Bible Reading Challenge Blog

Dear FPC family and friends,

It is hard to believe that we started our challenges back in January of 2016.  We made our way through the Gospels in our first 90 Days, then we embarked on a journey that would allow us to finish the New Testament, make baby steps in the Old Testament, and throw open the door to another 90 days that will begin on April 15.  In this 90 Day Challenge we will be reading through Exodus, Leviticus, Ezra and Nehemiah. 

            You can follow along on the daily blog that I keep at: http://www.straspres.org/90-day-challenge-2.  In this challenge you will find some of the greatest stories ever told.  We will follow along with Moses and the entire nation of Israel as they make their way out of Egypt and head toward the promised land.  We will slog our way through the Levitical laws which were given to the people of Israel in order to keep them a separate people and pure and undefiled in order to serve the Lord.  We will look at two of the minor prophets who saw the nation of Israel while it was under siege and in captivity in Babylon and then again as they make their gradual way back to the promised land.

            In these readings we will find ourselves in two very different time periods for the nation of Israel, and yet the theme remains the same: God is faithful.  Say that out loud if you would like to: God is faithful.  So often we identify ourselves with either nationalistic goals, or family aspirations, or work related dreams and forget that if we focus upon the purpose that God has in store for us, then we will be able to see His faithfulness and live fully into that faithfulness. 

            These readings will set the groundwork for pretty much all of what we have seen which drove Jesus in his traditions and his family to worship in the temple and to follow the Creator in the way in which they did.  From the holiest of days in the Jewish calendar (Passover) to the general understanding of what is kosher and what is not, these Scriptures provide for us a contextual background that is invaluable, while at the same time reinforcing the faithfulness of our Trinitarian God.

            I hope you are enriched by these readings while at the same time challenged by trying to understand how God is still at work in your life teaching you through these Scriptures which at first glance might seem bound to the time period in which they were written.  I pray that you are able to apply the teachings that you are about to read in a multiplicity of ways.  Enjoy these next 90 days.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Bob

Our challenge comes to an end, and the story of Joseph comes to end, but his name is mentioned again in Exodus 1 as a new king takes over who did not know Joseph.  But before that Pharaoh comes into place we find Joseph more Egyptian than Israelite.  He dies in Egypt and is buried in Egypt, probably in one of those big pyramid thingys, but he makes his brothers promise that when they leave Egypt that they will take his bones and bury them with the rest of his ancestors.  I don’t think we ever find out if that actually happens.  

The most interesting part of this chapter for me is how his brothers now seem to have a renewed sense of fear now that their father has passed away.  Maybe, just maybe, Joseph is going to think that because dad is gone I can finally get my vengeance against my brothers.  It is probably a similar thought that Jacob had when he was faced with the prospect of meeting his brother Esau.  Maybe Esau will look to harm me because of the wrong that I did to him.  But instead we see Esau cry on Jacob’s neck when they meet.

Joseph does something similar.  When his brothers approach him and make up a story about Jacob telling them to ensure that their brother Joseph would not harm them he breaks down.  They tell Joseph that their father commanded them to ask Joseph to forgive them.  Once again Joseph repeats to them what he told them in chapter 45 that “even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”  He is reminding them that God paved the way for Joseph to get to Egypt so that the entire people of Israel could be saved.  In fact, Joseph tells his brothers, that is exactly what has happened.  Because of their evil action God has been able to work a miracle.  No, don’t take that thought to its unfortunate conclusion, but in this case it works for Joseph as he tries to console his frightened brothers.

Well, we are done.  This challenge is over.  

On Ash Wednesday another challenge begins.  You will find it below.

#devicefreelent

Then Jacob blessed his sons with a suitable blessing.  Did you read some of these blessings?  Here is an excerpt from some of them: “You shall no longer excel…”, “May I never come into their council…”.  It seems like he begins his blessings for three of his children with curses, and then loosens up and blesses his other nine children with what we would call real blessings.  Joseph absolutely gets bombarded with a blessing that not many would be able to uphold.  But he has big shoulders, he is able to carry that blessing as he seems to have carried it already up to now.  It really does seem that upon the shoulders of Joseph does the nation of Israel, does the person of Jacob, place its trust.  

