Joseph’s Dreams
Genesis 37:1-361
February 11, 2007

Today’s message is from Genesis 37:1-36—all of chapter 37. We won’t read the entire passage before I give the message, but we’ll read it in sections as I talk about it. Remember as we read that we are reading the word of God. What I say about it is my word or maybe someone else’s idea that I’m passing on. It’s helpful to hear what other people have to say. And I’ve prayed and people have prayed for me to have a good message. But it’s not the same. The Bible was designed by the Maker of the heavens and the earth, the Creator of all things, our Maker and our Redeemer. It’s the word of God There’s power in the word of God.

[Prayer]

Genesis, from chapter 37 on through the end of the book, chapter 50, is all about Jacob’s sons. Jacob is in there some—he gives a prophecy about each of his sons in chapter 49—but it’s mostly about Jacob’s sons. Jacob’s son Joseph is pretty much at the center of the story, but we’ll see that Judah has a very important part to play, too. According to human descent, it was through Judah that our Lord Jesus Christ came into this fallen world to save us from our sin. We’ll see what God did with Judah—but not today. (It was a very wonderful thing, too, by the way.)

Do you remember my saying that, while God had been working on Jacob, his sons still had a long way to go? Last week, in fact, I talked about how they avenged the rape of their sister Dinah by murdering all the males in Shechem. That’s when God told Jacob to leave that place and go to Bethel where he had first met him. What the rest of Genesis is about is God’s purifying and strengthening the 12 men that he had chosen to be the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. So let’s go on to chapter 37.

Let’s look at the first four verses of the chapter. I’ll read them, but you follow along. Remember, it’s the word of God.

1Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2These are the family records of Jacob.
At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.
3Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him. 4When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him. (Genesis 37:1-4)

Joseph is 17 where this part of the account takes up. He was the youngest of the first 11 brothers and the last to be born while Jacob was still working for Uncle Laban, his father-in-law, in Paddan-Aram.

Joseph was the first son of Rachel, the woman that Jacob had really wanted to marry, but somehow in the process managed to get three other wives in addition to her. Rachel had died giving birth to her second son (and Jacob’s last son) Benjamin. Joseph and the other 10 sons were very close together in age, but Benjamin was quite a bit younger. (That fact will be important to remember as we go on in this last part of Genesis.)

Verse 2 says that Joseph had been tending the sheep with some of his brothers and that he had brought back a bad report about them. Apparently they were doing something wrong. When Joseph gave the bad report to Jacob, I don’t think he was telling on his brothers to try to get them into trouble as some of us might have done, but was simply doing what he thought his father would want him to do. I think that will become more apparent as we get to know Joseph better.

It’s obvious that Jacob favored Joseph above the other brothers. The robe of many colors was a special gift. According to the authorities on these things, such a gift would normally have been given to the first-born son—the one who would receive the double inheritance and also inherit the leadership of the family. But Jacob had given the robe to Joseph and his brothers hated him because of it.

You know, I have twin sons. When they were little, I noticed that people always bought them similar presents for Christmas or for birthdays. They both got the same thing. (Maybe the colors would be different.) People said it was so they would not be jealous. But I always bought them different presents—not even necessarily of the same value, although I tried to mix up which one got the better present from one time to the next. I wanted them to learn not to expect equal amounts of everything and not to feel cheated if they didn’t. Do you remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard? The ones who had worked just a few hours got the same pay as the ones who had worked all day. The ones who had worked all day had been perfectly happy with what they were paid until they saw that the ones who had worked just a few hours got the same thing. Then they felt cheated. Strange isn’t it?

Now let’s go on and read verses 5 through 8. Follow along as I read them.

5Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said. (Genesis 37:5-8)

Joseph had a dream. It was a prophetic dream. He didn’t realize the effect the dream would have on his brothers. I think he was young and naive. I don’t think he was boasting when he told them about the dream. I’m not even sure that he fully realized the symbolism that was in the dream. But, even if he did, it probably didn’t occur to him that it would make his brothers jealous any more than it would have occurred to him to be jealous if one of the other brothers had had a dream that Joseph and the rest of them would bow down to him (the other brother). This is the way it is with those whose confidence is in the love of God. Remember that! If you are confident in the love of God, you don’t envy what anyone else has—their abilities, gifts, possessions, position—anything! Well, I don’t think Joseph realized how jealous his brothers were. Jealousy wasn’t something he knew much about.

Joseph may not have fully understood the dream, but when he told his brothers about it, they knew exactly what it meant and hated him all the more because of it. (We’ll see later in Genesis that the brothers did, in fact, bow down to Joseph and that he did, in fact, rule over them. We’ll also see that God granted Joseph the ability to interpret dreams.)

Now let’s go on and read verses 9 and 10. Follow along as I read them. Remember that this is the word of God.

9Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me.”
10He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Are your mother and brothers and I going to bow down to the ground before you?” 11His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:9,10)

Joseph had another dream. This time the sun, the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to him. This time he also told the dream to his father Jacob, as well as his brothers. His father rebuked him and said, “Are your mother and brothers and I going to bow down to the ground before you?” (The sun and the moon would have represented Jacob and Rachel, but Rachel was dead. I thought it was interesting that Jacob included Rachel. You have to believe that there will be a time when, in some way, Rachel will bow down before Joseph and honor him.) Verse 11 says that the brothers were jealous but Jacob kept the matter in mind. That means that he considered the dream significant and made a conscious effort to remember it and to see what would happen.

