Chapter 37

There are three introductory principles to this chapter.

a) God’s faithfulness to the believer at all times—in time of suffering; in time of prosperity, whether we are spiritual or carnal. The principle is grace, not how we are, not whether we earn it or deserve it. God blesses the believer on the basis of who and what He is, not who and what the believer is. The principle is found in Romans 8:32.

b) God always turns cursing into blessing. The believer has not had any extreme difficulty in life but that God has designed it to bless the believer. Not matter how terrible the situation may be every bit of suffering in life is designed to turn cursing into blessing. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Peter 1:7, 8.

c) Romans 8:28—“All things work together for good.”

Verses 1-11, Joseph becomes the object of envy and jealousy, mental attitude sins.

Verse 1 – Jacob is in the land of promise. The patriarchs are in the land of promise. At the end of the life of Joseph they will be in Egypt, and we will see this as a principle of God’s overruling will. But generally they are told to stay away from Egypt.

Verse 2 – for a seventeen-year-old Joseph shows tremendous promise. There are some erroneous translation in this verse in the KJV. What is not seen in the English of this verse is that Joseph was in charge of his brethren, even though he was only seventeen years old. He has shown tremendous administrative ability, keen discernment, and show great promise. In 20 years he is running the Egyptian empire.

“their evil report” is literally from the Hebrew, “an evil report concerning them.” In other words, he had to report to his father who owned all of the sheep. The sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, these four, received a very low efficiency rating and they didn’t like it.

Jacob’s favouritism is another serious problem—verses 3 & 4.

Verse 3 – at this time there are eleven sons and Benjamin will be along shortly, making twelve sons altogether. Out of the twelve sons Jacob loved Joseph more than all the rest. That is not wrong. It is inevitable that even parents will love some more than others perhaps, but that does not give any parent the right to show favouritism. You may love one child more than another but you must be fair in your dealing with them and not give one more than the other of affection, of training, of everything that they need from a parent. Therefore Jacob failed as a parent. He didn’t fail because he loved Joseph more than the others, he failed because he showed favouritism toward Joseph to the exclusion of others. And he is going to pay for it. There never was or is a parent who is going to get away with showing favouritism. It comes back to hurt.

“son of his old age” – this is an idiom and it doesn’t mean what it appears to mean. It means a “wise son.” He loved Joseph because he was smarter than all the other brothers put together. Old age means wisdom here. He loved Joseph more than all the others because he was his wisest son. We should translate this “son of great wisdom.”

“coat of many colours” – literal translation: “a long coat with sleeves.” A long coat which went down to his ankles and with sleeves down to the wrists was a badge of authority. He was the one in charge. The rest of them had to wear short robes, down to just below the knees.

Verse 4 – “they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.” Verse 5 – “they hated him yet the more.” Verse 8 -- “they hated him yet the more.” Hatred is a mental attitude. They couldn’t speak peaceably to him means they couldn’t greet him in a friendly manner. Notice verse 11 – “his brethren envied him.” Verse 18 – “they conspired against him.” Verse 19 – they ridiculed him, “behold the dreamer cometh.” Verse 20 – they said, “let us slay him.” But although they do everything to destroy Joseph God is still faithful to that boy and His faithfulness carries him through. In every situation that Joseph faces the Lord has provided a solution.

Jacob shows some partiality at times and this is the basis for hurting himself and for many years of misery in his life. No matter how much Jacob loved Joseph more than the others it was wrong to show favouritism.

Joseph has two dreams, verses 5-10. In the first dream Joseph is supreme over his brothers. In the second dream Joseph is supreme over all Israel. There are four ways in which God revealed Himself in Old Testament times: dreams, visions, trances, and direct spoken conversation. But there is only one way that God reveals Himself today: the written Word.

First dream, verses 5-8, Joseph’s supremacy over his brothers.

“he told his brethren” – the reason he told his brethren is because this was divine revelation and he passed it on. When he passed it on they hated him yet the more.

Verse 7 – the brethren understood that. The sheaves in the field are Joseph’s brothers. “My sheaf” – Joseph. They all bowed down to Joseph, and you can imagine how they liked that! With a poisoned mental attitude full of envy, jealousy and hatred, they just didn’t like that at all. But the time would come when they would be down on their faces in the dust before the Prime Minister of Egypt who will be Joseph.

