Outline: Genesis
Highlights of this 50 chapter book
What I Learned from Genesis is also available as a resource, as is my recap after 30 days of chronological reading.
six days of creation
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:2).
day 1: “Let there be light,” light separated from darkness
day 2: expanse of heaven separated from expanse of earth, only day without a declaration of “good”
day 3: dry land, vegetation
day 4: sun, moon, stars
day 5: living creatures in the waters and sky
day 6: living creatures on earth, including man; all creation declared “very good”
first mention of the Spirit of God is in Genesis 1:3.
first reference to triune God: Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness (Genesis 1:26)
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).
In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created (Genesis 5:1b-2)
Adam named “Woman” and “Eve” (Genesis 2:23, Genesis 3:20)
“whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name” (Genesis 2:19b)
God’s first commandment to man, after He blessed them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
only plants, not meat, were initially for food (Genesis 1:30).
first commandment with a consequence (first covenant?): “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16).
made before Eve fashioned from Adam’s rib
establishment of marriage:
It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him (Genesis 2:18)
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
establishment of Sabbath rest
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:3)
temptation and Fall (first sin, resulting in first death); curses and banishment from the Garden of Eden
serpent initiates interaction with Eve, asking, “has God said?” (Genesis 3:1)
Eve does not correctly recount what God said: “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die” (Genesis 3:2)
serpent lies and disparages God
Eve sees “the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6)
Adam and Eve, who now know they are naked and have covered themselves with plants, hide from God: “the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9)
first blame-shifting: “The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’” “And the woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” (Genesis 3:12, 13)
curses:
on serpent: seed of woman will bruise him on head while serpent bruises him on the heel (Genesis 3:14-15a)
on woman: painful childbirth (Genesis 3:15b-16)
on man: toil/work, “to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:17-19)
first death
garments of skin made to clothe Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21)
Adam and Eve banished from Eden so that they would not eat from the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24)—but we see the tree of life again in Revelation 2:7, 22:2, 22:14, and 22:19
Cain conceived after Fall and banishment from Eden (Genesis 4:1)
Cain kills Abel
Cain made offering to God from fruit of ground, but Abel gave first fruits of His flocks and the fat portion (Genesis 5:3-4)
God had no regard for Cain’s offering, so He became angry; despite God’s warning to master his sin, Cain kills Abel (Genesis 5:5-7)
demonstration of mercy despite punishment: Cain cursed by God, wanderer, no longer able to cultivate the earth, but protected from being murdered (Genesis 5:5-7)
first polygamy: Cain’s descendant Lamech has two wives (Genesis 5:23)
Adam and Eve have Seth, from whom Noah is eventually descended
Enosh born to Seth and “men began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 5:26)
within the generations of Adam’s descendants:
Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him (Genesis 5:24)
oldest, Methuselah, lived 969 years
father of Lamech, father of Noah
Corruption of man
mysterious: “sons of God” and daughters of men married and had children (Genesis 6:14)
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3).
