We left off with Joseph in a dry cistern. A caravan came along and his brothers sold him to the merchants. They took his robe and put goat's blood on it and took it to their father with a lie that it was Joseph's blood and that he had died. Jacob was convinced and mourned his son and would not be consoled. Meanwhile, the merchants sold Joseph in Egypt to an official of Pharaoh.
Judah, the fourth son of Jacob is the subject of chapter 38. He married and had three sons. The first one Er, was wicked and the Lord put him to death. So Judah told his second son, Onan to take Er's place with his widow, Tamar. If he slept with her the baby wouldn't be his, so he decided to spill his semen on the ground to keep from giving his brother a child. (This is called a Levirate marriage, where upon the death of a childless man, his brother would marry the widow in order to produce a son for the deceased man. This child would have 2 fathers, one biological and one legal. Just in case you were curious...) So the Lord put him to death too. So Judah tells Tamar to live in his house and wait until his youngest son, Shelah, is old enough to become her husband. (I guess Judah really liked her.) Judah's wife died and he mourned her. Tamar must have been mad that even though Shelah was grown, Judah wouldn't let them marry. When Tamar heard that Judah was on his way to shear sheep, she changed out of her mourning clothes and into floozy clothes that made people think she was a prostitute. (Maybe she liked him too?) So when Judah saw her, (her face was covered with a veil) he propositioned her and she agreed to sleep with him for a goat. Since he didn't have a goat handy she asked for a pledge - like an iou of some sort. He gave her his seal and staff. She got pregnant, changed back into her old clothes. Judah sent his servant with a goat to pay her but he couldn't find her and no one knew who he was talking about. About three months later they discover she's pregnant and they think she's been a prostitute. So Jacob has them bring her out to be burned. When she produces the seal and staff of his he realizes what has happened he says that she is more righteous than he is since he wouldn't let her marry Shelah. Later she has twins named Perez and Zerah.
Let's get back to Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph so that everything he did worked out. He lived in the house of his Egyptian master, Potiphar. Now, because Joseph just made people feel like things were fine, they put him in charge. Potiphar was blessed with abundance and a lack of worry about things because of Joseph. The bible says that Joseph was "well built and handsome". Naturally the lady of the house was interested. When he refused her she kept trying to get him into bed, but he wouldn't go for that. So she set him up. She got hold of one of his cloaks and screamed that he'd tried to rape her. When his master heard about it he put him in prison. Naturally the warden liked Joseph and put him in charge! Eventually some officials from Pharaoh's court made him mad and he put them in the same prison with Joseph. Both of them had dreams that they couldn't understand. So Joseph tells them that's God's work and to tell him all about their dreams.
Find out what happens - tomorrow read Genesis 40:9-42:28
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