Bible Reading Made Different

  Israel (Jacob) started the journey with all that he had. When he got to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to him in night visions and called him by name saying, "Jacob, Jacob!" Jacob answered, "Here I am." God told Jacob not to be afraid to go down to Egypt. He (God) promised to make him a great nation there.  God is repeating the initial promise he made to Abraham, Jacob's grandfather. Is there a promise that God has made to you that He keeps repeating and you're just waiting for it to come to fruition?  God promised to go with Jacob down to Egypt and to bring him up again and that Joseph would put his hand on Jacob's eyes.  As we journey on, we will learn that Jacob was not buried in Egpyt. However, most googled commentaries also say that God is talking about Jacob's posterity. So, in fact, they are leaving The Promised Land (Canaan) and going to Egypt. Have you ever possessed God's promise to you, but...

  Joseph couldn't contain himself any longer, so he ordered everyone out of his presence except his brothers. It was at this time that he revealed himself to them. He wept so loud that the Egyptians and Pharaoh's house heard him. Joseph said, "I am Joseph; does my father still live?" Joseph's brothers were so dismayed in his presence, they were speechless. He told them to come closer to him and when they did, he said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt." He told them not to be grieved or angry with themselves for selling him because God sent him there to preserve their lives.  Have you ever been in a troubling situation that you had to go through, not so much for yourself, but for the benefit of helping someone else?  They already had been enduring two years of the famine because Joseph told his brothers that there will still be five more years with no plowing or harvesting. He said that God sent him there ahead of them to preserve a pos...

  Joseph told the steward of his house to fill the men's sacks with as much food as they could carry and to put their money back in their sacks. Joseph also told him to put his silver cup in Benjamin's sack with his grain money. The steward did exactly as he was told. The brothers left at the dawn of morning with their donkeys. When they were not that far out of the city, Joseph told his steward to catch up with the men and ask them, "Why have you repaid evil for good?" He was to accuse them of having Joseph's drinking cup and it being the cup with which Joseph practiced divination. What?! Joseph, being a man of God practicing divination? So, yes, I googled. Google sources say that the practice of divination in this manner was an Egyptian custom. So, the Egyptians, including the steward, more than likely determined that this is how Joseph was able to interpret dreams. However, in Genesis 40:8, Joseph acknowledged that the interpretations came from God. In Gen...

  The famine was severe in the land. When Jacob and his family had eaten up all of the grain they brought from Egypt, he told them to go back to Egypt and buy more food. Judah spoke up and reminded his father that they could not go back without Benjamin or else they would not get to see the man. Judah said that if Jacob would allow Benjamin to go with them, then they would go and buy food. If Jacob would not allow Benjamin to go, then they would not go back to Egypt.   Judah is bold speaking to his father in such a manner.  He reiterated what he said about not being able to see the man if Benjamin wasn’t with them. Israel (Jacob) asked why did they deal with him so wrongly by telling the man that there was another brother. They explained that the man asked them specific questions about their father and if they had another brother. They had no idea that the man would tell them to bring their brother to Egypt. Judah vouched that if he allowed Benjamin to go so that they cou...

  Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt. Apparently, his sons were not smart enough to realize that going to Egypt would be a good idea. He asked them, "Why do you sit around here and look at one another?" Jacob had to tell them to go to the place in Egypt and buy grain so that they can continue to live. So Joseph's ten brothers went to Egypt. Jacob didn't allow Benjamin, Joseph's youngest brother, to go. He was afraid that some calamity could happen to him. Remember, Benjamin is Rachel's second son during which time she died while giving birth. Rachel was also the love of Jacob's life. So Israel's (Jacob) sons went among the others going to Egypt to buy grain because the famine was also in the land of Canaan. Joseph was the governor over Egypt. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him. This is the manifestation of Joseph's dream where his brothers' sheaves bowed down b...

  Joseph tells Pharaoh that the dreams have the same meaning and God was showing him what He was about to do. The Interpretation - The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain represented seven years. The seven thin, ugly cows and the seven empty heads represented seven years of famine. Joseph repeats that the dreams are the same and God is showing Pharaoh what He is about to do. There will be seven years of plenty throughout all of Egypt. After the seven years of plenty, there will be seven years of famine so severe that the seven years of plenty will be forgotten. The dream was given to Pharaoh twice because this will be established by God and He will surely bring it to pass. According to quora.com, "...whenever God says something twice it is usually to affirm or confirm what was already said as fully established and as definitely true with no room for adjustments or change." Has God ever told or revealed something to you twice and it came into fruition? Were you ...