Genesis 38:24-30 - She is more righteous than I

38:24-26

However, things could not be let go. Tamar was pregnant, and the father was Judah, though he did not know that at the time. Initially it was naturally assumed that Tamar had been immoral. Indeed, she had been, but so had Judah, even more so. Tamar then sent the pledge items to her father-in-law Judah. On receipt of the pledge items Judah knows what has happened. At this point he responds in the proper way, acknowledging his own guilt, and declaring that Tamar is more righteous than him. He also admits that he should have given Shelah to her as a husband.

38:27-30

Tamar gave birth to twins, and there seems to have been something of a tussle. The twins are Perez and Zerah, and Perez will feature in Israel’s history. So in all this we see men and women carrying on in their sinful ways, but through it all, despite it all, the Lord’s plan progresses.

John 9:4,5 - I am the light of the world

9:4

By having the wrong focus the disciples would miss out on what God was doing, and what they should be doing. We need to learn to see things as God sees them. They were to do “the works of Him who sent me”. Note the “we” and the “me”. Jesus is teaching His disciples, and preparing them for the work they would do in the future. We are here to do the works that God has prepared for us to do (Eph 2:10). While we have the chance to do God’s work we must do so. “Night is coming”. There are times when it is impossible to do God’s work, because evil is so prevalent. So while it is possible to do God’s work we must not allow ourselves to be distracted.

9:5

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”. Jesus was with them, He was the light of the world, so now was the time for doing God’s work. What about now, when Jesus is not in the world? In Matt 15:14 Jesus says we are the light of the world. Of course, ultimately it is Jesus who is the light of the world. We are the light of the world in the sense that we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that He works in us and through us. 

Judah 38:15-23 - What pledge shall I give you?

38:15-19

Judah sees Tamar, but she has covered her face and he assumes she is a prostitute. It has to be said that men of the time are not very good at recognising women! It was probably a much more segregated society. There is a lot of sexual immorality these days when we have much more general mixing of the sexes. However, we see that in those days there seems to have been just as much. Judah then wants to spend some time with the “prostitute”! The payment for “services” she takes is a goat, but she also takes something as a pledge. Judah thinks this is so payment is guaranteed, but Tamar wants some means of proving to Judah who he had slept with. Judah seems to think nothing of sleeping with a prostitute, and Tamar seems to think nothing of sleeping with her father in order to become pregnant, which is her aim.

38:20-23

Rather than taking the goat directly, Judah got his friend Hireh to take it. It seems likely that this friendship was not leading Judah in a good direction. On his mission Hireh asks for the “cult prostitute”. Prostitution and idol worship went very closely together. So Hireh returns to Judah announcing that he has failed in his task. Judah thinks he has done his best to pay what he owed and just to let it be.

John 9:1-3 - A man blind from birth

9:1,2

Jesus and His disciples passed by a man who had been born blind. The disciples ask whether this was due to his own sin or that of his parents. The disciples were basing their thinking on some of the strictest rabbinical teaching that saw all suffering as a direct result of sin. It was also believed that a baby could sin in the womb! Otherwise if the man had been born blind he hadn’t had the chance to sin yet.

9:3

Jesus tells His disciples that the man’s blindness had nothing to do with the man, nor his parents sinning. Ultimately all sickness is the result of sin, in the sense that it is part of living in a fallen world. It is true that some sickness, or other physical conditions, are a direct result of sin. Either being a direct consequence of the sin itself (e.g. drinking heavily will lead to liver disease), or a result of God’s judgement on that sin. However, it is not true that all suffering is a direct result of sin. So the disciples were looking in the wrong place for understanding what God was doing. The man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Genesis 38:3-14 - What he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord

38:3-10

So Judah married the Canaanite Shua, and she bore him three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Er was the first born and Judah found a wife for him, Tamar. It is safe to assume that she was a Canaanite. Er was wicked and the Lord put him to death. We are not given any details of his sins, nor of how he died. In order to maintain the family line from the firstborn, Onan was instructed to marry Tamar. Later this would be part of the Law (Deut 25:5), but it seems to have been an established practice long before that. However, Onan would be concerned about his own family line. So it seems he enjoyed having sex with Tamar, but made sure no children resulted from it. This was considered wicked by the Lord and he too died.

38:11-14

Judah’s plan for Tamar was that she remain as a widow in her father’s house until Shelah was able to be her husband. Judah was afraid that Shelah would die like his brothers. Now we don’t know if Judah knew why Er and Onan had died. Anyway, Tamar followed Judah’s instructions. Judah’s wife died. After the time of mourning Judah went to stay with his friend Hirah in Timnah. Tamar thinks that Judah has forgotten her as he has not given Shelah to her as a husband. So she goes up to Timnah as well, aiming to meet Judah.

