Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. I am so low as a right now. In fact, as I record this right. As I record this, uh, our students and their leaders and pastor, rod. Our pilot and cars, and they're driving down to blooming Grove for the winter revival edition. Um, the, the winter. Uh, youth retreat. So, uh, pray for them. Pray. Uh, right now. You're listening to this. I would even encourage you, maybe press pause on this and stop and pray for this weekend for them. It's going to be Friday as you're hearing this. So this is day two for them technically their first full day, though. And pastor rod has some great messages, great teaching prepared on students in technology. And that is such an evergreen subject and topic as technology has a. Larger and larger presence and footprint in our lives and certainly in the lives of our young people. So he's going to be helping them understand. Uh, biblically, how do we approach this? What do we do with this technology is not going to go away. And so we can say, man, I wish. It wasn't this way. I wish we didn't have this. I wish we didn't have that. And yet the reality is it's it's not going away anytime soon. And so as Christians, we need to learn to live. With technology in such a way that we are good stewards of it, that technology doesn't master us. It doesn't enslave us, but that we use it as a tool. Or a resource, uh, to better serve the Lord. And so that's some of the focus this weekend that pastor rod is going to be driving home with the students, a couple of things to pray for, uh, pray for their time in small groups. Uh, pray that the discussions will be profitable and helpful. Pray for the attention span of the students. Especially as they're coming in on Saturday and the weekend we'll have caught up to them by then. They're going to be tired, pray that they will focus, that they will pay attention, that they will listen. Well, Uh, to what pastor rod has to say from the word of God. Uh, pray that these things are, are clear from the scriptures as pastor rod teaches on this subject. Uh, obviously you're not going to find a Paul saying, this is how you should use your phone anywhere in the Bible, but the principles are there. So pray that the connections are easily made and that the students see those connections from scripture. And pray for them to respond and to apply what they learn. Not just to let this be a weekend where they come home saying, yeah, it was fun. And we had a good time with friends and the content was good. And I feel like I know more, but, but pray that they would actually act on what they hear and act on what they learned this weekend. And then. Uh, last thing I would encourage you to pray for is not all of these students that are going on this retreat are, are believers. And so pray that pastor rod will be able to take a subject like how we interact with technology and connect it to the gospel. I know that's on his heart this weekend. And so pray that he would be able to make that connection smoothly and that it would be evident in the hearing of the students in that those that are not yet saved. I would even be able to take a retreat on something like how to engage technology, you know, a proper way. And, uh, perhaps come to faith as a result of this weekend's retreat. So those are some things to be praying for even again right now, push, pause on this, go and pray. Pray for them. Pray for pastor, rod, pray for the leaders, pray for energy, pray for safety, all the things you'd normally pray for, and then pray for those points as well. And then come back in and we'll pick back up. In fact, we'll do that right now with Genesis 35 through 37. Uh, Genesis 35, 30, 37. We are continuing the story obviously of Jacob. And yet there's a couple other players that come into the scene here in these chapters, but, uh, 35 verse first 15 verses of chapter 35, all about confirmation. Jacob is told to go to Bethel and you'll remember Bethel is the place where God at first appeared to him with the ladder and the angels. Uh, Ascending and descending on the ladder there. And so they're back there. He goes back to Bethel and this time God appears to him again and confirms the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. And again, the changing of his name from Jacob to Israel, Israel then confirms that yes, Bethel is named appropriately. Jacob does Israel, Jacob one in the same person, uh, Israel, Jacob now confirms that Bethel is indeed named appropriately for this was the second time that God revealed himself to him in that place. Bethel meaning. Again, Uh, the house of God. And so the covenant renewal here with Jacob, the reconfirmation of things, again, the name changes emphasized again, even the, the, uh, the commandments, the creation mandate that shows up again, be fruitful and multiply. Uh, that has to do more with his future descendants than with his own children. And so there's the creation mandate be fruitful and multiply, but this is more about the nation that's going to come from Jacob than it is his own. Offspring there. And, uh, and so first 15 verses re reaffirmation confirm confirmation confirming that indeed. Uh, the covenant is in place that, that God had chosen. Jacob chosen Israel, and his name was now going to be Israel, which remember means God fights. And God was going to continue to fight on behalf of his people and do great things through the nation. Chapter 35 then verses 16 through 29. In this section, uh, Rachel and Isaac, both dime. And so that this is a bit of a, a low point, although there's a silver lining. Even in the death of Rachel in that, uh, Benjamin is born. So as Rachel is dying, she is at the same time giving birth to Benjamin and. So Benjamin is, is born and Jacob calls him Benjamin, even though Rachel wanted to call him Ben Oni, uh, Ben Oni was a name that meant if you look at the footnote there, the ESV son of my sorrow or son of my strength either way, but. Uh, Jacob, his father instead. Chooses to call him Benjamin son of the right hand, the right hand being the position of honor. And so, uh, Benjamin is a. As a special child to, to Isaac or to