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I have been talking to many Christians who are discouraged right now. I prayed about this and The Lord Jesus spoke to me about Joseph.
How do you think Joseph felt when his brothers hated him and wanted to kill him and sold him into slavery instead. While he was a slave he was accused of raping his owners wife. Of course he did not rape this man's wife, but she accused him because Joseph ran from her when she offered to have sex with him. So he went to prison for being faithful to the man who was holding him as a slave.
Joseph had accomplished nothing of "importance" at this point in his life. Yet he sat in prison for some years and must have felt discouraged about his life at this point.
Genesis 37
Joseph’s Dreams
1 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.
Note: The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. Now Bilhah is the one that slept with Ruben. Jacob had fathered two of Rubens brothers with this woman.
Now we know that these four took part in the plot to kill Joseph and we also know that Joseph later refused to dishonor a man who held him as a slave. Certainly many would claim they had reason to have sex with a man's wife who was holding them in slavery. So it would seem to me that Joseph was probably telling the truth about the bad report of these four brothers. We must also remember that Joseph was much younger than the rest of his brothers ( except for Benjamin).
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 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.
NOTE: it seems like his brothers and even his parents certainly had a right to rebuke or reject Joseph because of these two dreams. BUT THESE DREAMS WERE FROM GOD. They all could have quoted commands of God that told how Joseph should honor his father and his older brothers. But Joseph was not dishonoring them, but only telling of the dream he was given from God. Be very careful who and what you reject. For what if it is from God like these two dreams.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
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.
NOTE: we see that Joseph was sent into slavery by obeying the request of his father, not for being disobedient to his father or God.
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.”
NOTE: we see that his brothers wanted to kill him because of the dreams that were from God. BUT the plots of these brothers could NOT stop the plans of God to save them and their whole family.
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 wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
NOTE: we see Ruben must have regretted having sex with his fathers concubine and is trying to please Jacob by protecting Joseph. He had brought his father enough grief and maybe did not want to bring him any more.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. 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.
NOTE: nothing is written about his brothers even giving Joseph food as they ate. They sold Joseph to sons of Ishmael. Now Ishmael was a son of Abraham and his son Isaac died only 10 years before Jacob appeared in Egypt. For Jacob told Pharaoh that he was 130 when he appeared before him, and Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born and Isaac was 180 when he died. God used Judah to save Joseph from death this time, just as He used Ruben earlier.
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 ornate 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, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
NOTE: His brothers all received less than an ounce of silver each for selling their father's son into slavery. Most of them gave no thought to the grief they would cause their own father. Just as today, most sin, without a thought of the grief they will bring their Father; who came down from heaven and was born of a woman to shed His blood for them. Think of the grief the blood of His only begotton Son would cause Him, just as the sight of the blood on Joseph's robe brought grief to Jacob.
Lou Newton
How do you think Joseph felt when his brothers hated him and wanted to kill him and sold him into slavery instead. While he was a slave he was accused of raping his owners wife. Of course he did not rape this man's wife, but she accused him because Joseph ran from her when she offered to have sex with him. So he went to prison for being faithful to the man who was holding him as a slave.
Joseph had accomplished nothing of "importance" at this point in his life. Yet he sat in prison for some years and must have felt discouraged about his life at this point.
Genesis 37
Joseph’s Dreams
1 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.
Note: The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. Now Bilhah is the one that slept with Ruben. Jacob had fathered two of Rubens brothers with this woman.
Now we know that these four took part in the plot to kill Joseph and we also know that Joseph later refused to dishonor a man who held him as a slave. Certainly many would claim they had reason to have sex with a man's wife who was holding them in slavery. So it would seem to me that Joseph was probably telling the truth about the bad report of these four brothers. We must also remember that Joseph was much younger than the rest of his brothers ( except for Benjamin).
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 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.
NOTE: it seems like his brothers and even his parents certainly had a right to rebuke or reject Joseph because of these two dreams. BUT THESE DREAMS WERE FROM GOD. They all could have quoted commands of God that told how Joseph should honor his father and his older brothers. But Joseph was not dishonoring them, but only telling of the dream he was given from God. Be very careful who and what you reject. For what if it is from God like these two dreams.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
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.
NOTE: we see that Joseph was sent into slavery by obeying the request of his father, not for being disobedient to his father or God.
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.”
NOTE: we see that his brothers wanted to kill him because of the dreams that were from God. BUT the plots of these brothers could NOT stop the plans of God to save them and their whole family.
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 wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
NOTE: we see Ruben must have regretted having sex with his fathers concubine and is trying to please Jacob by protecting Joseph. He had brought his father enough grief and maybe did not want to bring him any more.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. 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.
NOTE: nothing is written about his brothers even giving Joseph food as they ate. They sold Joseph to sons of Ishmael. Now Ishmael was a son of Abraham and his son Isaac died only 10 years before Jacob appeared in Egypt. For Jacob told Pharaoh that he was 130 when he appeared before him, and Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born and Isaac was 180 when he died. God used Judah to save Joseph from death this time, just as He used Ruben earlier.
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 ornate 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, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
NOTE: His brothers all received less than an ounce of silver each for selling their father's son into slavery. Most of them gave no thought to the grief they would cause their own father. Just as today, most sin, without a thought of the grief they will bring their Father; who came down from heaven and was born of a woman to shed His blood for them. Think of the grief the blood of His only begotton Son would cause Him, just as the sight of the blood on Joseph's robe brought grief to Jacob.
Lou Newton
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