Genesis 37-50

There are not many passages in the Bible that set the tone of the narrative or passage as forcefully as this one. After just a couple of verses telling us where Jacob was living and some brief background information in verse 2 of chapter 37, we read these words in verse 3, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.” We have already seen the strife that this can cause, and here we are again— a perpetual cycle of spiritual and phycological damage caused by a parent who feels the need to pick a favorite child. 

This is how we are introduced to young Joseph— he was the favorite son of Jacob. And what makes this worse is the fact that Scripture is telling us that this was not something secretly hidden in the heart of Jacob, this was something that was obvious to the family. They weren’t just suspicious of it, they had evidence for it. Verse 4 tells us that they physically watched this special affection take place between their father and Joseph; and they watched so much of it that they began to hate Joseph, “And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.” 

This is how the tone of this narrative starts— it starts with hate. A hatred spurred by the envy and jealousy of nine older brothers toward their younger brother, Joseph. And so when Joseph is first given his call of greatness by God, this only spells trouble for him. 

I Have a Dream—  Genesis 37:5-11

Joseph said, “I have a dream!” And he did. God gave him a dream— actually a couple of them. In the first dream we find out that Joseph had a dream about sheaves, and one set of sheaves (which were his brothers), bowed before his sheaves. And then, we see that he had a second dream. In this the second dream, Joseph begins to tell about how he observed that the luminaries in the sky bowed before him.

Now, understand, the problem here is not the fact that Joseph had a couple of dreams. The problem is that he actually began telling his family about them, including his brothers, who had already started to hate him. And so, as you can imagine, the dreams did not help matters much whenever they realized that there were having to pay respect to him. Next time you find someone who really hates you, tell them that you had a dream that they were paying respect, and bowing before you and see how well that works out.  

However, we might wonder what would have happened if Joseph would have just thought quietly about these dreams, or simply lit a candle late at night and began to write these dreams down in a journal somewhere. Would things have turned out differently? 

We might also wonder what Joseph’s motives were in revealing these dreams to his family. Why would he even say such a thing? Was he simply excited about God’s plan? Was he simply trying to verbalize what God had revealed to him regarding the future of his family? Or was he your typical 17 year-old who just couldn’t help himself? 

I personally believe that this conversation came out of Joseph’s heart, and that he truly understood that God had a plan for his life. But this sense of direction and enthusiasm is something his brother’s could not stand. 

There is something important here, I think. We should really beware if we cannot rejoice in the prosperity and direction of others in our lives.

This is Not What I Thought— Genesis 37:12- 41:

Don’t misunderstand this. If God has revealed a path for your life, that is truly wonderful. But what God often does not include is the path it takes to get there. I happen to believe that if God revealed exactly what His plans were to us from the very beginning, many of us would have abandoned ship long before we even got started. 

But to be God’s vessel, you have to be refined God’s way. There is a process— a way— that God uses to make an individual his masterpiece.

That said, if you experience confusion, heart-ache, pain, suffering, betrayal, loss, or fear, I want you to take heart, because you’re in good company. It’s really easy for us to peer into our situations and try to pair them up with God’s promises and think, “This is not what I thought.” “This is not what I think of when I think of God’s blessing in my life.” It’s about at this point that you may become confused when you read or remember verses like Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” In the confusion of a circumstance, this verse is quoted almost like a battle cry among some Christians who think that if they can just love God enough, then He will eventually turn out something that they think is “good” for them. It’s as if the “undesirable experience” that has come into their life is to be endured simply for endurance sake, until God finally breaks through with the ‘good’ that is supposed to come out of it. But the question is, what is the good that all things work together for whenever life isn’t going quite like you thought it was supposed to? Well that is found in the verse right below, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.…” (vs. 29) Now this gives us the full picture. The ‘good’ that all things work together for, is to be ‘conformed into the image of Christ.’ It is to that end that we have hope. Despite what is going on in our lives, God is using it to conform us, or mold us, into the very image of Christ. And I have to tell you, you’re not going to have a greater good come from your life than God shaping you to look like Himself, so that you can be the most effective vessel for His glory that you possibly can be. 

And that is what we begin to see in the life of Joseph— God was beginning to mold him. 

As his narrative unfolds, it all starts by his father, Jacob, asking Joseph to go check on his brothers and on the flocks. Verse 14 says, “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 Schechem.”

As we find in the the following verses, Joseph’s brothers see Joseph well before he is within earshot of them, and their hearts immediately fill with envy and anger simply by just looking at him. They begin verbally expressing their hatred. In fact, this hatred is so uncontrollable, that as they were speaking, they weren’t satisfied with simply feeling an emotion, they needed to do something about it, permanently. They looked at Joseph, they remembered his dreams, and they saw his coat. Everything about Joseph reminded them about their father’s favoritism and their own insecurities. Now, what were they going to do about it?

The plan at first was to kill him; but eventually the consensus is to sell him to some of the nomadic Ishmaelite people who happened to be passing by in that area. So a deal is struck for twenty pieces of silver and away the 17 year-old Joseph is taken. He is taken by a people whom he doesn’t know, and into a land he doesn’t know, and now is forced into a way of life he doesn’t know as a human slave. 

What did Joseph think about his dreams now? Joseph did have a promise from God by way of a dream, but this dream seemed to be more of a nightmare at this point. How in the world does this fit in to God’s plan? 

