If you think you’re job is hard, think about this… Just like an NFL quarterback, NASA will schedule the launch of a rocket in an open window. A launch window is determined for each rocket and the window has several factors. Imagine the complications in attempting to place a land rover on the planet, Mars. Nothing in space stands still. Everything is either moving or orbits around something else. In trying to determine your launch window, you must also account for comets or asteroids. And then, keep in mind that the earth – from where you’ll launch your rocket – is itself spinning 1,000 miles per hour! And lastly, NASA engineers even have to coordinate with the US Air Force so that the rocket doesn’t hit any other planes! Now, if it’s hard to launch an aircraft into space, marvel at the engineering of God as He moves one life on one purpose through the eye of million needles. This is a remarkable story of how God’s hand moves Joseph into place.
Today, we launch into a series on a most interesting life - the story of Joseph. This beautiful story has attracted a lot of attention through the years. Andrew Lloyd Weber thought so highly of the story that he developed the story of Joseph into a Broadway musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The story of Joseph has an intrinsic beauty. But few people in the modern day retelling of the story go beyond the surface to see the real beauty of the story.
Let the narrative draw you in. Get involved in the story and really work to understand it. If you do, you’ll look at your life differently. You’ll have a new understanding and a new perspective on your life. We think we know the story and have heard it all before. Yet, it’s because of this very familiarity that the meaning and beauty of Joseph’s story escapes us.
These are the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 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.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:2-13, 22-36)
Alongside Daniel in the pages of the Old Testament, Joseph is presented nearly sin-free. Joseph is 17 years old when our story begins, a teenager, whose life is about to spin out of control. He will live for a total of 110 years (Genesis 50:22, 26). It will be 22 years from the time when Joseph is sold into slavery before he is reunited with all his family. The story begins with Jacob’s family transitioning to Canaan but it ends with the family settling in Egypt. The story begins with Joseph, the dreamer, but ends with Joseph, the Provider. But the young man in front of us has no idea that he’ll live 93 years in a foreign country.
The Big Picture
Our story begins with Jacob mourning the supposed death of his son, Joseph, but it ends with Joseph mourning the death of his father, Jacob. Along the way, we’ll witness Joseph saving all of Egypt before he saves his family. And throughout the well-woven story, we’ll hear of the dreams of Joseph, the dreams prisoners’, and lastly, the dreams of Pharaoh himself.
The chapter breaks down into four parts, each with a unique location.
1) We see Joseph the favorite son in Hebron (Genesis 37: 2-11);
2) Joseph’s search for his brothers in Shechem (Genesis 37:12-17);
3) The brother’s plot to enslave Joseph in Dothan (Genesis 37:18-30);
And 4) the brothers’ deception of the father, Jacob, back in Hebron (Genesis 37:31-36).
Today, I want you to get a fuller sense that the world never escapes His control and I hope you’ll sense this through the story of one man.
Sermon Preview
1. A Family’s Hidden Treachery
2. God’s Hidden Hand
3. Pain’s Hidden Design
And there’s a lesson even in the Joseph’s bones.
1. A Family’s Hidden Treachery
On Mother’s Day, I want you to meet A Dysfunctional Family Joseph married Rachel and they had two boys, Joseph and his younger brother, Benjamin. But there were 12 brothers in all … amidst Jacob’s 70 total descendants. So here’s family of shepherds – what could be more boring than a family of shepherds? At the beginning of the chapter, we witness everyone together. Yet, as the story advances, this family continues to disintegrate. By the end of chapter 37, even the father, Jacob, refuses the comfort of his children.
You’re likely to miss the first few words in the chapter in order to skip to the more interesting parts of the story: “These are the generations of Jacob.” (Genesis 37:2a) Note carefully the words “These are the generations of” for a moment because this phrase is used 11 times in Genesis. And it serves as a bookmark, a placeholder to note that you are advancing in a timeline of important figures. Starting with Adam and Noah extending through Joseph’s great-grandfather, Abraham… … to his grandfather, Isaac, and his father, Jacob. I pause here to tell you this because you don’t need to see the story of Joseph as a lake, all by itself. Instead, Joseph’s story is more like a river, flowing into the grand design of God’s big purpose in working with His people.
Here is a family that is fractured – a family with all the backbiting and backstabbing of the famous Ewing family of the hit show, Dallas, of yesteryear.
1.1 Meet Joseph’s Father
The story opens with Jacob’s father settling into his long-awaited home: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons…” (Genesis 37:3a). Israel is another name for Jacob, Joseph’s father. We read that Joseph favored Joseph over his other 11 sons. Jacob should have known better than to favor one child over the others - it was exactly what his father did to him. You see, favoritism was a generational sin in Jacob’s family. Jacob knew better than to show favoritism. Why? Because Jacob’s father, Isaac, loved his brother, Esau, more than Jacob while Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, favored Jacob over his brother, Esau.
