Genesis 36 & 37

Father God, God El Elyon, thank you for who You are. We come in agreement and we lift up Your holy name and say may name forever be exalted and magnified in all parts of the earth in the name of Jesus. May You give us understanding, revelation and increase our faith as we read and share today's Word in the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you LORD.

Today's post covers both Genesis chapter 36 and chapter 37. In Genesis 36, we see the genalogy of Esau who was also known as Edom (Genesis 36:1). This chapter relays the names of his wives, their sons and their respective kingdom, chiefdoms and all their possessions.

Genesis 37 takes us back to Jacob, also known as Israel's household. It starts off with a seventeen (17) year old Joseph who presents bad reports about his brothers to their father whenever they went out to feed the flock (Genesis 37:2). Joseph was also his father's favorite and Jacob expressed his love by buying his son a coat of many colors (Genesis 37:3). This made his brothers hate him.

In Genesis 37:5-9, we see Joseph having dreams and in both dreams, his brothers were bowing down to him. These dreams increased the brothers' hatred towards Joseph. The first dream was; "There were binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf." (Genesis 37:7). Joseph's second dream was; "...Look I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me." (Genesis 37:9). When Jacob heard these dreams, he rebuked Joseph in the presence of his brothers but he kept Joseph's dreams in his heart (Genesis 37:10-11).

One day the brothers happened to go out to feed the flock and Israel asked Joseph to go and check on his brothers and make sure that everything is well (Genesis 37:13 -14). Joseph obeys his father and goes out to search for his brothers. However, when his brothers saw him approaching them, they devised a plan to kill him but Reuben advised them against any bloodshed and suggested they instead throw him into a pit (Genesis 37:19-22). The brothers eventually changed their minds and decided to sell him for twenty shekels of silver to Midianite traders who took Joseph to Egypt (Genesis 37:28). When it was time to return home, the brothers decided to get Joseph's coat/tunic of many colors and dipped in goat blood and presented it to Israel their father (Genesis 37:32). When Jacob recognized the coat he said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without a doubt Joseph is torn to pieces." (Genesis 37:33).

The envy and jealousy in Joseph's brothers led them to sell their brother to Midian traders. Little did they know that was the beginning of God working out His good plans for both Joseph and them. The brothers were not cognizant of the reality that if their brother was blessed by God, it meant that they would be blessed as well. This is because when God decides to bless, there is always an outpouring and an overflow where His blessings will not be limited to only the individual but to also generations and the people around them which in this case would be Joseph's family.

It is interesting that Scripture does not give an account of Joseph's emotions in this moment but one thing for sure is Joseph's heart trusted and relied solely on the LORD. Proverbs 3:5 NKJV says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Just like Israel who kept Joseph's dreams in his heart, I believe Joseph too kept his dreams in his heart and did not lean on his own understanding when he was being rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery and bound in chains.

The Hebrew meaning of the word keep is to preserve, to protect, to retain, to maintain. For instance, when we see the Bible reference that Israel kept Joseph's dream in his heart, it means he protected it, preserved it, maintained it and kept it in remembrance waiting on the performance of this word in their lives.

Despite the hardship Joseph experienced, I believe with God's help he did not fix his eyes on his negative circumstances but rather he intentionally chose to keep that which God had revealed to him in his dreams believing that He would do as He promised.

I'll end with this Word found in Psalm 34:7 AMP

"The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience], and He rescues [each of] them."

AMEN. Thank you LORD.

Invitation to salvation: I invite you to make this confession that invites you to new covenant that is found in the precious blood of Jesus Christ where we get to have a personal relationship with God, the Father and are kept safe in all of His blessings for His children:

"I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that; Jesus Christ, the Son of God came in a human body to die for my sins so that I could have a new life where I am dead to sin and alive to God. I repent of my past sins and enter the Kingdom of light where I choose relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and with God as my loving Father today and forever." AMEN.

Congratulations, by grace you are saved and are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old life has passed away and you have received the free gift of salvation into your life (2 Corinthians 5:17) where you get to freely access everything I've shared in this post. To the glory of the Almighty God. Amen.

Please feel free to reach out to us on info@bibleversionoflife.com. We would love to hear your story and send you a free Bible! God bless you.