Ep 55: Genesis 'JOE' - A Theatrical Portal to Spiritual Insights and the Unfolding Promise of Scripture

"Have you ever witnessed a play that moved you to your core and illuminated your spiritual path? Today we recount the profound impact Genesis ‘JOE’ had on pastors and ministry leaders at a recent retreat... a powerful reflection on human deception and divine promises."

Have you ever witnessed a play that moved you to your core and illuminated your spiritual path? That's the experience described for our listeners as we recount the profound impact Genesis 'JOE' had on pastors and ministry leaders at a recent retreat. The weaving of Joseph's biblical tale with our own life's ironies offers a powerful reflection on human deception and divine promises. We tip our hats to supporters like Don Daily for adding depth to this journey, proving how the arts can be a vessel for spiritual transformation, and how they may surpass our wildest hopes in fulfilling God's abundant workings.

As we navigate the complex narrative of Joseph, we trace his lineage back to Abraham and dissect the themes of favoritism and deceit that ripple through generations. The special robe, a token of Jacob's favor, becomes a spark igniting his brothers' jealousy, demonstrating the unintended consequences of our actions. Yet, it's in this familial tapestry that we find a hidden gospel message and the reminder that, in contrast to human partiality, divine favor is perfectly embodied in Jesus Christ. This episode paints a comprehensive picture of how these ancient stories are still relevant and how they echo the impartial grace we find in our own lives.

We then transition into the practical wisdom of applying God's guidance in our lives through observation, interpretation, and application. It's a threefold path that can lead us to deeper understanding and enriched daily walks with the divine. As we send off our listeners with a blessing of peace and grace, we invite you to return next week for another enriching conversation about divine communication and its essential role in our lives. Your ongoing support breathes life into these discussions, and it's together that we uncover the timeless lessons of faith woven throughout scripture.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Lord, you know, I want you to listen to plays on World Radio.

Speaker 2: 0:04

The trickster got tricked. He got tricked, hit. This whole story for him started out when he tricked his dad At his mom's behest. He tricked his dad into thinking that he was Esau. And he wasn't Esau, but he was a trickster. And it's ironic how the tables got turned on him. The trickster got tricked and when he woke up in the morning he expected to see. He thought he was seeing Rachel and it was the end. Jesus, god, be on the edge, be on the edge, be on the edge, be on the edge.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Hello and welcome to plays on World Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on World Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God. Okay, my name is.

Speaker 2: 1:18

Fred Kenny Kenny and Josh Taylor. We are fresh off of a pastors and pastors' wives and ministry leaders retreat and, contrary to popular belief, pastors and ministry leaders do need to be ministered too. Now my buddy, eddie Marichanian, is probably upset, because you're not supposed to end a sentence that way, with two or add or anything like that. So please forgive me of Mr Counselor. Sir, the ministering to the ministers is extremely important. It's essential for men and women of God to be refreshed and we're going to have somebody on the podcast in the next few weeks that's going to address that situation. I hope you guys will tune in and check that out. While we were there at the pastors' conference, we were privileged to partake in the ministering to the pastors and we brought our Genesis Joe play, and many of you have seen Genesis Joe, of course. It's the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis, a fascinating story. It was actually the first play that we started doing Before we were technically Plays on Word. We started Genesis Joe Originally it was just called Joe and we did it at first First Friday, reverend Mike Morgan. We did it at first Baptist in Madisquan A few weeks later. Reverend Joe Gradsl, dear brothers, then we did a cornerstone, calvary Chapel, pastor Chris McCarrick. He was a senior pastor at the time there. And then we were over in Laurelton, our dear brother, pastor Alex, yeah, holding it down there. It's now a living faith church and Alex had us come out and a bunch of people and that started the tour for Joe which turned into Genesis Joe.

Speaker 2: 3:01

But essentially the play is the same. There's a few tweaks, but it's straight out the scripture. It's always been straight out the scripture, so we haven't had to change much, just a few things, a couple things. And our dear brother and supporter, don Daly, I believe by the second, third play he provided the staff that we use that represents Jacob and that staff has been all over the country and that was a early donation from our dear brother Don Daly. And the irony about the whole thing is I held it upside down because it seems more comfortable.

Speaker 2: 3:35

When it was upside down and I can't tell you, don came out to like five plays in a row and every single one he's like brother, listen, bro, you got it upside down, it's upside down. And I said, I know, I know, kind of like the way Jacob had his arms, hands crossed when it came time to bless Ephraim and Manasseh, joseph's sons. He knew what he was doing. And so, don, if you're listening and I know you are listening yeah, we know what we're doing. Man, it's all good. The Lord's got something going on with it. But yeah, we did the play, ministered to the pastors and they were. We had a tremendous response. It was terrific. It was a really blessed response, and a lot of pastors want us to come out. That's usually what happens. We try to tell somebody about the play.

