Joseph Series

June 25, 2022

Last week we ended the story of Jacob with a blessing and a name change: Jacob would now be Israel – from “Heel grabber” to “Overcomer”.

Now to the story of Joseph – which will occupy 13 of the final 14 chapters of Genesis.

As we noted last week, Joseph was born in Charran at the end of Jacob’s 14 years of service. He would have been around 6 years old when the family returned to Canaan.

Genesis 33:1-2 gives us a hint of the favoritism to come:

“Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants. 2 He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.”

Genesis 37 provides a backdrop for the rest of the story:

• Genesis 37:2 - This is the account of Jacob. 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.

• Genesis 37:3 - 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 a richly ornamented robe for him.

• Genesis 37:4 - 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.

• Genesis 37:5 - Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.

• Genesis 37:9-11 - 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.

Somehow, both Jacob and Joseph missed the “they hated him” part of the story because Jacob sent Joseph literally into the camp of the enemy:

• Genesis 37:13 - 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.

The flocks had moved to Dothan, so, Joseph continued on. Upon seeing him coming down the road, his brother’s turned to each other and said, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him down the well. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams!”

Reuben intervened, so instead, Joseph was stripped of his beautiful robe and thrown into the dry well alive, while the brothers figured out what to do with him {Reuben intended to free him and send him back home}.

As they ate, the brothers saw a caravan ambling down the road. Judah came up with the brilliant idea of selling Joseph, so that’s what they did. They sold their brother for 20 pieces of silver.

At 17, Joseph, the pampered and most loved son became a slave:

• Ellen White {PP 213-214} - For a time Joseph gave himself up to uncontrolled grief and terror.

But, in the providence of God, even this experience was to be a blessing to him. He had learned in a few hours that which years might not otherwise have taught him. His father, strong and tender as his love had been, had done him wrong by his partiality and indulgence. This unwise preference had angered his brothers and provoked them to the cruel deed that had separated him from his home. Its effects were manifest also in his own character. Faults had been encouraged that were now to be corrected. He was becoming self-sufficient and exacting. Accustomed to the tenderness of his father's care, he felt that he was unprepared to cope with the difficulties before him, in the bitter, uncared-for life of a stranger and a slave.

Then his thoughts turned to his father's God. In his childhood he had been taught to love and fear Him. Often in his father's tent he had listened to the story of the vision that Jacob saw as he fled from his home an exile and a fugitive. He had been told of the Lord's promises to Jacob, and how they had been fulfilled -- how, in the hour of need, the angels of God had come to instruct, comfort, and protect him. And he had learned of the love of God in providing for men a Redeemer. Now all these precious lessons came vividly before him. Joseph believed that the God of his fathers would be his God. He then and there gave himself fully to the Lord, and he prayed that the Keeper of Israel would be with him in the land of his exile.