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What was it about bones that made Jacob and Joseph both want theirs buried in the promised land? In Genesis 50 Jacob is embalmed and it is quite the process. Later his corpse is taken to be buried in daddy's tomb. Why wasn't Rachel buried there?  When Joseph dies at the end of the chapter his body is put in a coffin in Egypt. However, before he dies he makes his family promise to take his bones to the promised land. Why was that so important and why didn't he get buried in the pm just after death?  280 years would go by between the coffin and Moses coming into the Egyptian picture. Eventually, actually 80 years later Moses would remember Joseph and take his old bones back to the promised land. As one author puts it, remembering the nation's past agony of slavery as well as trusting in God to keep the promises that he had made about a return to the promised land. God is faithful. Bones don't need to travel but the trip was symbolic of God's liberty. 

Genesis 37 is the beginning of Joseph's story. This chapter starts in verse two with these words, "This is the account of Jacob. Joseph..."  The chapter tells the story of how Joseph got to Egypt to save the nation of Israel eventually. But, even before it was a nation, it's a cruel story of jealousy, envy, and hatred. These are all synonyms for "evil."  There are several interesting facts that I learned from my reading. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver and then sold again in Egypt. I doubt that the Ishmaelites sold him without earning a profit. So I imagine that eventually, he was sold for 30 pieces of silver. I'm just guessing. It fits nicely with Jesus' story.  There was a lot of robe ripping going on. The text doesn't say that his brothers tore Joseph's robe, but I hardly think that the bad brothers stripped him gently. Instead, I imagine that they ripped his robe off. Then Ruben rips his robe when he discovers that Joseph had been...

Genesis chapter 35 is interesting. God moves Jacob from Shechem to Bethel. He also changes his name from Jacob to Israel. God reiterates the Abrahamic covenant and protects Jacob as he makes his move.  What I see as interesting is the amount of time that God spends with this weird man called Jacob. Just the chapter before this one two of Jacob's son murder all the men in a village. Then just after God tells him that he is going to be moving, Jacob cleans house of all of the foreign gods that his family has accumulated. What? How was that?  This guy, one of the Patriarcal leaders, is a real piece of work. The phrase, How odd of God to choose the Jews, comes to mind.  Yet we see God, time and again, working with the Jews. They are always doing the wrong thing and God gives them another opportunity to do right. This whole scenario kind of reminds me of me. 

Abraham has his son Isaac, who was the promised one. He was to be Abraham's heir and the one through whom the blessing would come. Having been a miracle child himself, he had a slight problem. He was now in his early forties and still single. If he didn't find a wife the Abrahamic covenant would never be fulfilled and Jesus would not be born.  It was a crucial moment when Abraham called his servant to swear that he would find a woman for his boy. The oath was binding only if and when the discovered bride came back to Abraham's tent. If she didn't, the deal was off.  We know that she did come back and ended up having twins, Esau and Jacob. However, there is a couple of verses that drew my attention to an important principle for us to think about. Look at 24:6 and 8,  Genesis 24:6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Abraham said. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take ...

God told Abram to leave town and walk until He told him to stop. I always wonder how that conversation went at home? "dear we're moving. Where to babe? I'm not sure yet but I'll tell you when God tells me more. Ok?"  I remember when I believed that God was calling me to the mission field and I called Dawn over to the kitchen table. She knew that we were in trouble by the look on my face." What's going on?"" Well, I've been thinking..." We hear nothing from Sari in this account in Genesis 12. We just see a big move. From home to nowhere in just a few days. Life would never be the same. The family was being left behind. And all for what purpose? So that Abram could prove his obedience to God. God ends up promising Abram a land, an offspring and a blessing, which in the end Abe never gets.  Well, he did get the offspring and he was blessed in many ways. The land promise wasn't fulfilled until Joshua's time. Like Noah, I tend to put...

Was Noah looking for grace? This grace that he found was what seemed to be the "saving" kind of grace. At times it seems that we put Noah on a pedestal and think that he deserved to be saved because he was such a good guy. However, if we do this, we make what Noah did his saving grace. As though he was saved by his works.  Granted, Noah and his three sons were an incredible team. God gave them a job, and they did it. Their story is so ancient and has been told so many times, that we fail to understand the impact and reality of their work.  A few years ago my wife and I visited the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. If you haven't been there, you should go. It will help you understand the gargantuan task that Noah and his family took on. I am amazed at the immensity of the project.  Standing in the shadows of that structure it will hit you, "how did they do it?" That ship became a monument to the faith that Noah put into God's command. God told Noah to build, and Noa...

We find ourselves in quite an unbelievable dilemma with our new national leader. I cannot bare to watch his town hall meetings even knowing that all questions will be softballs. It seems that the poor guy can't really put ten words together without saying, "Come on man!" or "I I I I" or "we we we we".  How did we get to this place in our history? It has been a slow but seemingly sure process. We began to eliminate God from our schools and TV shows. We now wonder why our government is headed to the toilet. It is quite obvious that God is allowing us to have our own way. "Who really is in charge" seems to be the question of the day.  Has God lost control? Definitely not the case. He is bringing judgment to our land. This doesn't need to be the end of the story for believers in Jesus Christ. Now is our time to share with people who want some answers. We may not be well received but that is what happened when Jesus was here, right.  Live righ...