Genesis 35-37


C. 35- The death of Rachel and Isaac.

God has never faltered in his covenant with Isaac.

C-36 Esau’s descendants

C-37 Joseph’s dreams

Gen 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

Joseph was his father’s favorite son. This caused his brothers to envy him. Joseph had visions and in his visions he saw his brother bowing down to him. This drove his brother to get rid of him by selling him to the Midianites, slave traders. Joseph was sold in Egypt.


Joseph’s brothers like Cain was taken over by their envy. They plotted to kill him but Reuben, who loves Jacob but not love Jacob enough to strongly oppose his brothers and protect Joseph, instead suggested that they threw him in an empty cistern. Then they sold Joseph.

This is a story that imparts a lesson about parenting—favoritism causes resentment. Jacob suffered because of this; he was heart broken when he heard the news that Joseph was slain by wild animals not knowing that it was his sons that did harm to Joseph.

But more importantly this story imparts a lesson on envy and the evil that it brings in the heart of men, evil that causes one to think of evil things about his brother, evil that makes one do harm to his brother; the evil that breaks the fellowship of love between brothers.

But the story does not end here for it still God’s will that prevailed.