Speaker 2: 4:18

That's one of our conundrums. Maybe you could keep that in prayer for us. One of our difficulties is how do you explain what you've experienced? Those of you that have experienced the play live or any of the plays, on what word plays you know to describe that to somebody? It's kind of hard to describe it Like oh yeah, this guy does a one man play and it's that. That doesn't do justice to what's happened.

Speaker 2: 4:39

I think when the body of Christ is together, the word of God is being proclaimed, whether be it by a sermon or the, just the straight reading or the acting out of it, which is a proclamation of the word of God. Don't let anybody tell you any different. I think when the body of Christ is together in and those things are happening, there's just a tremendous sense of fellowship and sense of the spirit of God moving among believers and working and working in the lives of people. I don't know how you explain that. I don't. I can't put that on a pamphlet. That's been one of the difficult things we've run into. You try to tell the pastor oh, we would love to come, minister. What do you do? Oh well, it's, it is a biblical play. And as soon as you say that, some people like they have a pre-microwaved, pre-packaged conception of, okay, they can. They think they know what it is about and they're like, okay, yeah, that's all right. Some people, but I will say this, the ones that are like, oh, that sounds interesting, okay, tell me more. And the ones that end up having us come out invariably, meaning always without variation, they always are blessed and excited and said, wow, I didn't know what to expect. That far exceeded anything I could have even thought of. And isn't that how the good Lord works? He can do far more, exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask or think. And yeah, so that's one of the challenges, but we don't stress over it. It's really the Lord's deal to open doors and hearts and we just follow His direction. When we first started, we were trying to make things happen. We're enthusiastic and like, okay, let's try to. That is, the more we sit back and just follow His direction, the more doors open up for us. So, yeah, I don't know if I'm mellowing like a fine wine or money or cheese, or you know what are the things. Yeah, those are the things. You want to be aged, and maybe that's what's happening. I don't know. But enough rambling. What I wanted to do.

Speaker 2: 6:53

We have not taken a deep dive into Genesis Joe. We've looked at Adam and we're gonna come back to Adam because we did a flyover of Adam and that's a play that we did in Albania. I don't think we've done that in the stage yet. It's much shorter right now. It'll be longer at some point, but it was maybe 25 minutes, not very long, but it was received very well when we did it in Albania. We did that and of course, we started off the podcast last year by drilling down into the Pete play, starting with the beginning, you know, in the Gospels, from Peter's perspective, and we got up to the triumphal entry and him coming in, cleansing Jesus, coming in, coming into the temple, cleansing the temple, and I think we got up to the last supper, and so we're gonna get back to that. But before we get back to that, I would like to look into Genesis Joe and drill down into Genesis Joe. So if you guys would just humor me and go along for the ride here, let's take a look at Genesis Joe, the text of it. It's a narrative, unlike our Pete play, which comes from Matthew, mark and Luke and John. There are four narratives that we draw from for the Pete play Genesis Joe. There is really just the one narrative.

Speaker 2: 8:15

Joseph is mentioned in other books of the Bible, but not in a narrative form. In Psalm 105, it talks about Joseph, that his feet were hurt with fetters or shackles and his neck was put in a collar of iron. And he's mentioned in the book of Chronicles as well, but nothing comparing to the narrative we find in the book of Genesis. So let's take a look at this. It starts in Genesis, chapter 37, and this is a whole lot. Of course, there's 36 chapters before this, so you need to read that part If you're new to the Bible.

Speaker 2: 8:56

The story of Joseph and we call him Genesis Joe. There's a whole lot of stuff that goes before him. I'll touch on a little bit of it, but read up to it, check it out. Let's open this up, okay. Genesis 37, verse one.

Speaker 2: 9:10

It says Jacob lived in the land of his father's soul journey, in the land of Canaan, where his, the King James says, where his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. Basically, abraham left modern day Iraq and traveled along the fertile crescent and made his way to at the peak of his travel there. It was a place called Haran where his relatives would stay in camp, and then he made his way to the land of Canaan, which is modern day Israel today, and he traveled. He lived in tents. You know, that's something that we kind of zip through and pass over. You know, we, I don't know. I know me personally.

