Genesis 37 at verse 1. Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers.
And the lad was with the sons of Billah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.
But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. Now Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers and they hated him even more. So he said to them, please hear this dream which I have dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field.
Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright, and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, shall you indeed reign over us, or shall you indeed have dominion over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Look, I have dreamed another dream.
And this time the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me. So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you? And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Then his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them. So he said to him, Here I am.
Then he said to him, Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. Now a certain man found him, and there he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What are you seeking?
So he said, I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said, They have departed from here. For I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan.
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, Look, the streamer is coming. Come, therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some wild beast has devoured him.
We shall see what will become of his drains. But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands and said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said to them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit, which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him, that he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.
Then they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty. There was no water in it. and they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judas said to his brothers, What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother in our flesh." And his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt. Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit. And he tore his clothes.
And he returned to his brothers and said, The lad is no more, and I, where shall I go? So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not?
And he recognized it and said, It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt, Joseph is torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted, and he said, for I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning. Thus his father wept for him. Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, this indeed engages the history of Jacob, the focus primarily on Joseph in terms of chapter 37. to chapter 50. Now the specific events related to Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, is in fact the primary concern. And then the hatred of Joseph's brothers toward him sets the stage for the entire situation. If you notice in verses 4, 5, and 8, it indicates that they hated him.
And then again in verse 11, his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. So in verses 1 to 11, we have the dream of Joseph, or the dreams of Joseph, and then secondly, the treachery of Joseph's brothers in verses 12 to 36. So they not only hate him, but they actually act upon that enmity, they act upon that hatred, and they engage in the wickedness that is outlined in this particular chapter.
The Dreams of Joseph
So, let's look first at the dream of Joseph in verses 1 to 11 and the setting.
Setting: Jacob's Household
Notice in verses 1 to 4, as said, it is in fact the history of Jacob. There's a contrast as well between the sons of the Edomites who are dwelling in the land of Seir. They are in chapter 36. Verse 1 tells us in chapter 37, Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan.
So they are in the promised land at this particular juncture. This is the terminus for their travels, and this is where they're supposed to be. Obviously, this narrative illustrates for us how they ended up in Egypt. When we turn to the first chapter of the book of Exodus, we see that Israel is dwelling in Egypt, and the Joseph narratives indicate the reason for that.
And then it tells us about the favorite son of Jacob in verses 1, B to 3. Notice that Joseph, at this particular time, is 17 years old. He is present with the sons of Billah and Zilpah. This is Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
These were the sons of the handmaidens. And then notice that he gives this bad report concerning them to his father. Now, we don't know what that bad report is. There's all kinds of speculation about that bad report, and some of it is really bad stuff.
I'm not sure how that all originated, if it was outside or extra-biblical, perhaps Jewish history sort of attaching to this. But what we do know is that Joseph dined them out. For whatever reason, they weren't doing something properly, and he told on them, and then they got upset with him. As well, the text indicates his favored status by Jacob.
Notice in verse 3, now Israel, this is Jacob, loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. Remember that Jacob's name is changed into Israel, but it does kind of go back and forth. When Abram becomes Abraham, it sticks. But with reference to Jacob, it does kind of go back and forth from Jacob to Israel.
Wenham has a very helpful paragraph on why that may be the case. If you're interested, email me and I'll send you that particular quote. But here we see that Joseph is in fact the favored one, and that shouldn't surprise us, because Jacob favored Joseph's mother. Jacob loved Rachel.
He didn't love Leah in the same way, and he certainly didn't love the handmaidens in the same manner as well. He loved Rachel preeminently. Wenham says that favoritism has a long pedigree in Jacob's family. Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob.
Rebecca loved Jacob more than Esau. And most pointedly, Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah. His old love for Rachel is now transferred to Joseph, Rachel's son. So that's the emphasis there in verse 3, and obviously this does not produce good morale amongst the other brothers.
The other brothers are upset about this being sort of slighted by Jacob relative to their brother Joseph. And then notice as well that he has this coat or this tunic of many colors. And this is obviously an emblem or a symbol or some sort of a tangible representation of Jacob's love and esteem for Joseph, that he is in fact the favored one. Some of the commentators suggest that this also indicates that Joseph would get the blessing associated with the firstborn.
