The story of Joseph and his brothers ranks near the desirable of standard Bible studies. although, there's lots of counsel around that story that regularly gets forgotten. How the sons of Jacob grew up, the activities leading up to Joseph's dreams, and what happened to their descendants come collectively to create a vast and engaging epic. Let's take a look at these sons of Jacob and their full household story.
who are the Sons of Jacob?The sons of Jacob are the sons of Jacob, son of Isaac, and grandson of Abraham. After marrying two girls, Rachel and Leah, Jacob began to have his own household. Genesis 35:21-27 gives a listing of Jacob's sons and the a number of girl he had them with.
The sons by using Leah (Jacob's first wife) had been:
Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun
The sons via Rachel (Jacob's second wife) were:
Joseph, Benjamin
The sons by way of Rachel's servant Bilhal have been:
Dan, Naphtali
The sons via Leah's servant Zilpah have been:
Gad, Asher
despite being descended from Abraham and a father who turned into blessed with a imaginative and prescient from heaven, Jacob's sons didn't at all times behave in very holy ways. Reuben had an affair with Bilhal (Genesis 35:21-22), which ended in Jacob rebuking Reuben on his deathbed (Genesis forty nine:2-4).
in one of essentially the most noted Bible stories, battle came up between Jacob's son Joseph and his brothers. Jacob evidently liked Joseph and showed it by way of giving him a many-colored coat (Genesis 37:3-four). To make concerns worse, Joseph advised his brothers a couple of sequence of dreams that showed him ruling over them (Genesis 37:5-11). Their response turned into to get rid of Joseph via selling him into slavery and telling Jacob they'd found evidence Joseph become killed via a wild animal (Genesis 37:18-36). Joseph ended up in Egypt, and by using a strange and impressive route coated in Genesis 39-41, he became 2nd in control of the country.
during this duration, Judah had some awkward complications of his own. certainly one of his sons died, leaving a spouse who needed to marry one of Judah's different sons so she would have a son and someone to support her (Genesis 38:6-7). That son died and Judah delay marrying Tamar to his third son (Genesis 38:11-12), so Tamar took her own measures. Seducing Judah in hide, she had a son when Judah realized what had took place, he admitted he had helped created the situation (Genesis 38:26).
When a famine took location, Joseph's brothers aside from Benjamin went to Egypt to buy food and met Joseph with out recognizing him. Genesis 42-forty five describes how Joseph reacted negatively to his brothers originally, validated them in a variety of approaches, and finally published himself to them.
With Joseph's position in Egypt, Jacob's brothers had been in a position to convey their families and Jacob to settle in Egypt (Genesis 45-46). earlier than leaving Canaan, Jacob obtained a imaginative and prescient from God telling him that in Egypt his household would develop into a great nation (Genesis 46:3-4). The sons of Jacob had been going to develop into greater than only a family unit.
What took place to the Tribes of the Sons of Jacob?After reuniting with Joseph in Egypt, each of the sons' families morphed into tribes. Joseph had two sons Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis forty eight:1), who created tribes of their own (Numbers 2:18-24). by way of the birth of Exodus 1, these descendants of the sons of Jacob had become a big inhabitants, and the Pharoah at the moment felt threatened with the aid of this and put them into slavery. Moses freed the tribes and introduced them out of Egypt (Exodus 5-15). At Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with the tribes (Exodus 19-31), which formally created the nation of Israel.
The formal advent of Israel resulted in alterations in one of the tribes' roles. The tribe of Levi grew to be monks (Numbers three), which meant that once the Israelites finally arrived in Canaan, they could not be landowners just like the different tribes (Joshua 13:33). Numbers 32 establishes that participants of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh didn't go into Canaan, staying on the different side of the Jordan River. The tribes have been at the start ruled by judges, however after Samuel, they asked for a king (1 Samuel 8). Three generations of kings (Saul, David, Solomon) followed. there were some rebellions, but standard, the tribes were fairly united around their king.
that all modified with Rehoboam, Solomon's son. 1 Kings 12 explains how Rehoboam's son's actions led to the entire tribes determined within the northern side of Israel rebelling. These tribes (now pointed out because the nation of Israel) deploy Jeroboam as their king, as changed into prophesied in Solomon's time (1 Kings eleven:26-40). The tribes of Benjamin and Judah were left to Rehoboam and have become wide-spread as the nation of Judah.
while the countries of Judah and Israel each lasted, they each fell into repeating patterns of sin which ended in judgment. Most of 1 and 2 Kings may also be described as experiences about how all over one king's reign, the people again to worshipping God and got rid of pagan idols and sinful practices, then the next technology lower back to those sins. lots of the historical testomony books of prophets describe prophets whose main job gave the impression to be calling out this wickedness (and infrequently as no longer, being disregarded or punished for it).
