Process And Providence Series

Process and Providence: Genesis 37

Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Genesis 37. We are continuing the series we started last week called Meant for Good. We are looking at the life of Joseph in the Old Testament.

I pointed out to you last week that this one narrative takes up 25% of the book of Genesis.

And just as a reminder, the title of the series comes from one verse at the very end of the account. At the end of this epic, years-long story, Joseph looked at his brothers and said,

20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

And so as we continue to work our way through this story, we are going to see more and more how God works through those things that we might just blow off as coincidences in order to accomplish his will. And this morning we are going to look at five scenes in the incredible drama of Genesis 37. Keep your Bibles open—we are going to read as we go, but let’s pray first:

[pray]

Scene 1: Resenting the FATHER’S FAVORITE (vs. 3-4)

We talked last week about the dysfunctional family Joseph was born into. One of the biggest causes of trouble in his family, going all the way back to his great grandfather Abraham, was parents playing favorites and the sibling rivalry that resulted.

Abraham favored Isaac over Ishmael, and there has been enmity between Jews and Arabs ever since.

Isaac favored Esau over Jacob, but his wife Rebekah favored Isaac, so she cooked up this scheme to trick Isaac into blessing Jacob.

Jacob favored his wife Rachel over his wife Leah. It was so bad that hundreds of years later God made a law against the practice. In Leviticus 18:18, the law says,

“18 And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister

And now Jacob continues this pattern into the fourth generation. Look at Genesis 37:3-4:

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Now, we don’t know much about this coat of many colors. It probably wasn’t the multi-colored bathrobe in the children’s Sunday School pictures, and it absolutely wasn’t the technicolor dreamcoat you saw at the Alabama Shakespeare festival.

Some translations render this a “long-sleeved tunic.” I personally prefer this because it demonstrates the status it gave Joseph over his brothers. See, if you were working out in the fields, you would be wearing a plain short sleeved tunic. But Joseph is Jacob’s favorite. So he gets a long sleeved tunic. That means he isn’t dressed for field work. He’s dressed for management.

So whether it was richly ornamented like the CSB says, or multicolored like the ESV, or long sleeved like the NRSV, it distinguished Joseph as the favorite son of the father.

Now, we’ve already established that Jacob was a very flawed human father, so this isn’t a perfect comparison to our heavenly father by any stretch. But let’s take a step back and consider that our heavenly father calls you his son, his daughter. And when we repent of our sins and surrender ourselves to Him, you know what He does? Isaiah 61:10 says He clothes us with the garments of salvation puts a robe of righteousness on us. Think about the prodigal son story. In Luke 15, The son comes to his senses and returns to his Father’s house— that’s repentance. He says, “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and against you.” That’s confession. He says, “Make me as one of your hired hands.” That’s surrender.

And what does the father say, “Bring the best robe, and put it on my son.” You aren’t a hired hand. You are my beloved son. (See Luke 15:11-22).

Scene Two: Rejecting God’s Revelation (v. 5-8)

So back to Joseph. One day, Joseph is with his brothers. I imagine he’s wearing his long sleeved middle management tunic and watching them work. Maybe drinking coffee from a mug that says “world’s best boss” Leaning against the fencepost going, Hey, Dan, one of your sheep looks like it really needs to be fleeced. So if you could do that, that’d be great.”

And then he says, “Oh, and hey, let me tell you about this crazy dream I had. One day we were all working in the field together (and his brothers go, “Ha— you working? That is crazy!) Joseph says, (this is Genesis 37:6–8