“sons of God” is used in Job: “there was a day when the ‘sons of God’ came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1:6; Job 2:1 is quite similar)
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually….But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD….Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 6:5-8, 9b-10)
God makes covenant with Noah to save him, via an ark He directs him to build, when He destroys all flesh in which there was the breath of life with a flood (Genesis 6:13-22)
Noah was obedient: “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22)
Flood
“Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time” (Genesis 7:1)
Noah enters with his wife, three sons and their wives, and two of every animal and seven pairs of every bird; the Lord closed the door to the ark (Genesis 7:16b)
after 7 days it started to rain; it rained for 40 days and 40 nights; water was on the earth for 150 days; the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat; after 40 days, Noah sent out a raven that did not return and then a dove that did; after 7 days, he sent out the dove again and she returned with an olive leaf; after another 7 days the dove was sent out and did not return; God told him to go out from the ark with his family and animals (Genesis 7-8:19)
first altar/first sacrifice, by Noah, of every clean animal and bird (Genesis 8:20)
God’s directive to Noah and His sons reflective of His directive to Adam and Eve: “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1)
God establishes every moving thing that is alive as food, in addition to plants, with limitations on eating and shedding blood
“You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood” (Genesis 9:4)
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6)
God’s covenant not to again destroy all flesh with flood, with rainbow as its sign (Genesis 8:21b-22, 9:8-17)
curse of Canaan, son of Ham, for Ham sinning against Noah (Genesis 9:20-27)
records of generations of Shem, Ham and Japeth
from Japeth, the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands (Genesis 10:5a)
Magog was a son of Japheth (Genesis 10:2) and Tarshish was also a descendant (Genesis 10:4), important for end times’ prophecy
Ham was father of Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan (Genesis 10:6-20)
Cush became the father of Nimrod…The beginning of his kingdom was Babel…in the land of Shinar. From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh (modern day Iraq)
Mizraim became the father of…Casluhim (from which came the Philistines)
Canaan became the father of Sidon, Heth, the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite
Shem was the father of Aram (Genesis 10:22); Abraham’s brother Nahor and his son Laban were Arameans (Damascus, modern day Syria), who later became enemies of Israel
tower of Babel (languages, dispersal of men) (Genesis 11:1-9)
descendants of Cush, son of Ham (more consequences of Ham’s sin against Noah?)
recounting of descendants of Shem from Noah to Terah, father of Abram and grandfather of Lot (Genesis 11:27-32)
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran
Haran became the father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah. Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans [Assyrians living in Babylonia]
Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves.
Abram’s wife was Sarai…Sarai was barren; she had no child
the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran
Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan [the implication is that Nahor and his wife Milcah and Iscah stayed behind, but we learn later they are in Haran when Jacob flees from Esau there]; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there…and Terah died in Haran
Book of Job occurs chronologically here (What I Learned)
Abram (age 75) and Sarai and Lot travel to Canaan at God’s command
“Go forth from your country…To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation….And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3)
God promises the land of Canaan to Abram and his descendants
at first site, Shechem, where Abram builds an altar (Genesis 12:6-7)
second site is Bethel, where he again builds an altar and calls on the name of the Lord (Genesis 12:8)
sojourn in Egypt because of famine (no indication this was directed by God); Abram lies about Sarai being his wife, so God punishes Pharaoh who took her into his home; Pharoah enriches Abram and sends them away (Genesis 12:10-20)
Abram returns to Canaan, to Bethel, where he had built an altar, and again calls on the name of the Lord (Genesis 13:3-4)
Abram and Lot separate because of their many flocks, with Lot choosing the Jordan River Valley and settling in Sodom, where the men are wicked (Genesis 13:5-13)
God again promises the land to Abram and his descendants, who will be uncountable, forever (Genesis 13:14-17)
Abram settles in Hebron, a third site, and builds a third altar to the Lord (Genesis 13:18)
he’s living by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, who is an ally [the Amorites later become enemies of Israel]
Lot, his family, and possessions are taken in the war of the four kings, with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, who had ruled for 12 years, against five kings who then rebelled, including the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah; Abram and his men rescue Lot and all the people and possessions; the rescued king of Sodom and the four kings with him meet Abram, and Melchezidek king of Salem, priest of God Most High brings out bread and wine, and blesses Abram, and Abram gives him a tenth of the spoil (Genesis 14:1-20)
God promises Abram his son will be his heir and his descendants will be as numerous as the stars, and then “he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6)
God warns Abram that his descendants will be enslaved for 400 years in a different land but then come out to the land He has promised them with many possessions: “in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:13-16)
“On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land’” (Genesis 15:18-21)
Sarai gives her maid Hagar to Abram, when he is 86, and Hagar bears Ishmael
an angel of the Lord tells Hagar, “His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers” (Genesis 16:12)
when Abram is 99, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s name to Sarah, and promises Isaac will be born to Sarah the following year
“I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.
