"Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors, But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him."
So the story goes today:
The father has a favorite son. That son gets doted on a bit more than the others. That son tells the truth about his brothers, even when it's bad news.
Therefore:
Joseph's brothers hated him. They couldn't speak to him without wanting to hurt him.
This sounds to me like a normal family! Sibling rivalry. Then things get worse.
Joseph has a dream. In his dream he sees himself being put in authority of his whole family, including his brothers. Being the youngest brother meant that Joseph would never be in charge of his brothers, naturally speaking. His place was last.
But nonetheless, God gives him a dream that one day he will be ruling over his family. So Joseph, being the younger brother and always taking hateful words from his siblings, decides to tell them about this awesome dream he has.
Their response is typical and expected,
"they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words."
Hey guys, I know you hate me because Dad loves me more than you. I know you're jealous of my super fly coat. That's cool. Oh, by the way...I'm gonna be your ruler one day. One day you're gonna bow down before me.
It's not necessarily a stress free environment. I'm sure you parents can see the tension between brothers here.
So one day, their dad sends Joseph to check up on the brothers who are tending his sheep. After all, Joseph has told on them before when they weren't doing what they were supposed to do, so he knows Joseph will tell him the truth.
His brothers see him coming and say,
"Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams."
Not a big deal....just murdering their brother and blaming an animal. But notice that last line, "we will see what will become of his dreams."
This story has now become bigger. Now, probably without even knowing it, these evil brothers are trying to mess up God's redemptive history for mankind. Now their getting in God's path for their brother. (not really a safe place to be)
One of the brothers, Reuben, says at this point that they shouldn't kill him. He rescues Joseph from their hands and tells them to throw him in a pit instead of killing him. (he wanted to come back later and rescue Joseph from the pit)
Well, what ends up happening is the brothers decide to sell Joseph as a slave to a caravan passing by. Reuben comes back to get Joseph out of the pit and he's gone. The brothers come up with a plan to make it look like a wild beast kills Joseph and make their dad that he's dead. Joseph at this point is sold to the Egyptians.
To recap:
1. God tells Joseph that he will reign over his family.
2. Brothers decide to kill him but instead sell him into slavery.
3. Joseph is sold a second time as a slave to a high ranking family in Egypt.
Not really how Joseph probably thought this dream would come to fruition. One could easily believe that God had forgotten his promise or changed His mind completely.
How is your life right now? Have things taken a turn for the worse? Do your current circumstances seem like God's plan was either wrong for your or that someone that is against you is messing God's plan up?
Does life seem unfair?
Joseph is a great example of how the world's view of success and God's view of success are almost always diametrically opposed to one another.
To find out what happens, we'll have to wait until next week.
Grace,
Bryce
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