Verse 8 – “Shalt thou indeed reign over us?” They understood.

Verse 9 – the second dream, supremacy over Israel. Who is the sun and the moon? Verse 10 – “I and thy mother [Rachel].” The eleven stars? “and thy brethren.”

Verse 10 – “his father rebuked him.” Even Jacob didn’t like that. Joseph is just telling them what he has received in a bona fide manner for that day which constitutes divine revelation. Even his father didn’t like the idea of doing obeisance to his son.

Verse 11 – “but his father observed the saying,” is literally, he remembered it, he put it in his mind.

Verse 12-17, Joseph goes on a mission, his last mission for his father. He doesn’t return from this mission.

Verse 12 – “Shechem” means shoulder or strength.

Verse 13 – “So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.” He couldn’t find his brethren is Shechem, they weren’t where they were supposed to be. Joseph is now trying to find them.

Verse 17 – Dothan is a Hebrew word which means “gift.” He finds his brethren but he hasn’t come to them yet. In verse 18 he is still approaching.

Verse 18 -- the manner in which he found them is now related. We have a conspiracy.

Verse 20 – they thought they could get rid of the Word of God by removing Joseph.

Verse 21 – meet weak, unstable Reuben. He was against it. He loses his rulership later on because he is nobility plus instability. A noble character is no good without stability. Instability neutralises many of the good qualities of Reuben. Here Reuben is outvoted 9 to 1 and he will not assume the position of authority, he is too unstable, will not buck his brothers, but he is going to try to save the life of Joseph. “Let us not kill him.”

Verse 22 – “that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.” His plan was to get his brothers away from that pit. In the meantime he goes off on his own and waits. It is a good idea but he is a coward and won’t buck the tiger here at all. Instead he suggests an alternative.

Note 42:21— this is many years later when they are reminded of Joseph again. “And they 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.” Joseph knew while down in that pit what his brothers’ intentions were, that he was to be left to die. So he begged for deliverance and they did not pay any attention to him. These men were tough. They could sit there and listen to the anguished cries of their brother and at the same time enjoy their food. In this verse the nine brothers admit three things: they saw the anguish of his soul, Joseph begged to be delivered, and the nine brothers would not listen.

At this point the cries of Joseph indicates failure to use the faith-rest technique. He has two visions, the Word of God. He has a future. The time will come when his nine brothers will do obeisance to him, when I all Israel will do obeisance to him. Does he believe the Word of God? Or does he look at his circumstances? He failed; he looked at his circumstances.

Verses 26 & 27 – Judah makes a suggestion. They could make a little money on the side here. Just at the right time—“All things work together for good.” Just as the nine brothers were sitting down to a meal, along came the caravan.

Verse 28 – the personnel of the caravan were Ishmaelites and Midianites. The Midianites were descended from Abraham through Keturah. The Ishmaelites were descendants of Abraham through Hagar. So these are all cousins to these nine men who are eating there. But the whole future of Joseph depends on whether he goes with the Ismaelites of the Midianites.

Verses 29-30, Reuben comes back and finds Joseph gone.

Verses 31-35, the sorrow of Jacob.

Verse 34, 35 – “And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning.”

Nine threads from Romans 8:28: All things are not good, but all things work together for good

1. Jacob’s favouritism toward his son Joseph was bad, but it works for good.

2. The hatred and the envy of the ten brothers was bad, but it works together for good.

3. The plot of the brothers to kill Joseph was bad, but it works together for good.

4. Reuben’s intervention which saved Joseph’s life was good, and it works together for good.

5. The coming of the caravan was good, and it works together for good.

6. Judas suggested selling Joseph into slavery and that is bad, but it works together for good.

7. There were Ishmaelites and Midianites in the caravan. That is bad but it works together for good.

8. Joseph is going to arrive in Egypt a slave in shackles, that’s bad but it works together for good.

9. Joseph is sold into the house of Potiphar, the chief nobleman in charge of all the ruler’s body guards and his executioners. That is bad. It is bad that he is in slavery but it is good that it is Potiphar.

It doesn’t make any difference whether a thing is good or bad, or bad and good, they all work in one direction. And that is the only way that anything can work for any believer at any time.