Ep 59: The Weave of Redemption - Joseph's Tale and the 'But God' Moments of Divine Providence

"Today we delve further into the heart of Genesis. As we contemplate the Lord's intimate knowledge of us, the threads of Joseph's colorful journey weave a pattern that mirrors the redemptive life of Christ Himself."

Embark on a spiritual odyssey as we continue our dive into the heart of Genesis, where ancient narratives unfold in relevance to our modern lives. Through the teaching of Pastor Teddy of Plays On Word Theater, we traverse the storied landscapes of Joseph's tribulations and the symbolic Canaanites, unearthing the profound 'But God' instances where divine intervention redirects the course of human events. As we contemplate Jesus' intimate knowledge of our very being, the threads of Joseph's colorful journey intricately weave a pattern that mirrors the redemptive life of Christ himself. This dialogue promises to stir the soul and awaken a deeper appreciation for the meticulous care with which God's stories are penned in the grand scriptural tapestry.

Through our conversation, we explore the tumultuous family dynamics of Jacob's lineage and the potent symbolism cloaked within Joseph's coat. Delicate themes of favoritism and betrayal lead us to the pivotal intersection of cultural narratives, as Judah's intertwining path with the Canaanites paves an unexpected route to the Messiah's line. As Joseph's and Judah's tales converge in an emotionally charged revelation, we're reminded of the enduring power of forgiveness and the prophetic visions that echo through time. Prepare to leave inspired, with a renewed vision of the scriptures and the omnipresent hand of God in the pages of our lives and the legacy of faith.

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Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:00

Lord, you know you listen to the place of word. The radio is the best Absolute grief, complete grief. They represent the world. The Canaanites represent the world, the opposition to God's chosen, to God's elect, to God's ways. The Canaanites and their false God system, and they're just evil, evilness, pure evil, and they always draw the men and women of God away from the true and living God.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Hello and welcome to Plays On Word 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 Kenney Jr, the founder of Plays On Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the word of God. Yes, sir.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Okay, thank you very much, mr Josh Taylor and Katie Kenny. Welcome to you all. Welcome back to Plays On Word Radio. Yes, we are continuing with our Rolling Through the Genesis Joe play, but more than that, rolling Through the Scripture from Genesis 37 all the way to Genesis 50. We took a break to have a conversation with Scott and Lynn Jackson of the Thrive Leadership Foundation. If you haven't heard those two episodes, definitely go back and check them out. I know you'll be blessed. We are broadcasting from Plays On Word Southern Command in our new, brand new office complex which doubles as our living quarters.

Speaker 2: 2:11

This is also the Calvary Chapel South Port temporary staging office, and that's a whole other story we'll get into at some point. But yeah, we are down in North Carolina right now in our brand new when I say brand new I mean brand new Southern Command and we're really excited about this and what the Lord's going to do here and as this place of base operations for our Southern operations. We'll keep you guys posted on what's going on here. Maybe we'll see if we can post some pictures or something like that. We're literally under I don't want to say under construction, although the lab is kind of under construction. If you could see it you would be like, wow, this guy. Anyway, we opened up when we started out with our Genesis Joe study. We started looking at the text of Genesis 37. And we ended the episode on the idea of always leave space for that phrase.

Speaker 2: 3:21

But God, it's so important to leave room for the Lord to operate. I mean, you don't have to, he's going to do his thing. He's God, he can operate around it. But it's important for us to have the mindset and to be thinking on the things of God and pondering and putting Him first whenever we face something, whenever we, in every aspect of our life. This is the amazing thing about God he's actually can you believe this? That the one that spoke and everything leapt into existence is actually interested in the intimate details of our life? I mean this is amazing. How do I know that? Jesus Himself said our Father knows the hair is on our head. I mean, that's some of us were losing that. That is a retreating proposition right there. And I'm in that camp. I'm like every time I look, I'm like, wait, what happened? What's going on? Do? The older I get, the less hair I have. And now it's turning colors on me.

Speaker 2: 4:24

I can't even say now it's turning, it's been turning. I actually I have one gray hair when I was, I think, 18. I have one gray hair All the way till the age of about 29. It was this one gray, it was the weirdest thing. And it all of a sudden, like just you know, like weeds in your front yard or something, boom, everything. Just it, just the gray hair took over and I was upset about it. And so this one person came up to you said you know, I like your wisdom. And I was like what, what are you talking about? Wisdom, you're great, you're great hair. Oh, okay, so that's how I get around it these days. Anyway, I digress Back to our study though.

