The Book of GENESIS
James J. Barker


Lesson 38
THE FASCINATING STORY OF JOSEPH

Text: GENESIS 37:1-36


INTRODUCTION:


  1. We are now entering into the last division in the book of Genesis.
  2. Though Genesis chapter 37 begins with references to Jacob (37:1, 2), he fades away after this chapter. Jacob is mentioned a few times in chapters 42—50, but the main character from this point on is now Joseph (37:2).
  3. About one quarter of the book of Genesis is devoted to the life of Joseph. Far more is told us of Joseph than of any of the patriarchs preceding him.
  4. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “The fulness of the narrative is worthy of consideration. There is a fourfold value and importance in the record of Joseph’s life: (1) It gives the explanation of the development of the Hebrews. How was it that they who came originally from the valley of the Euphrates were found at length as a colony in Egypt? How came it to pass that they, a nomadic people, lived in possession and enjoyment of the richest province of Egypt for generations? The story of Joseph gives the answer to these questions. (2) It is a remarkable proof of the quiet operation of Divine Providence, overruling evil and leading at length to the complete victory of truth and righteousness. (3) It affords a splendid example of personal character. Joseph’s life is one of the very finest recorded in Scripture. (4) It provides a striking series of typical illustrations of Christ. There are few more remarkable points of contact and coincidences with the life of our Lord than those found in the story of Joseph” (Genesis).

  1. JOSEPH’S HOME LIFE (37:1-4)
  2. JOSEPH’S DREAMS (37:5-17)
  3. JOSEPH’S ADVERSITIES (37:18-36)

 

I. JOSEPH’S HOME LIFE (37:1-4)

  1. Joseph was the elder son of Rachel and Jacob (30:24). Of his early life nothing is recorded. He was probably about five or six years old when his father left Mesopotamia.
  2. He was the child of Jacob’s later life, and he escaped all the sad experiences associated with the earlier years at Haran (37:3a).
  3. Here in Genesis 37, Joseph is seventeen-years-old, and we see him in Genesis 37:2 feeding the flock with his brethren, that is, his half-brothers, the grown up sons of Bilhah and Zilpah.
  4. Jacob’s older sons had been affected by Jacob’s worldly life in Haran, and by all of the scheming between Jacob and his crafty father-in-law Laban.
  5. These worldly half-brothers of Joseph were unfit companions for his spiritual growth and encouragement. They had been affected by the life they had witnessed in Haran and the conflict they had seen between their father, Jacob, and Laban.
  6. They were also affected by the jealousies they saw in their homes among their mothers.
  7. Therefore, we see a sharp contrast between the godly character of Joseph and the worldly character of his half-brothers. Joseph’s brothers had been brought up under the worldly influence of the old Jacob, whereas Joseph had been brought up under the spiritual influence the changed Jacob (or Israel, the “prince of God”).
  8. The difference between the older brothers and Joseph is underscored by the fact that Joseph brought unto his father the “evil report” of his brothers (37:2b).
  9. The Bible does not describe what Joseph’s brothers did, but it is important to point out that Joseph was right in telling Jacob about it.
  10. Tale-bearers and slanderers are condemned in the Bible. Proverbs 11:13 says, “A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.”
  11. But when wrong-doing is involved, it is necessary to speak up. In fact, it is wrong not to speak up.
  12. The apostle Paul was notified by some people from the household of Chloe, that there were contentions among the members in the church of Corinth (I Cor. 1:11). They were right to tell Paul.
  13. In that same epistle, Paul wrote, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife” (I Cor. 5:1).
  14. W.H. Griffith Thomas said Joseph “had been brought up amid the more godly influences of Jacob’s later years, and it is quite easy to understand the shock that would be given him at meeting with this wickedness away from home on the part of his elder brothers. So long as there was no exaggeration, no malice, and no personal ends to serve, there could be nothing blameworthy in Joseph bringing his father their evil report” (Genesis).
  15. Jacob had a special love for Joseph, his first child with Rachel, and Jacob demonstrated this love in a very definite way.
  16. For example, there was Joseph’s coat. Joseph’s “coat of many colors” distinguished him from the rest of the family, and must have stirred jealousy and resentment from his worldly-minded brothers.
  17. The root of all the trouble recorded in this chapter is envy. Stephen said, “And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt” (Acts 7:9). Envy is a sin that has characterized human nature all through the ages.
  18. Proverbs 14:30 says, “envy (is) the rottenness of the bones.”
  19. Proverbs 27:4 says, “Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?”
  20. James 3:16 says, “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
  21. Mark 15:10 says that Pontius Pilate knew that the chief priests had delivered Christ for envy.
  22. Everything recorded here of Joseph’s brethren – their anger, their malice, their hatred, their cruelty, their callousness, their deceit – this all sprang from envy.
  23. Then, there is the matter of the birthright. First Chronicles 5:1,2 says, “Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's).”
  24. After Reuben defiled his father’s bed (35:22), the birthright was transferred from him to Joseph. Because Joseph’s brothers were cruel and carnal, it was understandable that Jacob would prefer that Joseph receive the privileges of the firstborn.
  25. Because Joseph was noble and good, and because his brothers were selfish and carnal, they hated him. When Joseph’s brothers saw that Jacob favoured Joseph, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him (37:4).
  26. Joseph’s brothers despised Joseph, and they despised his coat of many colors (cf. 37:23, 31, 32).
  27. It is a fact that sinful men often resent and despise godly men. It has been that way ever since Cain killed his brother Abel. First John 3:12 says Cain “was of that wicked one” and slew his brother.
  28. “And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.”
  29. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “Joseph’s purity of life and moral growth must have rankled in their hearts” (Genesis).

