Answers Bible Curriculum Second Edition Unit 5 Lesson 45
This week in Sunday school, we begin to talk about the lives of Jacob’s sons, especially Joseph. Why did God give Joseph dreams that only made Joseph’s brothers angry? What caused Joseph’s brothers to sell Joseph into slavery instead of killing him? And what amazing comfort does this account show us regarding the difficult circumstances and even hurtful betrayals we encounter in our lives?
Our main text for this lesson is Genesis 37:1-36.
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all right well we’re gonna get started good morning welcome to Sunday school we are an important transition point in our study of the book of Genesis and moving through the lives of the patriarchs we’ve just come to the end of the focus on the life of Jacob and now it’s gonna switch to Joseph or Jacob sons especially his son Joseph so it’s an appropriate point I think to recap a little bit to review a little bit what we’ve seen over the last number of lessons and so I’m gonna do that as we get started after creation the fall the flood and Babel Genesis has been following a particular seed a particular people of promise that is it’s following a line of people who’ve been brought into a special covenant with God this covenant means that he is their God and they will receive an inheritance of blessing from him and this special line of people begins with Abraham who was promised by God a number of amazing inheritances amazing blessings he’s been promised a great name a prosperity a land for himself and his descendants multiply Z multiply descendants protection and even agency as a source of blessing to the entire world through him and his seed now this promise was passed on by God’s gracious choice to certain descendants it went from Abraham’s Isaac and then Isaac to Jacob passing over the firstborns Ishmael and Esau now each of these chosen persons and their families that did not receive these amazing promises from God in full or right away many aspects of these promises that God had given they would remain unfulfilled in their lives even though these different persons would see the beginning of those promises being realized but also these patriarchs these especially chosen line even though they had these promises and these blessings they are also they also had lies that were filled with testings testings of God’s promises and testing of their beliefs and God’s promises what God really do what he promised to do now a lot of these testings came in the form of waiting and uncertainty you remember Abraham and Sarah they wait decades for a son until it seems impossible for them to even have one an Isaac Rebecca they also deal with waiting and with Baroness and they wait 20 years for their sins and then Jacob had to wait to receive his wives to be married and to return to Canaan and then beyond the uncertainty they were there were many difficult situations even life-threatening situations that you – these patriarchs faced for example with Abraham and Isaac how will God keep his promise if I have to kill and sacrifice my son or Abraham and Isaac how will I survive in this place and not be killed over my beautiful wife or Jacob how will I make it through this 500 mile journey to her on when I have only my staff with me these were times of testing and last time we saw one of the greatest testings with Jacob and that was how was he going to be able to successfully reconcile with Esau when Esau had wanted to kill Jacob now God or actually let me say this first these patriarchs and their wives they were not always totally successful in holding to God in faith sometimes they did sometimes they didn’t but they continued to grow in faith in their lives and more importantly in each of these situations God always showed himself to be faithful and compassionate faithful to himself faithful to his people and faithful to his promises so consider the original audience of Genesis as the people of Israel are hearing these account and traveling to the land of King Canaan to enter it to conquer it what were they to learn they were to learn to trust their covenant keeping God and obey in faith looking to these many times where God demonstrated his trustworthiness and his covenant faithfulness and 3500 years later of course we are to learn that same and fundamental lesson God is giving us example after example of when he kept his promises despite waiting despite uncertainty despite difficulty so that we face times of testing in our lives which we all do we can hold fast to him in faith but the question of course you say all right yeah I get it we’ve been seeing all that the question for all of us is have we learned the lesson yet is this truth getting through to you have you humbled yourself to be one who lives in continual dependence on God just as these patriarchs had to learn to do now I know that if you really know Christ you have learned this lesson you have learned to trust God in some areas of your life and in some situations of your life and fundamentally you have if you’ve come to salvation but you know how the Christian life goes just when you grasp onto the truth and you finally apply it to a difficult situation in your life what does God then do does he not give you a new situation to apply it we learn something we learn to trust God in one area and then God gives us another area to apply that or maybe a more difficult situation and what usually happens what often happens when we face that new situation you can answer this everything quiet can stay a little louder yeah a lot of times we don’t do well we we stop trusting we learned for example we’ve learned to trust God with one work project Oh God finally you know how I’m gonna trust you with this but then a new work project comes along that’s a little bit different or a little bit more difficult and now it now it’s so hard for us to trust God or we learn to trust God with our finances oh god this is all your hands but then we can’t trust God with our evangelistic efforts we learned to trust God when it comes to our spouse you know what God he or she is in your hands but then we have a hard time trusting God with our kids we learn but