One Family's Dysfunction - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Genesis 37:1-2,

"Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them."

Here are some thoughts I had about this passage in February, 2020:

I don't know what the "bad report" was that Joseph took to his father about his brothers, but it certainly led to bad blood between Joseph and his brothers. As I read this chapter I am struck with how we might consider this family a dysfunctional one. Keep in mind, these sons of this family comprise the heads of the various tribes of Israel.

In addition to Joseph "squealing" on his brothers (and, who knows? it may have been a very legitimate concern - which would speak badly of the brothers), we read:

Jacob played "favorites" with Joseph over his brothers (not the best of parental approaches to good family life), verse 3-4. The remainder of the chapter might have been filled with much less drama without this driving factor.

Joseph decided to "share" dreams with his brothers and father that God had given him, dreams that pictured them all (including his mother and father) being subordinated to him, furthering the hostility of his brothers against him, verses 5-11.

Joseph's brothers plotted to kill him, verse 18 - 19. The plot included lying to their father about it. They threw him into a cistern as a part of the plot, verse 24.

Human trafficking - Joseph's brothers forcefully sold him to traveling merchants as a slave, verse 28.

Joseph's brothers plotted an artful deception to cover Joseph's disappearance and lied to their father about what had happened, verses 31-32.

Joseph's brothers allowed their father to live in a marked bereavement over the alleged death of Joseph for years, verses 34-35.

The heroes we meet in Scripture are not heroes because they comported themselves in what we might consider a "saintly manner", but because they were people of faith. Obviously, if these accounts were simply made up stories, these patriarchs would be presented to us in an entirely different way. What we discover is that God's people can be as dysfunctional as any... and yet, look at how God used them!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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