Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

So far as we’ve gone through Genesis we’ve covered a lot of history.

We’ve looked at the preflood patriarchs in Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalale, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah.

And we’ve seen the lives and struggles of the post flood patriarchs in Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Esau and Jacob.

If you remember from last time in , we saw the defilement of Dinah and the vengeance of the sons of Jacob, that they murdered every male of Schechem which caused them to flee to the land of Isaac, on the way Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth.

introduces us to a crucial piece of the history of the Jews and the important role that Joseph, the son of Israel and Rachel, will play in preserving and protecting the chosen family through a terrible drought and how that is ultimately going to lead to their being given land in Egypt and eventually forced into slavery there.

The next 13 chapters of the book of Genesis, all the way to chapter 50, is going to be dedicated to recording the amazing way in which God will turn evil choices of men into salvation for his people.

If you remember from last time in , we saw the defilement of Dinah and the vengeance of the sons of Jacob, that they murdered every male of Schechem which caused them to flee to the land of Isaac, on the way Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth.

We’re going to skip over chapter 36, the descendants of Esau, you are welcome for that, I’m certain that you didn’t want to hear me struggle through those names.

We’re going to skip over chapter 36, the descendants of Esau, you are welcome for that, I’m certain that you didn’t want to hear me struggle through those names.

But as amazing as the story is going to be from chapters 37-50, it is certainly going to have a really rocky start.

God’s chosen family is going to be a pretty poor example of a loving and caring family.

The sons of Israel have already proven to be prone to making rash and wrath filled decisions like they did at Schechem, and here in chapter 37 we are going to see that they don’t treat their family any better.

In fact chapter 37 can be broken down into such categories as favoritism, hatred, jealousy, and deception.

Favoritism 1-4

Which brings us to chapter 37, Israel and his sons in the land of Canaan and Joseph at the young age of 17 appears to have secured a special place in Jacob’s heart as the son of his youth and the son of Rachel and he wasn’t shy about it, actually making Joseph a special robe or garment either of many colors or possibly long sleeved the translation isn’t entirely positive, but in any case, the garment was purposely meant to set him apart as having more value in the eyes of Jacob.

And of course this has the very predictable effect of causing the other brothers to hate Joseph.

Has there ever not been a case of favoritism within families that hasn’t lead to pain and hurt among children?

It’s strange too, because Jacob should have been all too familiar with this pain having been through a similar experience with his brother Esau.

But perhaps this is one of those times that happens no matter how hard we try.

I can’t tell you how many times as a child growing up I would say of my father, “When I’m a dad, I’ll never do that to my kids.”

And yet there are times I’ll catch myself doing the exact same things.

Boldness, Jealousy, and Hatred 5-11

Genesis 37

This favoritism by Jacob toward Joseph no doubt created out of Joseph a bold young man, likely thinking that he was above the reach of his brothers doing anything to him because of his status with Jacob.

His boldness shines through in verses

Now at this point we aren’t told the source of these dreams.

We of course have seen God communicate through dreams before, Jacob had such an experience, but who’s to say at this point that these are just dreams of an overly ambitious young man trying to get under the skin of his brothers?

He doesn’t invoke the name of God, nor does the writer tell us that they are from God.

Undoubtedly, without the knowledge that these dreams were from God, the act of Joseph who was already the favorite, telling his brothers about his dreams of ruling over them were not well recieved.

In fact, it wasn’t well received by his father as his father rebuked him for it initially before keeping it in mind.

It’s this favoritism and boldness that produces in the brothers an incredible amount of jealousy which always eventually turns into hatred.

Murder and Deception

It’s this favoritism and boldness that produces in the brothers an incredible amount of jealousy which always eventually turns into hatred.

In fact it produces hatred to such a level that it appears that the brothers wish to be as far from home as possible, and they take the flock all the way to schechem and Dothan.

Jacob sends Joseph to inquire on the well being of the flock and of his sons in v. 12-17

And we pick up in v. 18

Gen 37.18-

The brother’s jealousy by this point had turned into full on hatred to such a point that they were willing to actually kill Joseph.

It’s interesting that this morning we talked about how we can fall into the trap of referring to people as descriptive terms in the way that the Scribes and Pharisees referred to the woman in John at as “Such Women” and we see that being done here with Joseph being called “the dreamer.”

Joseph was no longer human to them, he was only seen for his boldness and favoritism with his father and their solution was to murder him in cold blood.

Yet the oldest of them Reuben devised a plan in order to rescue him.

It seems as if it might have been Reubens turn to watch the flock while the brothers ate, so he tells them not to shed his blood, but instead it seems he talked them into leaving him in a pit to die from lack of food or water.

Of course Reuben’s plan was to retrieve him later, but this would ensure that he was alive when he got back from what we assume was his watch.

Greed and Deception

:29-

Gen 37:

Imagine how hard hearted you have to be to keep such deceit from your father even after seeing the level of grief he has over losing his son?

Conclusion