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Well now, it's good to see you here this evening, and I feel comforted when I remember that I warned you straightly last week that tonight there would be very little other than hard work. We remember, of course, do we not, the two biblical exhortations and statements. The one by the Apostle Paul, that if a man work not, neither shall he eat. And that applied to the physical realm, and we have learned the truth of it by hard experience. But then we remember that our Lord applied that same rule to the spiritual realm and said, labor hard, not for the meat that perisheth, but labor hard, work hard for the meat that endureth. Of course, we are all good Christian men and women, and so we give thanks for our daily bread, even though we've worked hard for it. We recognize that it's God that has given us our bread and butter. The fact that God gives it to us doesn't mean that it falls down out of heaven, already processed onto our plate, cellophane wrapped, and all we have to do is to take the wrapper off and eat it. No, God gives it, but we have to work for it. And so it is with our spiritual bread. God gives it, of course. But then we have to work for it. There are, as you know, and the gentleman will know this by good experience, there are all kinds of meals. There are those quick snacks, you know, into the pantry, tin of sardines, open the lid, and there in half a second you have the meal already prepared, another half minute and it's eaten, and what a lot of time it saves you to do other more important things. But then there are those other gorgeous meals, plum puddings and things, and you'd be mistaken to suppose that you can have a quick snack plum pudding. Of course you can't. You've got to start months before with orange peel and sugar and goodness knows what, and you've got to stir it and mix it and let it stand and coax it and persuade it and talk nicely to it and get out the Kenwood mixer, and goodness knows what else you have, and you can spare hours on this heap of stuff, and it still isn't ready to eat. And if anybody was so silly as to try and eat it, he would suffer indigestion forthwith, wouldn't he, and conclude that Christmas puddings were horrible things. No, you've got to work hard for days on end, and only at the end will you get something to satisfy your hunger and your taste. Thus it is with scripture, we can come for quick snacks. But there are other kinds of meals, and if we would, uh, appreciate the deeper things of God, we must be prepared to work hard and not demand instant results. Working hard in faith that if we work hard honestly at God's word, God will in the end, when it please him, honor our faith and show us the great treasures of his word. But it remains that if a man work not at this level, then he will not eat. So tonight, in that faith, we're going to do some hard work. And as I warned you last week, we're going to study this story of Joseph from the final part of the book of Genesis, and first of all, tonight, make ourselves a table of contents. It is comparatively easy, of course, and not unprofitable, to take the last chapters of Genesis and take from those chapters interesting stories here and there and apply them to our lives. And then the more difficult stories, well, conveniently to forget about them and pass them over and wonder why they're there, but never find out. This time we're going to try and look not only at the well-known parts, but the less well-known parts, and take the whole of the Word of God as it stands, and get it onto our minds. And then in subsequent weeks, perhaps by God's grace, as we think, the Holy Spirit will be able to show us the significance of these things. But he'll have a job to show us the significance of them, won't he, until we've got them well and truly onto our minds. So, if you would be so kind, let's work together now and make ourselves a rough table of contents of the large final passages of the book of Genesis. And you better keep your eye on me, and so perhaps you'd be wise to keep your eye on the scripture and follow down the scripture, eh, lest I do some cheating. Uh, uh, make sure that the little summaries I give you are really true to what scripture has got to say. And if you object, please shout, and your objection will be duly recorded, you'll see. Uh, uh, let's make sure that we get the facts right. And I want to start in chapter thirty six. The end of chapter thirty five, Isaac has died and gave up the ghost, says chapter thirty five, verse 29, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days, and Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him. With that, the fifth section of Genesis comes to its end. Death of Isaac, just like the fourth section had come to its end with the death of Abraham. And the section before that with the death of Noah. So now we start a new part of the book of Genesis in the chapter thirty six verse one. Now these are the generations of Esau. And we're told in the course of that his various wives and the children he begat, and an interesting little remark in chapter thirty six and verse uh six, and the end, and he went into a land away from his brother Jacob, and he went away into a land. Well, uh, there you are, away from his brother Jacob. And we'll let him go for the moment, shall we? That's Esau, you'll see. He fills the rest of the chapter, and we notice that from time to time we're told about his eminent citizens, dukes and princes. And for instance, in verse thirty one, these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. So shall we just remind ourselves of those facts when you're thinking of, uh, uh, Esau, you think of dukes, and you think of princes, and you think of kings. Sixpence. Reward, that is, for anybody who can tell me who was the