READ: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+37&version=ESV LISTEN: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.37 Joseph's Dreams 37 Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. Joseph Sold by His Brothers 12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. 29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. Just to be sure that we really caught the fact that we're at the end of the story of Jacob, the author of Genesis once again gives us the statement that "these are the generations of Jacob."--an indicator that we've reached the end of the biography of Jacob and are about to start another biography--the biography of Joseph.
While we've heard Joseph's name before, we really start to learn about him here. We see him as a seventeen-year old man (remember that adulthood started for men around age 13 in this culture). We still see Joseph hanging around the home while his other 11 brothers are out doing the dirty work of being shepherds and herdsmen. I'm not saying that this is right or wrong--only pointing out that he was treated differently than all the other brothers and they noticed and were jealous. Not only was he treated differently in the kind of work that he was given, but his father made him a "robe of many colors" signifying that he was the heir-apparent," even though he was the youngest, and Jacob sent Joseph out on missions to give orders to his older brothers--like an envoy or ambassador for his father. The hatred, envy and jealousy was only intensified when God gave Joseph dreams that one day his entire family, first his 10 brothers that he knew at the time and eventually all 11 brothers and his mother and father would bow down before him. Jacob just couldn't keep this to himself and had to tell his brothers and even his mother and father. The brothers hated him all the more, but his father kept this in mind and seems to treasure these things in his heart much like Mary did with the prophecies about Jesus--though neither understood what the prophecy meant at the time, they knew that their their boy was going to be special and used by God in some unique way in the future. Joseph's brothers began to call him "The Dreamer" after this, and when one day Joseph was sent out by Jacob to check on his brothers (I'm sure while wearing his robe of many colors so they could see him coming). I'm sure that Joseph being daddy's errand-boy that would report to him on his older brothers didn't help the situation at all. Apparently Jacob didn't trust them and wanted Joseph to be a snitch, and no one likes a snitch. After trying to find them in Shechem (close to home) and finding that they had moved their flocks and herds onto Dothan, about a day's journey from where Jacob thought they were. Maybe this was to get away from the watchful eye of their father or maybe it was for legitimate reasons, but either way this puts more distance between Jacob and Joseph, which makes it easier for the brothers' plot in the next part of the story to take place. They seem him coming and start talking of killing him. Some of these words should remind us slightly of the way the Pharisees spoke to Jesus when He was on the cross saying "He said he was going to save others, but He cannot save Himself" and mocking Him about His resurrection which they did not understand, and that if He was truly the Son of God that He should come down off the cross. It may also remind us in some ways of the parable of the vineyard owner and the tenants and how the evil tenants killed every envoy that was sent and finally the king sent his own Son saying "They will surly respect Him and listen to Him," but they instead killed Him and said "Let us take His inheritance for ourselves." (See Matthew 21, Mark 12, and Luke 20). The oldest of the eleven brothers, Reuben, did not want any bloodshed and instead convinced them to throw Joseph into a pit so that he could later come back and save him, but while Reuben was away, Judah (yes, the same Judah that would be the forefather of Jesus), came up with the idea that they needed to profit off of their brother and sell him to Ishmaelite (also known as Midianite) slave-traders, and they sold him for twenty shekels of silver--while not the same amount of money, Jesus would also be sold into the hands of his enemies for a similar price of 30 pieces of silver (30 shekels of silver). Reuben returned to the group to find Joseph gone and he was distraught, but he went along with his brothers in concocting a story that Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wild animal and that they had found his robe with blood on it, but that they found no body. They would take this back to their father and pretend to mourn the loss of their brother and make Jacob think that his son was dead--and to them, he was as good as dead as they never intended to see him again, but God had other plans. Jacob refused to be comforted by his other sons and continued to mourn the loss of his favorite son until, as we saw before, his brother Benjamin would be born, and we now have some understanding why Benjamin would be so spoiled as Jacob would believe him to be the one to receive the blessing that had been intended for Joseph and we can somewhat understand the family dynamics because the brothers that had intended to get their fathers' love back by killing their spoiled brother Joseph only made their father sad to the point where he talked of wanting to die (go to Sheol, the Grave) so that he could see and be with Joseph again--and they knew that if he ever lost Benjamin the pain would kill him or that he might possibly take his own life actively or passively by ceasing to have the will to live and not taking care of himself. I'm sure we've all seen someone who loses the desire to live after their spouse dies and they simply stop eating--maybe on purpose, maybe just as a result of the grief, but many times they are quick to follow after the one that died first because they don't know how to live without them. This is true for Jacob, especially after the loss of Joseph and the loss of Rachel in childbirth while Benjamin. Jacob will be even more protective of Benjamin because it's the only piece of that part of his family that he has left. We then get a brief glimpse of what God is doing in Joseph's life in Egypt as we are told that Joseph is sold into slavery to the household of Potipher, the captain of the guard for Pharaoh. This is where we'll pick up next time as we'll see Joseph maintain his religious and cultural identity, even while living as a slave in a foreign land and how he refuses to sacrifice his integrity when he is tempted to sacrifice his morals to "go along to get along." We will be able to learn much from Joseph and how he responded to this ups and downs of this part of his life and being cut off from everyone and everything that he knew.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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