Bible In A Year: Genesis (Chapters 37 - 50)

Genesis 37–50 reveals God’s sovereignty at work through Joseph’s suffering and redemption. Betrayed by his brothers and raised to power in Egypt, Joseph’s story shows how God turns evil intentions into saving purposes. From family division to covenant preservation, this gospel-shaped narrative teaches us to trust God’s redemptive plan even in seasons of hardship.

Transcript

Welcome And Yearlong Bible Context

Phil Porter 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Well, hey everybody. Welcome to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Phil Porter. I'm alongside Dr. David Klingler, and we are walking through uh the Bible in a year, the story of God. And today uh we are gonna start in Genesis chapter uh 37. If you've been with us uh any time before, but if you haven't, I want to encourage you to kind of start at the beginning. Helps the story, help you understand, kind of walk through it. And um we're not very we're not too too far along, but you can catch up at this point. And uh that's one thing that's really good. But if you want any other resources, you can also you can always go on teachmetible.com or download our app from the app store, uh, whichever one you want to do, whatever one you prefer. I know a lot of people put their phones or live on their phones, and so uh we have made it available as much as possible for you to learn the word of God and for you to be encouraged daily. Uh, but today we're in um chapter 37 of Genesis, walking through the story of God, and it seems to be Joseph is a main character that comes on the scene.