we have more to learn thankfully God is patient with us but we can sure save ourselves a lot of pain and anxiety if we just could apply the truth of the Scriptures in each area of life in situation from the beginning now to help us God doesn’t just give us one account of one situation in which his promises were tested and he was shown to be faithful but he gives us many accounts and he gives us various kinds of trials and testings in the scriptures so that we can see it we can learn that yes we really can’t obey and trust God so all of that in preparation as we move to the life of Joseph now focusing on Joseph over the next four lessons it’s really about Joseph and his brothers but Joseph’s gonna be central God’s Spirit through Moses is not showing us a redundant lesson here this is a key this is an important lesson of God’s sovereign trust or his sovereignty and our ability to trust him Joseph will be a fortifying example for you and for me for our walking in faith before God just this experience is gonna be a little different from the experience of the patriarchs that we’ve seen thus far yes he will deal with waiting he will deal with uncertainty but also Joseph somewhat uniquely deals with serious hurts and betrayals with Jacob and others there was danger and there were some people working against him but just some terrible things happened to Joseph and yet Joseph will be one of the most faithful person we’ve seen so far in Genesis he is going to be a great example for us but more than that in the life of Joseph and his brothers we’re gonna see even more clearly God’s demonstration of God’s goodness his wisdom and his farsighted sovereignty I say far-sighted in that it’s not just considering that particular moment or what’s just about to happen but even years decades generations down the road God is doing something he is accomplishing his plan we’re gonna see that in a dramatic way with a life of Joseph so we’re gonna start today with the first major experience recorded for us in Joseph’s life and that is Joseph becoming a slave in Egypt now let’s pray and then we’ll get to it a great God heavy father we recognize that all things are in your hands and Lord that is the truth that we can affirm very easily in one respect and then yet not believe it in our hearts to affirm your sovereignty and yet not live in a way that actually trusts you so god I pray that we would learn from the life of Joseph we’d be encouraged even as we think about this terrible terrible evil that befalls him and we think about some of the evils that befall us the Lord help us to learn what you were teaching in this passage about trusting you and in your sovereignty that when those things come upon us we can respond in Jesus name Amen before we get to our main passage which will be Genesis 37 we’re going to just spend a brief moment in Genesis 35 so please open your Bibles turn to Genesis 35 this is page 37 if you’re using the Pew Bible and Genesis 35 verses 20 to 22 to 26 we got another summary of Jacob’s sons categorized by other summary of Jacob’s sons categorized my mother and this would be helpful for us as we get into the narrative with Joseph and we’ll make a few observations on this passage briefly so Genesis 35 22 26 read along with me well I guess it’s actually the next page if you using a few Bible page 38 alright so the second half of verse 22 it says now there were 12 sons of Jacob the sons of Leah Reuben Jacobs first born in Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun the sons of Rachel Joseph and Benjamin and the sons of Bilhah Rachel’s maid dan and Naphtali and the sons of Zilpah Leah’s maid GAD and Asher these are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in paddan-aram okay so a little bit like we said last time or long ago here we have 6 sons from leah takes first wife two sons from Rachel Jacob second wife two sons from bill huh Jacobs third wife and then two sons from Shilpa Jacobs fourth those last two wives being compromised who was the firstborn Reuben from Leah now it looks slightly above the section I just read what evil does Reuben commit that greatly displeases his father it’s in the first half of verse 22 what do we hear about Reuben it says came out while Israel was dwelling in that land that Ruben went and lay with Bilhah his fathers conquered and as you’ll heard of it this is a pretty heinous and disgusting act Ruben sleeps with his mother-in-law or one of his mother’s and one of the wives of Jacob his father this was very strange that Ruben would do this it’s even a maybe an arrogant act and we can understandably see why Israel Jacob would be displeased but Ruben is not the only one of these chosen sons these sons of Jacob who commits evil and greatly displeased as his father in Genesis 34 if you’ve been reading any of the context we see Simeon and Levi two other sons from Jacob they help orchestrate a vengeful massacre of some of the inhabitants of Canaan and then in Genesis 38 which will get to Judah also gets involved in gross immorality now again we’re seeing the bible does not sugarcoat the history of Israel does not airbrush the forefathers of the people of Israel now they get involved as the pretty heinous sins there’s a lot of sinfulness among Jacob sons as we’ll see more passage today but this is but God is still working among them he’s still bringing about his plan and we see that these sons will be transformed over the years over the decades with the different experiences that God is going to put them through these men will change now it says that all these sons were born in paddan-aram but actually one of the sons listed here actually wasn’t born there was born in Canaan I mean most of them were so it’s not a bad description which son was not actually born in paddan-aram that’s listed here Benjamin that’s right Benjamin he was born in Canaan and a sad thing that happens with Benjamin’s birth does anybody remember or know what happens with Benjamin’s birth that’s right Rachel the mother dies she dies giving birth so as we move into Genesis 37 we have all these sons Benjamin is very very young but Rachel has died so now let’s go to Genesis 37 these things in mind about the