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NASB | Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God (Elohim) created [by forming from nothing] the heavens and the earth. [Heb 11:3] |
Bible Question: Was Benjamin, Joseph's brother born before he was sold into slavery? |
Bible Answer: Hi smyrdell1, Your three questions are closely related: 1. When Joseph was sold into slavery, was his mother Rachel still living? 2. When was Benjamin born? 3. Was Benjamin born before Joseph was sold into slavery? Benjamin was born on the road to Bethlehem, about 8-10 years after his father Jacob and mother Rachel left Paddan-Aram and about 14-16 years after the birth of Dinah and Joseph. Rachel died shortly after from complications of Benjamin’s birth. It was after this event that Joseph was sold into slavery, so Benjamin would have been an infant or young child and Rachel was dead. Jacob worked for 14 years for his father-in-law Laban, in compensation for Jacob’s marriage to Laban’s two daughters, Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29). Near the end of the 14 years Dinah was born to Leah and Joseph was born to Rachel. Dinah and Joseph were very close in age. Jacob continued to work for Laban another 6 years. (Genesis 31:38) At the end of 20 years, Jacob was told by the Lord to return to the land of his fathers in Canaan (Genesis 31: 3). Jacob first travelled to Succoth, where he built a house and booths for his livestock (Gensis 33:17). This was likely just for the winter months, because Jacob then went safely to the city of Shechem, where he bought a piece of land and erected an altar there. The scriptures do not state how long Jacob lived at Shechem, but this is the city where Shechem, son of Hamot, raped Jacob’s daughter Dinah. Shechem loved Dinah and wanted her for his wife (Genesis 34:1-4). From these circumstances, we can assume that Dinah was 13-15 years old and Joseph would have been about the same age. The Lord then instructed Jacob to go to Bethel and live there (Genesis 35:1). It is unclear exactly how long Jacob stayed in Bethel, but it was long enough that Rachel’s nurse died there, Jacob built an altar and God appeared and spoke to Jacob. Jacob then began a journey to Bethlehem. On this trip Rachel gave birth to Benjamin and then died (Genesis 35:16-19). Jacob then travelled on to Hebron, where his fathers had sojourned, as he had been instructed by the Lord in Genesis 31:3. It was in Hebron that Jacob was living when Joseph was sold into slavery. (Genesis 37) In Genesis 37:10, Joseph relates his dream of the sun and moon bowing down to him. Jacob rebuked Joseph saying, “Shall I and your mother . . . bow ourselves down to you . . .” Jacob was no doubt referring to Leah, Joseph’s stepmother. This was a wrong interpretation of the dream by Jacob. There are no scriptures that show that Jacob ever bowed down to Jacob. In fact, both Leah and Rachel were dead before Jacob was reunited with Joseph. The “sun and moon” was likely a reference to the sun worshipers of Egypt and moon worshipers of Canaan, who did bow down to Joseph, as did all his brothers. Hope this helps, Hoth |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Gen 1:1 | Author | ||
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StrongBear | ||
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St George | ||
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John Ryals | ||
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Caroltpa | ||
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trx15 | ||
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cleaninglady2006 | ||
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smyrdell1 | ||
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HOTH | ||
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smyrdell1 | ||
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kacfeast | ||
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mantale |