Who do you think you are?

There’s a show on NBC calledWho Do You Think You Are? that traces celebrities’ ancestry back to identify interesting people and stories in their past.  The idea is that knowing where we came from tells us something about who we are. This is true in my own experience – knowing about my family helps me [...]

What did you expect?

So, there are a few things that have always bothered me about this story. One is the idea of negotiating with God at all. I tend to think God just wants us to do the next right thing, just because it’s the next right thing, not because of what God might do for us. And [...]

No, really.

Since yesterday’s reading, a lot of time has gone by for Joseph and his brothers. The whole family moved to Egypt; seventeen years later, Jacob blessed the children and then died. Seventeen years is a lot of time. And yet, despite everything that happened when Joseph met his brothers again, now after Jacob is dead, [...]

Let it go!

Joseph has established that he is smart about many things. He understands dreams. He understands economics. He knows how to turn a situation to his advantage. And now we find that he is also wise about how people are likely to behave. After all this time, after all this energy and work, Joseph and his [...]

Noooo! Help! He’s… feeding us?

I think that the scene when Joseph’s brothers return to Egypt would make a great comic or graphic novel chapter.  I can just see an artist making a great big deal out of the fear the brothers have at every little thing, and Joseph and his servants maybe even rolling their eyes and laughing at [...]

Testing… testing…

If you were to think of a time when Joseph might have been tested by God, what would you pick? Would you pick his tough relationship with his brothers as a kid? When he was first sold into slavery? When he was wrongly accused and jailed for something he didn’t do? What about today’s story [...]