INTRO: At the end of this chapter, Joseph is going to find himself in a pit. A literal, dark and lonely pit. At the same time, the brothers are going to find themselves in a pit as well. But theirs will be a pit of their own making – a spiritual pit, one that is brought on by their own deception and cruelty.
I’m sure that at one point you have said, “My life is the pits!” “Man, this is the pits!” Contrary to what many popular preachers say, Christians do sometimes feel like they are in the pits. In this way, we have a lot in common with Joseph and his brothers.
Usually, we are in pits of our own making. We find ourselves in a prison that we have fashioned for ourselves. What are the paths that lead to pits?
I. When you depend on your own effort (12-17)
– After the revelation of Joseph’s dreams, the brothers decide that they need some space. There was adequate pasture right there where they were living. It appears that as a reaction of anger against Joseph and Jacob’s favoritism, they take the flocks 50 miles away back up to Shechem to feed.
– You remember all the bad things that happened at Shechem. Dinah was raped, Simeon and Levi had committed murder. Shechem was not a place of happy memories. Jacob again shows his passivity as a parent by letting his sons return to an area where so many people might want to kill them for revenge.
– It would have taken them several days to get there. After some time, Jacob gets worried about them and sends Joseph to go check on them. Little did Jacob realize that this would be the last time he would see his beloved son for almost 20 years. So many drastic changes can take place in our life in only 1 day. Don’t take your friends and loved ones for granted – you don’t know what a day may bring forth.
– Of course, Joseph made better time than them to Shechem, probably only took him 2 days. When he got there, his brothers were not there. As he roamed around the area looking for them, he met a man who told Joseph that his brothers had taken the flocks to Dothan.
– Dothan means “city of two cisterns” or wells. There was better water there for the flocks. They probably also went further away because they wanted some space.
– Now I don’t believe Joseph committed any sin in this situation, but he may have made a tactical error here. Knowing that his brothers had gone up to Dothan, he should have gone home and reported this to his father. But instead, he went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
– I think that sometimes you and I need to give people space and let God deal with them. Your brothers or sisters may even be in the wrong. We are too eager to pester people. Especially if there is a problem, and you by nature are a problem-solver, you want to track that person down and get it settled.
– Watch me now – there are sometimes when we need to take the news concerning our brothers to the Father, and let Him work it out. We depend too much on our own human effort, and it gets us into trouble.
– We have too many entanglements and not enough prayer to the Father. We can drive our brothers away and end up in a pit.
II. When you only deal with the external (18-22)
– Joseph is about to walk into a frustrating set of circumstances. He didn’t realize the awful deed they were planning. Though this would be a terrible ordeal for him, in the providence of God, it would work together for good, as Joseph himself testified in Genesis 50.
– They saw the “dreamer” coming from a great way off, they could spot that coat of many colors anywhere. No doubt, they had been talking about his dreams since they left Hebron. They probably had discussed how they might get rid of him.
– The plan was simple. They would kill him, and throw him into one of the empty wells around Dothan, then tell dad that an evil beast had devoured him. That would be the end of his dreams!
– Reuben spoke up and was able to persuade them not to kill him, but just to throw him in a pit. He intended to come back later and release Joseph back to his father.
– But the point here is that the decision to cast Joseph into the pit alive, rather than kill him, took care of the external problem of keeping Joseph alive, but it did absolutely nothing about the internal hatred which was the root from which this murderous plan arose.
– This type of decision making happens every day in this world. People take care of external reformation, but they do not allow God to take care of internal cleansing. Listen church, there is great danger in reformation without regeneration!
– If your decisions only take care of the external appearances, but do not get rid of the sin in the heart, those decisions will lead to a pit.
III. When your sin doesn’t stir up emotions (23-25a)
– As soon as Joseph shows up, they strip him of his colorful coat and throw him down into the dry well. I don’t believe that Reuben was here when this happened. Possibly, he was upset at the whole situation, or maybe he had gone to take care of the flocks, since that was the last thing on the other brother’s agenda. In any case, Reuben was absent.
– We read a very chilling statement in verse 25. “And they sat down to eat bread.” What callousness we see in this men. Turn to Proverbs 30:20.
– My friend, there is something wrong with a man or woman that can do something wicked and then sit down and eat like it is nothing. If you can eat like nothing’s wrong, where there is something wrong, you’ve got a problem.