I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly” (Genesis 17:1)
God establishes the covenant of circumcision for Abraham and his descendants to occur on the eighth day of life (Genesis 17:9-14), and Abraham (and all his household) is circumcised at 99 (Ishmael is 13)
God visits Abraham in the form of three men (we learn in Genesis 19:1 that two are angels) to confirm a son will be born to Sarah the next year
“Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year” (Genesis 17:19-21)
God also reveals His plan to Abraham for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33)
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; birth of Moab and Ammon to Lot’s daughters by their trickery of him (Genesis 19:30-38)
second story of Abraham lying that Sarah is his wife and Abraham getting increased riches when this time the Abimelech, king of Gerar of the Philistines, realizes the truth and compensates him after being punished by God for taking her into his household (Genesis 20)
“Abraham said, ‘Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, “This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother’”’” (Genesis 20:11-13).
God kept Abimelech from sinning: “I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live” (Genesis 20:6b-7a).
Isaac is born, when Abraham is 100 and Sarah is 90, and he is circumcised on the eighth day (Genesis 21:1-8)
Ishmael and Hagar are driven out of the household, but God promises to make a great nation of Ishmael; Hagar takes a wife for Ishmael from Egypt (Genesis 21:9-21)
Abraham makes a covenant with the Philistines not to harm them (Genesis 21:22-34)
Abraham is tested by God and asked to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain of Moriah, but is spared from having to do so when he proves he is willing
“Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12)
God provides a ram instead for a burnt offering: “Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of the LORD it will be provided’” (Genesis 22:14) [David eventually sacrifices at this location and Solomon’s temple is built here, beautifully foreshadowing the provision of Jesus as the sufficient sacrifice once and for all]
Abraham, and all posterity, is rewarded for his obedience:
“By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” (Genesis 22:16-18)
Sarah dies at age 127 (when Isaac is 37)
“Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it, were deeded over to Abraham for a burial site by the sons of Heth” (Genesis 23:19-20)
When he is 40, Isaac marries Rebekah, the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor, and daughter of Bethuel (their mother was Lot’s sister Milcah) from Mesopotamia
Abraham instructs his servant, “you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Genesis 24:3b-4)
The servant asks for a sign to reveal Isaac’s intended wife, and after he meets Rebekha, reports to her father Bethuel and brother Laban, “I bowed low and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. So now if you are going to deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, let me know, that I may turn to the right hand or the left.”
“Then Laban and Bethuel replied, ‘The matter comes from the LORD; so we cannot speak to you bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken” (Genesis 24:48-51).
Abraham marries Keturah and has 6 more sons, including Midian
“Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east” (Genesis 25:5-6)
Abraham dies at age 175 (38 years after Sarah), and his sons Ishmael and Isaac bury him where Sarah is buried (Genesis 25:7-10)
Ishmael has twelve sons before he dies at age 137
“twelve princes according to their tribes….They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt as one goes toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives” (Genesis 25:16b-18)
Isaac and Rebekah have Esau and Jacob after 20 years of infertility
“Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived” (Genesis 25:21)
Esau sells his birthright to Isaac for a bowl of lentil stew
“Thus Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34b)
Isaac moves because of famine, but God appears to him, telling him not to go to Egypt, but reassuring him His covenant with Abraham would also be with him, for Abraham’s sake
“and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws” (Genesis 26:4b-5).
Isaac repeats the lie to the king of Gerar (the Philistines) about his own wife (that she was his sister) that his father told twice (once to Pharaoh and once to the same king of Gerar)
Upon his return from Gerar to Beersheba, God appears to him again:
“I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham” (Genesis 26:24)
Isaac makes another covenant, similar to the one Abraham made, with the Philistines not to harm them (Genesis 26:26-33)
At Rebekah’s suggestion, Jacob deceives Isaac and receives Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27:1-40)
Esau resolves to murder Jacob after Isaac dies, so Rebekah tells him to flee to her brother Laban, Bethuel’s son and Abraham’s brother Nahor’s grandson, and gains Isaac’s support by her complaints about Esau’s wives
“Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother” (Genesis 28:1-2)
As Jacob travels to Haran, God appears to him at Bethel
“I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:13-15)
Jacob’s response is conditional:
“If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You” (Genesis 28:20-22).