family backdrop let’s go to Genesis 37 at this point as I said rachel has died and also Isaac has died but Jacob’s sons are growing up now this is going to be the main subject of our time today this passage will read through the whole thing we’re gonna take into different sections well observe will interpret as we go and then consider application at the end what happens with Jacobs sons you’ll notice actually the beginning this passage we have another one of those what are called Tola dots in hebrew another one this is the record of the generations of which is kind of like saying what happened to the descendants of this person and we’re gonna see starting with something pretty traumatic for Joseph what happens with Jacobs sons in this passage so let’s read verses 1 to 11 observe Genesis 37 1 to 11 Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned in the land of Canaan these are the records of the generations of Jacob Joseph 117 years of age was pasturing the flock with his brothers well he was still a youth along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah his father’s wives and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age and he made him a very colored tunic his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms then Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more he said to them please listen to this dream I have had three hold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheaf rose up and also stood erect and behold your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf that his brother said to him are you actually going to reign over us or are you really going to rule over us so they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words now he had still another dream and related it to his brothers and said lo I have had still another dream and behold the Sun and the moon and the Eleven stars were bowing down to me he related it to his father and to his brothers and his father rebuked him and said to him what is this dream that you have had shall i and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the same in mind I will pause here and make some observations notice that Joseph’s ear is 17 years old and his brothers hate in fact they hate him so much it says that they cannot even speak to him in friendly terms every time he talks to them every time they talk to him they’re angry with notice were told a number of reasons for their hatred 3 given to us in the passage first Joseph brings a bad report about some of his brothers back to his father and that’s not gonna make his brothers like him 2nd Jacob yeah Jacob loves Joseph the most and he shows favoritism to Joseph with a special article of clothing this coat this tunic this multi-coloured piece of material she’s a Hebrew word for this garment is a little uncertain as to its meaning used very few times in the Bible it could mean multi-coloured tunic could mean something like a long robe with very sumptuous amounts of cloth on the sleeves and ankles whatever it was this was a very ornamental and beautiful garment possible it was more than a sign of fatherly love it may also have symbolized who would receive the chief inheritance and blessing among the sons if so that would have only increased the brothers resentment by the way why does Jacob favor Joseph that’s right it says it’s the son because he’s the son of his old age you might think oh it’s because he’s the son love the wife Rachel it may have had something to do with it that’s not what the text actually says it’s the fact that he is the youngest or the second youngest son the son of Jacob’s old age and you know parents often do show a special kind of affection and attention to the baby right that the young one and that’s what we see happening with Jacob and the other brothers see it and they vent so they hate him because of his report they hate him because of his favor that’s shown on him among the other brothers and they also hate him because of his dreams Joseph has two dreams that are reported to us you in the first he and his brothers are in the field gathering grain Joseph sheaf suddenly stands up tall his brother sheaves gather around and bow down to Joseph says she and in the second dream Joseph sees the Sun the moon eleven the stars that’s a key number and they’re all bowing down to him now what do these dreams seem to indicate about the future it’s not spelled out RESP it’s conceived from the reactions what these dreams seem to indicate and what’s that yes go ahead write it so is that he is going to be the one in authority and his brothers and even his full family will bow down to him he’ll be in the place of honor and authority and his whole family will bow down to him this is a very offensive idea to Joseph’s brothers now because they hate him but because they’re all older than him except Benjamin and they’re gonna bow down to the young one even Jacob rebukes the Sun over this dream idea that Jacob and Leah who would be probably the moon represented their Jacob Lee in the rest of the family they would all bow down and submit to an honored Joseph though notice while the Brothers of Joseph are jealous because of these dreams it says that Jacob kept the saying in mind he thought that this dream was something worth remembering and thinking about and probably know actually that Jacob thought that because you can consider his own experience when I grew up there was a vision given at the beginning where it was told the older would serve the young so he’s keeping this saying in ma fact that leads right into my first question when it comes to interpreting just ask a few interpretation questions folk we move on what do you notice are some similarities between this situation sent it to us here and the situation that Jacob experienced growing up what’s one similarity right so favoritism in the family that’s one similarity very good what else okay right just as we were saying there say there’s a word here about the younger supplanting or have authority over the older in fact it was a vision previously but as we’re gonna see these dreams are not random they are from God though God is actually foretelling at the beginning that this is what’s going to