Genesis 45: 1-15 Joseph has risen to great power in Egypt; the foreigner becomes the ultimate insider.  Desperately seeking food during a famine, Joseph’s brothers journey to Egypt and are taken to Pharaoh’s deputy.  They do not recognize their brother, … Continue reading →

Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28 Patriarchal and matriarchal and sibling rivalry continues into the next generation, but God still finds a way to extend the covenant.  Jacob/Israel and Rachel’s seventeen year old son, Joseph, was assisting his brothers in shepherding the … Continue reading →

See The Last Sunday after the Epiphany Year C

Genesis 32: 22-31 Jacob is en route to try to reconcile with his brother, Esau, from whom he cheated his birthright as the firstborn.  Jacob sends his two wives, Rachel and Leah, and the whole household to the other side … Continue reading →

Genesis 29: 15-28 The intrigue and duplicity among the patriarchal and matriarchal families continue, but God finds ways for the Covenant to be preserved and renewed.  Jacob has fallen for Rachel, the younger daughter of his uncle, Laban.  To win … Continue reading →

Genesis 28: 10-19a As his father, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham before him, Jacob experiences his own affirmation of God’s covenant.  Also, like his father,  Abraham, Isaac insists that his son, Jacob,  return to the homeland to find a wife who … Continue reading →

Genesis 25: 19-34 Isaac’s story continues.  Last Sunday’s reading relayed how a wife, Rebekah,  was found for Isaac among his father Abraham’s people.  Now we are told the story of  their marriage and “the descendants of Isaac.”   Rebekah was … Continue reading →

Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67 After the death of Sarah and as Abraham nears his own death, he sends a servant to find a wife for their son, Isaac.  He wants Isaac not to marry a Canaanite, but someone from … Continue reading →

Genesis 22: 1-14 The Abraham/Sarah narrative reaches  its climax: God instructs Abraham to take his and Sarah’s only son, miraculously given to them by God long past their child bearing years, and offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  God gives instructions … Continue reading →

Genesis 21: 8-21 The Abraham/Sarah narrative continues.  The time has come to celebrate the weaning of Isaac.  Sarah expels from the household Hagar, the slave woman who bore a son, Ishmael, to Abraham when Sarah was still barren fourteen years … Continue reading →