Jacob works for Rebekah’s brother Laban for seven years in order to marry Rachel. Laban deceives him into marrying Leah, but then allows him to marry Rachel also one week later, for which he must work another seven years (Genesis 29:15-30).
Leah has four sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah) while Rachel has none
“the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren” (Genesis 28:31).
frustrated and barren Rachel gives her maid Bilhah to Jacob and she has Dan and Naphtali
Leah, who has stopped bearing, retaliates by giving her maid Zilpah to Jacob and she has Gad and Asher
Leah negotiates with Rachel for time with Jacob and finally has Issachar and Zebulun (and daughter Dinah)
Rachel finally has Joseph
“Then God remembered Rachel, and God gave heed to her and opened her womb” (Genesis 30:22).
Jacob bargains with Laban for speckled and spotted lambs and goats in order to continue working for him; Jacob prospers and Laban and his sons become envious
“Jacob saw the attitude of Laban, and behold, it was not friendly toward him as formerly” (Genesis 31:2).
God tells Jacob to return to his father’s country (Genesis 31:3)
“Lift up now your eyes and see that all the male goats which are mating are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now arise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth” (Genesis 31:12-13).
Jacob leaves with his family and possessions without telling Laban; Laban pursues but God tells Laban not to harm Jacob
“God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him, ‘Be careful that you do not speak to Jacob either good or bad’” (Genesis 31:24).
Jacob testifies to Laban, “If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered judgment last night” (Genesis 31:42).
Jacob and Laban make a covenant and depart in peace
“Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between you and me. This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass by this heap to you for harm, and you will not pass by this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us” (Genesis 31:51-53).
Jacob prepares to meet his brother Esau, expecting him to be as angry with him as when he left, by dividing his family and possessions into two companies and sending on herds of animals as a present
He reminds God of His promises: “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,’ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered’” (Genesis 32:9-12)
Jacob wrestles with God, who dislocates his hip and renames him Israel[which means God prevails]
“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28)
“to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip” (Genesis 32:32).
Jacob and Esau meet and depart in peace
“‘What do you mean by all this company which I have met?’ And he said, ‘To find favor in the sight of my lord.’ But Esau said, ‘I have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.’ Jacob said, ‘No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably. Please take my gift which has been brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me and because I have plenty.’ Thus he urged him and he took it (Genesis 33:8-11)
Jacob comes to Canaan and settles in Shechem
“Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and camped before the city. He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. Then he erected there an altar” (Genesis 33:18-20).
Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, rapes Jacob’s daughter Dinah but then proposes marriage and the intermarrying of their tribes; Jacob’s sons answer in deceit, saying they will agree if all of the men of Shechem are circumcised; when they are in pain, they kill all the males and loot the city
“Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite” (Genesis 34:30a).
God tells Jacob to leave Shechem go to Bethel and He appears to him again there, reminding him of His promise to him and Isaac and Abraham
“‘Your name is Jacob; You shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.’ Thus He called him Israel. God also said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; Be fruitful and multiply; A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, And kings shall come forth from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you’” (Genesis 35:9-12).
“Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak” (Genesis 35:8)
Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Bethlehem (Genesis 35:16-21)
“Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it” (Genesis 35:22b)
Jacob returns to his father at Hebron; Isaac dies, and Jacob and Esau bury him (Genesis 35:27-29)
generations of Esau (Edom), include Amalek (Genesis 36)
Joseph’s brothers sell him to Midianites who sell him to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s captain of the bodyguard, in Egypt
“His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him” (Genesis 37:4a)
Joseph had two dreams that implied his brothers would bow down to him, so they hated him even more (Genesis 37:5-11)
When his brothers conspired to kills him, Reuben said, “‘Let us not take his life….Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him’—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father” (Genesis 37:21-22)
“a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’…Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt….the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard” (Genesis 37:25-36).
Judah has three sons with a Canaanite woman; the first marries Tamar and dies, the second dies because he does not fulfill his duty to Tamar, and Judah fails to keep his word regarding the third fulfilling his duty to her, so Tamar tricks Judah, conceives, and gives birth to twins by him (Genesis 38)
When Judah figures out her deception, he observed, “She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah” (Genesis 38:26).
