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.
To add insult to injury, Israel makes Joseph a multicolored robe - an expensive full-length robe the kind of robe worn by the children of royalty. This robe showed the brothers how much Israel loved Joseph and also implied that Joseph was superior to them. Everything about Joseph’s life stirred up…
2. His Brothers’ Hatred
In verse 4, they hated him so much that no matter how hard Joseph tried, his brothers wouldn’t speak to him. And yet, in verse 5, Joseph felt compelled to share his dream with them.Joseph tells them a dream that symbolically used sheaves that foretold his rise to prominence over his brothers (5-8). The sheaves in verse 7 might suggest that one day Joseph’s brothers would depend on him for grain. Instead of his brothers responding in awe, which perhaps Joseph was expecting, they mockingly respond with, “Are you actually going to reign over us like a king?” Or will you rule over us like a tyrant? In their minds there was no way they were going to let this happen.
All of us have crazy dreams from time to time - most make no sense whatsoever. But in Joseph’s case, he knew his dreams were prophetic. He didn’t know when or how these things would come to pass, he only knew that God would be the One to do it. This escalated his brothers’ anger even more.
Question: Does God use dreams and visions today? [He did in the book of Acts. There have been many reports of more and more muslims having dreams and visions of Jesus and then later coming to Christ. I was recently watching Sean McDowell interviewing a missionary doctor, Tom Doyle who serves in different Muslim countries. He said there is a remarkable rise in supernatural encounters with Jesus (especially in dreams) that are causing more and more Muslims to come to faith.
As you know, we need to consider truth claims regarding dreams & visions and should keep the following in mind:
1) the Bible is complete, and it tells us everything we need to
know, so there are no more extra revelations
2) any dream or vision that contradicts the Word of God is a
false revelation;
3) Our focus is to be on Christ, His truth informs us if our
experiences are from God - our experience doesn’t inform
truth.
Through Joseph’s dreams God was revealing His plan for the nation of Israel. He was going to be used to save his own family, the nation, and the other nations from utter famine. His brothers were looking at his dreams like a mirror - worried about how it will negatively affect them, instead of like a window - asking what God might be accomplishing through this. What is God’s long term plan?
Isn’t this like us sometimes? We get so focused on all that’s happening around the world today and how it will negatively affect us. Instead we should be asking, “What is God doing through all of this? How is His plan for this world being unfolded?”
Joseph’s brothers hated him because he was Israel’s favorite
and hated him even more because of his dream and the implications. It’s one thing to be angry but hatred is a whole other level.
We later see how his brothers’ jealousy, anger, and hatred lead them eventually planning to go as far as murdering him. We can also see here how the emotions of anger and hatred go hand in hand and how destructive they can be. Hate burrows deep within a person, subjectively fueling hostility that may lead to feelings and thoughts of revenge. It can be a powerful irrational impetus to take action–to hurt or even destroy the target of our hatred. When we get angry our rational faculties get short circuited - we stop thinking and then say and do things that we later regret.
Maybe we think, “Oh, most people today would never go that far with their anger toward another person.” But don’t we see cases in the news everyday where someone snaps and starts shooting at people they hate? People who are standing in opposition to their views? And the crazier thing is that people then justify cold-blooded murder and even rejoice in it.
What does God say about anger? [That we are to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to get angry and that our anger doesn’t produce the righteousness of God (James 1:19-20). God also tells us to leave vengeance to Him and not take it into our own hands to retaliate.]
Doesn’t God get angry, doesn’t He hate? [Yes. Aren’t we supposed to hate sin, aren’t we supposed to hate injustice? Yes
Godly anger is described as “passion or energy” intended to help us solve problems like injustice. It alerts us to those times when others are attempting to or have violated our boundaries. Godly anger or righteous anger is motivated by a love for God, love for His truth, love for others and justice. Positive anger motivates you enough to solve the problem at hand, to change what is necessary (attitude and action), to right the wrong, without causing harm, without demeaning other people or damaging your relationships with others. We hate what God hates but we love what He loves. That is why it is possible to be angry and not sin - and at the same time don’t let the sun set on your anger - do not let fester - don’t go to bed angry.
For some reason, Joseph didn’t get it - his words and actions had stirred something up in his brothers’ hearts. It might have been better to keep these dreams to himself but he couldn’t hold back and shares the second dream about how the whole family will bow to him. When their brothers heard this they were envious of him and it was their jealousy that was the root of their hatred.
Alister Begg said that jealousy can be profound in its impact. It can decimate a friendship, dissolve a romance, destroy a marriage, create tension in relationships, nullify unity on a team, poison relationships in a family and in relationships on just about every front.
One philosopher said, “As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion.” William Penn wrote, “The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves.” Jealousy will eat you and everyone around you alive.
James 3:16 says:
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder [unrest, rebellion] and every evil thing and morally degrading practice.
If we are honest, we would have to admit we have all experienced jealousy - whether feeling overlooked in our workplace, in the family, or even in the church. Maybe someone is getting more attention than me, more likes, more praise. Jealousy will keep others down because it can’t stand to see someone else succeed or seemingly blessed beyond what I’m experiencing. Do we recognize it when jealousy rears its ugly head in ourselves? Do we recognize when jealousy turns to hatred? It’s easy to blame a person or situation for these emotions but in reality it’s also revealing something in my own heart.
1. How should we handle hatred and anger so these emotions don’t control us?
2. How do we respond when others are favored?
Even though Israel was also irritated by Joseph’s words, he thought about them and took them to heart. What was God’s plan for Joseph and how was He going to use his life? Joseph was the object of his father’s love, his brothers’ hatred but also the object of..
3. God’s Providential Plan
God’s providence assures us that He is governing over His creation in order to work out His good purposes through it on our behalf. That means He uses every pleasant and painful experience to complete His redemption and fulfill His purposes. God’s providence assures us that He is near, His presence is with and among us. God is aware of all our ways. He’s attentive to our cries for help when we suffer injustice, to our needs for love and affirmation, for strength for what He has called us to do. But we can’t expect these from people - He wants to be our source of life, our source for love and significance, for affirmation and strength.
As we continue to look at the life of Joseph we will see the incredible intricacies of God’s providential plan despite all the injustices, the anger and abuse he suffered, the word says that the Lord was with him. Do you ever feel this way - that you are forgotten by people you love? Feel hated by people whose jealousy has turned to anger and even hatred? Even when Joseph was forgotten by men, despised, and hated, God had not forgotten Joseph and was always working behind the scenes. It’s the same in your life.
Whose life did Joseph's life foreshadow? [Jesus Christ’s who was despised, rejected, and hated, also because of jealousy of the religious Jews but He was and is the object of His Father’s love. Jesus experienced incredible humbling and crushing but then was exalted to the position of the right hand of His Father.]
How does this truth about God’s providence speak to us today?
