Genesis 8 – Joseph Part 1 (Genesis 36-37)
Genesis 37:2 “This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks….”
1) This story is all about the Seed Project – the ancestry of Jesus
2) Joseph was not in the lineage of the Seed Project – no one knew this at the time; But Joseph became the reason the Seed Project survived.
3) For the promise to Abraham to be the Father of a Nation, there had to be more than just one person in the deal
4) Favoritism is at its highest right now – Joseph was loved by Jacob more than all the others
Romans 9:10-13 “…When [Isaac] he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, ‘Your older son will serve your younger son.’ 13 In the words of the Scriptures, ‘I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.’”
5) Joseph is a picture (typology) of Jesus Christ – John Lennox writes, “Moses (the author of Genesis) intended to present Joseph as an installment in the pattern of fraternal conflict in Genesis in anticipation of the one who would overcome that conflict.” In other words, Joseph was bringing great hope and future to a really messed up family.
Genesis 37:3-4 “Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him.”
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you…”
Psalm 139:1-18 “O LORD, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! 7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”
