Bible Study Notes - Genesis Chapters 34-50: Judah and Joseph
How God rewarded Judah’s repentance, and used Joseph to remove Jacob’s family from Canaan
Jacob with Joseph's Coat by Brian Hatton at Hereford Museum and Art Gallery (W.Commons)
In the order they were born, Jacob’s twelve sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah (Leah’s sons), Dan and Naphtali (sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid), Gad and Asher (sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid), Issachar and Zebulun (Leah’s sons), Joseph and Benjamin (Rachel’s sons).
In last week’s post, I said that only one of Jacob’s daughters was named – Dinah, Leah’s daughter, who, from the way the verse is written, implies she may have been born after Issachar and Zebulun.
After Jacob and his family settled in Canaan, Dinah ‘went out to see the daughters of the land’ (34:1), probably curious as to how they lived.
But when the son of the prince of the city saw her, he desired her, took her against her will and raped her, after which he professed his love for her and told his father he wanted to marry her. (34:2-4)
Jacob and the prince of the city tried to settle the matter, but Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, furious at the treatment of their sister, deceived their father and the prince so they could exact their revenge (34:5-17).
And they did; they killed all the men in the city and ‘plundered the city… took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field… all their little ones and their wives they took captive…’ (35:25-29)
Then Reuben, by his own actions, erased his birthright when he ‘lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine’ (35:22).
The consequences of their actions would become apparent much later when Jacob spoke his last words to his sons.
The birth of Jacob’s twelfth son, Benjamin, sadly resulted in the death of Rachel (35:18-19).
The Death of Rachel after the Birth of Benjamin by Gustav Ferdinand Metz (W.Commons)
Of all his sons, Joseph was Jacob/Israel’s favourite: ‘… Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colours. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.’ (37:3-4)
Not surprisingly, Jacob’s obvious favouritism soured relations between Joseph and his brothers.
Also, the ‘tunic of many colours’ marked the owner as the future leader of the household as chosen by the father, an honour normally bestowed on the firstborn son.
To make matters worse between Joseph and his brothers, he dreamed a couple of prophetic dreams that clearly symbolised he would, one day, rule over his brothers; he was rebuked not only by his brothers, but by his father also.
One day, when Joseph was about 17 years old, after his brothers had left to feed their father’s flock, Israel sent Joseph to see if all was well with them.
He eventually found them in Dothan, situated close to the main trade route which merchants used on their way to Egypt.
When the brothers spied Joseph approaching them, they conspired to kill him.
But Reuben advised against it, suggesting they ‘cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness’ (37:22) for he planned to return later, alone, to rescue his younger brother.
So, they first removed his many-coloured tunic from him then cast him into the pit (37:23-24).
As they were eating, they noticed a group of merchants on their way to Egypt.
It is worth noting that Reuben wasn’t present at this time.
Judah suggested, instead of killing their brother, why not sell him to the merchants; that way Joseph’s blood wouldn’t be on their hands (37:26-27).
And that is what they did.
Sale of Joseph by Johann Friedrich Overbeck (W.Commons)
When Reuben returned, he was distraught that Joseph had been sold but, being the oldest, he knew he would be held responsible, so helped his brothers cover up what they’d done.
They dipped Joseph’s tunic in the blood of a goat and took it to their father who was, understandably, very upset; he believed a wild animal had killed his dear son, and he ‘mourned for his son many days… he refused to be comforted.’ (37:34-35)
Joseph's Coat by Horace Vernet at the Wallace Collection (W.Commons)
Chapter 38 breaks away from Joseph to focus on Judah who married a Canaanite woman and had three sons with her.
The wife he took for his oldest was a woman named Tamar, but ‘Judah’s firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord killed him.’ (38:7)
So, following the non-compulsory tradition of levirate marriages (from the Latin ‘levir’ meaning ‘husband’s brother’) which provided that the brother of a man who died childless was to marry the widow to provide an heir, Judah told his second son to marry Tamar to ‘raise up an heir to your brother.’ (38:8)
Knowing the heir would not be his, the second son had no qualms satisfying his sexual urges but then practiced the most ancient form of birth control, so as not to impregnate Tamar; this deliberate rejection of his duty ‘displeased the Lord; therefore He killed him also.’ (38:10)
Interestingly, we’re not told how they were killed.
Judah sent Tamar back to her father’s house until his youngest came of age (38:11), but he had no intention of letting his son marry her, worried that God might also judge his youngest as He had done the older two; like his father before him, Judah failed in his paternal responsibility and failed to protect his widowed daughter-in-law.
Sometime later, Judah’s wife died, and after the mourning period, he went to the area where Tamar still lived in her father’s house for some sheep-shearing activity.
Discovering Judah was there, Tamar decided to resort to subterfuge to provide an heir for herself.
Disguising herself as a prostitute and covering her face with a veil so Judah would not recognise her, she made sure to position herself where he would see her.
When he propositioned her, she asked him for a pledge, and he agreed to give her his signet and cord – the cylinder seal that prominent men in the ancient Near East wore on a cord around the neck, which they used to endorse contracts – and his staff.
Judah and Tamar - workshop of Jacopo Bassano (W.Commons)
About three months later, Judah was told, ‘“Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot… she is with child by harlotry.”’ (38:24)
Choosing to ignore the fact that he was guilty of the same thing, sex for money, ‘… Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned!”’ (38:25)
When she asked him to identify the signet, cord, and staff, Judah realised and admitted the wrong he had done.
