Genesis 37:1-36
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Genesis 37:1-36
Genesis 37:1-36
Good morning church! A few weeks ago, Mark Peterson taught Genesis 36 and did a FANTASTIC job. Weaving both Ferris Beuller and Napoleon Dynamite into the message. Well done.
He did a great job, though, of tying in the fact that the Edomites would forever be entangled in warfare with Israel, and also hammered home the fact that names have meaning. The Bible says:
1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.
Who chooses your name? Your parents do. Sometimes you get to pick your own, but It’s an important thing. We, at our house, choose the pets names as a strange sort of dare or joke. Usually we’ll take the animals characteristics and figure out what best describes them. Durt, Business, Renegade, Lunch Box...they all earned those names. The names of the humans, however, have deep meetings. You also have to understand those names so you know that you can identify the enemy too.
Mark did something surprising though, also that Sunday when he was describing what happened between Isaac and Esau with Jacob that I had never thought of before. He used the word ossified, which I had NO IDEA was a word. It means to calcify or harden. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the correlation to Jesus of Isaac being sent before Jacob.
What Mark was saying, was that Rebekah prepared a meal, a sweet smelling offering for Jacob from his son, but also he was covered in his clothes, even feeling like him. He pointed to the fact that, we are dead in our transgressions, and separated from our blessing from our Father who art in Heaven. If it weren’t for Jesus pouring out His blood for us, and covering our sin, if we went before the Lord any other way, we would be cast out of His presence, because we can’t be there.
Thank you Mark for opening my eyes to that. I love the men we have that are here to lead you. I love to listen and learn from our ladies. I know many of you lead Bible studies too, and I’m excited to watch you grow. It’s my job, as your pastor, to push you to hard things. If you trust me, I’ll show you that you can do this, and how wonderful and freeing it is to be able to pour into your brothers and sisters and spur them on toward love and good works.
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.
Joseph was son number what of Jacob? He was number 11 of 12. Who was his mother? Rachel, and just 2 chapters ago, his mother died giving birth to his little brother Benjamin. How old is Jacob here? 17 years old. Good things to establish at this point in his life. Thruout the Bible, knowing how much time has passed is important to understanding context in a story.
What was a lad of his age to be doing at 17 years old? Working, right? Not just working, but most kids these days were the boss too, especially when your father was the owner of the land, or the cattle. They would start working in the fields about 8-9 years old.
Wouldn’t that be great? Not to have your kids doing all of your work, but to train them to know what you know and then put them into the field? Wouldn’t that be great? What’s the reality of that? Would our kids always do what’s needed of them? It’d be like our government…rampant fraud everywhere.
Someone needs to regulate, right? Everybody loves a whistleblower. In parenting circles, it’s a tattle tale, or the informer. Were any of you that kid? I was. It was a double edged sword. Actually, a triple edged sword now that I think about it. It kept me out of trouble, parents loved me, and it prevented me from having healthy relationships from a lot of my friends.
My oldest son is understanding this first-hand. Much to my chagrin, trying to get him to see it…he does not like it when people are doing the wrong things. NOW, he’s also a hippocritter. For those of you who don’t know what a hippocritter is, it’s a critter that points out your flaws but doesn’t walk the walk.
All of my kids are like that, but if my kids would listen to him when he told them to stop doing something, their lives would be a lot easier. I do encourage my kids to listen to him, as well as all of them to be men and women of their words, the’re getting better!
Now, there’s no evidence that Jacob was a hippocritter. Just that he would report back to dad on all of the things his brothers would do that was wrong. Nobody likes people like that, except the boss, right?
Is this honorable though? Like I said before, parents loved me. They knew, if I was with their kids, it didn’t matter what happened, they were safe. They knew I would not tolerate their tomfoolery. It also made me trustworthy. I was honored many times for my honesty and leadership. It didn’t win me friends, but like I said, those who were in charge knew I would keep a tight ship. This is a defining character trait of Joseph and it will do him well in later years.
Most of us know the next verses very well, a play and a movie was written about it…and they’re terrible and secular. Don’t ever go see them
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.
Joseph was the favorite son, and this tunic that was made, the word used for colors here actually means long sleeves or stripes. It may not have been multicolored, truly we don’t know other than the fact that scholars have translated it as colorful. Either way, it was more special than anything made for any of his brothers.
What else is special about this coat? How were workers clothes made? Short or no sleeves, and girded up for work, right? Joseph’s coat went to his wrists, and to his feet. This was the tunic of a man in charge, a man of responsibility. Something that I’m sure fueled this hatred towards him. AND, this must have been a recent development too, right? You don’t make a fitted garment for someone still growing up. 17 is about the age that kids are done growing, for the most part.