Remember that Reuben went into one of Jacob's wives, and therefore he's on the outs. So some speculate that this tunic of many colors was indicative that he would receive the blessing that should have or would have gone to Reuben had he not engaged in the sort of wickedness that he had done. So we've got favoritism at play, and then we see the other sons of Jacob in verse 4. It says, when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
So they have the internal disposition of hatred toward him, but it's manifested externally. There's probably a case where someone hates another person and yet nevertheless is able to be civil with them. At this particular point, though, they can't speak peaceably to him. They cannot stand him.
I think that's the emphasis we're supposed to take from the text. They utterly despise him. So that when we get to the latter part of the chapter, when they're fomenting murder, and they're fomenting leaving him ultimately in a pit to starve to death and to die of dehydration, this evidences the reality that what it's saying here in verses 4, 5, and 8 is legit. These men hated Joseph.
They detested him.
Joseph's Two Dreams
That brings us to Joseph's dreams. This does not help his cause. Some suggest that Joseph was kind of carrying on like a spoiled little brat. I'm not sure the text manifests that.
I'm not certain what the negative report was that he brought concerning his brothers. It could have been the case that he was a spoiled little brat. But all that to say, everything that is happening is conspiring in the minds of these brothers to utterly detest and despise their brother, Joseph. He's got these two dreams, and both of the dreams basically mean the same thing.
Later on, the two dreams given to Pharaoh are indicated as an identifier that the thing will in fact come to pass. So the message of the dream relative to the sheaf and the message relative to the dream with reference to the sun, moon, and the stars, the same idea is in view. Joseph will be preeminent over his brothers and over his father and his mother. That's the emphasis here with reference to the sheaf and with reference to the sun, moon, and stars.
Now notice that the passage never says that the dreams came from God. It doesn't say that Joseph went, laid down, and then the Lord spoke to him via a dream. Now the fact that these things come to pass, and it does accurately foreshadow the subsequent dealings of God with reference to Joseph, we can infer that the dreams did in fact come from God, but it's different than, the Lord spoke to this particular man in a dream. The text does not specify that, the text does not identify that.
But with reference to the sheaf, notice in verse 5, Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more, before he even told them the contents of the dream. I mean, everything he's saying is just bringing their blood to boil. And then he said to them, please hear this dream which I have dreamed. There we were binding sheaves in the field.
Now some would suggest they wouldn't have done this because they were shepherds. I don't think that a shepherd is completely immune to having to plant things from time to time. And as well it does foreshadow the reality that they will go to Egypt in search of grain and Joseph will be the one that delivers it to them. But he goes on, verse seven.
There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then, behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright, and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf. And as we might expect, according to verse 8, his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?
So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. So they've already got this detestation of the lad, and now he says, I've had a dream, and you're all going to bow down to me. You can understand. We can't condone, because it's hatred, and that's a sin against God.
But you can understand their response as to why they would be increasingly upset at this point. They don't know God's plan. They don't know how things are going to fall out. They don't know that ultimately they're going to be dependent upon Joseph for life.
They are going to need him, and in a sense will in fact bow down to him. And then that brings us to the second dream, verses 9 to 11. It says, He dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, Look, I have dreamed another dream, and this time the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me. Now, I would love to not have this on, because I'd like to ask, what is the significance of sun, moon, and stars in biblical literature?
And hopefully someone would say, well, it means nations, oftentimes associated with politics, the fall of nations, the rise of nations. And I would say you're absolutely, positively right. Matthew 24, 29 indicates that in the Olivet Discourse. But Jesus is reflecting upon the grammar of prophecy that we see all throughout the Old Testament, and this language of sun, moon, and stars very often has to do with political entities, the rise and the fall of kingdoms.
And again, in this particular situation, the idea is that Joseph will be preeminent over his family, and that is what the Lord is going to do in the midst of this particular family. So he has this dream, and now notice that Jacob is involved, and Jacob rebukes him because of this. Verse 10 says, So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?
Now, as far as his mother, Rachel, is dead at this particular point. Some say, well, there's a big problem in the biblical narrative. It could simply mean the entirety of Jacob's household, or it could be a reference to Leah. Leah would have been the stepmother of Joseph at this particular time.
But the point is, is that Jacob understood the significance of the dream. He understood what Joseph was asserting. And the way that this first one concerning the sheath incensed or upset his brothers, here we see that Jacob has a remnant of that as well. He rebukes him as a result of it.
