Introduction

Good morning! It’s obviously great to be back in the pulpit after the week off last week and I know that a very passionate voice, in brother Gerardo, stepped in last week to bring the good news.  We are beginning now to wrap up the book of Genesis as we are entering into the final section, starting in chapter 37, which sees one of the sons of Jacob as the main character.  I am of course talking about Joseph.  I pray, God willing, as we have seen with the other characters that we see them for who they were and that we especially see them for who they point to.  That is certainly no different with Joseph.  

I want to begin though by setting up this scene.  How common is it for us to see people suffering at the hands of evil? Go to any news outlet and that is mostly what you read about.  One story after another with the main theme being someone has suffered because someone else was evil.  It is perfectly reasonable then to ask, where’s God? So much suffering on account of evil, where is God in all this? 

Israel, all throughout scripture, lived most of its existence asking, where is God? Much of their questioning came because of self-inflicted suffering but they suffered much and wondered, had their God left them.   Even the nation of Israel today and all the inhabitants there have to be wondering, has God left them.  The reality of suffering is so common to humanity that we must confess that if God is not present in it and doing something through it then surely he has left us.  I wouldn’t blame him if he did.  After the blasphemy that was committed on the world stage a week or so ago at the olympics, I wouldn’t blame him if he sent a planet sized meteor right at us.  

Joseph certainly would have been wondering if God had left him.  The evil that was done to him and the suffering that he endured surely would have looked like, in that moment, that God had forsaken him.  We know though that God never leaves us nor will he ever forsake us and despite the evil in this world and the suffering that such evil inevitably produces, God is always working.  This all culminates in the central theme of this section, which happens to be the central theme of the whole of Genesis, which happens to be the central theme of the whole of human history.  “What man means for evil, God means for good.” May we be comforted this morning by the reality that God uses even the sin and evil of his creation to fulfill his plan of salvation.  He does not abandon us in our sin and suffering, he uses it for our good and his purpose.  What a gracious God. 

So I gave most of the end away at the beginning but I think you more or less knew where we were going.  Stand with me as we read Genesis, chapter 37, starting in verse 1.  

Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. 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. 3 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. 4 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. 5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 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.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 

29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. 

Who is Joseph?

As I hope I have done with the other characters we have seen thus far, I want to tell you the truth about Joseph.  Who Joseph was is certainly relevant to the story but I also think it is important to have a proper view of these biblical characters.  Joseph was the oldest of the sons of Jacob and Rachel, the wife whom he loved and treasured beyond all others.  Joseph was not the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons, Rachel had one other son, who she tragically died giving birth to.  1,000 points to the person who knows the youngest son of Jacob. 

Remember we mentioned last time that Jacob’s son Judah, a son of Leah, is the seed that carries forward the line to Christ.  Christ comes to us through the neglected, unwanted wife of Jacob.  So Joseph is not in the direct lineage of Christ but as we will see plays a vital role in the fulfillment of God’s purpose and if it not for Joseph, Judah would have very likely died in the famine that we will read about later.  So Joseph is a critical character in the fulfillment of God’s plan and that is why the author of Genesis devotes such a large section to him.  

Let me also point out here as we begin to look through this passage that Joseph was not a great kid.  These things aren’t often pointed out to us but I bring it up not to pick on Joseph, but to show why what happens to him happened and so you appreciate the transformation that occurs in Joseph over the course of the rest of Genesis.  Joseph was a tattle-tell.  In the second verse of our text we read that at least on one occasion Joseph was helping his older brothers pasture the flock and after the work was completed Joseph went to his father with “a bad report” of them.  17-year old Joseph is given the opportunity to work with his brothers and the first thing that he does when he gets back is to go to his father and talk bad about them.  

Secondly, Joseph is spoiled.  Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons, and we aren’t told clearly why.  The text says it is because Joseph was the son of his old age but he did have another son who was born even further into his old age so there is certainly something more behind the favoritism that Jacob shows towards Joseph .  It’s possible that Joseph is favored because he is the first born from Rachel, the wife that he favors.  Again this is a little bit of speculation but we can certainly imagine that is what his brothers thought.  It doesn’t seem that Jacob hid the fact that he loved Rachel more than Leah so it probably would shock anyone if he loved the children from her more.  

Whatever the reason, he clearly and explicitly favored Joseph.  He gave him a flashy, colorful robe, almost a royal kind of robe, and Joseph wore the robe and his brothers hated him for it.  They didn’t get a fancy robe from their father, they saw how much Jacob loved Joseph’s mother more than their mother, so you can imagine every time they saw him walk by in that robe their anger grew.  

