In This Way: Successful Patterns

This is the account of Jacob.  Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.   ~ Genesis 37:2

Observations:

• Bilhah and Zilpah were slaves to a set of sisters
• Slaves were called wives too
• Not all wives were the same
• Bilhah and Zilpah were used for involuntary child birth
• Bilhah was Rachel's slave offered to Jacob
• Zilpah was Leah's  slave offered to Jacob
• Neither volunteered but were volunteered
• Bilhah had two boys (Dan, Naphtali)
• Zilpah had two boys (Gad and Asher)
• Joseph was tending the flocks with his half brothers
• Joseph told on his half brothers
• Jacob had four "wives"
• Leah, mother of six boys and a girl (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah)
• Bilhah, mother of two
• Zilpah mother of two
• Rachel, mother of two (Joseph and Benjamin)
• Joseph was the youngest son of Jacob tending the flocks
• All the boys, except Joseph, were old enough to help Jacob tend flocks "In This Way"
• Sons may have been part of the exit strategy from Padam Aram
• They had memories of Joseph's birth and Jacob's secret departure
• Four sons probably knew how to shave the almond branches and breed sheep / goats
• Family dynamic for Joseph was complicated
• Joseph telling his dreams produced hatred and jealousy
• Joseph's written dreams outlasted his telling
• "This is the account" occurs ten time in Genesis
• Joseph probably learned how to tend the flocks from older brothers who learned from Jacob
• Jacob's love for Joseph skipped older brothers
• Genesis shows little that was extraordinary about Joseph except his dreams
• Potiphar may have seen godliness and work ethic Joseph learned while tending flocks

Applications:

• Overcoming difficulties prepares us for future assignments / opportunities / challenges
• Joseph didn't know Potiphar's name, nor do I know the names of people I will encounter
• There is little extraordinary about me other than Biblical interpretation
• Despised men and women in my life have much to teach me
• Interactions require a closed mouth and open eyes and ears
• Despised / disadvantaged populations have been through things I haven't 
• I can and need to learn how to escape "Laban's" clutches
• we had nothing
• then your daddy...
• then we started helping him to...
• you were just a baby
• Just because I'm learning from people doesn't mean I can trust people
• My writing will outlast my telling
• Write more than I speak
• Work silently more than working with spoken words
• Can anyone see God is with me and giving success to what I do (not say?)

Prayer: Thank You for turning my gaze toward the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah in my life.  I can learn much from them, although our interactions are complicated.  Learning from and trusting are not the same things.  I can learn from them while trusting You.  Thank You for stirring up the names of men and women from whom I need to learn lessons for an uncertain future, in Jesus' name, amen.

Notes:

E. Nevada cousins

Sheep Dogs

Chapel on S. Cedar regularly

Highlander chaplain

etc