Reversed Expectations

God often works in ways which we do not always fully understand. Sometimes, God completely reverses our expectations! Let us consider the example of Jacob’s sons.

Chapters 37–50 of the Book of Genesis narrate the Joseph Story. Joseph was Jacob’s favourite son. Jacob “loved him more than all his other sons” (Gen. 37:3). Because of this, Jacob’s other sons became jealous of their brother, Joseph. Initially, they wanted to kill Joseph. Eventually, they sold him as a servant, and lied to their father that they had seen him being killed by wild beasts. At the end of Chapter 37, Joseph became a servant to an Egyptian official named Potiphar.

The next chapter, chapter 38, is very strangely placed because it disrupts the Joseph Story. It narrates that Judah mistook his own daughter-in-law for a prostitute and slept with her, and she became pregnant with his children. Then, in chapter 39, the focus goes back to the Joseph Story. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph into sleeping with her. Joseph refused her advances and fled. Potiphar’s wife accused him of trying to rape her. As a result, Joseph was thrown into prison.

The difference between Judah and Joseph can hardly be missed here. While Judah slept with a random prostitute whom he found on the road, Joseph refused the advances of Potiphar’s wife because he feared God (Gen. 39:9). Chapter 38 was put there in the middle of the Joseph Story, disrupting the Joseph Story in order to present the contrast between Good Boy Joseph and Naughty Boy Judah!

It is clear that God’s favour was on Good Boy Joseph. We would expect that Joseph’s descendants will follow after his righteous manner of life. We would also expect that the Messiah will be born as a descendant of Good Boy Joseph. Surely, God would not choose that the Messiah will be born from Naughty Boy Judah!

However, that is not at all what happened. When the Kingdom of Israel became divided, the descendants of Good Boy Joseph joined the evil Northern Kingdom of Israel, which rejected the God-appointed kingship and worship. In fact, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was nicknamed “Ephraim”—one of the half-tribes of Joseph.

Then, perhaps most unexpectedly, God chose that the Messiah was born as a descendant of Naughty Boy Judah—through the sinful union between Judah and his daughter-in-law!