Jacob : The Third Patriarch Of The Israelites

She became Isaac’s wife and conceived twins, favoring Jacob and thus aided him in getting his father’s blessing

Joseph began his life as the favorite son of Jacob who tended to the flocks as a shepherd.3 These humble beginnings foreshadow how one day Joseph will tend to the Seed of the Woman during times of famine in the land by giving food to this eleven brothers. Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, had eleven other sons who were jealous of the special attention that Joseph received. In fact, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.4 Joseph had a dream that predicted that Joseph would one day reign over his older brothers. This upset his brothers and they tricked Joseph by selling him into slavery. Joseph was then taken to Egypt where he was sold to Potiphar and became a servant in

So when Joseph came to them, they took off his beautiful robe and they threw him in an empty well. Then they sold him to people that were going to Egypt. The brothers took the robe and dipped it in animal’s blood and brought it to their father. They told Jacob that an animal killed him. Jacob was really upset. Joseph was now in Egypt working as a slave. He was Potiphar’s helper and made him mandated of everything he owned. Then the Pharaoh sent him to jail. After some time in jail a cupbearer and a baker’s Pharaoh had a dream that he was going to get out of jail soon. Joseph told them to tell the Pharaoh about him but the cupbearer forgot. Two years later the Pharaoh had a dream, but nobody could understand it. Then the cupbearer remembered what Joseph did for him, and Joseph was brought to Pharaoh. Joseph explained him and the Pharaoh believed all that he told him, and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. People came from all over to buy grain from Joseph, including Joseph's brothers. When his brothers came, Joseph was able to recognize them, but they did not. Joseph told them that he was their brother and even thought they were afraid Joseph was not mad at them because he knew that God had a better plan for him. After it his entire family moved to Egypt

and their meaning of life. For example, Ishmael, who was separated from his family members

Joseph was born into a family of conflict. Joseph was Jacob’s eleventh son. Joseph was born to Jacob’s second wife, Rachel. Jacob had a total of four wives, the first two were sisters, Leah and Rachel. The second two; Bilhah and Zilpah, were slaves, given to Jacob by their wives to produce more children when they could not. Jacob was partial to Joseph because he was the oldest child of his most loved wife and this caused him to be thought of poorly by his brothers.

Joseph was one of the 12 sons fathered by Jacob. He was the first born son of Jacob and Rachel. Joseph was much younger than his brothers and highly loved and favored by his father. Jacob gave Joseph an ornate robe that displayed that nepotism. Joseph had some pretty momentous dreams when he was only 17 years old. His dreams indicated that his brothers were going to bow down to him. Joseph told his family of his dreams in an attempt to seek the meaning behind them. Jacob’s favoritism caused his sons to be jealous. Joseph’s brothers decided to sell him into slavery to an Egyptian man, named Potiphar. Joseph excelled at everything he did. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of his home. Joseph grew up to be a very handsome man. Potiphar’s wife coveted him, but Joseph would not commit sin against Potiphar or God, so the wife had him thrown in prison. He continued to exceed while in prison. He interpreted dreams for prisoners and eventually Pharaoh. Pharaoh gave Joseph authority over all the land and began storing food for the inevitable famine. This lead to Joseph’s family coming to ask for food

The Old Testament sibling rivalries between Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, and Joseph and his brothers were similar in some ways and different in others, but they all hold lessons for us today, for brothers today still face many of the same problems in life that challenged brothers thousands of years ago.

However, Joseph instanced that they where spies. They explain that there are actually 12 of them who are all brother from the same father. They all live in Canaan, but the youngest is back home, and the other was no longer with them. Joseph replies, “ This is how I will test your story. One you must go, and get your youngest brother while the rest of you stay here. If you do not return with your brother then I will know you are spies.” He put them in prison for three days. On the third day he said to them, “ I am a God fearing man. If you really are honest men then one of you stay in prison while the rest of you go back to your land with grain. But you must return with your youngest brother. This will show that you are telling the true, and you will not die.” They agreed to his terms. Joseph chose Simeon to stay behind while the rest return home. Secretly, Joseph told his servants that while they are filling up his brothers sack with grain to also return their money. On their way home, they stopped for the night to rest. One of the brothers opened his sack to feed his donkey, and found that his money was laying on the grain. They all looked at each other with

In the epic Genesis, Joseph is a character who endures countless hardships only to discover that his suffering was all part of God’s plan. This realization, along with many other crucial plot developments, is made possible by the actions of Judah. Judah begins the story in a place of envy and selfishness, but later he shows great moral development by committing the ultimate sacrifice in the name of his father.

