Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
"Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 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. 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, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?" He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?" "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. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams." When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?" Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe." He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard." Genesis 37:12-36
In our scripture today from Genesis, Chapter 37, we find the animosity within Joseph’s brothers boiling over. Their bitter hatred has taken them well beyond the limits of mere detestation and into the frightening realm of murderous hostility. In what could be considered a sequel to the Cain and Abel story, the brothers plot Joseph’s demise as they see him approaching in the distance. To them, there was no better way to regain their father’s favor than getting rid of the favored one.
Their progressive scheme shows us what can happen when we open the door for Satan to enter in and exploit our sinful attitudes. We know the brothers were selfish, jealous, coveting, hateful and detestable. We also know that the Lord was not in the midst of such sinfulness or else the attitudes would not have existed in the first place. So let’s examine the destructive progressiveness of sin in our scripture today:
1. The brothers hated Joseph. And that’s where the problem started. Doctors who diagnose illnesses try and get to the origin of the illness. The origin of what ailed the brothers was hatred. All other sinful emotions poured out from the hatred they had for Joseph…and it was hatred that led them to desire him dead. The instigator of the hatred was none other than Satan himself. The remedy could have come from the Lord had the brothers just woke up from the wrong of their ways before it was too late. The Lord would have led them out of the darkness of hatred and into the light of love but we know happen. Instead of sin stopping at hatred, it reproduced exponentially and gave birth to other negative, sinful emotions…emotions that led them to murder their own sibling.
Question: Do you harbor hatred in your heart for someone? Have you allowed it to spread within you and infect you to where you are malicious, hostile, bitter, or resenting? Is it any wonder that Jesus would say that if we are angry with someone we will face the same justice as if we had murdered that person? ("You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Matt 5:21-22) Anger and hatred are not of God or His Son Jesus or His Holy Spirit. If you harbor, anger or hatred, repent now and ask the God of light and love to enter into your heart. He and only He can heal you from the inside out.
The other cascading, sinful actions of Joseph’s brothers were as follows:
2. The brothers plotted to kill Joseph and throw him into a cistern and claim he was attacked by a wild animal. Unwilling to be honest about their sinful murdering, the brothers decided to make up a story to tell their father. What’s interesting about this is that their father had a reputation of deception himself. You’ll remember Jacob tricking his father, Isaac, into giving him Esau’s birthright. Now his offspring were repeating his sins of the past and he now was the target of their deceit. We’ll see where they succeeded, just as he did. Had it not been for Reuben, Joseph would have ended up dead before he went into the cistern. Reuben convinced his brothers to take a different route.
3. The brothers plotted to throw Joseph into the cistern and let him die naturally. Rather than kill Joseph and shed his blood, the brothers decide to throw Joseph into the cistern and let him die inside it. Without food and water, surely he would die before long of starvation or dehydration. One might say that this was even more cruel than just killing him and getting it over with. So they stripped off the robe…the special robe their father Jacob had given his favored son Joseph and showed their disfavor for him by throwing him into the cistern. We’re then told the brothers sat down to eat, unfazed by the potentially murderous act they had just committed.
4. Sold their brother into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. In what would serve as a prelude for Judas betraying Jesus for 30 silver coins, the brothers, feeling guilty about killing Joseph and covering up the act, decide to sell him to the Ishmaelites. I guess the brothers resolved within themselves that they were doing something noble and redeeming by not killing Joseph and sending him off to the unknown where any fate might await him. That didn’t even matter to them. They just wanted rid of him. And although they succeeded in the short term, they would see where they failed in the long term.
5. They deceived their father into believing Joseph was dead. They had sent Joseph away into slavery but still had to account for him with Jacob. So they took the robe they despised so much and used it as an instrument of deception, dipping it in goat’s blood and taking it to Jacob. Jacob’s response was expected. He had lost his beloved son, not long after he had lost his beloved wife. I can almost see the 11 other sons gathering around their mourning father and seeking to comfort him. With Joseph out of the way, they could now regain his favor, even if they had to do it under-handedly.
The brothers thought they were clever…that they had outwitted Joseph and Jacob. They thought they were in control of events. They were wrong.
For everything that happened in the story happened in accordance with God’s plan. The brothers weren’t in control but rather unwary participants in God getting Joseph where He wanted him to be. It’s important to note that our greatest intelligence cannot touch God’s almighty wisdom and power.
Soon, Joseph’s brothers would experience this first hand as they are reunited with Joseph, only to see his dreams becoming reality. Indeed, they would fall subservient to the one who they hated just as they, and we, are subservient to the Almighty Father and Author of everything in life.
So in sum, get rid of the roots of sin within you before they grow up and take you over. Turn to the Father, before you are overcome by wickedness, and allow Him to enter in to lead you to righteousness and cleanse you. He and only He is the cure for the common sin…the remedy that will keep it from cascading and leading you down the road of destruction.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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