Isaac, to. Israel to, to Jacob. And we're going to see that later on, um, in the story of Joseph, but Benjamin is the final son. Uh, that Jacob's slash Israel has borne to him by Rachel his beloved wife, uh, Rachel's children that she herself born to. Uh, to Israel would have been, uh, Joseph first and then Benjamin second. And so Rachel dies and then the other one that dies in this section is Isaac. Uh, Jacob's dad. He dies. And he dies, not tragically in a situation prematurely, as it appears that Rachel had, but he dies of old age and he dies at 180 years old. Something else that happens in this section, that's probably worth just pointing out here. You've got a, just a strange. Interaction here where Ruben goes off in and. Um, Is is with bill. Hi, if I can just keep it again. PG here with bill hall, his father's concubine, and this is a strange scene and you might think, okay, what what's going on here? Uh, one commentator suggested this and I think it's, it's possible. That, uh, bill ha as Rachel's, um, maid servant, uh, she would have been next in line perhaps as the favored wife in. Uh, in, in Israel's. Uh, perspective here. So you remember Israel, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. Well, Rubin, who does this act? This a moral act, this wrong act. He was the son of Leah. And so he possibly could be looking out for his mom by doing this to try to make sure that bill hall was not going to take. Rachel's places, the favored wife, because of her connection there to Rachel, maybe that's a little bit of a stretch either way. It's not a good situation. It's not a good thing that happens, but it does happen. It is recorded here. That's something that, that Ruben does. And. And again, I think we're starting to see why Reuben and Simeon are both, uh, passed over in terms of the, the, the promise line here and the lineage that, that Jude is really going to be the one that, that, and not the Judah is great in and of himself, but. Uh, certainly these are not great moves by Rubin here. And then we'll see Simeon later on. Chapter 36 then as we get into this, this provides a deep dive. For us into something that I know you've been curious about, and that is Esau's descendants. I know you've been sitting here saying yes, but what about the children of ISA? I want to know all about them. Well, if that's you. Uh, you are unique and here's your chapter. Chapter 36 is the deep dive of the descendants of Esau. But there are a couple of things to take note of here, even as we go through this and we think to ourselves, okay, this is a lot of names. And what does this mean? Oh, holy Bama. Uh, I think that verse five, who is holy Bama and At Cora, there's a lot of names here and I don't know what this is all about. Couple things to note. Look at verse eight, verse eight is significant. So Esau settled in the hill country of sear. And then it says Esau is Edam. Okay. Esau settled in the hill country of Sierra Esau is eat them. Eat them should be a name that rings a bell for you because later on in the new Testament or in the old Testament, rather, we are going to encounter a lot to do with the Edomites and the Edomites are not going to be necessarily. Pro or friendly to Israel. Now we've heard that a lot. Haven't we, this descendant had these, this people, the Amalekites. The Amorites. All these EITs that are coming out of all of these offspring of other of other people loosely connected to the central figures in the Bible here. Again, we see a situation where that's the case. Aesop becomes the father of the Edomites verse eight. The Edomites are going to be another thorn in Israel side. Uh, you'll look at verse 12. Talk about that again. Esau's grandson is amyloid now. Amylah is going to become the father of the Amalekites. The Amalekites are going to be another people group that cause problems for Israel down the road. And then if you jump all the way down to Genesis 36 31. Uh, we find out that there are Kings that come from Edam long before there are any Kings that come from. Uh, Israel. So Esau his line produces Kings before Jacob's line produces Kings. That's just something that's of note here. Now these are not Kings. Uh, in terms of being Kings of God's people. But they are foreign Kings they're pagan Kings they're Gentile Kings that end up ruling in the land. Even long before any of the Israelite Kings come to the throne. So there you go. Eastlands descendants in chapter 36. All right. Chapter 37, we get to one of the brighter spots in the Genesis account. And that is the life of Joseph. Uh, the life of Joseph and yet the life of Joseph doesn't necessarily start out spectacularly. Uh, Joseph comes on the scene and. Uh, Joseph is the loved son of Israel in. Again, why? Because he was born in the first born of Rachel and Rachel was the beloved wife. And so Joseph had a special spot. In Israel and Jacobs, a purview in, in his underwear, in his eye, he loved Joseph and there was a unique love for him and probably favored him. Uh, wrongfully so and recognize him, gave him a coat of many colors and it provoked jealousy in the life of his brothers. And Joseph doesn't do a whole lot to help himself out here in the opening of chapter 37. He begins to tell his brothers about, Hey, I had a couple of dreams here. Let me share my dreams with you. And. Uh, you know, these dreams are dreams that. We'll come to fruition. We're going to see that down the road as we study the life in the account of Joseph, but. Probably would have been the better part of wisdom for Joseph not to open up an and talk about this with his brothers, not to say, Hey, I had this dream and you guys were all bowing down to me. How cool is that? And then. He even has another dream that he tells about his father and. Here's the, the dream that I had, uh, that, you know, the sun and the stars and everything else that they bowed down to me as well. And it even leads his father to rebuke him in verse 10. What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I? And your mother and your brothers and deed come and bow ourselves to you before the ground. And so Jacob there rebukes him now, here's, what's interesting. And