Genesis 42

Joseph finally gets to teach his brothers a lesson for the way they treated him! I imagine it must have been very conflicting, though: on one hand getting back at them, even in a small way, probably felt good - but at the same time it had been so long that he may just have wanted to burst forth and hug them. I think the way he went about things was very wise, though, and worked out well.

Reading this section makes me want to rent Joseph - King of Dreams.  It was made by the same folks that did Prince of Egypt, if memory serves, and I enjoyed that pretty well (despite some historical inaccuracies).  Has anyone else out there seen those movies?  If so, do you think they are worth buying or just renting?

Genesis 40

Today we have the first two recorded dreams that Joseph actually interprets (with insight from God). These are done while in prison, and of course reality follows exactly has predicted. What else do you expect when the God of the universe is the one both creating the dream and providing the meaning? ;)

As a side note, the earlier dreams that Joseph had - which got him in trouble with his brothers in the first place - didn't get an official interpretation (or at least, it wasn't recounted in the Bible). Instead, the folks Joseph told about the dreams seemed to instantly know what they meant. I wonder if it was just that those dreams were more transparent, or if the 'gift' that Joseph had from God was actually shared among the whole family.

Genesis 39

Poor Joseph! He has a great life at home, and his brothers sell him to slavers. Then he works his way up in his master's house, and because he refuses the advances of his boss' wife he ends up in jail. It is cool to see that Joseph doesn't despair of these things, though, but instead works hard in every situation and is blessed by God. What a great encouragement!

I would like to say, though, that if I had been in Joseph's shoes I would have gone to my boss about his wife's inappropriate solicitations. I'm sure that would have caused some marital strife, and might still have gotten him tossed in prison (that was God's way of getting him where he needed to be, after all) - but I don't like taking things like that lying down (no pun intended).