Genesis 36
Esau, also referred to as Edom, married women from the land of Canaan. As you may recall, his parents were very distressed over this, for they were not of a Godly people. He married Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite. He also married Basemath, the daughter of Ishmael. Remember that Ishmael was the son of Abraham and Hagar (his wife’s maid).
Esau was not a parent-pleaser. First, he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, then he married a bunch of heathen women. Jesus definitely did not come from his part of the family. Esau had children with each of his wives in the land of Canaan, then took his family to another land away from his brother because he and Jacob each had too much livestock to be able to live together. Esau ended up living in the hill country of Seir with his growing family. Some of his descendants became kings in Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.
Genesis 37
Jacob settled in Canaan. When his young son Joseph was seventeen, he was quite the tattletale, and he was Jacob’s favorite. Jacob even gave him a “coat of many colors”. His brothers were very jealous and really didn’t like him. One night, Joseph had a dream about his brothers in which they would bow down to him. He made the mistake of telling them about it, which only increased their hatred. Then he had another dream in which his brothers and his parents would bow down to him. His brothers were furious; Jacob rebuked him, but he didn’t dismiss his son’s dream.
One day, while Joseph’s brothers were out in the pasture tending the flocks, Jacob sent his son to check on them. When they saw him coming, they hatched a treacherous plan to murder him, but Reuben stepped in. He came up with his own plan to throw him into a pit, but not to kill him. He was planning to later secretly rescue his little brother. However, while Joseph was in the pit, Judah decided it would be best to sell his brother as a slave to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver, for he really didn’t want his little brother to die either. Then the Ishmaelites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard.
When Reuben came back to rescue Joseph, he wasn’t in the pit. He tore his garments and panicked. The brothers then took Joseph’s coat of many colors and dipped it in goat’s blood and tricked their father into thinking he was dead. Jacob tore his clothes and wore sackcloth in mourning, refusing to be comforted.
Joseph was just the bratty little brother, but now is headed his way to Egypt to work for the pharaoh. We will soon read that God is good to Joseph, however. God never left him, nor does He ever leave us (even when we’re bratty).