Genesis (2011) 37A Having transitined ut f a stry f Isaac last week, we turn ur attentin t the generatins f Jacb In particular, we embark upn the mst fascinating stry in Genesis and perhaps in all the Old Testament the stry f Jseph The stry is s well lved because it s great drama Mre imprtantly, it fllws several imprtant themes that hld ur attentin and spur a lt f thelgical debate In particular, the stry f Jseph is a stry f Gd s svereignty In this accunt, Mses hlds bth sides f Gd s svereignty in balance, r sme might say in tensin First we have the sin f Jacb s sns By their will, they make sinful chices, and these chices plunge the family int crisis But thrugh thse sinful desires, Gd accmplishes a plan He set frth decades earlier In the end, man s sin becmes the means f accmplishing Gd s will But men have lng marveled at hw Gd can accmplish exactly the gd He intends by taking advantage f men s sinful desires It leaves us asking, what if a man never chses t sin, hw wuld Gd have accmplished the plan? Is man really chsing what he wants freely? If s, then hw can a man s free will fit s perfectly int Gd s plan when we knw Gd isn t the authr f sin? The answer, f curse, is that there is a mystery beynd ur ability t recncile, yet we accept what the text f scripture gives us Mses accunt f Jseph will bring man s will and Gd s will tgether t explain the reasn fr Jseph s departure fr Egypt and his brther s eventual fllwing 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 2 f 10 First, Mses shws us this is Gd at wrk t accmplish what He tld Abraham In chapters 37 and 39-45, we watch Gd s wrking t bring Jseph and the rest f Jacb s family int Egypt accrding t His will Secndly, Mses shws us that Jseph s slavery is made necessary by the sinful will f his brthers They will hate Jseph and cnspire t kill him and later sell him t slave traders Mre ver, Judah s sin detailed in chapter 38 will give us added explanatin fr Gd s purpse in the exile f Israel S ur first pririty in Jseph s stry will be in understanding hw Gd takes evil, sinful hearts and uses them t prduce exactly the gd utcme Gd purpsed Speaking f taking evil and turning it t gd, that leads us t the secnd principle we will fllw in the stry f Jseph: Jseph as a picture f Christ There is prbably n OT character whse life better represents Christ than Jseph Sme schlars have fund upwards f 130 similarities between Jesus and Jseph It s imprtant t nte that these parallels t Jesus life d nt appear in the text in chrnlgical rder t match Jesus life They ccur in randm rder These similarities aren t just there fr ur amusement The similarities are intended t draw ur attentin t a larger parallel What we see Gd ding n behalf f Israel thrugh Jseph parallels what the Lrd eventually des fr the natin f Israel thrughut histry, especially in the last days f Tribulatin Finally, we will examine ur cntinuing stry f the seed prmise and hw the Lrd mves that prmise ever frward tward Christ in the family f Judah and Jseph 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 3 f 10 We knw Jacb has twelve sns, nevertheless, the tldat f Jacb is largely limited t the stry f Judah and Jseph That tells us immediately that the questin f the seed prmise is limited t fllwing these tw men By the time we reach the end f Genesis, we will ave ut answers Gen. 37:1 Nw Jacb lived in the land where his father had sjurned, in the land f Canaan. Gen. 37:2 These are the recrds f the generatins f Jacb. Jseph, when seventeen years f age, was pasturing the flck with his brthers while he was still a yuth, alng with the sns f Bilhah and the sns f Zilpah, his father s wives. And Jseph brught back a bad reprt abut them t their father. Gen. 37:3 Nw Israel lved Jseph mre than all his sns, because he was the sn f his ld age; and he made him a variclred tunic. Gen. 37:4 His brthers saw that their father lved him mre than all his brthers; and s they hated him and culd nt speak t him n friendly terms. The chapter pens with the tenth and final tldat f Genesis It begins with Jseph and cntinues t the end f Genesis It tells hw the stry f Gd s redemptive wrk mved frm Jacb t the next generatin and beynd As we begin, we re reminded f Jseph s place and circumstances in the family Jseph is the eleventh sn f Jacb, the first f Rachel By the time we get t chapter 37, he s abut 17 years ld In terms f age, he is clsest in age t his natural brther Benjamin And Jseph s natural mther, the wman Jacb lved, has died by nw These circumstances place Jseph in the difficult situatin He is the favrite f his father, because he was first brn f Rachel Yet he is very nearly the lwest ranking sn in the family, at least by wrldly standards 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 4 f 10 Within