Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme.  I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How  are you today? 

Steve: I am well, and warm, and grateful for a warm house and warm clothes. Funny,  the older you get, the more you don't take for granted things you've been given. You  appreciate the things that you have. 

Scott: When it's in the single digits outside, it's hard not to be grateful for the warmth  inside. 

Steve: It doesn't bother me so much, but my poor pups, I have to put little coats on  them. This morning, I had to carry one of them home because I could see that the  cold was getting to him. 

We're working to do today Genesis 31 to 42. I’m hoping this podcast will encourage  people to keep digging and reading themselves because I'm not going to spell it all  out. I'm not a commentary. My name's not Matthew Henry. But I think there are some  things that we can note that will be helpful as we read our Bibles through. The first thing I want to mention is I'm going to post a timeline. I'm not sure where to  post it, whether I'll put it on Facebook or tied in to the notes that you can find for the  podcast, but a timeline of Adam to Abraham is fascinating. I can sit there and look at  it, and you see whose life overlapped with whom. 

For example, Adam, who lived 930 years, lived during the time of Seth, Enos, Canaan,  Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah. It looks like he even nicked Lamech. All of  these men had a chance to talk to somebody who had walked and talked with God. I'd like to think that maybe Enoch had a heart in that direction. Perhaps he sat down  with Adam one day, and said, "Tell me, what was it like walking with God in the cool  of the day?" and having Adam pour into that man, and then Enoch was translated. He  was not. 

Then if you take Methuselah, his life overlapped Lamech, Noah, and Shem.  Methuselah could have been the bearer of the gospel, you might say, according to  Adam, to these other people. Maybe that's what inspired Noah, because Adam died  right before Noah was born. 

Then you look at Shem. Shem overlapped everybody all the way down to Abraham. I'm  putting that in there because I have a conviction that Shem was an important  character in the Bible, and it shows that he would have been able to talk to  Methuselah, who talked to Adam, and then he was able to talk to Abraham. Over  2,000 years are covered by these men. If you can, search online and look up a  timeline for the patriarchs. 

Let's pray. Father, here we are again before Your inspired word. We know that every  jot and tittle is important. We know that You wrote it. You didn't waste language. You  didn't waste circumstances, and the Spirit of God carefully recorded, through other  men and women, but the Spirit of God was the one that was authoring this divine  document. 

I pray that You help us to come to it, so to speak, without our shoes, because this is  holy ground. We take off our sandals today as we approach You and approach Your  word, and we pray that You'll give us insight and revelation even on things that  perhaps we haven't seen before. 

Help Scott and I as we contemplate it and talk it through, and give us all ears to hear  the good Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Scott: Amen. 

Steve: If you've been faithfully reading along, you know that this is a really interesting  couple of chapters here about Jacob and Laban. As I mentioned last time, Jacob and  Laban were two interesting fellows. They pushed each other's buttons. How about  that? It was getting so bad that finally, Jacob thought, "I need to return." It says in the 13th verse, God talked to him. "I'm the God of Bethel ‑‑ Bethel, house of  God ‑‑ where you anointed a pillar, the rock, and made a vow to Me. Now arise, go  out from this land and return to the land of your kindred." He got his wives together,  he explained the situation, and he did it. 

Interestingly, God, had told him, "I will bring you back," and Jacob's going to remind  Him of that in a prayer in the 31st chapter. Laban caught up with Jacob in about eight  days. 

Then in the 24th verse, "God came to Laban, the Aramean" ‑‑ or some translations  use the word Syrian ‑‑ but it's north and northeast of Israel, which is present‑day  Syria. 

"Laban the Aramean, in a dream by night, and said to him, 'Be careful not to say  anything to Jacob, either good or bad.'" In other words, "Be careful, pal. I've got  Jacob's back." Then they sat down, and made a covenant with a heap of stones, and  one stone. 

Jacob had a pillar. I think it is the same pillar that we've talked about in the past when  we covered Genesis 28. Laban called his pile of stones "Jegar Sahadutha," which is  Aramaic for heap of stones. Jacob called the same pile Galeed, which is Hebrew for  heap of stones. 

I thought that was fascinating that they put that in there in the 47th verse because it  shows that these are two different cultures present. Perhaps this is part of their  conflict that it was Hebrew versus Syria. 

In the 32nd chapter, there's a prayer. Jacob said, "Oh God of my father Abraham and  God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your  kindred that I may do you good.' 

"I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness  that you have shown to Your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and  now I have become two camps. 

"Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him,  that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But You said, 'I will  surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be  numbered for multitude.'" 

