The Sin of Violence (Gen. 37:12-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12-23-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  Sin of Violence

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 37:12-18

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.13  Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." And he said to him, "I will go." 14  Then he said to him, "Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.  15  A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, "What are you looking for?" 16  He said, "I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock." 17  Then the man said, "They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18 When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.

 

            Dr. Wiersbe brings up some interesting questions when he asks why were the sons of Jacob pasturing their flocks and herds in Shechem when there had been a lot of trouble there and it was about 50 miles from Hebron.  Another question is why did Jacob send Joseph when he knew that his brothers did not like him?

 

            The first question will be difficult at best to answer.  The second question can be answered by saying that it was in the providential will of God that Joseph go to Egypt.  God does not cause people to sin, yet God will use their sinful actions to bring about His will, and that seems to be the case here.  It seems that all of the brothers of Joseph hated him, and not only hated him but were jealous of him, and therefore wanted harm to come to him, so when they saw him coming toward them, because of their sinful thoughts about him the began to act out what they had been thinking about.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Sin seems to always begin in the mind and that is why it is important to keep your mind clear of sin or else it will be acted out in life.  Jesus said that hatred of a person was like murder and this was the case with Joseph’s brothers, all the needed was the opportunity to bring their thoughts into reality they were ready to do it. Steve Green sings a song called “Guard Your Hearts,” and this what I need to do at all times.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Guard my heart and keep short lists with God.

Hatred, Envy, Malice, and Jealously (Gen. 37:5-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12-22-2007

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Hatred, Envy, Malice, and Jealously

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                      Reference:  Genesis 37:5-11

 

            Message of the verses:   5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6  He said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have had; 7  for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf."8 Then his brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, "Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

 

            It probably was because this family situation was so bad that it caused Joseph’s brothers to hate him even more after he told him the two dreams that he had.  When you look at the problems in this family and then look at the sovereign will of God, and also the grace and mercy of God then it can be better understood how things worked out the way that God was planning them to work out, for it surely was not because these people were so wonderfully committed to God’s plan.

 

            It can be seen in the Scriptures, mostly OT Scripture, that God used dreams to communicate His will and plans to those He chose to give them to, and if this family would have been in tuned with the Lord they would not have done the things that they did, but would have listened to Joseph in a better way when he told them about his dreams. 

 

            Some of the sins that took place in this chapter are listed in the focus part of the SD.  Envy causes inward pain when we see others succeeded, while malice causes inward happiness when we see others fail. Titus 3:3 says that these two sins usually work together, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.”  I would have to say at this point that contentment that is contentment that God teaches His children is the remedy to these sins of envy and malice, for only when a believer has contentment can he actually rejoice with a person who has success and grieve with a person who is going through hard times.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I will have to admit that I have sinned in both of these ways in the past, yet I did not realize the names of these sins until reading this section in Dr. Wiersbe’s book, and I am very thankful to have read them so that I can be more intelligent in confessing these sins if they happen to arrive again in my life, which I pray will not happen.  Now I can be free to ask God to continue to teach me contentment so that I will not sin the sins of envy and malice, or even jealously. 

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  I want to ask the Lord to search my heart to see if there is any malice or envy in my life so that I can confess it to the Lord.

Hatred (Gen. 37:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12-21-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                                         Focus:  Hatred

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                        Reference:  Genesis 37:3-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.”

 

            Jacob is again making a mistake that had been made by his parents and a mistake that he has already made in his own family, and that is making a favorite in his family, which is what he had done with Rachel before and now with having Joseph as his favorite son.  Dr. Wiersbe writes that the coat of many colors could have meant that Joseph was the one who would be his heir, and this was all the more reason for his brothers to hate him.  It is possible that Jacob could have reasoned that because he had not intended to marry Leah any way and Joseph was the oldest of his favorite son Rachel, so why not make him the heir.

 

            Verse four tells that because Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons that his other sons hated Joseph, and hatred is a sin that can actually produce other sins in a persons life.  Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.”  1John 2:9, “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.”  1John 3:15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is sometimes a very hard thing to not have favorites, especially in a family setting.  I suppose that I have been accused of it in my family.  When I look at Scripture it is hard to image to me that God does not have favorites, but I am not sure that this is the case.  God is sovereign and cannot make the mistakes that man makes.

            Hatred is something that I pray I will never have accept to hate sin, but never hate sinners.  The Bible speaks of God hating Esau and like I said before God is sovereign and cannot do anything wrong.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  Having patience with my wife as she is surely going through some very difficult times. 

Joseph (Gen. 37:1-2)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR Thursday, December 20, 2007

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus: Joseph

 

Bible Reading & Mediation                                                     Reference:  Genesis 37:1-2

 

            Message of the verses:  “1.  Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan.  2.  These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.”

 

            Genesis 37 starts a new section in the book of Genesis, and it moves from Isaac to Jacob even though Jacob was mentioned a lot in the story of his father Isaac.  But Isaac was now dead and the story moves to Jacob, but Joseph is actually the one who is mentioned more in this section than Jacob.

 

            As I look at the story of Jacob and Joseph it shows that there were a lot of problems that were going on in this family.  Jacob came from a family where his mother loved him more than his brother and his father love his brother more than him, and so that problem comes with Jacob.  Jacob actually has four wives now and thirteen children from those four wives and this presents a great problem.  Jacob shows more love for Joseph than the other brothers who by this time are much older than Joseph, and this too causes a lot of problems.  Joseph’s brothers actually hated him as stated in the text, and partly because he had come to this father and told him about something that his brothers were doing that was not right and was probably something against their father.