this delicate situatin, Jseph will have a tremendus challenge He will have the great lve and affectin f his father, a man wh sees Jseph as his greatest gift frm his belved departed wife He will als have t deal with his brthers jealusy and resentment, and they will expect t lrd ver him since they are lder This family saga is directly the result f Jacb s wn character flaws Jacb has always shwn favritism, creating jealusies And he was a man wh didn t rest in Gd s wrk and will, but fught against family and fe t btain what he wanted Nw, his sns struggle t gain what they want, never seeking the Lrd The stry pens in v.2 with a curius accunt f Jseph and his brthers wrking tgether Jseph is ut in the field shepherding with his ther yung brthers, which wuld be typical The yungest are ften the nes tasked with shepherding flcks, as David is ding when he was aninted by Samuel But Jseph is said t be pasturing r feeding the sheep, an indicatin that he was in charge, even amng lder brthers Apparently, he had been placed in a psitin f authrity even at an early age by his father Then in v.3 we re tld Jacb lved Jseph the mst And at first we are prbably tempted t assume this favritism as just anther in the lng line f such pr relatinships Isaac had shwed preference fr Esau, Rebekah fr Jacb, Jacb fr Rachel rather than Leah, and nw Jseph ver his brthers Certainly, Jacb des have that sinful tendency t shw favritism, but there is likely much mre ging here 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 5 f 10 Jacb lves Jseph mre than the ther sns because Jseph was the sn f his ld age Sme have taken this t mean that he lved Jseph the mst because Jseph came late in Jacb s life But if that were the case, lgic wuld dictate that Benjamin wuld have been the mst lved nt Jseph Benjamin was als sn Rachel and he was brn last and his birth included the death f Rachel In reality, the phrase sn f his ld age in Hebrew is ben zaqun, which literally means wise sn In fact the wrd zaqun can als be translated as beard r bearded, a sign f bth age and wisdm S Jacb s lve fr Jseph was a reflectin f Jseph s wisdm Jacb s ther sns had already shwn a terrible track recrd in Schechem, hardly endearing themselves t their father But Jseph had apparently demnstrated wisdm and maturity beynd his years, earning his father s cnfidence N dubt, Jacb appreciated having smene he culd trust wrking fr him Jacb even went s far as t make his appreciatin fr Jseph leadership plainly knwn, but granting him a special cat r rbe The wrd fr multiclred is pas and has n clear meaning It culd just mean lng-sleeved But it s meaning was clear t the family Jseph s rbe represented Jseph s authrity ver the sns Rbes were an ancient sign f authrity and hnr A rbe als signified the hlder f the birthright, smething the ldest wuld nrmally pssess Remember, the prdigal sn wh returned was awarded the ring and rbe, which angered the lder sn 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 6 f 10 The lder sn it cmmunicated that the place f hnr was ging t the yunger sn Jacb is awarding the place f hnr and authrity within the family t Jseph, thugh this was very much against the custms f the culture It may have als been easier fr Jacb t make such an award having been the yungest in his family t But nevertheless, it enraged his brthers, wh likely saw Jacb s decisin as merely anther example f Jacb s unfair favritism It s irnic that Jacb seems t be rewarding Jseph fr the right reasns in this case, but his sns still react negatively The lessn here is bvius It s like crying wlf After a while, n matter hw hard yu try t change perceptins, yur reputatin matters mre than the facts Let s wrk t prtect ur witness and Christian reputatin therwise we neutralize ur pprtunity t influence thers fr Christ At sme pint in his shepherding duties, Jseph brught back a bad reprt f his brthers accrding t v.2 We dn t knw what the reprt was abut, but it s nt hard t imagine We knw Jacb s sns are prne t misbehavir, including little weaknesses like murder, rape, and general mayhem S it s nt hard t imagine hw they may have misbehaved while shepherding the flck As jealus as they were f Jseph, perhaps they had been intentinally lazy and rebellius, leaving all the wrk t Jseph Whatever the ffense, Jseph decides t reprt it t the father What wuld have been the cnsequence f such a reprt? These yung men are t ld t physically punish Perhaps the family inheritance was at stake 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 7 f 10 Perhaps smething much mre serius was at stake (remember Jacb s threat t kill whever stle the idls) Jseph s situatin raises ne f the mre interesting questins every family faces sner r later When is it right t infrm parents f anther s misbehavir r t