Don’t play favorites with your kids. They will catch on. Especially when you have one that is ready to blast the others for not doing what they’re supposed to do. ESPECIALLY when they’re all in their 20’s, with Reuben being around 30 now. Benjamin was only about 10 when this story starts here.
Every time he showed up, I’ll bet they fretted. I’m gonna tell dad! As I got older, the question became: Do you need me to call your parents? Or are you going to do something about this mess? Most of you ladies just have to tell your husbands one thing: “You need to call Aaron.”
I want to walk the righteous walk. I count on all of you to hold me to it and correct me when I’m wrong. I’m ok being that heavy. I’m OK with you being that heavy for me too. I expect you all to not let me get away with something I shouldn’t. I’m your shepherd, I should be able to walk the lonely walk of loneliness. I want to. Want isn’t always enough, though. It makes it hard to hold people close. “What’s he gonna tell the Lord about me?” I don’t sweat that. It’s my job to pick you up, not hold you down…unless you want me to when you’re being baptized. I’m not good at math, but I can count.
Joseph was living righteously, right? And it was costing him relationships, but then he has this dream:
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.
What is the driving force behind both of these dreams? They are prophetic. We will see both of these dreams come to fruition in the coming chapters, but they were not received with open ears, why? What do people think of someone who’s always reporting on someone else’s actions? They think they’re steeped in pride, right?
The Lord had opened Joseph’s eyes to what was going on around him. He could see what was right and wrong. Something that you are taught when you are becoming a leader, though, is that a good leader sees everything, overlooks a great deal, and corrects a little. Just like Joseph, I had to learn that it didn’t matter that I was seeing all of this evil around me...it mattered what I was going to do about it. Every good leader starts out looking for problems.
Look at our government right now, we’re finding problem after problem. Problems that people have wanted to fix forever, but they got stuck on the problem so much, OR were drowning in so many problems, that they couldn’t see any solutions.
Joseph was making a clipboard full of problems and reporting on them. Seeing the problems are good! Action is needed to work on solutions. That is where the hard work comes.
If I could give my kids, and your kids any advice in this situation: Think before you speak. My parents used to ask me all the time: “Will the words coming out of your mouth help or hurt the situation.”
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.
The Lord knew these dreams needed to be spoken. They are the Words of the Lord, and like with all true prophets, the words of the Lord are usually the last thing people want to hear, and in some cases, it IS the last thing they hear before calamity comes their way.
Joseph doesn’t barge in, even though his brothers see it as such in their response. He says “Please hear me.” The word used there is emphatic and sympathetic. He had an urgency to tell his brothers about this. Given his reputation though, it only made things worse.
The last thing older brothers want to hear is that they will have to answer to one of their younger siblings. It’s so hard to follow someone who you don’t think is worthy of their position.
Ultimately, the Bible says as well that the leaders in power are there for a reason, and serve God’s purposes. Good and bad leaders have their jobs to do, good leaders show us the grace and love of God. Bad ones are there to turn our eyes to Him and seek first His kingdom.
The brothers were more upset with him now because they saw the underlying message, that he would have dominion over them. He wasn’t just going to be in charge, but it uses 2 words, reign and have dominion. Reign means he thinks he will be king over them, having dominion means that he will rule. His brothers are indignant that they may need to ask permission for everything they do from him.
Joseph hasn’t helped his position with his brothers, but the Lord still brought another dream to him.
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.
Open mouth, insert other foot, right? Both of these dreams would come true, but something interesting happened in verse 11. His father would keep this matter in mind. Jacob would not forget this dream. Their interpretation of the dream was correct, but again, that’s the problem with being a prophet. Nobody wants to see the consequences of their actions.
The boys had operated their whole lives as their own kings, and did what was right in their own eyes, because they didn’t have a dad that would discipline them. He taught them how to work, but didn’t teach them how to listen to authority.
So, to handle their grief on the situation, they journeyed out, away from the family.
12 Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.
What do we know about Shechem? Just a few chapters ago, this is where they were driven from the land because Jacob’s daughter was abused by the man who the town is named after. This wasn’t close to Hebron where they lived. It was 70 miles, a few day’s hike from their house.
They had to get away, but to go there, I would say that’s probably not wise. Dad hears about where they went:
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.
Israel heard. The man God made asked Joseph to go find the boys and report back. This is what he did, right? It looks now, too, like this might have been what Israel did to his boys. Look at the garment that was made for him. He wore the coat of the man in charge, right?
Who was working? The brothers were. Where was Joseph? At home. Another reason why his brothers could have had resentment for him...if you’re doing all the work, and your boss doesn’t do anything, do you respect that man? DO YOU WANT THEM TO BE AROUND?
How long the brothers were gone is not known, considering you can travel about 10 miles per day walking, they were probably gone a few weeks by now.
So Israel sends Joshua to do what he does best, report back. I would be hoping to have good reports, but the good always comes with the bad. So Joshua what happens when Joshua gets 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.
