And shortly after Judah Makes his Plea, Joseph breaks down in tears and reveals his identity! And he states to his brothers…
Genesis 45: 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Establishing at that point, it is two years into the Famine, making Joseph 39 yrs old at the time Judah keeps calling Benjamin a boy, a “LAD”, and a “Little One”, some 22 years AFTER Joseph was sold into slavery!
This is the last point referring to the AGE of Benjamin illustrating a different Chronology than the Mainstream of Religious Scholars note of Genesis 35 and Genesis 37!
You see, BENJAMIN was referred to as “A” child of Jacob’s Old Age!
But JOSEPH, while born to Jacob in his Middle Age, was referred to as “THE” child of Jacobs Old AGE! Not “A CHILD”…”THE CHILD”! It took years for Rachael to bare A child for Jacob! And while he was middle aged, he did not expect any more children! And so Joseph at 17 was not one of plural, “A CHILD” Of Jacob’s Old Age, he was expected to be the BABY, the LAST BORN, he was “THE CHILD” of Jacob’s Old AGE!
And these other passages, means Benjamin was a young child at a point 22 years after Joseph was Sold into Slavery, and by the time of Famine, Joseph’s mother had died, so Rachel, Had to be alive, as well as Isaac when Joseph was sold into Slavery at 17 years old!
Understanding this, is crucial to understanding what Joseph actually saw in his dreams at 17 years old!! Now that we have established the proper chronology of Genesis 37 in relation to Genesis 35, illustrating the texts do not continue a direct LINEAR Chronology…we can now consider that…22 yrs later by the time the famine arrives, Rachel has died only in recent years, as she gave birth to “THE LAD” Benjamin who stood as “A LITTLE ONE” before his 39 yr old Brother Joseph, and as Rachael has died, she will never BOW before Joseph indicating she could not have been what the MOON in his dream SYMBOLISED! And as we progress we will see will NEITHER will Jacob, thus, the interpretation here, of the symbolism of the dream referring to the Sun and Moon representing Rachael and Jacob, must have been originally been a misinterpretation placed by Jacob, as we are not given the details of the dream in Chapter 37, but later will see emphasized that Joseph saw his brothers in the dreams and at no time is it actually stated he saw his parents bow before him, and by the testimony of his brothers, we will fill in the gaps to know just what it was Joseph saw in his dreams!!
Now we go back to Chapter 37, and progress forward Chapter by Chapter in commentary, to learn just what it was Joseph saw in his first dreams that Troubled him so!
CHAPTER 37 COMMENTARY
Now we see Joseph’s brothers are jealous in vs 9 through 21, of chapter 37, and we also see later that they conspire to kill him, they harbor murder in their hearts, now two of them are already murderers, at that point and scripture cites that they killed an entire city of males earlier in Genesis, and later, we see that while Jacob may overlooked their vengeance for their sisters rape, he holds them accountable for the murder of a single unnamed man.
In Gen 37 vs 22 we see Reuben isn’t having any of this, afraid he can’t stop harm from his brother Joseph, he suggests to place him in a pit, and tries to stop his other brothers from killing Joseph, he even tells them they should not harm him, but they kick his butt anyway and steal his coat of many colors.
Now in vs 26 we see Judah decides to lead everyone in the plan to sell Joseph into slavery. I get the feeling he too is trying to deliver Joseph. He has two older brothers present, as Reuben is out doing his turn of duty watching the flocks in the field, and meanwhile in the camp, surely the others still want to kill Joseph. Rueben returns in vs29, and we see he finds the pit empty, and he doesn’t know Joseph is sold into slavery, he thinks his brothers have killed him. He wont find out the truth until much later on in Egypt. And the brothers, they still hate Joseph, and they don’t tell him the truth, instead somebody likely said, “Hey, take our word for it, he aint coming back.” You see, when Reuben found the pit empty, he only tow scenarios to work on, either Joseph got free, and went to rat everybody out as we see in the opening verses, he is a spoiled brat, he knows he is his fathers favorite son, and we see him tattling on everybody and getting his brothers in trouble as a teenager in the 1st few verses of chapter 37.
