Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin, Isaac dies, Jacob and Esau separate, Joseph is favored and has two prophetic dreams, and Joseph's brothers sell him as a slave in Egypt and tell their father he has been killed.
God tells Jacob to go to Bethel to dwell and to make an altar there to Him, to the place where He appeared to him as he was fleeing his brother Esau. So Jacob tells his wives to get rid of their idols and clean themselves up, and they travel to Bethel. As they journey, the "terror of God" falls on the surrounding peoples so they do not attack them. Jacob builds an altar, remembering how God was with him and protected him as he fled from Esau.
God appears to Jacob again and blesses him and confirms that his name will no longer be Jacob but Israel. He also tells him to "be fruitful and multiply" and that He will make of him and his descendants a great nation and give them the land. God leaves from speaking with him, and Jacob makes a pillar of stones as a memorial and pours a drink offering and oil on top of them.
As they journey on, Rachel goes into labor. It is a hard labor, but her midwife encourages her that she will have the baby. As she is dying, she names the baby boy Benoni, which means "son of my sorrow," but Israel names him Benjamin, meaning "son of my right hand." Rachel is buried near Bethlehem, and Isaac puts a pillar on her grave.
At this point, Reuben lays with his father's concubine, and Israel hears of it (but it doesn't say that he does anything about it.)
Jacob goes to his father Isaac at Mamre (His mother Rebekah has already died; although not recorded in Scripture, she is not present at his return.) Isaac lives to be 180 years old, then he dies and is buried by Jacob and Esau.
We are given the genealogy of Esau, also called Edom, father of the Edomites. Esau and Jacob cannot not dwell together in the land because of all their livestock, so Esau leaves him and lives in a faraway country.
Jacob dwells in the land where his father was a stranger, in Canaan.
Here begins the amazing story of Joseph! Joseph, being now 17, is sent by his father to report on how his brothers are tending the flocks, and he gives them a bad report. Joseph is the favorite of his father because he was born to him in his old age (and I am sure because he loved Rachel), so Israel makes him a many-colored tunic. His brothers see the clear favoritism and are jealous. They hate him so much, it says they "couldn't speak peacefully to him." What's more, Joseph has two dreams that he shares with them, the first being that their sheaves of grain bow to his, and the second that the sun and moon and eleven stars bow down to him. After hearing the first dream, his brothers balk, and at the second, even his father rebukes him. Afterward, his brothers hate him even more, but his father "[keeps} the matter in mind."
His brothers are in Shechem feeding their flock, and Isaac asks Jacob to go to them and return with a report. When his brothers see him coming, they devise a plan to kill him. They want to kill him and throw his body in a pit and say that a wild beast has devoured him. "Then, what will become of his dreams?" they say. Reuben intervenes and tells them not to murder, but to throw him in a pit. He plans to return and rescue him later. The brothers attack Joseph, ripping off his colorful coat, hurl him in a pit, and "sit down to eat a meal." They see a caravan passing by on its way to Egypt and decide to sell him as a slave, which they do for 20 shekels of silver. Reuben later returns to find the pit empty and is distraught. They kill a baby goat, dip the coat in blood, and return to show it to their father.
Isaac is completely devastated to hear that his son has been killed by a wild beast, and he mourns for many days, refusing to be comforted. He says he will die because of grief.
Meanwhile, the Midianites sell Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, the officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Thoughts/Questions:
Why is it important to remember what God has done for us?
God is big on names!
Jealousy is akin to hatred.
Nothing can stop God's destiny for us if we keep doing the right thing. God knows what are in men's hearts and can even use their evil for good (as we will later see!)
Joseph is a very important figure in the Bible, a type of Christ. The fact that he is a dreamer should tell us something.