About the Reading:
We finish up Genesis with the death of Jacob/Israel and the death of Joseph.
My Thoughts and Notes:
It was a quick reading today, but interesting. Does anyone else notice that, earlier, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and he is referred to as suck throughout; however Jacob’s name is changed to Israel and the readings seem to bounce back and forth between calling him Jacob and Israel?
It threw me off a bit.
The ending of Genesis seemed a bit anti-climatic. I may be missing something important. I have a strange feeling I am missing something. Anyone have any insight?
There is a LOT crammed into these three chapters.
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 48, I find it interesting that Isreal set the younger ahead of the elder brother. It reminds me of when Jesus said that the 'first shall be last and the last shall be first'. (I always like to remind my oldest sister of that)
You could spend days studying Chapter 49, and the meaning of each of the blessing bestowed upon each of the 12 sons. Since we don't have days to study this, I am going to just leave it alone.
The other thing I noticed was that, even after all these years, Joseph's brothers are worried that he will concoct some horrible payback after their father dies. They just can't understand someone being nice to them after they had treated him so badly. Seems as if they were having a problem forgiving themselves. Joseph again reminds them that what THEY meant for harm, GOD meant for good. I love that verse because it reminds me that God is in control, and He can use even the worst of situations for good. To me that is very comforting.
Oops, comments didn't seem to work. Let me try again.
ReplyDeleteHa! I love that you remind your sister of this; too bad my sister and I don't get along better or I would probably do the same thing!
It does sound like Joseph's brothers have a huge dose of guilt, doesn't it?
Love your comments.