Speaker 2: 9:53

When I read, it's easy to read and see and think, oh you know, it's just Abraham. And you know, the land wasn't all that populated. No, the land was populated. There were people, groups that lived throughout the land, that had houses built and were established. And here comes Abraham and he's setting up tents, living in tents out in the fields, and then Isaac as well. And God raised up Abraham and made him extremely wealthy, with flocks and herds and money and servants, male and female servants. So he became a extremely wealthy man and that was passed on to his son, isaac. And then Isaac had two sons. First one was Esau and the second one was Jacob, and the area where they lived, the land where they lived, is in the land of Canaan. So that's what they're basically talking about here. Jacob dwelt there.

Speaker 2: 10:48

Now, jacob, he had just come back, not just come back. Let me rewind that when the story of Joseph starts he is. Let me see. Let me see if I can do the math on the fly here. So he is about 11 years back from the land of Padah Na Ram or Heran, which is where he met Rachel and Leah and their father, laban, his relatives, when he did all the work. We'll touch on that in a second, but he's about 11 years back in the land of Canaan. How do you come to that conclusion, pastor? How do you? Okay, well, let's just deal with it now. Jacob, when he left, you know, or Esau said to himself when my father dies, I'm gonna kill my brother. This is after Jacob took the birthright and the blessing, primarily the blessing. When he took the blessing, that was the last straw and he was like I'm gonna kill my brother and Rebecca, the mom, the wife of Isaac.

Speaker 2: 11:50

She favored Jacob, isaac favored Esau, and this favoritism continued down through the family of Jacob even and favoritism is never it's just never cool, man, when a parent favors one child over another, it always causes some kind of hatred or problem, and it's just always invariably causes problems. I'm not a parent, so I have not made that type of error, but I have seen a number of people, either intentionally and unintentionally show favoritism and it always results in strife and trouble. So back to the story. Jacob's mom was like you gotta get out of here and she basically sent him away and he went to Padana Ram, to Haran, the area, and that's where he met Rachel and Leah and her dad, laban, and he worked for seven years because he loved Rachel. So he worked for Laban for seven years.

Speaker 2: 12:54

The trickster got tricked. He got tricked. This whole story for him started out when he tricked his dad At his mom's behest. He tricked his dad into thinking that he was, he was Esau, and he wasn't Esau, but he was a trickster and it's ironic how the tables got turned on him. The trickster got tricked and when he woke up in the morning he expected to see he thought he was seeing Rachel and it was Leah.

Speaker 2: 13:27

And the scripture some of the translation says Leah had weak eyes. Some of the commentators look at it. Not that Leah had weak eyes, but it was hard to look at Leah. Now, is that true that it's going above and beyond, and you never want to go above and beyond the scripture, but where it's not clear, you can speculate, with boundaries set. Is it possible? Yeah, it was possible. It was hard to look at. Either way he was not attracted to her, but he was really attracted to her sister and so he got tricked and he worked for seven years for that marriage.

Speaker 2: 14:08

And then Laban said well, we'll give you the one that you love. It's not our custom to give the old to youngest daughter away before the younger one. So you have Leah, you can have Rachel in return for another seven years of work. So he gave her Rachel also, and then he had to work for another seven years. So there's 14 years there. Right, that's 14 years.

Speaker 2: 14:31

And then, after the 14 years, he worked for Genesis 31 in verse 41. He says I served you, just as Jacob talking to Laban. So after the 14 years is up, he says I served you for 14 years for your two daughters and then six years for your flock. So that whole story with the flock, when Jacob served and basically got all the wealth from Laban in the form of his flocks, just exploded. Jacob's flocks exploded and Laban's didn't, and so, but that period of time was six years. So you take the 14 years that he worked for the two daughters and then add six to that. That's 20, right, you guys follow me on this. I'm one of these geeks that likes to do the math. So there's 20 years there.

Speaker 2: 15:16

After the 20 years, that's when he leaves Laban with his flocks, herds and his family and he's on the way back, you know, and that's where Jacob wrestles with the Lord, that's where his name gets changed from Jacob to Israel. You have wrestled with God and man and prevailed. The Lord renames him, but that's after 20 years of him being away, okay, and after the incident with Esau there, he because he was afraid, he put Leah and the other kids out front and then he kept Joseph, his youngest son at the time, with him and Rachel in the back and because he was worried Esau was gonna get his revenge. And Esau did, and Esau loved, you know, hugged him and basically forgave him. And after that episode, on the way to Bethlehem, is where Rachel died, giving birth.

Speaker 2: 16:06

Now, this is the wife that he loved, rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. And it was right outside Bethlehem, okay, ephrathah, bethlehem, and she died. And you know, up until I wanna say about what? 100 years, not even 100 years ago, the death rate of people giving birth was a lot higher and I wonder if it's, it might even still be in, like third world countries, it might be higher than the average here in the States. I'd put money on that and I'm not a gambling man. You know it was more common for women to die during childbirth and it still happens today. And here she dies, the one that he loved, giving birth to Benjamin, okay, so I hope I'm not losing you. The idea is Joseph.