most famous political king descended from Esau. Who? Amen. Herod. Yes, Herod the Great was an Idumean, as he's called in the New Testament, which simply means a descendant of Edom. He was a descendant of Esau, an Edomite, an Idumean, and he was king when Christ was born. And Genesis chapter thirty six and verse thirty one tells us these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. Edom had kings before Israel had kings. And Herod was king before Christ was king. Yes. But that's an interesting thing, and we leave it there for the moment, and we notice that at the end of the chapter, there's the end of those two things that are told us about, uh, Esau. And now chapter thirty seven begins, and Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings. So let's put where this was, thirty seven one. Thirty six one, sorry, that's thirty six one, isn't it? Now we come to thirty seven one. Let's call this section two, and it tells us Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings. In contrast to Master Esau, that, as you see, has departed, as the verse told us, he went away into a land away from his brother Jacob. Jacob, by contrast, stays put in the land. And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan. So does the story begin, and then goes on to tell us these are the generations of Jacob, Joseph being seventeen years old. And with this starts up the story of Joseph. Let's, uh, map out for ourselves the bits and pieces in the story of Joseph. Shall I just remind you of Joseph's dreams? And then how, uh, Joseph was sold. And then how the brethren took Joseph's coat. And how they tore it and dipped it in blood and brought the coat to their father, the false evidence. Huh? The coat dipped in blood. And at the end of that chapter, they said to the poor old man, verse thirty two, didn't they? They sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, this we have found. Know now, recognize now, discern now, whether it be thy son's coat or not. And he knew it and said, it is my son's coat. An evil beast hath devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces, and Jacob rent his garments and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days, and all his sons and his daughters, the old hypocrites, rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, for I will go down to the grave to my son mourning, and his father's father wept for him. False evidence, false deduction. Joseph wasn't dead, but he'd been supplied, had poor old Jacob with this coat torn and dipped in blood, and it looked so much like it, appealed to, to know it, to recognize it, to discern it. He did his best to read the evidence, came to the wrong deduction and tremendous sorrow. And there we shall have to leave, uh, poor old Joseph for the moment, can't we? Uh, because he was taken down to Egypt, and chapter thirty eight goes on to an absolutely different story. Instead of Joseph, it is Judah. It's a very curious story, because if Joseph went down to Egypt, Judah goes down from his brethren. Went off to an Adullamite. And what a curious story it is, not generally read in public and to be handled with all due delicacy, but there it is in God's word, and we mustn't pretend to be holier than God, may we? There is that, uh, lurid story about the harlot. But she wasn't really a harlot. She put on false clothes, didn't she? Dressed up to pretend she was a sacred cult prostitute. Such as in that part of the world, in those ancient times, at harvest time, there would be all set, uh, all, all, a whole array of ceremonies in honor of the god of corn and wine, celebrated by the Canaanites in that part of Palestine, and Judah had gone down to live amongst the Canaanites, if you please. And at that time of year, in honor of the god of fertility, there would be these women around about the place, the supposedly religious devotion. Horrible confusion, of course. But she had dressed up in that fashion, not an ordinary woman off the streets, but dressed up as if she were some religious Celtic figure. And Judah went to her, of course, and she wanted a pledge. And there was Judah, what a big man he was. Hey, what a, he wasn't half dressed up, he was at his sheep shearing, and he was feeling rich and like a grandee. He had got on, of course, his, uh, uh, coat, and he got his signet round him. It was probably a cylinder seal, as we call them, not a signet on his hand so much, but a cylinder seal. That was his mark as a big grandee. You had to be pretty posh and up in the world to have your own cylinder seal, you see? And that was hanging around a cord around his neck, and then he got his staff. What ho, can you see the chappie? Ooh, he was a great grandee, was Ju- Judah, all dressed up and a wealthy man with a bob or two to spare, going out on the town tonight. Ha. And this good woman said, well, uh, please, as a pledge, I want your signet and thy cord and the staff that is in thy hand. And there follows the story. When the good woman was found with child, and it was told Judah, your daughter-in-law's play- played the harlot. He said, bring her forth that she may be burned. And the good daughter-in-law Tamar sent the signet and the staff, and she said, discern now and look at the evidence, and pray will you tell me who they belong to. Oh. Discern now. Look at the evidence. Whatever is that story about? It'll make us scratch our heads, won't it? Anyway, there it is in scripture. And having told us that long story, then we come back to Joseph. And in the next big section from chapter, uh, uh thirty nine onwards... We better put old Judah's signet in, can't we? And his cord and his staff. Coo, he was a grandee. Well, anyway, now we come to a long part about Joseph once more. It fills chapters thirty nine, forty, and uh, one. And it's the story of Joseph. He