Today, in our continuing study of the book of Genesis, we come to the beginning of the story of Joseph. I have decided to skip over a lot of history that was primarily concerned with Jacob and the children that were born to his two wives and two concubines. But I do need to say that Rachel, the favored wife of Jacob, has by this time passed away in childbirth of her son Benjamin. And so there are 12 sons born to Jacob, with Reuben being the eldest, and Benjamin being the youngest. Joseph was the 11th son.
There was also a daughter born to Jacob, by the name of Dinah. She was raped by a man of Shechem, and then the man asked Jacob for her hand in marriage. Her brothers convinced the men of Shechem that if they became circumcised as the sons of Israel were, then the men of that city could marry their daughters. But when the men of the city were in pain from the circumcision, the brothers came upon the city with the sword and killed all the men that lived there. So the sons of Jacob were odious in the eyes of the people of that region, but also perhaps looked upon with a degree of fear. And I mention that because we will notice that the brothers are shepherding their sheep in that region later when Joseph is sent to check on their well being.
But Joseph has a special place in the heart of his father Jacob. Let’s read starting in vs 1, “Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are [the records of] the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was [still] a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and [so] they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.”
The scripture says that Jacob loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age. I wonder about that, because Benjamin is actually his youngest son. I believe he loved him more primarily because he was the son of Rachel his favorite wife now deceased. I’m not sure why he doesn’t feel that way about Benjamin since he also is the son of Rachel. Maybe because Benjamin is still quite young.
But this preference that Jacob has for Joseph is perhaps a family trait that he inherited from his own parents, Isaac and Rebekah. The Bible neither openly condemns such parenting, nor approves it. But it is obvious from scripture that such favoritism on the part of parents causes many problems in families. And Jacob’s family is ripe for dysfunction as there are four wives and children of each of them.
It also is evident to the other siblings that Jacob loves Joseph more. At 17 years old as Jacob was pasturing the flocks with his brothers, he brought back a bad report about his brothers. We don’t know what they were guilty of, but it would seem they had misbehaved in some way. Some commentators have tried to portray Joseph as someone that didn’t work, that was a spoiled brat. But it clearly says that at 17 he was working as a shepherd. The problem was that his brothers were all older, and he would have been under their authority, but he tells his father about their misdeeds and gets them in trouble.
To top it off, his father seemingly wants Joseph to be the recipient of the birthright. That would have defied tradition and be sure to cause more jealousy among his older brothers. Then adding insult to injury, Jacob presents Joseph with a coat of many colors. Much speculation has been made over this description. Some have said it had gold and silver and fine jewels woven in the fabric. Some have said the sleeves and the length of the robe indicated royalty, and that whoever wore such a robe could not work in it. We don’t know for sure, but one thing we do know, is that the brothers reacted to it with hatred and jealousy. In fact, they hated him so much that they could not speak to him on friendly terms.
But it gets worse. Vs 5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf." Then his brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, "Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." He related [it] to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying [in mind.]
Again, many commentators have made much of Joseph supposedly “lording it over” his brothers by telling them these dreams. I’m not so sure about that. I hesitate to criticize Joseph, particularly because he is presented so clearly in scripture as a type of Christ. But although he is a type, that does not mean that he has to be like Christ in every respect. Joseph was a sinner, just like all men are sinners. Christ was sinless. But that does not negate the typology of Joseph in relation to Christ. However, if nothing else, Joseph was naive in speaking so boldly to his brothers about the dreams. How could he not know that their hostility towards him would only be exacerbated by these revelations.
But unlike many God given dreams that are recorded in scripture, these dreams need no interpretation. Everyone seems to understand what they mean. Usually, God has to provide interpretation to a dream in some way, usually by his prophet. In this case, everyone knows that the dreams indicate that they will one day bow down to Joseph. And so because they are readily understood by his family, I think it was God’s will that his family know the dreams. I just wonder if Joseph could have recounted them more tactfully somehow.
So the dreams were given for the benefit of the family, to prepare them for the future, but also I believe they were given for the benefit of Joseph. Not to make him proud and boastful, so that he could lord his authority over his older brothers. But so that he could withstand the trials that he was going to go through. The road to his exaltation would come through intense suffering. The kind of suffering that would make you think all the promises of God had been a lie. But God was giving Joseph the groundwork for his faith, through the word of God. And to his credit, as he goes through those trials, I don’t see Joseph ever denying his faith, nor falling away in his faith, in spite of 13 years of tremendous hardship.
James 1: 2 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Contrary to what the “word of faith” preachers teach on television, faith doesn’t guarantee immediate results. In fact, more often than not, Biblical faith illustrated in the lives of the patriarchs, involved learning patience, endurance through years and years of trials. Consider the faith of Abraham, waiting 25 years for the promise of God to be fulfilled by the birth of Isaac. And even then, the trials of his faith did not end, but continued and became even more challenging. Joseph would undergo a trial by fire that he could never have imagined, and which would last for 13 years, but God’s word made him have hope and not completely despair.
Vs 12 Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing [the flock] in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." And he said to him, "I will go." Then he said to him, "Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
So as I said, the incident with Dinah and the slaughter of the men of Shechem has relevance because the brothers go shepherd the sheep in Shechem. And the people of that region are probably not big fans of these sons of Israel. Israel, remember is Jacob’s new name. It means God rules. So Israel gets worried about his sons going to that region again. I think he may have been more worried about what his sons were doing, rather than what the natives of that region might do. His sons are notoriously blood thirsty, as we will see once again. But it’s interesting that Joseph is no longer with them. Perhaps his father is using him more as an overseer than a helper by this point or he recognizes the antagonism that the other brothers have towards Joseph and so he keeps him home.