 

II. JOSEPH’S DREAMS (37:5-11)

  1. The hatred of Joseph’s brothers increased and intensified after Joseph started telling them about his dreams (37:5).
  2. The first dream was about sheaves in the field. Joseph dreamt that his brothers’ sheaves made obeisance to his sheaf (37:6, 7).
  3. The brothers correctly understood this to mean that Joseph would eventually have dominion over them, and consequently they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words (37:8).
  4. Again Joseph dreamed, and this time his father and mother were part of the dream. Joseph told this to his father as well as to his brethren, and Genesis 37:9 says that Jacob rebuked him, and expressed astonishment that Joseph’s dreams could ever possibly come true (37:9, 10).
  5. Jacob asked, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” (37:10). Since Rachel had died giving birth to Benjamin, the reference to Joseph’s mother seems to be to Leah, who had taken the place of Rachel, and had become a mother to her sister’s children.
  6. Yet, even though Jacob rebuked Joseph, he could not help being impressed, wondering if perhaps these dreams were from God.
  7. Genesis 37:11 says Jacob “observed the saying.” He kept the saying in mind.
  8. These words remind us of Mary, the mother of our Lord. Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.”
  9. When our Lord was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph brought him up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. But as they started heading for home, “the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it” (Luke 2:43).
  10. So they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him, and after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
  11. And his mother said to him, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee, sorrowing” (Luke 2:48).
  12. And Jesus said to them, “How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spoke unto them” (Luke 2:49, 50).
  13. Then Luke 2:51 says, “And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them; but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.”
  14. That is precisely what Jacob did. He kept all these sayings in his heart. Joseph’s dreams seemed strange and mysterious, and Jacob didn’t understand them, so he kept the saying in mind.
  15. God's ways are mysterious; they are beyond man's comprehension. God is sovereign, and man is often unable to understand why he is being led down a certain path.
  16. "Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?" (Proverbs 20:24).
  17. The repetition of the dream (37:7, 9) indicates the certainty of fulfilment. Later on, Joseph said to Pharaoh, “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (41:32).

 