Jacob knew firsthand the sting of being passed over for the “favored one”. Jacob desperately wanted his father’s love. And this neediness caused Jacob to be a deceptive, manipulator. He manipulated people all of his life – he carefully crafted the outcome. His lifelong hurt inflicted by his father should have taught him otherwise.
1.2 Meet Joseph’s Mother
Joseph’s mother was Rachel. Tragically, Joseph’s mother, Rachel, is already dead when we meet the 17-year-old Joseph. She died while giving birth to Joseph’s brother, Benjamin (Genesis 35:19). Rachel was Joseph’s father’s, Jacob, favorite. Now, Joseph wasn’t the youngest son of Rachel that was Benjamin. But perhaps Joseph was his dad’s favorite not only because his mother was Jacob’s favorite but his birth had a happy ending. In Joseph’s birth Jacob gained a son. But in Benjamin’s birth, Jacob lost his favorite wife. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite because his mother, Rachel, was Jacob’s favorite.
1.3 Jacob Had Too Many Wives
In the backdrop of our nation’s debate what is the essence of marriage, we need to see a side note that Moses includes in the early life of Joseph: “He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives.” (Genesis 37:2) The word “wife” should never be “wives.” You can have more than one car, you can have more than job, more than one house, and more than one child… … but you should never have more than one wife. Let me say it another way and a little more bluntly – you should have only one sexual partner and when he dies, you are free to marry another. Earlier in Genesis, God tells us His design for marriage: On Screen: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) Within six generations, barely after Adam had died, the Bible records that “Lamech took two wives” (Genesis 4:19).
Fast-forward several thousand years from the time of Joseph to the times of Jesus, and you’ll witness the early Church fighting long and hard against this practice. The early Church insisted that such a sexual relationship, without the permanent and total commitment expressed in marriage vows, was immoral and unjust. Over the course of a thousand years, this practice retreated into the shadows of social disapproval. The book of Genesis radically critiques the institution of polygamy. Even though it was the accepted cultural practice of the time… the Bible vividly depicting the misery and havoc it plays in family relationships, and the pain it caused, especially for women. Jacob had too many wives. And we should learn from the mistakes of Jacob – one wife for one husband.
Meet Joseph’s Sisters Dinah, Joseph’s sister, was tragically raped when Joseph was around 11 years old. (Genesis 34:2). Her brothers devised a plan to avenge the rapist and his family. They killed every male in Shechem as revenge.
1.4 Sibling Rivalry
The rivalry was already in the family before the boys were born. Leah and Rachel (also Leah’s younger sister), had an unspoken competition (Genesis 30:3, 9). Jacob strongly favored Rachel over his first wife, Leah (Genesis 29:30). The rivalry of the wives and Jacob came to focus in the children. Women in those days saw the birth of children as badges or medals of honor. When Rachel couldn’t have children, it infuriated her.
Our story reminds us of Rachel’s barrenness until her later years when it reads: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age.” (Genesis 37:3a). Joseph is favored because he came from Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. At the end of verse two, we see that Joseph reported on his brother’s behavior to his father. Indeed, the original word in verse 2 says he whispered and it suggests that Joseph possibly told what his brothers were doing in the most negative light possible. The same word is used in Psalm 31:14; Jeremiah 20:10; and Ezekiel 36:3. It was either a tattle-tell against brothers or perhaps he was the obedient son acting as a spy for his father. Either way, it only serves as a foreshadowing of the conflict to come.
Here is the story of sibling rivalry. And surely Jacob was aware of the friction his favoritism caused. Both Jacob and Joseph’s father favored one son over the others. And because of the sins of the both fathers, the brothers spend years apart from one another in foreign countries. It’s only late in life that Jacob is united with Esau and Joseph is united with his 11 brothers.
A Dysfunctional Family
2. God’s Hidden Hand
Jacob sends his son on a reconnaissance mission. And it is the very coat, that special coat, given to him by his father that ultimately dooms Joseph. In the beginning, I asked to allow the narrative draw you in. Get involved in the story and really work to understand it. And I promised that if you do, you’d look at your life differently. Watch God’s hidden hand at work in three aspects of Joseph’s life… in Joseph’s dreams, in Joseph’s coat, and in Joseph’s travels.
2.1 Joseph’s Dreams
Not even the dullest of his brothers, could miss the point of Joseph’s dreams. Had Joseph stopped to think, he would have certainly must have understood the impact his telling the dreams would have on his brothers. But the force of the dream, plus his naïveté and his self-focus (which came from being the center of his parents’ affection), impelled him to spontaneously share it. What’s the result of all this? We read three times that the brothers hated Joseph, we’re not surprised: “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.” (Genesis 37:4) And again in verse 5: “Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.” (Genesis 37:5) And once more in verse 8: “So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.” (Genesis 37:8b)
Hate. Hate is growing in them. There’s the lava of hatred that’s going to blow the top off their lives and off the whole family.