 

            The Bible does not call Joseph a “Type” of Christ, but there are some similar things in the life of Joseph with the life of Christ.  They were loved  by their Father and hated by their brethren.  They did their Father’s will, sold as a slave, unjustly accused of a crime and were ascended to a high position.  They were both sold for silver too.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  God is a covenant keeping God who always keeps His promises even though in the case of Jacob’s family there was sin, as is the case in my life too, yet Romans 5:20b states:  “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”  This does not give me or anyone else a license to sin, but because I am a saved sinner who still has a sin nature, a selfish nature I still sin, yet God does have a plan for my life, and that plan for my life is part of God’s plan and He will give me the grace to do the things He has for me to do.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue to believe that God does certainly have a plan for my life and to be obedient to the cause of Christ each day of my life even when things are not going well in my life, and things have not gone well in my life for most of 2007, yet I am sure that God has a great purpose for all of the events that are going on.

Jacob's Children (Gen. 35:23-29)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12-17-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                         Focus:  Jacob’s Children

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 35:23-29

 

           

            Message of the verses:  23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; 24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin; 25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; 26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram.  27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.  28 Now the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.  29 Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, an old man of ripe age; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

 

In verses 23-26 the names of Jacob’s children are listed by their mothers.  I believe that Leah was Jacob’s true wife in that he had married her first, even though he was tricked into marring her.  As you look at the family of Jacob you can see that there was much trouble because of having more than one wife.

 

The sons of Leah had the most prominent offspring in them for through Judah came the kingly line of David and eventually the Lord Jesus Christ was born through the line of David.  The priestly line came through Levi.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I look at this genealogy of Jacob and think about how God did use those whom were the son’s of Leah, I think that the reason that God used them was because this was the correct way of doing thing and I too need to strive to do things the right way in my walk with the Lord.

 

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  It has been a very long time since I have done my SD, and I believe that it shows in my walk with the Lord, so I need to make the commitment to continue to do these much, much more frequently.

Ruben's Sin (Gen. 35:21-22)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05-02-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Ruben’s Sin

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                  Reference:  Genesis 35:21-22

 

            Message of the verses:  “21 Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.  22  It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob.”

 

            As I read the commentary on this from Dr. Wiersbe’s book I came away with somewhat mixed feelings as to whether or not what he had written was how this all played out.  He writes that Ruben may have been trying to take over the leadership of the family by sleeping with one of his family’s wives, and gives references to other places in the OT where this actually happened.  I suppose that if the Lord would have wanted us to know what the background of this was it would have been included in the story.  I tend to go a different way by thinking that probably Jacob was not meeting all of the sexual needs of his wives and after the death of Rachel was not wanting to be with any of his wives, and so it may have been Bilhah who suggested this to Reuben, or it could have been because Reuben was so young and there were not any girls around his age that he started this relationship.  At any rate this was a very sinful act and is even prohibited in the Law, and even though Jacob did not seem to act upon this at this time he did remember it and acted upon it when he was about to die by not allowing Reuben to inherit what the first born would normally inherit.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  How ever this sinful act began it was Reuben who was the one who sinned against his father, but first of all sinned against the Lord by sleeping with Bilhah.  Sexual sin is a sin that is hard to control and it takes a lot of discipline and trust in the Lord to keep one from it, especially in the mind, and yet it is possible because it is commanded by the Lord to do so, and what He commands He will enable us to win the battle.

 

The Word of God has been both convicting and challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord in the circumstances that we find ourselves in at this time, to continue to seek the Lord to guide us and direct our path each day, and continue to seek the Lord to teach contentment to me as He did for Paul.

 

Memory verses for the week:  2Chronicles 14:11 (NLT)  “  Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God, "O LORD, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O LORD, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!"

Jacob shows his love for Rachel (Gen. 35:20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 05-01-2007

 

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  Jacob shows his love for Rachel

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                         Reference:  Genesis 35:20

 

            Message of the verse:  “20 Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.”

 

            Rachel was buried somewhere between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, which was near where she had died giving birth to Jacob’s last son.  As one reads the Bible they sometimes seem to skip over things because they do not know that there is a greater meaning to them, and that is one of the things that I love so much about studying the Scriptures, and reading other commentaries that help me to understand these meanings.  In the case of Rachel’s grave and her death near the place where Jesus would be born there is greater meaning, as can be seen by the names given to Jacob’s last son.  The two names given, as mentioned in the last SD, can give a great meaning of the ministries of Christ, man of sorrow and Son of my right hand, as the Lord now sets at the right hand of God the Father.  After the birth of Jesus King Herod killed all of the baby boys two years old and younger, and this where we read about Rachel’s crying in Matthews Gospel.  If Jesus had not been born in Bethlehem, then it would have been best known for the grave of Rachel, which makes one think of sorrow, while the birth of Jesus the town of Bethlehem is known for the birth of the Savior, which brings joy to the hearts of all who have accepted Him as their Lord and Savior.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I’ve seen in this lesson that God does indeed make all things work together for our good and for His glory.

 

The Word of God has been challenging to my heart as I read and studied it this morning.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  To continue to trust the Lord to work out things for our good and for His glory in the possible illness of Sandy.  I am very thankful to the Lord for seeing her through the procedure she went through yesterday.

 

Memory verse for the week:  2 Chronicles 14:11 (NLT) Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You."