And of course, the brothers are upset according to verse 11. But then notice at the end of verse 11, but his father kept the matter in mind. So on the one hand, he rebukes him, but on the other hand, he is not going to cut him off, and he is not going to disallow the possibility that God is going to do something like that with Joseph and bring him to a place of prominence and preeminence. So Jacob, in a sense, is hedging his bets.
He rebukes the boy, but at the same time, he ponders and he keeps it in mind to see what the Lord will, in fact, do.
The Treachery of Joseph's Brothers
And that brings us, secondly, to the treachery of Joseph's brothers. And this is some treachery, brothers and sisters. Oftentimes, you know, in our Christian lives, we go through various trials, or we have various hardships, or various afflictions. In fact, it might be, you know, personal illness.
Well, the Bible affords examples of people that were ill, and had tough times, and sorrowful afflictions, and so we can sort of enter in, and we can see the comfort of God in those particular instances. Some of us, or all of us probably at one time or another, have issues with reference to our families. And we think, oh, nobody really has the kinds of family problems that I have. Well, Joseph had bigger family problems than you or I could even imagine.
We didn't have nine brothers who wanted to murder us. We didn't have nine brothers who wanted to leave us in a pit to starve to death and to dehydrate. When you ponder the implications involved in this, this was in fact great hatred. Now remember, we're dealing with the covenant community.
We're dealing with the elect of God. We're dealing with the people carved out or set aside by the Lord, the vehicle through whom Messiah is ultimately going to come. Now, this kind of treachery, you would think, would be confined to the pagans. As Calvin reminds us, or Calvin says, and I'm going to quote it in just a moment, pagan literature doesn't even contain an example or a story where nine brothers are trying to terminate their youngest brother.
And a kid at that, 17, I mean, he may have been a spoiled little brat, again, I'm not sure, but give him a few years. Nobody at 17's got it sort of all sorted out, do they? I mean, we cut a lot of slack to a 17-year-old, I hope, and I think, because we realize that there's a lot of things that they haven't... They haven't entered into yet.
Their brains haven't even matured. They're not even sort of engaged in the fullness of life, so we cut them a little slack. They cut no slack to this young man whatsoever.
Search for the Brothers
So let's look first at the search for the brothers in verses 12 to 17. Now it is intriguing because Jacob says that they are feeding their flock in Shechem. Now Shechem was about 50 miles away. That's not the interesting thing.
The interesting thing is they had just slaughtered all the men of Shechem. They're going back to Shechem. They must be pretty confident that the job they had undergone actually took and that they would not be under threat of punishment by any remaining Shechemites or anybody that was in those cities around there. So they go back to Shechem, and Jacob wants Joseph to go and check on them.
Notice the contours in verse 14. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. Now, Jacob probably knows that his sons aren't the happiest family on the face of the earth. He probably knows that there is a bit of tension that obtains between the sons, but he obviously does not know the sort of hatred that these men have toward Joseph, or he would have never sent Joseph into this particular situation.
In fact, when they send back that blood-soaked tunic to Jacob, he does not for a moment think that the brothers offed Joseph. He immediately concludes that Joseph was done in by a beast of the field. So whatever tension may have been in the context of these brothers, Jacob perhaps knew something of it, but he didn't know the depth, he didn't know the degree, and probably he wouldn't have wanted to. I think as parents we don't want to know just how bad our children are.
There's a sense where we don't want to explore the depths of their depravity. Perhaps that's something involved here. He knows there's tension, he knows there's problems, but he doesn't suspect it so bad that they're going to throw his son into a pit and leave him for dead, ultimately selling him into slavery. So Jacob, or Joseph rather, goes and does what he's supposed to, and when he gets to Shechem, he's there wandering, and then he must go to Dothan, which I think is about 15 miles away from there.
And so the text is really wonderful in creating this distance and this separation. This 17-year-old boy, basically, treks these 50 miles, looks for his brothers, cannot find them. There's this fellow standing there. Some suspect that he was an angel.
I don't see any indication in the text to sort of go that way. But this man says, your brothers went up to Dothan. So then he goes there. He doesn't go back to Jacob and says, well, I went to Shechem, I looked for them, and they weren't there.
No, Joseph shows himself. an obedient son. He not only goes to Shechem, but then he goes to Dothan because his father wanted him to check on his brothers.
