Today was challenging. Not only for the challenge of trying to weed through the material, but it is the weekend. I’m proud of myself that I have made it 13 days already on this journey, and continue through the weekends; especially with last Saturday’s mishap with baby Joey. Today also proved to be difficult because I did not complete the reading before my husband got home from work, so he was around as a distraction. I literally have locked myself in the bedroom to complete this. So, let’s get started with what I could do.
All of Chapter 36 I could have done without. It was entirely made up of Esau’s descendants, which are names I can’t even pronounce let alone attempt to follow the family tree. I have nothing more to say about this chapter since I was mainly just trying to get through it. Ugh!
Chapter 37 was Joseph and his robe of many colors! Now, Joseph is the son of Jacob, well Israel now, and he was seventeen years old. It was clear that he was his father’s favorite.
“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.”
-Genesis 37:3
Obviously, his brothers had a problem with that and hated him. They could not speak peacefully to him. Then, Joseph had a dream how they were all binding sheaves in the field, and his stood upright and his brother’s gathered around it and bowed down to it. And his dumb ass told them about it! Of course the brothers were all pissed off, and “hated him even more for his dreams and his words.”
Then, Joseph had the nerve to do it again. He had another dream where the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. This time he told his brothers and father. Everyone was getting pretty fed up with Joseph and his dreams assuming they would all bow down to him.
By this point, the brothers were scheming of how to kill Joseph. Israel sent him out to find them, and when they saw him coming, they started to plan.
“Here comes the dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
-Genesis 37:20
Reuben was the one who said that they shouldn’t kill him themselves. When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his robe and threw him into the pit.
Then, they decided they should sell him. But, before they could go back and get him, traders came by and pulled him from the pit and sold him themselves. Joseph was taken to Egypt.
When Reuben got to the pit and saw that Joseph was gone, they decided to pour goat’s blood on his robe of many colors to show their father. They asked Israel if this was his robe. When he said it was, they told him that a fierce animal had devoured him and tore him to pieces. Then, Jacob mourned for his son for several days and refused to be comforted by anyone.
Chapter 38 wasn’t as difficult to follow as the beginning chapter, but still a struggle. Having trouble following names and keeping them all straight, I was not into this one either. I read through all of today’s chapters, but only focused on one. Maybe tomorrow I will reread and try to make better sense of them. I just can’t today.
When the readings go like they did today, I find it hard to stay focused. I struggle with journaling about it because I don’t understand it enough to write it out.
I wonder if I will continue to journal everyday, or start to cut back. I will definitely continue reading daily, and writing notes down in my actual journal; but to make a post of it everyday is quite tedious. We’ll see. I can always tone it down to a weekly summary…
Let me know what you think.
Should I continue the daily posts, or downsize to an end-of-week summary?
Is anyone even reading this?
I enjoy reading your daily journals
Thank you! 🙂
Yep. Reading every day. Look forward to it. You are not alone in being bored by descendants – and you’re just getting started. Reading the Bible through is a challenge. There are dozens of fascinating stories – and one underlying love story – but there’s also a ton of stuff that is boring and most of it, I think, is at the beginning of the Bible. Lots of descendant lists and lots of laws, lots of customs that don’t make sense to those of us in a Western culture. Reading the Bible by beginning in the New Testament in either Luke or John is a good way to start since you get grounded in the life, love and mission of Christ and then read the rest of the Bible to get the backstory. However, getting the history first, like you are doing, is important/valuable, and since you are reading and journaling (and paying attention), you should be able to find things in the Old Testament that have correlation to things in the New Testament. Stick with it, you’re just getting started, and once you get through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (my opinion), things will pick up again. I know it’s difficult to stick with it every day (been there, done that), but it’s a good habit to get into. (However, that being said – and obvious – if you find it difficult to do on weekends, you could consider just doing it during the week – just don’t give up.). I’m here for you, cheering you on, and looking for your next post!
Thank you so much! Great encouragement! 🙂