Names are very important in the Bible, nearly always revealing some kind of additional insight into what is going on whether it’s a name of a person, place, or thing. And the way biblical figures go about naming their children in particular reveals even more of what is transpiring within them spiritually and emotionally. Joseph basically names his children “forgetfulness” and “fruitfulness” to reveal the healing process that’s taken place addressing the injustices experienced and how God has used them to provide something greater.

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There have been those who, without my prior inquiry have volunteered what they believed was a personal message for me from God. Rather than desiring to hold me accountable specifically to the standards of God’s Word, they seemed eager to establish some kind of dominance over me by presenting “new” information they received supernaturally through a dream or a “word”. So of course I find it interesting that Pharaoh was seeking an answer to begin with and Joseph was not predisposed to jump in and share what he felt it all meant. It highlights that the difference between a true and false messenger of God is whether they’re more concerned for their personal position or God’s.

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There’s a very significant difference between us and Joseph, because when Joseph lived there was no written Bible. He didn’t grow up in Sunday School learning all the great stories of the Bible or going to church every week hearing sermons on even one of the sixty-six books which would eventually comprise the Bible which we’ve had in our hands every day of our life. And yet he knew something that the vast majority of church-goers today fail to grasp: what is sin and how it affects not only personal relationships but our most important one with God.

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Certainly there was what we could call a supernatural anointing upon Joseph, but it’s important to note that while God provided spectacular results, He still required Joseph to go through the process. In other words, although Joseph experienced success at each stage of his life, he still had to progress and grow through each of those stages. In fact the process itself was integral to God’s overall plan for Joseph’s life.

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Personally I always make a good faith attempt to study Scripture for Scripture’s sake before exploring what other commentators have said about it. With the state-of-the-art of computer software it’s very easy to quickly search any particular thing among thousands of books. When I come across something like this verse, I often look through the commentaries because it does not say specifically what Er did and perhaps someone has established a connection to other places in Scripture which helps shed more light on what happened. I’m particularly fascinated when there’s almost universal silence on something. It seems everyone wants to comment on the marriage practices offered in Genesis 38 and almost nobody wants to address the fact God judged and took a life.

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There’s a greater, stranger process going on here that involves the way humans justify and cover up their sin. In a tried and true tactic that has been inherited and employed by every generation on earth, they don’t actually tell their father a lie, but alter the evidence and wait for him to draw his own conclusion. In their minds they’re “clear” because they didn’t actually SAY Joseph was killed by a wild beast. But knowing the truth and not offering to correct their father’s wrong conclusion does not get them off the hook. They’re playing a game that makes them feel better but doesn’t alter how God sees the truth of the situation.

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As we reach this section of Genesis where the story turns to Joseph the final patriarch, it’s well worth visiting God’s plan for one Messiah, yet two comings. Much of the writings of Hebrew theologians prior to the time of Jesus were in agreement that there were two major types, or prefigurements, of the Messiah in the persons of Joseph and David. Joseph was seen as the Messiah in the character of what they came to call the “Suffering Servant” and David as the “Conquering King”. Great debate raged, however, as to how the Messiah would be able to come in the character of both these types at the same time. What they were slow or completely failed to grasp was that the Messiah would come twice, first as the “Suffering Servant” to resolve the issue of sin and then return as the “Conquering King” to establish His kingdom on earth.

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