happen the younger will be in the place of honor and the place of authority and all this before it happens and as we’ll see these dreams are extremely significant they come from God they’re going to be fulfilled and this is God’s way throughout the scriptures he loves to foretell things before they happen even in the life of Jesus what does he do he says I’m going to Jerusalem and this was going to happen why why does God like the foretell things yes–you he’s in control it emphasizes that he’s totally in control in fact a lot of times he says you can see this in Isaiah 40 especially and Jesus said this himself when this comes to pass I’m telling you announce that when it comes to pass you’ll believe God says you when this comes to pass you’ll know that I am or all the world will know that I am then Jesus says something similar in his own ministry we see that happening here in the life of Joseph as well God is emphasizing his sovereignty now here’s another question does Joseph in here destroys just sin against his brothers by bringing back this bad report and/or by sharing his dreams this is definitely one of those times when we have to say we don’t know one of the principles of interpretation of the Bible is that what there’s not enough evidence at the finit judgment would you to be very tentative or even withhold judgment it could be that what Joseph brings back this bad report well when Joseph starts telling these dreams to his brothers he’s being a brat that he’s it just wants to be a tattletale or he’s exalting in himself and he’s like look I had this great dream you’re all gonna bow down to me it could be on the other hand it may be that the bad report was warranted that the brothers were we’re actually doing something bad as they were tending the flock I mean their track record in the context is not great so maybe the bad report was warranted and it may be that Joseph was genuinely astonished by his dreams and just felt compelled to share them I mean when you have something really interesting happen to you you probably feel like sharing it and so it may be that Joseph was doing that too we can’t say what’s motivating Joseph in this passage I’m inclined to be a little bit what’s the word see in a favorable light because the rest of his life is going to be so positive in terms of his faith but that’s not really the main point of this passage the point is not learning from Joseph’s behavior did he do right what did he do wrong it’s about God’s sovereignty it’s about God bringing his promises to pass God ordained that Joseph would tell his family these dreams so that everyone would have a record so that when these things come to pass David I’ll be like oh yeah that’s exactly what Joseph had dreamed about now I saw some hands uh yeah Duane what did you want to say right that’s a good observation Duane we’re gonna see that Joseph is gonna be sent on another reporting mission and that’s actually what’s gonna get him get him enslaved but yeah Jacob is the one who sent him out this may have been Jacobs practice may have been normal for people in that area and then especially if there was a bad report this first time Jacobs probably like you know you need to check on them again based on what what happened before I think I saw another hand yeah go ahead right so that’s a that’s a good observation it does say they hated him for for his dreams and his words now that could be again as you’re pointing out Danny that could be the way he said it or the the words he chose to use he’s expressing some sort of arrogance or it may be just the fact of those words I mean we know that many people will hate Christians because the words that Christians say but they’re not necessarily arrogant words so it could be but again it’s really hard to say so we want to be very very hesitant to make a judgement on Joseph here but again the point is sovereignty not morality here it’s about God’s sovereignty it’s very important that Joseph shares these dreams with this family so that God’s sovereignty can be emphasized by the way here’s another quick question why two dreams why two dreams when they’re so similar I mean wouldn’t one dream have sufficed what do you think yes so I think it just confirms right very good so you’re actually you’re in Genesis rather it’s not Nebuchadnezzar it’s actually pharaoh he’s gonna have double dreams and other people in Joseph’s life are gonna have two dreams but you’re right this is something about emphasis and certainty fact justice 41 verse 32 Genesis 41 32 when Joseph is interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams which are very very similar he says now as for the repeating of the dream of Pharaoh or to Pharaoh twice it means that the matter is determined by God and God will quickly bring it about this is about certainty this is about truly coming from God and Stephen about it coming to pass quickly and that kind of makes sense right if it was just one dream you’d be like oh that was that was weird I have this weird dream but if you have two dreams that are so similar especially in this day this time is huh maybe I need to pay more attention to that of course these dreams are from God now what’s gonna happen to Joseph he’s in this situation with these dreams but his brothers hate him what’s gonna happen let’s look at the next section of our passage Genesis 37 verses 12 to 28 Genesis 37 12 28 read along with me it says and his brothers went to pasture their fathers flock in Shechem Israel said to Joseph I’m not your brother’s pasturing the flock in Shechem go or come and I will send you to them and he said to him I will go and he said to him go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock and bring word back to me so he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem a man found him and behold he was wandering in the field and the man asked him what are you looking for he said I am looking for my brother’s please tell me where they are pasturing the flock then the man said they have moved from here for I heard them say let us go to Dothan so Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan when they saw him from a distance before he came close to them they plotted