John 8:56-59 - Before Abraham was , I am

8:56,57

Jesus now turns the screw even tighter. “Abraham rejoiced to see my day”. As it says in 1 Peter 1:10-12 the prophets looked forward to the day of Christ. But Jesus adds even more, “He saw it and was glad”, “it” being “my day”. It is not clear what precisely Jesus means by that. It could be that the “day of the Lord”, which is frequently referred to in the prophets, has now become “my day”, the day of Jesus. There are some more mystical interpretations as well. However, it is clear what the religious leaders thought. They took it as meaning that Abraham had seen Jesus, and they regarded this as impossible as Jesus was “not yet fifty years old”, i.e. it was physically impossible for Abraham to have seen Jesus. As an aside, the “not yet fifty” does not imply that Jesus was 49! It is just a rounded number. 

8:58,59

Yet again, Jesus corrects their thinking by making an even more audacious claim. “Before Abraham was, I am”. This is introduced by “Truly, truly”, so it is certainly a claim that is meant to be taken most seriously. It is generally believed that the “I am” statements refer back not to Exodus 3:14, but to Isaiah 40 to 55. Either way, it does not lessen the magnitude of the statement that Jesus is making. Jesus is eternal. This statement drew the expected reaction from the religious leaders. They picked up stones to throw at Him, but He hid himself and escaped. 

Genesis 38:1,2 - Judah went down from his brothers

38:1,2

This is one the most sordid chapters in the Bible, with prostitution and incest, among other things. It marks a break in the tale of Joseph, but its importance is in establishing the human genealogy of Jesus. Perez features there in Matt 1:3. Judah, who was to become the prime tribe in Israel, is separated from his brothers for some reason. We are not told why, but he goes off to live among the Canaanites. We should note that Hebrew writings do not only convey messages in “thou shalt not ...” form, but also by narrative. We have already seen, and will do so again, that having more than one wife never works out well. Likewise, living among the Canaanites leads to people living like the Canaanites, which was never a godly way. Judah takes a Canaanite wife, something else that never ended well. In the Law such a thing would be explicitly forbidden, but we have seen that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob counselled against it.

John 8:52-55 - It is my Father who glorifies me

8:52,53

The religious leaders now think they have got Jesus, and are more convinced than ever that He has a demon. They have taken Jesus’ words about never tasting death as meaning they will not physically die. They point out that Abraham died, as did all the prophets. Jesus, of course, did not mean this. We will die, but we will be raised again on the last day. There are possible implications for what the experience of physical death will actually be like. It is not wise to speculate over much, but we should not fear death, and the experience of death will be different for those who are in Christ compared to those who are not. Death has lost its sting. 

They then ask Jesus if He is greater than Abraham and the prophets. The truth is that He is infinitely greater than Abraham and the Prophets, for everything was created through Christ. “Who do you make yourself out to be?” The problem was not who Jesus knew Himself to be, but that the religious leaders refused to see who He was.

8:54.55

Rather than answer their question directly, Jesus goes back to the matter that He does not glorify Himself, but it is the Father who glorifies Him. The Father is the one whom the religious leaders claimed as their God, yet they knew nothing of the Father. They did not know God. Jesus did know the Father. Then we get the reason that Jesus would not back down on His claims. If Jesus did back down He would then be a liar, for He does know Him and does keep His word. As mentioned earlier, it is the same with the gospel. We must boldly proclaim the power of the gospel and must not back down, whatever the criticism. If we do back down then we are liars.

Genesis 37:31-36 - The Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar

37:31-36

Presumably the other brothers explained to Reuben what they had done. They then come up with a plan, dipping Joseph’s coat in goat’s blood. They presented this to Jacob, pretending that Joseph had been attacked and killed by a wild animal. So the path of deception continues. Jacob was greatly saddened and mourned for several days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, his sons, of course, knowing the real truth. His father declared that he would go to the grave mourning. His reaction was understandable, on the evidence he had available his assessment of the situation made perfect sense. Yet we know he was completely wrong. We should always beware of leaning on our own understanding, even when it seems to be the only possible explanation. Joseph was taken off to Egypt and sold as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.

John 8:50,51 - I do not seek my own glory

8:50

Jesus made audacious claims, yet He was not seeking His own glory. “There is One who seeks it”. Jesus did not seek His own glory. As Paul says in Philippians 2:6 Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Yet He knew that the Father would exalt Him (Phil 2:9). Moreover, God is the judge. God’s “opinion” is of more value than that of the religious leaders! 

8:51

It was very much in the people’s interest for people to keep Jesus’ word. For whoever keeps His word will not see death. Likewise with the gospel. We must not water it down. It is in no one’s interest to “believe” a water down gospel, it is very much in a person’s interest to believe the full gospel. We are fools if we back down from the full gospel. As Paul says in Rom 1:16 we would not be ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation.

Genesis 37:25-30 - They sold him for twenty shekels of silver

37:25-27

The brothers sat around having a meal. They are utterly unconcerned about Joseph and what they have done to him. Sin hardens the heart. They saw a “caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead”, they were on their way to Egypt. “Ishmaelites” is a term that was used in a very broad way, referring to various people groups. Later we find them referred to as Midianites. It seems that although they had not killed Joseph yet, they had not completely given up on the idea. However, Judah speaks up and suggests selling Joseph instead of killing them. Then they “get rid of the problem” and make some money. He also says “let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother”. Oh, such compassion!

