What function does the Joseph story cycle (Gen. 37-50) play within the Essay

What function does the Joseph story cycle (Gen. 37-50) play within the Book of Genesis - Essay Example 1-2) – and blessing Jacob’s whole family, purposely to initially, show the gradual fulfillment of God’s promise made to Abraham: Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: with the number of Abraham’s descendants growing and their influence increasing in a foreign land (Mourna 2008, p. 5). The continuing story of the Patriarchs as God’s fulfilment of His promise is further emphasized as the Joseph Story ends (Redford 1970, p. 25), and as the Book of Exodus begins. And that ultimately, that promise will be fulfilled through a royal dynasty that will spring from the descendant of Judah (Alexander 1993, p. 255) as ensured by the unique genealogy outlined in the Book of Genesis beginning from Adam to Jacob and his sons (Alexander 1989, p. 5) (See illustration that follows.) In this sense, not only is the messianic prophesy established – that the Messiah will come from the royal family of Judah – Indeed Jesus Christ is born from the Davidic Kingdom ruled by King David, the grandson of Judah from his son Perez – (Gen. 49: 8-9): Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion: who shall rouse him up? but also is the eschatological message: â€Å"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto him shall the gathering of the people be† (Gen. 49: 10) (emphasis added), wherein the ‘scepter’ could be easily understood to mean rulership (Gunkel 1997, p. 456) of a King,