PART 2 – EXPLORE THE CHARACTERS
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Chapter 6 - GREEN-EYED MONSTER (Joseph episode 2)
You will find that, in my retelling of the Bible stories in these studies, some implicit information has been made explicit, in order to maintain the flow of the story. Some events in the story have been truncated, not because they are less important, but in order to enable us to focus more clearly on the aspects of the story that are being considered, in this case 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.
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Leah: Kids but no love (from Genesis 29:30-35)
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I’ve always been jealous of Rachel’s good looks. When Jacob came to stay with us, it was so unfair that he fell for Rachel. I’m the older sister. I should have been the first to find a husband – to settle down and enjoy the blessing of family life.
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And even though father arranged for Jacob to marry me first – I wasn’t altogether happy about the way he went about it – I’ve always been​ aware that Jacob loved Rachel much more than me. God was good to me, and blessed me with children. I hoped and longed that God would soften Jacob’s heart and cause him to look with favour on me because of this. I wanted his love, as well as his children.
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So when my first son was born I named him Reuben (Look – a son), and I said to myself, “God has noticed how miserable I am. Now I have given him a son I’m sure my husband will love me.”
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After a while my second son was born. I called him Simeon (One who hears). I thought, “God knows that Jacob still doesn’t love me. This is why he has given me a second son.”
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When I became pregnant a third time and had another son I decided to call him Levi (Affection). By this time I was losing hope that Jacob would ever love me. “Surely my husband will at least show me some affection now I’ve given him three sons!”
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After this God blessed me with a fourth son, and I called him Judah (Praise be to God). At least God still loved me, even if I had given up on Jacob.
​Rachel: Love but no kids (from Genesis 30:1-8)
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​I was so envious of Leah. She found it so easy to conceive and bear Joseph sons, while I remained childless. I was getting more and more desperate. And I’m afraid I turned my anger and frustration on Jacob:
“Give me children! If I don’t have any children I’ll die!”
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​Jacob was furious with me:
“Why blame me? Is it my fault you haven’t had any children? Do you think I’m God? He’s the one who has kept you from having children!”
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​I guess Jacob was right. Anyway, I told him,
“Look, take my maid Bilhah and sleep with her. If she is able to have children, then it will be just as if they are mine, and I will have a family as well as Leah."
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​So Jacob did what I suggested. He took Bilhah as his wife and slept with her, and she had a son. I named him Dan (he vindicated), because I thought, “At last God has vindicated me. He heard my cries of despair and has given me a son.”
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​Soon Bilhah became pregnant again, and had a second son. I named him Naphtali (my struggle), saying, “I’ve been struggling to gain favour over my sister, and now I’m getting the better of her!”
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Leah: If you can do it, so can I (from Genesis 30:921)
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After Judah was born, several years went by with no sign of more children on the way. So I thought, if Rachel can do it, so can I! And I also gave my maid Zilpah to Jacob as his wife. Soon Zilpah gave Jacob a son. And I named him Gad (good fortune), because I thought, “How fortunate I am!”
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​Then Zilpah had a second son. And I named him Asher (happy), saying, “Oh joy, now all the women will celebrate with me.”
​​So things remained, until the time of the next wheat harvest. One day Reuben, my firstborn, found some mandrakes. They were a find - a great delicacy, and some claimed they made a good aphrodisiac. Reuben pulled the juicy tubers from the field where he found them growing and brought them to me. Rachel happened to see this, and she came and begged me,
“Please give me some of those mandrakes that Reuben found.”
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​I was really angry with her:
“You stole my husband from me – isn’t that enough! Do you want to steal my mandrakes too?!”
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​But Rachel wanted some mandrakes badly, so in the end she said to me:
“OK, tell you what… if you give me some of the mandrakes, Jacob can come and sleep with you tonight.”
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​So that evening, when Jacob was on his way home, I went out to meet him.
“You must come to my tent and sleep with me tonight. I’ve paid for the privilege with some of my son’s mandrakes.”
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And so (did the mandrakes have anything to do with it, I wonder…) I became pregnant again and had another son. I called him Issachar (reward), because, “God has rewarded me for giving my servant-girl to my husband.”
​Then I became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son. I named him Zebulun (respect), because I thought, ”I‘ve given my husband six sons – surely now some respect is due!”
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​After Zebulun was born, I had one more child, this time a daughter, and I named her Dinah.
​Rachel: “God has taken away my shame” (from Genesis 30:22-24)
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​I suffered many years of pain and heartache because I was childless, but finally God heard my prayers and enabled me to become pregnant. I was overjoyed to spread the good news, saying, “At last God has taken away my shame.” And when I gave birth I named him Joseph (may he add), a reminder of my constant prayer, “May God give me another son as well.”
​Heading for home (extracts from Genesis 30:25 – 33:20)
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​Soon after Joseph was born, Jacob went to Laban to discuss returning home to Canaan. Laban attempted to delay him and cheat him out of his rightful wages. Tensions started to grow, and Laban’s attitude towards Jacob began to turn very sour. Then, Jacob told us, God himself appeared to him and told him: “Return to the land of your father and grandfather and to your family… I will be with you.”