Chapter 39—  Despite the traumatic experience we’ve just left, by the time we enter into chapter 39, everything seems to be going as well as could be expected. Joseph has a good job, he has a good testimony, he has learned the value of hard work and responsibility. In fact, he is so successful that the master of the house, Potiphar, made him ruler of all his possessions. This is not a bad gig considering that Potiphar was an officer (or official) of Pharaoh’s court. But still, there is this waiting game. This looked like a waste of time. Once again, what do we do about God’s plan? What about the dream? This could not have been anywhere near what Joseph thought, when he thought about God’s plan being fulfilled in his life. Where is the good that can come out of this slave life, even if this particular area of slavery happened to be a good one? 

To make matters more confusing, Joseph’s life as he knew it, again, was about to come to a screeching halt as Potiphar’s wife becomes more pronounced in the story. She begins to make several sexual advances on Joseph, of which Joseph promptly and concisely refuses every single time. And instead of simply getting the point, she eventually, after he last advance, feels the need to accuse Joseph of attempted rape which lands him in prison. 

And this is where chapter 39 ends. It ends with Joseph in prison, but once again finding favor with those placed over him. 

Chapter 40— As we get into chapter 40, Joseph proves to be so dependable, even in the small things, that he was given charge over all of the prisoners, and had even made a couple of friends while he was in there. These men, one the chief baker, and the other the chief butler, had in some way made Pharaoh angry. Obviously, we can imagine how upset and timid these men would be about their condition, but they became even more upset once they were both troubled by dreams that each of them had. 

Well dreams just happened to be Joseph’s specialty. Joseph told these men that if they told him about their dreams that they were so upset about, then he would pray to God for the interpretation and tell them what these dreams meant. Joseph only has bad news for the Baker, but good news to the Butler, and asks that when he gets out of prison and is restored, to not forget what Joseph had done for him and plead his case of a wrongful accusation before Pharaoh. 

Sadly though, the Butler is restored, but completely forgets about Joseph. As a result, Joseph is still stuck in jail for an offense he did not commit. You can hear the questions again can’t you? Where is God in all of this? How is this helping? What about God’s promise? Has God forgotten about me? Though we don’t read anything like this from Joseph’s life, we certainly know that he didn’t want to be where he was, else he wouldn’t have asked the Butler to remember to plead his case. The fact is, every temptation was there to feel resentment, anger, bitterness, self-pity and any other negative emotion that we want to throw in there. For two more years, there is plenty of time for Joseph to think about all of this. 

Chapter 41— However, as we move to the next chapter, we find that Pharaoh himself has a dream. Pharaoh is so troubled by this dream that everyone begins to hear about it— including our Butler who suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do two years ago.

This brings about a rapid turn of events. Joseph is suddenly brought before Pharaoh and asked about his ability. Joseph tells Pharaoh that he actually has not power, but that anything he receives, he received of God, and from there, God reveals the meaning of the dream to Joseph. Suddenly, after the course of a single conversation, Joseph is set up as second in command in the most powerful kingdom in the world at the time. 

I See it Now— Genesis 42-50

When we first meet Joseph, we meet him at the tender age of 17. Now, as the second in command of the nation of Egypt, he is 30. Thirteen years have passed in order for Joseph’s life to finally make sense. 

This becomes immediately obvious after we see that these final chapters have to do with several trips made by Joseph’s brothers, traveling from Canaan to Egypt in order to buy grain because of the massive famine that struck all the lands in the area. But because of God’s inside information to Joseph by way of Pharaoh’s dream, Egypt was more than ready for this event. These chapters build and build before Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, reconciles with them, and is given a final chance to be with his father after all of this time. In chapter 37, Joseph is sent to go see his brothers. By the time we reach chapter 42, Joseph’s brothers are instructed to go see him. 

If this was our story, we can easily think of all kinds of clever ways to get back at his brothers. If this was a Greek play, I’m sure the audience would have expected a just reward for the thirteen years stolen from Joseph. And so as anticipation builds, as we’re waiting for revenge, we suddenly find that Joseph’s response was more powerful and cut more deeply to the heart than anything else he could have done— he reconciles with them. 

In fact, Joseph’s response is such a shock to his brothers that they can hardly believe it. They fully expected to be judged for what they had done. And this is when we start to learn something very significant about Joseph’s outlook in response to his brother’s surprise after everything was said and done. He tells them in 50:19 “… Fear not, for am I in the place of God? He continues in verse 20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” 

Joseph said, “I see it now.” He finally realized everything that he had gone through completely had a purpose. God had not forgotten him and was very much in control the entire time. Joseph was going to lead, but it was going to be in God’s time and in God’s way. God had to first give Joseph a make-over before he was to sit in the place that God had for him. 

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Summary: There is an important phrase to follow all throughout Joseph’s life, and those are the words, “But the LORD was with Joseph…” Circumstances can’t do much to an individual who recognizes God’s power and presence is always with them. Now, this doesn’t mean that we go through life emotionless and untouched by our circumstances, but it does mean that God can use all of it to bring about his purpose and that we can trust in Him for it to that end.

We might still be waiting for answers in light of God’s promises that seem to be far, far in the distance. We may look around and say, “That’s not what I thought.” But according to the Bible, there will be a day, in this life or the next, when we say, “I see it now… It all makes sense… and God you were getting glory the entire time.” The story of Joseph provides us a powerful example of God’s complete sovereignty over all of human history and that no matter what we face, God can always be trusted.

Discussion Points:

Discuss how each of these points are applied to this Biblical narrative: 

• A Mature Faith does not lose sight of God’s Promises.  
• Never Losing Sight of God’s Promises means Never Losing sight of God’s Word.  
• A Mature Faith knows how to use both current circumstances and past circumstances as an advantage for the future.  
• God does not work the way that man thinks He should work.