Joseph - Family issues

Gary Boyd

Refreshing Stories from the Bible • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Genesis 37:14–28 KJV 1900

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. 15 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. 18 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. 21 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. 23 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. 26 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. 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.

Genesis 39:1–2 KJV 1900

1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. 2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

Introduction

Pretty well-known story.

Actually a pretty messed up family situation.

Reminder of Joseph’s family make up.

Jacob, Joseph’s father has two wives.

Leah

Rachel

He also ends up having two concubines who were simultaneously servants to his wives.

Between these 4 women, Jacob had 13 children.

He and Leah had 6 boys and 1 girl.

He and Rachel had 2 boys.

Each of the two concubines gave him 2 boys.

This is a majorly blended family.

Jacob made no effort in concealing the fact that he had definite favorites.

Rachel was his favorite wife.

Her two boys, Joseph and Benjamin were his favorite children.

Jacob let these things to be known.

It caused severe problems within his family.

The mistreatment that Joseph receives stems from a multitude of factors.

A father that provoked his children to wrath.

A family that cared more about their relationships with each other than their relationships with God.

A possible haughty or oblivious spirit within Joseph as a young man.

Jealousy and bitterness that festered within the hearts of his brothers.

Wives that are in constant competition with each other.

There is every reason for Joseph to play the victim based on the toxic culture that exists within his family.

That is true before the events of the passage that we have read this evening.

All of the underlying hostility erupts in chapter 37.

It all starts with Jacob sending Joseph to go and check on his brothers.

It certainly sounds like an innocent enough task.

The brothers are in Shechem feeding the sizeable flock of sheep.

Jacob asks Joseph if he will go and check on them to see how they are doing.

Joseph obeys his father without question.

Think about this, as he heads out from his father’s house, he will never again return.

The distance from Hebron to Shechem is about 78km.

A fairly healthy person walking at a consistent pace can cover about 80km in a day.

It is doubtful that Joseph would have covered this distance in a single day.

So let’s assume that Joseph is on his second day of traveling when he reaches Shechem.

His brothers are nowhere to be found.

He searches all around the different grazing fields, but he finds no sign of his brothers.

Finally, some random man finds Joseph wandering in the field.

Can you kind of imagine Joseph as being like the super-sheltered type.

You know, he’s one of the youngest in his family.

He hasn’t been asked to do much.

When it comes time to actually think on his own, he doesn’t know what to do.

The guy that finds him, remember he sticks out like a sore thumb with his special coat, the guy asks him what he is looking for.

Joseph tells the man that he is looking for his brothers.

The man tells Joseph that he heard the brothers saying that they were going to head to Dothan.

Dothan is another 103 km.

Joseph is now looking at another 2 days of traveling.

But, he presses on.

As Joseph gets closer to Dothan, his brothers see him in the distance.

Their reaction to Joseph is less than loving.

200 km from home, they see their brother coming and they start talking about a way in which they might kill him.

Maybe at first it just started as a conversation about how they despised him.

He was so cocky and privileged.

He had no idea what real life was like.

Daddy always came to his rescue and gave him everything he wanted.

Then one of them starts to fantasize about ways they could get rid of him for good.

They each take turns coming up with the most gruesome method of killing their brother.

Laughter fills the countryside as each man out does the other.

Time goes by much faster and before they know it, Joseph is actually getting close.

One of the men puts a stop the festivities and tells the men they’d better decide now whether or not to action to their words.

They come up with a 4-step plan.

Kill him.

Toss his body in a pit.

Say that some animal ate him.

Wait and see what becomes of his dreams.

It seems like all except one of Joseph’s brothers was in favor of this plan.

Rueben, the oldest, proposes a different plan.

Rather than getting their hands needlessly bloody, they should skip with the slaying and simply drop him in a pit.

He would die of starvation, but they could technically say that they did not kill him.

Of course, Rueben intended to pull Jospeh out when the others weren’t looking.

This way, Joseph could return home to his father.

The brothers agree with Rueben.

When Joseph arrives the brothers move to attack him.

This couldn’t have been very hard.

It was after all 1 vs 10.

Joseph wasn’t expecting anything like this to happen.

He was also tired from 4 straight days of walking to find his brothers.

Joseph is quickly stripped of his coat and tossed into a pit.

Thankfully the pit is empty.

There is no water in it.

There is an archeological point of interest in this area called the Jubb Yussef. It is a pit that is either the pit or one like the pit that Joseph was thrown into.

The area has several such pits that fill with water. This made the area an important crossroads for caravans traveling from Egypt to Syria and Mesopotamia.

Probably the brothers were aware of this and were hoping to trade with these caravans for exotic merchandise.

This is why it was noteworthy that there was no water in the pit at this time.

By pit we’re talking about a 2 ft wide x 25 ft deep hole in the ground.

After performing this incredibly heinous act against their own brother, the men are so bothered by it that they sit down to eat.

What do you think Joseph was doing that whole time.

Just like, oh well?

Don’t you think he was calling and pleading with them?

And yet, they are untouched.

They intended to leave him there to die, until they saw what was coming their direction.

The men spied a caravan making it’s way towards them.

These are Ishmaelites, their cousins, and they we re probably expecting them.

They intended to trade with them already, but then Judah has an idea.

What profit is Joseph to them if he dies in the pit?

Why don’t they sell him to the caravan and let them do to him as they please.

So they sold their brother and he was taken away into Egypt.

Of course you know how the rest of the story goes.

Reuben comes back to free Joseph and he is gone.

They take his coat, shred it, and cover it in blood.

They show it to their father, who nearly dies, and tell him that a wild animal had eaten him.

For the next nearly 25 years, this is what Jacob believed.

But, what about Joseph.

If you’re familiar with the story then you know that he will eventually ascend to a position of second in command in Egypt.

It was not smooth sailing.

He spends time in prison.

But the really important thing to know is found in the beginning of Genesis 39.

Genesis 39:1-2 “1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. 2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.”

“The Lord was with Joseph.”

The disfunction of Joseph’s family could not negate the presence of the Lord in Joseph’s life.

Make no mistake they were dysfunctional at all levels.

And Joseph was affected by their toxicity, but he wasn’t defeated by it.

This is what is so refreshing about such a tragic story.

God’s power was not limited by Joseph’s family problems.

We could do a whole series about how Jacob and his family were distant from God.

In addition to the things we talked about before, this home also dealt with...

Idolatry

Immorality

Violence

Joseph’s future was determined by how he responded to the actions of his family, not by the actions of his family.

Remember the dreams?

They said they wanted to see what became of his dreams.

Well they still came true.

We would look at Joseph’s family situation and say that here didn’t seem to be much hope that he would escape these circumstances.

No social worker would have looked at this home and thought that Joseph would have amounted to much of anything.

We certainly wouldn’t see him as second in command of the most powerful country on earth.

Your family may have had a lot in common with Joseph’s.

Maybe you grew up in a toxic home environment.

Maybe you are a first generation believer and your family doesn’t understand your devotion to God.

Maybe you have had to face your own unique cocktail of violence and backstabbing at the hands of those closest to you.

Joseph serves as a reminder of how individuals can overcome traumatic family history with God’s help.

You are not your family.

You don’t have to succumb to the same generational sins of the past.

You do not have to carry the hate that others have tried to unload on you.

God still wants to be with you today.

Sin separates us from God.

The sins of your family may have made Him seem very far away.

But, He has always been close to you.

Jesus died on the cross for you.

To take your eternal punishment away.

To free you from the chains and bondage of sin, even the sins that seem to be inherited from your family.