Genesis 37:1-18
37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed,the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
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 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers,they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
It was clear to everyone that Jacob favoured Joseph more than any of his other brothers. This must have been infuriating to them as they watch Jacob dress him up in special clothes and treated him to special gifts. You can imagine him strutting around the others, speaking down to them, knowing that he was the one who was chosen to be given the blessing. This was the same blessing that had been passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. It was the blessing of owning the whole of the Promised Land and of descendants as numerous as the stars. It guaranteed wealth and power. He would become like a king.
To make things worse, Jacob had dreams which confirmed this. God was going to use him in powerful ways and his family would all bow to him. The fact that he could not wait to share this with his brothers and to rub it in their faces shows a naieveity or an arrogance that will come back to hurt him.
However, Joseph was right. And this story shows us something that is very important about God. He sees the future and he reveals it to us. God speaks through dreams and visions and shows us what is going to come. These dreams can be difficult to interpret like Joseph’s but I believe that God gives them to us in order to bring our attention to him and to allow him to reveal his plans.
As we follow God and live as his people in this world, we are walking a path that he has seen already. He knows the twists and turns. He knows the disappointments and the victories. He is leading us and sees the destination before we take the first step.
As we pray today, ask God if there is anything that he wants to reveal to you about where he is leading you.