went down to Egypt, now he's in Egypt. And there's the story of Potiphar's wife. And when Joseph tried to run away, she got a hold of his cloak. Hm. And then we're told, eh, you'll see, in chapter thirty nine, she kept the garment by her. And first she showed it to the servants, verse fourteen, spun her yarn. Verse sixteen, she laid up his garment by her until his master came home. Do you see? And then, of course, she showed it to her husband. And Evidence? evidence. And Partofer makes false deduction, doesn't he? Well, you say it did look rather queer, didn't it? The evidence did look overwhelming. Well, yes, perhaps it did. But the deduction he made was wrong. So Joseph went down to prison. You'll see. And there the butler and the baker had dreams. And Joseph interprets the dreams, both of the prisoners, and then, as you remember the story, Pharaoh had dreams, and Joseph was summoned out of the prison to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, chapter forty one, and to suggest a course of action for saving Egypt from the famine that was about to descend upon them. Mm. Whereupon Pharaoh was so impressed, just look what he did in chapter forty one and verse forty one forty two. Pharaoh's signet. And the, uh, uh, in the English here, uh, vesture of Of fine. fine linen. In other words, his robes. And leads to Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Well, that's very good. Let's, uh, persevere, carry on. There are lots of other details in those stories, and you may conclude presently that I've left out the most important ones, but that's some of them, isn't it? And what is the story now? Well, chapter forty two, verse one. Now, Jacob saw there was corn in Egypt. That's what chapter forty two verse one says, doesn't it? Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt. Oh, well, we started off with Jacob. And now we've come to the end of that sequence of stories. Now here we come again. Now Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt. And you get first, A, the first expedition. Expedition. When Jacob sends his sons down to Egypt to buy them corn, because the famine is beginning to hit them hard in Canaan. So chapter forty two, Jacob hears there's corn in Egypt, sends his sons on that first expedition to get corn. And you remember the story as it comes to its climax. Joseph keeps Simeon behind in prison and sends the rest of the brethren back and says, now look here, you're a lot of old spies. Now I'm going to prove you. You say you've got a father and you've got a younger brother at home. All right, if you're genuine men, I want you to go back and bring your younger brother, Ben, or whatever he is, bring your young brother to me. And unless you come down again and bring your young brother with you, you're not going to get any more corn. And I'm going to take Simeon and put him in prison and keep Simeon here, a pledge and a hostage that you'll come back again and bring your young brother. So here go his brothers back to their father, and they're sizably upset. And when they come to their father, look at the climax of that first ex- e- expedition, chapter forty two and verse thirty six. And Jacob their father said unto them, Me you have bereaved of my children. Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you will take Benjamin away, away. All these things are against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee, deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If mischief befall him by the way in which he go, then you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. The climax leads to Jacob. And Jacob says, uh, Jacob says, query, take Benjamin? Never. Hmm. Sounds as if it's Jacob's story, doesn't it really? And then there's B, the second expedition. And what happened there? Well, you know the long, long story, and I'm not going to repeat the details now. Let's cut a few corners a bit, but it too came to its climax, didn't it? When they were all sent home with their sacks, but Joseph had had his cup put in Benjamin's sack. And then when the brothers were on the road, Joseph sent his officer after them and said, what do you think you're doing? How is it you've treated my Lord like this? Who is it that's stolen my cup? Why have you stolen my cup? And they said, of course not, nobody here has stolen your cup. They said, you have. Well, they said, no, you search the lot, and if the cup is found in anybody's sack, then let him be, uh, uh, pay the penalty. And of course, the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. So all the brothers went back, and Judah pleaded with Joseph. Climax, Judah pleads. To be allowed to be substitute. Why does he want to be substitute? Well, you see, he says, this is chapter forty four. Do you see? Chapter forty four? and he's telling Joseph what happened. Our father said, verse twenty five, go again and buy us a little food. And we said, we cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with us, then we will go down, for we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant, my father, said, ye know that my wife bear me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, surely he is torn in pieces, and I have not seen him since. And if you take this one also from me, and mischief befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, says Judah, when I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, it shall come to pass when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die, and thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our father with sorrow to the grave, for Jacob's sake. Lest Jacob die of sorrow. Judah is prepared to be substitute for Jacob's sake. And then three, the very big climax of the story, Joseph made known to his brethren. What touching scenes there are there. We'll have to think