It's genealogy time again. Yay! For me recording these into a microphone is a bit of a challenge as I try and pronounce what is written on the page, knowing full well that the transliteration is done in different ways for other translations. Most of the names too are unfamiliar to me and so it's difficult to see their relevance other than to recognise that whilst God's promise is to be fulfilled through Jacob, Esau too becomes the father of many nations. There is the odd familiar name including Amalek whose descendants will one day fight with Israel.
Moving on from there, we are introduced to the final major narrative of the story as Joseph takes centre stage. And he's a bit of a big head isn't he. Even though his dreams are from God, he lacks sensitivity in sharing them with his brothers who already bear a grudge against him due to his being his father's favourite.
Again it's a strange situation for the modern western reader to get his head around. Here we have a man who has 12 kids by four different women who really don't get on too well. When one of them becomes his father's favourite and then adds boasting to his list of sins most of them have little compunction in selling him into slavery. Only Reuben shows any sign of caring about his younger half-brother.
With the benefit of hindsight we can see how God was to work through this whole situation and once again God chooses people with messed up relationships to advance his plan.
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