What made matters worse was that Joseph, in his immature pride, and complete lack of self and situational awareness couldn’t keep his mouth shut.  He knows he is the favorite, he knows he has been given this gift which basically tells everyone he is the favorite and then when he starts having these dreams about him being exalted over his brothers he has to go and tell them about.  “Hey guys, guess what? I had a dream that all of you are going to bow down to me, pretty cool right?” No, not cool Joseph, just keep that one to yourself and have a little bit of self awareness.  He doesn’t just do it once, he does it twice and the second time tells his father about his dream and that even his father is going to bow to him.  This kind of lack of consideration for the feelings of others and need to be a bit braggadocious is the product of being shown favoritism from birth.  

So that is who Joseph is at this point. Young, prideful, boastful, immature, and runs his mouth way too much.  It is honestly no wonder that his brothers want to kill him the first chance they get.  Still evil, still obviously very wrong and very sinful, I am not excusing their actions but to say that Joseph is a fully innocent party here is just not correct.  That is important to demonstrate as we look into Joseph as a foreshadowing of Christ.  Much of what happens to Joseph points directly to Christ with one glaring difference.  Joseph isn’t Christ.  Joseph isn’t innocent. Joseph isn’t spotless or blameless. When we see what is done to Joseph we must see him for who he is so that we maintain this pull in our hearts to the greater Joseph.  The deeds done to Joseph were only a shadow done to a shadow.  The truly beloved and favored son at whom every knee shall bow is the substance.  Christ is the one who actually deserved the love and favor, and he is the only innocent one who was betrayed.  

Far From Home

That is a further peek at where we are going but let’s continue with the story.  I am going to quickly fill in some of the gaps in the story since we didn’t read this whole section.  Joseph is then sent to Shechem to check on his brothers who are pasturing the flock there. A couple significant things about Shechem.  It is about 50 miles away from their home which was no small distance for them.  Just so you get a better idea of where we are talking about geographically, Shechem was located in what is now called the Palestinian West Bank, where all the present conflict is happening over there.  

We skipped over this section in Genesis but a couple chapters previous Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was taken advantage of by the men of this region and in retaliation the sons of Jacob killed all the males in the area.  So Jacob’s family can’t be very popular in this area and it certainly is a dangerous place for them.  When Joseph arrives there he providentially runs into a man who has seen his brothers and tells Joseph that they have continued on another 10 miles to Dothan.  

Interesting connection to Dothan, this is where Elisha was later surrounded by enemy forces and where God opened the eyes of Elisha’s servant to see the army of angels that were there protecting them.  Certainly we will see that was not the first time someone received divine assistance at Dothan.  As we read they see him coming from afar and begin to conspire a plan against him.  How did they know it was Joseph from so far away? His colorful coat of course.  The coat of favoritism ended up being the thing that gave him away and allowed his brothers time to make a plan against him.  Maybe that is reading too much into it but it is certainly something to consider, I’ll let you take that thought further if you wish.  

The oldest brother Ruben tries to save him, right? They want to kill him but he persuades them to throw him in a pit with the plan to come back later and rescue him out of the pit.  So they throw him in this pit which providentially doesn’t have any water in it or he would have surely drowned.   What is very interesting and instructive is that Joseph doesn’t say a word here.  The talkative Joseph who previously couldn’t keep his mouth shut to save his life, now has not a single word in his defense.  This sounds an awful lot like Isaiah 53 doesn’t it.  

 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; 

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, 

so he opened not his mouth.

Isaiah is of course not talking about Joseph but the similarities are not coincidental.  Joseph is opening the door of our minds to Christ.  As I have previously hinted at, Christ was the real innocent one who was betrayed.  Christ was the royal son, the favored one who was worthy to wear the royal robe.  Christ deserved none of the mistreatment that he received and he is the only one who had justification to speak up in his defense but he stayed silent.  Who can speak against the will of God? 

Job learned this after spending 39 chapters defending himself against the affliction he was dealing with, when faced the reality of God’s mighty power and sovereign will he says, 

4  “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? 

I lay my hand on my mouth. 

 5  I have spoken once, and I will not answer; 

twice, but I will proceed no further.” 

In silence then we must drink the sweet cup of God’s mercy or the bitter cup of his judgment.  In either case we have no words in our defense.  Providentially that text from Isaiah is the text that the Ethiopian Eunuch is reading when Phillip meets him on the road, recorded for us in Acts 8.  We read there that Phillip begins with that text and connects all the dots of scripture to Christ showing the Eunuch that all of these things are actually teaching us about Christ.  So if we don’t read Joseph and see Christ we have missed the entire point of Scripture.  If we read Isaiah and don’t see Christ we have missed the entire point of Scripture.  The entire reason why God did what he did to Joseph, was to preserve his people and do it in such a way that awakens you to see the innocent, spotless lamb who was slain to save you.  

