Genesis 37:1-36
“The early life of Joseph”
Vs. 1-11 The jealousy of Joseph
Vs. 12-29 The colored coat of conspiracy
Vs. 30-36 An empty pit and a broken heart
Intro
We now come to the last section of this book, which will take 14 chapters and take us to how Israel ends up in Egypt. The second verse of this chapter gives a change of writers from Jacob to that of His first son through Rachel, Joseph. Throughout his 110 years of life, he remains consistent in character in spite of his circumstances. Success didn’t weaken his character, nor did adversity harden his heart. Proverbs 30:8-9 could have been his prayer, “Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food allotted to me; Lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” Joseph’s life is a balanced life of a man that triumphed in his faith no matter what he faced. How was he able to do so?
Well, thank God, he tells us in the final chapter of this book as we hear his words, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is today, to save many people alive.” Do you get it? Joseph saw all that happened towards him from the perspective of what he knew to be true about God. In other words, Joseph used God’s character to interpret his situation rather than the situation to interpret God’s character! In the 3rd century a man wrote a letter to a friend named Donatus, listen carefully to what he wrote, and you will discover the secret to life: “It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and good people who have learned the great secret of life. They have found joy and wisdom, which is 1000 times better than any of the pleasures of a sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are Christians…and I have become one of them.” Thomas Paine once said, “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we will esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.”
Vs. 1-11 The jealousy of Joseph
Vs. 1 In chapter 36 we saw that Esau settled in the mountains above the southern tip of the Dead Sea, here we see Jacob moving to where his grandfather Abraham had lived in Hebron 19 miles south of Jerusalem. Jacob had spent most of his life living in a place where the Lord hadn’t called him but here, we see that he finally is at rest with the Lord. I often reflect on my time of rebellion as a believer grieving over the wasted time spent not dwelling in the peace and security of the Lord.
Vs. 2 In this verse, we see Jacob sign off on his writing and his son Joseph will pick it up even though Jacob won’t die until the 49th chapter. Joseph, we are told, is 17 years old and is the acting shepherd over his brethren in the caring of Jacob’s flock. We are told the brothers that he was over were those closest to his age the sons of Jacob’s concubines, Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. The words “brought back” in the Hebrew suggest that he shared with his father not what he had observed but rather others testimony of them, which agreed with his observations. Some see Joseph’s actions in bringing a bad report, as him being a “goody two shoes” tattletale.
Several things need to be recognized that shed a different light on this:
- Based upon verses 13-14 It appears as though Jacob had suspicions or even reports of the types of character his sons were. In other words, it was Jacob that sent Joseph to keep an eye on his brothers and he was doing what he was told.
- Furthermore, based upon verses 18-20 Jacob’s suspicions were very generous, these sons were far more evil than he realized.
- Several things probably made Joseph’s character Godlier than that of his brothers. First most of Joseph’s 17 years had been lived while His father had chosen to walk with God in obedience. While his older brothers had lived and observed dad’s life while he had not walked with the Lord.
Vs. 3-4 Jacob’s love for Joseph was the result of living with him those years after his own personal change. Jacob’s favor of Joseph was evident to his brothers in giving him a tunic or a long coat made up of many pieces. The coat was not as functional for manual labor; it signified that Joseph was a supervisor and not a worker. Ruben had disqualified himself from being the heir because he slept with his father’s concubine.
Simeon and Levi had been removed because of their inability to control their anger. Leah would have three more sons on her own before Joseph would be born to Rachel but still Jacob favored Joseph over Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, as well as the four boys, (Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher) born to the two sisters’ maids. To the remaining eight boys Jacob’s choice of putting 11th in charge was revealing their father’s choice as to who would head up the family after he was gone. So, the coat symbolized everything they hated about Joseph, it became so bad that they could not say a civil word to him.