against him to put him to death they said to one another here comes this dreamer now then come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits and we will say a wild beast devoured him then let us see what will become of his dreams but Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said let us not take his life Reuben further said to them shed no blood throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness but do not lay hands on him that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father so it came about when Joseph reached his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic the very color tunic that was on him and they took him and threw him into the pit that the pit was empty without any water in it and they sat down to eat a meal as they raised their eyes and looked behold a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh on their way to bring them down to Egypt juda said to his brothers what profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood gum and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites not lay our hands on him for he is our brother our own flesh and his brothers listen to him then some mini night traders passed by so they pulled him up and lifted joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver thus they brought Joseph into Egypt all right let’s observe notice Jacob sends joseph to check on his brothers as we already know noted wants to see how they’re doing how the flocks doing but joseph doesn’t find his brothers where they were originally pastoring doesn’t find them in Shechem but a man happens to find Joseph and that man just happens to know whether brothers went he overheard them so he directs Joseph to Dothan and Joseph goes when the brothers see Joseph coming they decide to kill him make him look like an animal did Joseph in notice who is it that intercedes for Joseph’s life it’s Reuben Reuben says let’s just put him in a pit and we’re told why because Reuben plan to rescue Joseph later and bring Joseph back to Jacob who is it that proposes to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites Judah and he convinces his brothers they do sell Joseph for 20 shekels of silver which from what we know historically this was a common price for a slave at the time notice from where these traders are coming they’re coming from Gilead so that’s northeast Canaan other side of the Jordan and they’re traveling west across Canaan I guess from your angle be west and likely once they’ve reached the Mediterranean Sea they would have traveled down via the road that was called the way of the sea we also call it the via Maurice it was a main trading route that would take one straight into Egypt now the text calls these traders both Ishmaelites Midianites which is a little odd because those are two different tribes is this an error in the text could they not get it straight weather is a Midianite or an Ishmaelite well no we know that this word is true we know it comes from God what looks like an apparent or what looks like a contradiction has an explanation for sure it could be that these two terms have become synonymous because these tribes had intermarried it could be that the Ishmaelites and the Midianites had intermarried or it could be that the Ishmaelites were living in the land of Midian and so they were Ishmaelites by bloodline but Midianite in place of origin but either way both of these terms are accurate now let’s pause again and ask a few more interpretation questions after the brothers decide to kill Joseph they say then let us see what will become of his dreams in other words we’re gonna kill him and make sure that those dreams never come to pass what is the irony in this stated purpose from the brothers that’s exactly right that’s exactly right they are going to fulfill the dream or they’re gonna work to fulfill the dream and actually what they do to Joseph and isn’t this will say more about this later but isn’t this really the way it always works with God when you try and oppose his will you’ve actually end up fulfilling it another question why does Reuben want to save Joseph it says that he wants to restore him to his father why would Reuben want to do that Duane I see your hand right right so we noted back in Genesis 35 that Reuben had greatly displeased his father with sleeping with Bill huh and so maybe this is a way to get back in his father’s good graces and also Reuben is the firstborn so in a sense he does have a leadership role he probably feels a sense of responsibility for his brothers and for Joseph he probably recognizes he’s accountable more than his other brothers are so if Joseph is killed if Joseph is something bad happens to Joseph there’s gonna be some some responsibility laid at Reubens feet and it may be that Reuben is actually this is a sign of righteousness in Reuben maybe he’s not as hateful as his other brothers maybe he really did have some sympathy for Joseph really did want to spare Joseph’s life can’t say exactly why we’ve been acts but we can think of some reasons why he would have wanted to but again it’s not the main focus for good or selfish reasons the fact that Reuben seeks to save Joseph would be part of God accomplishing his plan as are the traitors as they as they move across and move across Canaan because of their desire to travel down these certain main trade routes these Ishmaelites may be nice they just happen to go by joe ‘then at precisely the same time that Joseph finds his brothers and is cast into a pit by them but is this really a matter of coincidence or lucky timing course not we already saw the dreams this is God’s providence this is God working things out now let’s look at the last section Genesis 37 verses 29 to 36 and after this will tie everything that we’ve observed together Genesis 37 29:36 now Reuben return to the pit and behold Joseph was not in the pit so he tore his garments he returned to his brothers and said the boy is not there asked for me where am I to go so they took Joseph’s tunic slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood and they sent a very color tunic and brought it to their father and said we found this