Parents of the Bible Podcast

Jochebed

Exodus 2:1-10 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%202&version=NLT] (New Living Translation) 2 About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. 4 The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him. 5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said. 7 Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. 8 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother. 9 “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. 10 Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.” Dear God, It is interesting that we do not get Moses’s mother’s (and father’s) name here (we get them in Numbers 26 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2026&version=NLT]). It is also interesting that we do not get much about the father here, but who knows what his life was like? He might have been in hard labor and hardly around. Regardless, they are as important as any two people I read about in Genesis. They saved the life of the boy/man who would lead your people out of Egypt. Who would even meet Jesus during the Transfiguration. I cannot imagine what it would have been like for the Israelite women to have to see their baby boys killed. Here’s something I never thought of before: I suppose that they circumcised Moses. Is that how Pharaoh’s daughter knew immediately that the boy was a Hebrew? As mothers go, she is as critical of a part of this story as Moses’s Hebrew parents. She was his adopted mother, and I do not think we get her name either. Why do I bring that up? Well, because we tend to think so much of ourselves, but it is our actions that matter more than our words. These people all did the right thing. They had decisions to make, and they made them. Whereas we remember Jacob for being so worried about his own name and his own convenience, the names of these good people are lost. It is a reminder to me that my life is not about my name living forever, but the actions I take trickling through history. Father, help me to do the right thing. Help me to be the husband, father, son, brother, and uncle you need me to be. Help me to willingly decrease so that you can increase. Love through me. Help me to stay in each moment and not be distracted by the future. Let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth through my life as you will. I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit, Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe [https://parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Joseph, Son of Jacob

Genesis 50:22-26 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2050&version=NLT] 22 So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110. 23 He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as his own. 24 “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.” 26 So Joseph died at the age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt. Dear God, This is a brief chance to see Joseph as a father. Actually, it is our second glimpse. The first was when Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons but ignored their birth order, and it upset Joseph. Then it talks about him seeing his great-grandchildren born. It paints a picture of interest in his children, their children, and their children. We do not get any stories about the boys, good or bad, so it is hard to know, but Genesis certainly is not shy about telling us the ugly parts of their lives. That is why I kind of get the impression that things turned out alright for Joseph as a father. First, I do not know how many wives he had (or daughters), but it appears he only had the two boys, so it is not like he was just having tons of kids by tons of women (that we know of). I do not know. I am doing A LOT of inferring here, but Joseph seemed to live a reasonably controlled life that made room for loving his family (children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren) and his brothers. And he also lived a life of forgiveness, choosing to not punish his brothers for what they did to him. Father, I do not know that there is really anything I can take from Joseph as a father and apply to my life, but it is refreshing to see one of these guys seem to care about the development of his children and how their lives turn out for their sake and not for his. Please help me to be the father, husband, brother, and son you need me to be for my own family. I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit, Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe [https://parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Jacob - Part 8 of 8

