God tells Jacob to return to Bethel (which means "House of God") and settle there. Jacob builds an altar to the Lord there, and God blesses Jacob and reminds him that his name is now Isreal, and he ratifies the covenant he made with Abraham and Issac and says that covenant will continue through Isreal. Rachel dies giving birth to a another son. Now Reuben (the oldest son) sleeps with Abraham's concubine Bilhah. Stay tuned, this is not the last you will hear of this. Jacob returns to his father Issac, and after a time was able to bury his father.
Esau's descendants are recorded...and note that we move from sons to chiefs, to kings (remember that Esau gets blessed, but that the covenant is not fulfilled through him)..
And then we arrive at Joseph....He is clearly the favorite of Jacob.....he is very immature and brags to his brothers about how he will rule over them one day....this is not received well, because in that culture, the younger son inheirits very little, if anything. Jealousy overtakes Joseph's brothers and they sell Joseph into slavery...can you imagine in 37: 25, that the brothers sat down to eat a meal while Joseph was imprisoned in a cistern? Now, I used to lock my baby brother in the garage when my Mom went grocery shopping, but I always let him back in the house before she got home....
Also, as a side note, verse 28 tells us how the brothers sold him for 20 shekels of silver....look at Leviticus 27: 2-5...The Lord dedicated him to Himself......also note that Joseph was sold to Ishmaelites.....where have you heard of Ishmael? And, take note of Potiphar....he has quite a role coming up....
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