Reading: Genesis 35-37, Psalm 11

One of the great tropes of storytelling is the unlikely hero. There are far too many examples to recite- from Wart becoming Arthur in The Sword in the Stone to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings to Emmet in The Lego Movie. All these are good stories, but I think my all time favorite unlikely hero is Meg Murry from Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. Meg in so many ways personifies the misfit, the person out of place, the hero who doesn’t know it. Add to this that the book is an absolute delight to read (avoid the movie adaptation at all costs) and you have one of the great feats of modern literature. While Meg is a far more sympathetic character than any of the “hero” characters we have met in the Bible, when I read about these progenitors of the people of God, I can’t help but think of her confusion as Mrs. Who tells her she is the perfect hero because “the foolish of the world shame the wise, and the weak defeat the strong.”

Yesterday we looked at the truly ugly incident of Dinah and Shechem, and it again ends with the household of Israel afraid of the people around them.

Following right on the heels of this hideous story, comes a story of God reiterating his promise, yet again, to this descendant of Abraham, that he will make him into a great nation. A nation with kings and territory.

Is this just another example of God doubling down on his chosen people despite their failure? Or is God starting to do something more? Let’s look a little closer at the two stories.

One of the major plot points of the Dinah and Shechem narrative was the desire of the Hivites to have the family of Israel added to themselves. They were willing to go to great lengths to form bonds with Israel. A little earlier we learned that Rachel took her father’s household gods with her. Now the people of the land of Canaan are eager to acculturate the people of Israel. How long would it be before Jacob fearfully agrees to alliance with another city in Canaan and begins participating in their worship of their gods? Given what happened to Esau (married into Canaanite families and cultures) and that Jacob has eleven sons who have thus far displayed less than total self discipline, how long would it be before the family was just another part of Canaanite culture?

God intervenes. He tells Jacob to leave where he is and go to Bethel, and reminds Jacob of how God appeared to him when he fled from Esau, another time of fear. Then Jacob does something interesting- he removes all the household gods from his household and buries them under a tree. Jacob, in a rare insightful moment, sees that he must choose this God, the God of his fathers, and not those gods, the gods of the people around them. God iterates his promise and the change of Jacob’s name to Israel. He will struggle with God and man, he will not be united to the peoples around him, he will struggle against them and overcome them. God will give all this land to his descendants, over against the people currently occupying it. God in essence proclaims a message that will grow with the story: You are not like the people around you. You are chosen instruments. You are different. You are not who you think. Israel hears and makes an offering. Something seems to be going right.

And then there are two short, one of them very short, stories that remind us that there is still a problem. First, Rachel dies in childbirth, a direct reference to the Curse that followed the human declaration of independence from God. Second, Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son who otherwise comes off decently, goes and has sex with his father’s third wife, Bilhah. No circumstances are told to us, but in the family of Jacob, which was already pretty far from the ideal, this breaks God’s design for human partnership as man and woman which was to reflect the image of God even further. While it is a very short story, it will have large consequences for Reuben and his descendants as the story goes on.

Following this we finally see the death of Isaac, who has apparently been tottering about the land this whole time doing very little. It is significant that Jacob and Esau reunite to bury their father, but then they separate because their households are too large to coexist peacefully. Esau’s descendants are recounted, showing how this grandson of Abraham also became a great nation, the kingdom of Edom.

Here the story of Jacob largely ends, and the action will move to his sons, and primarily two of them: Joseph and Judah. One of them will come off better than the other. But for today, we will look at the activities of the young Joseph.

Joseph, who as the son of Rachel, the wife he really wanted, is Jacob’s favorite. But he is also a bit of a tattler, bringing bad reports about some of his brothers. So they already don’t like him much. Then God starts giving Joseph prophetic dreams- dreams that indicate his brothers, and even his father, will someday bow and serve him. This does not go over well. Remember how the sons of Israel don’t display a ton of self control? Well, more evidence is incoming.

Joseph, the tattler, is sent to meet and bring report about his brother’s activities to their father. They see him coming and decide to kill him. Reuben talks them into just dumping him into a pit instead, and we are told he plans to rescue him later. So Reuben is painted as not quite so bad. But then our other major player in this story makes his suggestion: Judah realizes they can be rid of Joseph and make a profit on it! Sell him into slavery, make some money, be rid of him, and we’ll tell dad he’s dead by showing him Joseph’s bloody coat. What a great guy, Judah. So that’s what they do. Jacob believes Joseph is dead and goes into mourning. Joseph is sold down the river to Egypt, where he becomes a household slave to Potiphar. Tomorrow we will see the continuing drama of Judah and Joseph.