Joseph The Dreamer - A Slave became a Hero
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Joseph The Dreamer - A Slave becomes a Hero
Joseph The Dreamer - A Slave becomes a Hero
1 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.
The statement “These are the history of Jacob” (v. 2, KJV) informs us that we’re moving into a new section of the Book of Genesis, which will be devoted to Jacob, whom we’ve already met while reading about “the generations of Isaac” (25:19, KJV). But the chief actor in the “Jacob” section of Genesis will be Joseph, who is mentioned twice as many times as is his father in the next fourteen chapters. Jacob won’t be ignored, but it’s Joseph who will occupy center stage.
Genesis 37 unfolds the destructive dynamics of a family that knew the true and living God and yet sinned against Him and each other by what they said and did. The characters are colorful; and we see the full gamut of human emotion and experience, including favoritism, envy, remorse, impatience, perseverance, temptation, self-control, resentment, hatred, lying, deceit, reconciliation, and faithfulness. But in the midst of it all, we recognize God at work accomplishing his eternal purposes, in spite of the sinful and deceitful nature of man.
There are two verses from the NT that stood out to me when studying this lesson:
Where sin abounded, grace abounded more (Rom. 5:20).
Romans 8:28 (NASB95)
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
it is Gods will for us to live in unity with one another.
Unity means= to be in Agreement; uniformity; as unity of doctrine; unity of worship in a church. The state of being one.
Psa 133.1 “1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity!”
Hebrews 13.1 “Let love of the brethren continue.”
3 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. 4 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.
1. Hatred (Gen. 37:1–4))
But we see here Jacob’s family didn’t enjoy the blessings of unity because from its inception the home was divided. Jacob’s first two wives were rivals, and the addition of two concubines didn’t diminish the tension. When you have in a home one father, four different mothers, and twelve sons, you have the ingredients for multiple problems. Unfortunately, Jacob came from a divided home and brought the infection with him.
Why did the brothers hate Joseph so much?
Joseph was the Favorite son - Favoritism
Having experienced the sad consequences of favoritism in his boyhood home Genesis 25.28 ,and during his years with Laban (Genesis 29:30), Jacob should have had more sense than to single out Joseph and pamper him. But Joseph was the son of his favorite wife, Rachel.
One thing I know is that God loves you and me with a perfect love. We are all loved equally. God proved this when He gave his son Jesus Christ, that ALL might be saved.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The varicolored tunic - or a long-sleeve coat was a symbol of leadership. the coat most likely stretched to his ankles, not a type of coat that would be worn in the field to work. Therefore, Jacob was being very clear that his inheritance and blessing was going to Joseph. This only compounded more resentment.
Family rivalry:
competitiveness, competition, contention
vying, opposition, conflict, struggle, strife, feuding, dissension
discord, antagonism, friction, enmity.
Hatred is a terrible sin because it generates other sins.
12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.
9 The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 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.” 8 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. 9 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.” 10 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?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
2. Envy, Jealousy, and Malice:
The author of a fourteenth-century preacher’s manual wrote that envy was “the most precious daughter of the devil because it follows his footsteps by hindering good and promoting evil.” The author might have added that Envy has a sister named Malice, and the two usually work together (Titus 3:3; 1 Peter 2:1). Envy causes inward pain when we see others succeed, and malice produces inward satisfaction when we see others fail.
1 Peter 2.1-3 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,” if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
3. Does God speak to us in dreams Today?
some people have claimed that God has sent them dreams for their instruction and guidance, or for the instruction of others, we need to be very careful; Dreams can be self-induced or even influenced by Satan. (Jer 23.25-28)
Is it possible? Acts 2.17 “17 ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams;”
Joseph had a dream when Mary was pregnant.
Primarily. we believe it is the Word of God and the gospel message that brings people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Certainly God is sovereign and can use dreams to accomplish His will if no other means is available, but I’d suggest his normal way to communicate is through the Holy Spirit, teaching us the Word. (John 14.25-26 John 16.12-15)
Genesis 37:12–17 (NKJV)
Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 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.” 14 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. 15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?” 16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.” 17 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 we see the Plot against Joseph
Genesis 37:18–28 (NASB95)
When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! 20 “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!” 21 But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” 22 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. 23 So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; 24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it. 25 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. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 “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. 28 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.
Genesis 37:29–30 (NKJV)
Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?”
Take note: Reuben being the oldest, new it was his moral duty to be responsible for his younger brother. 20 Years later Reuben recalled the guilt that comes with such evil acts.
Genesis 42:21–22 (NKJV)
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; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.”
only confession can remove your guilt. 1 Jn 1.9
31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 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?” 33 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.” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 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.
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
People think they can defy it and escape the consequences of God’s judgement. Among Jacob’s sons, one sin led to another as the men fabricated the evidence that would deceive their father into thinking that Joseph was dead, killed by a wild beast.
As tragic and treacherous as this deception was, Jacob was reaping what he himself had sown, and now his own sons were following in his footsteps.
We see here, Jacob accepted the evidence, believed the story, and concluded that Joseph indeed was dead. He went into deep mourning, and twenty years later was still grieving over the death of Joseph (42:36). His family tried to comfort him but to no avail. His favorite son was dead, and Jacob would carry his grief with him to the grave.
Years later, Jacob would lament, “All these things are against me” (Gen 42.36), when actually all these things were working for him (Rom. 8:28).
This doesn’t mean that God approved of or engineered the brothers’ hatred and deception, or that they weren’t responsible for what they did. It does mean that our God is so great that He can work out His purposes even when people are doing their worst.
We are going to see Joseph was exemplary in his character, he was Christlike. likewise, we too are called to be more like Christ everyday.
The greatest example of this is Jesus Christ:
Jesus was hated by his Brethren
the religious leader of His time were envious of Him
Jesus was also betrayed and sold out for 30 pieces of silver
Jesus was killed, as portrayed in Joseph
Jesus through His death and Resurrection provided forgiveness and salvation.
We will see later in our story, Joseph said to his brothers.
Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)
But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Jacob and Joseph never read Romans 8:28, but they experienced the truth of it and saw what the hand of God can do. If the promises worked for them, they will work for us today; for God and His Word have not changed.
Romans 8:28 (NKJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.