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CR18Day_19 @ nkjv@Genesis:37 @ RandyP comments: "But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him". Was Joseph set up by Jacob's outwardly expression of love to suffer what he later suffered at the hands of his brothers? I have heard many sermons on Father's Day say as much. I think it better to say rather that the brother's propensity towards utter hatred is the prominent consideration. A father cannot always anticipate how his children are going to react. A father cannot always contain his love for one particular child for the sake of those children he certainly loves but not as easily. A father may not even be aware of there being a problem unless the wife or else one of the other children make him aware of it. A father cannot be held responsible for the way his other children react to an outward expression of love especially when it comes to them either leaving as dead or selling that more beloved child into slavery. That occurrence is not the result of child rearing, that occurrence is a result of some very ungodly anger deeply rooted among the brethren. Later on it will be said by Joseph "what you meant toward me for evil" meaning Joseph did not blame Jacob, no, the brothers were directly responsible for this. But, even then he said "God meant it for good". God did not cause this, God simply allowed it to happen so that HIS good might restored (we'll explore that further as the story is recounted). Jacob's love did not cause this. Hatred caused this and surely that hatred existed long before there was a multi-colored coat weaved and given by one God fearing and loving man. Perhaps these preachers should not be so hard on Jacob on a day meant to honor our many Jacob like fathers.

CR18Day_20 @ nkjv@Genesis:39 @ RandyP comments: "But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy". It is a popular notion that the Lord's blessing brings nothing but good, it is not of the Lord if it brings bad. Being largely superficial we see that on the surface that it doesn't look good for Joseph; sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, imprisoned, forgotten. If this is what being righteous brings, why consider being righteous then? On the other hand, looking deeper we see that the Lord truly is with Joseph raising him to the top each and every time. Other people could see that the Lord was with Joseph, they trusted him so much with their businesses that they themselves didn't even know what business was being done; yet they prospered like at no other time. The question as we would have it becomes why then should other people prosper when the righteous man remains a slave? This friends is often the dividing point between the mind set of a righteous man from a not so righteous man: the righteous will continue trusting and serving the Lord regardless of/with little consideration of what it will mean to himself, the not so righteous will do so only when it means a foreseeable good unto himself. One such person should ask how righteous being not so righteous really is.

CR18Day_27 @ nkjv@Genesis:49 @ RandyP comments: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." It is often speculated as to how much the bible patriarchs knew about God's plan of redemption as we now know it, what had been passed down, what had been further revealed to them, what they actually believed? Here we have a statement by Jacob that many would suggest is his belief in a coming Messiah: Shiloh; others would say a coming peace/nation. Where would Jacob have gotten that if to mean a Messiah? This would come from the initial statement of God after the fall when HE promised Eve a "Seed" that would crush the Serpent's head. Could this Seed mean the nation Israel (that the nation one day would crush Satan)? Note that as Jacob is in the act of blessing his son upon his death bed he is revealing some not so complimentary things about each son's future progeny, even Judah's (scepter ruling "until" the coming of Shiloh). Note that all son's but Benjamin (due to age) rebelled against the love of their father and his beloved Joseph by falsifying his death and selling him into slavery. Note that Judah's rule ended during the Maccabees into the Herod kings (who were not from Judah) immediately precedes the time of Jesus. The utter destruction of the Temple and consequential total dispersion of Jerusalem left impossible any chance of Judah's reign picking back up even into today. Messiah is either Jesus of Nazareth (or someone during that same time) or else Jacob lied. How much did Jacob know? Quite a bit actually. Now so do each of his sons and son's families.