III. JOSEPH’S ADVERSITIES (37:12-36)

  1. In the course of their work as shepherds, Joseph’s older brothers went to Shechem, about sixty miles from Hebron.
  2. You will recall that it was in Shechem that Dinah was defiled, and it was in Shechem that Joseph’s brothers brutally massacred Hamor and his entire family (Genesis 34).
  3. Therefore, because of all that had happened at Shechem, it is not surprising that Jacob wanted Joseph to go there and make sure there were no problems (37:12-14).
  4. Joseph had to travel several miles further, for his brothers had moved on to Dothan (37:15-17). Perhaps Joseph’s brothers felt that it was unsafe for them to remain too long in Shechem, but the Bible does not say.
  5. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “This promptness and thoroughness of obedience on the part of Joseph is very characteristic of him, and should be carefully noted all through his history. It has often and truly been pointed out that Joseph seems to have combined all the best qualities of his ancestors the capacity of Abraham, the quietness of Isaac, the ability of Jacob, and the personal beauty of his mother’s family. It is interesting to note that the same word is used of the mother and the son” (Genesis).
  6. “Rachel was beautiful and well favoured” (29:17). “Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured” (39:6).
  7. Here in Genesis chapter 37, we have the beginning of Joseph’s adversities. It continues throughout chapters 39 and 40.
  8. The sight of Joseph approaching from afar off was enough to stir up again all their animosity, and even before he came near to them they conspired against him to slay him (37:18-20).
  9. They hated Joseph so much they were ready to kill him. The Bible teaches that hatred leads to murder. First John 3:15 says, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
  10. Our Lord said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:21, 22).
  11. Joseph’s brothers were so consumed with hatred and envy that they were prepared to kill Joseph, and they prepared a phony story that they were prepared to tell their father (37:20).
  12. “Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams” (37:20b). These cruel words indicate their jealousy and hatred of Joseph.
  13. While they were putting together their wicked plan, Reuben intervened.
  14. Of all the brothers one would think that Reuben would be the most resentful toward Joseph, because Joseph had superseded him in the position of firstborn.
  15. But it was Reuben who saved Joseph’s life. It was Reuben who begged them not to kill Joseph but to cast him into the pit, intending to rescue him and deliver him to his father again (37:21, 22).
  16. In their fierce anger and fury, Joseph’s brothers stripped Joseph’s coat off (37:23). This is yet another sign of their callousness and their cruelty. The coat of many colors was a source of irritation to them, a constant reminder that Joseph was good and they were bad.
  17. They cast Joseph into a pit, while they themselves sat down to eat bread (37:24, 25).
  18. Thomas Fuller said, “With what heart could they say grace, either before or after meat? There within earshot was their own brother, his appeals for mercy having fallen on deaf ears. It was to this fearful hardness and cruelty that the prophet referred ages afterwards, when he spoke of those who drink wine in bowls . . . but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph (Amos 6:6).”
  19. There are many other references to Joseph’s afflictions. Twenty years later, Joseph’s brothers remembered their cruelty, and said one to another, “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us” (42:21).
  20. And right before he died, Jacob said, “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him” (Genesis 49:22, 23).
  21. Psalm 105:16, 17 says, “He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron.”
  22. In Acts 7:9 and 10, Stephen said, “And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, And delivered him out of all his afflictions.”
  23. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “Those who had butchered a whole family in Shechem were not likely to trouble themselves about the piteous cries and pleas of a mere lad whom they so cordially hated.”
  24. While they sat and ate their meal, another idea occurred to them. They saw in the distance a company of Ishmaelite merchants on their way to Egypt, and Judah saw an opportunity to make some money off of Joseph (37:25-27).
  25. After all, they reasoned, “he is our brother and our flesh” (37:27).
  26. They “were content,” because this scheme provided them an opportunity of avoiding the sin of murder and at the same time of making twenty pieces of silver by selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites (37:27, 28).
  27. They were a little uncomfortable with the idea of murdering their brother, but had no qualms about selling him into slavery.
  28. So they therefore took Joseph up out of the pit, and he was soon on his way, as a slave, to Egypt (37:28).
  29. Apparently Reuben had been away when the proposal to sell Joseph was made and carried out. After the Ishmaelites left, Reuben returned to the pit, surprised to discover that Joseph was gone (37:28).
  30. Bible teachers have noted that, “People are often away when they are most needed” (W.H. Griffith Thomas). This is undoubtedly true, but in any event it was all part of God’s purpose and plan for Joseph to go to Egypt.
  31. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
  32. Years later, Joseph said to his contrite brothers, “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God…But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (45:8; 50:20).
  33. Joseph’s brothers took his coat of many colors, and they dipped it in the blood of one of the kids, ready to show their father. When they arrived back home Jacob recognized his son’s coat, and assumed that Joseph had been devoured by an evil beast (37:30-33).
  34. Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son Joseph many days (37:34).
  35. It is significant that Joseph’s brothers said, “This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no” (37:32).
  36. This reminds us of the Prodigal Son’s older brother, who complained to his father, “But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf” (Luke 15:30).
  37. Although all Jacob’s sons and daughters tried to comfort him, “he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning” (37:35).
  38. Joseph’s brothers evidenced no shame for their sin and they even tried to comfort their father. Imagine their trying to comfort him when they were the ones who were responsible for his grief! (Theodore Epp).
  39. “Notice that there are no limits to the cruelty of Satan” (Epp).
  40. Jacob was utterly overwhelmed by his sorrow. Sadly, there is no mention of prayer, no expression of submission to the will of God, no testimony of faith in God.
  41. A great man like Jacob, a man who had seen God face to face, should have been able to say:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul
– Horatio G. Spafford, P.P. Bliss.

  1. Genesis chapter 37 ends by telling us that Joseph arrived in Egypt.
  2. The Midianites sold him to Potiphar, “an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard” (37:36).

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. From this account, we are once again reminded of the uncertainty of life. Joseph left home on a mission, but he never returned – he never saw his homeland again.
  2. Life itself is uncertain. Tomorrow we may be in eternity. Are you ready to meet God?
  3. You cannot be sure of tomorrow, so take advantage of the opportunity to receive Christ today!
  4. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2).


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