Verses 1-2 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.
The Hebrew word for “generations” is “towladah” and it means descendants, genealogies, an account of men and their descendants, or a course of history. In the verse above, the generation of Jacob refers to a course of history centered around his son Joseph that will comprise the rest of the chapters of Genesis.
Verses 3-4 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.
Can you see history repeating in the verses above? Preferential treatment towards Joseph caused disharmony in Israel’s family, just as it had done when he was a young man and his mother favored him over his brother Esau and his father favored Esau over him. The evil emotion this produced in both instances was hatred. Could it be that man fails to learn from history?
Verses 5-7 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.
Joseph was gifted by God with dreams and with the interpretation of dreams. No doubt, Joseph did not mean to antagonize his siblings and was more than likely just sharing his dreams with them as a point of communication and interest. His brothers were jealous of his gift, and since the content of his dreams indicated that he was to rule over them, they were not happy and hated him more and more.
Verse 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.
Envy and jealousy often leads to hatred, and hatred often leads to sinful actions. Because Joseph was talented and his father’s favorite son, these emotions were recorded as being in all of his siblings with the possible exception of his younger brother, Benjamin. Believers need to be aware of the simmering emotions that may be occurring in their children and in other family members. Discussing the situation openly and seeking understanding and a resolution is the Christian thing to do. Ignoring the warning signs and pretending that the problems will go away can only lead to heartache. Israel helped create the problems between his sons and he apparently did nothing to fix the problems, including failing to change his own actions of favoring one son over the others. Israel’s making of a coat of many colors for Joseph was a visual reminder to the other sons that they were second best in their father’s eyes.
Verses 9-11 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.
Joseph’s dreams were prophetic. Israel rebuked him but he also paid attention to the content of the dreams. Notice the symbolism regarding the sun, the moon, and the stars. They metaphorically represented Israel (the sun), Joseph’s mother (the moon), and the sons of Israel (the stars). This is important as these symbols occur again in other prophetic Scripture verses or passages.
Application: A note about Biblical prophecy needs to be made here. In order to correctly understand Bible prophecy, the Bible needs to interpret the Bible. In other words, a prophetic passage needs to be interpreted by other passages in the Bible and not by outside sources or opinions. An entire doctrine about the end times (Scofieldism) has captured most of the Christian church world in America because of Bible prophetic passages being interpreted by a man instead of by the Word of God. Be careful when trying to understand prophecy as it is easy to get completely off track and assign a meaning to prophetic passages that is not correct. God is not the author of confusion, and He will provide the meaning of a prophetic passage somewhere in His Word. The believer just has to search for it.
Verses 12-14 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.
Note that Israel’s flock was grazing back in Shechem, the very area that Israel had fled from when his sons killed Hamor and Shechem over the incidence with Israel’s daughter, Dinah. The reader can only assume that enough time had passed that the Canaanites living in the area were no longer seeking revenge.
Verses 15-17 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.
Dothan was a place in northern Palestine and was also the home of the prophet Elisha who would be born many centuries later and play a prominent part in the history of the children of Israel.
Verses 18-20 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.
This is the first recorded incidence in the Bible of a conspiracy. To believe that there exists today only conspiracy theories is nonsense. Conspiracies are real and have been and are used by evil men to produce results that they want, be it political or economic upheaval, or something as simple as stealing another person’s land and/or possessions or wife. Businesses conspire together to fix prices that the consumer pays at the gas pump, at the airport or at the local hotel, etc. The Bible is full of incidences of conspiracies, so read on and notice for yourself how these conspiracies came into being and who the people were that formed these conspiracies. In the verses above it needs to be remembered that these sons of Israel, from whom the children of Israel descended and from whom a nation was created, were the same sons that killed the men of an entire city in Shechem and then captured their women and children and their wealth. It appears that murdering their brother, Joseph, would not be a problem for them.
Verses 21-22 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.
Reuben has to be given credit for attempting to save Joseph’s life, but he did not stand up to his other brothers, as the eldest son, and order them to leave Joseph alone. He tried to deceive his brothers by telling them to just toss Joseph into a pit, his plan apparently being to get him out later.
Verses 23-25 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.
These men were so wicked and lacking in natural affection that they sat down to eat their lunch while their little brother was terrified and isolated in a dark pit in a hot land with no water. But God had other plans for Joseph and He sent some men who were descendants of Abraham’s son Ishmael (the name meaning “Jehovah will hear”) to the rescue.
Verses 26-27 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.
Here is demonstrated the greed of the sons of Israel. They already had captives and riches from Shechem and all of their father’s family wealth, but why waste a good opportunity to make more money and to get rid of the nuisance in their life? They justified their decision to sell Joseph into slavery by basically changing their minds about murdering him and bloodying their hands.
Application: Why would a righteous God tolerate such wicked behavior? Possibly because He had made a promise to righteous Abraham and God always keeps His promises, and because God’s nature or character is one of patience and of extending mercy and forgiveness to sinful man. All believers have sinned and have experienced the LORD’s forgiveness and mercy, something that should never be taken for granted.
Verse 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.
The story of Joseph is a type and shadow of the story of Jesus. Joseph was rejected by his family. Jesus was rejected by His people. Joseph was sold for silver. Jesus was betrayed by Judas for pieces of silver. See what other parallels can be found as this historical story unfolds in the pages of Genesis.
Verses 29-30 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?
Again, Reuben must be given credit for at least caring, if not about Joseph, then about how his father would respond to the loss of his favorite son. Here is the first recording of an individual rending or tearing in pieces his clothing. This action was taken to demonstrate extreme emotion and will be seen in other places in Scripture. Reuben had no idea what to do when he discovered Joseph was gone. He had stopped plan A which would have resulted in the murder of Joseph, and he had instigated plan B with the plan to rescue Joseph from the pit at a later time. He apparently was not prepared for his brothers’ creating of plan C and disposing of Joseph through a sale into slavery. The question can be asked, “Where did Reuben go while his brothers were hatching their plan C?”
Verses 31-34 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.
The family trait of engaging in lies and deceit continued as the sons of Israel concocted a story to cover up their crimes against Joseph, a story that their father believed. Notice that an innocent baby goat had to be killed and lose its life in order for the sons’ sins to be covered up. Notice also that none of the sons, when they saw their father’s emotional distress at the belief that Joseph had been killed by an animal, repented and told Israel the truth. They continued to conspire with each other, apparently without remorse.
Application: When a believer lies deliberately, if not repented of immediately it can lead to more lies being told to cover up the original lie. Like the baby goat sacrificed for the coverup of the terrible sins of the sons of Israel, Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb that was slain to not just “cover up” and forgive the sins of everyone, but to make payment for those sins.
Verses 35-36 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.
One must wonder at the hypocrisy that occurred as Israel’s sons attempted to comfort their father, all along knowing that Joseph was not dead, but very much alive in the possession of the merchant slavers.