Judah and Tamar (W.Commons)
To realise the significance of this sorry tale, we need to first remember what God had said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15, after the fall of Adam and Eve: ‘“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”’
Then, in Genesis 12:2, God tells Abraham, ‘“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great…”’
The line of those through whom the ‘great nation’ will come, which is also linked to the One who will ‘bruise’ or crush the head of the serpent, started with Abraham, passed through Isaac, then Jacob.
But Jacob has 12 sons, so who will carry on this line?
It can’t be Reuben, the firstborn, because of his sin of sleeping with his father’s concubine, neither can it be Jacob’s second and third sons, Simeon and Levi, because of the violent actions they took to avenge their sister, Dinah.
Then we have the fourth son, Judah, but he sold his brother to traders, failed to look out for his daughter-in-law, then called for her to be executed for doing the exact thing he had done.
But the big difference between Judah and his three older brothers is, he repented.
The union between Judah and Tamar resulted in twin brothers, Perez and Zerah; Perez was listed in Matthew 1:3 and Luke 3:33 in the Messianic genealogy, a wonderful example of God’s grace, in that He chose Judah and Tamar to be in the line of the Messiah.
But this story showed the dreadful effect Canaanite culture was having on Israel’s sons and their families.
It was through Joseph that God would fulfil His plan to take Israel and his family out of Canaan where they would be in a position to eventually, over many generations, grow into a significant nation.
Back to Joseph… despite being sold by his brothers, Joseph was far from abandoned.
He had been taken to Egypt where he was bought by Potiphar, ‘an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard… The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man… And his master saw that the Lord was with him… So Joseph found favour in his sight, and served him.’ (39:1-4)
However, being ‘handsome in form and appearance’, Joseph gained the unwanted attention of Potiphar’s wife, and when he refused to lie with her, she falsely accused him of trying to seduce her, so Potiphar, believing his wife, had Joseph thrown in prison. (39:7-20)
While in prison, Joseph interpreted the dreams of the pharaoh’s chief butler and chief baker, and when they were released, Joseph asked the butler to ‘“remember me when it is well with you… make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house…”’ (40:1-12) but the butler forgot about Joseph.
It was only when the pharaoh began to have troubling dreams that no one could interpret did the butler remember Joseph and he was sent for.
He correctly interpreted the pharaoh’s dreams, glorifying God as he did so, saying, ‘“It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”’ (41:1-16)
God guided Joseph to tell Pharaoh that all Egypt would have seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, and for Pharaoh to ‘“select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt… appoint officers over the land… to collect one-fifth of the produce… in the seven plentiful years… and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine…”’ (41:17-36)
Pharaoh proved himself to be a wise and discerning man, for he said to Joseph, ‘“Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you… all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”’ (41:39-40)
Joseph explains Pharaoh's dream by Adrien Guignet at Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen (W.Commons)
At this time, Joseph was 30 years old; a mere 13 years had passed since his brothers had sold him into slavery.
Now, he was second only to the pharaoh who gave him a wife, the daughter of a priest, and she gave Joseph two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh's Granaries by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Wikiart)
When the famine came, Egypt was the only place where supplies could be obtained thanks to Joseph’s preparations, so all those in the surrounding famine-stricken areas, including Canaan, came to Egypt to buy provisions, and Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain.
When the brothers came to Egypt, they were taken to Joseph who as ‘governor over the land… sold to all the people of the land.’ (42:6)
The last time his brothers had seen Joseph, he’d been a teenager, now he was a grown man, no doubt with a commanding demeanour, richly dressed in Egyptian robes; needless to say, they did not recognise him. (42:6)
Joseph, however, recognised his brothers, but did not reveal his actual identity. (42:7)
He decided to find out if his brothers had changed, if they harboured any regrets for selling him.
Using a succession of effective tactics which would culminate in their youngest brother, Benjamin, being declared Joseph’s slave, Joseph tested his brothers’ determination to save Benjamin, his only maternal brother. (42:8-44:17)
The brothers proved their devotion toward Benjamin, with Judah pleading with Joseph to take him as a slave instead of Benjamin, for if they returned to their father without him, their father would die, believing he’d lost his two beloved sons; this is another demonstration of Judah’s repentance for past actions. (44:18-34)
Having heard and seen enough, Joseph revealed his identity to his shocked brothers, telling them not to grieve for having sold him, ‘“for God sent me before you to preserve life… to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance… it was not you who sent me here, but God…”’ (45:1-8)
Joseph recognised by his brothers by Léon Pierre Urbain Bourgeois, at the Musée Minicipal Frédéric Blandin, Nevers (W.Commons)
He urged them to bring their father and all their families to live near to him in Egypt.
On their journey to Egypt, they stopped at Beersheba, and Jacob/Israel offered sacrifices to God who came to him in a vision in the night and said, ‘“I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there…”’ (46:1-3)
Chapter 49 lays out the consequences of the three older brothers’ actions in Jacob’s last words to his sons, the founders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
The seriousness of Reuben’s sin, lying with his father’s concubine, led to his tribe receiving little mention in Israelite history; they failed to produce any person of note, judge, prophet, or military leader, yet Moses would pray for this tribe not to die out.
The cruel actions of Simeon and Levi resulted in Simeon’s tribe becoming the smallest, and it would later share territory with Judah, while Levi was scattered throughout Israel but, through God’s grace and their loyalty to God, became the priestly tribe; however, neither would possess their own allocated area of land.
As for Judah, fourth in line, to his tribe belonged national prominence and kingship; it was his line that produced David and Solomon, and their dynasty, and, ultimately, the Messiah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.