2019, February 24 ~ Genesis 45:3-11, 15 and 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Genesis 45:3-11, 15

Today’s reading is near the conclusion of the story of Joseph, the longest continuous story about a single person in the Bible (Chapters 37 to 50 in the Book of Genesis).

Joseph was the 11th son of Jacob and he and Benjamin, the 12th son, were Jacob’s favorites. His 10 older brothers were jealous of him and threw him in a pit to die. At the suggestion of Judah (the fourth son), Joseph’s life was spared and he was sold into slavery to Ishmaelites (descendants of Abraham’s son by Hagar) and taken to Egypt by Midianites. There, he was sold to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh, who put him in charge of his house.

Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph. When Joseph refused her, she falsely accused him of rape and Joseph was imprisoned. When in prison, Joseph interpreted dreams for the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker. Later, Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and Pharaoh placed Joseph in charge of the affairs of the nation. Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams was accurate and Egypt prepared for (and survived) a famine.

The famine also hit Israel, and Jacob sent his 10 oldest sons to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph did not identify himself to them. Later, when grain ran out again for Jacob and his sons, they went back to Egypt to buy grain. As demanded by Joseph in the first visit, they brought Jacob’s youngest son, Benjamin, with them.

Joseph directed that his silver cup be hidden in Benjamin’s sack of grain, and then accused the brothers of stealing his silver cup. He demanded that Benjamin remain in Egypt as his slave.

Judah knew this would break Jacob’s heart, and agreed to be Joseph’s slave if Joseph would spare Benjamin. Judah’s selflessness showed he was a true brother to Benjamin and his other brothers.

Hearing this affirmation of brotherhood, Joseph identified himself to his brothers in today’s emotional reading. In the reading, he attributed all of the events of his life (including his being sold into slavery) as actions directed by God.

The Joseph Story came from two different sources. This is shown by the references in Chapter 37 to both Ishmaelites and Midianites, and the references to God both as YHWH (translated as LORD in all capital letters) in Chapter 39 and in 49:18, and as “Elohim” (translated as “God”) in the remaining chapters.

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

Corinth, a large port city in Greece, was among the early Jesus Follower communities that Paul founded. Its culture was diverse and Hellenistic. Corinthians emphasized reason and secular wisdom. In addition to Paul, other Jesus Followers taught in Corinth, sometimes in ways inconsistent with Paul’s understandings of what it meant to be a Jesus Follower. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was written in the 50’s (CE) and presented his views on many issues that were controversial in this Jesus Follower Community.

Today’s reading continues Paul’s extended discussion of the “resurrection of the dead.” The Corinthians were Hellenists who generally accepted the Platonic division between the body and the “immortal soul.” Paul used the words “resurrection of the dead” to encompass the entirety of resurrection.

Paul asserted that there is both a “physical body” that will perish when it is “sown” like a grain of wheat (v.37), and a “spiritual body” when it is raised (v.44). To make this clear, Paul stated that Adam was a “man of dust” and that when persons are resurrected, they bear “the image of the man of heaven” (v.49).