Genesis 37

The family drama continues… last week we saw the line of Edom. A line that was outside of the covenant God had made with Jacob, but we saw even then how the Lord used that line in his larger salvation plan. Now we come to the line of Jacob. And we will even see that the righteous family, the covenantal family, is dysfunctional. Which is good news for all of the dysfunctional families out there, God has a plan. But we make our way into the last major movement of Genesis. We have the story of the offspring of Jacob.

God is the God who honors his covenant to the thousandth generation. Yet his way of doing it is not always as it seems. We want it to be all roses and sunshine, and blessing and glory. And it could be… but what stands in the way?

OUR SIN. Its the same old story… Genesis 1 and 2 tells us of this beautiful palace of God, intimacy with God, sustenance, blessing… And very soon after, sin enters into the garden. It is not because the devil made her do it. It is because the devil exposed what was already there…

Skip over genesis and come with me to Deuteronomy 31… At the beginning of this book we have such a high hope. The generation of babies and complainers have died off, and a new generation stands on the precipice of the promised land. Moses is teaching them, telling them all the wonderful rules and statues of God. You are pumped up, felling like yes, alright, this time is going to be different. They are going to obey. They have a new leader, they have a refreshed rule, they know God will go with them, even though they have been warned, they will get it this time. God will be with them and they will love God and their children will be whole and blessed… Now lets read verse 14-18…

Ouch…. But unlike me, you should see this coming from a mile away… This is the story of the Bible. God is our redeemer. There is no salvation apart from him. Not just from your physical enemies… But from your own heart that is an idol factory. Your heart is prone to wonder, prone to grow cold toward God and chase after the passions and lusts of your own heart. It is God alone that will save us from that both now and forever.

So, back to genesis 37 Let's read v 1-4 and set the stage… READ…verse 1-4… We are set with this positive… NOW JACOB. Adn as we read this we could almost read it like, Ok, here is redemption.

And then it says, and he lived in the land of caanan, which is even better! He is in the land that has been promised. And in verse two all are getting along. All is well, they are pasturing, Jacob is nearly grown. But Jacob brings back an evil report about his brothers! So, already we start to see a crack in Jacob telling on his brothers. Not necessarily bad, but we start to get a funny feeling about this… Israel loved Jacob more! Thats nice, but wait, where have we heard this before?? Paternal favoritism has already been a seed of discord in the family… And what is more he made him a special gift… favoritism, jealousy, and divide, all at the beginning of the stage.

Verse 4… but his brothers saw, and hated Joseph for it. So here we go. Not just a little rift, but a great loathing. The ending scene of Genesis is set, and we dive into another account of the Lord and his faithfulness to his covenant.

Lets read Genesis 37:5-36…

The first generation of the covenant was marked by faith in Abraham, but laughter and panic in his wife.

The second generation of the covenant was marked by spiritual lethargy.

The second generation by a feud between brothers, trickery, dissension…

The fourth, by faithless hatred of their brother and God’s given dream.

Can you see why it was God that passed between the animals and not Abraham? Because Abraham could never keep the covenant. His promised blessed Children that would be a blessing to the nations would never keep the covenant. On their best days, on our best days, our efforts would be enough only to seal our fate again in hell. But God keeps his covenant. His plans never fail.

God’s plan is marked from the get go. Verse two, Joseph lived with Jacob for the first seventeen years of his life. And Jacob will live with Joseph for the last seventeen years of his. On commentator said, such symmetry reveals God’s providence.

Verse five… Jospeh has two dreams. This will be something that goes with him to his death. He is a man of heavenly vision. God gives them to him and helps him interpret them.

The dreams themselves are of one accord. They mean the same thing. The brothers are angry, but verse 10 even Jacob is struggling with this idea of a father serving his son…

Be has trouble with it but, he takes it serious. Verse 11 says he keep this saying in mind.

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Verse 12, Now the setting turns to Schechem… What is significant about schechem? (This is where the violent retribution took place)…The children of Israel had a bad record in Schechem and Israel had a reason for suspicion and concern. And he did what any good father would do.. he sent the tattle tale.

Now what is the significance of the man who found him? Well maybe two fold… First off, Jacob is safer alone in the presence of a schechemite than with his own kin. But secondly, that it is God’s providence, God’s timing. Because of this delay, Josephs arrival to his brothers was perfectly placed with the arrival of the traveling merchants. I don’t believe in chance, or luck, or coincidence. God is sovereign, and his timing is perfect. Joseph even says so… Remember what he tells his brothers?

Dothan is 13 miles from schechem, which is 50 miles from his home. This is God’s timing at work…

They identify him with great resentment. And their resentment turns into murderous thought. Even here, God’s words that sin is crouching at their door could be heard, but they desire not to master it but allow it to go from one sin to another to another… that might have even been worse For their sake. They are not only selling him, but are going to lie about it FOR YEARS.

Where they want to throw him is a cistern. A large bottle shaped pit hewn out of rock… Could be anywhere from 6-20 feet deep. They have been found all over Israel. They stripped him, or dethroned him, and put him in the cave. They gave him up out of hatred… And instead of seeing the blessing in their own land, God gives blessing to the gentiles because of their sinfulness. Sound familiar?

This phrase, they ate a meal… What does it tell us? They threw their brother in a cave, probably hearing his protesting, and instead of being bothered by it, sate down to fill their stomach. What was their god?

Jacob is now deceived by his children. As he deceived his father with goat skins, he is now deceived with the goats blood.

Let’s talk about the characters here…

The father, in my opinion, and I believe in the theme of scripture, Israel as a father has been inattentive to his children. He has not brought unity and reconciliation, but allowed this division to go on.

Reuben, after his incest with bilhah his leadership seems ineffective. He as the role of father as the oldest should have turned to his brothers and stopped them. Instead, he coward.

Judah, steps us as leader instead of Reuben, but is so blind he can’t see the silliness of his statement that “he is our brother, so we shouldn’t kill him, we should let someone else do it.”

Jospeh, The one who has been obedient to the command of his father, the command of holiness, and the revelation of God is the one who has been wronged. Sound familiar?

God… at wok the whole time. Does that make you uncomfortable to know that God was working even in the midst of this. That he didn’t stop it. He allowed it to happen. And even was working along side the sin of Israels sons. Us like these brothers, have to come to accept the election of God. Jospeh is elected to suffer, and then kingship. Jesus was elected to be crushed, and it was the father’s joy to do so.

Not only that, but God will be the only father to perfectly favor one son while loving the rest, he will be the father to clothe his son in a special gift while allowing the rest of his children not to whine about it but to share in it… God will be the father who will procure a people, brothers and sisters of his chosen son, and redeeming them to not be slaves to a foreign god or even to their flesh, but will be set free and bound in joy and gladness to serve and worship His chosen son forever.

God is faithful to his covenant, and faithful to his word. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 LSB

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.

Our God does not fail. He does not bend. And is never shaken. His plans are good for those who love him, and always bring glory to his name.