verlk a transgressin fr fear f being labeled a tattletale Fr example, was Jseph right r wrng here t infrm his father f the brthers indiscretin? When we read this accunt t ur children, shuld we end by telling them, See what happens when yu tattle...yur brthers will sell yu int slavery. Or perhaps we might say, See, if yu tell me everything that yur brthers d wrng, I ll give yu the best clthes. Or in my case, If yu dn t tell Mmmy yu saw me drinking range juice frm the jug in the refrigeratr, I ll give yu a dllar. In fact, what is a tattletale? I lked the wrd up in the Webster s Dictinary, and it gave me the very helpful definitin f ne that tattles It ges n t define tattling as gssiping r repeating hearsay In ther wrds, a tattletale is smene wh gives false reprts f smene else It invlves dishnesty What can we knw abut Jseph s behavir in this case? We have n evidence that Jseph was giving a false reprt t Jacb And knwing his brther s past indiscretins, we have every reasn t assume Jseph was reprting the truth We culd even g s far as assuming Jseph carried himself with a bit f arrgance r perhaps he lacked diplmacy as a leader 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 8 f 10 If that was s, it certainly wuldn t have helped him win his brthers Nevertheless, even if these assumptins were true, it wuldn t give justificatin fr his brthers t resent Jseph s reprt Scripture s descriptin f Jseph s actins is entirely neutral fashin, withut any negative slant r cmmentary If anything, his actins are prtrayed as the burdens f a yung man rising t the difficult challenge f ruling ver rebellius men S what d we tell ur children abut Jseph s situatin? Was he tattling r was he ding the right thing? The simple answer was Jseph was giving a truthful reprt t his father Mre ver, Jseph had been given the psitin f authrity and had a duty t let his father knw abut his brther s inapprpriate behavir Jseph did his jb As parents, if we chse t place an lder child in a supervisry rle ver siblings, let Jseph s situatin be yur mdel First, he was a wise and mature yung man, accrding t scripture Make sure yur children are ready fr the respnsibility Can they execute their leadership duties in fairness and with restraint? Secndly, every child shuld understand that yu expect all misbehavir t be reprted Such a reprt is nt tattling if it is truthful If we are ging t stand fr righteusness, then we must stand behind thse wh seek t reveal unrighteusness Obviusly, we need t be careful abut raising little busybdies 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 9 f 10 We can discern between helpful reprts and thse that have n gd purpse beynd causing truble But let s be sure we dn t cause thse wh reprt the truth fearful f the cnsequences Instead, let s make thse wh misbehave fearful f yur discipline Finally, make clear that the child in authrity has n latitude t take the law int their wn hands Jseph made n attempt t discipline his brthers He simply reprted and allwed the father t act In Jseph s situatins, we dn t knw what cnsequences Jacb handed ut, but v.4 makes the critical pint The brthers saw clearly that Jacb lved Jseph mre We understand Jacb had sensible reasns fr favring Jseph But thse reasns culdn t vershadw the reality that bred their intense hatred t the pint that Jseph s brthers didn t even speak t him Jseph was a pariah within in his wn family Even at this early pint, we have sme clear pictures f Christ we can see Jseph s birth happened nly after a supernatural interventin by the Lrd Jesus was brn f a virgin by the Hly Spirit Jseph was the sn Jacb lved Jesus was the belved Sn f the Father We can als see ur ther themes emerging at this early pint as well The sin f Jseph s brthers is already beginning t perclate They despite their brther, but nt fr any fault f his wn As far as we can tell, Jseph is blameless in this relatinship 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 37A 10 f 10 He is simply serving and beying his father But by that service he is angering his sinful brthers This is never mre true when Jseph s bedience bring light t the brthers sin against their father Once again, here s a parallel t Christ Jesus said He came t d the Father s will Jhn 6:38 Fr I have cme dwn frm heaven, nt t d My wn will, but the will f Him wh sent Me. But we knw that as Jesus beyed the Father, He brught cnvictin t sinful, unbelieving Israel Jseph s 11 brthers were the natin Israel and therefre they represent the entire natin prphetically And as Jseph s brthers came t hate their righteus brther, s did the men f Israel cme t hate Jesus in His righteusness Next week the plt thickens as Jseph alienates nt nly his brthers but als his father 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.