The Brothers' Plot to Kill Joseph
Now notice the treachery of the brothers in verses 18 to 30. We see first the brothers' plot in 18 to 20. I think, again, the art of biblical narrative, this coat of many colors introduced in verse 2 and 3, also is the reason why they recognize him from this distance. And the fact that he's wearing it, again, may not owe to the fact that he's the brightest bulb in the chandelier if he knows that his brothers don't like him. and he continues to wear this thing that's sort of emblematic of his father's favoritism over him, you know, somebody might have been wise to take him aside and say, you know, maybe don't do that, because you're going to exacerbate your brothers or whatever.
But the fact is, is that he's wearing it, and they spy, or they see, rather, what's happening. They recognized him when he was a far off, according to verse 18. Now, when they saw him a far off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming.
Come, therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit, and we shall say some wild beast has devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams. They wanted to neutralize him, and they wanted to remove any thought whatsoever of his dreams. This dreamer, this master of dreams, this one who thinks that he's going to be over us, we're going to kill him, and then we'll see what happens to his dreams.
Then we'll see if our sheaves bow down to his sheave, or we'll see if the sun, moon, and stars bow down to him. It's just not going to happen if we take him out of play, if we kill him. They've already concocted this alibi that will, in fact, be utilized later when they report to Jacob that a wild beast has destroyed him, and that's not uncommon in this part of the world at this particular time. It would have been a real threat and a real issue that Joseph could have confronted along the way.
Reuben's Intervention
Now notice the intervention by Reuben in verses 21 and 22. Now some suggest, or at least all the older commentators suggest, this was probably Reuben's attempt to appease his father for his having gone into Bilhah. Remember, he violated his father's concubine. That was a big bad no-no.
And this is perhaps his attempt to get back into his father's good graces. And Calvin has a good helpful note there as well. Something to the effect that we don't judge a man based on one event in his life. Now, this was a pretty bad event in terms of Reuben going into Billah, but he was seeking to be faithful.
He was seeking to do the right thing. And in this instance, that is precisely the case. So verse 21 tells us Reuben heard it. Reuben is the oldest of them all.
Reuben is the oldest son of Leah. He's the firstborn. And certainly he would have felt a keen responsibility to look after his younger brothers, especially Joseph, because he knew that Jacob favored him. So Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, Let us not kill him.
And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him. Now they interpret Reuben this way. Don't actually cut his throat, just throw him in a pit. As far as they're concerned, we're going to let him starve to death.
As far as we're concerned, we're going to let him dehydrate. As far as we're concerned, that's it. We don't have to actually bloody our hands. We can just let him die the slow, agonizing, painful death.
They don't know that Reuben's plan is to ultimately deliver him from their hand and bring him safely back to Jacob. They don't understand this. They simply agree to Reuben at this particular point. So Reuben intervenes to stay their hand from immediately killing him.
He says, throw him into a pit. And the end of verse 22 indicates Reuben's plan, that he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father. Now, they like this particular plan. Notice in verses 23 and following.
We have the brothers agree with Reuben. Verse 23, it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. Now in terms of the pit, Why is there a pit there?
Well, Waltke explains that archaeologists have found a large number of cisterns all over Israel. This was necessary in a dry and arid climate, a place to store water in the wilderness. He says there are large bottle-shaped pits hewn out of rock for retaining water. They range from 6 to 20 feet in depth.
A dried out cistern makes a wonderful dungeon." And that is precisely what they do with him. They throw him into this pit. Now, the text is conspicuous at the end of verse 24. The pit was empty.
There was no water in it. That indicates, on the one hand, that he wouldn't drown. But on the other hand, he would dehydrate. There's no water there.
And these brothers aren't going to leave him any rations. They're not going to care for him. They didn't develop or make a system to sort of feed water into this. They're going to leave him for dead.
That's the treachery of Joseph's brothers at this particular point.
Feasting While Joseph Suffers
Now, verse 25 is sick. Verse 25 is a real sick commentary on the heart of man. Notice the first part. It says, and they sat down to eat a meal.
That's just horrendous behavior on the part of these people. Calvin says this was astonishing barbarity that they could quietly feast while in intention they were guilty of their brother's death. For had there been one drop of humanity in their souls, they would have at least have felt some inward compunctions. Yea, commonly the very worst men are afraid after the commission of a crime.
