Reaping what you sow – Joseph and Ishmael

Ishmael was sent away at the request of Abraham’s wife Sarah because she saw him mocking her son.

¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” (Genesis 21:10)

Many translations give the word “slave woman” instead of “maid.” Ishmael wanders the desert with his mother and after God’s intervention, survives and becomes an archer, later marrying a woman from Egypt.

Later, Sarah’s great grandson Joseph gives a bad report about his brothers and then has dreams that upset them even more. They sell him into slavery to Ishmael’s descendants who take him to Egypt, selling him to Potiphar. Through God’s deliverance, Joseph rises to second in command in Egypt and marries an Egyptian.  Famine goes throughout the land, and Israel’s entire family is forced to move to Egypt where they all become slaves. Out of the twelve brothers, Joseph is the only one whose bones are taken out of Egypt.

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (Luke 6:37-38)

References

Genesis 21:9-10, 21

Genesis 37:2, 5-8, 28

Genesis 41:45

Genesis 50:25

Exodus 13:19

Luke 6:37-38