This is week one’s message from the nine-weekGenesis 37:1-11 series “Joseph – What God Intended For Good” that focuses on the life of Joseph and his family as authored by Moses in Genesis.
The ‘back story’ for this series is that Joseph’s family and family history were far from perfect. Consider that there were four mothers in Joseph’s immediate family. His father, Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel (sisters) two concubines, Bilhad and Zilpah. In addition, Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah. Talk about a complicated family. And then there was the contentious relationship of Jacob and his brother Esau combined with the fact that their father, Isaac favored Esau and their mother, Rebekah favored Jacob. Going back even further, we find that this pattern of favoritism began with Isaac’s father, Abraham favoring him above his older brother, ishmael.
Yet, through all this tangled family history, God had a plan for each of them just as he has a plan for each and every one of us.
37 “Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
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 (Jacob) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate 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.”
A few observations:
Joseph brought a bad report (dibbâh). We do not know what was in the report, but we know that when used in the Old Testament, a bad report (dibbâh) usually referred to a report that was intended to cause damage. One could call this slander. An example is Ezekiel 36:3 “3 Therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because they ravaged and crushed you from every side so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations and the object of people’s malicious talk and slander,…..” Could it be that Joseph, being aware of his brother’s hatred, simply stated the truth in the most negative way possible? And what was Jacob’s response to the report? We do not know. Please read the concluding remarks before thinking that this is throwing Joseph under the bus.
Joseph’s coat was a symbol of the authority he was granted over his brothers. Jacob’s preference for Joseph was no secret (37:2,3). The coat his father gave him was regarded as evidence of Jacob’s greater love for Joseph above his other sons. Furthermore, this coat indicated more than preference; it symbolized preeminence and superiority of rank including the birthright. Note: Birthrights played a role in Joseph’s family history – Jacob and Esau, Isaac and Abimelech.
No one really knows exactly what this coat looked like. Some have suggested that it differed from the coats of Joseph’s brethren in that it had long sleeves, in which case it would mark Joseph as a “white-collar worker” while his brothers were mere “blue-collar workers.” Coats worn by “blue-collar workers” did not have sleeves primarily because they got in the way plus they were uncomfortable on hot days.
While there is considerable conjecture on this matter of the coat, one thing is certain. The term which is used for Joseph’s coat in this chapter occurs elsewhere only inII Samuel 13:18-19. There it is employed for the coat which was worn by Tamar, the daughter of David.
Joseph’s brothers hated him and this garment and what it symbolized, for their first act of violence was to strip his coat from him (genesis 37:23).
Then there are the two dreams. Interesting that Joseph did not hesitate to tell his brothers and father the details of the two dreams. Imagine being the brothers and hearing those dreams coupled with the bad report and the ornate coat.
The intensity of Joseph’s brothers’ reaction to his dreams indicates that there must have been some substance to their fears of Joseph assuming such great power and prominence. Joseph’s brothers were deeply distressed by his two dreams (verses 8, 11). And when the plot to kill him was first conceived, the dreams were a prominent part of their hostility and motivation.
Concluding Remarks and Application
Let’s draw some conclusions from this account.
Favoritism creates problems.
Sometimes, it is better to keep things to ourselves.
Joseph did not start well. However, we will see that he finishes well. Let that be an encouragement to us in that we may not have started well on our spiritual journey, but are headed for a good finish. God can use us even when we falter along the way just as we will see how He used Joseph to carry out His plan.