Vs. 5-11 Here we are told of Joseph having two dreams that he shares that further infuriate his brothers against him. Was Joseph being arrogant? While the dreams are very favorable to Joseph they are nonetheless from God as they come true. I don’t think that Joseph is being prideful, but I do think he was a bit naïve and should probably have kept the dreams to himself even though in both cases others gave the interpretations of the dreams. The wheat shows what Joseph’s ultimate position will be in Egypt and the 2nd dream is mentioned again in Rev. 12:17, which speaks of Jesus’ coming for the nation of Israel.
Vs. 12-29 The colored coat of conspiracy
Vs. 12-17 Jacob has good reasons to be concerned for his sons as they were tending the sheep in the area of Shechem where Simeon and Levi had slaughtered all the men of the city. Jacob is now 60 miles away in Hebron and they are grazing the flock in the land he purchased while they lived there. The word well in verse 14 is a word that means “peace” so Jacob wanted to see if there was peace or a war for his sons. It’s funny how our past can still cause us insecurity in the present even though we don’t live there anymore! Again, Joseph leaves in obedience to his father and wanders the fields of Shechem looking for his brothers until he finds a fellow who asks who he is looking for. He is told that they have moved another 15 miles to Dothan, which is in the valley of Armageddon. Now if Joseph was there to rat on them, he would not have traveled any further he would have come back and told his father that they were not where they were supposed to be.
Vs. 18-29 Several things come out in this section:
- Vs. 18-20 His coat made it easy to spot him and it is very plain that they wanted to kill him.
- Vs. 21-22 Ruben puts an end to this because being the oldest he would have to face his father. His temporary suggestion is that they allow him to die rather than actually shedding his blood. The purpose of this was so he could save him later and bring him back to their father. Ruben could have risen up and said, “This is wrong!” but he didn’t want to get out of favor with his brothers. When you are concerned with how others see you as you are in doing what is right, you will accomplish neither.
- Vs. 23-25 Upon having found Joseph they do three things all of which reveal their heart towards him:
They strip him of his authority over them by taking his coat off of him. They wanted no one’s authority over them, least of all their little brother’s.
They put him out of sight in an empty cistern. They just wanted him to have never existed.
They sat down and ate. They would have no remorse or guilt for 22 years. A physicist can tell you how many seconds it takes for the cries of their brother to travel 25 feet and reach their ears. Yet in chapter 42:21 we are told that it took 22 years for those cries to reach their hearts as “they said to one another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore, this distress has come upon us.” We know now the greatest distance in all of God’s creation is from the head to the heart! Can you imagine as they sat down to bless the food and having to yell to drown out the pleading of Joseph? The prophet Amos used this incident to speak of the hearts of the nation as he said to you, “drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”
Vs. 26-28 They sell Joseph for what Moses would later say was the price for a slave, $2,500 at the suggestion of Judah. “Don’t kill him, make a buck!” Judah was not against killing Joseph he was against not making some money while getting rid of him. It is Judah by the way that Jesus will come from. So, they sell him to Abraham’s other sons Ishmael and Midian through Keturah.
Vs. 29 Apparently Ruben was not part of the plan but again goes along with it afterwards.
Vs. 30-36 An empty pit and a broken heart
Vs. 30-31 The killing of the goat and the putting of the blood on the coat reminds us of several things:
- It reminds us of what Jacob had done to deceive his father and now the same thing is being pulled on him.
- It also reminds us of the Passover as the lamb was to be slain and its blood to be sprinkled upon the doorposts so the angel of death would “Pass over” the house. This is a great picture of Jesus as his coat and authority was ripped off of him because of jealousy of the father’s love for Him. He too was placed into the pit of our depravity and sold into our slavery of sin only to rise and save those who placed him upon the instrument of His destruction.
Vs. 32-36 All the hypocrisy and lies reveal that they not only hated Joseph they didn’t much care for dad as well. The cruelty of the human heart and the fact that they didn’t care when he was in the pit as they ate. They didn’t care as they played with the coins in their pocket while their father wept thinking he had lost a son. That folks, is a picture of what life is apart from God. Yet throughout all of this they will be unable to strip Joseph of his character and relationship with the Lord.