JOE TUNON

STORY 2: The Patriarchs (Genesis 12-50)

At this time there are other gods that people believe in. The one actual God relays that he will bring the world back to himself by forming a nation, starting with the old man Abraham. Abraham’s wife Sarah already had menopause, so they figure they’d help God out by having Abraham sleep with the slave girl (a common custom back then), and so Ishmael is born. But God tells them in so many words “Look, I don’t need your help. I’ll bless Ishmael too, but I mean for you and Sarah to have a son.” And so she gives birth to Isaac, which means “to laugh”, because she had laughed at the idea of having a kid at her age. God then shows Abraham the land of Canaan where his countless descendants would one day live, but then tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac! He was only testing him and stops him from actually doing it, but he passes the test, and so Isaac would continue the line. Isaac later marries Rebekah and they have twin boys Esau and Jacob. Esau is a hunter and Jacob is a trickster! He tricks his older brother and father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn, and one day even wrestles the angel of God and doesn't let go until he gets a blessing from him! God allows it and renames him “Israel”, giving him 12 sons of his own to continue the line. Of these 12 sons, the second youngest one, Joseph, is Jacob’s favorite. Some of his 10 older brothers are jealous and leave him in a well in the desert, but some travelers come by, rescue him and take him to Egypt. There Joseph interprets a dream that the pharaoh has which turns out to foresee an oncoming famine. This gives the Egyptians time to save up food and water. The pharaoh is so impressed that he makes Joseph his right hand man. Then Joseph’s brothers (who had left him for dead) come to Egypt looking for food and water themselves. Joseph reveals himself to them, and of course they're terrified! But he tells his brothers “It’s all good. The evil you meant to do to me was just part of God’s plan to reunite us. Now we can grow and go back to the promised land of Canaan! See?”