Reading today from Genesis chapters 35 to 37 we see a revival in the life of Jacob. You might wander what I mean by ‘revival” but after abdicating his leadership role in the Dinah debacle he takes three steps to made his turn around.
Chapter 35
First, he gets rid of all the foreign gods in his servants have. The same holds true for us we need to rid ourselves of anything standing between us and God. Second, they purify themselves, this is the removing of sin in their lives and thirdly, they change their clothes. This simply means they reoriented their lives.
Jacob goes off the Bethel but during his trip he fears his enemies but God again delivers him by placing a terror from God around the cities. Jacob has stepped up to be the leader God has called him to be.
God again appears to Jacob and again reiterates His blessing upon Jacob. Rachel gives birth to a second son who Jacob names Benjamin but she dies. She is buried and Rueben went in and slept with the concubine of Jacob her name is Bilhah. As a result of this action Rueben will no longer inherit the covenant, sin will find us out.
Isaac dies and reunion between Esau and Jacob takes place at his burial.
Chapter 36
The narrative shifts with chapter 26 as the genealogy of Esau is laid out before us.
Chapter 37
Jacob’s family dysfunction continues into the next generation because of the reason of favoritism. Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons and even made him a special coat of various colors.
Joseph, being young and unwise has two dreams and tells his jealous brothers of the dreams who become angry after the first and more angry after the second. Should Joseph have been wiser in relating these to his brothers? God had given Joseph these dreams as a prophecy and they would come to pass.
As a result of the dreams and the brothers’ feeling they were secondary and especially jealous of Joseph devise a plan to get rid of Joseph, it can be read in verses 12 – 24. Sometimes God has to strip us of what we love most before He can work things out in our lives.
He is now sold for twenty pieces of silver going from living like royalty to a slave so to speak. Be sure to read the account of the plot to kill Joseph if you have not.
Just as it seems God was absent from Jacob and Joseph He is about to do something amazing (as He does). What seemed like a family disaster is about to change. God’s whole plan was to bring the family to Egypt to avoid the famine. God was in the picture of setting the destiny of Joseph even when it seemed He was out of the picture.
Asbury United Methodist Church 