Morning Light – Genesis 37: Betrayed by Family

[Today: Genesis 37] Betrayed by Family. In Genesis 37, we are introduced to Joseph and the sad circumstances of his mistreatment by his brothers. Have you suffered at the hands of your loved ones? Have you ever faced betrayal and rejection in your life as Joseph did in his? God sustained Joseph through the very dreams his brethren hated him because of. Don’t let go of your dreams, for God is still at work.

[Gen 37:1-36 KJV] 1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 These [are] the generations of Jacob. Joseph, [being] seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad [was] with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 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] colours. 4 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. 5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told [it] his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For, behold, we [were] binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10 And he told [it] to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What [is] this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. 12 And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 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. 29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph [was] not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child [is] not; and I, whither shall I go? 31 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32 And they sent the coat of [many] colours, and they brought [it] to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it [be] thy son’s coat or no. 33 And he knew it, and said, [It is] my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, [and] captain of the guard.

In Genesis 37, we find the beginning of the story of Joseph. Joseph was Rachel and Jacob’s firstborn son. One might think since Rachel was the preferred wife of Jacob that the birthright would be given to him at the end of Jacob’s life, but that is not the case. Joseph, however, does figure significantly in the history of twelve sons of Jacob in spite of a very difficult beginning to his life due to the jealousy of his brothers.

Verse two begins to account a genealogy of Jacob (having just completed the genealogy of Esau in the previous chapter). The narrative abruptly shifts, however, into the unfortunate events leading to Joseph being taken in chains to Egypt. Joseph is seventeen years old and is working to assist his half-brothers in caring for their flocks. The sons of Jacob are divided into four parts, the sons of Rachel, the sons of Leah, and the sons of their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah. In this case, Joseph is with the sons of the handmaidens, a fact which may be the backdrop to the events that take place next.

In verse 3, we see that Israel (Jacob) loves Joseph more than all of his other children. Favoritism was evident in every generation back to Isaac being preferred over Ishmael and the sons of Keturah with their father, Abraham. In this case, we have the favored son of the preferred wife working in the employ of the sons of the handmaidens. There is little doubt that Zilpah and Bilhah’s sons were low in the order of consideration in the eyes of their father. To make matters worse, Jacob made a conspicuous coat of many colors for Joseph to wear as a sign of the favored status that Jacob conferred upon him. For all of these reasons and the fact that Joseph informed their father of his brother’s bad behavior resulted in them intensely hating him.

In verse five, we see that in the midst of this fractured family situation, God is working nonetheless. He gives Joseph a dream that his brothers were bowing in servitude at his feet. The hatred of his brothers is deepened and then compounded when there is a second dream depicting the entire family, including Jacob bowing down before Joseph. Now we know how the story ends, but can you imagine the depth to which Joseph, a seventeen-year-old boy, would misconstrue this dream in his immaturity? Yet this dream would be the very foundational directive that would shape Joseph’s life for the rest of his days.

The story of Joseph was very much in King David’s mind when he penned the psalms. David and Joseph have much in common, being younger children despised of their brothers yet raised to prominence in spite of adverse circumstances. In Psalm 115, David observes the following:

[Psa 105:19 KJV] 19 Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.

What was the word of the Lord to Joseph? It was in the dreams that were given him. These dreams were not a figment of the boy’s imagination; they were the word of the Lord for his life. They were very positive words, but they were also the cause of his brothers, not only hating him but conspiring against him to destroy his destiny. In my own life, I can relate to this due to the fact that I am the youngest of three brothers and that God chose to put a calling upon me and give me a level of success in ministry that my two older brothers have not experienced. In all honesty, this fact caused and causes my relationship with my siblings (one now deceased) to be distant and difficult at times.

Though Joseph’s brothers dismissed his dreams as expressions of Joseph’s egotism and pride, Jacob (v. 11) observes the matter realizing there is something more happening here. Bear in mind that Isaac was a younger son and chosen to carry the birthright. Jacob himself was the younger twin boys and chosen over Esau before either of the boys was conceived as Paul testifies in Romans 9:

[Rom 9:13 KJV] 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

What can we learn from this? God doesn’t do things the way we might expect. He doesn’t choose the qualified, and he doesn’t often choose the enfranchised who think because of their station in life, or talents or abilities they should be favored. Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 1:

[1Co 1:26-28 KJV] 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:

We need to remember this when we try to shape our own destiny or to make ourselves into objects of success or ability. The wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. For believers to attempt to fashion themselves into that which the world approves of only results in being assured that God will not use them. It is the foolish God chooses, and the foolishness of preaching by the conviction of the Holy Ghost that moves men’s souls and not all the effort the church seems willing to put into becoming like the world in order to win the world.

In v. 19-20 we see Joseph again with his brothers in the field, and they plan to do away with him until
Rueben intervenes. Now Rueben has already disqualified himself for the inheritance because he had sex with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine (Gen. 35:22). Nonetheless, he is the brother who acts to save Joseph from dying of exposure in the pit his brothers threw him in. This should be a point of wisdom for us. No one’s character is black or white. Rueben sinned egregiously against his father, but were it not for Rueben saving Joseph and Joseph saving the entire family in time to come the story of Jacob would have perished from history in the next generation because of the famine that was coming.

What happens to Joseph? We see in v. 26 that Judah showing a modicum of decency insists that instead of slaying their brother, they should sell him into slavery. Rueben is not there at the time to object to this, and Joseph is sold to a band of Midianite merchantmen for twenty pieces of silver. Depending on how this is calculated, this was not much more than $11 dollars in modern currency. The 30 pieces of silver that Jesus was sold for by Judas amounted to about 24 dollars. The amount of money involved was not part of the motivation. In fact, that paltry sum taken for an entire human life in Joseph and Jesus’ case was part of the insult heaped upon them in the betrayal.

What must Joseph have thought, and how did he feel being dragged in bondage to Egypt? Have you ever been betrayed? Have you suffered mistreatment at the hands of family members or friends who resented God’s favor in your life? In Joseph’s case, the dreams of his youth were not forgotten, but now they are not fantasies but means by which his heart is being tried whether he will believe God or believe the circumstance. You might be struggling, and you may be set at naught perhaps even by things your loved ones have done unto you but don’t let go of your dreams, God is still working in you just as He was still working in Joseph’s life to bring about the fulfillment of his destiny.