This Week's Passage

This week we are starting into our fourth and last movement through Genesis. The fourth movement is all about Jacob's sons, who will become the 12 tribes of Israel. It is particularly about one specific son, Joseph, who is really going to go through some horrible experiences by hands of his own brothers. In our first look at the last movement we are going to trace the story of Joseph being thrown down into a cistern, going down to Egypt and finally being thrown down into a pit as he is put in prison within a land that is not his own. It is a story of Exile. We are going to be looking closely at this theme of exile, seeing how it is a form of death in itself.

Reflect on this theme of exile. How does it relate to death? How do we understand it in relation to Adam and Eve, the fruit, and the garden? What other instances of exile occur in Genesis? How does Joseph's story mirror that of Christ's?