Dreams, Drama And Providence Series

In recent years, months, and weeks, we have witnessed the escalation of hatred, bitterness, and violence around the world. This escalating anger and unrest points to deeper struggles going on in people’s hearts. The question is where is God? What is he doing, what good could possibly come out of this? Today, we will be looking at the life of Joseph in our Dust to Life series.

Let’s turn to Genesis 37:1-11

1 Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers, while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a multicolored tunic. 4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.

5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; 7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

9 Then he had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph was the object of:

? Israel’s Love

? His Brothers’ Hatred

? God’s Providential Plan

Let’s talk about:

1. Israel’s Love

What do we know about Joseph? He was 17 years old when he had the dreams, was one of 11 brothers, and the second youngest - which means he had a lower status among his siblings. He was a sheep herder, and as the Hebrew language alludes to, he wasn’t shepherding with (prep) his brothers but (accusative) actually shepherding his four brothers (taking care of them). This would explain why in verse 2 Joseph brought a “bad report” Hebrew word actually means “untrue or exaggerated report” about his brothers.

Joseph had his father’s favor and most likely Israel always believed him. Obviously, his brothers weren’t happy about this. The fact that he had maligned his brothers reveals something about Joseph. It’s the classic example of ad-hominem attacks - to put oneself in a better, while others in a negative light. We can see these ad-hominem attacks in social media today - the way people manipulate reality through sound bites, only telling parts of the story, and taking things out of context.

Verse 3 says, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons.” Why did Israel love Joseph more than any of his other sons?

Answer: Because [he’d] been born to him in his old age. Jacob was old and Joseph had become the object of his affection as he was born from the wife he loved - namely Rachel. It’s not surprising that there would be this unique sense of affection tied up with this young man and his younger brother Benjamin.

What comes to your mind when you read this passage?

Favoritism - shown throughout Israel’s life

What does favoritism cause in a family, whether intentional or unintentional? How does it affect children? It can cause:

? Jealousy

? Competition and showing off

? Viewing the other sibling as an enemy

? Undermining other siblings to make them feel incapable and inadequate.

I think it takes a lot of effort to treat others, especially kids in a family equally - recognizing their unique personalities, capabilities, strengths, needs, etc. Don’t you think?

Israel was very familiar with the conflict that favoritism causes. Does anyone remember the family dynamic with his mother Rachel and father Isaac? [his mother favored him and his father Isaac favored Esau.] That’s why his brother Esau hated him for many years. Israel’s favoritism of Rachael over Leah was obvious and then that led to favoring her sons, Joseph and Benjamin over Leah’s 10 sons.