2.2 The Special Coat
To show everyone just how much Jacob loved Joseph, the dad sat down and made his son a beautiful coat. Pay attention to Joseph’s clothes through the story. In short, whenever Joseph receives clothing, he’s moving upward. Yet, when Joseph moves downward to the palace and to the prison, he’s clothing is removed.
Watch what happens through the story… Joseph’s brothers strip him of his special coat as they sell him into slavery (today’s story). Note carefully the words in verse 18: “They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.” (Genesis 37:18). Did they recognize him because of the special coat?
Joseph didn’t like his brothers and they didn’t like him. And one of the main reasons, they didn’t like him was this coat. The coat of many colors can was probably a coat with long sleeves that extended all the way to his ankles. No one else had a coat like Joseph’s. The special coat reminded the boys of Jacob’s special love for this one boy. It’s likely the coat meant Joseph didn’t work like his brothers and he would receive double the inheritance. Shepherds don’t wear special, long coats when the work is calling. “ The traditional interpretation that it was a coat of many colors is still the norm in Sunday school curricula as well as in popular interpretation (e.g. as in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat), even though this interpretation has been nearly universally abandoned in scholarly circles. Most commentators favor something more along the line of a full-length coat or a long-sleeved coat, either of which would indicate that Joseph is management, not labor.”
Later, Potiphar’s wife will strip him of his cloak as he moves downward from slave boss to prisoner (next Sunday). But eventually, Pharaoh will clothe Joseph with fine linen and with a special ring to signify his new status in Egypt’s royal court. You find God’s hidden hand in something as ordinary as clothes.Where have you seen God’s hidden hand in your life?
2.3 The Man
But note that Joseph just happens to “a man” in verse 15 and watch the coincidences of this “man” for a moment.
1) This man just happened to run into Joseph;
2) This man just happened to hear the private conversation of the brothers;
3) And this man just happened to correctly direct Joseph to Dothan.
This one man is placed here for us to see the unseen hand of God. God’s hand is moving Joseph into place. God’s invisible fingerprints were seen in the substance and choreography of Joseph’s two dreams.
When Jacob last saw his beloved son, Joseph, walk off and over the horizon, he wouldn’t see him again for more than 20 years, or two decades.
It was Reuben who intervened; it was Reuben alone who showed pity. What motivated Reuben? Was it because he had already hurt his father badly? Remember Reuben slept with one of his father’s wives and his stepbrother’s mother: “While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it” (Genesis 35:22). While Reuben scrambled to save his brother’s life, the others fed themselves while Joseph sat doomed in a pit. Years later, it will be Joseph who feeds them bread but here they eat while he goes hungry. It was years later before Joseph learned of Reuben’s attempt to save his life:
“And Reuben answered them, ‘Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.’ They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes” (Genesis 42:22-24).
While the chapter ends sadly: “Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard” (Genesis 37:36) … the story is far from complete. It is through Joseph that God moves His people to Egypt for 400 years: “Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.’” (Genesis 15:13-14) God was positioning His people just where He wanted them.
Joseph’s life is a Romans 8:28 life: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) And so is yours – you life a Romans 8:28 life.
A Dysfunctional Family
God’s Hidden Hand
3. Pain’s Hidden Design
Two strangers sit on a plane next to one another. Earlier in the flight, the pilot announced that weather would cause the plane to be delayed by several hours. Minutes later, the pilot announces, there was a small break in the weather and the plane would land with minimal delay. On stranger looks to the other and says, “Someone up there loves me. I’m going to make my connecting flight.” The other stranger replies, “If you miss your flight, does that mean God doesn’t love you?”
We don’t often see God’s design behind the pain we suffer immediately, but make not mistake, there’s a design. No sooner than they sold him than they take the special coat and dip it in goat’s blood. They hand the torn and bloodied coat to Jacob and lie to their father. As Jacob saw stunned in grief, little did he know the deception being played on him. Little did he know that his sins had come full circle. For he has deceived his father with the skin of a goat, pretending to be his father’s favorite, Esau, and receive what was rightfully his older brother’s.
Go back with me for a moment to see a promise made to Joseph’s great-grandfather: “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:17-18)
Joseph didn’t see God’s hand immediately. It took time for him to see God’s hidden ways. Surely, the pain in his life was overwhelming at points along the way. Surely, the betrayal of his brothers hurt him deeply. And yet, years later before his brothers, he can say this: “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Genesis 45:7-8a)
God choreographed Joseph’s rejection in two ways: first, by his father’s favoring of Joseph over his brothers, and second, by God’s giving Joseph a vision of his own future exaltation.
The world never escapes His control – and neither do you. Joseph is by one stepping-stone on the journey to bring Jesus into the world: “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.” (Hebrews 11:22)
I began this message by talking about the complicating factors of a launch window. Now lean in… There are no miracles in Joseph’s story. God doesn’t suspend his natural laws to make things happen. The story is about the hidden but sure ways of God. The world never escapes His control.