Joseph: The favorite of his father, Jacob, and was sold into slavery by his brothers because they were jealous of his father’s favoritism. Later on Joseph meets with his brothers and forgives them. When in Egypt, the Pharaoh permits Joseph to interpret his dreams and later leads him to rule over Egypt in place of the

Their two sons had ancestry from both the Hebrew peoples and Arab peoples. In their old age Abraham and Sarah still had yet to conceive and Abraham was accordingly promised to have a son by God. Luckily for them there was a Mesopotamian law which stated a man could have many wives, and if a legitimate wife could not bear him children, he could take a servant as a wife. This was an issue because Sarah was supposedly barren, so since that was the custom and law, she had

Joseph was the fourth and final outstanding person that we encountered in this week’s reading. Joseph was the eleventh and most favored son of Jacob. Joseph’s older brothers despised him. They despised him so much that they beat him and sold him into slavery. Another reason Joseph’s brothers hated him so was that he had dreams that one day his entire family would bow down to him. Joseph may not have known it at the time, but God gave him the gift of interpreting dreams which later saved his life as well as made this dream he had as a young man come true.

According to traditional Old Testament historians, Abraham became the first human to establish a covenant with God and with his second son Isaac and grandson Jacob they became the first of three Patriarchs of Judaism and Christianity. Abraham, original name Abram or Avram, along with his wife Sarah, original name Sarai, became the "Father of the Multitudes and Father of the Israelites." Sarah's hand-maiden Hagar, gave birth to Abraham's first son Ishmael who later became a prominent prophet and patriarch of the Islamic faith.

Another brother story in the Bible is that of Esau and Jacob. The prophecy of these brothers was that the younger would rule the elder. Esau was a hairy man that was skillful in the hunter – gatherer ways and Jacob was somewhat of a “mamas boy”. One day while their father Isaac was dying he told Esau that he would bless him. Jacob then deceitfully went into the place of his father and was blessed as if he was Esau. When Esau returned he was very upset and was going to kill his brother. Jacob fled and was out of touch with his brother for a long time. Then Jacob sent word to meet his brother again and heard that Esau followed by 400 men were coming to him. Afraid and distressed about what Esau might do, Jacob had a dream in which he wrestled with God and was there blessed. With the new name of Israel he met his brother Esau and gave him many gifts. Esau came to his bother in open arms not needing any gifts because the only gift he wanted was to see his brother. Again united Esau and Israel showed that being brothers was more important than any childhood feud.

While Jacob makes his way to Haran, God finally decides to introduce Himself to Jacob. God speaks to Jacob for the first time in a dream, during which He tells Jacob that, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac...I am with you and will keep you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done [the promises] of which I have spoken to you” (Gen 28:15). Interacting with Jacob through a dream and telling him that God will keep him instills within Jacob a sense of security. Jacob can continue on his journey without worry, although he has yet to receive other aspects from the blessings, God stays with him and God will keep him. This security becomes clearer when Jacob wakes up and makes a vow saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go...then the Lord shall be my God…”(Gen 28:20-21). Jacob’s vow not only shares an interesting imitative similarity to the promise made by God in the dream, but more importantly, Jacob refers to God in a possessive way. By referring to God possessively, as “my God”, it might suggest that Jacob has had a sudden insight, and now sees God differently. In other words, Jacob has experienced God, the same God as his ancestors, and perhaps now realizes that even in what seems like an ordinary place where one might just lay down to rest, God’s presence has stayed and will continue to stay with