Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:18-21

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.

Even if it seems unfair that Jacob showed a clear favoritism towards Joseph, or if it seems imprudent of Joseph to have related his dreams to his brothers, there is no earthly justification for what these brothers conspired to do. They were contemplating murder, and their derision that they will then “see what will become of his dreams” is shockingly callous.

I do wonder which of the brothers were the primary instigators of this plot. Simeon and Levi had already shown their willingness to kill, though that was as a retaliation for the rape of their sister. Here they are discussing the death of an innocent. Fortunately, not every brother was as bloodthirsty as the others. Reuben interceded in Joseph’s behalf, which we will get more into with tomorrow’s verses.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:15-17

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.

Joseph isn’t even able to fulfill his initial charge, to ascertain whether all is well with his brethren and the flocks, because they aren’t anywhere to be found! Continuing with the analogy of Joseph being like the Savior, a beloved son is sent to check on his brethren but does not immediately find his charge. Because sometimes we have picked up from where we were supposed to be and wandered off, and do not care to be found. But like the good shepherd, the son seeks, and queries, and presently comes to us wherever we are. No matter how filthy of a hovel, or how offensive a den of iniquity, he finds us where we are.

But as the story of Joseph shows, sometimes being found is not the same as being saved. Jesus might come find us where we are, but we still retain the right to refuse him. Even the right to cast him out from us. Though we should know that if we do so, it may be quite a season before we see him again.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:12-14

12 And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.

13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

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.

So begins the great journey of Joseph. An innocuous errand will lead to his entire life being changed. Unlike his father and great-grandfather, Joseph didn’t know that he was about to leave his home. He had no bag packed and had said no goodbyes. He was plucked out mid-stride and against his will.

I also am noticing in these verses how the story of Joseph is representative of the savior. A father sends his favored son as a representative to his other children. The son comes to see whether his brothers have properly cared for their flocks, or have gone astray, and the brothers respond by trying to destroy him. But their attempt is in vain, for in both cases the favored son is led through the tragedy to fulfilling his great purpose.

So no, Joseph was not anticipating the detour that awaited him, but as terrible as his fate may have seemed for a time, God was in it, and it all worked out for the greater good.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:9-10

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

I wanted to look at Joseph’s second dream a little more before moving on. I mentioned yesterday that Jacob interpreted the sun and moon and stars in Joseph’s dream as representing Jacob, Rachel, and all of Joseph’s brothers. And if this interpretation is correct, then the doubling of Joseph’s dreams, first with the sheaves of wheat and second with the heavenly bodies, likely signified the two times his family would make special obeisance to him. The dream with only the eleven sheaves would be indicating the first time that Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt, asking for grain, and bowing before Joseph. This second dream with the stars and the sun and the moon would be indicating later when Joseph had revealed his identity and all the household came to live under Joseph’s protection.

But that being said, I’m not entirely sure that Jacob was correct in his interpretation. The fact that he says “I and thy mother” seems to suggest that this dream was given when Rachel was still alive. But by the time that Joseph came into power his mother was long since dead. Rachel was never present to see, and make obeisance, to Joseph as an Egyptian prince. Perhaps the sun and the moon could instead represent the two nations who depended on Joseph for survival: Egypt and Israel.

Of course, that other interpretation depends entirely on whether Rachel was still alive at this point or not. We know that she died during the birth of Benjamin, but we do not know how old Joseph was when his younger brother was born. Is it possible he never knew the boy before he was sold off to Egypt? If that were the case, then eleven stars would have seemed strange to the family, as Joseph would have only had ten brothers so far.

Which perhaps means that Benjamin was already born, Rachel had already passed away, and if the sun and moon really did signify Jacob and Rachel showing reverence to their son, perhaps it was meant in a spiritual sense instead of physical.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:9-11

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

It is interesting that after such a poor reception to his first dream Joseph felt compelled to share this second one as well. Perhaps he was too naïve to realize the vexation it would stir up. Or maybe he fully knew the drama that would be caused, but the dream came with a God-given need to share it. Certainly Noah knew that his calls to repentance would not be received cheerfully, but he still was called to foretell the flood.

It is understandable that Joseph’s brothers would feel poorly about these dreams, but the retaliation they exercised on him was completely inexcusable. If they thought he was a fool or a liar they could have dismissed him out of hand, but the fact that they contemplated murder and sold him into slavery shows that they felt threatened. No doubt they knew in their hearts that he was more worthy than they, but they sought to remove him instead of improving themselves.

