This year I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 36-38.

    Joseph was a spoiled young man, but probably naive. When Joseph had the two dreams recounted in this passage, I do not think he thought it meant that his father and brothers would be subservient to him. I think he thought that these were really cool, strange dreams. Nevertheless, he offended his brothers by telling them the dreams. This was just one of several things which Joseph did which irritated and angered his brothers. They were probably more angered by the fact that he acted as a spy on them for their father. I am guessing that it never occurred to Jacob that his other sons might not share his love for Joseph. For that matter, Jacob probably did not realize how much he favored Joseph over his other sons. There is a lesson here for parents about being careful about how they treat their favorite child.

    I have long interpreted the story of Judah and Tamar as partially an example of why the Egyptian captivity was necessary for the Israelites to truly become God’s people. The method which Tamar used to seduce Judah suggests that Judah (and his brothers) were starting to adopt some of the practices of the people among whom they lived. Judah willingly slept with what he thought was a temple prostitute. Despite resisting the attempt by the people of Schechem to assimilate them, Jacob’s sons were adopting the practices of the people among whom they lived. As a side note. I want to mention that Onan’s sin was not masturbation. His sin was a selfish unwillingness to provide his dead brother with an heir.