37:28-30

So they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver, and Joseph was taken to Egypt. Apparently Reuben was not around at that point and when he came back he discovered that Joseph was gone. As an aside, if we had just read up to verse 28 we would not have had any idea that Reuben was not there at the time, this is just a warning against reading too much into parts of the Bible, or making unwarranted assumptions. “Where shall I go”. As the eldest brother, Reuben knew that he would carry the greatest blame, and would have the job of explaining to his father.

John 8:48,49 - I honour my Father

8:48

Having got nowhere, the religious leaders turn to insults. This is a common tactic employed by someone who is losing a debate. So Jesus is accused of being a Samaritan and having a demon. It has been explained before why the Jews treated the Samaritans with contempt. They also accused Him of having a demon. In the synoptic gospels we find several instances of Jesus being accused of being demonic.

8:49

Naturally, Jesus denies having a demon! He pays no attention to the Samaritan accusation. Any research into His birth and upbringing would have shown the Samaritan accusation to be without foundation. But He does not simply deny the demon accusation, rather He states that He honours His Father, and that His accusers dishonour Him. It was not Jesus who had the problem, but the religious leaders. It was not Jesus who was deluded about who He was and His standing with God, it was the religious leaders who were deluded. We see in the confrontations in John’s gospel that Jesus made absolutely audacious claims and would not back down at all. The claims were audacious because the truth was audacious, He is the Son of God. To have backed down would have been blasphemous. Likewise, we need to realise the full truth of the gospel, to expect the backlash, and to continue to hold to and to proclaim the truth of the gospel.

Genesis 37:19-24 - Here comes that dreamer!

37:19,20

“Here comes the dreamer” sums up their attitude towards Joseph. So they decide to kill him and throw him into a pit. This is their way of dealing with the situation. Either they were doing it out of pure hatred, or seeking to ensure that Joseph never did rule over them. They also had a story to tell their father why Joseph was no more. As usual, one sin always requires a series of other sins. 

37:21-24

Reuben was the eldest brother, so he would have prime responsibility for what happened, and he wasn’t happy about killing Joseph. However, his concern only went so far. So instead of killing him they would only throw him into a pit. This was not actually going to do much good. Reuben seemed to hope that Joseph would be rescued and could then return to their father. However, this was an extremely dodgy plan as he may just as likely have died a slow death in the pit. Anyway, they stripped Joseph of his famous coat and threw him into the waterless pit.

John 8:44-47 - You are of your father the devil

8:44

Jesus then makes His “child of the devil” claims even more explicit, and explains why it is the case. They demonstrated that they were children of the devil by their actions. Their characteristics reflected those of Satan, not those of God. The consistent teaching of the Bible is that we should reflect the character of God. There were two very specific ways in which they reflected the characteristics of Satan, murder and lying. Satan deceived Adam and Eve so that they would die, and Cain reflected this aspect of Satan when he murdered his brother Abel. Now the religious leaders were plotting to kill Jesus. They were doing the devil’s work. Satan lied to Eve, and has continued to do so ever since. He is the father of lies. At the trial of Jesus we see that the religious leaders put up stooges to bear false witness.

8:45

The rational thing to do is to believe someone who speaks the truth, but Jesus telling the truth was the very reason that the religious leaders did not believe Him. They did not like what they heard, so they rejected what they heard. 

8:46,47

Jesus then challenges them to convict Him of sin. They could not do this, so the implication was that He spoke the truth. Therefore they should have believed Him. So Jesus is getting them to focus on the key issue. They were reacting out of pride and self-preservation (as they saw it, in fact their stubbornness would bring about their destruction). Jesus is trying to get them to look at things in a rational manner. Has Jesus sinned? As the answer is no, they should listen to Him. If someone is of God, then they will listen to Jesus. The fact that they would not listen to Jesus demonstrated that they were not of God. This was a damning indictment of the religious leaders. And we see yet again that Jesus is the capstone, the one on whom everything else stands or falls.

Genesis 37:12-18 - They plotted to kill him

37:12-14

We now see the effects of Joseph’s boasting, and the evil reaction of his brothers. Joseph was responsible for his boastful attitude, but his brothers were responsible for their reaction to it. People may treat us badly, but we are responsible for how we react. We should also note that while we see the outworkings of man’s sin, we also see that through it all God was working out His plan. Indeed, earlier He had told Abraham that the move to Egypt and the enslavement would take place (Gen 15:13). This foreshadowed the ultimate outworking of evil and the outworking of God’s plans for salvation at Calvary.

Jacob doesn’t seem to have that strong a grasp on what is happening, what his sons are up to, and send Joseph to find out. This does not seem to be the wisest of decisions? Yet it was all part of God’s plan.

