It is Settled!

A series of lessons from the Bible

by Howell Lasseter

Jacob and Joseph

The answers to the questions at the close of the last article are: Joseph and Benjamin were the sons of Rachel; and Jesus was of the lineage of Judah.

A very sad event happened in the family of Jacob. We noticed last week, the division of love in the family of Isaac between the two sons, in that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. Trouble occurred in Jacob's family because he loved Joseph more than any of his other children (Genesis 37:3). What trouble this causes among families! And, Jacob's family was no exception. It is often stated that the father loves his daughters more than his sons and the mother loves her sons more than the daughters; this should not be. But, in our study today, at least 10 of Jacob's sons knew that Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved them.

Why did Jacob love Joseph more than the others? The last part of verse 3 of Genesis 37 tells us it was because Joseph was a son of Jacob's old age. Yet, Joseph was not his youngest son. We learned in last week's study that Jacob worked 7 years for Rachel, and it seemed but a few days. At the time he was to receive Rachel, his uncle, Laban, gave him Rachel's sister, Leah, instead. Although Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob a short time after Leah was given to him, Jacob had to work another 7 years in order to have Rachel for his wife (Genesis 29:15-30). To Leah were born 7 children, 6 sons and a daughter; to her handmaid whom she gave to Jacob for his wife, 2 sons were born. Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid, and she bore 2 sons; yet Rachel had not been able to have a child (Genesis 29:31-30:21). After this time, Rachel bore a son and named him Joseph (Genesis 30:22-24). This was Jacob's 11th son, born to the wife whom he loved most (Genesis 29:30). Later, Rachel bore to Jacob his 12th son and her 2nd. She died giving birth to this son. What was his name?_________________(Genesis 35:16-20).

To Joseph were given two dreams (Genesis 37:5-11). When he told the first dream to his brothers, their hatred of him, because of the love Jacob had for him, grew even more. A tragic event now takes place in Joseph's life at the hands of his own brothers. Had it not been for one brother, Reuben, he would have been killed by the other nine brothers. Joseph was sold as a slave. His father was misled by his sons into believing that Joseph, his beloved son, was dead (Genesis 37:12-36)