It's a really good prayer. He's open and honest. "I'm afraid my brother's going to kill  me and everybody with me." He also reminds God of His promises. "You said that if I  would return, 'I would take care of you. I will do you good.' Remember, my offspring  is supposed to be multiplied as the sands of the sea." 

It's a really good prayer because he reminds God of His word and His promises to  him, but he's also honest and open. "I'm afraid. I need help. Deliver me from the hand  of my brother." 

As he's alone that night Jacob gets into a wrestling match. You're going to find that  there are times when the angel of God who is representing God, but it's almost as if  because he's representing God, you have to treat him like you would treat God. You don't say, "Oh, you're just a lowly angel." No. "You're God's angel." The angel of  Jehovah is all through the Bible. It talks about the angel representing him, and yet the  angel needs to be treated with reverence, even though it's an angel. After the end of the wrestling match, Jacob said, "Please tell me your name." He said,  "Why is it that you ask my name? And there he blessed him." I don't know all that is  packed in here, but there's something special when Jacob pinned him down. "I want to  know you. I want to know who you are, who you represent." "Why do you ask that?" He  said. Then he blessed him. 

Then Jacob called the name of that place Peniel, which even though it was the angel,  Peniel means face of God. P‑E‑N, comes from the Hebrew root for face, and E-L is  God. So the face of God. 

Then he goes on to say, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been  delivered." That's what I mean. It's the angel of God, and yet he says, "I have seen  God." I don’t fully comprehend this, but I read it and believe it. 

In Hosea 12:3 ‑‑ which we're going to be covering in the fall ‑‑ "Even in the womb,  Jacob struggled with his brother. When he became a man, he even fought with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from  him. There at Bethel, he met God face to face, and God spoke to him, Jehovah, God of  heaven's armies, Jehovah is His name." 

That's part of why we read Genesis, because when we're going to read Hosea, we're  going to understand what it means.  

In the 33rd chapter, Jacob settles down. He makes it through. In the 17th verse, it  says, "Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built him a house, and made booths for his cattle.  Therefore, the name of the place is called Succoth, which means booth." We have the  feast of Succoth. We also have the feast of booths. Interesting. In the 20th verse, it  says, "There he erected an altar and called it Elo Elohi Israel, which means God, the  God of Israel. Beautiful. 

We're coming now to an awful chapter. It concerns their sister Dinah. They come to  the land of Hamor. The prince took her and he humbled her. We know what that  means. It was awful. 

When her brothers heard about it, they were beyond angry. They were in a rage.  Simeon and Levi wiped out those men. They thought it was justified, but we're going to see in the next reading, Simeon and Levi paid a price for their rage when it came  time for their father to bless them. 

Genesis 35. The first 15 verses are really deep. I'm having trouble not wanting to read  the whole thing but this is not "Steve, read the Bible for you." You can read it. 35  builds on 28. This was the same place God spoke to Jacob when he slept on the Rock.  Genesis 35:1, "Go to Bethel and make there an altar." 

Jacob then said to his household ‑‑ because he's not by himself now ‑‑ this is where  he met God when he was fleeing Esau. This is where the angels of God were  ascending and descending. This is where he set up the stone pillar and anointed it. Now, he says to his household, "We need to do business with God here. I want you to  put away all the foreign gods. Purify yourselves. Change your garments. Let's arise  and go to Bethel," so they did. They cleaned house. This was wholesale repentance. They took all the idols out of their homes. They gave them to Jacob the rings in their  ears, and he hid them under the oak, which was by Shechem. remember the name of  that town, Shechem, because it shows up a lot in the Bible, over 60 times. This is a  significant geographical spot. 

This is where Abraham first came into the land. He went to the oak in Shechem. This  is where they are there. Jacob came to the people. He built an altar. He called the  place El‑bethel, which I'm sure you can figure this out, "God, the house of God,  because there God was revealed to him when he fled from the face of his brother." Then God appears to him in the 9th and the 10th verses, and He changes his name.  Even though the angel told him, "Your name is going to be different," it seems like  this was the official renaming. This is when they went before the judge and changed  it. God said to him, "Your name is Jacob. No longer shall your name be called Jacob,  but Israel shall be your name. And He called his name Israel." 

God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful. Multiply." He reiterates these  incredible promises that he'd already spoken to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob,  but He does it again. 

After He was done talking to him, Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had  spoken with Him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil  on it. This is a little bit more than he did in the 28th chapter. He called the name of  the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel. 