Genesis 49 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2049&version=NLT] (New Living Translation) 49 Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come. 2 “Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father. 3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power.4 But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer.For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch. 5 “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence.6 May I never join in their meetings; may I never be a party to their plans.For in their anger they murdered men, and they crippled oxen just for sport.7 A curse on their anger, for it is fierce; a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel.I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel. 8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will grasp your enemies by the neck. All your relatives will bow before you.9 Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey.Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants,until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.11 He ties his foal to a grapevine, the colt of his donkey to a choice vine.He washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. 13 “Zebulun will settle by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships; his borders will extend to Sidon. 14 “Issachar is a sturdy donkey, resting between two saddlepacks.15 When he sees how good the countryside is and how pleasant the land,he will bend his shoulder to the load and submit himself to hard labor. 16 “Dan will govern his people, like any other tribe in Israel.17 Dan will be a snake beside the road, a poisonous viper along the paththat bites the horse’s hooves so its rider is thrown off.18 I trust in you for salvation, O Lord! 19 “Gad will be attacked by marauding bands, but he will attack them when they retreat. 20 “Asher will dine on rich foods and produce food fit for kings. 21 “Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. 22 “Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of a wild donkey at a spring— one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.23 Archers attacked him savagely; they shot at him and harassed him.24 But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthenedby the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.25 May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless youwith the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.26 May my fatherly blessings on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the heights of the eternal hills.May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers. 27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, devouring his enemies in the morning and dividing his plunder in the evening.” 28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message. 29 Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30 This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah. 32 It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death. How could Jacob consciously choose to curse some of his children (and seemingly their descendants as well). I mean, who does that? That cannot be a sign of good parenting, right? I also notice that Jacob seems to have completely embraced the idea that the rights of the firstborn are NOT absolute. Again, maybe this is because he was the second-born child, and he took his brother’s birthright and blessing. His father, Isaac, was born after Ishmael and had taken his brother’s blessing. Now, he had a grudge against Reuben so he kind of let him have it. Then he showed he still remembered how Simeon and Levi slaughtered that town in the name of defending their sister’s honor, and he cursed them as well. That brought the first positive blessing to Judah, the fourth-born son. I suppose what I should probably do is break the blessings down by who the mother was. There are four mothers here. Was there a difference in how he looked at his sons based on their mother? Leah Reuben – bad blessing Simeon – bad blessing Levi – bad blessing Judah – Good blessing Issachar (born after Asher) – good blessing Zebulun (born after Issachar) – good blessing Bilhah (Rachel’s servant (slave?)) Dan – good blessing Naphtali – good blessing Zilpah (Leah’s servant (slave?)) Gad – medium blessing Asher – good blessing Rachel Joseph – good blessing Benjamin (Rachel died in childbirth) – good blessing Hmm. That’s interesting. Only the first three got “bad blessings,” if you want to call them that. Gad’s was okay, but he has to be attacked first. When I just read them through, it felt like there was more negativity than that, but, no, it was limited to the first three. They were the ones with whom Jacob had a specific beef. And, going back to an earlier prayer about him and his fathering, his problems seemed to center more on how the boys’ actions impacted him than whether they were right or wrong. The thing about Reuben and the concubine is notable. It gets half of one verse (Genesis 35:22 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2035%3A22&version=NLT]: “While he was living there Reuben had intercourse with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Jacob soon heard about it.”). This is right after Rachel died in childbirth with Benjamin, and Bilhah had been Rachel’s slave. I wonder if Reuben thought she was unimportant to Jacob because Rachel was dead. Who knows? But it does not say Jacob did anything about it at the time. It seems that he waited until this moment to blast him with it. Not very good parenting. Father, my dad had a friend who used to say, “Everyone has a purpose in life, even if it is to serve as a bad example.” Well, I must tell you, God, I don’t think much of the example that Jacob was for us. He lied and cheated. He was passive-aggressive and selfish. He did not mind showing all his boys who his favorites were. He held grudges. I have to say, it is hard for me to see how he compares favorably with Esau. But there it is. You used him. You used him to build a nation. You used him to shape the world, an influence that continues to this day, thousands of years later. So, thank you that I do not have to be perfect to be used by you. Thank you for just asking me to love you and do my best and then you work around me when I fail. Thank you for the redemption you offer me as a Gentile. I am very grateful. I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit, Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe [https://parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Jacob - Part 7 of 8

Genesis 47:28- [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2047&version=NLT]48:22 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2048&version=NLT] (New Living Translation) 28 Jacob lived for seventeen years after his arrival in Egypt, so he lived 147 years in all. 29 As the time of his death drew near, Jacob called for his son Joseph and said to him, “Please do me this favor. Put your hand under my thigh and swear that you will treat me with unfailing love by honoring this last request: Do not bury me in Egypt. 30 When I die, please take my body out of Egypt and bury me with my ancestors.” So Joseph promised, “I will do as you ask.” 31 “Swear that you will do it,” Jacob insisted. So Joseph gave his oath, and Jacob bowed humbly at the head of his bed. 48 One day not long after this, word came to Joseph, “Your father is failing rapidly.” So Joseph went to visit his father, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 When Joseph arrived, Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to see you.” So Jacob gathered his strength and sat up in his bed. 3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ 5 “Now I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 But any children born to you in the future will be your own, and they will inherit land within the territories of their brothers Ephraim and Manasseh. 7 “Long ago, as I was returning from Paddan-aram, Rachel died in the land of Canaan. We were still on the way, some distance from Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). So with great sorrow I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” 8 Then Jacob looked over at the two boys. “Are these your sons?” he asked. 9 “Yes,” Joseph told him, “these are the sons God has given me here in Egypt.” And Jacob said, “Bring them closer to me, so I can bless them.” 10 Jacob was half blind because of his age and could hardly see. So Joseph brought the boys close to him, and Jacob kissed and embraced them. 11 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face again, but now God has let me see your children, too!” 12 Joseph moved the boys, who were at their grandfather’s knees, and he bowed with his face to the ground. 13 Then he positioned the boys in front of Jacob. With his right hand he directed Ephraim toward Jacob’s left hand, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Jacob’s right hand. 14 But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys’ heads. He put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger boy, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, though he was the firstborn. 15 Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked—the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day,16 the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm— may he bless these boys.May they preserve my name and the names of Abraham and Isaac.And may their descendants multiply greatly throughout the earth.” 17 But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 “No, my father,” he said. “This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father refused. “I know, my son; I know,” he replied. “Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.” 20 So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: “The people of Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way, Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. 21 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to Canaan, the land of your ancestors. 22 And beyond what I have given your brothers, I am giving you an extra portion of the land[e [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2048&version=NLT#fen-NLT-1474e]] that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.” Dear God, We actually have two fathers in this story: Jacob and Joseph. I suppose Jacob always did have a soft spot in his heart for the younger sibling over the older. And as I noticed many times before, it is seldom the oldest that ends up being the greatest in Biblical families. Isaac before Ishmael (Muslims would disagree with this, and I would too if I were them, but since this is from a Christian perspective I’ll go with it). Abel was more pleasing to you than Cain. David wasn’t Jesse’s firstborn. Solomon wasn’t David’s. I do not know—maybe I would feel differently if I were the oldest instead of the youngest in my family, but I think the theory that the firstborn is the obvious choice as the natural one to receive the birthright blessing is not supported by many Old Testament stories. Joseph obviously felt this way about his boys. He wanted them to be blessed according to their birth order. But Jacob had a different paradigm, and we will see tomorrow that he blesses his fourth-born, Judah, as the leader of his sons and not Reuben, the firstborn. I also note that Jacob did not leave Egypt during his life. I would have thought that after the famine was over, they would have returned to Canaan. Did he not want to inconvenience his children? Was he too old for the journey? Was he too weak to lead them? I understand that you ended up using the ensuing slavery to build his lineage as a nation, but it seems to me that it would have been easier for his family to return to Canaan being well-fed and nourished over the last few years of famine. On paper it seems like this was a failing in Jacob and even in his sons. They all got fat and happy. But you still were able to use what I perceive as their possible failing for your purposes and plan. Father, I know I will fail. I know that despite my best efforts I can act fat and happy. But there is freedom in the idea that I know my heart is for you. I worship you, I love you, and I am doing my best; and you can work with my sin and my failures to still bring about your plan for your glory. I simply pray that my work will be pleasing in your sight. I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit, Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe [https://parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Jacob - Part 6 of 8