That's pretty typical. I mean, the most wretched person out there feels bad at times for having done what they've done. Not so Joseph's brothers, he's in the pit and they sat down to eat a meal.
Joseph's Anguish in the Pit
Now turn for just a moment to Genesis 42. Genesis 42. I think this exacerbates it because it's not the case that Joseph was silent in the bottom of the pit while they enjoyed their sandwiches. In Genesis 42, specifically at verse 21, then they said to one another, we are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear.
So they're sitting at the edge of the pit, enjoying their lunch, and Joseph is in the bottom of the pit, in anguish of soul, pleading with them for release. So back to Genesis chapter 37. If we learn at least one lesson in this chapter, we ought to learn the doctrine of total depravity. Total depravity is a reality.
It began post-fall. from the garden, and certainly all of us are affected by it. Now, total depravity doesn't mean we're as bad as we could possibly be. Total depravity simply means that every part of us is affected by sin. But in some instances, total depravity does actually mean they're as bad as they could be.
And this may be one of those instances. Well, they're feasting, they're enjoying, their brother's in the bottom of the pit, and he's in anguish of soul, and he's crying out for release, and yet they continue to munch their sandwiches. Now, notice what Judah proposes. Judah, another brother, the son of Leah, Verse 25, they sat down to eat a meal.
Now, there's three groups of people mentioned, Ishmaelites, Midianites, and Medanites. There's harmony for this. We're not going to get into all that. Suffice it to say, they were foreign travelers heading on their way to Egypt.
That's the easiest explanation. And if you want sort of the details on these three groups, you can read John Gill. He'll guide you by the hand and teach you all about Ishmaelites, Midianites, and Medanites, as he does just about everything else. So, back to verse 25.
Good old money, right? What profit is there? There's no benefit. There's no gain.
We can make some dough if we play our cards right. There's a few shekels in this man. And the price, the 20 shekels, is consistent with what you'll find later in the book of Leviticus in terms of the price for a slave. So this is consistent with what we'll find later, but that's what drives Judah at this point.
What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Now notice verse 27. This is one of those things where you wonder, how does somebody say a certain thing without exploding? Or, you know, I think you see it a lot in politics.
You see it, you know, in some statements that people say that are absolutely, positively outlandish. Look at what Judas says here in verse 27. Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. Come on, you're really gonna go there?
He is our brother and our flesh? As you're munching your sandwich and he's begging to get out from the pit, and you're contemplating making 20 shekels from the cell of him to these Midianites so they can take him down to Egypt? You're gonna invoke this on us? Well, in terms of this lot, this was a good thing.
We'll make some money, and after all, he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers listen. Verse 28, then Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt. Again, I can't even imagine this.
You know, again, we have family issues, we have trials, we have problems, and I'm not wanting to minimize that. It's not that, you know, any family is perfect. Every family has their challenges. But I think the biblical narrative is suggestive to us in this particular way.
Whatever problem we may think we have, somebody else has had it before us, and the Lord has sustained them, and the Lord has blessed them, and the Lord has seen them through this. Now, it's not going to be the case that we have problems in our family, and then we're going to end up second in charge in Egypt. That's probably not going to happen. But the reality is that God's people in a sin-cursed world definitely butt heads with others.
There are definite issues and challenges along the way, whether it be family issues, whether it be sickness, whether it be affliction or trial or tribulation, whatever the case may be, God's Word is not the kind of thing where it hides that reality. It tells us flat out, back in the upper room, Jesus said, in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. We need to appreciate and understand that, and we need to feed our souls on scripture when we come to these challenges and when we come to these trying situations. So the desire for financial gain and the outlandish nod to filial responsibility prevails with them.
They sell Joseph. Now, Reuben returns and he's distressed, according to verses 29 and 30. Remember, he's come to deliver Joseph from the hand of his brothers and to take him back home to Jacob. So Reuben is upset and rightly so.
Verse 30, he returned to his brothers and said, the lad is no more. And I, where shall I go?
The Deception of Jacob
And that brings us finally concerning to the report given to Jacob. They go with their original alibi, verse 31. So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. Now there's great irony here if you've been paying attention.
As Robert Alter says, Jacob himself had used both a slaughtered kid and a garment in the deception he perpetrated on his own father. You see a lot of that sort of connectivity in the biblical narrative. Genesis is masterful in that way. There's a lot of thematic connection.