Whew. Beautiful stuff. Deep stuff. Then we're going to move into the 36th chapter.  This is one of the first times we're going to get a chance to read a whole bunch of  names. It's Esau's heritage. Esau, who became Edom, all the way through. 43 verses of  kings, chiefs, a timeline, how they overlapped.  

Then in the 37th chapter, we are introduced to Joseph. I don't think we appreciate him  as much as we need to in the scriptures, but Joseph, I believe, is still impacting our  world to this day. Joseph was 17 years old. You know the situation that was  happening here, as Joseph is loved by his dad, more than his brothers. His dad loves  him so much, he makes him a tunic. 

Now, if you want to listen, we did a whole podcast, number 447, on this robe. I don't  think we should look at the colors because that's a little iffy. The main thing we did  look at is this was a long tunic. 

The word is kethoneth or kuttoneth, and it means tunic, garment, robe. It's only used  29 times in the Bible, but this is the same word that God used when he made long  coats or tunics of skins for Adam and his wife in Genesis 3:21. These were tunics that  were for royalty. That word is used one time in Genesis 3, eight times in this chapter  alone. The word for "long tunic" is kuttoneth. 

The next 14 times is describing the priestly garments in Exodus, Leviticus, Ezra, and  Nehemiah. These are priestly garments, but these were also the garments that David's  daughters wore. They were royal and priestly garments. 

The reason we talked about it in the particular podcast is because I was really taken  aback as I had always imagined that God threw a bunch of rabbit skins together for  Adam and Eve, and they looked like the Flintstones. No. God carefully made them  long coats, and tunics of skins. 

The other word that we translate, colors, the root word is pas, which means the palm  of the hand or the sole. It's a way to measure stuff. It's a lot of pases. It's a lot of  handbreadths. That's where we get the sense that "it's a long tunic." I don't think it was the colors that were impressive. I think it was the fact that it was a  long tunic, perhaps a sleeve tunic, and it was for people who were special. This is why  Joseph wore this coat. 

Then he dreamed, which didn't go over well, but God gave him a dream. That dream,  by the way, as we all know, came to pass. Sadly, poor Joseph, 17 years old, looked up  to his older brothers, and his older brothers gave him up to the Ishmaelites. Then  Midianite traders passed by, and Joseph went to Egypt. It's painful to even read it. Right while Joseph is being sold to Potiphar, the officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the  guard, we have this 38th chapter, which is like the previous thing when Dinah is taken  by Hamor and Shechem, his son, and the next thing you know, they're wiping out  people. 

This is even worse. This is right within Judah's household. He's got sons, and they're  wicked, and God had to kill them. I hate to say that, but it's what it says. "Er was  wicked in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah put him to death." Then Onan was  supposed to take care of raising up a child, and what he did was wicked. Then Tamar, boy, she's something. She was promised the younger son, but by the  time he grows up and he's not given to her, like he said, then she goes down and  pretends she's a temple prostitute. It's awful. 

She bears twins, and these twins are mentioned in Matthew 1:3 in the line of Jesus.  You would think, as you've said, Scott earlier, if you were going to write a religion,  you wouldn't write this kind of stuff into it. This was carnality at its worst. The first baby to emerge puts out his hand...Now, I have a friend that has studied this  a lot more than I have, and he doesn't think she had a chance to wrap a scarlet thread  and tie a bow on it. 

He thinks that they had something that would mark the hand with scarlet. Like a piece  of hyssop with something red on it, and quickly, as the hand pops out, you touch it.  Then later, when he comes out, you say, "Oh, there's the red that I put on there." I  don't know for sure. All I know is we have Perez and Zerah in the line of Jesus. Then we get to the 39th chapter. Now, Joseph. This is all very understandable. I don't  think I need to say much on this. The thing I want to point out was in the second  verse, it says, "Jehovah was with Joseph." 

You know what? I've been told that that is the only promise that Moses had going out  from Egypt was, "I will be with you." That's the only promise that Joseph needed. It's  the only promise that we need. "I will be with you." 

Then He reiterates it in the 21st verse, "Jehovah was with Joseph and showed  kindness unto him and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison."  In the 40th chapter, Joseph interprets dreams. Here we have Joseph who goes from  taking care of some sheep, being betrayed by his brothers, thrown into a pit, his  father's distraught, and then he ends up in prison for doing the right thing, by the  way, being a pure, young man and resisting the wiles of Potiphar's wife. The next thing you know, he's in prison. Then, boom, he's the prime minister of  Egypt. He's second only to Pharaoh. He is the big cheese. All I could think of was he  got that position because he was the one who interpreted dreams. I want to draw some parallels here between Joseph and Daniel because it says in the  16th verse, "Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, 'It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh  an answer.'" 