Jacob makes it clear where he is to be buried, because I am sure that there is a part of him that is afraid that he is going to be put in one of those gigantic pyramids instead of being buried with his whole family in a simple way near Bethlehem.  Okay, so I’m making some of that up, but I could see him being concerned for that, especially since he gives directives over and over again where he needs to be buried.  It was important for them that they be buried along with the rest of their ancestors.

For us it is not important where or how we are buried.  We believe that once we die then we are with Jesus and what remains has no eternal impact on us.  If we are cremated or buried across the sea, or even in the sea, if we are far away from our family, none of that matters.  We will all be with Jesus once we die.  

Here we find the blessing of the sons of Joseph by Jacob.  We read that Joseph hears that his father is ill so he goes too see him and brings his boys along too.  It seems like this is the first time that Jacob is in the presence of his grandsons through Joseph.  He tells Joseph that he didn’t expect to see him again, and now he not only sees him but his children  as well.  When he blesses Ephraim and Manasseh we find that he puts his right hand on the younger boy which signals a special favor and a special blessing.

Joseph tries to correct his father thinking that since he can’t see well he has mistaken the two, while in fact his father knew exactly what he was doing.  He says no Joseph, it is Ephraim, the younger, who will receive the same blessing as I received, the same blessing as my ancestors Isaac and Abraham received. Joseph should have expected that since Isaac was the younger, Jacob was  the younger, and he himself, Joseph, was the younger next to Benjamin.  And so we see that the progeny and the promise continues through more generations.  It seems to skip a generation from that of Jacob to that of the children of Joseph while none of the children of Jacob receive that same blessing.  Those blessings are coming up in the next chapter.

Pharaoh himself gets to meet the family of Joseph.  He meets 5 of the brothers and they answer exactly as he commended them to do.  They tell Pharaoh that they are shepherds and as a result the king of the land gives them Goshen and specifically the area known as Rameses.  Then Jacob/Israel comes and is presented before Pharaoh.  Twice this Scripture tells us that he blessed Pharaoh.  The king asks Jacob how old he is, a bit rude, but something that a king is able to ask.

We then get a historical account of how Egypt became so powerful.  Not only did they get all of the money from all of their neighbors because of their stockpile of food, but they also got all of their livestock, their land, and even the people themselves as slaves.  The people were grateful for their lives, even though they had nothing but their lives to show.  

It is interesting that the taxes that Egypt charged were 20% as opposed to that which we are supposed to give to the Lord which is 10%.  It was Joseph who set the tax rate and came up with that.  But you also find that the priests were protected and received a stipend from the state.  It was not long ago, and it may still happen, that the Lutheran Church in Germany received a stipend from the government, and maybe even today many of the salaries are supplemented by this amount.  This may have changed over the last 20 years, but I know it used to be that way.  Can you imagine if the US government had pastors on their payroll, or at least pastors just from a single denomination?  That would cause quite an outcry.

We end with the harbinger of Jacob’s death as he has Joseph promise that he will not bury him in Egypt, but rather back in Canaan in the promised land with all of his other ancestors, you know, all of those ancestors which we now know.  We don’t see him die yet but the promise is made not with handshake, but with a hand under the thigh…, now that is interesting.

Jacob makes the trip to Egypt and brings along with him all of his family and his livestock.  He is carried to Egypt in the chariots and wagons that were provided by the Egyptians.  The Egyptians knew how to make chariots and wagons.  It would be as if someone sent you a car to go to an event and it was the top of the line Mercedes, or Lamborghini, or whatever car that is a luxury car and known for its quality.  So Jacob and his family rode into Egypt in style.

I did find it interesting that Judah was sent ahead to Joseph to lead the way in vs.28.  If you go back to the story you will see in chapter 37:26 that it was the idea of Judah to sell Joseph into slavery so that they could get some money out of it.  It seems like he is consistently the one who is not doing his father’s will.  Maybe Jacob sent him ahead because he didn’t want him around much more.  I am sure that Joseph would have seen him first and remembered that he was the one who had sold him into slavery and it would have tested his resolve to have his family with him again.  We don’t read about that reunion, but we do read about the reunion of Joseph and his father.  