37:15-18

Joseph seems to be a little lost, and a man comes to his aid. For some reason the man seems to know where the brothers had gone to, heading towards Dothan. The journey he had to make was about 20 miles.

When the brothers see Joseph from afar they are not best pleased and conspired to kill him. There is a parallel with Jesus here. Joseph was destined to be their “king”, but the brothers did not want him to rule over them, so they conspired to kill him. The Jews did not want Jesus to be their king, so they too conspired to kill Him, and succeeded. In both cases, despite the evil of man, the will of God prevailed, and salvation came.

John 8:42,43 - You cannot bear to hear my word

8:42

Jesus, as always, does not back down. If God was truly their father then they would love Jesus, they would be delighted to see Him, and would welcome His words. Why? Because Jesus is the Son of God, He came from the Father, and came according to the Father’s will. So if someone loves the Father they will love the Son, and vice versa. The Father and the Son are inseparable.

8:43

“You cannot bear to hear my word”. This was Jesus’ explanation of why the religious leaders could not, or would not, understand what He was saying. Sin blinds us (2 Cor 4:4). So why would the religious leaders not be able to bear what Jesus said? They thought that they were righteous, and were better than the common people. They thought they had positions of privilege, and deserved to have those positions. The message of Jesus, the gospel, told them that they were not righteous, and they had no right to any positions of privilege. 

Genesis 37:5-11 - Joseph had a dream

37:5-8

Many divine revelations came through dreams. Now this does not mean every or most dreams are divine revelation, most are nothing of the sort, but God can and does sometimes use dreams to communicate. Joseph had a dream which was a divine revelation, and he told it to his brothers. Unsurprisingly the dream increased his brothers’ resentment all the more, for in the dream all the brothers bowed down to Joseph. Now as the eleventh born, not the first born, Joseph had no natural right to expect to rule over his brothers.

37:9-11

Just to make matters worse, Joseph had another dream, and this dream was even more antagonistic! For in this dream it was not just his brothers that bowed down to him, but his mother and father bowed down to him as well! So Jacob rebuked him as well. His actual mother, Rachel, was dead by this point, so “mother” probably refers to Leah. His brothers were even more jealous, but while Jacob was a little angry, he also kept these things in mind, not dismissing it completely. 

Now we know that the dream did come true, but we also knew that there was much hard work to be done in Joseph’s life and character. Just receiving the word from God is only the start of the process, it almost always means that God will be doing much work on our character as well.

John 8:40,41 - Now you seek to kill me

8:40

Instead of believing God, the religious leaders were planning to kill Jesus. Jesus had told them the truth, and it was the truth He had heard from God. Someone might say “how would they know it was the truth from God”. Reason cannot get you everywhere, you have to start from some basic assumptions, and a most basic assumption is that Jesus is the Son of God and speaks the truth. Faith is the beginning of reason. Notice that making reason fundamental puts man at the centre. This will never work. In what Jesus says He puts God at the centre. If we belong to God, if He draws us then we will believe.

8:41

Jesus then goes further in expounding on the sorry state the religious leaders were in. They demonstrated that the devil was their father by what they did. Again not surprisingly they objected, saying they were not illegitimate children. They were proud of their religious heritage. God was their Father, or so they claimed. Some wishy-washy Christians speak of all of us being children of God. This is unbiblical nonsense. 

Genesis 37:1-4 - Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other brothers

37:1,2

The focus now shifts primarily to Joseph, though Jacob always remains in the picture. Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, where he was supposed to be. In many ways Jacob was not such a pleasant person, and Joseph is in some ways not much better! He was the first of two sons that Jacob had with Rachel, Benjamin being the other, and these two were his favourites. Joseph was a bit of a snitch, although given the record of the other brothers, he may well have been justified.

37:3,4

“Israel loved Joseph more ..” It is interesting that the name changes from Jacob to Israel.  Joseph was Israel’s favourite, and this would cause trouble. It says here that this is because he was the son of his old age, but the fact that his mother was Rachel must surely have been significant as well. All the other sons, apart from Benjamin, were born of liaisons that were more or less forced on Jacob. They were not of his choosing. Jacob made the famous robe of many colours for Joseph. This made Jacob’s favouritism all the more obvious, and nurtured the other brothers' hatred for Joseph.

John 8:38,39 - Abraham is our father

8:38

Soon Jesus will tell them that their father is the devil, here He is preparing the ground for that accusation. Jesus spoke what He had learnt from His Father (God), He tells the religious leaders they were doing what they had heard from their father (the devil). A key question for all of us is “who are we listening to”. We need to ensure that it is Jesus we are listening to. Now the religious leaders were reading the Scriptures, they were not overtly worshipping the devil! But they were listening to their flesh, they were listening to the selfish ambition and to the fear.  If we do that then we are actually listening to the devil.

