Joseph sold into slavery
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
We are coming to a close of Genesis with the story of Joseph. It is the last of the family narratives found in Genesis. From a literary standpoint this makes sense. While we have traced the promise of redemption from Adam to Jacob, we have not yet seen a picture of the one who would save us.
So as we study this final character we are going to see many parallels between the life of Joseph and the life of Christ. In essence God is showing Israel what they can expect the messiah to be like.
Yet Joseph is an imperfect type of Christ.
We know that Joseph was born to Rachael the favored wife of Jacob . Rachel at first was barren and then later conceived Joseph and died after delivering Benjamin . This sets the tone for the following narrative.
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a long-sleeved robe for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.
Now some of your eyes are already noticing that the CSB uses the term long-sleeved robe as opposed to a robe of many colors. In fact, the garment here has been debated by many scholars and linguist for a lone-time.
heres the difference if you use a translation that relies on the Greek Septuagint( a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible) then you will find the document described as a robe of many colors. If you use a translation that goes back to the original Hebrew many will use long-sleeved robe, a robe associated with royalty or high status.
No matter how you translate it, the point is that Jacob gave Joseph a garment that would have set him apart from his brothers. This was garment of distinguished status.
The fact that Joseph reports on his brothers, probably is also a sign of his status in the family. Something that is not supposed to happen. A younger sibling is not supposed to rule over or manage the older ones. He is daddy’s favorite. To make matters worse. Remember Jacob neglected Leah, half of the siblings mother. So these men witnessed the favoritism their entire lives.
In fact, you see the brothers working and Joseph reporting.
It seems that Joseph also enjoyed his status and had no problem lording it over his brothers.
Look what he did next.
5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:
7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.
If you knew your brothers hated you already for your favored status you had with your father, and you were really wanting to repair the relationship would you tell your brothers about this dream?
Do you think Joseph was pure at heart when he told them of his dream? How many siblings do you know that would have done something like this out of complete purity of heart?
Let me paint this picture for you. Joseph marches up to them wearing his special coat that consistently reminds them of his elevated status with Jacob. Then tells his brothers, “ by the way one day your going to bow down to me.”
I have no doubt that Joseph knew exactly what he was doing.
Then Joseph has another dream about his status. Just FYI a second dream to the ancient near east was a sign that God would bring it pass. We will see in the future the Pharaoh will have two dreams as well.
Then after learning that this telling endeared his brothers to him. What does Joseph do?
Joseph decides to tell his brothers and his dad of his second dream.
9 Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
“Hey Brothers if you thought my first dream was great, Get a lode of this.” Each of you will bow down to me and then even dad will bow down to me. I’m going to be so great. You all better start being a little nicer to me....Are you picking up on a certain vibe here? Joseph seems to be rather arrogant. Between his arrogance and his brothers jealousy the next part of the story shouldn’t be all that shocking.
An anonymous author said this:
Jealousy is the raw material of murder.
Anonymous
We will certainly see the truth of that statement in this account.
I know that usually Joseph is heralded as a picture of integrity and in the future he certainly did show integrity but he was still a broken individual that seemed to enjoy somewhat arrogantly his prominence.
No doubt Joseph is feeling pretty special. I mean his dad thinks he’s great And know it seems as if God himself also sees something special in Joseph. So much so that one day not only will his brothers bow to him but also his father.
But is that really the case? Did God choose Joseph because he was special? What do you think? How often when we look at our bible heroes, we think yeah God chose them because he knew they would (fill in the blank).
We often forget that it was not themselves that made them qualified for the job. It was God who shaped a servant for his purposes. In other words, we need to stop giving so much credit to the individual and give credit where it is due....with God.
What does God do with the proud.
6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
So just like any servant God uses. He will humble Joseph before he uses Him. so...
I. God Humbles Joseph
I. God Humbles Joseph
God will often bring circumstances into our lives to remind us that all good things are a result of his goodness and not our own merit. If there is anything good in us it is because of him not us.
