Thursday: Nice family!!

From Genesis 36-39

1. Joseph's father loved him more than his brothers. That is not good! Preferential treatment in families is always bad.

2. I wonder what kind of bad report Joseph brought about his brothers when they were tending the sheep. I can just hear it now - "Dad, they wouldn't help me put the water out for the young lambs." It sounds like Joseph was what we would call a tattle-tale. Although it all depends upon what exactly they were doing. Some things may be extreme enough to deserve an informant.

3. Why didn't Joseph get the idea that telling his brothers about his dreams was not going to help his cause? Did he think they were going to like him more due to this? If it were me, I probably would've kept my mouth shut about it, just to keep the peace. Although I was not in his shoes, so there may be some other circumstances that I am not seeing.

4. Nice family!! It is amazing how people will reason away something bad that they do. Judah says to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites because "after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." Wow!!! This comment should've woken them up right there.

5. If I am not mistaken, Genesis 38:9-10 is where some churches come up with being against any type of birth control. However, God was angry because Onan did not fulfill his duty to his dead brother and his dead brother's wife, not because he "spilled his semen on the ground". I believe this is why it was considered wicked in God's eyes (and selfish).

6. It is interesting to see that Judah was not only the mastermind behind the selling of Joseph to the Midianites, but also was the one who was messing around with what he thought were shrine prostitutes. And until she notified him about him being the father of the child in her womb, he was ready to burn Tamar to death.