Now let’s go on to verses 12 through 14. Follow along as I read them:

12His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”
“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.
14Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. (Genesis 37:12-14)

Jacob sent Joseph to check up and see how his brothers were doing with the flocks. According to what one of my commentaries says, Shechem, where they had gone to pasture the flocks, was around 60 miles to the north.

Did you notice how quickly Joseph responded when his father told him he was sending him to Shechem? “I am ready right now.” You usually think of the kid who is favored as being spoiled. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Joseph, however. (And I would guess that Joseph’s obedient attitude toward their father made the brothers hate him all the more.) Joseph went to Shechem.

Now let’s look at verses 15 through 17:

15A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
17 “They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan. (Genesis 37:15-17)

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, he was unable to find his brothers. It says that a man found him wandering in the field and asked him what he was looking for. When he told him that he was looking for his brothers, the man told him that he had heard them say that they were going to Dothan. According to my commentary, Dothan was 40 miles further north, so they had traveled around 100 miles from home.

You know, it doesn’t say that Joseph described his brothers to the man in the field. It sounds like the man knew who Joseph’s brothers were.  I think 10 or 12 years may have gone by, but I wonder whether this man knew that it was Joseph’s brothers that had murdered all the male inhabitants of Shechem and pillaged the town. In any case, Joseph continued on and found his brothers at Dothan.

Now let’s look at verses 18 through 24. Listen while I read them:

18They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19They said to one another, “Here comes that dreamer! 20Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”
21When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.
23When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. 24Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. (Genesis 37:18-24)

Now these are the same brothers that were involved in the murder of the Shechemites. And it doesn’t seem to bother them to at all to murder their own brother, either. They hate him. They are going to solve their problem by killing him and lying to their father about what happened to him. Do you think that would have solved their problem? They imagined that their problem was the fact that Joseph was alive and that killing him would remove the problem. It would not! The problem was not Joseph. It was them! It was what was in their hearts. It was the flesh, to use the terminology of the apostle Paul. And I’m going to quote what Paul says about the ‘works of the flesh’. This is from Galatians 5:19-21:

19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar, about which I tell you in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
Some manuscripts, according to the footnote, add murders to that list, too. These are the ‘works of the flesh’. This is what was in the hearts of Joseph’s brothers. This was the real problem. All of them except Rueben wanted to kill Joseph! Reuben was the only one who didn’t. He persuaded the brothers to throw Joseph into a pit (the NIV translators say it was a cistern) where he would presumably starve to death.  But Reuben planned on coming back later to rescue him. Reuben intended to return him to Jacob. (You know, back in chapter 35, it says that Reuben had slept with his father’s concubine, Bilhah and that Israel had heard about it. I wonder how the guilt of having done that had influenced him. Guilt can either bring you to God or keep you from him.)

Now you remember, these brothers are the ones that God chose to be the patriarchs of his chosen people. We will see that he will make them into new creations as we continue in this last part of Genesis. But at the moment, they are pretty poor specimens. Anyway, it says that they stripped off from Joseph the hated, evil robe and threw him into the pit.

Now, let’s look at verses 25 through 28. Listen while I read them. Follow along. Remember, it’s the word of God.

25Then they sat down to eat a meal. They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.
26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. 28When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. (Genesis 37:25-28)

The brothers sold Joseph to some traders that were passing by as a slave. The traders would presumably try to sell him to someone else at a profit. (They were Ishmaelites, too. Do you remember Abraham’s son Ishmael that he had through Sarah’s servant Hagar. These were his descendants.)

The idea to sell Joseph rather than to let him starve to death was Judah’s. The brothers apparently had accepted the idea that they would be less guilty by letting Joseph starve to death in the pit than if they killed him outright. Do think they would have been less guilty? You see, they did have some sense of right and wrong and good and evil. But they were trying to figure out some way of doing the evil they wanted to do and pretend that it was less evil. Have you ever done that?

Anyway, now Judah suggested a way where they could get rid of Joseph that would be even ‘less evil’. They would sell him as a slave to some traders that were just passing through who would in turn sell him in a distant country. And, in case you think this idea was really less evil, it’s clear from later chapters in Genesis that they had assumed that Joseph would die. He would either be worked to death or killed at the whim of his owner (which actually came close to happening, as we’ll see later).

Now let’s look at the rest of chapter 37—verses 29 through 36. I’ll read them:

29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?” 31So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. 32They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not?”
33His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!” 34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:29-36)

You see, Rueben was not there when they sold Joseph to the traders. When he found out about it he was really distressed. He tore his clothes: “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?” But, in the end, all he could really do was to go along with the lie that Joseph had been killed by wild animals.

When Jacob heard the brothers’ story, he tore his clothes also and said that he would morn until the day he died: “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Maybe he meant that he would die of sorrow right away. But he lived many years after that. (When Jacob met Pharaoh, king of Egypt, many years later, he said, “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not surpassed the years of my fathers during their pilgrimages.”)

Verse 36 says, “Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.” (We won’t see what happened after that until after chapter 38.)

Now I want you to remember Judah. We see more about him in chapter 38 next week. He’s the one who promoted the “less evil” way of getting rid of Joseph. He’s also the ancestor according to the flesh of our Lord Jesus. God’s going to do something really amazing with him later on in Genesis. I love what happened to Judah! It’s a story of salvation!  You’ll see!

You remember I quoted a few minutes ago what the apostle Paul wrote about the works of the flesh? I’m going to finish by quoting what he said immediately after that. Here it is. Most of you know it.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)

[Prayer]



END NOTES
1 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible ®, Holman CSB ® and HCSB ® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.