Joseph is an interesting character. There are more chapters devoted to him in Genesis than even his great-grandfather Abraham, but he’s not part of the standard patriarchal formula used throughout the Bible to identify “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Does adding another name simply make the tagline too bulky? Or is Joseph something more or less than a patriarch?
I think there’s another factor that eliminates him from that very exclusive society: unlike the others, he receives no direct covenant promises from God. Instead, he lives the covenant promise. He is both the last of the patriarchs, and the first of the key figures through which God begins to work out his plan. Joseph is the link between a covenant family and a covenant people, as we’ll see next week.
His life is characterized by weird dreams and swift reversals, and is one of the most dramatic in all of scripture. You may know the plot of his story, but what’s the theme? Click here for the pdf download:
(This is a continuation of a series of posts about the “whole story” of the Bible. I plan to run one every week, on Tuesdays, with a printable PDF. The printable includes a brief 2-3 paragraph introduction, Bible passages to read, a key verse, 5-7 thought/discussion questions, and 2-3 activities for the kids. Here’s the Overview of the entire Bible series.)
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