The last tidbit in this chapter is the insistence by Joseph that the brothers tell Pharaoh the truth that they were shepherds because shepherds were abhorrent to Egyptians.  This allowed the Israelites to have their own land, Goshen, and to be set apart from the rest of the population.  This would allow them to worship the God of Abraham in peace without people wondering what they were doing or demanding that they worship the gods of Egypt.  It was smart to live apart in that way.

The great reveal happens in this chapter.  Joseph has had enough of the intrigue and must let his brothers know that he is still alive.  He sends everyone out of the room and reveals himself to them.  They are dismayed.  They don’t believe it, and they hesitate to approach him. He has to tell them a second time that he is Joseph, the one that they sold into slavery, and it is only then that they are able to approach him.  Just imagine how traumatic this event is.  Can you think of what that experience must have been like?  I can’t.  To think that the brother that you have been filled with guilt about is actually alive.  

What happens next is also pretty incredible.  They weep on each other, at least Benjamin and Joseph do, and the brothers greet him.  I love vs.24 when Joseph sends them on their way and he tells them: Don’t quarrel along the way.  It was as if he knew that they would be arguing as to whose fault it was that they sold him into slavery in the first place.  Don’t argue, for it was God who set all of this up.  When they got home and told their father that Joseph was still alive he couldn’t believe it at first.  Then he says, I have to go to Egypt and see him before I die.

It is also interesting that Pharaoh tells Joseph to bring his family to Egypt and he will provide them with the best land and all the material possessions that they could ever want.  He tells them not to think about the possessions that they have, because they will have plenty as time goes on.  It is a great reunion, but one where we can easily see the hand of God at work to not only get the people of Israel fed, but also to move them to Egypt.  It is from Egypt  where they will become slaves and where the story of Moses will begin.  But we have to wait until Exodus for that.  

Judah here becomes a type of Christ with an unsolicited request that Joseph take his life as a slave instead of his youngest brother, Benjamin.  The twists of this story continue, with Joseph pulling all of the strings.  He loads up all his brothers with as much grain as they can carry and arranges a plot so that Benjamin would be found guilty of stealing.  This would force him then to become the slave of Joseph.  Joseph doesn’t want Benjamin as his slave.  Maybe, actually, unlike what I said before, maybe he just wanted to be reunited with his brother Benjamin and keeping him in Egypt was his end goal.  But now we have to wonder how is he going to react when he hears the pleading of Jacob.  I don’t think he expected this from him.  I’m guessing he expected Jacob and all the other brothers to allow Benjamin to stay behind, much like Simeon was forced to stay behind.  But now Judah intervenes on his behalf.  I’m not sure that Joseph expected this.

This is a bit of a strange feast, but one that will have significance in the chapters to come.  Jacob agrees to send Benjamin down, but only with the assurances of Judah.  Remember, it was Judah who was trying to get Joseph out of the pit to begin with.  So here Judah assures his father that he will serve as a guarantor for Benjamin.  If he does not bring him back then he would be willing to sacrifice himself and his entire family for the sake of Benjamin.  As a result Jacob allows it to happen with the phrase: If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.  Basically in 21st century speak he said: It is what it is.  I’m not a huge fan of that statement because it smacks of fatalism.

When they arrive Joseph arranges with his chief steward to have them over for dinner.  Before the dinner he sees Benjamin and is overcome with emotion and almost gives the whole plot away.  But he doesn’t, and he eats in a separate room and the Egyptians eat in a separate room, and the sons of Jacob eat in a separate room, because Egyptians would not be caught dead eating in the same room as the Hebrews.  Isn’t that backwards?  We always think that the Hebrews had all of these purity codes and rules and regulations, which they did, but here we see that it was the Egyptians who were not allowed to eat with Hebrews.  Maybe the rules that they pick up later are somehow parallel to those that they followed in Egypt?  But we end with the youngest, Benjamin, getting five times the amount of food that the other brothers received, and no one complained, in fact they celebrated.