The people of the land knew who Israel was. And upon meeting a man in the area, he knew that the boys moved another 20 miles on to the north to Dothan. Does this city of Dothan have a footnote anywhere in any of your Bibles?
Last week, Rick Green was talking about a story in 2 Kings 6 where the Syrians were coming to attack and the people of the city were very afraid. One of the servants came to Elisha, the prophet, and in 2 Kings 6:17
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Who knew, but the Lord, that we would be hearing about the first mention of this city in the Bible this week, after we heard about the fact that our prayers have the power to protect people from afar.
Not all of our prayers are answered the way we want them to be answered...but they all get answered in their own time.
So, Joshua journeys off toward Dothan to find his brothers:
18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 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!”
Was killing a person far off base for these brothers? So many things are reminders to us in our lives. Music, smells, locations...what did the brothers do in that town of Shechem? They killed a whole town of men. That’s not something you just forget, and I’m sure that the premeditation started there. They would have known that their father would send Joseph eventually to seek them out.
They hated him knew he was coming. They wanted to put as much real estate between home and what they had planned to help them hide their plans. There was one of the brothers, though, that wasn’t involved with the mass murder, and that was the oldest brother Reuben. He was not involved in the massacre that the brothers committed in Gen 34, but that was probably because he was busy wooing one of Jacob’s concubines, remember in Genesis 35. He was not a man of war, though, and he spoke his mind:
21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22 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.
Does anyone know what altruism means? It means that your motives are for the greater good. Reuben had in mind that he would be the savior of his brother. Good for Reuben, right? So they listen to him:
23 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. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
The deed is done, as Reuben had said. These pits were cisterns that were dug out in the ground to catch groundwater. They would have had steep sides and would have been hard to get out of. They knew Joseph wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Then, something truly troubling happens:
25 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.
This is where we get to the heart of these brothers. Thru the pleas of their brother in the pit, they casually sat down and ate a meal. That’s evil in every sense of the word right there. The shows the condition of their hearts and how cold they were.
26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 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.” And his brothers listened. 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 twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
Thru this all, they see the reasoning of their brother Reuben, but still want their lust to be satisfied somehow.
I can imagine the relief of Joseph being pulled out of the pit, thinking his pleas were heard, just to be pushed into the hands of these men as a slave. I can’t imagine doing something like this, but it is indicative of the culture we live in now.
We get so caught up in satisfying our own lusts and distractions, that we have to find alternative ways to fulfill that lust. If any of you have watched “The Sound of Freedom,” you would recognize the screams of the kids in the shipping container as they were sent across the sea to be sold.
You men and women who think that your gratification on those screens is OK in the eyes of the Lord, know that this is the wake up call. I hope the next time you pull up those websites or load up that DVD that you see this description in your head. People aren’t objects to be bartered for. They’re precious in the Lord’s eyes.
If you engage in that kind of behavior, I want you to take that to the Lord and see what He should have you do.
I also want to point out here, who’s bright idea was this? It was Judah’s. Jesus is called the “Lion of Judah” right? His lineage is tracked thru Judah, not Joseph. What does that mean?
Jesus lineage is dictated by God’s sovereignty alone, He selected the lineage of His Son so that we can identify that we are made by the Lord for a purpose and we aren’t a product of our lineage, but a new creation. If you haven’t made good choices up to now, make a change today. You can change.
29 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?”
Reuben was not here while this was all happening. The tearing of his clothes was something you did when someone died, it was an act of mourning. We don’t know for sure if the boys hid what happened from Reuben. Or that he had any knowledge of what happened next:
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. 36 Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Jacob comes to the conclusion that Joshua was mauled by a beast. Why is this? Who delivered the coat to him? Messengers did, not his sons. We can assume that the boys came home in short order after they sent the coat home, because in verse 35 it says they tried to comfort him but couldn’t.
What a bunch of sociopaths. Imagine that too, comforting a mourning person, knowing you are hiding the truth from them. This is something they will be haunted for the rest of their lives.
Joseph, the chosen son. Adorned in special clothing. Simply doing what his father sent him to do. Speaking the truth. And those who hear his words decide the only way to silence him is to kill him. This sounds a lot like Jesus when he stood before the Sanhedrin in his purple robe.
The story of Joseph is very similar to Jesus’ story, and we’ll discuss that as we go along over the next chapters too. It’s an amazing story of doing what is right, no matter the circumstances you are in.
Ultimately, it was Joseph’s mouth that got him into trouble. We get so good at doing the devil’s bidding by simply opening our mouth. We can even protect our own reputation in that way too. Even when people think ill of you. Mark Twain “It is better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you are a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Hard lessons abound in our lives. It’s mainly because that’s the only way we are going to learn. Very few people listen to the advice of a seasoned friend. Then we sit around in the pit, having one of those movie monologues about “I’ll bet you’re wondering how I got here.” The good thing about most of those moments, is they prove that they learned their lesson.
