I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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

    Joseph was a spoiled young man, having been Jacob’s favorite from the time of his birth. I go back and forth on this, but I do not believe that Joseph really believed that his dreams meant that his brothers and his father would bow down to him. They were just strange dreams which he told his brothers and father about because he wanted their attention and approval. It is not clear how much younger than the others he was, but Joseph must have felt like a child who was never included in their activities. Joseph wanted to be liked, accepted, and included by his brothers. His brothers resented him because their father gave him special privileges and gifts without him being required to earn them. There is a lesson here for every parent that can also apply to those who supervise others. There is also a lesson in the brothers’ actions about being careful not to do in haste something which you will regret later.

    We come to the story of Judah and Tamar. I suspect that to the writer the primary point of this story was the importance of doing what was right regarding the continuation of the family line and for the widow of your brother/son. The latter is the more important failure of Onan and Judah. They failed to fulfill their obligation to do what they could to provide for Tamar. However, the thing which strikes me about this story is how Judah was willing to go to a temple prostitute of a pagan religion. When Tamar tricked him into having sex with her, Judah believed that she was a temple prostitute who worshiped a local goddess by having sex with men who made sacrifices to the goddess for the privilege. When I read this story, I realize that Jacob’s sons were becoming assimilated into the local culture in a way which they had resisted violently when they sacked the town of Shechem. This story explains to me why God sent Jacob’s descendants into slavery in Egypt.