please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not then he examined it and said it is my son’s tunic a wild beast has devoured him joseph has surely been torn to pieces so Jacob tore his clothes puts a cloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days and all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said surely I will go down to Sheol or that is the grave in mourning for my son so his father wept for him meanwhile the middie nights sold him in Egypt to Potiphar Pharaoh’s officer the captain of the bodyguard all right few more observations here well do verses 29 to 30 reveal to us about Reubens whereabouts during Joseph’s sale it’s right he wasn’t there we didn’t know that before but the fact that he returns to the pit shows us he must not have been there and of course he’s very saddened by this news that Joseph has been sent away but Joseph disposed of the brothers intend to cover up their D by putting blood on that special cloak that special cook from Joseph and presenting that bloody coat to their father notice there’s a lot of sins going on here hey Joseph kidnap him they sell him into slavery and then they deceive their father by the way what is the penalty for kidnapping according to the Mosaic law its death Exodus 21 16 Exodus 21 16 says he who kidnaps a man whether he sells him or is found in his possession shall surely be put to death of course they didn’t have the Mosaic law but that’s a codification of the heart of God and some of the things that were already revealed in different ways in God’s world kidnapping another person selling into slavery that is a huge sin before God that’s what they do along with a number of other sins but anyways they present this blood this bloody coat to Jacob and Jacob in furs exactly what the brothers hope he will an animal has killed Joseph this sends Jacob into deep sorrow depression despair he refuses all comfort from his children but verse 36 tells this meanwhile Joseph is sold to Potiphar it just happens to be a high-ranking official in Egypt now let’s interpret this was shown in the beginning of chapter 37 a foreshadowing of what’s to come Joseph’s family will bow down to him then we see a number of tragic circumstances that look like they’re contradicting this promised future but you know what comes later what is God actually accomplishing in these terrible acts from Joseph’s brothers he’s not only bringing Joseph to Egypt but he’s putting him into a household that eventually put Joseph in connection with Pharaoh and all of that so that Joseph will become an exalted official in pharaoh’s kingdom and he will be able to save Egypt save the surrounding area and save his family from a famine that is coming many years later all of this is being accomplished and there is beginning to be accomplished in these acts from Joseph’s brothers it looks like the opposite it looks like there is no way I mean he was he was just a regular person before but now he’s the slave how is anybody gonna be in a position of Honor and Authority when they’ve been sold into slavery God was still doing it that was actually the means of God accomplishing his will and showing that what he foretold would come to pass now let’s not forget that this surely was very difficult for Joseph now when we read these scriptures we read the narratives we see oh you know God was doing this he was accomplishing his will that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard for the people who were experiencing it can you imagine the anguish that Joseph must have felt can you imagine what it’s like to be sold into slavery to be removed far from your family move to Atlanta you don’t know a land of people who don’t follow God and to be have this happen to you by your own family your own brother selling you into slavery that’s extremely high amount of suffering but God was doing something good in him and we’re going to see we don’t know exactly how Joseph was reacting we’re gonna see later that he has faith in God which is quite remarkable really the whole chain of events that we’re seeing unfold here and that we’ve seen unfold is quite amazing at the end of this chapter Joseph is in Egypt he’s in Potiphar’s house but Joseph wouldn’t have gotten there unless he had been enslaved but he would have been enslaved unless his brothers had sold him and his brothers wouldn’t have sold him unless Reuben had tried to intercede for Joseph’s life and Judah had had a greedy thought and this band of traders just happened to be going by at that precise moment when Reuben was absent but Reuben wouldn’t have interceded unless the other brothers had sought Joseph’s death the brothers wouldn’t have sought Joseph’s death unless they had become jealous of Joseph and had gotten far enough away from their father to be able to do this act in secret they wouldn’t have been jealous of Joseph unless the father had shown great favoritism to Joseph and joget Jacob wouldn’t have shown favoritism to Joseph if it weren’t for his love for Rebecca and the other his love for Rebecca Rachel sorry above the other wives and gods withholding pregnancy from Rachel until all the other wives children were born God made it so that Joseph was born last for second to last and Jacob wouldn’t have made multiple wives if it hadn’t been for Lake Levens trickery and Laban the wouldn’t have tricked Jacob if Jacob hadn’t arrived in her on to be tricked and Jacob wouldn’t have have fled to Iran if his light weren’t in danger if his life weren’t in danger but he wouldn’t have known his life were was not in danger was in danger sorry if Rebecca his mother had not overheard Esau saying that he wanted to kill Jacob and I won’t keep going on I think you get the idea so many different peoples but their different desires different goals some them sinful some of them not all of them intersecting and bringing about God’s ordained purpose now again every person is responsible for his own actions this is something that we keep on saying and yet all of this was bringing you about God’s desired result and what was God’s ultimate desire what was God’s ultimate will being accomplished not simply saving people from a massive famine but ultimately we keep going further