Verses 1-8 God tells Jacob to move to Bethel, the place where God had appeared to Jacob when he was running from Esau when he was younger. Jacob gathers his family and goes to Bethel unhindered by the local people. He builds an altar to God there.
Verses 9-15 God appears to Jacob again and blesses him. God again tells him that his name will no longer be Jacob. Now he will be called Israel. God tells Israel to be fruitful and multiply and that a nation of people and kings will come from him. God again promises to give to Israel the land that God had promised to Abraham and to Isaac.
Verses 16-21 While they are journeying, Rachel (who is pregnant) goes into a difficult labor. The midwife tells Rachel that she has born another son. As she died, she named the baby Ben-oni (Son of my sorrow). But Israel (Jacob) named him Benjamin (Son of the right hand). So Rachel dies and is buried in Bethlehem. Israel (Jacob) builds a pillar on her grave, and then moves on to the area where he settles his family.
Verse 22 – Reuben goes in and lies with Bilhah, Rachel’s maid, Jacob’s wife. Israel finds out about it. Nothing is done here, but Israel deals with in Genesis 49:2-4.
Verses 22-26 The twelve sons of Jacob
Sons of Leah – Reuben (the firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun.
Sons of Rachel – Joseph and Benjamin
Sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid – Dan and Naphtali
Sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid – Gad and Asher
Jacob comes to his father’s home at Mamre, the same place where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac dies at 180 years old and Jacob and Esau bury him.
Chapter 36
This whole chapter records that Esau moves away to Seir because his and Jacob’s property had become too much for the country to sustain them all. Then there is a lengthy detail about Esau’s descendants. This fulfills the blessing that Isaac gave to him in Genesis 28:35-40.
Chapter 37
Verses 1-4 Jacob lives in Canaan. His son by Rachel, Joseph, is now 17 years old. He is a shepherd along with his brothers. He brings back a bad report of his brothers to their father. Joseph is Israel’s favorite, because he was a son of Israel’s old age. Israel made a multicolored coat special for Joseph. Joseph’s brothers saw that their father preferred him to all of them, so they all hated Joseph so that they could not even speak with him kindly.
Verses 5-8 Joseph has a dream and tells his brother. This dream makes them hate him even more. He tells them about his dream – they were binding sheaves in the field. Joseph’s sheaf rises up and stands straight. His brothers’ sheaves gather around and bow down to Joseph’s sheaf.
His brothers hated him because it seemed that Joseph thought that he would rule over his brothers.
Verses 9-11 Joseph has another dream, and again tells it to his brothers. This time he also tells his father about it. The dream was that the sun, the moon and eleven stars were bowing to Joseph. His father points out that this is inappropriate for him to think that his mother, father and older brothers will bow down to him. His brothers became jealous of him, but Israel kept the matter in the back of his mind.
Verses 12-17 Israel (Jacob) tells Joseph to go check on his brothers and the flock that they are caring for in Shechem and to bring back a report to Israel (Jacob). Joseph agrees to do this. He goes to find them, but finds that they are not in Shechem. He inquires about where they’ve gone, and goes after them to Dothan.
Verses 18-24 The brothers see Joseph coming from a long way off. They began to plot about killing him. They say to one another “Here comes this dreamer.” They discuss killing him and throwing him into one of the pits and telling their father that a wild animal ate him. Reuben (the oldest) hears this and rescues Joseph by saying, “Let’s not kill him. Throw him into this pit, but don’t shed his blood.” He intended to come back and rescue Joseph and bring him back to Israel. They agree to do this. When Joseph reached them they took away his coat of many colors and threw him into the empty pit.
Verses 25-28 The brothers sit down to eat. They look up and see a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt to trade goods. Judah says, “What profit is there in our killing our brother and hiding it? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay hands on him, because he is our brother.” The brothers agreed to do this. The traders came by and they sold Joseph for 20 shekels of silver. This is how Joseph was brought to Egypt.
Verses 29-36 Reuben comes back to the pit (apparently he had gone off somewhere and was not party to selling Joseph) and finds the pit empty. He tears his garments in grief and worries about being able to go back home without Joseph with them. So they took Joseph’s coat of many colors, killed a goat and dipped the coat in the blood. Joseph’s brothers then sent the coat back to their father saying “We found this; please examine it to see if it’s your son’s or not.”
Of course, Jacob recognizes it, and determines that a wild animal has killed Joseph – tearing him to pieces by the state of the coat. So Jacob grieves over Joseph for many days, knowing Joseph to be dead. All of his sons and daughters come to comfort him, but Jacob refused to be comforted. He was so sad that he was sure that he would die from the heartache.
In the meantime, the traders sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s and the captain of the guards.
Note: Links to outside sources and those of pictures or clip art do not mean I am in agreement with any or all of the information given there. I am simply attempting to give credit for the work of others that I have borrowed.
This post may contain affiliate links. Shopping through these links is at no additional expense for you. Realize Your Inner Warrior Woman Realize Your Inner Warrior Woman An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. Prov. 31:10 (NASB) This woman who is being described in Proverbs 31:10-31 is a Warrior…
This post may contain affiliate links. Shopping through these links is at no additional expense for you. Use Scriptures to Teach Daughters How do you begin to talk to your daughter about rape? How do you prepare her to deal with jerks? I could keep going. Teaching our precious girls how to be ready…
This post may contain affiliate links. Shopping through these links is at no additional expense for you. Lessons from Huldah 31 Days of Women from Scripture Volume 2 Day 13 The God of Equality Day Thirteen: Lessons from Huldah the Prophetess 2 Kings 22:12-20; 2 Chronicles 34:19-28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is…
This post may contain affiliate links. Shopping through these links is at no additional expense for you. 4 Types of Prayer 1 Timothy 2:1-2 NASB First of all, then, I urge that ENTREATIES and PRAYERS, PETITIONS and THANKSGIVINGS, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so…
