Joseph's story, Genesis 37

The story of Joseph has always been one of my favorites. I spent a good deal of time studying the history of Egypt, so I could understand some more about the place that Joseph had lived. I've read the story multiple times, and so I decided to write about it.

One reason that I wrote about Esther and am going to write about Joseph is because we, in today's culture, have to live like they did, surrounded on all sides by pagans and people who want to pull us away from what God would have us do.

Esther was queen in Persia, she had so much pressure on her to perform, and to perform the way the king wanted her to, or else she could die.

Joseph was a slave in Egypt, so he had to obey his master, no matter what he told him to do, or they might kill him.

And through all that, they both still followed where God lead them, and in both cases, God used them to protect his people.

When Joseph was 17 years old, he and his family lived in Canaan. Some of his brothers were the sons of Bilhah, one of Israel's wives, and some of his brothers were the sons of Zilpah, another of his father's wives. But Joseph was the son of Rachel, who was Israel's most loved wife, and she had given birth in her old age, making Joseph very much of a surprise.

And Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other children because of this, which made his brothers very jealous. 

Israel made Joseph a coat of many colors, and gave it as a gift, making his brothers even more jealous.

One day, Joseph told his brothers of a dream he had had, where they had all been gathering wheat, and binding it into sheaves.

He told his brothers that their wheat had bowed down to his sheaf.

Angry, they asked "Are you going to be in charge of *us*?" And this just made them angrier at him.

And he dreamed another dream, where the stars and the moon and eleven stars bowed to Joseph.

This time, he told his father, who rebuked him, saying "So your mother and I and all your brothers are going to bow to you? I don't think so."

His brothers were envious of Josephs dreams, and hated him even more, but his father pondered what Joseph had said.

One day, Joseph's brothers had gone out with the sheep, and so Israel decided to send Joseph out to see how they were doing. He told him that his brothers had gone to Shechem.

So Joseph went and was wandering around the fields in Shechem, looking for his brothers, when a man found him and asked what he was doing.

When Joseph told him, the man said that he had overheard the boys talking about going to Dothan instead, so Joseph thanked the man and headed to Dothan.

When he was still pretty far away, Joseph's brothers saw him coming. 

"Here comes the dreamer," they said to each other. 

Now was their opportunity to get rid of Joseph forever, so they made a plan to kill him and blame his death on a wild animal.

Reubun, one of the brothers, heard what they were saying and knew better than to kill his brother, so instead he suggested that they throw him in a pit somewhere, planning to come and rescue him later.

Everyone agreed to this. So when Joseph was close enough, they attacked him, tore off his coat, and threw him in an empty pit.

After this, they sat down to eat their dinner. In the distance they saw some merchants that were headed to Egypt. So Judah, who I think was probably also trying to save his brother's life, thought that it was better that they sell Joseph to the merchants. Then, they would also have the money, there was no profit in just letting Joseph die in the wilderness.

During the planning of this, Reubun was somewhere else, perhaps he was keeping an eye on the sheep.

So they sold Joseph into slavery for twenty pieces of silver, which was only 10 less pieces of silver than what Judas sold out Jesus for.

When Reubun discovered the pit was empty, he became very upset. They tore up the coat of many colors and dipped it in the blood of an animal, so that when they brought it back to Israel, he would think that an animal had killed Joseph.

Which is exactly what he thought.

And so he cried for his dead (or so he thought) son for days, and refused to be comforted.

Meanwhile, Joseph was in Egypt, having been sold into the house of Potiphar, who was one of the Pharaoh's officers, and the captain of the guard.

Cheers!

My life: a strange shade of colors

Ever thought that you had the weirdest life on the planet?

So have I.

Lots has been going on in my life, good and bad.

Now, I could decide to become an emotional wreck because sometimes things look like they've gotten out of hand. I could cry and weep and moan and carry on like a five year old. I could lay in my bed for days at a time, getting pale and thin and starving myself. I could shut myself off, blocking myself behind an invisible wall.

I *could* do a lot of things, but what's the point in all that?  The world will keep turning, not caring a thing for my protests.

So I am going to keep calm and carry on.

No matter what happens in life, be it pain and sorrow, or even joy, the world will keep turning, people will keep dying and being born, couples will be getting married and breaking up, and pickles will be being made.

And no matter how much carrying on I do, things will not change. So why bother?

God is still on the throne. His holiness won't go away, just because something seemingly bad has happened to us.

When I am going through a hard time, all I see is a storm. Lightening flashes in my face, thunder crashes deafeningly in my ears, rain drives tears into my eyes, making it impossible to see where I am going, or to hear what is going on outside the storm.

And all the while God is over seeing the whole thing, driving me to the end, where there is a break in the clouds.

And I know at the end, I am going to see a rainbow.

So remember, have faith always, because even when things are hard, God knows what He is doing.

 The rainbows at the end of the storms always make my life a beautiful and strange shade of colors, the kind of color that you only get in a crystal clear rainbow at the end of a long storm.

So I will praise Him in this storm.

Cheers!

Esther's story, chapter 9&10

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote! Today I'll finish Esther's story with chapters 9 and 10 in the book of Esther.

In the twelfth month of the year (for them that would be Adar) on the thirteenth, the Jews began to band together for the things that were coming. 

All of the kings soldiers decided to help the Jews save themselves, mostly because they were afraid of what Mordecai, who was growing in power, would do to them.

So the people attacked the Jews and the Jews fought back, killing five hundred people in Shushan. So the people began to fear the Jews.

The Jews also captured Haman's ten sons. 

When the number of those who had been slain was brought before the king, he was not upset, as one would expect. Instead he told Esther how many had been slain in Shushan, and that the ten sons of Haman were captured, but he wanted to know what the Jews had done in the rest of his kingdom, since it seemed like they hadn't done much.

So he asked her if she had any other requests. So Esther asked her husband (who seems to have been talking to her regularly now) if he would have Haman's sons hung, and to extend the fighting for another day.

So the king obliged her wish, and the Jews defended themselves a second day. The Jews in Shushan killed 300 more men, the Jews in the rest of the kingdom killed seventy-five thousand. And, even though they were allowed to, they didn't take the spoils of those they defeated.

After that, the Jews decided to have a day of celebration, because God had saved them. Because Haman had taken a gamble with lives to destroy his enemies, they decided to call the holiday Purim, the word Pur  being, the lot or to gamble.

So Esther and Mordecai sent letters saying that Purim was to remembered by the Jews in ever country, every city, every home, for all generations to come, because God had delivered their people.

And Mordecai became a great man, with more power than any man but the king himself. His name is recorded in the books of the king's records in Media and Persia. 

The Jews were all saved because one woman decided to trust God and be brave. 

No matter what trials are placed before you, remember that God's hand is in it all. Stand up strong and brave, because who knows?

You could be here for such a time as this.

Cheers and God bless!