PART 1 – EXPLORE THE STORY
​
Chapter 3 - TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY (Joseph episode 1)
So, as we begin our journey through the story of Joseph and his family, we may just as well plunge in with a very soap-opera-style love story. As I will argue more extensively in the next chapter, it’s always important to look at the context of any Biblical story to understand the characters and plot lines that we encounter. How far we need to go back is always debatable, but I would argue that in order to understand Joseph’s early life, and his relationships with his father and his brothers, we need to go back to understanding his parents’ background and revealing the dramas and tensions that affected their future family dynamics.
​
One technique that we have used for teaching Biblical storying, is for participants to imagine themselves in the shoes of the characters, and to recast the stories as first person accounts. That exercise can go a long way towards drawing us into the story and seeing the events from a more personal and intimate perspective. (Which is why the technique is used so often by professional storytellers and authors.)
​
I have chosen, in my own story version of the life of Joseph, to retell the events from the viewpoint of one or other character involved, sometimes a main character in the story, sometimes a bystander. While this inevitably leads to some degree of dramatization, I have been careful not to add any fictionalised content, and to accurately portray the characters and events of the story as closely as possible to the original text. However I would recommend that you also read the passage carefully in your own preferred Bible version, comparing different versions is you have them available.
​
In the first two episodes of the Joseph story we will be particularly concerned with the relationships between Jacob, Rachel and Leah. The intention is to focus on the family dynamics, and how this affected the development and character of Joseph and his brothers. As we start digging into the story of Joseph, we’ll find that Joseph comes from a family as dysfunctional as any portrayed in East Enders.
​
So here is a love story to start with, one that seems to grow towards the kind of happy romantic conclusion that you would find in any romantic comedy film or Mills and Boone novel – but it ends with a dramatic twist in the tale.
____________________________________________________
​A Wedding to Remember? (from Genesis 29:1-28)​​
​
It had been a long trek from the Negev, my family home, to the land of Haran, where my uncle Laban lived. It was around two weeks now since Amma had persuaded me to dress myself as Esau and convince Abba to give me the blessing – the blessing that should rightly have gone to my elder brother. When Esau found out, he was livid! Then it was Amma who persuaded me to flee from Esau's anger, and to come to stay with uncle Laban for a while. “But don’t worry”, she assured me. “After a time Esau will calm down and forget all about it. I’ll send word to you when it’s safe to come back.”​
​
​I leaned on my staff and surveyed the scene. There were signs of a watering hole ahead, and two or three flocks of sheep and goats waiting to be watered. I approached and greeted the shepherds who were there with their flocks:
​“Hello my friends, where are you from?”
​“From Haran” they answered.
​“Ah, that's where I'm heading. Do you happen to know a man named Laban? His grandfather is Nahor.”
​“Yes, sure we do.”
​“How is he doing these days?”
​“He’s fine… but why don’t you ask his daughter Rachel… here she comes to water her father’s sheep.”
​
​So I came to find myself face-to-face with my cousin, Rachel. I ran to greet her and help her move the stone that covered the mouth of the well and water her uncle’s flock. That done, I made bold to embrace her and introduced myself as the son of her aunt, Rebekah. Rachel immediately ran back to tell her father, and Laban came to meet me and welcome me to their home. He seemed very glad to see me.
“Wonderful to have you!” he said, “How can I fail to welcome my own flesh and blood!”
​
​I had been staying with Laban and family and helping around the place for about a month when Laban said to me,
“Look, if you’re going to stay for a while, you shouldn’t be working for me for nothing… how much do you think I should pay you?”
​
​Well, I really didn’t have to think too hard. I was already head-over-heals in love with Rachel. Laban had two daughters – Leah was the older and Rachel the younger. But Rachel was beautiful, she had such a lovely face. By comparison Leah was plain and lacked Rachel’s sparkle. I didn’t hesitate:
“I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll let me marry your daughter Rachel!”
​“I’d rather she married you than anyone else, So it’s agreed. Stay and work for me for seven years, then you can marry Rachel with my blessing.”
​
​So I worked for Laban those seven years, and Laban worked me hard, I can tell you. It didn’t occur to me at the time that I was being rather gullible, and that he was taking advantage of me. But I was so much in love that I didn’t care – those seven years seemed just a matter of days. Finally the time came and I reminded Laban,
“I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain… now it’s time for you to give Rachel to me as my wife.”
​
So Laban made all the arrangements, prepared a wedding feast, and invited everyone in the neighbourhood to come and join the celebration. It was a great day of feasting and rejoicing - we men eating and celebrating together in our section of the camp, the women in theirs. That night, when the celebrations were over and it was time to consummate the marriage agreement, Laban brought his daughter to my tent. In the darkness of our own private quarters we made love and slept in one another’s arms.
Yes, those seven years of labour had been well worth the reward. All my dreams at last fulfilled. As the new day dawned, I woke ready to enjoy our first full day of married bliss. I leaned across to give my new wife a good morning kiss – my beloved Rachel – and discovered it was not Rachel at all… it was Leah!!
I was stunned at first – then furious when I realised what had happened. I launched myself out of bed and rushed out to find Laban, outraged at having been duped.
“How could you pull such a vile trick on me? Didn’t we agree that I would work seven years to marry Rachel? That’s Leah in my bed! How could you do that?!”
​
​“Calm down, Jacob, calm down,” said Laban. “It’s not our custom to marry off the younger daughter before the older one. I had to get Leah married first. Just give Leah her honeymoon week, then you can have Rachel too… provided you agree to work for me for another seven years.”
​
So I agreed – not that I had much choice – and a week later I married Rachel. But the trauma of that first ruined, stolen wedding night hung over our relationships for the rest of our lives.
____________________________________________________
OK, so that last sentence isn’t in the original Hebrew – but consider the following:
-
After waiting for a whole seven years (even though it may have seemed like just a few days!) how eager was Jacob to tie the knot with his beloved?
-
What would be Jacob’s reaction when he realised his night of married bliss had been spent with the wrong sister?
-
How do you think these events would affect the relationship between Jacob, Rachel and Leah in the future?
As we progress further into the story, I believe we will find echoes of this first shattering experience of married life reverberating through the subsequent polygamous marriage relationship. Without anticipating too much our discussions on episode 2 of the story, I shall just note here that Leah was not only the first to share Jacob’s bed, but the first to bear him children, which caused Rachel considerable pain and heartache. Jacob always loved Rachel more than Leah, yet Leah was continually competing for Jacob’s love and attention, creating jealousy and rivalry between them.
​
Yet even though Leah found many more opportunities to revisit that first stolen honeymoon week with Jacob, experiencing physical intimacy, and bearing him sons, she never was able to find a way into his heart – Rachel always came first. And even though her children were first born, and according to convention had a higher place in the family pecking order, Jacob always gave Rachel’s sons a higher place in his heart and in his affections.
Some questions for thought or discussion
As already noted, one of East Enders former producers claimed that:
​ … the main inspiration for its gritty and often controversial storylines is the Bible.
-
Imagine how the love triangle between Jacob. Rachel and Leah might be dramatized in East Enders, or one of the other TV soaps that you are familiar with.
-
How does this episode demonstrate the different characteristics of a good story
​
​
​