ultimately, this sin resulted in God removing his desire and subsequent invasions for each nations. all through the reign of Hoshea, Assyria invaded the nation of Israel and demanded tribute (2 Kings 17:three). After Hoshea tried to combat lower back with help from Egypt, Assyria invaded Israel and had all its citizens deported to Assyria (2 Kings 17:5-6). The writer goes at size to describe how this terrible destiny happened since the individuals of Israel "worshipped other gods" (2 Kings 17:7), rejected God, and quite a few warnings. The section ends through asserting the americans of Israel had been nonetheless in Assyria "to this day" (2 Kings 17:23), which may additionally point out they not ever returned domestic. through the years, a lot of religious corporations and researchers have mentioned what came about to those 10 tribes and the place their descendants are today.
2 Kings 24 describes how within the reign of Jehoiachin, Babylon gave a similar remedy to the nation of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, Jehoiachin's uncle Mattaniah became renamed Zedekiah and put on the throne. Zedekiah rebelled, which led to yet another assault where the temple turned into destroyed, each person in Jerusalem was removed (2 Kings 25). Jeremiah 34-40 covers the identical story with more detail about how the kings in that length replied to prophecies. The e-book of Daniel describes the aftermath, what came about to a few of these exiles in Babylon. The booklet of Haggai describes how the nation of Judah returned to rebuild Jerusalem in the course of King Darius.
Why Is the number 12 so essential in the Bible?within the Bible, definite numbers come up repeatedly and are believed to have special meanings. Three (three individuals of the trinity, three patriarchs, Jesus telling Peter thrice to feed his sheep) and seven (seven days of creation) are both linked to completion, some thing first rate and holy.
12 also recurs throughout the Bible. There are 12 sons of Jacob, 12 minor prophet books, 12 disciples in Jesus' internal circle. The number also elements heavily in Revelation, from a tree of existence with 12 branches (Revelation 22) to a metropolis with 12 gates (Revelation 21). Like seven and three, there's a sense crowning glory here, but also one in every of holy authority and perfection.
What will we study from the Sons of Jacob?We need to soak up our own faith. It's clear from the experiences that although Jacob's sons got here from a particularly blessed family, they made exceptionally sinful decisions. some of this may well be because of Jacob no longer all the time being the top-rated father—he did go out of his way to choose Joseph, and having assorted children by using ladies (together with several concubines) appears like a recipe for infighting. still, aside from Joseph and Judah becoming wiser and more repentant as they aged, there's little evidence that the sons followed God as intently as their father or ancestors had. families may also get hold of advantages as a result of a person's service to God, but in the end every friend has to make a decision whether they are going to observe God or not. Familial blessing is not any ensure that we'll get a free pass for our terrible selections.
be cautious the way you treat your little ones. As mentioned above, Jacob's parenting choices were not always clever. a few scholars who specialise in middle jap cultures have cited how Jacob giving Joseph a many-coloured coat wasn't just a nice gesture: it indicated succession. He turned into making a public remark that Joseph (his 2d youngest son by way of his 2d marriage) would inherit his estate. This supposed Joseph would get Reuben's firstborn inheritance and his brothers would must observe Joseph because the patriarch of their collective family. whereas selling Joseph into slavery wasn't an acceptable response, the sibling contention became triggered by means of Jacob flaunting his favoritism.
Be cautious of conceitedness. In gentle of how his father was obviously favoring him, Joseph's choice to tell his brothers about his dreams wasn't wise. The reality he told his brothers first before getting his father's reaction and counsel (Genesis 37:10-eleven) suggests he became flaunting the assistance at them. A haughty spirit does really go earlier than a fall.
There remains time to trade. It's interesting that after Joseph hints his brothers in Egypt and threatens to preserve Benjamin there as a captive, Judah is the one who seeks mercy (Genesis forty four:18-34). considering the fact that Judah had made some silly and selfish decisions with Tamar, this suggests growth. Joseph himself, after at the start being angry, forgave his brothers and reiterated his forgiveness years later (Genesis 50:14-21). decisions do have penalties and it may possibly take time to heal from the injuries, however even when it looks unattainable, there's room to reconcile.
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G. Connor is a freelance author and journalist, with a Bachelor of Science in knowledgeable Writing from Taylor college. He has contributed over 600 articles to quite a lot of publications, including interviews for Christian Communicator and e-book stories for The Evangelical Church Library affiliation. discover extra about his work here.
this article is a part of our people from the Bible sequence that includes probably the most usual old names and figures from Scripture. we have compiled these articles to support you analyze those whom God selected to set before us as examples in His be aware. can also their lives and walks with God reinforce your faith and inspire your soul.
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