about them on another occasion. Ah, and then when he's made known to his brethren, Joseph sends for his father. And Pharaoh helps and gives them a lot of wagons to send to bring his father and all his family down to, uh, Egypt. So at last, says chapter forty six as it comes to his end, verse twenty five, they, that is the brothers, went up out of Egypt, and they came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt, and his heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said unto them, but they'd come with their stories before, hadn't they? They'd come with a... with a coat. And it had seemed overwhelming evidence. And when Jacob had seen the coat, he said, well, there's nothing for it. My poor Joseph has been torn to pieces and eaten by some wild animal. And I shall go down to the grave in sorrow. And now these lads coming with this other story that Joseph was still alive. And then the brothers produced the wagons, mighty great Mercedes-Benz wagons. Evidence. Hmm. And this time the poor old boy sees the evidence, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. Oh, how near he had come to the grave, hadn't he? By the sheer shock and the sorrow of it all. But when he saw the evidence, then said he, it is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive, I will go and see him before I die. Oh, what a story that's been. You know, it does begin to look as if you've misled me a bit. You gave me to think that this last part of Genesis was the story of Joseph. Ain't really the story of Joseph, is it? It's the story of Jacob. How Jacob dwelt in the land. Nothing now would budge him. Old Esau might go off, but Jacob dwelt in the land. And how the brothers hated Joseph, and they sold him, and they brought the evidence to Jacob, and Jacob was asked, discern now, read the evidence, and decided that Joseph had been killed. How Joseph went down to Egypt, down into the prison, how he was exalted and came up, well, that's a big story. And then how the famine came, and Jacob saw there was corn in Egypt and sent his sons after it. Oh, what muddles they got into, till at last you come to the climax, and the false evidence is undone by the true evidence. He discovers, to his amazement and joy, that Joseph is still alive, and here is incontrovertible evidence, and he's going to see Joseph before he dies, and off he goes down into Egypt. It is the great story of Jacob, isn't it? Ah, well, let's be good boys and girls and complete our table of contents before we get tempted to sermonize too much. Sermons may be reserved for another occasion, mayn't they? So, but anyway, that's a tremendous climax, that bit, isn't it? So what happens now? Let's call this one, if this is section three, let's call this one four. And what will four be about? Well, let's have a notice, let's have a look, see how it starts. Four starts in chapter forty six and verse one. And Israel took Took his his journey, that is down to Egypt. Do you see how this story is about Jacob, Israel, if you like, call him that. Yes, and first of all, he comes down to, um, Beersheba. Or if you like, the grand pronunciation, Beersheba. The well of the oath, and God appears to him. Well of oath is what the thing means. God appears to him. I will go down with thee. I will go down with thee and will bring thee up again. And it follows by the names of sons and children. And there is B. What is B about? Oh, it's about Judah sent in front to Joseph. Isn't it? The climax. Jacob, if you please, blesses Pharaoh. Just you think of it. Without controversy, you know, the less is blessed by the greater, says scripture. And we're coming to some almighty climaxes now, aren't we? Where Jacob, after all his wanderings and his sorrows, reaches the pinnacle of his career when he is introduced into the presence of the Pharaoh, the greatest monarch in all the earth in those ancient times. And if you please, Jacob comes in, and he doesn't wait for His Majesty to stretch out his hand like you should if you go to His Majesty, you say, you should let him offer to shake hands with you. No, no, Jacob doesn't. Jacob comes into the presence of the greatest monarch in all the earth, raises his own hands and puts them on Pharaoh's head, and Jacob, if you please, blesses Pharaoh, the less being blessed by the greater. Jacob at the supreme pinnacle of his career, the greatest man in the then known world, blessing Pharaoh. And on what grounds and why did Jacob take it upon himself to bless Pharaoh, if you please? That's a big story, isn't it? Well, when God promised originally, I will bless thee and make thy name great. Oh, Jacob hadn't realized, he hadn't got a clue, had he, when he was pushing those deals with Esau and, and pulling a fast one on Laban and stacking up a little nutmeg to bribe a few officials. Hadn't got a clue in his head the real greatness that God was preparing for him. But he came to it at last. What a climax. And you know, if one were tempted to sermonize, we have our little ideas of the promises of God, haven't we? But when at last we see them fulfilled, and the almost indescribable dignity that God has in store for you, and the greatness of it, my good man, my good woman, do you know one of these days you'll rule angels. And be joint heir with Christ, who is head over all things to the church, every principality, power, might, and dominion, and you'll be with him over them all. Cool, that looks make some of those tiny little silly things we get up to nowadays, doesn't it, look a bit silly and mean. Oh, well, I'm sermonizing, mustn't do that. We were making a table of contents before we left off. And then it comes to C. And that's the story of Joseph's treatment Treatment of of, uh, his brothers, of course, of Egyptians and Israelites. And I think the Israelites got the best of the deal. Now we'll leave that to another occasion. Do you see? Well, that was very good. So that's brought us now to, uh, the chapter forty seven and verse twenty seven. Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they gat them possessions therein and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. And with that we come to five, don't we? And five uh, begins in chapter forty seven, verse twenty eight. m And how, please, does it begin? Why, like this. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt. Lived in Egypt. Thought you told me this was a story about Joseph. Ain't really, is it? Story about Jacob. So here he comes down to Egypt, and now he's going to live in Egypt, and various things are told us of what he did down there. A, takes oath of Joseph. Don't bury me in In Egypt. Egypt. Yes. But take me up to take two graves of my fathers. B. Well, now he pronounces the blessings on Ephraim and Manasseh, then on twelve sons, and of course the ones among the twelve sons that get the biggest mention are Judah and Joseph. And then finally, C, Jacob dies, taken to Canaan. And buried there by Joseph and his servants and Joseph's brothers. And when Jacob is dead, where have we got to now? Well, you see, we've got to, um, chapter fifty, verse thirteen. So we're not going to hear any more about Jacob. He's dead now. And how much more of Genesis have you got? Well, not very much, have you? Because when Genesis has stopped talking about Jo- Jacob, there isn't much more to be said. This last section is Jacob's story. There is one little bit left. Shall we call it section six? Joseph returned to Egypt. One and two, Joseph and his brothers. Joseph Joseph. dies. Excuse the writing. And now it's time to go home. And you go on, tell us what it's all about. Well, no, this is one of the early stages in the cookery, where we've been collecting the currants and the flour and the orange peel and the sugar and the mixing bowl. At least we've got them all out there laid out ready to begin, haven't we? And this is what we've got to cope with. Yes. Like you, if you would, to do some homework for next week. If you would be so kind to help me. If I first of all just spend two seconds pointing out what I said now many times. I'm going to suggest to you, on the basis of our table of contents, that when we look at this story, it is the story of Jacob. The story of a father and his children. You see, in this, the last section of Genesis is different from the other sections, isn't it? In the story about Abram, Abram had two sons, one was Ishmael and one was Isaac, but Ishmael was no good, he had to be put aside, and the line ran through Isaac. And Isaac had two sons, when you come to the story of Isaac, and the one's name was Esau and the other name was Jacob, and Esau wasn't any good and he had to be put aside, and the line ran through Jacob. But when you come at last to Jacob's story, as you do here, Jacob didn't have just two sons, he had twelve sons. And it wasn't the question of one being no good and the other one being the good one and the line going through him. No, he had twelve sons. They were all heads of the tribes of what eventually was to be the nation of Israel. Well, now we've entered a very interesting thing. From being single patriarchs, with a single line going through, we've arrived at Jacob, whom God has transformed into Israel. Head of the nation. Now he has twelve sons. They're going to be the fathers of the twelve tribes. And Jacob remains as the father of the nation, of those boys and their early experiences, and how they were going to be welded into a nation, and how would they get on with each other. And oh, what heartaches those boys caused their father. As in those early stages, God began to deal with those men, to weld them together as a nation. Which nation would be unique in all the nations of the earth. And rule and reign for God. What a story it was. And how they got on with one another, and how they split, and then how they were reconciled, and all that Jacob went through, or shall I say, all that Israel went through. Because of the different movements and currents and opinions and ambitions within the nation, that at one stage threatened to destroy the nation completely through its own internal strife. But eventually, how God brought them through and welded them together, yes? The story of Jacob. And how here, Jacob, who dwelt in the land, came down at last to Egypt. Taking the momentous decision, he came down to Egypt, but how eventually, of course, he returned to Canaan. The fortunes of the nation of Israel in their first beginnings. And if as you look at the first beginnings, you find it has all sorts of sort of prophetic insights into the future, well, then that's not my fault, that's the fault of Genesis. But it's the story of Jacob. Little homework. We shall have to take these slowly, shouldn't we? So that for next week... I wonder, would you be prepared to study that first section? And be ready to tell us when you come what you make of it. That curious story number B. You say, well, that's better not read in public. All right, but what is that there for? What's it got to do with anything? Are there any things that you read in this story here that are very similar to this story? Can you see any similarities between story B and story A? Can you see any similarities between story A and story C? In other words, are they a connected set of stories? What's all this business about dreams and clothes and calling on people to recognize evidence. What is it all about? Oh, I would be ever so grateful if between now and next Thursday, God willing, you could read again those stories and ask yourself, are they a connected whole? And be ready to tell us, perhaps, what story B has got to do with the other stories in that group.