8:39

They didn’t take too kindly to being called children of the devil! So they insisted again that Abraham was their father. Jesus responds by saying that if they actually were Abraham’s children then they would do what Abraham did. I.e. they would listen to the word of God and obey His word. Abraham did this first of all in leaving Ur of the Chaldeans. Then when God told him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky he believed God. Most of all, when God told him to sacrifice his son Isaac Abraham set off to do so. It is worth noting that faith and works go together.

Genesis 36:1-43 - All about Edom

36:1-43

I will deal with this chapter in a single post seeing as it is largely a list of various peoples, seeking to draw out some general lessons. The purpose of the chapter is to establish the place of Edom in Biblical history. Edom was the nation that descended from Esau, and was to be a thorn in the side of Israel for many years. Edom frequently sought to take advantage of Israel, sometimes joining in attacks on her by other nations. Because of this Edom is frequently the target of the prophets in the Bible.

Esau had taken wives from the Canaanites. From earlier chapters we know that Abraham was determined that Isaac should not take a Canaanite wife, and Isaac gave the same instruction to Jacob (Gen 28:1). Out of his bitterness Esau decided to live among the Canaanites. Now see the difference between Abraham and Esau. Abraham lived in the land of Canaanites but was not to adopt their customs (which was the whole point of the prohibition on intermarriage, it was not a racial thing). Esau, on the other hand, did intermarry with them, learning their ways, and then left the land. In a modern context, as the church we are to live in the world, and will one day rule over the world, but we must not take on the ways of the world.

The chapter shows us that Esau, and therefore Edom, occupied the land of Seir, and it became known as Edom.

Why do we get all these names of people? It seems that we don’t really gain much, if anything, by knowing all these names. One thing it does show is that God knows all about the other nations, not just about Israel. All mankind is known to the Lord.

John 8:35-37 - If the Son sets you free

8:35,36

We do not like facing up to the reality of sin in our own lives, but actually it is good news. “A slave does not remain in the house forever”. Whatever you are enslaved to will not last forever, for one day you will die. One day it will cast you out into darkness. But the freedom the Son brings is forever.

Therefore if the Son sets us free, we are free indeed. It is not a freedom that we can lose. Notice also the emphasis on the Son. Jesus is the source and the giver of freedom.

8:37

Jesus then points out the hypocrisy of the Jews. They claim to be Abraham’s offspring, yet they are seeking to kill Jesus. By the way, this would imply that it is the religious leaders that Jesus is addressing. Jesus knew that physically they were Abraham’s offspring, but spiritually they were of the devil. They were seeking to kill Jesus because they did not accept His word. People today still react against the word of God. “Cancel culture” is a symptom of this. 

Genesis 35:22-29 - Isaac breathed his last

35:22-26

Being where they were meant to be does not mean that sin cannot occur. We may be where God wants us to be, doing what God wants us to do, but we still need to be on our guard against sin. So Reuben sleeps with his father’s concubine. As well as the immorality of the act itself, this was also an affront to Jacob, challenging his position as head of the household. We then get a list of the twelve sons of Jacob. Note that the text switches between Israel and Jacob in referring to Jacob/Israel. For the Bible as a whole “Israel” almost always refers to the nation, and Jacob is used to refer to the individual, Jacob. So when God told Jacob that he would be called Israel maybe what He was saying is that Jacob would be more than an individual, but a whole nation would come from him.

35:27-29

Jacob then comes to his father Isaac. Isaac was 180 years old, and he now dies. Mamre has been mentioned in Gen 13:18 and 23:2. Isaac was “gathered to his people”.This phrase “gathered to his people” may indicate that they at least had an inkling that death was not the end, though it could be that that is reading too much into it. Esau and Jacob together bury their father. We are told nothing else about the meeting of the two.

John 8:33,34 - Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin

8:33

The people react angrily to Jesus telling them they would be free indeed. Why the reaction? If someone does not realise that they have a problem and someone else tells them that they do have a problem, then it is human nature to react with anger. Jesus’ words imply that they were enslaved, and so needed to be set free. They react that they are Abraham’s offspring and had never been enslaved to anyone. Now if we take this at a superficial level it is manifest nonsense. The Jews had been enslaved by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Romans. However, it probably meant to be taken on a spiritual level. They think that because they descend from Abraham and have the Law they have the truth and do not need anything.

8:34

Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin”. This is just as relevant today as it was then. Social justice warriors need to recognise that our enslavement to sin is the biggest problem, not any form of social injustice. This does not mean that social justice is of no importance, but we need to recognise the root of the problem. In 1917 the Tsarist regime in Russia was overthrown. The Tsarist regime was evil and despotic, but what took its place was far worse. Even if we are oppressed the sin within is a far greater oppressor than any outward one. If we sin we become slaves to sin. 

Genesis 35:12-21 - Jacob set up a pillar

35:12-15

The land given to Abraham and Isaac was only given as a promise, the promise now applies to Jacob. There is a thread working through the whole of Scripture of a single plan. “God then went up from Jacob”. Jacob set up a pillar there to mark the fact that God had spoken to him. The times when God speaks are to be noted, and are to be the basis for our lives. We are to live by the word of God, and above all else this is to be found in the Bible. Jacob named the place Bethel.

