Feeling Impressed With Yourself?
Want to know how to read the Old Testament? Here's a quick primer: Martin Luther said that everything bad in the Old Testament (and there's a lot) is there to point out our sin, while everything good in the Old Testament is there to point us to our Savior. Remember this pithy little couplet, and you'll be well on your way to understanding what can often seem to be an intimidating and inscrutable collection of books.
Consider Joseph, for example. His life, like all of ours, is a mixed bag: some bad, some good. There's no question that we can learn a lot of good from reading about Joseph's life. His refusal to sleep withPotiphar's wife stands out. The Bible never tells us that, after all Joseph had been through, his faith in God wavered. In fact, it tells us just the opposite. When he finally encounters his brothers years after they sold him into slavery and lied to their father about him dying-and he now has the power and the authority to enact some serious vengeance-he extends tremendous grace saying, "What you intended for evil, God intended for good." Amazing.
But Joseph wasn't always gracious and humble. In fact, when we first meet Joseph, he's a spoiled brat. He was his father's favorite son, and he knew it. While his older brothers had to break their backs toiling in the fields, Joseph got to stay at home. When Joseph has two separate dreams which imply that his brothers (and even his mother and father!) will eventually bow down to him, he doesn't hesitate to go out into the fields to share the dreams with his family. It's no wonder that the Bible says his brothers "hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him" (Genesis 37:4). I certainly know what I would have done if my youngest brother had been so impertinent.
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