Devotional Short Note to Genesis 37

 

This chapter is the introduction of the Joseph historical narrative by Moses from the Book of Jacob’s generations. It was a factual data account from which Moses excerpts information about especially Joseph because Moses and Joseph shared the same experience. Moses was born in 1530 BCE and landed in the palace of Hatshepsut at the age of 12 when Hathshepsut, who was born in 1536 BCE was only 18 years old in 1518 BCE at his arrival. Joseph was born in 1988 BCE and at the age of 17 (Genesis 37:2) “Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, being still a lad” = יוֹסֵף בֶּן-שְׁבַע-עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה הָיָה רֹעֶה אֶת-אֶחָיו בַּצֹּאן וְהוּא נַעַר.

The other sons were not living according to the commandments of the Lord and were engage in all “humdrum” “lalagaging around” “finding their way in the wrong crowd” to use the words of Charles Bradford in his masterful sermon at Oakwood College in Youtube in the sermon “I wish I had a praying church”. “And Joseph brought evil report of them unto their father” = וַיָּבֵא יוֹסֵף אֶת-דִּבָּתָם רָעָה, אֶל-אֲבִיהֶם (Genesis 37:2). It was not gossiping but based on facts. They caused the evil in his report. They were still accountable to their father Jacob.

Dyes were common in the days of Joseph according to the dye specialist of Israel, Z. Koren who is one of the best dye specialists of the Bible Lands. He has been the Director of The Edelstein Center for the Analysis of Ancient Artifacts at Shenkar College in Ramat-Gan since the Center’s inception in 1991. Koren studied the various methods of dyeing in biblical times and sea snails [molusca] that were used (Murex dye 2005; 2013; 2018). In 1998 he studied textiles from the Cave of the Warrior that dates to the time of Isaac and Jacob around 2000 BCE. Isaac died in 1960 BCE. Although Robinson suggested that Hebrews learned to dye in Egypt that is not correct since Joseph had a coat of many colors sometime between his birth in 1988 BCE and the death of Isaac in 1960. He was young when he left. He was not in Egypt. Of course traders went up and down. Koren refers to the “sacramental colors” [garments of Aaron] as the blue purple and red purple that wool was dyed with using molluskan dyes (Koren 1993: 16). Hebrews in the Beni-Hasan Egyptian Tomb painting of Khnemhotep indicated that the Asiatics are “wearing colored striped skirts and colorful embroidered clothing” (Koren 1993: 17). [I am citing from my own blog on Dyed in http://www.egw.org on the subject]. This Beni Hasan tomb is dated shortly before Joseph died by the old chronology [long chronology] and shortly after Joseph died by the new chronology [short chronology]. In 1892/1976 BCE (Sesostris II’s 6th year) 37 Asiatics visited Knumhotep III (Egyptian official) bringing stibium (alimony) and khol (eye shadow) (see J. von Beckerath in Orientalia 1995:445ff). The Adventist W. L. Emmerson wrote in Signs of the Times of August 1947 about this Tomb and W. Shea of Andrews University saw a chiasm in the arrangement of the figures on the Tomb in BA 44 (1981). S. Horn wrote on it in Review and Herald April 8, 1954. In SDA BC vol. 3 page 34 Horn indicated that the Semite (Amorite of Canaan) on this Tomb drawing is carrying a lyre (musical instrument) into Egypt.  

We must get away from the idea that Moses is just storytelling and inventing as he goes along. Moses liked it as if it is a historical epic drama and his mother used to read him this before he left her in 1518 BCE, I presume. She may have given him these scrolls of the Book of Adam, Book of Noah, Book of Abraham and Book of Jacob from which he made the excerpts to compile his abbreviated historical version accepted by the Editor Holy Spirit as the Book of Genesis for all generations to come until the Second Coming of Christ. An after-Flood shorter version since conditions before the Flood was different than after the Flood.

So Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors (Genesis 37:3).

Then came the dreams of Joseph and he will learn later that the pharaoh of Egypt was also a dreamer.

Joseph’s dream and that of the pharaoh to whom he was to interpret later in Egypt, both dreamed “prophetic dreams” which is a dream depicting a coming blessing or coming curse. Julie Deluty from New York University just completed her doctoral dissertation on “Prophet, Intermediary, King: The Dynamics of Prophetic Mediation in the Early Biblical World and Old Babylonian Mari” (Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, 2018).

About gender and the prophetic role of woman as prophets in the Old Testament, the SBL 2013 conclusion is: “Nissinen identifies Israel as less open to female prophets than many other ancient cultures, noting that only about 10 percent of the named prophets found in the biblical evidence were women. The biblical record asserts the nonparticipation of women as leaders in the official cult of Israel; for these texts there were no women priests of Yahweh in the national shrines. Although conclusions about women and the cult need to be cautious since Israelite literature was even more ideologically controlled than the evidence from Mesopotamia, there is no evidence to the contrary about the official cult” (Carvalho and Stökl, Prophets Male and Female downloaded from Academia.edu).

 

Dear Lord

While the NAD wishes to turn a cultural populist “blind eye” to the Bible on certain issues, we know that Your Word is our lamp. Always. Even in digimodernism and the pop-up of ancient skew jurisprudence ideologies regarding gender. Your Word only is our lamp. In Jesus Name. Amen.