My prayer is that our response to such a story and an explanation is the same as that of the Eunuch.  “Where is the water that I may be baptized into this savior? Where is the cup that I may drink the sweet wine of his mercy poured out for me?” Today is the day of salvation and mercy.  The water is open for cleansing, the cup is available to drink.  Repent, believe, and receive his blessed mercy.  

Deceiving Jacob

We aren’t quite done yet.  Let’s finish the rest of the story and apply this further to our lives.  So they sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites and he is taken by them to Egypt and there he is resold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.  That is obviously an important detail that we will circle back around to in a couple of weeks.  

The final part of this story that I want to point out is how the brothers deceive their father.  They take Joseph’s robe, dip it in blood and take it to their father.  It is a deviously clever thing that the brothers do here, that you might have missed.  They never tell their father anything other than just showing him the robe with blood on it.  Jacob is the one who devises the story that he must have been eaten by a wild animal.  The brothers allowed him to make up the story and they didn’t even have to make up a lie or a story themselves.  Really deceptive and bad stuff from them.

So Jacob is deceived by his sons using the clothes of their brother and a goat to be the instruments of their deception.  Does that sound familiar?  Remember how Jacob deceived his father Isaac.  He used his brother’s clothes, and the hair and meat from a goat.  Jacob is sent into mourning through the exact same deception that he used to gain favor with his father.  Jacob was the “good” son right? Esau was the problem child who caused all the issues but even still Issac was prepared to give the blessing and favor to Esau but Jacob stole the favor that he felt he deserved.  So when Jacob has kids, he favors Joseph and treats him better than his other children for no obvious reason.  In God’s grand poetic justice he takes Jacob’s favoritism from him in the same way in which he stole favor from his father.  

I’ve said it before but there is no doubt that God wrote the bible when you see how all these details and stories have been woven together. Further we see how the story of Joseph points so perfectly to Christ.  One commentator summarizes it like this,

Joseph prefigures Jesus Christ. Through his suffering and eventual ascension to rulership Joseph saved God’s people Israel. Jesus, similarly, through his suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension would save God’s people. Note the parallels between Joseph and Jesus: as Joseph’s brothers “conspired to kill him” (37:18), so, according to Matthew, Jesus’ brothers, the chief priests and the elders, “conspired to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him” (Matt 26:4); as Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty pieces of silver, so Jesus’ disciple Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matt 26:15); as Joseph’s brothers handed him over to Gentiles, so Jesus’ brothers “handed him over to Pilate the governor” (Matt 27:2); as Joseph suffered in silence, so Jesus suffered in silence (Matt 26:63); and as God used the evil deeds of Joseph’s brothers to save his people, so God used the evil deeds of Jesus’ “brothers” to save his people. – Greidanus, 2007

The connections are unavoidable.  Further when we look at the robe of Joseph we see a symbol that originally meant honor and favor become a symbol of death as his father held the bloody robe in his hands.  In Christ we see the cross, a symbol of death, when beheld by us now in light of his glorious grace is a symbol of honor and salvation.  In Christ, God is quite literally reversing the curse and caused through deception and he is showing us this reality in these incredible symbols.  Don’t miss it. 

Conclusion

Let me very quickly give us 3 points of application and we will close.  This story must give us comfort in uncertainty.  The ways of God are so much higher than our ways and his plans are so much bigger than our plans.  We can never know in this small snapshot of eternity all the things that God is doing but we have in his unfailing word the promise that despite our current circumstance, he is up to something.  We can and should be comforted by the fact that all things are working according to his glorious plan, even when in the moment it doesn’t look or feel like it. 

Secondly, This story must give us confidence in God.  He doesn’t forget anything and he ultimately sets all the wrongs right.  Things are not spiraling out of control, the world is not going to hell in a handbasket, at least not all of it.  We are not doomed and we shouldn’t live as though it is.  Live confidently that our God is blessing his children and laughing at the wicked. 

13  but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. Psalm 37:13

The day is coming when all will be made right.

Finally, this text should give us full assurance of salvation.  God is never absent, always behind the scenes seeing his plan through and accomplishing his purpose.  Nothing, not even the deception through the evil deeds of humans will get in the way of that.  Not even the deception of those fallen things in the spiritual realm.  You might even say that “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If you are in Christ, he has begun a good work in you, have the assurance this morning that he will most certainly see it to completion.  

So that is the story and application of Joseph, at least the first part, I pray that it pleases the Lord to strengthen your faith through his message this morning.  Amen. 

Bibliography

Greidanus, Sidney. 2007. Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.