35:16-21

They then left Bethel. Rachel was pregnant again, at what must have been quite an age as the earlier sons were quite grown up now. She went into labour, but this was a very difficult labour. She gave birth to a son, but Rachel died after the birth. Rachel named the child Ben-oni, which means “son of my strength”, or “son of my sorrow”. However, Jacob named him Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand”. Jacob would have a special affection for Benjamin. Rachel was buried at Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. So Rachel was buried, and Jacob continued on his way.

John 8:31,32 - If you abide in my word

8:31

We were told in 8:30 that “many believed in Him”. However, in John’s gospel saying someone believed actually means very little! Jesus now clarifies the matter, testing if they really believe. In fact the issue seems to be discipleship rather than belief. John’s gospel was written later than the others (at least according to most scholars) and maybe “belief” had acquired some of the rather nebulous concept that it has today. So John is stressing the seriousness of belief, and what truly believing means. So Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples”. Jesus was not interested in a mere intellectual assent, nor a mere emotional response. True faith involves actions.

8:32

This demand for discipleship, holding to Jesus’ teaching, is not given as a test of authenticity. It is given for our benefit. For we will only know the truth when we do as Jesus says, and only then will the truth set us free. A truth unacted upon does not benefit us much. This is also why it is foolishness to seek to water down the gospel! The gospel is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:17). A watered down gospel is about as effective as a homeopathic cure.

Genesis 35:9-11 - I am God Almighty

35:9,10

God now appears again to Jacob “and blessed him”. To be blessed does not simply mean receiving lots of good things from God. Rather it means to be involved in God’s plans, and we see here that God confirms to Jacob that he is indeed still crucially involved in God’s plans. Some of the things that God said to him are similarly to what was said during Jacob’s wrestling with God (Gen 32:28). This starts with the name change to Israel.

35:11

“I am God Almighty”. This is the basis for the promises, and the reason why we can have confidence in the promises. If God was not God Almighty then it would be up to us to decide if we believed Him or not, and if we chose to follow Him or not. But God is God Almighty, so we have no option but to believe and follow. “Be fruitful and multiply”, this is a repeat of the original mandate in Gen 1:28. We need to appreciate that God’s dealing with Israel, and then with all people through Christ, are geared towards fulfilling the original plan. God had earlier promised to Abraham (Gen 17:6) that kings would come from him. We see that God’s plans are not frustrated by the sins and failings of men. This does not mean that our sins and failings do not matter, they most certainly do, but they do not thwart God’s plans.

John 8:26-30 - I have much to say about you

8:26,27

Jesus had much more to say, and He had much more to say about the religious leaders. So often we act as if we are to make a judgement about Jesus. We do not judge Jesus, He judges us! It is vital that we get the order right. Note that Jesus also said “[I have] much to judge”. The words that Jesus speaks are the words of God, He declares what He has heard from the Father, but the people did not understand that He was talking about the Father.

8:28

“When you have lifted up ...” Now what does this mean? If we take it as referring to the cross then that fits with verse like John 3:14,15. However, it doesn’t make sense with “then you will know ...”, for after the cross the religious leaders, on the whole, did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. Maybe it is better to take it as an individual needs to lift Jesus up, needs to give Him the highest place, rather than thinking Jesus is subject to their judgement. When we give Him the rightful place we begin to see the truth.

8:29,30

In going to the cross Jesus was showing above all else that He does what the Father commands Him to do. He acts on God’s authority, not His own. It, especially together with the resurrection, would show that the Father was with Him. Jesus lived to please the Father. In the face of opposition, doubt and questioning Jesus had a deep assurance. He knew who He was, and who had sent Him. 

Genesis 35:5-8 - The terror from God fell upon the cities

35:5

The effect of God’s blessing does not just have a direct effect on His people, it also has an effect on others. So here we read that a terror from God fell on the cities around them, so that they did not pursue “the sons of Jacob”. Notice that Jacob’s sons are increasing in prominence. God can make people afraid of us. Now sometimes God’s path for us will involve us in suffering, as many Christians around the world experience. We need to realise that God is in control at all times, He can cause people not to attack us if He chooses, at other times we will suffer because of Christ. Both are in God’s hands. 

35:6-8

Bethel had been called Luz (Gen 28:18). Jacob built an altar there and called the place “El-bethel”, meaning “God of Bethel”. As we have noted on several occasions, the gods of the nations were often associated with a particular locality, or an aspect of life (e.g. fertility gods). “God of Bethel” here does not indicate that Jacob saw the Lord in a similar way, as v7 makes clear. It is the fact that God had appeared to him there that was the key point. Jacob had experienced God’s protection and blessing wherever he went. Rebekah’s nurse, Deborah, gets mentioned, which seems rather out of the blue, but we see that she was honoured and deeply missed. It is not just the “important” people who count.