Speaker 2: 16:56

Okay, before Benjamin was born, joseph was the last son born to Jacob, right, and all these kids, all 11 kids, were born in a seven-year period because he worked for seven years before he could marry them, right, marry Rachel. And he ended up getting Leah also, but he worked for seven years. Then they had the marriage ceremony and then a week later or whatever, rachel was also given to him. In return. He had to work for another seven years. So during that seven years while he was working is when Leah had Reuben, simeon, levi, judah, and then Rachel was like I'm not having this man, my sister's having all these kids and I can't have any, I'm not having any kids. So she was like take my servant, billa, who was the servant. Billa was the servant to Rachel and she got pregnant. I mean, there was somebody who was always pregnant. In that seven-year period there was a it was just a household of births happening and Joseph was the last one. And then he worked for then Jacob worked for six more years for the flocks. So Joseph was about six years old when his mother died, giving birth to Benjamin. Right, you follow me. So Joseph is about six years old, six-year-old kid. He sees his mom die giving birth to his brother, his blood brother, same mother.

Speaker 2: 18:17

The story picks up in Genesis 37. Here I've jumped over a couple things, but in Genesis 37, it says Joseph being 17 years old. So he's a 17-year-old boy now. And that's how we get the 11 years. Jacob had been in the land of Canaan 11 years because he came back from Iran. Rachel died and we know that Joseph six years old if you just follow the scripture because he worked for six years after Joseph was born for the flocks. I hope you're following me here.

Speaker 2: 18:47

So anyway, there are markers in the scripture. There are certain markers where you can, as best you can, come to a logical conclusion and not be completely out there. So this is one of them Joseph being 17 years old. We also get another marker later on, when Jacob stands before Pharaoh. He says, pharaoh says how old are you? And Jacob says I am 130 years old. So well, without going down that rabbit trail, there's all kinds of markers and you can determine people's pretty pretty good Come to a logical conclusion on certain people's ages and when certain things happen. But let's keep moving down this line here. So Joseph being 17 years old is verse 2 in 37.

Speaker 2: 19:25

Joseph, being 17 years old, was pastoring the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bila Remember His blood mother's servant or slave so the sons of Billah, his half-brothers, and Zilpa. Zilpa was the servant of Leah, and here it's there called his father's wives. There's no mention of a ceremony or anything like that. There is a mention of a ceremony with Leah and Rachel, but not Bill and Zilpa. But at this point I guess they could be considered his, his wives and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now in the play we just really point out Joseph. He says you know all I did. I just told him the truth, my father, he asked me about what was going on. I told him the truth, joseph being a truthful man, a godly man, even at a young age, which he'll demonstrate later in the episode with Potiphar's wife. He just he just told him the truth and he brought this bad. It was wasn't so they. They got into something they shouldn't have been doing. They did something wrong. They were doing. It was a bad report.

Speaker 2: 20:23

Verse 3 now, israel, meaning Jacob. Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons. Right there here Jacob is showing preferential treatment to his son, something he had to deal with because his father showed preferential treatment to his brother, esau. Israel loved Joseph more than any other sons and because he was the son of his old age. Now, he wasn't the youngest son and he wasn't the son that was born. You know he wasn't the youngest of Jacob's sons, he was the second youngest and there's a six, six year difference, at least a six year difference, between Benjamin and Joseph. But he was born near the end of all the kids being born and he was the first born with Rachel, the woman that he loved, that Jacob loved, and so there was a. You know, originally Jacob, he just wanted to marry Rachel. He loved Rachel from the start and so finally he, she was able to conceive and and the son was Joseph.

Speaker 2: 21:31

So in verse 3, the second half, because he was the son of his old age and he made him a robe of many Colors. And this is this is tricky, because the in the Hebrew it's unclear. What is what does that mean? What is this section of the Hebrew is like what is what? His coat or robe? And that's where we get the term Joseph in the Technicolor dreamcoat.

Speaker 2: 21:55

I believe Martin Luther, I believe, don't quote me on this I think Martin Luther was the one that translated it many colors. The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, about 300 years before Christ was even born, that they did this translation. The Septuagint translates it coat of with long sleeves, and in the play we Render it. How do we do it? We say you know, my father, joseph speaking, my father made a coat of many colors and it had the long sleeves. And some commentators believe that the concept of this coat, a special coat, was a coat of authority and the kind that the men that were in charge, the managers, you know the foreman, they would wear the coat with the long sleeves. I don't remember where I read that, but that's. That's where we get the concept for the, the long sleeves being a sign of authority.