Speaker 2: 5:02

Genesis 37 through 50. Basically, this starts off saying these are the generations of Jacob. Then chapter 38, the next chapter from 37, after Joseph, the whole episode with Joseph being sold as a slave into Egypt and the sons they take a goat from the flock. Let me back up into 37 for a second. They take a goat from the flock, they kill it, they shed the blood of that innocent animal and they dip the richly ornamented robe, the robe with the long sleeves that pointed to Joseph being special leadership, even the aristocracy. They didn't wear short sleeves, they wore the long sleeves. The commoners and the workers had to wear short sleeves. So Joseph had this special custom outfit that his dad made him and they took that and they dipped it in the blood of that animal and they went all the way back pretty far. Somebody estimates are like 90 miles. So they went all the way back and brought this coat back to their dad and showed him the blood and in his eyes, in the eyes of Jacob, the father, the son that he loved was dead. In his mind, and because his eyes saw the you know the blood, he was reckoned as dead. A wild animal surely has torn him to pieces. He said and he mourned and he was grief stricken, this deception of the goat, the blood of the goat, the innocent animal there from the flock. This does point to, in the mind and in the eyes of God, the father, christ the son, that whom he loved, whom he sent to his brothers, whom his brothers rejected, who made you a ruler over us? Who's you know? That's what the Joseph's brothers said. It's the same parallel to Christ and Christ. Although Joseph was not technically dead, jesus Christ was technically dead.

Speaker 2: 7:18

These are just types and shadows. You can't expect them to walk on all fours. Some theologians have said I should. That's a term. You can't expect it to walk on all fours. It is a type and a shadow. There are parts of it that point to Christ. It is not an exact duplication. Having said that, jacob mourned for his sons.

Speaker 2: 7:41

Meanwhile, joseph is 17 years old. He's brought into Egypt by the Ishmaelites and Midianites and we talked about that a little bit last time how they even the Ishmaelites and Midianites descended from Abraham. They were not Canaanites. Then it's almost like Moses writing the book of Genesis, directed by the Holy Spirit. It's a hard left turn man. From 37, then it goes to chapter 38, like ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, and it just it's like. It seems like what is this story about? What is going on here? Almost as if it comes out of nowhere. But it doesn't, and that's what we can bank on and trust.

Speaker 2: 8:20

So I'm gonna read this Genesis, chapter 38. We're gonna roll through this, even though this is not technically. This is technically not in the Genesis Joe play, but it is in the scripture and it's important for us to have context and it does. That's part of what we do when it plays on word radio man. We can drill down and get into the weeds of some of these texts that we can't normally do during the play. I guess I could throw this in the play but it's a little tricky because the play Genesis Joe is really about Joseph. I could mention it but it would add a lot more time to the play. So I've had to go from 37 to 39 in the play.

Speaker 2: 9:00

But here Genesis 38, I'm gonna read here and check this out and it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brethren and turned into a certain Adulomite whose name was Hyra. So this is after the brother sold Joseph. Joseph sold as a slave and Judah actually wanted to. No, I'll say wanted to rescue him. Judah helped to save Joseph, his life at least. Judas was sitting there and he said you know what? What are we gonna gain if we kill our brother? Let's sell him to. It was Judah's idea to sell him, sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites and Midianites.

Speaker 2: 9:38

So when Judah got back with his brothers and they gave their dad that Technicolor Dreamcoat, the coat of many colors, which is actually is considered actually a bad translation, not necessarily a bad translation, potentially wrong translation, not that it was a coat of many colors. I believe Martin Luther was the one who originated that translation of coat of many colors. It's difficult in the Hebrew to make out what was suspect. What was the deal with this coat Well, so special about it? In the play we render it a coat of many colors, but we also say it is a coat with the long sleeves, and I personally believe that's a better rendering of the Hebrew text than coat of many colors. I think the coat with long sleeves points to culturally points to the concept of Jacob the dad favoring his son and giving his son a coat. Not only that says he's going to be the manager in charge, but he's not the laborer. Again, the preference of preferring different children can wreak havoc, anyway. So he's back.

Speaker 2: 10:58

Judah now is back with his brothers and his dad is BOOM. I mean, he's grief stricken and everybody tried to comfort him. He was not having it. And so 38 happens. Now we go to Genesis 38. So it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hyra. That is dude, strikes me as shady, because nothing really good happens to Judah and this guy seems to be around, but anyway he's an Adullamite. They go back to the Canaanites. He's a Canaanite, and this guy's name was Hyra, and the Canaanites were the inhabitants that were supposed to be expelled later.