John 8:24,25 - You will die in your sins

8:24

“I told you that you would die in your sins”. Jesus was never afraid to tell people that sin was their biggest problem. One of the greatest failings of the church today is a fear or reluctance to tell people that they are sinners. Of course, this can be done in the wrong way, in a self-righteous way, but not telling people that sin is our biggest problem is not loving, is not honouring Christ. Jesus came to save people from their sins. “Unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins”. The people thought the Messiah would save them from the Romans. The true purpose of the Messiah is to save us from our sins. So the religious leaders (along with everyone else) needed to believe in the Messiah, and if they did so then they would be saved from their sins.

8:25

“Who are you?” This seems a pretty dumb quesiton, it should have been fairly obvious by now that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He was the Messiah, He has made this fairly plain. However, people can read the Bible, read the gospels, and completely fail to see who Jesus really is. We need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes.

Genesis 35:1-4 - Arise, go up to Bethel

35:1

Jacob had the mistaken settling at Shechem, and all that followed on from that. Now God gets him back on the right track, going to Bethel and to dwell there. Earlier Jacob had built a pillar there (Gen 28:18), now he is told to build an altar. This altar is in remembrance of the time God appeared to him when he fled from Esau. God had been with him, and had protected him. It is so crucial to understanding the story, and the Bible as a whole, not to mention life as a whole, that God’s blessing is based on God’s grace. None of the “heroes” in the Bible deserved it, and the accounts we find in the Bible make that abundantly clear. And none of us deserve it. Yet God still blesses.

35:2-4

God’s blessing does not come without consequences or implications, and Jacob is aware of that, even though the Law has not been given at this point. So Jacob sets about purifying his own household. All foreign gods were to be done away with. It seems that there had been mixture in the camp. The changing of garments may have had some connection with idol worship. Likewise, ear rings were associated with idol worship, it is nor clear whether the people or the idols wore them. “To the God who answers me in the day of my distress”. Jacob had experienced this on several occasions, and it is a fundamental point of a right relationship with God that He does answer us when we are in distress.

John 8:21-23 - I am from above

8:21

“I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin.” What did Jesus mean by this? They, the religious leaders, would not be looking for Jesus! What He meant, according to Carson, is that they would still be looking for the Messiah. The Jews wanted a Messiah, but when the Messiah came they rejected Him, they did not recognise Him. So they would die in their sin. Another part of the problem was that they did not realise that the problem they needed saving from was their own sin. This is something we all need to be aware of. We don’t like to focus on our own sinfulness, it is much easier to blame some other group of people. Until they faced up to the reality of their own sin they could not go where Jesus was going.

8:22,23

“So the Jews said ...” Carson thinks “Jews” here refers to the crowd, but I personally see no reason to think that John is departing from his usual practice of “the Jews” referring to the religious leaders. Whatever the case, they had no idea what Jesus was talking about. They wondered if He was going to kill Himself. Jesus addressed them again, saying “You are from below, I am from above”. He then clarifies what He means by this, “You are of this world; I am not of this world”. “From below” does not mean hell, it means the world. We see throughout John that there is no rowing back by Jesus, rather He makes the point even stronger, or add even more to what He has already said. If we look at Jesus from a worldly perspective we will understand nothing. Jesus was sent by the Father from heaven, He came to tell us the truth.

Genesis 34:25-31 - You have brought trouble on me

34:25-29

As we can imagine, circumcision for a grown man is not a pleasant process, and the men of Hamor were feeling rather delicate! Initially only Simeon and Levi were involved, and they killed Hamor and Shechem. Then it seems that the rest of the brothers (and possibly their servants?) launched a wider attack. So many people were killed, and much livestock plundered.

34:30,31

Jacob is not pleased, knowing that this would only bring lasting trouble for the people. However, he has been rather passive in the whole affair. Jacob is concerned for self-preservation (both for himself and the people as a whole), the sons are concerned about the honour of the people. Kidner points out that Jacob had settled at Shechem (33:18) when he was supposed to go to Bethel, Shechem seeming to be a pleasant and prosperous place to settle. There is a way that seems right to man, but it leads only to death, as the proverb says (Prov 14:12). We see the results of man going his own way, even a man chosen by God.

John 8:19,20 - If you knew me

8:19,20

The religious leaders immediately demanded to know where His Father was. This was a very silly question, it was clear by now that Jesus said God was His Father. But if you are going to stick to a purely fleshly approach to looking at Jesus, you cannot get to the truth. The truth was that the religious leaders did not know Jesus, and they did not know God. It is not uncommon for religious leaders to not know God! We can look at a number of religious leaders in our day who seem to have little idea who God is. At the same time, there are also good religious leaders.

Knowing Jesus and knowing the Father go together. They are a package deal! Sometimes on packs of goods at the supermarket there will be a notice on them saying “these items must not be sold separately”. In a way it is the same with the Trinity. The Trinity is, of course, infinitely more glorious than this silly analogy, but it does make a point. 