There's a lot of sort of word interplay, there's a lot of things going on in the narrative that connects us to other parts, either before or after. So Jacob used a slaughtered kid in a garment to pull off a deception with reference to Isaac. These sons of Jacob are doing the same thing now to deceive Jacob with reference to the status of his son Joseph. And then notice, it is intriguing.
The end of verse 32, we have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not? Now, none of the commentators I read dealt with this, but it's always intrigued me that Jacob guessed exactly what they wanted him to. I mean, I guess it was common, and persons did die by wild beasts.
And I guess if you send your 17-year-old off to 50-mile John to Shechem, and then maybe another 15 miles to Dothan, Yeah, he might likely get attacked by an animal, but this is precisely what Jacob responds with. He recognized it, verse 33, and said, it is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt, Joseph is torn to pieces.
Now, I think, as a parent, I might want to verify things a little bit more, but I guess, in this context, it was different. He's not necessarily going to go searching for the dead body of his son, Joseph, so he goes along with this particular alibi, and this produces in Jacob great mourning. He is distressed over this. Remember that Joseph is, in fact, his favored one, and now the favored one is gone, so this promotes in him great great mourning on his part.
Verse 34, Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, mourned for his son many days, and all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him. Again, another interesting thing. The only daughter we know of at this point with reference to Jacob is Dinah. That's the only one that's been specified.
That doesn't mean there weren't others. The text pluralizes daughters, so it must be the case that he had additional daughters. But he refused to be comforted and he said, for I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
And then verse 36 ends the narrative this way. Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. excuse me, and captain of the guard, which will become very important information for everything that follows in the Joseph narrative. Chapter 38 is going to deal with Judah and Tamar. Chapter 39 gets back to Joseph and carries on all the way to chapter 50.
Application
Well, in conclusion, by way of a couple of practical thoughts, in the first place, the doctrine of total depravity, the brother's hatred for Joseph. I think this is a great sort of indicator for each of us as to why we need to guard our hearts. The sixth commandment is what is violated when we hate people. We're not supposed to hate people.
That's a sin against God. We're not supposed to necessarily be best friends for life with everybody we ever meet. I just don't think that's a possibility. We're not supposed to hate people.
Well, these men hated their brother. They disdained and despised him, and then that grew in their hearts, and then it was externalized in the way that they treated him. That hatred led to their desire to engage in what's called fratricide. They wanted to murder their brother.
They wanted to dispatch their brother, and the hatred led to their actual selling of Joseph into slavery. Now remember, they did not kill him because they had a change of heart. They just said, well, that is a bit harsh. Now Judah obviously said, he is our brother, he is our flesh.
But that's after he already primed the pump with reference to, hey, we can get some money out of this. There's some profit. Why waste a good 20 shekels on killing this man? Let's sell him into slavery.
Calvin again makes this observation. He says, if at any time among heathens a brother murdered his brother, such impiety was treated with the utmost severity in tragedies that it might not pass into an example for imitation. But in profane history, meaning outside the Bible, no such thing is found as that nine brethren should conspire together for the destruction of an innocent youth, and like wild beasts should pounce upon him with bloody hands. Therefore, a horrible and even diabolical fury took possession of the sons of Jacob.
When having cast aside the sense of nature, they were thus prepared cruelly to rage against their own blood. Again, it starts off in the heart. It starts off as hatred. It starts off as this detestation of another person, but it doesn't typically end there.
It vents itself out, or it's externalized in this passage by either A, wanting to kill him, or B, selling him into slavery. We need to guard our hearts. The sixth commandment is a reality. Secondly, in terms of the function of the dreams, the dreams function to sort of foreshadow what is going to happen.
Look at what the text says in verse 36. The Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard. We know the story. We know what's going to happen, and God is going to bless Joseph.
These men and their sheaves are going to bow down to Joseph. The sun, the moon, and the stars are going to bow down to Joseph. He is going to be the second in command in all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. He is going to be called the ruler of all of Egypt.
The man is preeminent as the narrative proceeds, and these dreams are the foundation of it. Now, thirdly, and probably most powerfully, is the providence of God in the chapter. Think about what these men are doing. They are trying to neutralize Joseph.
