Photo credit: Skeggzatori on Flickr (Creative Commons)

It’s hard to believe we’re on the fourth week of our study! If you’re just getting started with us, I’d encourage you to have a look at my page outlining our study, where you can read the plan of what we’re doing as well as print off a checklist for the daily readings. Don’t feel like you have to keep up with the general readings – just start now and read a couple of chapters each day.

This week, we conclude the second time period in our study, the patriarchs, as we look into the fate of Joseph, sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. We begin by contrasting Joseph with his brother, Judah. Where Judah fails to do the right thing in the face of temptation, Joseph resists temptation… but finds himself in prison for his troubles. The story that will unfold is a reminder for us that God didn’t forget Joseph nor his sufferings but instead sent him to Egypt to preserve life (Genesis 45:5):

Joseph, because of his faith, is able to see God’s hand in all his sufferings and blessings. It is because of Joseph’s slavery and God’s blessings, which gave him his powerful position in Egypt, that Joseph is able to spare his family from starvation and death during the famine. Joseph brings Jacob’s entire family down to Egypt where Jacob is reunited with his beloved son and Jacob’s family prospers – and the covenant blessing entrusted to Jacob can continue.

Cavins/Gray, Walking with God, page 57

If you’ve ever seen Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or Joseph, King of Dreams, the story will be familiar to you, but I’m excited for you to read it the biblical text. So for this fourth week, please read:

God bless you all!