Joseph’s Favor And Prophetic Dreams

Betrayal And Descent To Egypt

Judah, Tamar, And The Promise Line

Perez, Zerah, And Future Threads

Joseph In Egypt: From Pit To Power

Testing The Brothers And Judah’s Pledge

Providence: Evil Intended, Good Achieved

Dr. David Klingler 1:26

Yes, he is. And so so we're we're still in the Jacob part. This is this is called the you know, often called the Joseph narratives, but but we're still in the Jacob section, and we got a lot of work to do still with Jacob. So we've walked along with Abram become Abraham the man of faith, and then we've watched Isaac become a man of faith, and now we're in the middle of Jacob, and Jacob's doing the same things. His name has been changed to Israel, uh, but he's got two wives, he's got uh children through um you know his wife's maidservants. There's so he's got twelve kids, and the family's a wreck. Uh, and we got to pull all this thing together. And and so remember that that Jacob favors Rachel because she's you know, you know, she's good looking, and Leah not so much, but Leah's the firstborn. So all of those things, remember all those things as we as we had forward. It says, and and Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived or sojourned in the land of Canaan. And these are the uh generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, and uh, and uh uh in verse 3 it says, Now Israel loved Joseph more than his sons, because he was a son of his old age. Remember back to Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game. He he he you know it's always aligning himself with some kid for some for some reason. Well, well, Joseph is the uh the uh child of of Rachel, uh, and um and it says that Israel loved Joseph more than his sons, and and the brothers hated Joseph, right? And so we have enity between sons. We have one uh son that uh that's going to rule over his brothers, and we'll get to that. And the others hate his son. And so remember back, see the woman, see the serpent, the the relationship between the two is enmity, and and so so Joseph is aft actually gonna play the role of the uh of the you know the seed of the woman, the the he's not gonna carry the promise, but but he's the believer in the story. He's the one who walks by faith through the whole story. The rest of the brothers, they hate him. Uh, and uh, and so we've gotta we gotta fix all this. And so uh says Israel loved Joseph more than his sons because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a this is translated in in the vericolored tunic, whatever that means. Yeah, um, that's actually coming from the Septuagint translation. Uh the Hebrew, it's a uh a katonet pasim. It's a it's a garment. Uh the the the the this katonet word, this this word has shown up back in Genesis chapter three, that the Lord made a covering of skin. Same word, right? And so it's the the same word here, and and so uh uh then Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers. And so his brothers are hating him, he has a dream, and here's the dream. He says, Uh please listen to the dream which I had, for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheav rose up and stood erect. Uh, and behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheep. Then the brothers said to him, Are you actually going to uh to reign over us? Are you actually going to rule? Are you are you actually going to be a king over us? Are you actually going to Mashal, that's going to be the word for Messiah. You're actually going to rule over us? And so they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. And he had another dream. And he related to his brothers. Lo, I uh have uh had uh still another dream. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. Now hold on to that imagery, because the sun and the moon and the uh and the twelve stars, this is going to be representative of the nation Israel, the twelve stars, the twelve sons, the sun and the moon, Jacob and uh his wife, and uh and so the sun and the moon and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. And he re- uh he related this to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said, What is this dream that you've had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers? See, there's there's the interpretation, actually bow down uh to uh before you to the ground? Now, actually in the story, they all do bow down to him in the story. So it actually comes to pass. And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept these sayings. He kept them in his uh, you know, he he remembered them, right? Uh and so his brothers go out to pasture, uh, and uh Israel said, Um, uh, are not your brothers pasturing in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them. And uh, and he said, I will go. And so so Joseph goes out uh and then and they sell Joseph. They were gonna kill him, and then they say, Well, let's just throw him in a pit and leave him. And then there's some some uh Midianite traders that were passing by. Uh and we were introduced to the to where the Midianites come from previously in the story, and they said, Well, let's just sell them to him. And so they sell Joseph to him and off he goes, and he goes down into Egypt, uh, and he ends up down in uh in Egypt, and we're gonna catch up with him in Potiphar's house, right? So that's what's coming. And so uh they uh they sell him, then they slaughtered a male goat, they dipped it in blood, and they uh sent it, uh sent the covering, the the coat, the tunic, uh back to the father, and they said, Examine, uh please, is this not the son of the your son's tunic? And he examined it and uh and uh he said a wild beast devoured him, and Jacob has surely been torn to pieces. And so we think that uh, or at least Jacob, uh Israel, thinks that uh his son is dead. Uh and then the scene turns to Judah. And you go, why does the scene turn to Judah? Well, remember why we're tracking this story. We're still tracking the promised seed. And so, you know, it's like you watch a movie and you got all these, you know, kind of these two storylines that are coming, going to come together. Uh here's what's going on. So it came about that Judah had departed from his brothers, and uh he went to a certain Adulamite whose name was Hira, and uh and Judah saw uh there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua, and he took her and he went into her and she