this may raise some questions and, and it gets a little bit messy. And sometimes this is where the chronology of things in Genesis caused us to scratch our heads a little bit. Uh, Jacob or Israel here references the mother of Joseph. Well, we just read. In chapter 35, where Israel's wife, Rachel, who was the mother of Joseph has, has died. And so is this backing up? Is this, uh, predating that, or is this just a general reference, maybe? Uh it's as though bill hall or Leah became his adopted mother at this point in. And was standing in as the figurehead there. That's another suggestion here, or is this chronologically been arranged in some different way? Uh, to show up at the end of the book here as, as a point of emphasis of God's sovereign protection and preservation of his people through the life of Joseph. I don't know that we can land securely there, but it is interesting when we know the detail like that. When he says show I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and bow ourselves down to you. Well, Who is the mother there? Is it Rachel again? Is this chronologically out of order or is this. Leah or bill hot or somebody that was an adopted mother for Joseph. We don't know, but. Joseph doesn't necessarily start well here because, uh, they, it says there in verse 11, his brothers are jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mine. So he's provoking things. And that's where the rest of the chapter dues verses 12 through 36 familiar story. If you grew up in the church, you saw this acted out on the felt boards, or you saw it acted out in VeggieTales maybe. I don't know if VeggieTales has one on this. Maybe it does, but. Um, if it does, then, then you guys will I'm sure. Let me know. Otherwise. They should have, right. This would have been an interesting one anyways, that you've got the Joseph's brothers hatching, a plot to kill him. And that's what they want to do initially. But they eventually decide with some dissuasion actually from Rubin of all people, Ruben, the guy that was just not doing great things here. He. Is trying to kind of move to, to spare his brother and whatever, whatever his motives were. Maybe he wanted to be recognized by his dad more. I don't know if his motives were entirely pure, but God's going to use him at least to slow the roll of the brothers that they're not going to kill Joseph right away eventually decide that, that they can profit by his demise rather than, than just killing him. And so what they're going to do is they're going to sell them into a traveling group of notice here. Ishmaelites Ishmaelites. And so here you have Isaac and Ishmael, you have that. Conflict coming back to the surface. Again, here's some descendants of Ishmael. And they are there and they're going to take Joseph and they're going to take them down to Egypt where they're going to sell them to Pottipher. And we're going to see that this is all part of God's plan, but right now it's messy right now. It is. It is, it is heavy and is not good. And, you know, that's just a reminder to us that. Family. And here's family right on the, the, the center stage and scripture here, family can get messy. Family can be difficult. And some of you listening to this, know this all too well, and your family has been. Hurt by sin against one another. Your family has been hurt by infighting and conflict and jealousy and everything else and betrayal. And here you have a situation where you're in. This is one of the greatest acts of betrayal that we can conceive of. They, they took him, they held him hostage. They eventually sell him. To a, uh, slavery basically, and, and go back and tell his dad, Hey, he's, he's dead. Look, this coat of his has been, uh, it has evidence of his blood over it, though. It was dipped in, in animal blood. And, and yet what's happening. E all throughout this, God is sovereign all throughout this. God is working. He's orchestrating these events now. The acts that took place, the sinful actions were still sinful. They were wrong. They were evil. They were wicked. And yet God was ordaining and sovereign over all of it. Uh, such that Joseph would end up where he's going to end up notice at the end of the chapter, he ends up in Egypt and that's going to be crucial to how God is going to save and deliver his people. And you know what it's even that the very earliest. Echoes of, of the building cadence, that's going to climax in the Exodus of God's people. And then later on that concept of the Exodus is going to serve as the, the template as the type of the greater Exodus that is going to be. Worked for us at the cross that we are going to be delivered, not from slavery in Egypt, but slavery from our own sin. So this is the very beginning of this, this infighting in the family, and God is going to use this in fighting. T to turn into something that is much bigger than any of them could have imagined. And it's all his sovereignty at work in the background, which is super comforting for us. Let me pray for us. And then we will be done with this episode of the daily Bible podcast. We thank you for our students right now, as they're on the way down as I'm recording this to their retreat, we pray for safety. And just an awesome weekend. I pray for pastor, rod for. Uh, just energy to be able to, to lead well this weekend and to preach well this weekend and that these messages would be transformative for these students. Even for some, perhaps eternally transformative for them. And so we ask that you would just. Uh, put your, your kind hand of favor upon our students and our leaders as they're away from us. Uh, just through Saturday and that we would hear great reports that even Sunday morning from the weekend, we thank you for this opportunity for them. We thank you for your word. And we thank you for this text that we just read. And we just walked through. And how you are always, always in control over everything, even despite what it might look like to us at the time. And so we thank you for this reality. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Keep, bring your Bibles y'all and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast by.