Genesis 45:25- [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2045&version=NLT]46:7 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2046&version=NLT] (New Living Translation) 25 And they left Egypt and returned to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan. 26 “Joseph is still alive!” they told him. “And he is governor of all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned at the news—he couldn’t believe it. 27 But when they repeated to Jacob everything Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, their father’s spirits revived. 46 So Jacob set out for Egypt with all his possessions. And when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. 2 During the night God spoke to him in a vision. “Jacob! Jacob!” he called. “Here I am,” Jacob replied. 3 “I am God, the God of your father,” the voice said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation. 4 I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring you back again. You will die in Egypt, but Joseph will be with you to close your eyes.” 5 So Jacob left Beersheba, and his sons took him to Egypt. They carried him and their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had provided for them. 6 They also took all their livestock and all the personal belongings they had acquired in the land of Canaan. So Jacob and his entire family went to Egypt— 7 sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters—all his descendants. Genesis 46:26-30 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2046&version=NLT] 26 The total number of Jacob’s direct descendants who went with him to Egypt, not counting his sons’ wives, was sixty-six. 27 In addition, Joseph had two sons who were born in Egypt. So altogether, there were seventy members of Jacob’s family in the land of Egypt. 28 As they neared their destination, Jacob sent Judah ahead to meet Joseph and get directions to the region of Goshen. And when they finally arrived there, 29 Joseph prepared his chariot and traveled to Goshen to meet his father, Jacob. When Joseph arrived, he embraced his father and wept, holding him for a long time. 30 Finally, Jacob said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen your face again and know you are still alive.” Genesis 47:7-10 [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2047&version=NLT] 7 Then Joseph brought in his father, Jacob, and presented him to Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 “How old are you?” Pharaoh asked him. 9 Jacob replied, “I have traveled this earth for 130 hard years. But my life has been short compared to the lives of my ancestors.” 10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving his court. Dear God, The story sort of skips over this part, but I wonder what the conversation was like among the brothers as they returned to Jacob. They were going to have to tell him what they did: “Uh, Dad. Yeah. Well. Remember Joseph? Remember how we told you that he had been eaten by a wild animal? Well, that wasn’t really true. As it turns out, we sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelites—you remember Uncle Ishmael? Anyway, apparently, Joseph is now the governor of Egypt, so it’s all good!” All this does not seem to have mattered too much to Jacob. His son was alive! I told a group the other night that one thing that surprised me about being a parent was how easy I found it to forgive my children. It gave me a picture of your love for me in a new way. For Jacob, he had his boy back. He had all twelve boys (including Simeon). And now there was hope for his future. Finally, I guess I should mention that Jacob agreed to leave his homeland to be closer to his son so that he could care for him, and he allowed Joseph to have that role in his life. This can be a real issue when aging parents agree to accept help from their children. Help me to be willing to be that humble when my time comes. Father, thank you for the experience of fatherhood. Thank you for teaching me so much through my children—both through being a father and what you have taught me through them as individuals. Thank you for growing and stretching me through my wife and partnering with her as parents as well. It has not always been easy, but you have really used all of them to shape me, mold me, and humble me. Do with me what you will. I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit, Amen Get full access to Parents of the Bible at parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe [https://parentsofthebible.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]