Genesis 37
Joseph wants to rule over his family. Jacob is easily fooled. Jacob's sons sell Joseph into slavery.
37:1-11 Joseph is the youngest of Israel's (Jacob's) children. He keeps having dreams that symbolize his family bowing down before him. His brothers already didn't like him because their dad favored him, but the dreams of subjugation made them really angry. I'd be pissy too if my sibling kept telling me they were going to rule over me.
37:12-35 Israel (Jacob) sent Joseph out to the field to check on his brothers, asking him to report back with how they were doing. When the brothers saw him coming, they started plotting to kill him. Reuben (one of the brothers?) begged them not to shed his blood, so instead the brothers threw him down a well, then sat down to have lunch. They saw a passing caravan, and decided to sell Joseph to them, rather than leaving him in the well to die. Then, they tore his robe (which his father had made for him) and covered it with animal blood, and gave it to their father so he would think Joseph had been attacked by a wild animal.
37:36 Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to the Captain of the Guard at the Pharoah's palace.
Genesis 38
Judah is a PoS. Tamar saves herself from being burned alive by being clever.
38:1-7 Judah (one of Jacob's sons and Joseph's brother) had three sons. The oldest one, Er, was married to Tamar, was wicked so God killed him (it doesn't say what made him wicked, only that he was).
38:8-10 Judah gave Tamar to his second son, Onan, telling him to get Tamar pregnant on his brother's behalf. Onan didn't want to have a child that wouldn't be considered his, so he "spilled his seed on the ground" (which was apparently sinful) and God killed him.
38:11-17 Judah was worried that if he gave Tamar to his third son, Shelah, that he would die, too, so he sent Tamar to live as a widow at her father's house, telling her it was only until Shelah was grown enough to take her as his wife. While she lived there, Judah's wife Shua died, and though Shelah grew old enough to take a wife, Judah never fetched Tamar to marry them. Tamar dressed as a prostitute, covering her face with a veil, and approached Judah out in town. Judah didn't recognize her, and propositioned her for sex, promising her a goat in exchange.
38:18-23 As a place-holder while she waits for the goat to be delivered, Tamar takes Judah's seal and his staff. When Judah tries to deliver the goat to the prostitute, he can't find her. Eventually he gives up - every one he speaks with agrees there's no prostitute in the area.
38:24-26 Three months later, Judah is told his daughter-in-law Tamar is pregnant. Judah wants to have her burned to death for prostitution. Instead, Tamar produces Judah's seal and staff, which Judah recognizes as his own. Apparently it's okay to use prostitutes, just not to have them in your family.
38:27-30 Tamar gives birth to twins, Perez (born first) and Zerah (born second, but marked as first because he stuck his arm out of the womb and had a scarlet string tied to his wrist to mark him). Not sure why that's important, but they made a point that you knew Zerah stuck his arm out, had a string tied to mark him as the first-born, but then that Perez was actually birthed first.
Genesis 39
Joseph begins life as a slave, turns down a sugar-momma, and gets thrown in jail.
39:1-20 Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his brothers, wound up being owned by an Egyptian named Potiphar. Potiphar trusted Joseph to run everything in his household, but Potiphar's wife wanted to sleep with Joseph. Joseph kept refusing her, but she was persistent. One day when they were alone, she grabbed him by the cloak. He twisted out of it and ran away, but the cloak was still in her hand. Angry, she showed it to her husband, claiming Joseph had tried to sleep with her. Potiphar had Joseph thrown in jail.
39:21-23 While he was in prison, Joseph was put in charge of everything (again). God blessed all he did, and made the guards not pay attention to what Joseph did.
Genesis 40
Joseph can interpret dreams. The Pharoah's cup-bearer reneged on a promise to Joseph.
40:1-23 While Joseph was in charge of the prison, the Pharoah's chief cup-bearer and chief baker were imprisoned under Joseph's oversight. Each of them had a dream and asked Joseph to interpret it. The cup-bearer's dream Joseph interpreted as representing the Pharoah re-instating him to his position in three days. In exchange for the interpretation, Joseph asked that the cup-bearer remember Joseph and say nice things about him. The baker's dream Joseph interpreted as the baker being hung in three days, which also happened. Despite his promises, when the cup-bearer was re-instated, he forgot all about Joseph.
Genesis 41
Joseph interprets the Pharoah's dreams. 7 Years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine are coming. The Pharoah puts Joseph in charge of Egypt.
41:1-36 The Pharoah had two bad dreams, one with 7 healthy cows being eaten by 7 haggard ones, and one with heads of grain being devoured by 7 spare heads. He called all his wise men and magicians, but no one could interpret his dreams. The cup-bearer finally remembered Joseph, and mentioned his skill at dream interpretation to the Pharoah. The Pharoah called for Joseph to be brought up from the prison, so he could interpret the dreams. Joseph told the Pharoah that Egypt would have 7 prosperous years followed immediately by 7 years of famine, and that 1/5 of every year's harvest for the next 7 years should be held in reserve, so the country did not go to ruin when the famine came.
41:37-40 The Pharoah recognized the wise nature of Joseph's plan, and put him in charge of executing it, making Joseph the most powerful person in Egypt, second only to the Pharoah himself.
