Easter Sunday confronts each and every person who has ever heard of Jesus of Nazareth with the statements and question he posed to Martha, his dear and beloved follower and friend. As recorded in verses 25–26 from the eleventh chapter of John, Jesus said to her “I am the resurrection …
Almost every semester for the past three or so years, I’ve been responsible for running an online Christian Ethics class for Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Although I grade the same assignments each semester, it’s always interesting to see how students are applying the Scriptures to some genuinely challenging ethical issues. And …
After Egypt experienced seven years of fruitfulness beyond imagination according to what the LORD had shown Pharaoh, seven years of famine beyond imagination followed, again, according to what the LORD had shown Pharaoh by way of two dreams. Consequently, Pharaoh appointed Joseph who had with God’s help correctly interpreted these …
Once he explained to Pharaoh that the two dreams he’d had were but one and the same message from God—and, therefore, that certainly and soon seven years of plenty would come followed by seven years of famine—Joseph took the liberty of telling the king of Egypt what he should do …
“Here comes that dreamer!” If you’ll recall, this is what Joseph’s brothers had said to one another early on when they saw their little brother—he was seventeen at the time[1]—coming towards them as they initially considered killing him.[2] As we noted when we covered Genesis 37, though they had used …
As we’ve seen, when the book of Genesis turns its focus upon Joseph starting with chapter 36, we’re told that he had a dream in which he and his brothers “were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly” his sheaf “rose and stood upright” while those of …
When last we saw Joseph, he had been sold by his brothers (minus Reuben the eldest and Benjamin the youngest) to some Midianite tradesmen who took him from his home in Canaan where they’d bought him, and brought him down to Egypt in order that they might in turn sell …
Having talked his brothers into selling their younger brother Joseph to Midianite merchants and then lied to their father about it—allowing him to believe that his favorite son had been devoured by wild animals as evidenced by the bloody robe they brought him, a robe that in actuality was bloodied …
As we saw last week, even at the tender age of seventeen Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, was an upright young man. Though at that time he was the youngest of the brothers who were shepherding their father’s flock (Benjamin was not yet old enough), he wasn’t afraid of bringing a …
This morning we shift our focus from Jacob to Joseph, his eleventh son. Joseph was also the first son of Rachel,[1] Jacob’s favorite wife whose passing as she was giving birth to Benjamin we noted last week. Baby Benjamin, along with his eleven older brothers, will form the foundation of …