The Lord is with Joseph so he is placed in charge of Potiphar’s house
“Now his master saw that the LORD was with him and how the LORD caused all that he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal servant; and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he owned he put in his charge” (Genesis 39:3-4).
Potiphar’s wife falsely accuses him after he repeatedly refuses to have sex with her so he gets thrown in prison (Genesis 39:7-20)
The Lord is with Joseph in prison, giving him favor
“The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper” (Genesis 39:23).
While in prison, Joseph correctly interprets two dreams. He asks the chief cupbearer, whose release his dream predicted, to remember him to Pharaoh
“Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him” (Genesis 39:23).
two years later, when Pharaoh needs two dreams interpreted, the cupbearer remembers Joseph and Joseph correctly interprets Pharaoh’s two dreams
“God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land. So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe. Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about” (Genesis 41:25-32).
Joseph recommends storing reserves in anticipation of famine, and Pharaoh places Joseph, who is 30, over all Egypt
“Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are” (Genesis 41:39)
Pharaoh “gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as his wife” (Genesis 41:45)
“before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph,” Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:50-52)
When the famine came, “The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth” (Genesis 41:57).
When “Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt,” he told his sons to “go down there and buy some for us from that place.” The “ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin” (Genesis 42:1-4).
“Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground…..Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him. Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them” (Genesis 42:5-9)
Joseph enacts a plot for his brothers to return with Benjamin:
Joseph accuses them of being spies, puts them in prison for three days, and then says, “Do this and live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die” (Genesis 42:18-19).
The brothers said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us” (Genesis 42:21).
Simeon remains imprisoned in Egypt and the rest of his brother’s return to their father Jacob in Canaan, who refuses to let them take Benjamin to Eygpt
“You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me” (Genesis 42:36).
Reuben, who had tried to prevent his brothers’ initial plot against Joseph, “spoke to his father, saying, ‘You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you”” (Genesis 42:37).
Jacob refuses to let his sons take Benjamin to Egypt until the grain they had bought on their first trip there was gone.
“Judah said to his father Israel, ‘Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever “(Genesis 43:8-9).
Jacob finally agrees:
“Take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; and may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved” (Genesis 43:13-14).
Joseph’s plot continues. He does not reveal himself to them until he observes their behavior and is assured of his brothers’ care and concern for their father and Benjamin (Genesis 43:16- Genesis 44).
“I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life….God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:4-8).
Joseph sends his brothers back to Canaan to return with their father Israel and all their families to live in Egypt
God appears to Israel before he departs Canaan for Egypt:
“Israel set out with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, ‘Jacob, Jacob.’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will close your eyes’” (Genesis 46:1-4).
Israel and all of his descendants, 70 persons in all, settle in Egypt, in the best of land, working as shepherds
“every shepherd is loathsome to the Egyptians” enabled them to live set apart (Genesis 46:34)
Joseph acquires money, livestock, and land for Pharaoh in exchange for food in the midst of the famine; the people are given seed to work the land but they must give Pharaoh one-fifth of the produce (Genesis 47:13-26)
“When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place” (Genesis 47:29-30).
Before he dies, Israel blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, giving Joseph one more portion than his brothers
“your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are” (Genesis 48:5).
Jacob intentionally gives Ephraim the blessing of the firstborn, even though he isn’t the oldest, displeasing Joseph: “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations” (Genesis 48:19).
Israel pronounces his blessing on each of his sons, saying what will happen to them in the future (Genesis 49:1-28), finally pronouncing:
“I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.”
Israel dies and is embalmed for 40 days in Egypt before “all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household” go up to land of Canaan to bury him (Genesis 50:7)
Joseph’s brothers are worried after their father dies: “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!”but he reassured them: “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones” (Genesis 50:15-21).
Before he dies, Joseph tells his brothers, “God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and you shall carry my bones up from here” (Genesis 50:24).
“Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt” (Genesis 50:25).
Thank you! I’m just getting started reading this, but I’m looking forward to referring back to it often. Please never delete your substack! This is such a blessing to have access to, and it is greatly appreciated. All glory to God.