So lets see how God begins to humble Jospeh.
12 His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.
13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.
14 Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.
Notice again, that Joseph was not required to be with the flocks but rather be an overseer of his brothers. He lived in comfort while his brothers slept in the outdoors.
15 A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
17 “They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!
20 So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
It’s amazing how jealousy, rivalry, and lack of forgiveness can destroy a household. Now these brothers who have been violent in the past in avenging their sister are now turning this capability on their own sibling.
Thankfully for Joseph sake there was one that had a cooler head, his brother Reuben.
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”
22 Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.
23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the long-sleeved robe that he had on.
24 Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water.
It’s pretty clear that Reuben had no love for Joseph either but that murdering his own sibling was a line he wouldn’t cross or maybe he thought he could earn His father’s favor, But either way his plan didn’t work out the way he intended.
25 They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed.
28 When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”
Now obvioulsy Rueben felt some sort of responsibility or accountability to his father for everything that took place. But instead of telling his father the truth they devise this plan.
31 So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.
32 They sent the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”
33 His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
35 All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.
Now keep in mind, these men are the beginnings of the tribes of Israel . They are its founders. God had no need to start with the best and brightest people. He uses whom he chooses to accomplish his task.
Now let’s go back to Joseph for a minute.
Do you think that Joseph as he was being pulled from the pit to be sold into slavery had the same arrogant attitude he had before going in it?
I mean probably not. His life just got turned upside down. He went from being the favored Son of Jacob to a lowly slave . He went from believing he was going to one day rule his brothers to being sold to strangers that happened to pass by.
Every future that Joseph thought he had was now gone. Every position of power and influence stripped from him. He was now going to be a nobody in a foreign land with foreign gods.
When a person becomes too proud, God often reaffirms His sovereign control in that life and humbles the person.
John F. MacArthur
Those who are of no account are the people that God often uses.
II. When God humbles us, He uses us.
II. When God humbles us, He uses us.
Now God’s plan for Joseph would not be revealed for sometime in his life.
Joseph would suffer. As we will see in this account, God would make Joseph a nobody so that he can use Him greatly.
Now to the Ancient Israelite during the time of captivity how would they have been encouraged by this account of Joseph? What would this part of the narrative meant to them?
When Joseph was going through being sold into slavery, do you think that he felt
abandoned by his family and possibly God?
Do you think he felt alone, fearful, and angry about his circumstances?
Have you ever felt that way about your circumstances in life?
One thing that I have begun to learn in my life, that it is easy to accuse God of not caring when we do not know the end of the story.
From our point of view, Our circumstances can feel like carelessness, indifference and abandonment by God. With Joseph we have the privilege of seeing the end of the story but just like joseph we can’t see our own story.
So then how would the nation of Isreal have seen themselves in this account? How should we see ourselves in this account.
When God seems to have abandoned us is when He is working with us.
When God seems to have abandoned us is when He is working with us.
God was humbling Joseph. God was not absent but not doubt Joseph felt this way. But feeling like God was gone was exactly what Joseph needed to bring him to a place where God could use him.
How many of you have done something similar to a child that keeps wondering off.
I remember when one of my children were young. They would have a habit of wandering off when we went to the store. So one day, this child of mine wandered off, but I could seem her from where I was standing but she could not see me.
I watched when she finally realized that she had wandered to far. I saw the look of panic come over her face until she began to frantically look around. Then I stepped out and called her name.
In her mind, I am sure she felt very alone and afraid. Yet I was with her the whole time. But that felt absence was what she needed to learn to look for and to follow me.
This is what God was doing with Joseph. This is what God would do repeatedly with Israel. This is what God will do with us.
Let me assure you God does not abandon his own. When your circumstances have humbled you enough to be used. When his apparent absence brings you to a desperate search for God, he will step out from behind the curtain and you will see that he has been with you all along, working to make you usable so that you can fulfill your purpose on this earth.
Lets Pray
