Genesis 37 What a family background!!
In Britain there are a couple of TV programs that are called this: One is called “holidays from hell” –explain-. The other is called “neighbors from hell”.
I remember watching a program about a family that was described by their neighbors as a family from Hell. The man and woman who were living together had each been married before one of them a couple of times.
There were several children in the home, with only two of them sharing the same father and mother. The parents were loud and abusive not only to each other but also to others in the street. Every other word they spoke was a swear word.
They were frequently drunk and quite violent. The effect this had upon the children was somewhat predictable. Growing up in such an atmosphere they were very quick to pick up on and copy the character traits of their parents.
They too were cheeky, violent, abusive, using foul language and so on. Their home environment certainly played a significant role in shaping and molding their character and their conduct.
The sins of the parents were reproduced in their children. Modern day Psychologists tell us that we are the product of our upbringing and that our family background and relationships will determine how we will turn out as adults.
That’s why when a person goes for counseling one of the first areas that the counselor will explore will be ones childhood and family background. Now if this is true then we would expect to see this principle being worked out in the life of Joseph.
1) His family background
What was Joseph’s family background like? What were the influences to which he was subjected as he was growing up in his home? And how did those influences affect Joseph in those formative years of his life?
As you study Joseph’s family background you soon discover that it was a seed-bed of deception, of rivalry, of in-fighting, of jealousy, of hatred, of immorality of cruelty and much more besides. It certainly wasn’t the sort of family from which one would have expected such a godly young man as Joseph to emerge.
On the human level the family influences and examples, of parents and of older brothers, that Joseph was exposed to, from his earliest days, were predominantly sinful.
Were it not for the grace of God and the sovereign purpose of God in relation to the life of this young man, those sinful negative influences could so easily have so molded him in his character that he would have turned out to be just as sinful in his attitudes and conduct as the rest of the members of his family.
Let’s have a look then, for a few minutes, at his family background. To say that Joseph’s family was a dysfunctional family is something of an understatement.
One has to go back into the earlier narratives of the book of Genesis to fit the various pieces of the jig-saw of Joseph’s family background together.
And as you pick up the various pieces you discover that one of the pieces of that jig-saw has the word Deception written across it in bold letters, because deception was woven into the very fabric of this familie’s life.
Jacob, Joseph’s father was a deceiver from his earliest days, and he learned the art of deception and was encouraged in the practice of it by his mother Rebekah.
And as you read the history of this family circle you discover one case of deception after another. You recall for example, how encouraged by and conspiring with his mother Rebekah, Jacob deceived his ageing and almost blind father Isaac into bestowing the blessing of the family inheritance upon him instead of his brother Esau who was the rightful heir as the eldest of the two sons. (Gen27).
You remember how as a result of that deception there developed such a hatred towards Jacob on the part of Esau that Esau vowed to kill Jacob.
That led in turn to Rebekah once again demonstrating her lying and deceptive streak by persuading Isaac to send Jacob away to Laban to supposedly look for a wife when in fact the real reason was to save her favorite son’s skin from his brothers murderous intentions. (End of Gen 27).
Then as you follow the story through you discover that Laban, Rebekah’s brother, also manifested this particular personal characteristic of deception, when he deceived Jacob on his wedding night by giving him Leah as his wife, instead of Rachel whom he loved.
I don’t know how Jacob fell for that. My mum always tells me open your eyes very wide before you get married because after that you will have to close them many times.
Then there was further scheming and deception in the business deal that Jacob and Laban struck up over the division of their livestock with each trying to get the better of the other.
Then as you pursue the story further you discover Rachel deceiving her father Laban over the household idols. So woven into the very fabric of this family’s past history and character is the trait of deceit.
And you don’t go to far into the story of Joseph before you realize that deceit was still very much a part of this family circle.
But as well as being characterized by Deception, Joseph’s family’s past history and their present state was also marked by Rivalry, Jealousy and Hatred.
As far as the past history of this family were concerned you can see such rivalry, jealousy and hatred in the relationship between Jacob and Esau after the inheritance scam that Jacob pulled on his brother. But such attitudes and feelings were not confined to the past.
The very same characteristics were present within Jacob’s own household as Leah and Rachel competed with one another for the position of prominence within the family and engaged in a personal battle the one with the other, a battle in which feelings of jealousy and hatred ran high.
Then too we should note that Joseph was growing up in a family environment where to say the least his elder brothers were certainly not a very good example to him when it came to matters of morality.