And so Reuben is worried he got free, but he goes to find him, and when he doesn’t find him, well wait a second, that didn’t happen at all, Reuben doesn’t go out to find Joseph, he finds the pit empty, and starts mourning in repentance, tearing his clothes. He is the oldest, he was responsible for Joseph. We see him go to the pit by himself, so it says he was trying to deliver the boy, so he must have been trying to finish the job, and he goes back to his brothers and says “He is not there, what I am I gonna do, where will I go to escape our fathers wrath?” Certainly, he must have hoped with mixed emotions the boy escaped, but he is assured otherwise, because he goes along with the scheme to put blood all over the coat of many colors and take it back to Jacob.
CHAPTER 38 COMMENTARY
In chapter 38 we see the Generations of Judah, Jacobs son. In Vs 6, underline the name TAMAR, and in your margin note it to be a “Popular name.” Now I am not actually saying it is, but we will see another with this name later.
As you read the story of Tamar, you will find her husband, Judah’s first born Er, was slain for displeasing God.
Then his brother is told to go into Tamar and have sex with her to give her a children, actually, he is told to marry her, and to raise up seed to his brother who was slain for being wicked. Then we see, he has sex with her, but he pulls out, refusing to impregnate her, and he too is slain. Then Judah asks Tamar to REMAIN A WIDOW. He is asking her to remain a lonely saddened woman, which she does.
We will see an interesting parallel later, a woman, left to be desolate in spirit by the unscrupulous actions of a wicked brother, a woman named Tamar. Anyway, Judah, promises her when his youngest son, She’lah grows up, she will be his wife. But Judah doesn’t keep his promise, and leaves her to be a lonely widow. Now, maybe she gets horny, maybe she gets mad for being cheated, but maybe she is just tired of being lonely, and it’s likely she was a little of all 3. She dresses up like a harlot and we see Judah has no problem with keeping company with harlots, but yet he would condemn one in his own family. HE sleeps with her, and gets her pregnant but doesn’t have the money to pay her on him, so he gives her his identifying jewelry, his signet and his bracelets. He is supposed to pay her later, and he sends a servant to do so, but the servant doesn’t find a harlot, and asks of the men of the land where the harlot is, to which they say…”Mr. We don’t have any Harlots around here, our woman are honorable, so you can go back and tell that #####monger Judah, we don’t know what he is talking about.” Paraphrase mine.(Verses 21-23)
Then somebody goes to Judah 3 months later and accuses the lonely widow of playing the Harlot, but Tamar has his bracelets and ring, and she calls him out publicly after he has sentenced her to death. Now Judah is confessing she is more righteous than he, and remembers his broken promise, and has to let her live, and hang his head in shame in her presence, and maybe his wife was so mad at him, she couldn’t stand to be in Tamar’s presence and wouldn’t let him live it down, or maybe he just felt shamed or angry for being exposed a #####monger by a woman who wasn’t actually a #####, or maybe he wasn’t any good in bed, or maybe this was all a grudge, or maybe she really, really just wanted a child, but whatever the reason, he never bed her down again.
CHAPTERS 39 & 40 COMMENTARY
We see in vs 6 Joseph has grown up a bit, and hardship has changed his bratty ways. We see in the following verses, he isn’t tattle tale anymore, as his master’s wife tries to bed him down and he not only refuses, but he keeps the matter secret. Then she gets rid of all the staff, Joseph comes in, and the they have the whole place to themselves, He still refuses her advances and lands in prison over the matter after he runs and she holds his garment which comes off as he flees. She uses it to frame him, and he is placed in prison. But even in prison, God is with him, and he prospers.
In chapter 40, we see Pharaoh has a hissy fit, and throws his butler and baker into prison where they have a dream in the same night.
The next morning, they meet Joseph. He interprets the butler’s dream and tells him in 3 days, he is going free and getting his job back. Joseph makes him promise to remember him in Pharaoh’s presence, but
that happy butler failed to keep his word. The baker gets his hopes up, and he ask that his dream be interpreted only to find in three days, he is going to die really badly.
In vs 20 of chapter 40, we see recorded one of the first birthday celebrations if not the first recorded in scripture, on the 3rd day, Pharaoh’ s birthday, he is having a big bash, and the butler is set free, and the baker, well too bad.
(CONTD NEXT POST)
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