So Jospeh arrives in Shechem after what might have been a two day journey and in Vs 15 A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, "What are you looking for?" He said, "I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing [the flock.]" Then the man said, "They have moved from here; for I heard [them] say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer! "Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his dreams!" But Reuben heard [this] and rescued him out of their hands and said, "Let us not take his life." Reuben further said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him"--that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
The brothers obviously recognized Joseph a long ways off in order to have time to talk about killing him and coming up with a plan. I can’t help but wonder if they recognized him because Joseph was wearing the multi colored coat. Perhaps the gold and silver and jewels were shimmering in the sun as he walked along the road. And so they see this figure coming towards them, and they say, “Here comes this dreamer! Now then let us kill him…’. What we can interpret from this is that the brothers were really conspiring to defeat God’s word. All that God had promised concerning Joseph they saw as a threat to their position and posterity and prosperity. And so like the Pharisees and high priests who would one day conspire to kill Jesus because He threatened their position and power and prosperity, these brothers do the same, thinking they could defeat the plan of God.
It’s shocking though to see such a vivid illustration of jealousy becoming hate, and hate becoming murder. Jesus said, if you hate your brother, you are guilty of murder. And so these brothers are guilty of murder, though they actually come short of actually killing him.
So Joseph is about 17 years of age, and he is stripped of his cloak and thrown in a dry well, or a pit that he can’t get out of. His own brothers have thrown him in there. He must have known that their plan was to kill him. What kind of terror must he have been going through. And what kind of evil does this reveal about the brothers! Well for one, it reveals that they were cold hearted enough to sit down and have a nice meal and talk about killing him, while Joseph is alone in the pit.
Vs25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring [them] down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? "Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our [own] flesh." And his brothers listened [to him.] Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled [him] up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty [shekels] of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Ishmaelites are the children of Abraham’s exiled son, Ishmael. They were not exactly allies of Israel. But as the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” And when Jesus was taken captive, the Herodians and the Pharisees, who were traditionally enemies, worked together to destroy Christ.
But Judah intervenes and keeps Joseph from being killed. However, Judah is still guilty of selling him as a slave, of lying to his father, and of hatred. And the end result is that Joseph is brought up out of the pit and sold to these traders as a slave for 20 pieces of silver. I can’t help but think of Jesus who was sold out by one of his own disciples for 30 pieces of sliver. We are told that 30 pieces of silver in Jesus’ day was the price of a slave. In Joseph’s day, it was 20 pieces of silver. But both Joseph and Jesus were sold for the price of a slave.
Reuben the first born, the eldest son who is responsible for his brothers, comes back to find that Joseph has been sold into slavery. He had hoped to find a way to restore Joseph to his father. Why he had been away from the camp we are not told, but it must have been a part of his efforts to get him back home. Now he finds out that he is gone, and there’s no way to overturn the tragic events that transpired while he was away.
So they concoct a plan to deceive their father Jacob. There is a lot of irony in this story. The Biblical principle of “surely your sins will find you out” seems to be at work again and again. Jacob, the deceiver, who deceived his father by killing a goat and putting the skin on his arms and neck to fool him, now has a goat killed and the blood of the goat put on Joseph’s coat to deceive him so that he would think he had been killed by a wild animal.
Vs.29 Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments. He returned to his brothers and said, "The boy is not [there;] as for me, where am I to go?" So they took Joseph's tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, "We found this; please examine [it] to [see] whether it is your son's tunic or not." Then he examined it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!" So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, "Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son." So his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
In closing, I would like to point out a few correlations between Joseph and the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph and Christ are alike in that they both are the object of the love of their father. The Lord Jesus at his baptism heard the words, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” And just as Jacob loved Joseph, so in the truest sense, the Father loves the Son and rejoices in Him. Joseph and Jesus Christ are alike and in that they both have a commission from the father. Joseph was sent out for the sake of his brethren, and so was Jesus Christ. In the fullness of time, God sent him forth, born of a woman, born under the law that he might redeem those under the law and bring to them the adoption of sonship.
Joseph and Jesus Christ are alike in that they both were rejected by their brethren. He came unto His own and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Joseph and Christ were both sold for the price of a slave. They are alike in their humiliation: Joseph is sold into slavery and so the Lord Jesus comes as a servant, in the form of a servant, in the likeness of men, and ultimately in becoming the representative, substitutionary sacrifice. He reaches the epitome of humiliation, for the Son of God dies as a common criminal. He was obedient unto death, even such a death as the death of a cross, the death of the a criminal.
Joseph and Christ are alike in their exaltation for just as Joseph was humiliated, sold into captivity, and by the grace of God becomes the second in command over all of the land of Egypt and over all the world of that day, so Jesus Christ has been exalted to the right hand of the Father and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord of all.
They are alike also in that they both acquire a bride. Joseph acquires a bride and the Lord Jesus Christ today is acquiring a bride which is His church. And finally Joseph ultimately will become the means of salvation of his brethren and the Lord Jesus Christ is ultimately the means of salvation for His brethren.
I hope that if you are here today, you have not despised the Beloved Son of the Father, who suffered and died in your place, that He might save you from the wrath to come. But you believe in Him, and trust in Him, and bow to Him as your Lord and Savior.
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