We know for example from ch 35v22 that Reuben had an affair with Bilhah, who in effect was his stepmother and from ch 38 that Judah after the death of his wife, wasn’t averse to satisfying his sexual desires by engaging in a spot of kerb crawling for prostitutes.
So Joseph’s family background wasn’t what you might call promising from a spiritual point of view. It was sordid and shameful. Here was a young man growing up in a highly dysfunctional family environment that was characterized by deceit, cruelty, immorality, friction, rivalry, Jealousy and hatred.
Now if the Psychologists are right then Joseph should have turned out just like his others brothers. But the fact of the matter is he didn’t. Despite growing up in such an environment and being exposed to such spiritually negative and damaging influences for the first seventeen years of his life Joseph turned out to be a godly young man.
2) Lessons we can learn
I think there are one or two spiritual lessons we can draw from what we have considered: Joseph’s family background
The first thing I think that I need to say is this. It is undoubtedly true that the influences and examples to which a person is exposed in their family life CAN and very often DO influence and shape and mould that person with regards to their future character and conduct.
Max Jukes lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go.
He has had 1,026 descendants--300 were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years each; 190 were public prostitutes; 680 were admitted alcoholics. His family thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They have made no contribution to society that is of any benefit.
Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability.
He has had 929 descendants--of these, 430 were ministers; 86 became university presidents; 75 authored good books; five were elected to the United States Congress and two to the Senate.
One was Vice-President of this nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.
What parents practice can say some things about what kids will practice.
In Italy there was a contest about who could have worst and longest swear phrases and curses. A lot of people took part in it. But to everyone’s surprise the contest was won by a 15 year old boy. The organizers were baffled and asked him.
How did you win that, you are only a 15 year old kid? It was easy the boy said. All I had to do was to remember some of the discussions that mummy and daddy have at home.
When a schoolboy went home with a pain in his stomach, his mom said, "Well, sit down and drink your tea. Your stomach hurts because it’s empty. It’ll be all right when you’ve got something in it."
Afterward Dad came home from the office, complaining of a headache. "That’s because it’s empty," said the bright son. "You’d be all right if you had something in it."
Jacob’s mother Rebekah by her own example encouraged Jacob to be deceptive. It was Rebekah who dressed Jacob up, like Esau and who made the pot of stew for him to take in to his father and who encouraged him to secure the family inheritance for himself. Jacob was undoubtedly influenced by his mother’s sinful example.
The sins of the grandparents and the parents were reproduced in the lives of these, their children. So, yes, the atmosphere in which a child is brought up CAN and often DOES influence them.
This is the case not only in Joseph’s family circle but also in other family circles in the Bible. For example, at the end of the book of I Kings we read of the death one of Israel’s most wicked kings, Ahab.
The record goes on to tell us that he was succeeded by his son Ahaziah and this is what the Bible has to say about him “He reigned over Israel for two years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother…he served and worshipped Baal…just as his father had done.”
Now that being the case let me ask you parents here this evening. “What kind of atmosphere are you creating within your home in which your children are growing up. What kind of example are you setting before your children?
Let me put it to you like this. If it were to turn out that the principle factor, on a human level, in shaping and molding your children’s character and conduct for their future life was their family upbringing, the sort of example that you set them as parents, what sort of men and women are they going to be?
Are they going to be men and women who get practically involved in the work and witness of the Church because you have set them such a good example in this respect? Because you attended the church meetings?
There is a second lesson that we can learn– and it is something that serves as a balance to the point I have just made; Because while it is true that family atmosphere, environment and example CAN and often DOES influence the way a young person turns out it DOES NOT, I repeat it DOES NOT INEVITABLY dictate it.
In other words just because a young person grows up in family atmosphere where deceit and jealousy and rivalry and immorality and hatred and so on predominate, that doesn’t mean that he or she will inevitably end up being deceitful, and envious and immoral and so on.
If ever there was a young man who was exposed to ungodly influences, if ever there was a young man who was exposed to peer pressure, if ever there was a young man who was tempted to simply go with the flow, it was Joseph.
And yet such was not the case for Joseph was of a completely different character to his brothers. He was an upright and godly young man. He refused to identify with and to participate in their sinful ways. God in his grace did not allow Joseph to be adversely affected by the unpromising environment in which he grew up.
How is your influence and what legacy will you leave with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren?
04/29/2001