– An old Puritan preacher commented on this passage and asked, “With what heart could they say grace, either before or after meat?”
– The saddest condition of Christian could ever be in is to know in their head that they have done wrong, but it never reaches their heart. It never affects them. It never bothers them.
– When your own sin doesn’t stir up emotion, you’re headed for life in the pits.
IV. When your decisions are focused on economics (25b–28)
– As they were eating, they saw a caravan of traders coming in the distance, on they normal trade route toward Egypt. The caravan had men who were Ishmaelites and Midianites, both descendants of Abraham.
– While most of the brothers were probably arguing about abandoning Joseph or killing him, Judah saw an opportunity to save Joseph’s life.
– But he also saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. Why not sell Joseph as a slave to these men, who in turn would sell Joseph as a slave in Egypt? This would remove Joseph from further influence in the family, spare them from the guilt of killing him, and give them some money in their pockets, too.
– After bargaining for a bit, they settled on a price of 20 pieces of silver. An interesting parallel is revealed in this sale. It was Judah who proposed the sale of Joseph for silver, and in the NT, it was Judas who sold the Lord Jesus Christ out for silver.
– Here’s the point: we make too many decisions that revolve around money. What’s going to turn a quick buck? What’s in it for me? What is this going to cost me? Should I put this on the credit card?
– My friend, when you make decisions based solely on financial considerations, you are headed for the bondage of a pit.
V. When you are driven by your ego (29-30)
– At this point in the story, Reuben comes back to the pit unaware of the transaction that has just taken place. To his surprise and dismay, Joseph was not there. He rent his clothes, a way of expressing grief in those days. He caught up with his brothers and his first response demonstrates that his priorities are all out of whack. He is only thinking of himself.
– He says in effect, “What is going to happen to me?” “How is this going to make me look bad?” What a selfish, ego-driven, jealous response.
– The brothers are so incredibly jealous of Joseph it’s not even funny. What are the signs of jealousy that we see in them? (1) Keeping score of what others have and you don’t. (2) They are more concerned with saving their own necks than helping someone else. Who was the one most affected by all this treachery? Who was the one on a 30-day journey to Egypt to be sold as a slave? (3) Look at verse 32 – they refer to Joseph as “thy son” not “our brother.” You are a jealous person when you don’t think of people as your brother or sister in Christ, but only as “the Father’s son.”
– Hey, in a tough situation, are you always concerned first about yourself? That indicates that you are driven by your ego. You are driven by selfishness. You are driven by jealousy.
– And when your life’s path is characterized by always looking out for good ol’ number one, watching your own back, your on a path to the pits.
VI. When your deceit keeps you enslaved (31-36)
– Heaping sin upon sin, they decide to not tell dad the truth, but to let him believe a lie.
– They take Joseph’s prized coat and dip it in goat’s blood and bring it to Jacob. As a passive dad, he doesn’t ask the probing questions that would have brought him the truth. He simply assumes that Joseph has been torn apart by an evil beast.
– The brothers continue down the path of deceit. And it is incredibly ironic that Jacob is deceived by a goat, because when he was a youth, he deceived his dad and stole the birthright from Isaac with the help of a goat. He who had deceived with a goat was now himself deceived by a goat.
– Did the brothers lie? Not outright, but they did still lie.
– Jacob was naturally crushed. This was the son of his old age. He refused to be comforted by his sons. Maybe he knew. Maybe he was suspicious. In any case, he would mourn for a long time over something that wasn’t even true.
– The path of deceit was continuing to enslave him and his sons. They were just beginning to see the reality of the spiritual pit they were in.
– Meanwhile, Joseph who was obviously and healthy and intelligent man, fetched a good price in Egypt. He was sold to a prominent Egyptian named Potiphar. It was here that Joseph would spend many years in servitude.
– How did his bondage and the brother’s bondage come about? Because of depending on human effort and not leaving the situation with the Father. Because they only dealt with the external and not the internal. Because they were never sorry for their sin. Because they made decisions based on finances. Because they were driven by their ego. And because their life was characterized by hypocritical deceit.
– If any of those paths describe your Christian walk, you are headed for the pits.
– Some of you need to quit feeling sorry for yourself and blaming God for the pits that you are in. Come to the realization that you are headed for the pits because of your own sinful choices.
– Jesus Christ came to lift us up out of the pit, to set our feet on a solid rock.
