. The "only" thing involved here is things of this life. Jacob
became the father of the Jewish nation and inherited Canaan, but this is
not to say that Esau was rejected in the sense that he was cheated out of
his heavenly reward.
b.
Remember that Esau despised his inheritance and sold it for a bowl of stew.
That was his foolishness.
C. Jacob Fathers the Patriarchs. Just as it was important for Isaac to have a
wife, now it
is important for Jacob to have a wife. Jacob will become
the father of the twelve
tribal heads of the Jews.
1. Jacob is sent to Laban, his uncle in Paddan-Aram to find
a wife from among his
relatives (28:1, 2).
2. Dream at Bethel (28:12). At Bethel Jacob had a dream of
angels ascending and
descending upon stairs to heaven.
a. Told that God would multiply his
descendents (28:14)
b. Told that God would give them this
land (28:13).
c. Through you all nations on earth will
be blessed (28:14). This blessing fulfilled
in Jesus (Gal. 3:16).
3. Jacob marries Rachel and Leah.
a. While Jacob was helping some shepherds
water sheep, Rachel,Laban's daughter
came to water her
sheep.
b. While Jacob is working for Laban, he
agrees to work for seven years so that
he can marry Rachel
(29:18).
1. After seven years of
work, he is ready to marry Rachel.
2. On the next morning,
he discovers that Laban has tricked him into marrying
his
older daughter, Leah.
3. Laban says it is
because it is the custom for the oldest to marry first.
Jacob
- the deceiver - is now the one who has been deceived.
c. Jacob agrees to work for an additional
seven years to marry Rachel. He is
allowed to marry her at
the beginning and then work the seven years.
4. Jacob fathers the twelve patriarchs (Gen. 29:31-30:24).
a. Jacob is able to father the twelve
patriarchs through Rachel, Leah, and
their two handmaidens
Bilhah (Rachel's servant) and Zilpah (Leah's servant).
b. The twelve tribes with their mothers
are listed in Gen. 35:23-26.
1. Rachel: Joseph and
Benjamin
2. Leah: Reuben,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun
3. Bilhah: Dan,
Naphtali
4. Zilpah: Gad, Asher
5. There are two additional tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh
who were the sons of Joseph.
Joseph was not counted among the tribes
D. Jacob's Flocks Increase (Genesis 30:25-31:55).
1. Jacob made an agreement to work for Laban beyond the
fourteen years he had worked
for Rachel and Leah.
2. Jacob requests that he be given the speckled and spotted
goats and sheep (30:33).
3. By crossbreeding the sheep in a certain way, described
in 30:37-43,Jacob is able to
increase his own flocks with strong
animals, while Laban's herds become weaker.
4. In Genesis 31 Jacob flees from Laban because he is
afraid that Laban has become
angry over this situation.
5. When Laban overtakes Jacob, they make peace and agree
not to harm each other
(31:45-55).
E. Jacob Meets Esau (Genesis 32, 33).
1. Esau comes out to meet Jacob and Jacob is fearful.
2. Much to Jacob's surprise, Esau ran and embraced Jacob
(33:4).
3. Genesis 36 records the descendents of Esau, who became
the Edomites. There was
always much trouble between the Edomites
and the Jews.
F. God renews the covenant with Jacob at Bethel (Gen. 35:11-13) and changed
his name
to Israel (35:10).
8. Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 37-50). Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel.The importance
of
the Joseph story is that it is through Joseph that God will bring about the
promise that
Abraham's descendents will be slaves in a foreign nation (Egypt). It is
through Joseph
that they come to be in Egypt where they will grow into a great nation.
A. Joseph Sold into Slavery. Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery.
1. His brothers were jealous of him because he was Jacob's
favorite son.
He had made Joseph a beautiful robe which
showed his love.
2. Joseph also tells his brothers about some dreams he has
had.
a. The Sheaves (37:5-8).
1. We were all binding
sheaves in the field.
2. My sheaf stood
upright and yours bowed down before mine.
b. The Heavenly Bodies.
1. The sun, moon, and
eleven stars bowed down before me.
2. Represents Jacob,
Rachel, and his eleven brothers.
3. They are grazing the flocks and decide to kill Joseph
(37:19, 20).
a. Joseph is thrown into an empty cistern
until some Midianite merchants
happen to come by.
b. They sell Joseph as a slave.
c. His colorful robe is taken and dipped
in animal's blood. They take it back
to Jacob and tell him
Joseph was killed by a wild animal.
B. Joseph Becomes a Prisoner (Genesis 39).
1. Joseph becomes the servant of Potipher, one of Pharaoh's
officials (39:1).
2. Potipher's wife had her eye on Joseph and tried to
seduce him (39:7).
a. When Joseph refused, she charged him
with making advances toward her.
b. Joseph was thrown into prison
(39:13-20).
C. Joseph Becomes Ruler over Egypt (Gen. 40:1-41:57). It is from his prison
cell that
God brings it about that Joseph rises to be the second
highest official in Egypt.
1. The Baker and the Cupbearer. Two men in prison with
Joseph are the king's baker
and cupbearer. Each has dreams and Joseph
interprets those dreams.
a. (40:16-19). Baker: On my head were
three baskets of bread for Pharaoh, but
the birds ate them.
