Genesis 37.5-11-Joseph is the Object of Hate and Jealousy

Tuesday October 31, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 37:5-11-Joseph is the Object of Hate and Jealousy

Lesson # 230

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 37:2.

This evening we will continue with our study of Genesis 37, which presents to us the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers.

By way of review of Genesis 37, we have noted the following:

Genesis 37:2 presented the account of Jacob’s sons as well as Joseph giving his father Jacob a slanderous report of his brothers.

Then, in Genesis 37:3a we studied the significance of the name Israel that since the name is divine in origin and was used in the context of the unfair treatment that Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers that the resentment of him and selling him into slavery and his ending up in Egypt were a manifestation of the providence of God.

In Genesis 37:3-4 we saw Jacob favoring Joseph over his other sons because he was the son of his old age, which led to Joseph’s brothers resenting him.

Then, in Genesis 37:5-11 we saw Joseph having two prophetic dreams, which he relates to his brothers resulting in their plotting to kill Joseph.

This evening we will continue with our study of Genesis 37:5-11, which presents to us the record of Jacob becoming the object of his brothers’ hate and jealousy as a result of conveying to them two dreams, which prophesy of his ruling over them.

Genesis 37:2, “These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.”

Genesis 37:3, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.”

Genesis 37:4, “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.”

Genesis 37:5, “Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.”

“They hated” in both Genesis 37:4 and 5 is the verb sane (an@c*) (saw-nay), which expresses an emotional attitude toward someone or something, which is abhorred, disdained or opposed and which desires to have no relationship or amiable reconciliation.

Therefore, Joseph’s brothers possessed in their souls an emotional attitude toward him, in which they abhorred, disdained or opposed him and desired to have no relationship with him or amiable reconciliation with him.

Joseph’s brothers are following in the footsteps of Cain who hated his brother Abel because the Lord accepted Abel’s blood offering and rejected his grain offering and then acted on that hate by murdering his brother Abel.

1 John 3:11, “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”

1 John 3:12, “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.”

The apostle John teaches in 1 John 2:9-11 that the believer who hates his fellow believer is out of fellowship and is living according to the standards of the cosmic system of Satan, which is disobedience and hate.

1 John 2:9, “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.”

1 John 2:10, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”

1 John 2:11, “But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

Love and hate are absolutes meaning you either love your fellow believer by obeying the Lord’s command to love one another or you hate your fellow believer by disobeying this command.

John 13:34, “A new commandment in character and quality I give to all of you, that all of you divinely love one another, even as I have divinely loved all of you, that all of you also divinely love one another.”

Therefore, since love and hate are absolutes, when love is absent, hate is present and love unexpressed is not love at all.

The “active” form of hate is expressed by unjustifiable hostility and antagonism towards one’s fellow believer, which expresses itself in malicious words and actions whereas the “passive” form of hate is manifested by coldness, by isolation, by exclusion, unconcern for your fellow believer.

There are two reasons why believers have the capacity to hate one another: (1) Presence of the sin nature in every believer, which produces mental, verbal and overt acts of sin and hate (See Romans 5:12-19; Galatians 5:19-21; James 4:1-3). (2) They are deceived by Satan’s cosmic system (James 4:4).

The cosmic system of Satan is a vast system and arrangement of human affairs, earthly goods, godless governments, conflicts, riches, pleasures, culture, education, world religions, the cults and the occult dominated and negatively affected by Satan who is god of this satanic cosmos.

This system is promoted by Satan, conformed to his ideals, aims, methods, and character, and stands perpetually in opposition to the cause of Christ and is used to seduce men away from the person of Christ.

Saul’s hatred of David is an example of the active form of hate that is possible among believers (1 Sam. 18-20).

The Lord Jesus Christ was the object of both the passive form of hate in that He was deserted by His disciples and friends at the most difficult moment in His life and He was the object of the active form of hate in that His enemies crucified Him.

Paul experienced being the object of both the passive and active form of hate from other believers (See 2 Timothy 4:9-18).

Therefore, in Genesis 37:4, Joseph is the object of the “passive” form of hate at the hands of his brothers, which is expressed by the statement “they…could not speak to him on friendly terms.”

Then, in Genesis 37:18-36, Joseph is the object of the “active” form of hate at the hands of his brothers when they threw him into a pit and threatened to murder him but then decided to sell him into slavery.

Genesis 37:5, “Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.”

In the Hebrew text, the statement “they hated him even more” literally means, “They added more to their hate of him” and is a play on Joseph’s name, which means, “He adds” revealing God’s sovereign control over the life of Joseph.

The hatred and resentment of his brothers towards Joseph, the favoritism of his father towards him, Joseph telling of the dreams to his brothers and father, as well as his being sold into slavery and ending up in Egypt did not happen by chance or fate but because God ordained for it to take place in order to fulfill His plan for Jacob’s family and to bring glory to Himself.

In eternity past, God not only figured the hatred and resentment of Joseph’s brothers towards him as well as his father favoring him over his brothers but also He figured Joseph’s bad decision to tell his dreams to his brothers.

Up to this point in the narrative we have seen three elements that contribute to Joseph’s brothers resenting him: (1) In Genesis 37:2, Joseph’s slanders his brothers to his father. (2) In Genesis 37:3, Israel gives Joseph a long sleeved robe, which marks him out to be the future possessor of the birthright and ruler of the family. (3) Joseph’s two prophetic dreams that appear in Genesis 35:5-11.

