When You're Put In A Pit

Genesis 37:13-28 “When you’re Put into a Pit” 3/9/25 a.m.

28 years ago we had bought the property that we live on today, we had moved a Mobile Home in, and my mother-in-law was out walking in the woods behind the Mobile and ... she found a PIT. A DEEP PIT. Somewhere between 15 and 20 foot deep and lined with stones. I think it’s an old hand dug well, around 4 foot diameter and straight down. It’s not really deep enough to have water in it year round and so I don’t really know what use it is. I mean, my mother-in-law didn’t fall into so what good is it? Just kidding.

Anyway, it was flush with the ground and there was nothing to keep a person or an animal from falling into it. It was kind of scary. The fellow we bought the property from had no idea it was even there.

And so I decided to see what was at the bottom. I got an extension ladder and I climbed down in there. It was a little bit UNNERVING. I’d fill up a bucket with dirt and a friend would pull it up with a rope and dump it. I shovelled out a lot of dirt and some rocks that had fallen in and .... COW BONES. Somehow through the years a cow had fallen into that PIT. What a rough way to go.

When we look at Genesis Chapter 37, we find a fellow by the name of Joseph and he’s down in a PIT. And sometimes we find ourselves down in a PIT. So let’s take a few minutes and turn to Genesis Chapter 37, and we’ll read Verses 13-28,

“And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.

22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;

24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

What a HORRIBLE THING for Joseph to have to endure. Being PUT into a PIT. And that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. “When You’re Put into a Pit.”

And so before we get started, let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

I’m sure as Joseph set there in that PIT, his mind was RACING on how he wound up there. Because I think Joseph KNEW. I think he knew what caused his brothers to throw him down into that HOLE.