conceived. And so you're going, okay, you're trying to figure out why do I need to know this? Well, remember back uh Israel, Leah, Leah's first son was Reuben, he's off the you know the list as far as the carrier of the promise. Simeon and Levi, they're off the list as far as the carriers of the promise. And so next in line is Judah. Okay, and so Joseph's been you know sold you know to traders, and and now the the narrator turns back the camera to the promise and says, What's going on with Judah? Well, this is what's going on with Judah. He has three sons. Uh he has Ur, the oldest, and then Onan the second, and then Sheila the third. Uh and Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn. Notice it, this is in verse 6. It's firstborn. But Ur, Judah's firstborn. It's repeating firstborn, firstborn, firstborn. So Ur is the carrier of the promise. Uh and uh Ur took a wife, uh uh Judah took a wife for Ur, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. So remember, a promise to the man is a promise to the woman. And so, you know, we're we're seeing if this promise is now being carried by Ur and Tamar, and and so it's gone down this trail. And so Tamar is now a rightful carrier of the promise. But Ur, uh Judah's firstborn was evil, so the Lord killed him. You're going, okay, now wait a second, we got a problem here. If if the promise is now to Judah, and it's not looking good with Judah because he doesn't seem to have any regard for the promise, and his firstborn was Ur, and Ur was married to Tamar, and then Ur's dead, where's the promise? Well, it resides with Tamar. But who's gonna provide the seed for Tamar? Uh and uh Judah said to Onan, Go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of the brother-in-law. This was a uh, you know, if your brother dies, your duty was to raise up descendants for your brother. Uh well, uh Oan, he he uh doesn't do it, uh, and it was displeasing in the eyes of the Lord, uh, and so the Lord kills him. And you go, this is not looking good. You know, this kind of we're heading down kind of a dead-end trail here, and and so next up is Shayla. Well, Judah would not give Shayla, his youngest, to Tamar. And so you're going, Well what what happens now? Uh and so um um then Judah said to his daughter-in-law, remain a widow uh in your father's house until my son Shala grows up. And so it's uh it's time for his son to grow up, and uh uh and he won't uh he won't honor his uh his pledge. Uh and then Judah's wife dies. And so um um and so um Judah's wife is is is gone, uh, and so now the Judah is the carrier of the promise. It's flowed down to Ur, his firstborn, and Tamar. And Ur's gone and Onan's gone, and Judah won't give uh give Shayla, the third, the third, to Tamar. So the promise goes from Judah to Tamar. And so Tamar goes and secures the promise, right? Dresses up, plays the harlot. Judah's gone down there, goes down to the bowling alley and picks up the prostitute. At least that's what he thinks. But but it's Tamar. Well, uh Tamar is operating according to faith and the promise. Judah, he's going down to the bowling alley to you know pick up the prostitute. So one of them's operating by faith and one of them's not. And and uh and when Judah finds out that Tamar is pregnant, he's he's upset and he calls her in and says, Well, what is this thing you've done? And and of course you find out that he's actually the one that has uh has done it. And Judah's uh Judah, um, you know, he Judah had given this prostitute a a uh you know uh something that that uh it was a signet ring and uh cords in the staff to you know so that he would recognize this later. And and uh uh and Tamar says, Let me let me show you what I got here. And it really is an indictment on Judah. And uh and so um so uh Tamar has uh twins. Um and uh it came about when she was giving birth, she had twins. Uh moreover, it took place that while she was giving birth, one put out its hand, uh, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, uh saying, This one came out first. So this is the firstborn. And uh and then uh he drew his hand back in, and then his brother came out uh and she said, What a breach we have uh made for yourself. And so she named him Perez. Perez uh means breach. And so uh so the question is so so uh the second the next one that comes out, who was actually the firstborn with a thread on his hand, his name is Zeroch. Zeroch, um the the the genealogy of the promised line stops here. In other words, this is kind of the end of the trail until we get to the book of Ruth, right? The book of Ruth is going to pick this back up. Now, when we get, we're jumping ahead a little bit, I want, but I want to introduce this so that we see why this is uh relevant. When we get over in uh the book of Joshua, Israel's going to take the land, right? Uh they're taking the land, uh, and um uh and when they send out spies to uh to spy out the land, uh the spies go and they stay at the house of Rahab. And we're we'll get this when we get to the book of Joshua, but I want to just introduce this. Uh the Israel wins uh at the battle of uh of Jericho, uh, but um they go into the next battle, which is the Battle of Ai, and they're defeated. And um Joshua seeks the Lord and says, What's going on here? Well, what has happened is that one of the people, one of the men, has taken things under the band that they weren't supposed to take. Uh, and uh so he is brought out, they cast lots to see who this is. Uh and it turns out this this person is from the tribe of Judah, from the line of Zerah. There's our connection. Um uh and uh he is brought out uh and uh he is uh it says, and all of Israel stoned uh his family, stoned him and everything that he had with stones, and they burned them with fire, and they stoned with them stones. All that was to him was brought out and destroyed, include so apparently the uh the carrying of the promise as well. And so so now the promise has gone all the way back, all the way back up through the the line of Zera back to Perez. And so David is going to be a King David is going to be a descendant of Perez, and that's the genealogy of the book of Ruth. And so these stories that are being told, even here, you're gonna see them play out later in the story. And so you can't just read an individual chapter or even an individual book. You've got to keep the story going because the things that just like a