Genesis 37:6-7, “He said to them, ‘Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”

The phrase “Please listen” and “behold” express Joseph’s excitement as a result of receiving not only divine revelation in a dream but also that God has ordained for him to rule over his brothers, which will not take place until he is taught humility.

Genesis 37:6-7 records Joseph’s first dream and was “agricultural” as indicated the binding of sheaves, which foreshadows the context in which Joseph’s brothers would bow down to him.

While he was prime minister of Egypt, Joseph’s brothers bowed down to honor him and not knowing it was Joseph and they did so in order to purchase grain to keep from starving due to the seven year famine that covered the entire earth.

Genesis 42:1-3 records ten of Joseph’s brothers bowing down to him while he was prime minister in Egypt in order to purchase grain from him due to the great famine that covered the entire earth at that time for seven years.

In fact, the first dream/prophecy recorded in Genesis 37:6-7 was fulfilled in stages: (1) Joseph’s brothers bowed once to honor him while he was prime minister of Egypt (See Genesis 42:6). (2) Joseph’s brothers bowed down twice to honor him while he was prime minister of Egypt (See Genesis 43:26, 28). (3) Joseph’s brothers throw themselves at Joseph’s feet (See Genesis 50:18).

Genesis 37:8, “Then his brothers said to him, ‘Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”

Joseph’s brothers understood clearly the meaning of the dream that Joseph would one day rule over them and they resented him even more than they already did.

The two rhetorical questions put forth by Joseph’s brothers express their sarcasm and contempt for Joseph.

Indirectly and unknowingly, Joseph’s brothers oppose the sovereign will of God since it was God the Holy Spirit who had given Joseph this revelation concerning his future and that of his father and brothers.

The terms “reign” and “rule” indicate that Joseph’s brothers understood his dream to mean that Joseph would reign over them as a monarch and would have dominion and rule over them.

This was fulfilled when Joseph became the prime minister of Egypt and ruled the entire world with the exception of Pharaoh (See Genesis 41:38-44; 45:8-26; Deuteronomy 33:16).

Furthermore, Joseph’s first dream reveals that God has chosen Joseph to receive the birthright meaning the rights of the firstborn and would receive the double portion of the inheritance since Jacob adopts Joseph’s two sons (See Genesis 48:5).

The statement “So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words” is the third time in this passage that Joseph’s brothers were said to have hated him and indicates the intensity of hostile emotions towards Joseph was increasing.

The plural “dreams” appears rather than the singular “dream,” which appears to be odd since up to his point in the narrative Joseph has related only one dream, however, the word is used in the plural because it is an “abstract” noun signifying the sleeping state of Joseph when receiving divine revelation.

The term “words” is the noun davar (rbD) (daw-var), which refers to the “content” of the dream since the word denotes “that which is spoken,” thus negating any idea that it refers to the “manner” in which Joseph communicated the dream.

Joseph’s brothers did not hate him because of the way he communicated the dream to them but simply because of the content of the dream itself, which conveyed to them that Joseph their baby brother would rule over them.

Genesis 37:9, “Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, ‘Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’”

The “sun” refers to Jacob, now Israel and the “moon” refers to Leah and not Rachel since the latter died while giving birth to Benjamin after Jacob left Bethel according to Genesis 35:19.

Rachel died when Joseph was six or seven years of age and the fact that he had this dream at seventeen years of age indicates clearly that she was already dead when Jacob lived in Hebron where Isaac his father sojourned according to a comparison of Genesis 37:1 with Genesis 35:27.

The “eleven stars” refers to the Joseph’s brothers who would be Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, and Benjamin.

Genesis 37:10, “He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?’”

Jacob rebukes Joseph for his dream since he is said to have bowed down also to Joseph, which initially appeared to Joseph as an attack upon his authority as the father of the family.

Jacob’s rhetorical question expresses his disgust and that he initially rejected as revelation from God but rather the boasting of a spoiled little brat.

Genesis 37:11, “His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.”

“Jealous” is the verb qana (anq) (kaw-naw), which is a mental attitude sin directed toward another, which is resentful, intolerant and suspicious of another’s success, possessions or relationships and is vigilant in maintaining or guarding something.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous of Joseph in the sense that they desired the position that God had ordained for Joseph in the dream.

They were resentful and intolerant and suspicious of Joseph and his success that was prophesied of him in Joseph’s dream.

They were also guarded over their position as the older brothers of Joseph and did not tolerate Joseph and considered him a rival.

Jealousy originated in eternity past with Satan since he was resentful and intolerant suspicious of the preincarnate Christ’s relationship with the angels and was vigilant in maintaining or guarding his influence over the angels, therefore, jealousy is demonic since it is Satanic viewpoint.

Joseph’s brothers were under Satanic influence by being jealousy towards Joseph since jealousy is demonic in origin.

James 3:13, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.”

James 3:14, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.”

James 3:15, “This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.”

James 3:16, “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”

Envy is also included in the list of sins produced by the old sin nature in both the believer and unbeliever (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:1).

Jealousy leads to murder (Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:20) and to inordinate ambition and competition (Phil. 1:15; 1 Tim. 6:4).

The jealousy of Joseph’s brothers towards him expressed itself when they plotted his murder and by selling him into slavery.

The fact that Jacob is recorded as having kept Joseph’s dream in his mind indicates that he did not discount what Joseph related to him since God had communicated His will to Jacob in the past by means of dreams.