Genesis 36:1-37:11

Genesis 36:1-37:11

As the story of Jacob and Esau begins to conclude, we get the genealogy of Esau. As verse 1 points out, we must remember that Esau’s descendants are the Edomites (a group of people mentioned later on in the Bible). This is one of those instances where it is important to pay attention to some of the small details, because they contain some of the historical background for future stories. Also notice in verse 2 that Esau took his wives from the Canaanites, which was what God had commanded Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob not to do. Already there is a stark contrast between the lives of Jacob and Esau. Finally, verse 3 tells us that one of his wives was a daughter of Ishmael, which should throw up another red flag. The details are easy to get bogged down in, but I am guessing that many of these names will be mentioned later on, and this chapter will be a great reference for some of the historical books. For instance, I recognize the name Korah, knowing it comes up later, but cannot think of why that name sounds so familiar right now.

After filling in the life of Esau, the text moves on to the life of Joseph in Genesis 37. From the start it is obvious that Joseph is more privileged than the other 11 brothers. One of the main reasons is because Joseph was born to Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel (who is dead at this point). Jacob had always loved Rachel more than Leah, and that love was now extending down to their son Joseph. Jacob finds himself in the same trap as before. When he favored Rachel over Leah and made it quite obvious, he stirred up a lot of problems of jealousy and rivalry between the two women. Now that he is showing his favoritism toward Joseph over the rest of his sons, he is stirring up that same fit of jealousy between them. They are not only beginning to hate Joseph but Jacob as well. This shows how important it is to learn from past mistakes. Not only is it a sin to get caught up in the same sins of our past, never learning or growing from those situations, but it will also cause major consequences. For Jacob, the consequences were going to be the eventual separation from him and his favorite son.

But Jacob was not the only one in the wrong at this point. Obviously his sons were in the wrong for showing hatred toward their brother (even if he was their half-brother). Yet even more so than them, Joseph did not mind letting them know that he was the favorite. He first showed up his coat of many colors, but he later elaborated on the dreams that he was having. Now it was not wrong of him to tell his dreams, but after seeing the anger his brothers showed, it would have been best to not continue to rub it in their faces. But what is interesting is the significance of these dreams. They were in a sense a prophecy of what was to come of their family. Although his brothers and father did not expect to be ruled by Joseph, they would be one day. And if Joseph had never made such a big deal out of his dreams, he would not have been put in the situation to be in a higher political position than they. God used this seemingly bad situation for His ultimate good. At this point in the story it is unclear what these dreams mean or what significance they might play. In fact, Joseph could appear as a very prideful man, but as the story unfolds these first 11 verses of Genesis 37 will prove to be a great foundation for what God was about to do in their lives and in the life of the nation of Israel. God always has a plan, and this is one of those stories that proves it.

Matt