Of note in Joseph’s dream is that this one not only shows Joseph’s brothers making obeisance to him, represented by the eleven stars, but also two others represented by the sun and the moon. Jacob interpreted the sun and the moon as being himself and Joseph’s mother, and took offense to that. But unlike Joseph’s brothers, we hear that he “observed the saying,” which suggests that even though he disliked the message, he recognized it was from God and had respect to it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:5-8

5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 

7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

Joseph’s dream is full of foreshadowing. The most obvious interpretation is that he will become the greatest of them all and that his brothers will bow to him. However it is also significant that this was all portrayed through sheaves in a field, because the way that Joseph comes into power is that the pharaoh of Egypt entrusts him with the stores of grain, which he distributes and sells at a time of famine. Joseph will have plenty while his brothers’ stores run dry, and they will come and make obeisance to him as they seek to buy his grain.

Also, I think it is significant that they are all working in a field in this dream. This seems representative of one’s life work, of the yield one reaps from what they have sown. Joseph’s hands will be fruitful, everything that he touches will flourish and grow. Meanwhile his brothers are sowing evil and will never reap as he will.

All of Joseph’s brothers derided the dream. It was too much to accept that their brother, indeed their younger brother, would be able to rule over them all. It is an immature and narrow-sighted aspect of youth, that a difference of a few years seems to be of great importance. They didn’t realize that after time, five years’ seniority or even twenty years’ seniority means absolutely nothing at all. Eventually it is quality, not seniority, that rises to the top.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 37:2-4

2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

I never realized that we had a specific age at which the story of Joseph and the jealousy of his brothers began, but here we learn that he was seventeen years old, not quite a boy but neither a full man, living at the critical juncture where most adolescents establish what sort of person they are going to be. And at this young age he becomes the main character of our biblical narrative. From here on out we have our focus shift from Jacob to him.

It says in these verses he was with his half-brothers born of Bilhah and Zilpah, but not of Leah, when he gave a report of the evil they were up to. Later, when he was sold by his brothers, Reuben the son of Leah would be present also, but I wonder whether the sons of the handmaids were more astray than the others. The record does not say what the nature of their offence was at this time, but it is not the only time that they will get into mischief while they are supposed to be caring for the flocks.

Verses 3 and 4 make clear the brothers’ jealousy of Joseph. His father loved him most of all his sons, and it was publicly apparent to them all. In fact, Jacob set Joseph apart with his special gift: a coat of many colors. Joseph was literally wearing the favor of his father for all to see. And the brothers’ hostility to him became so pronounced that they could not conceal it, unable to even speak peacefully to him.

Yet this was not all. As we will see in tomorrow’s verses, there was also the matter of Joseph’s visions, and the prophecy that his brothers would bow before him. Fresh fuel would be heaped upon their anger, until at last they were willing to consider serious harm to Joseph.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 30:22-24

22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:

24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord shall add to me another son.

At long last the Lord saw fit for Rachel to conceive a child of her very own. After watching her sister and the two handmaids be able to what she could not, miraculously her womb was opened, and she gave birth to a son.

And Joseph is to become a mighty man, the greatest of all his brethren. Of course, it will be a long road before he realizes that, and first his brethren will despise and betray him. And it has occurred to me that Joseph might have always been the odd-one out because of his unique heritage. There were six sons born of Leah, two of Zilpah, and two of Bilhah. Thus, every one of the boys had at least one blood brother, except for Joseph.

Joseph would be the one and only son of Rachel until many years later. And having been born after all the other ten, he was surely much younger than the first ones. And that’s not all, there is also the fact that he was the favorite son, born of the favorite wife. Thus, there were many factors to isolate Joseph and make him despised of by his brethren, and it is little wonder that he ended up in such a complicated situation with them later on.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 27:41-42

41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

42 And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.

The idea of feuding brothers seems to be a recurring theme in the Old Testament. First Cain and Abel, then Ishmael and Isaac, now Jacob and Esau. And in each of these cases either one of the brothers had to leave to preserve the peace, or else a death occurred.

Soon we will also have Joseph’s brothers contemplating murdering him and selling him into Egypt. It seems that Jesus was also rejected by his own brothers. In the Book of Mormon Nephi is conspired against by his brothers Laman and Lemuel. And multiple times we will hear of princes that slay their brethren to take the throne for themselves.

The feuding of brothers is representative of the struggle between all mankind. There is a natural competition within us. Perhaps every child is born equal, but quickly we become aware of all the things that we do not have, and we strive for the advantage over each other.

Even Jesus’s disciples had a competitive spirit, wondering which of them would be greatest in their master’s kingdom, and Jesus had to curtail that rivalry. He reproved them and also assured them with the words “In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Which to me is a message of how Heaven is not like earth. Its resources and inheritances are infinite, so competition has no purpose. In Heaven there is room enough for us all.