Joseph, His Dad and Brothers
Sermon on Genesis 37
Title: Joseph and His Brothers
Textual Theme: God sees the opportunity to bless all nations, when we do wrong.
Goal: to assure the Israelites of the goodness of God when we do wrong.
Need: The Israelites do not believe God is working for the good in spite of all that is wrong.
Sermon Theme: God sees the opportunity to bless all nations, when we do wrong.
Goal: to assure Christians that God is working out the good when we do wrong.
Need: Christians often don’t believe God is working for the good in spite of all that we do wrong.
Sermon Outline:
- Introduction
- Bad Dad
- Bad Kid
- Bad Brothers
- Good God
- Conclusion
Sermon in Oral Style:
People of God,
The most important point in all of history is Christ coming into the world and dying on the cross. If we look at the message of all of Scripture in the old testament, everything is funneling in towards the coming of Christ. Christ’s work of ministry funnels in to the one single point of the time that our God-man died on the cross for our sins.
The coming of Christ is like a prism also. All history funnels toward the birth of God in the stable, and the death of the savior on the cross. Like a prism that takes light and disperses it in all different directions, the blessings of God are spread out throughout the world after the coming of Christ. Go into all the world. Jesus Christ and the blessings of God are for all people. Like a prism.
For several weeks we are going to be looking at the story of Joseph’s life. Like all stories of the Old Testament, it’s message is one that was meaningful for its original readers, but it is also part of the whole message of the Old Testament that expects the coming of Christ, on tiptoes, eager anticipation.
The first place in Scripture that we have that eager anticipation of the savior is right after the fall, when God promises that the descendant of Eve will crush the head of Satan. All humanity will be blessed by the crushing of Satan.
This promise is made again in Genesis 12:1-3. Listen “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”[1]
All nations will be blessed through Eve. All nations will be blessed through Abram. The promise is getting more focused.
We need to have this context in mind as we make our way through the Joseph story. As the Israelites told this story orally to each other, every word hinged on how the good God, Yahweh, is going to bless all people. Because we are the New Testament Israel, we can look back see how these stories of our past, focus our attention on Christ and how our good God will use our lives to bless all people.
Bless all people. Well, God could have started with a better bunch than the ones in Genesis 37.
We have a bad dad, a bad kid, and bad brothers.
The story of Joseph really starts in verse 2 where it says, “This is the account of Jacob.[2]” It might seem kind of strange that they call this last portion the account of Jacob, but what that is really saying is that these are the things that happened while Jacob was the family head.
We know from Jacob’s past, he isn’t the perfect standard of morality. Stealing the blessing from his older brother, and cheating his brother out of the birthright.
It seems that being the head of the house hasn’t made him the picture perfect father either. He plays favorites. He had a favorite wife. Rachel. And he favored the children born to Rachel more than any that he had with Leah or leah’s servants.
He then defies the practice of the time to make the oldest son the most revered in the family. Instead he shows most of his love toward the 11th born son. Joseph. Jacob gives him a special coat.
We have all seen the pictures of the coat. A coat of many colors, or a richly ornamented tunic. I could preach a whole message just on the robe, but the short version. The Hebrew words are difficult to translate. When the Old Testament Hebrew was translated into the Greek language between 300-100 BC they translated it as a coat with many colors. That’s where we get that interpretation. But newer study of the words in Hebrew show that the root words are similar to the words for heal and palm. With this different understanding, it isn’t a colorful robe, it is a robe with long sleeves.
One person who comments on this passage says that the long sleeves are significant, because that is where large amounts of money would be kept safe. In the long hems of a tunic. Likely, Jospeph has already become the heir aparent in Jacob’s household. Jacob has given to Joseph what rightly belonged to Reuben, the oldest of Leah’s children.
Bad dad.
We also have a bad kid. Joseph, is not the picture perfect child either. This blended and in many ways disfunctional household leaves Joseph with his own problems as well. This raises the tension of the story even more. God promises to bless all people, but Joseph, the spoiled little bratty brother is part of it?
Verse 2 says, This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.[3] A bad report sounds like he is tattling on them. “Dad, guess what Issachar did.” But by bad report, it actually means he was bearing false testimony. One of the ten commandments. He is bringing a false report that accuses his brothers of things that they haven’t done. He is so spoiled that he can get away from it.
And you notice, how he isn’t out in the fields while his brothers are. He is taking advantage of the favortism of his dad, and using it to damage the lives the reputation, and even the very livelyhood of his brothers. If they don’t meet dad’s expectations, they might not be a part of the family very long. Its no wonder they refuse to talk civily with Joseph. And if you think about it, why is Joseph travelling in this fancy cloak that his Father gave him when he visits his brothers out where they are grazing the sheep. He is full of himself. Its like wearing everything you own that’s gold to church at the same time. It’s a show.
Then to make matters worse come Joseph’s dreams.
An interesting point about the dreams in the Joseph story, all the dreams happen in pairs. Two dreams about Joseph’s future status. Two dreams about what will happen to the prisoners with Joseph. Two dreams by the pharaoh about the coming agricultural sitatuions.
But Joseph tells these dreams, and maybe this crafty 17 yearold wasn’t as virtuous in the reasons why he told them to everyone. It isn’t that innocent little Joseph was coming up with his puppydog eyes. Guess what everybody I had a dream that said all my brothers are going to bow down to me like the wheat. And all that stars and even sun and moon are going to bow down to me. Joseph’s retelling of the dreams may have been an in your face sort of moment. He may have been proving his importance to the family.
Two reasons Joseph can be seen as a bad kid. Telling lies about his brothers and being full of himself enough to use the dreams to attack his brothers and parents.
And we have bad brothers as well to add to the mix. Things go from bad to worse. God is working his good through all of this. He is going to bless all nations through this brood?
The bad brothers we know throw him into a cistern and plan to kill him. That’s bad. But, these are the fathers of the tribes of Israel. Reuben steps up, but not like he should. Let’s not kill him. Let’s just leave him in the well. He plans to save him later, but he can’t stand up in front of his family for what is right.
Then Judah saves him once and for all by selling him to a different land. Nice. Good work Judah.
And to make it all look good, they rip apart the robe, toss some blood on it and say that he was killed by some animals. We have a bad dad, a bad kid, a bad set of brothers.
This is a recipe for disaster. Actually, it is a recipe for God’s goodness to reign supreme. It is a moment where situations seem out of control that you know only God can make them better. It is only God’s power that can bring his promises in a sinful group like Jacob’s family.
It will come, the goodness of God will be evident.
In fact, we said all of the old Testament is waiting for its fulfillment in Christ. We have it in our passage. What is the only blood shed in in the story. Instead of Joseph, there is a goat slaughtered in its place. Just a flash of the goodness of God and the expectation that Jesus Christ will come, be sacrificed by sinners, for sinners. He will come to bless the whole world. He died as the lamb, as the goat in our place. Motivated by that sacrifice, we do good in our world, and trust full in our good and gracious God.
That is where the chapter leaves us. God promises to bless all nations through this family. It is hard to know at this point how God is going to do it. But at the very least he gives us picture of the lamb that was sacrificed in our place.
AMEN
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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984
[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984