Central Thought: The destiny of one who fears God is secured.
Hymn: I need thee every hour
Text: Genesis 37:1-28
Joseph was the first son of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife. While in Paddanaram, Jacob saw and loved Rachel and arranged to serve the father, Laban for seven years in order to marry her, but Laban gave Leah, his oldest daughter (and Rachel’s elder sister) to Jacob instead. According to Laban, their custom demands that the older one marries before the younger.
Jacob because of his love for Rachel worked seven more years as requested by his father-in-law in order to marry her. Leah was quite fruitful as she bore him many children, but Rachel was barren until the birth of Joseph.
Being the first son of his favorite wife “and the son of his old age” (Genesis 37:3), Jacob loved Joseph more than the other children. This was demonstrated in the coat of many colors which he gave to Joseph alone-of all his sons. This heightened the hatred Joseph’s brother had for him and was worsened when he told them of his dreams, suggesting that they, along with his father and mother, would one day bow before him.
Joseph was very serviceable in the family. He was devoted to the care of his father Jacob, in his old age. He was his special helper in supplying his needs and being an agent between him (Jacob) and his other sons. Thus his father could send him to go and see how his brothers were faring in the field.
Lesson Objectives:
- To know whom Joseph was
- To know about Joseph’s life at home
- To understand why Joseph’s brothers hated him; and
- Examine the relationship between Joseph and his brothers.
Question 1.) Who was Joseph?
Joseph, which means He (God) will add, was born when his father, Jacob, was about 91 years old. He was the first son of Rachel, Jacob’s second and favorite wife. At 17 years, Joseph was already very hard working as he was feeding the flock with his brethren and brought home to his father reports about his brother’s activities.
Jacob favored Joseph because he was the son of his old age and he made a coat of many colors for him. Because of this partial treatment of Joseph by his father, Joseph’s brother’s hated him. Joseph had two dreams which he told his father as well as his brothers. These dreams made his brothers to hate him the more. The hatred became so strong that they conspired to kill him. When his father sent him to Shechem to inquire about the welfare of his brothers, they had gone to Dothan where Joseph found them. They were determined to kill him but for the intervention of Reuben, the oldest son of Jacob who persuaded them to spare the life of their brother and instead to cast him into a pit, hoping to rescue Joseph from the pit later. But before he (Reuben) could do so, his brothers sold Joseph as a slave to a company of Ishmaelite merchants while Reuben was away.
The brothers then dipped Joseph’s coat in the blood of a goat and told their father that they found his blood soaked coat. Jacob concluded that a wild animal had killed Joseph. He later surfaced in Egypt where God used him as an instrument to save the lives including that of his father and brethren.
Question 2.) What was Joseph’s life at home like?
Joseph was a very obedient and serviceable boy in his father’s home at Canaan. He was feeding the flock with his brethren the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives and brought home to his father reports about his brothers activities. He became his father’s errand boy in supplying his wants and was also an informant between him and his other sons. He loved him more than others and made for him a coat of many colors. This did not go down well with his brothers.
Joseph had two dreams. The first was that his sheaf stood up while they were binding sheaves in the field and those of his brethren stood around his own and made obeisance to his sheaf. Again, he dreamed that the sun, moon and eleven stars made obeisance to him. His brethren did not like him for this. When his father heard it, understanding its implication, he rebuked him, probably to lessen his brother’s hatred towards Joseph.
Being the obedient boy he was, Joseph set out on his father’s instruction to Shechem to inquire about the welfare of his brothers. His brothers had left Shechem by the time Joseph arrived there. He eventually found them at Dothan on the high road to Egypt. He did not return to his father in Canaan as he was sold to Ishmaelite traders going to Egypt by his brethren.
Question 3.) Why did Joseph’s brethren hate him?
Joseph’s brethren had certain reasons why they hated and envied him. First, their father loved him more than the other sons and the brethren seeing this hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. Genesis 37:4. Also, the father made him a coat of many colors, which had many implications. It was mark of honor and rank as such coat was worn only by the chiefs and their heirs. Joseph wearing such a coat generated a deep hatred and envy in his brethren.
In addition, his dreams also earned him hatred by his brethren. They, no doubt, wondered why their sheaves should pay obeisance to Joseph’s sheaf standing in the middle. More disturbing to Joseph’s brethren was his dream that the sun and moon and eleven stars made obeisance to him, which implies that his father, mother and eleven brethren shall come and bow to the ground for him.
Question 4.) How as the relationship between Joseph and his brethren at home?
Joseph was his father’s favorite son at home whom he loved more than the other sons. This generated a strained relationship between Joseph and his brethren. Thus, they hated him and did not interact peacefully with him.
The strained relationship worsened when Joseph told his dreams to his brethren. They hated him the more (Genesis 37:8) and became more unfriendly with him. Joseph’s dreams caused the father to think deeply as he took them as omen of what was to happen to the family in the future. Jacob was wise enough to have rebuked Joseph over his second dream in order to lessen the brothers hated for him although they were not appeased by that rebuke.
On his own side, Joseph, it seemed, was open minded in his relationship with his brothers. He, no doubt knew that his brothers did not take it kindly with him when he told them his first dream, yet he had the courage to tell them the second one. Ordinarily one would expect that he would not associate or rather talk with his brethren again seeing that they hated him, but he did. This can be seen as a demonstration of open mindedness on his part.
Also, to demonstrate his love and open-mindedness to his brethren, he did not refuse to go and seek his brothers’ welfare in Shechem where they were looking after the flocks. This gave his brethren the opportunity to fully demonstrate their hatred for him as they plotted to kill him but later dropped the idea after Judah’s intervention only to sell him to Ishmaelites going to Egypt for 20 pieces of silver. This closed the chapter of the brethren’s relationship with Joseph at home.
Daily Living Application:
Events may seem to retard a child of God’s progress but his destiny cannot be altered. If God has said it, you believe it and live a life pleasing to Him, it is settled. Joseph was Godly in all his dispositions towards his father and brethren, so events that were meant to terminate his life became ladders that led him to fulfill God’s will for his life. As long as our life is pleasing to God, we must make the mark of the prize we were set to achieve.
Moreover, believers should learn to talk less to others about their dreams, aspirations, ambitions etc. and learn to pray more about them. People should also refrain from over-reaction to information and utterances.
Memory Verse:
Philippians 1:21
“For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain”.