Introducing Joseph

Good evening from a snowy Panhandle. It is good moister for the farmers so praise the Lord. Think about Abraham's family for a minute. First there is the tension between Ishmael and Isaac. And then Isaac has two boys Esau and Jacob and they are as different as night and day. Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright and his blessing and is forced to vacate the premises post haste! Some twenty years later after being tricked by his uncle, father-in-law Jacob returns back to the land of his father. He has a boat load of sons from his first wife, the one he was tricked into marrying and one son by the love of his life, Rachel. That son's name is Joseph and dad is spoiling him rotten or at least that is what his older brothers think. Welcome to Genesis chapter 37.

While the story of the family of Jacob is resumed in this chapter, actually it is here that the story of Joseph is begun. His story by and large fills the remainder of Genesis, and occupies as much of the record as Abraham did before him.

CHAPTER 37 AT A GLANCE

I. The malice his brethren bore against him. They hated him,

1. Because he informed his father of their wickedness v. 1-2.

2. Because his father loved him v. 3-4.

3. Because he dreamed of his dominion over them v. 5-11.

II. The mischief his brethren designed and did to him.

1. The kind visit he made them gave an opportunity v. 12-17.

2. They designed to slay him, but determined to starve him v. 18-24.

3. They changed their purpose, and sold him for a slave v. 25-28.

4. They made their father believe that he was torn in pieces v. 29-35.

5. He was sold into Egypt to Potiphar v. 36. And all this was working together for good.

(From Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)

Genesis 37:1-11

37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

1. JOSEPH WAS JACOB’S FAVORITE (vs. 1-11)

Joseph, the older son of Rachel, was a favorite of his father Jacob. For this and other reasons he became exceedingly unpopular with his brothers. For one thing, he reacted strongly against their unethical and immoral behavior, and reported their behavior to their father, thereby gaining for himself the name of talebearer or tattle tail.

"A Coat of many colors." To make matters worse, his father made Joseph a royal tunic, with long, flowing sleeves, which set him out from the group as the favored one. This was a coat reaching to the hands and feet, worn by a person not use to much if any manual labor. This seem to point to Jacob choosing Joseph to be the one through whom the divine blessings would flow. Furthermore, Joseph dreamed dreams that pointed to his future outstanding greatness, and he told his dreams to his brothers.

Jacob's sons were outraged to hear Joseph's dream about him ruling over them. Joseph stirred up all the fires of envy and murderous hatred with his pronouncement. The second dream only aggravated the hatred of his brothers even more; but his father, while rebuking him, made note of what he said. It is funny that the rebuke didn't come until Joseph said his dad, Jacob would bow down also. The two dreams, however, came from a higher source.

Genesis 37:12-30

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them."

"Very well," he replied.

14 So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

16 He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"

17 "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, `Let's go to Dothan.'"

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 20 "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe--the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-- 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.

28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

31 Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."

33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."

34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.

2. JOSEPH GETS INTO TROUBLE (vv. 12-35)

Joseph was sent to Dothan. Shekem belonged to Jacob; part of it by purchase, and the rest by conquest. Joseph was sent to check on of the welfare of his brothers. With obedient promptness the he went to Shekem, where he learned that they had moved to Dothan, a town about twelve miles due north of Shekem.

When the brothers saw Joseph (This master of dreams; an eastern phrase for a dreamer,) coming, they plotted to kill him, though Reuben sought to save the his life. Reuben talked the others into putting Joseph into a cistern, (he had a more tender heart, and perhaps a more tender conscience than the rest), hoping to pull him out later.

Judah subsequently convinced his brothers that it would be wise to take the boy out of the cistern and sell him to a caravan passing on the way to Egypt. Reuben had planned to take the boy home to his father. Judah planned to save him from starving. Reuben finding Joseph gone, rends his clothes, in token of anguish of mind for the loss of his brother and the grief of his father.

As it turned out, Joseph found himself a prisoner of a company of Ishmaelites (v. 25) or Midianites. Soon he would be a slave in some Egyptian family. Both Ishmaelites and Midianites were descendants of Abraham. Perhaps the band was made up of men from both these peoples.

The brothers devise a plan to conceal their crime; and Joseph was sold into Egypt. "Torn, torn in pieces is Joseph." The sight of the bloody coat convinces Jacob at once that Joseph has been devoured by a wild beast. Even though "All his daughters," and sons tried to comfort Jacob, they could not.

Genesis 37:36

36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

3. JOSEPH ENDS UP IN EGYPT (vv. 36)

The Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Potiphar, an official in the court of Pharaoh. Evidently Potiphar was the chief of the executioners (marg). The word probably referred to the work of slaughtering animals for the royal kitchen or perhaps the animals used for sacrifice. The youthful Joseph was appointed steward of Potiphar's residence. He was a long way from home and, seemingly, even farther away from the realization of his heaven-sent dreams of pre-eminence. However, Joseph's God was still working out His purposes and plans. And He was about to use Potiphar and Pharaoh to advance His divine program.

(From The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)