Joseph wasn’t really doing anything wrong, though. It seemed that he was doing everything right in someone’s eyes. His brothers knew they couldn’t get away with anything once Joseph found out. Like I said earlier, look at what is happening in our government right now. People are trying to cover their tracks because now the great tattle-tale of our age has come to look at the books. It shouldn’t have to come to that, but sometimes it does.
We spoke a few weeks ago about Joshua 24:15
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Who are you going to serve? And at what cost? Are your words and actions serving your own good? Are you just trying to make everyone else look bad? OR are you just doing what the Father has sent you to do?
Most of you know me very well. I would assume you’d see me as very even keeled, fair, kind, patient. I have my limits. I didn’t get like this, though, because I listened to great people and from someone elses’ mistakes. I got like this because of a persistant phrase from my parents “It’s not what you’re saying, it’s how you say it.” and “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
The first day I smell cut grass in the spring, I’m taken back to 2-a-days, my freshman year of high school. I look back now fondly, but they were the worst grind of my life. I was made a man on that park field. I found out the meaning of pain, struggle, and perseverance. I found out that when someone is yelling at you to move your buns, you’d better move your buns. If you don’t, everyone pays and NOBODY likes that.
I remember where I was when a lot of 80’s music comes on the radio. Where I was when I watched what unfolded on Sept 11, 2001. I can remember the first time a friend of mine handed me a magazine that I shouldn’t have had...some of these memories are good, others bad.
We need to be mindful of those memories. Not all of them are to be brought up and glorified.
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
We’ve been talking about the fact that our story has power, and that to lead the next generation, our kids need to know you’re safe to talk to about their struggles. Be careful, though, not to glorify your old ways.
How we handle our anger and our interpersonal relationships is so hard to navigate. We try so hard to correct everyone around us, that it’s so hard for us to change in return. We get so tired of correction, and believe me, when you’re the one that’s bringing the correction all the time, like most of us parents are, it gets frustrating as well.
We are all hippocritters. We all do things we hate, and hate it when people tell us we’re doing it again. We are creatures of habit. That’s why those memories come back to us so quickly. What if we took instruction with the right heart? What if we looked at our peers as equals and not as rivals?
Until we settle in our hearts that the problem is not you, it’s me, and that problem is the sin I harbor in my heart, we’ll never grow. It takes years to grow a good reputation, and it can be dashed in seconds. It can be rebuilt, but it takes a lot of work. For those of us who have done it, you know how hard it is.
That’s how we should look at those who make us most frustrated...it’s not you, it’s me. Why? Because we see our sin all over those people, and we don’t like it. It’s a tale as old as the Bible.
I have found over the years, once I think I’m done with that frustrating person in my life, another one finds me. For some reason, they have the same traits, the same frustrating facial expressions, the same looks, the same catch phrase, the same squeaky shoe...they’re in my life because I need to learn how to handle them. I need to learn how to handle the me in them. I need to learn how to handle me.
What rings loud in the people around you? Do they make a point to tell you all of your faults? Clean your room up? Get better organized? Work on your feeeel-ings?
How great is it for those of you who don’t have to hit the brakes when you see law enforcement on the road? John 3:21
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Be proud of what you do. Every day, every word. Let it all glorify the one who paid for your soul. Christ died for our sins, but not so we could stay in those sins. He died so we would STOP doing them. Our sin isn’t new, and it’s very normal for the world. When you see it in other people, turn your eyes inward and see what is going on inside you first.
Don’t be quick to point out the speck in your brother’s eye before you examine the plank in yours. It’s the only way that your evolution can happen. Yes, I believe in evolution, but not in evolution of a species, but the evolution of the soul from sinner to saint.
Jesus is the bridge between both of those worlds. He is the reason for every sinner having a future, and and proof every saint has a past. He is the only one that can save us from who we were. We have to accept his free gift of life though, AND THEN we have work to do with repentance and change. We are saved by grace thru faith...but our works should be “I’m done with the old life, it’s caused me so many problems, I’m going to change.”
Those changes mean that we are going to make people who have taken advantage of our weakness really mad. Be prepared for that, but let go of those old people and hold fast to the family that will build you up and lift you up. Growing in Christ is hard, but isn’t eternity worth it? Don’t let your pride or your ambition get in the way of your eternal future. Hell awaits, and it’s hot, and dark, and lonely. Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life eternal.
When you start seeing the people around you that are so frustrating with fresh eyes, you’ll start to thank them for helping you become a better person.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Imagine if we found those things in each other? Sometimes we need hit with a truth bomb. Be thankful when you get it that it came from a friend who cares about that eternal location of your soul. Some people care more about your soul than your feelings, be ok with that. That’s what true love is.
