Sermon Tone Analysis

Breakdown of Genesis

As you can see, a very large portion of Genesis is devoted to the life of Joseph.

Approximate number of words — (includes chapter and verse numbers — pretty close)

Creation through tower of Babel — 3,553

Abraham — 4,602

Isaac — 842

Jacob — 4,487

Joseph — 5,850

Joseph’s trouble started with his father Jacob/Israel.

Joseph’s father was Jacob, and Jacob’s father was Isaac.

Isaac and Rebekah had two sons, Jacob and Esau.

Isaac loved Esau the most and Rebekah loved Jacob the most.

Their favoritism toward their favorite sons tore their family apart.

It bred envy, jealousy, deceit, anger, hatred, you name it, it was ugly.

Isaac tried to bless Esau with everything and curse Jacob, but Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac and stole Esau’s blessing, and Esau got cursed.

You would think that Jacob would learn how much favoritism would tear a family apart, but he didn’t, he repeated his father’s mistakes and showed favoritism to Joseph and it ended up tearing his family apart as well.

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but we also see God step in in the next few verses

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You know what happens next.

Jacob tells Joseph to go check on his brothers and the flocks that they are shepherding and bring back a report.

Keep in mind that shepherding is not an easy or enjoyable job, it’s very dirty, and that’s what Jacob is making his sons do, but what is Jacob making Joseph do?

Joseph is not only wearing clean clothes, he’s wearing an expensive colorful robe and he is their supervisor.

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Now did God give Joseph the dream about his brothers serving him and his parents bowing down to him?

Yes.

Did God have to show Joseph that vision?

No.

If God did not show Joseph that vision, do you think his brothers would have thrown him into that pit and sold him to the Midianite traders that day?

Probably not, at least not quite yet, it probably would have been a little bit later that they would have done something to him and who knows what they would have done.

Now did God actually tempt Joseph’s brothers to kill him, or beat him, or sin against him in any way?

No. Have you ever been tempted to sin? of course.

Was it God who tempted you to sin.

Absolutely not.

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So Joseph is sold to Potiphar, who is the captain of the guards for Pharaoh.

Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph and he does not give in and says that he would not just be sinning against Potiphar he would be sinning against God.

Which is an important point.

All sin is against God.

No matter what you do wrong to other people or even to yourself, all sin is ultimately against God.

So Joseph resists temptation and takes a stand against evil and as a result is thrown into prison by Potiphar.

Now did God tempt Potiphar’s wife to try to seduce Joseph?

No. Pharaoh then throws his cupbearer and baker into prison along with Joseph, God gives them both dreams and gives Joseph the interpretation.

Then a couple years later God gives Pharaoh a dream and the cupbearer tells Pharaoh about Joseph and Joseph is brought before Pharaoh and God gives Joseph the interpretation to Pharaoh’s dream and Pharaoh places him in charge of all of Egypt.

God brings a severe famine throughout the land for 7 years and ends up forcing Joseph’s brothers to come to Egypt and bow down before him.

Just as God had foretold.

Joseph knew that his brothers didn’t recognize him

He punished his brothers, he was still very bitter and didn’t trust them

He accused them of being spies, and threw them all in jail for three days, then he told them they could go back but Simeon would stay in jail until they returned with Benjamin.

He stayed there two years, by the way.

When they finally convinced Jacob to allow all the brothers to return to Egypt, he sabotaged them again and demanded that Benjamin remain as his slave.

He had still not forgiven his brothers at this point.

He still wanted to send them away and keep only his full brother Benjamin back with him in Egypt.

But his resentment was finally overcome when Judah, the one whose idea it was to sell him into slavery to begin with plead for Benjamin’s life.

This is the longest speech given by any of Jacob’s sons.

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Joseph didn’t know his brother’s were changed or not.

He didn’t know if they were truly repentant or if they were still jealous of Benjamin like they were jealous of him.

Since Joseph is gone, Benjamin was the only son left of Rachel and so he was now Jacob’s favorite son.

There is no doubt that he was receiving very special treatment by their father, just like Joseph was.

This is why all of the brothers, except Benjamin came to Egypt on the first trip.

Joseph could learn a lot by watching how they react to Benjamin.

Judah had changed and he knew the grief his father would experience by losing his beloved son, so even though Judah was not guilty of stealing Joseph’s cup, he offered himself as a substitute for Benjamin.

Judah was willing to sacrifice himself to save his brother.

Judah was a changed man.

Jesus descended from the line of Judah.

It is no coincidence that Jesus, like Judah, would take the punishment due to someone else in order that they may be able to go home to their Father in heaven who loves them with all of his heart.

Joseph told his brothers that God had orchestrated his being brought to Egypt so they should not be grieved.

Joseph was telling his brothers, to forgive and let go of the guilt of their past, because everything worked out for the salvation of countless people and Joseph felt that the price that he paid was worth the way things turned out in the end.

And so we too must live our lives from that perspective.

Knowing that we will suffer in the fallen world if we remain faithful to God, but that He is able to work out all things for the good of those of us who love Him.

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Now, did God tempt Joseph’s brothers to kill him or to sell him as a slave?

No.

The brothers did that all on their own, but God did give Joseph just the right dreams, at just the right time, that when told to his brothers it ensured that God’s plan would be accomplished.

God showed Joseph and his brothers the truth of what God would do one day.

God has revealed to us the truth about the future.

How we respond to that revelation is entirely on us.

God said that he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus.

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You tell some people that and they become very scared, you tell others and they become very angry.

Telling them is not a temptation to sin.

Joseph’s dreams were not a temptation to his brothers to sin, but because they had so much hatred stored up in their heart for Joseph already, they responded with greater hatred.

All of that to say this: God is completely sovereign.

There is nothing that will ever happen that will surprise him or catch him off guard.

He does not tempt us to sin, but he does allow us to choose to sin against his will.

He is so far above us in his omniscience that He knows exactly how to accomplish anything He wants to accomplish regardless of what we do in rebellion against him.

All the sin in the world, all the rebellion in the world from people and evil powers, can never, and will never be able to outsmart or outwit God.

He will accomplish His plans regardless of how much we fight against him.

Our free will, and our sinfulness does not phase Him.

He will always achieve His goals.

So we should take great comfort in God’s sovereignty, knowing that He loves us and cares about every detail of our life.

We should be praying about everything to Him, knowing that He can do something about any situation we have.

He is bigger than our circumstances.

He is smarter than our enemy.

And He is more loving than all of us put together.

He is God, and He is our Father.

Is he yours?