Speaker 2: 22:47

And I got to put yourself in the brothers shoes. They're, they're sitting here. They're like, wait a minute, dad loves this guy, we know he loves. He really wanted Joseph. And they hated Joseph because their father loved him. And look at verse 4. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Right off the bat.

Speaker 2: 23:10

Dysfunction because of favoritism being shown. Favoritism being shown to Joseph, it doesn't say that he didn't love his, the other sons, but for all intents and purposes, that's how they seem to translate it now jealousy. They were jealous of their father's love for Joseph and and jealousy this whole thing could have, you know, could have been alleviated heading, shown love to the other brothers and Addressed this apparent favoritism. I'm telling you, I've seen it, I in families, the type of bitterness that it builds. And God, our Father, is not a respecter of persons. He doesn't show favoritism. He makes the rain go on the wicked and the righteous. He makes the sun rises on those that are in his family and those that hate him. He provides good things for mankind, many of which that hate him. He doesn't show favoritism, but he does have a favorite and that's Christ Jesus. There is only one that is elect.

Speaker 2: 24:17

Yeah, I'm stepping on some toes here. I want you to just hear me, though, before you shut the radio off and start launching arrows. There is one, and if you're found in him, then you are part of that group to be found in him. There is one that is special. There is one, and that's how God designed it, that's how he wants it to be. There is one he said this is my son, in whom I love, and if we are found in him, we share in that favor and we share in that love of God. We're co-heirs with Christ.

Speaker 2: 24:50

I mean and actually let me just back up for a second Verse two. It says these are the generations of Jacob. That's a common phrase throughout the book of Genesis. That happens, and the book of Genesis starts out on an astronomical scale. It's gigantic. It's talking about the universe, the heavens and or the heaven and the earth. If you're in King James, it's the heaven and the earth. But it says in chapter two, verse four says this is the account or these are the generations of the heavens and the earth and that term. So you have the heavens and the earth, and then it moves down into chapter five of Genesis. These are the generations of Adam. And then it moves down to chapter six. These are the generations of Noah, and then it moves down to his son, chapter 10, sons of Noah, and then one of his sons, shem, and then down to Tara, who was Abraham's father, and then these are the generations of Abraham in chapter 25. And then also in chapter 25, these are the generations of Isaac, and it moves down to Esau. It shows the generation of Esau and shows the generation of Jacob here in chapter 37. And I just wanted to make sure I didn't forget that, because that's important. And it also it happens in other places in the Bible, which is pretty fascinating in itself.

Speaker 2: 26:04

You can learn a lot by looking at those lists. In fact, little side note, if you look at the names in Genesis, chapter five, the names from Adam to Noah, the names themselves, the names themselves have a hidden message in them, have the gospel message in them. So, adam, I'm gonna give it to you real quick, without going into the weeds. But Adam, his name means man, mankind, man. So Adam is man. Seth the next one. The next name means appointed Enosh. The next one means mortal. Kenan means sorrow. Mahalelel means but the blessed God Jared means shall come down. Enoch means teaching that, or teaching. Methuselah means his death shall bring. Lamech means the despairing that's where we get the word lament from Lamech. And Noah means rest. So I'm gonna read it real quick for you Adam, man, seth appointed, enosh, mortal, kenan, sorrow, mahalelel, but the blessed God, jared, shall come down. Enoch teaching that, methuselah, his death shall bring Lamech, the despairing, noah, rest. Now I'm gonna say it without the names man appointed, mortal, sorrow, but the blessed God shall come down, teaching that his death shall bring the despairing rest. Genesis, chapter five.

Speaker 2: 27:56

Much more could be said, but we don't have time to go into it on this episode of Plays on Word Radio Can't even believe this. We're out of time. It's been fantastic to sit with you and just rant with you here. We didn't even get to Joseph's dreams. Man, we're gonna have to get to Joseph's dreams. So I tell you what. What we'll do is we'll continue this, this drill down, and I hope, if you enjoy drilling down into scripture or if you have any, anything you don't like maybe I ramble too much or I, I don't know Shoot me a note, send me an email. There's something you like or something you want more of or something you don't like you want less of. I'm willing to listen and what we'll do is we'll get into the dreams and Joseph and just cracking this open.

Speaker 2: 28:48

I love to drill down and just contemplate what is God saying to us? What is he saying there? Observation, looking at it, interpretation, understanding it, what's being said and communicated, and then application how do we apply this to our lives? So until next week, I tell you what. Until next week, until next week, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Speaker 1: 29:46

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