They do not want these dreams actualized, but they are the vehicle by which the dreams do come to fruition and fulfillment. They deliver him into the hands of these Midianites, these foreign traders that are going down to Egypt. They are setting him up for the very exaltation that's going to take place in his life. When everything comes around, he says, ultimately, you meant this for evil, but God overruled it for good.
Genesis 50, 20 is the key to the entirety of these narratives. Now, with reference to this, Wenham, I think, makes this great observation. He says, by selling Joseph into Egypt, his brothers have apparently disposed of him for good, but unwittingly they have actually helped the fulfillment of his dreams. Do you think they ever thought, well, if we just have killed him, I hope they wouldn't have thought that.
But the thought is they sold him into this, and this is what transpires. Wenham also has a helpful note with reference to the providence of God. Christians, believers, Jews before us, always found great comfort in the Joseph narratives for that very reason, Genesis 50, 20. You meant this for evil, but God overruled it for good.
Wenham says the story of Joseph shows how God's secret providence is behind the darkest deeds of men and works to their ultimate good. This whole section is a Romans 828. God does cause all things to work together for good. Now, fourthly, in terms of the flow of the book as a whole, I mean, this is a big block of text dedicated to Joseph and his brothers.
And if we ask the question why, obviously it teaches us theological lessons concerning God's providence. But in terms of the storyline in Genesis, as I already mentioned, it does explain the reality as to how Israelites end up in Egypt. That is clear. Once there's famine in the land, They all go to Egypt because Jacob hears there's corn in Egypt, so the brothers go, and ultimately Jacob goes as well.
So when we get to the book of Exodus, the Joseph narratives explain how Israel ended up in Egypt. As well, the Joseph story highlights the continued fulfillment of God's promise. Remember, God says that there would be a great seed. You go from 12 brothers to Exodus chapter 1, where you have 70 persons in all.
So, this explains how we get there. And then the Joseph story demonstrates the blessing of God upon the nations through a patriarch. Remember, God said that to Abraham. In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Well, Joseph is exalted to such a position that the nations around Egypt are flowing to Egypt so that they can be blessed by the presence of this patriarch in this particular scenario. And then the last thing, I'm gonna lean on Gil for this, the typological significance. Joseph is a type of Jesus Christ. Joseph is obviously a type of Christ, and I think John Gil nails this.
And I'll just read it, it's extended, but it's wonderful. He says, Joseph was a most eminent type of Christ, and there are so many things in this chapter which show an agreement between them that cannot be passed over. Joseph was the son of his father's old age, Christ the son of the ancient of days. Joseph was in a peculiar manner beloved by his father.
Christ is the dear son of his father's love. Jacob made for Joseph a coat of many colors. prepared a body and human nature for Christ, filled and adorned with the various gifts and graces of the Spirit without measure. Joseph was hated by his brethren, and they could not endure to think he should have the dominion over them. The Jews, of whom Christ was, according to the flesh, hated him and would not have him to reign over them.
Joseph was sent by his father a long journey to visit his brethren and know the welfare of them and their flocks. Christ was sent from heaven to earth to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Joseph's brethren, when they saw him come to them, conspired to take away his life. The Jews, who were Christ's own, when he came to them, received him not, but said, This is the heir, let us kill him.
And they consulted to take away his life. Joseph was stripped of his clothes and sold for 20 pieces of silver at the motion of Judah. And Christ, by one of the same name, was sold for 30 pieces of silver and was stripped of his clothes by the Roman soldiers. Joseph was delivered in the hands of foreigners and Christ into the hands of the Gentiles.
Joseph being reckoned as dead by his father and yet alive may be herein an emblem of Christ's death and his resurrection from the dead. Amen. I think that the brother got that one right on, and that's a good place for me to close in prayer.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank you for your word and thank you for these things that strengthen our faith and our resolve and encourage our hearts to realize that even in the midst of such dark and horrific situations, you are nevertheless working out your purposes for good, for those who love you, to those who are the called according to your purpose. Help us to understand these things. Help us to walk by faith. Help us in the midst of our own trials and afflictions and hardships to go to the sacred text and to find that encouragement with which you encouraged your people before.
We ask that you would go with us now. We pray that you'd watch over our church. We pray for that family in Vernon, that you'd bless Phil and Karen Zogg. We pray that he would get the help that he needs and that you would just restore this brother in a in a timely manner that he'd be able to return to his wife and to his children.
And we pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.