Day 3: Genesis 28:20-Genesis 40:11 - 90 Day Challenge

Another Crazy Day in the Old Testament...

Have you ever heard of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? 

If not, you're about to. Let's get into this!

1. We pick up right back in chapter 28, where we see the first instance of tithing. Jacob vows to give one-tenth of everything God has given to him back to God. 
2. Jacob continues travelling and finds Laban's family, some of his relatives. He falls in love with Laban's daughter, Rachel, for her beauty and vows to work for Laban for seven years to marry her. After the seven years, Laban tricks Jacob and gives him Leah, his oldest daughter, for a wife. Jacob then has to work seven more years to marry Rachel--but it feels like just a few days, because his love for her is so great. 
3. God saw that Rachel was loved by Jacob, but Leah was not. So he makes Leah fertile and able to have children, but makes Rachel barren. 
4. Leah has four of Jacob's children, and Rachel becomes jealous, so she sends her maid to have children with Jacob. The maid, Bilhah, has two sons. Leah stopped having children so she sent her maid to have children with Jacob. Leah's maid, Zilpah, had two sons. Then Rachel offered Jacob to Leah for a night in return for some Mandrakes, and Leah became pregnant with a fifth and sixth son, and a daughter. Rachel finally became pregnant and had a son, Joseph. *TL;DR, the two sisters who were married to Jacob had a "Who can have the most babies" competition. 
5. Jacob continues working for Laban and raises a flock to take with him. He leaves Laban and flees back to the land of his father and brother (Isaac and Esau). Laban pursues Jacob as he tries to leave, but they make a vow to not harm one another, because God told Laban to not say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.
6. Jacob, his family, and his flock continue to head towards Esau, and sends a ton of the animals he brought with him ahead, as a gift for Esau. But Esau welcomes Jacob and his family back warmly 
7. Leah's daughter, named Dinah, was beautiful, and was violated by a man in the new town they were staying. Dinah's brothers were furious, and after telling the man he could only marry Dinah if he, and all the men in kingdom were circumcised, Dinah's brothers attacked the city while all the men were weak and in pain. 
8. Rachel became pregnant again, with a son named Benjamin, and died during childbirth. Later, Isaac died, and Esau, Jacob, and their sons buried him. 
9. Joseph, Rachel's oldest son, was loved by Jacob more than all his other sons. Jacob made Joseph a beautiful, colorful, robe--and Joseph had a dream that all of his family, and all the stars in the sky, would bow down to him one day. 
10. Joseph's brothers, who were jealous, sold Joseph to Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt, for some silver. They then covered his robe in goat's blood, so Jacob would think Joseph had been killed. 
11. Judah, one of Joseph's brothers, had several sons, all who were wicked. So the Lord put them to death. He then slept with his sister in law, thinking she was a prostitute, and she conceived twins. 
12. The wife of an Egyptian officer (Potiphar) whom Joseph was the assistant to, began throwing herself at him. But Joseph refused to betray Potiphar. So, Potiphar's wife accused Joseph of attempting to sleep with her, instead of it being the other way around. Potiphar put Joseph in prison, but God knew Joseph was innocent. So he made the prison warden look favorably upon Joseph, and put him in charge of the other prisoners. 
13. Whilst in prison, a cupbearer and a baker were put in the prison with Joseph. They looked for someone to interpret their dreams, and Joseph agreed to do so. 

Multiple wives. Sibling rivalries. Traitorous in-laws. Reunification of brothers. The death of a loved wife and a patriarch. Selling the favorite child. Accusations. Prisons. And at the end of it all, God's guidance, love, and mercy. 

Imagine, how it must have felt to be Leah--caught in an unequal marriage, or Jacob--betrayed, and taken advantage of by his in-laws, continually forced into slave labor, or Joseph--sold by his brothers into slavery, accused of rape, and imprisoned. 

But God provided for all of them. 

Leah had many children, Jacob made peace with his brother and found a home near his family, Joseph was still looked upon with favor by God (we haven't finished this story yet). 

See, even Judah--who did a horrible thing by selling his brother into slavery, who lost his children and wife, had children eventually, admittedly under strange and less-than-pure circumstances. 

God continues to provide for those who called upon His name.

Is there anything you'd like clarified? Any helpful articles you've found for reading the Bible? Any thoughts on the reading? Leave some in the comments!

Tomorrow, we will be reading Genesis 40:12-Genesis 50:26.

Have a blessed day!

Jillian Jafarace

Director of Youth Ministry

New Leaf UMC