Speaker 2: 11:44

Now, canaan, the founder of the Canaanites, all the Canaanites go back to Canaan, who was the son of Ham, who was Noah's son, and in Genesis, chapter 9, you can read about a strange story. But Noah, he got a little too blasted. He apparently learned how to make wine. Well, who knows when they figured out how to make wine. I don't know when the first Samalie was invented, but either way, no one knew enough to make wine, ferment it, and he got blasted off of it. And his grandson, his son Ham, saw his nakedness, went and told his brothers, sham and Japheth, and they, rather than doing what Ham did, they walked in backwards and got a garment to cover their dad. And there have been a lot of speculations on this whole incident. How far did it go? What actually went down? Either way, noah, when he wakes up and realizes what Ham did to him, he pronounces a curse on Ham's son, canaan. Cursed be Canaan, lowest of slaves, right. So he drops the bomb on Canaan.

Speaker 2: 13:06

So the Canaanites were the ones. They became multitudes and multitudes of people that filled the land that God promised to Abraham, isaac and now Jacob. Let me back up a little bit, though. Okay, so you have Jacob and his brother, esau, twins Esau and Jacob. Their mom and dad is Isaac. So you have Abraham, you have Isaac, and then you have Jacob and Esau. When Esau got married, two Hittites. They go back to Canaanites, and they were a source of grief, absolute grief, complete grief. They represent the world, not just those two. The Canaanites represent the world, the opposition to God's chosen, to God's elect, to God's ways. The Canaanites and their false God system, and they're just evil, evilness, pure evil, and they always draw the men and women of God away from the true and living God. So, judah, he gets up and basically leaves, not too far away, but he leaves and moves with this guy, hyra.

Speaker 2: 14:24

The adultamite, and this is in verse 2,. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went into her. She conceived verse 3, she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Air. So right then, in Air, I mean, there's some things that are a little weird here, because Judah, the tradition was the dad would, or the parents, but primarily the dad would arrange the marriage. It happened for Isaac. Abraham arranged Isaac's marriage to Rebecca.

Speaker 2: 14:59

But here, here, judah just goes out and sees a Canaanite woman and he took her and it says in verse 2, and went into her and she conceived and bore a son and he called his name. He called his name Air, verse 4,. She conceived again. You know this lady's never mentioned either. I mean, her name's not ever given, she's just the daughter of Shua, who's a Canaanite. They were spoke, they weren't really supposed to be Intermarrying. Abraham said to the servant when, when he was getting the wife for Isaac, he said do not take a wife from for my son, from these women around here. Go back to my area, my clan, my family. And so I'm telling you, I think this guy, hyra the adult, might, I think it was a bad influence. First four she conceived again and bore a son and she called his name onan. And so now, notice, she named the son, the first son, judah named second son, she named the Canaanite woman who's not even we don't even know her name, but she's a Canaanite. And then this, the third son, verse five. She conceived it, bore a son again and she called his name Shella. Judah was in Jay-zib was the town when she bore him. So Between verse five and verse six, there's a pretty big gap of time.

Speaker 2: 16:20

That's happening between verse five and verse six and Judah took his wife, verse six. And Judah took a wife for her. His first born, I mean it was just born. In verse three. He was born verse by verse six. He's taking a wife for him. So clearly there was a gap of time here, enough time. It was 13 years and a day, I believe the Jewish men would be allowed to marry and we do have young, very young marriages going on in the scripture not a ton, but there's, there are Recordings of it. I mean, josiah was 14 when, or 13, 14 when, he had his first son. I mean, these guys, they were the of the king line, so it was no doubt a priority. Okay, well, hey, he's a man now, let's, let's get him, it's getting married so we can have an heir to the throne, that type of mentality. So there's a gap, verse six, between verse five and verse six. And Judah took a wife for her, his first born and her name was Tamar. So Judah took the wife here for him.

Speaker 2: 17:31

Judah went and set this up verse seven. But but error, judas firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord put him to death. What, wow, that's harsh. Well, maybe it's not. The Lord does not play when it comes to wickedness. Now we're not told what this quote unquote wickedness was, what offense he committed against the Lord. We're just told he was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord put him to death. Verse eight.

Speaker 2: 18:02

Then Judas said to Onan this is the second son, he's Judas as Tim. Go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to earn, raise up offspring for your brother. Verse nine but Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever, all right, no, you gotta love the scripture. It deals with everything. You just can't escape it. I'm gonna read it. I tell you what. I'm gonna read it from the NASB and I'm just gonna. I'm gonna read it. It's the word of God. So I'm gonna. I'm just gonna have to read it, verse eight. Then Judas said to Onan have relations with your brother's wife and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her and raise up a child for your brother, verse nine. Now Onan knew that the child would not be his. So when he had relations with his brother's wife, he wasted a seed on the ground so that he would not give a child to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, so he meaning God, took his life also. God doesn't really play, I'm telling you, this is heavy.