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So we gathered our family and possessions together and set off for Canaan, managing to put three days journey between ourselves and Laban before he realised we had gone. Laban chased after us, but God protected us from his revengeful intentions, and in the end we parted in peace.
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Later in the journey we also faced a nerve-racking reunion with Jacob’s brother Esau, but by God’s grace that meeting also resulted with us parting as friends.
​Jacob: Journey’s end (from Genesis 35:16-21, 27)
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​So we continued travelling south, in the direction of Bethlehem. On the way, Rachel went into labour, but she had intense labour pains and a difficult birth. Finally the midwife cried, “Don’t be afraid, you have another son!”
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I held my beloved in my arms, and pleaded with her not to leave me. But she was already close to death. With her last breath she named the child Benoni (Son of my sorrow), but I chose to call him Benjamin (Son of my right hand).​
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We buried Rachel on the road to Bethlehem. I set up a monument over her grave before continuing our journey south towards the Negev. So, after many years away, I settled back in the land of Canaan, where my father and grandfather had lived as foreigners – but Rachel, she never completed the journey with me.
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So how did you do at imagining the story as an episode of Corrie or EastEnders? If you are studying this as a group, it would be a good idea to share your initial impressions with each other, then read the story again. Even better, have someone volunteer to tell the story back in their own words.
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​Which scenes in the story do you find especially dramatic and/or entertaining? What makes these scenes stand out for you?
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​“The relationship between Jacob, Leah and Rachel is a typical romantic love triangle.” Do you agree?
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What can we learn about Leah?
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Do you think Leah really loved Jacob? What is there in the story that might suggest this to be true (see especially Gen 30:15). Was this love ever returned?
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​Note that there is a kind of poetic repetition in the way that Leah and Rachel express their hopes and longings at the birth of each child. In each case the name of the child provides a hint or suggestion of the meaning expressed. Note the names of Leah’s children and the emotions that they represent:
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Reuben (Look, a son) – “God has noticed how miserable I am, now I have given him a son I’m sure my husband will love me.”
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Simeon (One who hears) – “God knew (heard) that I was unloved and gave me a second son.”
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Levi (Feeling affection for) - “Surely my husband will show me some care and affection now I’ve given him three sons!”
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Judah (Praise) – “Praise be to God.”
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Issachar (Reward) – “God has rewarded me for giving my servant-girl to my husband.”
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Zebulun (Honour/respect) – ”I‘ve given my husband six sons – surely now he will treat me with some respect!”
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What do these expressions tell us about the way Leah’s hopes and expectations changed over the years?
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What about Rachel?
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​Look at the names given and the hopes expressed by Rachel at the birth of her sons, and those of her maid Bilhah:
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Dan (He judged/vindicated) – “At last God has vindicated me. He heard my cries of despair and has given me a son.”
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Naphtali (My struggle) – “I’ve been struggling to gain favour over my sister, and now I’m on a winning streak!”
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Joseph (May he add) - “May God give me another son as well”
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Benoni (Son of my sorrow)
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What do these expressions tell you about Rachel’s hopes and expectations?
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What do they tell you about her relationship with Leah?
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What kind of character was Rachel really? We know that she was beautiful in appearance, but do you think her inner character matched her outward beauty? What incidents in the story may help to throw light on Rachel’s relationship with Jacob?
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And what kind of life do you think Jacob lived?
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How do you think Rachel’s premature death would have affected Jacob?… Jacob’s relationship with Leah?… Jacob’s attitude towards Leah and Rachel’s children?
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Note that Jacob refused to use Rachel’s name for their youngest son (Benoni, “son of my sorrow”) and instead named him Benjamin (“son of my right hand”). What does this tell you about the way Jacob looked on Rachel’s sons?
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Against a dark background…
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Most adaptations of the Joseph story start, as you might expect, with the story of Joseph’s “multi-coloured dream coat” and his relationship with his brothers (Gen 37). So why go back to the story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah, and spend so much effort studying his family background?
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​The best way to appreciate the beauty of a rainbow is to view it against a dark background of glowering storm-clouds. The story of the Bible is a story of redemption, and God’s wonderful act of restoration and redemption is best appreciated against a realistic view of the evil and depravity of human sinfulness.
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​The “grand narrative” of salvation history is mirrored in a multitude of individual stories and sub-plots, each of which display the truth of God’s amazing redemption in a new light. This is the case with the story of Joseph – a story of personal redemption, family restoration, and God’s hand on the history of a developing nation whom he had already chosen to rescue from oppression and slavery and establish as his chosen people.
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​To appreciate the depth and scope of God’s redemption in the story of Joseph and his family, we need to understand fully the dysfunctionality and depravity from which they were redeemed… and believe me, we haven’t see the half of it yet!
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Some questions for thought or discussion
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What themes are addressed in this story that you might also expect to appear in a typical soap episode?
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​How did looking at the passage in this way throw new light on the story for you?
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Which character in the story do you most closely empathise with? Try seeing the events in the story from that person’s particular viewpoint, and retelling the story as if you were them.
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