Genesis 34:13-24 - The sons of Jacob answered deceitfully

34:13-17

Jacob’s sons act deceitfully. Jacob was deceitful, so were Laban and Rachel, and now Jacob’s sons. Being deceitful is a part of fallen human nature. Therefore they pretend that the only obstacle to their agreeing to Dinah becoming Shechem’s wife is that he and his people are uncircumcised. If this was put right then they would be happy for intermarriage to take place between the two peoples, and they would become one people. Otherwise it was no go. What we see here is a human attempt to make the world work, there is no regard for trusting in God nor for doing things His way.

34:18-24

Hamor and Shechem were taken in by the deception, treating it as a genuine proposal. Shechem must have had quite an influence, for Shechem and Hamor tell their people that this is a good deal and is worth getting circumcised for. They stress all the plus points, the increased trade, the ability to take their daughters as wives. They are selling the deal in uch the same way as politicians today sell agreements, stressing all the advantages. So the men all got circumcised.

John 8:16-18 - It is not I alone who judge

8:16

Jesus then immediately says that He will actually judge, and His judgements are true and will be true. This is in stark contrast to the judgements of the religious leaders. Why are Jesus’ judgements reliable? Because He does not judge on His own. He was sent by the Father, and it is He and the Father who judge. This is yet another audacious claim to equality with God.

8:17,18

Jesus then refers to the Law, which demanded that there are two or more witnesses (Deut 17:6). This is a very sensible provision, and in today’s terms might be referred to as corroborating evidence. Some jurisdictions have this provision, others don’t. This provision was fulfilled in Jesus’ case because there was the witness of Jesus and of the Father. As an aside, this is consistent with the Trinitarian doctrine of one God, three persons! However, the key point of all this is that the religious leaders, the people, and us, need to listen to the words of Jesus. Any argument for not listening to them is false. It is perhaps similar to arguments about the authenticity of Scripture. The arguments for the reliability of the New Testament are very convincing, but they are not the main point. They show that arguments for not trusting the Bible are without foundation, but the main thing is that when we read the Bible we should come to it as if it was the Word of God, looking to learn from the Lord.

Genesis 34:5-12 - Please give her to him to be his wife

34:5-7

Jacob learnt about what had happened, but waited till his sons came in from the field before doing anything. Hamor came to Jacob to ask for Dinah as a wife for his son. Jacob’s sons learnt about what had happened and were outraged by the fact that Shechem had raped their sister. We see Israel here mentioned as a people.

34:8-12

Hamor tried to appease them. He talks about Shechem’s desire for Jacob’s daughter, and proposes intermarriage between their two peoples. Within his own terms he is trying to bring peace to the situation. Hamor sees things going beyond marriage. We know that throughout the Bible we are warned against intermarriage, not inter-racial marriage, but marriage between the people of God and those who are not. Part of the reason for this is that it has effects beyond simple marriage. Shechem also offers to pay a significant bride price. 

John 8:14,15 - You judge according to the flesh

8:14

Jesus was manifestly not saying in 5:31 that His words were not true. They most certainly were true, and were far more reliable than the words of the Jewish leaders. He knew where He came from and where He was going. The religious leaders knew neither of these things. Jesus spoke out of truth, the religious leaders spoke out of ignorance.

8:15

“You judge according to the flesh”. 2 Cor 5:16 contains words about judging according to the flesh, or rather not doing so. Judging according to the flesh means judging by purely human standards. We are meant to use our brains, to use our senses. But that is not all we are meant to do. We are also meant to live by the word of God and by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is fully human, but if you view Him only as a man your view is badly distorted and you will never know the truth. He is the one sent by the Father. Jesus then says that He judges no one. Now we must remember that He has earlier said that the Father has entrusted all judgement to Him, so we must reject any silly interpretations of this. Jesus means that He does not judge anyone by the flesh, by human standards.

Genesis 34:1-4 - Get me this girl for my wife

34:1

So far the tales we have read have been fairly gentle. There has been the odd murder, there has been lying and decpetion, but also a lot of examples of faith. There has been an intermingling of faith and doubt, obedience and disobedience. This is what life is like, and the Bible is utterly realistic. It is now about to get mercilessly realistic. There are some parts of Genesis, as there are in Judges, which are nothing but sordid. Sometimes we tell tales about humanity which paint a rose-tinted picture. The Bible is brutally realistic and honest about the nature of humanity, and the effects of sin. In this chapter we have an example of this affecting Jacob’s family. This example involves Dinah, the daughter of Leah. She went out to see the “women of the land”. Back in Gen 27:46 Rebekah had warned against Jacob marrying “one of the women of the land”.

34:2-4

We see immediately why Rebekah had been wary of the people of the land. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite raped Dinah. Hamor was a “prince of the land”, so presumably of some importance. There is a mixture of lust and attraction in his attitude towards Dinah. It begins with pure lust, but then he decides he quite likes her and speaks to his father, wanting her as a wife.