movie, that the things that are introduced in this scene, you're gonna see play out, they're gonna be relevant later, later in the story. Does that make sense? Okay, so so so uh Judah has um uh a uh twin sons through uh through Tamar, um, and uh there are Zarah and Peres, and so we're gonna keep an eye on on them. Uh now the the scene goes back, the the camera goes back, the director shines the camera back on Joseph. Well, what's going on in Joseph? Well, he's uh he was sold uh you know in to these Midian uh guys and they take him down and he ends up in uh in Egyptian's uh house, a Potiphar's house, and and uh we know the story. Um Potiphar's wife tries to entice him, he won't go for it. She accuses him and he finds himself in prison. Uh where he's in prison, uh he uh uh there's a you know he's he's kind of sitting there in his gel cell, so to speak, and and uh here comes another prisoner. Uh and uh it uh uh it is um you know it's uh one that's from the court, from the king's court, from Pharaoh's court. Um and um uh and Joseph interprets the dream. Um and uh and so Joseph is brought, they say, hey, you we got a someone who interprets dreams over here. And Joseph ends up uh in front of Pharaoh and and ends up really ends up second in uh in line behind Pharaoh in uh in the nation. We're kind of jumping uh uh ahead pretty quick here. Uh well so so now Joseph has risen to basically Pharaoh's right hand man down there in Egypt, and a famine is in the land, back in the promised land, and so uh so Israel sends his sons down there and says, go down there to Egypt and uh get some food. They come down and they end up in front of Joseph. They don't know it's Joseph, but it's in front of Joseph, and Joseph recognizes them, they don't recognize him. Uh and long story short, uh by the time we get to the end of this uh story, see they they have sold Joseph into slavery, uh, but according to God's sovereign plan and hand, he has raised Joseph up to second in uh in control, second in power in in Egypt. Uh, and God uses uh Joseph to save the brothers uh and to deliver them. And uh and so this is uh and and then Judah actually um so what happens is is uh Joseph says, all right, here's what here's what has to happen. I want you to go get your uh go get your little brother, your youngest brother, and bring him to me. Uh well that that's Benjamin, and Benjamin is this has the same mother as Joseph, right? And so that's Joseph's little brother. Uh the brothers are concerned that if they go get Benjamin and they lose Benjamin, that'll just send Israel over the, you know, kind of over the emotional cliff, so to speak, because he's already broke up over the loss of Joseph and and you know, that's his favorite wife and his favorite sons. Uh, and so they're concerned. And so so Judah steps in and says, no, no, take me instead. You know, in other words, he's willing to lay down his life for Benjamin. And this is kind of the redeeming point, the redeeming action for Judah. Uh so now Judah has kind of been uh been redeemed, so to speak. He's he's willing to lay down his life for his brother, he's operating as his brother's keeper. Joseph reveals himself for who he is, and there's this big isn't this uh amazing and wonderful? They all kind of come back together. But there's a concern. The concern uh for the brothers is that uh uh that Joseph might hold a grudge, and so so fast. Forward a little bit. Israel is about to die or has died. And Joseph's brothers are concerned that Joseph will exact some revenge. And so uh and so they come up with this plan. They say, Hey, look, uh, before our father died, he he said, um, you know, he said to tell you to make sure that you forgive us. And and Joseph said to them, Um, don't be af afraid, for am I in God's place? But as for you, what you intended for evil, God intended for good in order to bring about this present result to to save many peoples alive. And so by the end of the story, by the end of the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 50, you have twelve sons, all believers. Um they're in in Egypt. Uh, there's 70 people and all in the family, uh, and uh, and things are going well for them, but they're not back in the promised land. And so for uh the next uh you know uh several hundred years, they're going to be fruitful and multiply. This is where the book of Exodus is gonna begin. Israel is uh the the 70 people are fruitful and multiply, uh, and um and now they're ready for that Genesis chapter 15, that promise that the Lord made back to Abram back in Genesis 15. Uh, your descendants know for certain that your descendants will be in a land not their own, and they will be enslaved for 400 years, but I will come and I'll deliver them. And so uh just as we've watched walk down the trail, as Abraham became Abraham the man of faith, and Isaac became Isaac the man of faith, and now not only Jacob, but Jacob's sons now are you know 70 and all people of faith, and they're being fruitful and multiplying, now they're ready to be delivered in the Exodus. And so all this is kind of the the backdrop or the the backstory, you know, kind of the how we got here to the Exodus generation that Moses is telling this story to Well, we have concluded the book of Genesis.

Phil Porter 22:10

Um so it's been a really, really, really good journey so far. And it seems like Exodus is gonna pick right back up and we're gonna continue to follow this. We're gonna stay right on the trail, right?

Genesis Concludes And Exodus Begins

Dr. David Klingler 22:22

And so yeah, and so we're now we're you know, Moses has given uh uh the people the backstory. This is how we got here, right? Now where do we go from here? Well, it's time to leave. Uh it's time to leave uh Egypt, it's time to go to the promised land. And and uh anytime I uh teach this, I think about the veggie tales. Uh we're going to the promised land. So so so this is a continuation of the story. The book of Exodus is gonna be a continuation of the story, and we'll uh we'll we'll look at that this next time.

Phil Porter 22:58

Awesome. Well, thank you, David, for your time today and for the listeners. We hope you are encouraged uh about the backstory. Uh and we're gonna pick it up, like you said, next week in Exodus. So uh until next time, thank you, David. And we'll see everybody again soon. For more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.