The book of Genesis concludes with the death of Joseph. Ironically, and tellingly, the last word in Genesis is "Egypt" (mitzrayim in Hebrew). Thus Genesis points ahead to Exodus.On his death bed,...
Joseph's brothers, fearing that he would mistreat them after their father's death, begged Joseph to forgive them, perhaps even conjuring up a request from their deceased father. Yet such a...
After Jacob died, Joseph's brothers became afraid that Joseph would exact revenge on them for how they had mistreated him when he was a boy. Their only protection, they reasoned, had been Joseph's...
When Jacob died, Joseph heeded his father's request, returning his body to Canaan to be buried. When they arrived at the burial site, they had an extended time of grieving the death of...
Grief and Tragedy make us uncomfortable. We don't know what to say to someone who is grieving, but we feel we must say something. And so we often say things in desperation, hoping...
As Jacob prepared to die, he gathered his sons around him and pronounced his vision of their future. Some of the sons...
I remember how I would feel as a semester of college came to an end. The moment after the last final was filled with such a sweet sense of freedom. I remember yelling...
Jacob, in his blessing of Joseph's sons, referred to the Lord as "the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day" (Gen. 48:15). What a contrast to Jacob's...
In our day, it is common and expected for the government to care for people in need, without taking them as slaves...
I've got all my kids hooked on home improvement shows. We'll pile on the couch, and talk through design choices, the fickle nature of taste, all the while anticipating "the reveal." We like them...
Everyone talks about success. Even preachers nowadays. They have sermon series about how you can be successful with God. But how do we define success, exactly? The truth is, your definition of...
When he finally had an audience with Pharaoh, Jacob blessed Pharaoh, twice, in fact. At first this might seem odd to us, because we'd expect Pharaoh, the most powerful man in Jacob's world, to...
What a touching scene! After years and years of separation, Jacob was finally reunited with his beloved son, Joseph. It comes as no surprise, given what we have seen of Joseph's strong emotions,...
For years, Jacob had believed his son Joseph had been killed by wild animals. He never stopped grieving the loss of his favored son. When Joseph's brother, Benjamin, went to Egypt, Jacob feared...
Lust. Greed. Anger. The big three of the Seven Deadly Sins appear in the headlines every day. They're also alive and well...
Good leaders are courageous. History records leaders who lack courage as poor leaders, but the great ones are remembered for facing fear head on, taking risks, and changing the world. In a vacuum...
I have two jobs. The one which pays the mortgage is teaching science in a college; the other (which pays very little) is writing science fiction/fantasy. In theory, they both absolve me from...
Men and women typically use different body language and different voice cues when communicating. Many men have a tendency to be very direct, loud, demanding, and somewhat forceful. Men can be...
Joseph expressed one of the great mysteries of our faith, the wonder of God's sovereignty. To the brothers who had indeed mistreated him by selling him into slavery, Joseph said, "So then, it was...
Let's face it. People are difficult to love. They whine, complain, they rarely listen. And what about all those annoying little habits? No matter how much of a "people person" you may be, there...