down it’s the revelation of salvation and reconciliation in the promised seed Jesus Christ it was the gospel it was man finally experiencing what he was meant in the meant for from the beginning which is fellowship with God and ruling on God’s behalf all of that is even tied up here with these events we could if we really wanted to try and string all the different events of the Bible as they connect to the past in the future because we can see everything is related everything is connected but I’d probably be a very arduous task even the things that happened to the first humans they are directly linked to God’s plans for the very distant future even us today everything that happens to us and even those who come after us it has been it has been prepared by God with specific steps and actions in the past now it’s interesting in my theology class right now we’re going through soteriology and we’re talking about the doctrines of grace we’re talking about the extent of the atonement and does man have free will and things like that but even from this passage I think just from observing life generally you can see that to believe in something like what’s called libertarian free will that everything you make a choice with absolutely no impact nothing around you impacts your choice it’s just not true because we’re always arriving in circumstances and reacting to things or having things happen to us that are based on things that took place way in the past all these things are taking place according to how God was ordaining now of course that doesn’t mean that I’m not responsible our will is free and that it is not coerced we do exactly what we choose to do we do what we want in a sense and yet all of it is taking place according to God’s will everything is connected his will is exactly being accomplished even with the little things that happen to us even with the sufferings that happened to us in our lives now this is an amazing truth but what’s more amazing is that if you are in Christ it’s not an abstract reality for you it’s not so you know God’s conversing as well this is something for you to personally grab hold of because if God is accomplishing his will and his will is good and it is especially good for those who actually know him and are in Christ were called according to his purpose then you know that whatever is happening to you even the worst hurts and betrayals therefore you’re good they’re actually for God’s glory and your good for your joy even you might not see how right away you might not see how for 20 years might not see how until life is over but you can know it’s true because you can see that principle demonstrated right here in Genesis 37 of course it’s affirmed and there was famous verses in Romans 8 that God causes all things to work together for good but those who love you know people in the world they sometimes say hey you know everything happens for a reason and that is true and they don’t realize how how true that is but it’s a comfort for the believer it says these things happen for a good reason and for my good not just my good they actually involved the good of all that God has ordained and for all God’s people but if you’re not in Christ well things do happen for a reason it is for good but it might not be for your good because God says all things work together for good for those who love you and those who are called according to his purpose knows the people who end up being saying you didn’t glorify with God forever God may have a good purpose in your life if you don’t know him but it’s not for your good it may actually be good that he’s gonna accomplish that he’s gonna show his justice he’s gonna show his justice in you he’s gonna show what the wrath that sin deserves looks like by pouring it out on you that’s not the way that you want to glorify God and that’s why God says come to me come to me now repent Psalm 2 says kiss the son so that he’s not angry do homage to the son now lest his wrath be kindled because everyone will accomplish God’s purpose even those who rebel against him their entire lives they will glorify God in the end you know that verse says every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and on every knee will bow willingly and not every tongue will confess joyfully even though every tongue will confess so of course the question is which would you rather be what we’re seeing here is what I said in the beginning this is God’s far-reaching sovereignty on display not just in one moment of time not just in one lifespan but even generations all of them are in God’s mind and all his will is being accomplished because he’s God he’s sovereign we’re gonna see more next week how this theme continues we’re gonna see more of God just precisely providing the circumstances precisely working in different people’s hearts to bring about his will and we’ll see what happens to Joseph while he’s Annie it’s gonna be more difficulty for Joseph but God has a good purpose in it but let’s consider a few more application questions – related to what we’ve seen today some of these will be a little bit more tangential but I think they’re all simple of course the main truth we want to get though is that as Christians we can take comfort in God’s good sovereignty and this should lead us to obedience but here’s a here’s a series of questions here but think about the account of the patriarchs have a repeated theme of overturning societal norms earth right asses – the younger son this is not normal and what ways is living as a Christian today contrary to the norms of society what’s one way we can answer this a lot of different ways couldn’t we need to live as a Christian is fundamentally counter true especially in America believing in one true God that’s not normal believing only one way to heaven running from immorality removing any hindrance that might cause you to stumble reading and praying or reading the Bible and praying not just individually but with others dedicating time and money to serve the church not grumbling not disputing obeying the scriptures these are all things that are not normal they’re gonna make us seem strange to the world you know it really is so misguided and sometimes