In the second chapter of Daniel, "Daniel answered the king and says, 'No wise man,  enchanters, magicians, astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has  asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.'" 

Both of these young men, and they were both young men, they acknowledged that  God was God. Not them. They're not smart. It's God that interprets dreams. In looking  at this scenario from our perspective, I thought, boy, what better place to go to learn  the inner workings of Egypt? 

What better place to become fluent in the language and the customs of Egypt than in  the prison with the cabinet members of pharaoh? You've got his butler, you've got his  baker. He had already been serving in the house of the chief of his guard. This 17‑year‑old Hebrew slave boy, is rubbing shoulders with top of the top, cream  of the crop of Egypt, and he's learning their language. He's learning who's who. He  learns their customs, and he's in there for 13 years. 

Well, he's in Egypt for 13 years because he was 17 when he went in there. Then it says  in the 41st chapter, "Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of  Egypt." 

Lest we think that, "Oh, well, now he's big cheese in Egypt," it almost hurts when you  read in the 51st verse that he got married, and he called the name of the firstborn  Manasseh, for, he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's  house." 

Really? I don't really think he'd forgotten it, or he wouldn't have named his son that.  He was still feeling it. He was still traumatized by this experience. The name of the  second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Even though, perhaps even at this point, he can see God’s hand at work, because later  he says this, "You meant it for evil, God meant it for good," "all things work together  for good," those kind of things, it still hurt. It was still struggles. It was the land of  affliction. It was hardship. That's what he named his sons. 

Then in the 42nd chapter, he's reunited with his brothers. The famine brings them to  Egypt for food, and he puts them away for three days. I think that's significant. I think  that's like the three days that Jonah was in the mouth of the big fish. It's three days  that Jesus was in the heart of the earth. 

During those three days, the brothers were doing some reflection. They were recalling  what they had done to their brother. They had never gotten over their heinous giving  of their brother to these Ishmaelites/Midianite traders. They'd never gotten over it.  The 21st verse, it says, "They said to one another, 'In truth, we are guilty concerning  our brother in that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we did not  listen. This is why this distress has come upon us.'" 13 years later, they still  remembered it. 

Whew. We're going to see. There's going to be a little back and forth between Joseph  and his brothers because he's been burned. He's wary, and he tests them. But there  we go. I think we've covered all the salient points. What did I leave out, Scott? Scott: I don't think anything other than simply reading it all. 

Scott: It seems like such a cautionary tale for all families. At the same time, it's all...I  don't know. It's so fantastic. Not literally, but it feels that way, that God is in charge of  what's going on. 

I'd say it again, it's clearly God directing their steps, but man, there's such a mess of  stuff in there. Like, "Lord, please have mercy on my family and let it not be like this."  Steve: There's one other point that I'm scanning my notes real fast that I left out. I did  mention that Simeon and Levi were going to see. They paid a price for their rage, but  so did Reuben, in Genesis 35, which is that wonderful chapter with these promises to  Jacob. Then you have Reuben, who violated his father's concubine, and he's going to  pay a price for that. 

Steve: Well, we see these promises, the blessing and the birthright, we now know that  there are two things passed on in families, because this is what Jacob inherited. He  got them both. Not Esau. He received both the blessing and the birthright. When he  passes them on, there's some people that are skipped because of what they have  done in their own actions. They reaped what they had sown. 

I'm sorry I didn't have more time to go into these robes of righteousness. That's what  we did a whole podcast on. This robe of Joseph is a central piece in this figure. The  fact that they dipped it in blood, whew. It reminds me of Jesus when He comes back  with white robes, and He has His robes dipped in blood, in Revelation. 

This is part of what I hope people will benefit from. When you read the whole Bible,  you can see how God is. It's a seamless, no pun intended, but it's a seamless garment,  all the way from Genesis to Revelation. A lot of these themes that were started in  Genesis will be culminated in Revelation. 

Congratulations. You have now read another 417 verses. You've read 42 chapters of  the Old Testament. Good for you. Kudos. Or as they say in Australia, "Good on ya,  mate." Let's pray. 

Father, thank You for what we've read. Thank you for this opportunity that I have to  go even deeper than I normally do because now I'm teaching it, not just reading it for  my own benefit. Thank You for these insights. As Scott said, help us to learn from  them in our own homes, in our own families, in our own walk with God. Thank You for being with Jacob. Thank You for being with Joseph. Thank You that You  promised that You would be with us. In Jesus' name. Amen. 

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the  Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the  show, email Steve at spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.