January 20 - Evening
"Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.'
And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, 'God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.' So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten.
And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt."
- Genesis 50:24-26
- Genesis 50:24-26
The Promise and Joseph's Sarcophagus
The dying words of Joseph would help sustain the family of Abraham for the next 400 years. Joseph’s words spoken around 1805 BC reaffirmed the promise and prophecy that had been given to his great-grandfather Abraham around 2000 BC. This promise was inherited by his grandfather Isaac, and confirmed to his father Jacob by the Lord. Joseph understood and believed this promise in the fourth generation from Abraham, and his words of faith, and request to be buried in the Promised Land, will still be on the minds of this family 400 years later in 1445 BC when Moses leads a generation out of Egypt.
“Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, ‘God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.’ – Exodus 13:19
Joseph’s coffin, or sarcophagus, was with Israel during the 40 years in the wilderness and was carried across the Jordan by Joshua's generation when they entered the Promised Land in 1405 BC. When Joshua and the Hebrews had conquered the Land they took Joseph’s Egyptian sarcophagus and his 400 year old bones and placed them in a tomb at Shechem. The Promise was fulfilled, Joseph’s faith was proven true and the children of Israel had been obedient. Six hundred years of faithful waiting had been fulfilled:
“And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.” – Joshua 24:32
The writer of Hebrews in the New Testament comments on Joseph’s personal faith. Joseph’s faith helped influence several generations of Hebrews, especially Moses and his generation:
“By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.” – Hebrews 11:22
The Land belonged to the Hebrew people because of a promise made and kept by the Lord. The plot of land where Joseph’s bones were placed to rest was a plot of ground that was rightfully purchased by Jacob from the sons of Hamor in a legal transaction (see above Joshua 24:32).
The nation of Israel was in the land God had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants. This was the land where the patriarchs had purchased ground (Abraham also purchased land from the Hittites in Genesis 23) and Joshua had taken in a military conquest. Now, the sarcophagus with Joseph’s bones would be placed in a tomb in this very land his fathers had been promised and he had been born.
Therapeuo (Gr) - Heal (Eng) - therapeuo is a Greek word for "heal" in the New Testament, but in Classical Greek it meant "to wait upon," "to serve," "to minister," "to provide service." In the Greek New Testament therapeuo is used 43 times and is translated "healed" 21x, "heal" 9x, "healing" 5x, "cure" or "cured" 4x, and "served" 1x.
Do I hold on to God's promises? Do I pass those promises down to the next generation?
...to future generations? I will speak of my faith and explain my actions of faith to the next generation.
...to future generations? I will speak of my faith and explain my actions of faith to the next generation.
Bible Reading Descriptions Here
Personal
Compassion for the poor and needy
Church
Vision of potential
Nation
Middle class
World
Need for maturity, morality and spiritual growth in church
Someone to Quote
"When happenings happen to happen happily, you have happiness; when happenings happen to happen unhappily, you have unhappiness; happiness, then, is merely circumstantial happenness. But joy is independent of circumstances."
- J. Sidlow Baxter
- J. Sidlow Baxter
Something to Ponder
"As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency - or, rather, Agency - must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?"
- George Greenstein (astronomer)
- George Greenstein (astronomer)
Here’s a Fact
Along a fault line on the eastern shoreline of the Dead Sea near Bab edh-Dhra (possible Sodom) and es-Safi (possible Zoar) are three additional sites. Archaeologists (Rast and Schaub) found that all five sites were abandoned at the same time around 2450-2350 BC covered with the same ash deposits from their destruction by fire. One of the sites was a heavily fortified city (called Numeira today) was covered by seven feet of ash.
Proverb
"A king's wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life."
- Proverbs 20:2
- Proverbs 20:2
Coach’s Corner
Just like the sun is still burning on a cloudy day, so it is with God’s will during times of confusion.
Job 39
New International Version (NIV)
39
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2
Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?
3
They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.
4
Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.
5
“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?
6
I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.
7
It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8
It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.
9
“Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?
10
Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?
11
Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12
Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13
“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14
She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,
15
unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.
16
She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17
for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.
18
Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.
19
“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20
Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?
21
It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.
22
It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.
23
The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.
24
In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25
At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
26
“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?
27
Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?
28
It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29
From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar.
30
Its young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”
New International Version (NIV)
39
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2
Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?
3
They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.
4
Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.
5
“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?
6
I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.
7
It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8
It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.
9
“Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?
10
Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?
11
Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12
Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13
“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14
She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,
15
unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.
16
She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17
for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.
18
Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.
19
“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20
Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?
21
It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.
22
It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.
23
The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.
24
In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25
At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
26
“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?
27
Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?
28
It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29
From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar.
30
Its young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”
Genesis 26
New International Version (NIV)
Isaac and Abimelek
26 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15 So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”
28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”
30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.
New International Version (NIV)
Isaac and Abimelek
26 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”
8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.”
10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. 14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him. 15 So all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth.
16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”
17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.
19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah. 22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”
23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.
26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”
28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you; so we said, ‘There ought to be a sworn agreement between us’—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the Lord.”
30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.
32 That day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We’ve found water!” 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
Jacob Takes Esau’s Blessing
34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.