Joseph says the dream means in three days he will be put
to death.
b. (40:9-13). Cupbearer: In front of me
were three vines. When they budded and
the grapes became
ripe, I squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup. The dream means
in three days you
will be restored to your place of service before Pharaoh.
c. Joseph makes the cupbearer promise to
tell Pharaoh about his case (40:14).
But, the cupbearer
forgets all about Joseph (40:23).
2. After two years the Pharaoh has some dreams and the cup
bearer tells the Pharaoh
that Joseph can interpret dreams
(41:9-13).
a. Pharaoh had two dreams which Joseph
was able to interpret.
1. (41:1-4). Dream of
the Cows.
a. Standing by the Nile River.
b. Seven fat cows were eaten by seven skinny cows.
2. (44:5-7) Dream of
the Wheat.
a. I
saw seven healthy heads of grain on a stalk.
b.
Then seven skinny heads sprouted and ate them.
b. Joseph interprets the dreams to mean
that there will be seven years of plenty
followed by seven years
of famine.
c. Pharaoh is so impressed that he puts
Joseph in charge of his affairs. He is to
store up the grain of
Egypt during the seven bad years and ration it out during
the seven years of
famine (41:39-40).
D. Jacob and His Sons Come to Egypt (Gen. 42-50).
1. Joseph's brothers go to Egypt to buy grain.
a. When the famine strikes Canaan, Jacob
sends his sons to Egypt to buy
grain (42:3).
b. Jacob sent all his sons except for
Benjamin, Joseph's brother (42:3-5).
c. Joseph recognizes his brothers, though
they don't recognize him (42:7).
He begins to play with
them, making them feel anxious about the situation. He
will continue to do
this until he finally reveals himself to them.
1. Accuses them of
being spies (42:9).
2. When they tell who
they are and how they left one brother in Canaan,
Benjamin.
3. Joseph has them
thrown into prison and insists that one go back and
bring
Benjamin to Egypt to prove they are not spies (42:15,16).
4. After three days he
decides that they can all go back, only one will be
kept
in prison (42:19).
5. They begin to talk
to each other about how they had mistreated Joseph.
They
do not know that Joseph can understand them and Joseph has to leave
the
room so he can weep (42:22-24).
d. Joseph has his men fill up sacks of
grain for his brothers and has his men
put their silver inside
their sacks.
1. After leaving, they
discover the silver.
2. It makes them afraid
because they don't know how it got there.
Would
Joseph now accuse them of stealing the silver?
2. Joseph's brothers make a second trip to Egypt.
a. Jacob sends them back with Benjamin,
gifts of honey, spices and myrrh, and
twice as much silver as
they had found in their sacks(43:11-15).
b. Jacob is reluctant to let Benjamin go.
1. He is afraid that
something will happen to his son by Rachel.
2. He thinks that
Joseph died years earlier and is afraid of loosing
Benjamin also.
3. Judah promises Jacob
that if he does not bring Benjamin back alive, he
will
personally be held responsible (43:8-10).
c. When they return, Joseph asks if this
is Benjamin. When they say that it is,
Joseph blesses him and
then has to leave the room to weep again (43:29, 30).
d. Joseph gives a dinner for his
brothers.
1. They notice that
when they are seated, they are sitting in order from the
youngest to the oldest (43:31-34).
2. Benjamin is given
five times as much food as the others.
3. Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brothers (Genesis 44,
45).
a. Joseph continues to "play"
with his brothers.
1. He sends them back
to Canaan with sacks of grain.
2. He has his men put
his silver cup in Benjamin's sack.
And
each man's silver that they had used to buy the grain was
put
in the mouth of their sacks (44:1, 2).
3. Joseph sends his men
to "hunt" down his brothers and accuse them of
stealing from Joseph.
a.
They ask why they have repaid evil for good (44:4).
b.
The brothers say that if any has stolen anything, they will pay with their
lives (44:9).
c.
When the sacks are emptied, they all see silver in their sacks an the silver
cup in Benjamin's.
d.
They are taken back to the city.
4. Joseph tells them
that he will only punish the one who had the silver cup;
Benjamin will become his slave (43:17).
a.
His brothers are in a very bad spot. They promised to bring Benjamin back to
Jacob and tell Joseph that it is so important that if Benjamin does not come
back, Jacob will die (44:30).
b.
They plead with Joseph not to do this.
b. Joseph finally reveals himself to his
brothers (Genesis 45).
1. Joseph orders
everyone to leave the room.
2. Says, "I am
Joseph! Is my father still living?"
3. The brothers are so
shocked, they can't answer (45:3).
4. Joseph tells them to
come close and says, "I am your brother Joseph, the
one
you sold into Egypt" (45:4).
a.
"Do not be angry with yourselves, for selling me here,because it was to
save your lives that God sent me ahead of you (45:5).
b.
"It was not you who sent me here, but God (45:8).
c.
(50:20) You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to
accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
5. Joseph has Jacob and
his brothers brought to Egypt where they will grow into
the
great nation God had promised Abraham.
4. Death of Jacob and Joseph.
a. Ephraim and Manasseh. Before he died,
Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph,
Ephraim and Manasseh.
Each of these two sons of Joseph were numbered among
the twelve tribes of
Israel.
b. Jacob was buried in the tomb with
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Leah
(49:29-33).
c. Joseph died in Egypt and made his
brothers promise that when God delivered the
Israelites from Egypt,
they would carry his bones to the Promised Land and bury
him there (Gen. 50:24).