Speaker 2: 19:02

Now Onan, the second brother, I personally I think he was greedy and his crime was not his physical action or the physical act of what he did. It was he was not going to allow for his brother's name to be carried on. And one of the potential reasons for that and the one that stands out, I believe, to me is that the inheritance. If he were to have a son with Tamor, the inheritance was not going to him, to Onan, it would go to the son first, directly to the son that they would have in the name of his dead brother. So that's where the greed kicks in, in my view. I believe he's, you know he's worried about his inheritance and you know later on what we're gonna see.

Speaker 2: 19:57

Throughout the scripture we see this practice happening, this idea of okay, so his husband and wife and the husband dies. So then the next brother is to marry the wife, the widow, to raise up children in the name of the dead brother, to keep the name alive of the dead brother. And we see it in the book of Ruth Boaz. He did it. We see it in the law of Moses you rewind a little bit the law of Moses. The dude running the 25 talks about it the Leverite Marriage Law. It gets codified and it was a common practice, not just of the people of God and the people of Israel. It was a common practice in that ancient time.

Speaker 2: 20:39

Verse 10,. Though God put him to death. Also Now God does not play. I mean, it does not play Even in the New Testament. We have in the book of Acts, chapter five, ananias and Sapphira lying to the church and to the Holy Spirit and God took them out, took them out, but God took them out. God is serious, man. He is serious. He does not play games. Many times people live their life just assuming I'm good, god's not gonna see man. This should be a wake up call. He sees all things, Verse 11,. Moving right along, running at a time. Verse 11,.

Speaker 2: 21:19

Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law remain a widow in your father's house till Shella, my son, the youngest one grows up. For he feared that he would die like his brother. So Tamar went and remained at her father's house. So Tamar went back. Now she's basically engaged, or promised, to get Judah's youngest son, shella, and Judah. Check this out. Judah in his mind. He wrongly assigns blame to Tamar for the death of his two sons. He blames Tamar, wrongly assigns the blame in his mind and that's why he was like man, I'm sending her away, I'm getting her. He was afraid that her, his son Shella, would die because of Tamar. But it wasn't her fault, it was not her doing. This was the Lord's operation. We gotta be careful on how we assign blame on people in our minds and in our hearts. We don't always know.

Speaker 2: 22:21

Now this whole episode, this whole thing takes place parallel to the story of Joseph, when he is sold as a slave into Egypt and he's in Potiphar's house and then he's put in prison and even to the point when he is raised to the right hand of Pharaoh with all power and authority given to him. The story of Genesis 38 is a stark contrast to Joseph and this is happening, so we can see a timeline. A continuation. Of course we know that the Messiah is gonna come from this, from Judah, not from Joseph. The Messiah Christ Jesus himself, from this episode here. It's amazing, but it's parallel to Joseph's story. Joseph was righteous and honored God and here Judah was living in his flesh and mingling with the Canaanites and the promises of God. You know the promise? It's kind of interesting. You look at Jacob's sons. The firstborn was Reuben, but he sinned. He went up on his father's couch and slept with with Billah, Rachel's made his concubine, causing all kinds of problems in the household. You imagine that, like the kids, her kids, and now he her oh Jerry.

Speaker 2: 23:46

Springer man. And then you have Simeon and Levi. Because of their sister, their sister Dina, and the whole episode with Shekham who slept with their sister, they went and they they wiped out the whole town Like they. They basically became murderers, they white, they killed everybody, all the men. The blessings aren't going to Reuben, they're not going to Simeon, they're not going to Levi, judah's next in line. And Judah, the world was pulling on him. It's just like a disease, the world system, the things of this world that are anti-God, and that's what the Canaanites represent. And this guy, hyra, is. You know, judah considered him a friend, but this friend I don't think was a very good influence.

Speaker 2: 24:30

Looks like we're going to run out of time on this episode of Plays On Warrior Radio. We are going to continue. Just remember, though this story in 38 is running parallel to Joseph, when Joseph is is being exalted all the way to the poor. He's being exalted, and it reconnects when Joseph's brothers, with Judah, go back to Egypt during the famine, and then Joseph, with all power and authority and glory, reveals himself to his brothers and they look upon him, and it reminds me of the scripture in Zechariah. It says when they look upon me, on him, who they have pierced. They shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him as one weeps for a firstborn. That day's coming, and until that day comes, may the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you peace.