people say hey if we’re gonna win the world then we need to show that we’re not that different from them we need to show that hey we’re cool – actually it’s split the way that God is our date that we draw people to Christ is not by being like the world but by being like Christ by being different from the world that’s what makes the light of Christ shine now it’s true we don’t want to put any unnecessary cultural stumbling blocks and say hey you have to wear a tie if you’re gonna be a Christian anything like that but we should never lose sight of the fact that to be a Christian is to be counterculture and that’s actually what’s so attractive to those that got a cause they say you know what they’re different they live holy lives they actually know God I want to know God so this theme really a society being abandoned with the patriarchs the societal norms that continues into our own time here’s another question in this series of events once had led to another to cover up what had become a cycle of sin how can we learn from this in order to avoid similar cycles in our own lives think that’s right very good yeah you got a deal with sin yeah I’m reminded of that one quote kind of famous quote from John Warren John Owen or the modification of sin he says be killing sin or be certain that it is killing you it has a way of just spreading we think we can compartmentalize it oh this one area I’m not gonna let it affect the rest of my life I’m not gonna let it affect the rest of my behavior but no when your heart is not fully devoted to God that sin is just gonna start affecting you in other areas and lead you to other sins so just as Craig was saying I think that we need to deal with sin as soon as possible and we want to deal with every sin so that it doesn’t grow no I always remember something kind of interesting I heard this was a pastor and biblical counselor who is saying this many years ago but I listened to his message and he said that whenever he’s seeking to counsel someone in the congregation who’s frequently critical and ungracious of others a man a critical and ungracious man in the congregation the pastor would talk with this man privately and ask him if that man is struggling with sexual sin you say well why do you ask about that that seems totally unrelated but what’s strange is that many times when he would ask this you would find that the man was this is because this is what sin does it doesn’t stay in one area it begins to affect other areas of our lives and the heart is gripped by a particular sin that sin cannot help but enlist other sins as allies to its idolatrous cause so as Christians we need to remember that we want to deal with sin no sin should characterize our lives no habit of sin ought to remain for long we’re new creations we have a new nature the old is gone the new has come we are Paul we are called to put all sinful patterns to death to believe the promises of God become more like God through Christ by the Holy Spirit don’t want to give the devil a foothold as the New Testament Scriptures say as sin cannot be compartmentalized well I obviously see sin multiplying here and the same could be true of our lives if we don’t deal with sin now one last question life has many troubles some of the worst are people’s sins against us how does this account instruct us in viewing the hurts and betrayals that we suffer from others we need to realize because God was working out something good in Joseph’s life he’s doing the same for us even when people sin against us when you suffer that terrible betrayal or that just heinous act of sin from another person don’t just say hey that’s evil it is we need to acknowledge it for what it is and it’s not wrong to acknowledge that it’s really painful but don’t miss the other thing which is that this is under God’s hand this in one sense comes from God he’s accomplishing something good in it and you can take comfort in that this is going to be that amazing statement from Joseph later on in Genesis Genesis 50:20 and this would be a great verse to memorize if you don’t have it already memorized but Joseph responds to his brothers they’re concerned that they are that after Jacob has died that Joseph is going to kill them or do something to punish them and like I know Jacob say that you should forgive us but Joseph says among other things you meant evil for me but God meant it for good brother and sisters the same is true when you experience different hurts from other people people sin against you they mean evil for you but God means it for good it’s a trial but what does James sing cannon all joy when you encounter various trial not that the trial itself is you know happy-go-lucky but you know that God is doing something good through it and with that great one of the greatest this of course is seen exist more like Christ a lot of different words that you’ve suffered recently or as you encounter different ones bring back this perspective they mean it for evil but God means it for good and God’s will will be accomplished a few of questions about today’s lesson or other comments please email me but that’s all for this week said next week we’re going to see more what happens to Joseph in Egypt we’re going to see some of these same themes God is sovereign even through the suffering and he’s accomplishing good purpose well let’s close in prayer my god this is a wonderful narrative an example from Scripture it’s sobering because we realize we might go through something like Joseph went through something really hard even betrayal from our own family or even from others in the church who for whatever reason are not not walking with God in that situation and yet God you show us that we can still trust you through that you are working out something good not just for us but for others even generations from now so god I pray that we would learn the lesson that all these lessons are pointing us to which is to trust you trust no Bay have faith in you remember that you are a good god cling to you pray that you would enable us to do that by your spirit thank you that you’ve given us a new nature so that we can do that by your power and she’s this name Amen right thank you you up against