Genesis 36 and 37: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

This article was written by Hayley Mowatt, producer of Bible Book Club.

Genesis 36 and 37 show the last of Jacob’s twin brother, Esau, and the beginnings of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph. Although Esau has a blessing, he is not God’s chosen brother–that lies with Jacob; so, his time in the Bible comes to a close as Genesis follows the family line that will lead us to Jesus. To that end, we get Joseph–one of my favorite characters in the whole Bible.

HAYLEY’S BIBLE BENDER:

While Joseph’s story makes a great movie (any Prince of Egypt fans here?), today’s Bible bender came from the setting of his life: Egypt. Susan’s comparison about Egypt in the time of Abraham, Joseph, and Jesus and how God used that comparison to make a point was new for me. To recap, Abraham’s connotation with Egypt was that it reminded him of his mistake and God sent a plague. In Joseph’s time, the rest of Jacob’s sons make the bad choice regarding Joseph leading to another famine and their time in Egypt lasting 400 years. Yet, in Jesus’ time, Egypt is a good place where Mary and Joseph had to take Jesus for protection from the infanticide decree. God is making clear that his people and Jerusalem have become like Egypt (evil) and so he flips the scripts, making Egypt the place of safety and Jerusalem the place of evil.

What was your Bible bender this episode?

VERSES MENTIONED:

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