I have finished with my short semi-series on Mark, totalling 4 sermons. It's not much, but I wanted to try going through something verse by verse, or passage by passage, and Mark is too long for that right now. So this week I started working in the Old Testament, looking at the account of Joseph. I had mentioned him in a previous sermon, drawing a parallel between Joseph's being separated from his family by God for a greater purpose, and Philemon being separated from his slave Onesimus for a greater purpose as well. Since then, I have wanted to look into the story of Joseph more. Now I am doing so.
I thought I would set myself a bit of a challenge this week. I have been preaching on passages from Mark, whole stories and the like. I could have carried on the same this week, but as I was looking at the passages Monday morning, I decided to introduce the Joseph account by looking at his father Jacob first. The first verse of Genesis 37, the chapter which begins Joseph's story, is: "Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan." That's it. And that is what I used as my text for this sermon.
I actually thought that it would be harder to do. And it was at first. Rather than explaining what's going on by retelling the story, or using the whole passage to explain its parts, this verse needs quite a lot of background research to flesh it out. But I found it easier than I thought it would be because this verse has two very important elements in it: Jacob, and the land of Canaan. Jacob is one of the Patriarchs, one of those with whom the Lord personally entered a covenant. And this covenant included the land of Canaan, which would be their possession.
I won't say much more about the sermon until I preach it (don't know when that will happen yet), but I am pleased with the result. And next week I get to start with Joseph. I think that sermon will encompass his dreams and Jacob's favouritism.
As I was working on this sermon, I was struck by the fact that Gen 37:2 starts the story of Joseph and his brothers with the words: "This is the account of Jacob." This shows his importance as the covenant head in all that happens to his family. No matter what happens, as the head of his family he is responsible for them and what they do, and as the covenant head of his family, the promises come to his children through him. So it must be the account of Jacob, until he passes away, and then the book of Genesis closes, and Exodus begins the history of the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob.
I am looking forward to working on these passages.
7 comments:
Sounds great, Stu! I'll be preaching on Genesis 37 in two weeks, the Lord willing. It's the 14th sermon in the Genesis series I've been preaching since we got to Prince George. I'd love to read your sermon on this passage! What kind of commentaries and resources are you using in your study of the passage?
I'll e-mail you the text of my sermon. I'd like to see what you think.
As for commentaries and resources, I used Promise and Deliverance, G. C. Aalders' Genesis Commentary from the Bible Student's Commentary Series, Bruce Waltke's Old Testament Theology, and Calvin's commentary, Keil and Delitzsch. I can't exactly remember what else. A little bit of Graeme Goldsworthy's Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture for lines to Christ.
Other than that it was just a lot of thinking and context reading. I hope it works out in the end. I think it does, though.
What other passages have you preached on in your series?
Looking forward to seeing the sermon!
The series that I've been working on has been on 2:10-14, 3:21, ch.6, ch.9, ch.11, ch.12, ch.14, ch.15, ch.19, ch.22, ch.27, ch.28, 32:24-32, ch.37, and ch.39. So it's been mostly on longer passages, with a couple of short passages and single verses in between.
I've used Calvin and Promise and Deliverance as well as the Word Biblical Commentary, a book called "Primeval Saints" by James Jordan, and also a couple of lecture series by James Jordan, "The Life of Abraham" and "The Life of Jacob" (available at Wordmp3.com) I've found Jordan's work particularly helpful and thought provoking - he really helps you to see the text in ways that you might not have looked at it before.
Stuart,
"This is the account of..." This is a common phrase throughout Genesis, especially when comparing to the KJV. Look at 2:4, 5:1,
Gen 6:9 These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Gen 10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Gen 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Gen 11:10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
Gen 11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
Gen 25:12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:
Gen 25:13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations...
Gen 25:19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:
Gen 36:1 Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.
Gen 36:9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:
Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old...
I'd be interested in seeing if this is more than simply a manner of speech. I remember reading in a daily devotional (forget which one now) about this phrase in regard to Noah, and that it had some importance.
Rob Van Middelkoop
It is more than just a manner of speech. Much has been made of the 'toledoth' phrases in Genesis. There are a number of ideas concerning them. I don't know a lot of them off hand, but it seems that it begins a section which gives some information about that person or his family.
Hey Stu,
When living in Mali I discovered that in polygamous families the loyalty between the children goes by maternal siblings. Brothers and sisters born of the same mother have loyalty to each other as brothers and sisters, where has they don't have the same loyalty or family relationships with their father's other children through a different mother. This seems to be true in polygamous families around the world.
Learning that helped me understand the cruel nature of Joseph's brothers. They were his half brothers, so they didn't really view him as a real brother. Kinda interesting...
Thanks Winston, that does help to understand how Joseph's brothers could treat him as they did.
I just finished last week the sermon on Joseph's dreams, and next week I hope to start on how his brothers sold him into slavery, so this insight is timely and usefull. Thanks again!
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