Joseph Sold Into Slavery

INTRO

We’ve defined the book of Genesis with one word—Seed. Throughout Genesis 1—35, the Seed of the woman points to Christ. How was this Seed communicated? Through multiple people . . . Abraham and his wife Sarah; Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and Jacob and his wives Leah and Rachel. This is Jacob’s lineage. We know that the Seed, Christ, the Messiah, comes through Judah (Revelation 5:5; 2 Samuel 7:12; Genesis 29).

TEACHING

In chapter 36 of Genesis, 43 verses are dedicated to the lineage of Esau who came from the same line as Jacob. Esau had three wives, five sons (vv. 1–8), and ten grandsons (vv. 9–14). His lineage is packed with chiefs: political and military (vv. 15–19); the chief of the Horites who came from the Edomites who intermarried (vv. 20–30); kings of Edom (vv. 31–39); and a list of related chiefs (vv. 40–43). The lineage of Esau is massive compared to Jacob’s. Constable said “that secular greatness develops faster than spiritual greatness. Consequently, the godly must wait patiently for the fulfillment of God’s promises.”¹God will still keep His promises through the 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob).

Genesis 37:1–2: Verse 1 states that Jacob stayed in the land of Canaan. In verse 2, the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 we identified in chapter 35, were working together as shepherds. At this point, Joseph was working directly with Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher—just the five of them. Joseph took a bad report about his brothers back to his father, Jacob. A bad report means it had to be about some seriously bad behavior. When Dinah was raped, all of Jacob’s sons did the plundering. It was in their DNA. This wasn’t the first bad step the brothers of Joseph had made. Wiersbe suggests, “The presence of Joseph in the home didn’t create problems so much as revealed them.”²

Genesis 37:3–4: Verse 3 states Israel loved Joseph more. Parental favoritism is never good. Jacob gave Joseph a robe of many colors. There’s only one other time a robe of this type is mentioned in Scripture (2 Samuel 13:18). When Joseph showed up in his new robe, all the brothers—not just Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher—recognized the favoritism and hated Joseph.

Genesis 37:5–8: Joseph then had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more (v. 5). Was Joseph completely clueless? Why would he share these dreams? We’ve already considered that God still gives dreams and visions (Joel 2:28) and that God speaks through the old and the young (Acts 2:17). In verse 6, Joseph shares his dream: “There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly, my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf” (v. 7). And they hated him still more (v. 8).

Genesis 37:9–14: Joseph had another dream and told his brothers again: “This time, the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me” (v. 9). In this dream, the sun was his father, the moon was his mother, and the stars were his brothers, so now the whole family would be bowing down to him. His father (Jacob-Israel) rebuked him (v. 10), but pondered it (maybe like Mary pondered the events of Jesus’ birth?) (v. 11). Look at the growing controversy in these verses: jealousy, conflict, darkness, anger—all aimed at Joseph. Was Joseph walking in faith or foolishness to tell his brothers these things? Biblical commentator Meir Sternberg says, “God’s future agent and mouthpiece in Egypt could hardly make a worse impression on first appearance: spoiled brat, talebearer, braggart!”³Joseph’s brothers were pasturing flocks in Shechem (where Dinah was raped). When Jacob told Joseph to check on his brothers, he responded, “I’m ready!” There’s a lot to Joseph’s response. Joseph was sent from Hebron to Shechem to see his brothers, a 50 to 60-mile distance and a three-day journey, just to report back to his father. That makes you think that Joseph had proven to be good at reporting.

Genesis 37:15–17: In verse 15, it says “a man” found Joseph wandering in a field. Joseph had never been far from home, so he had no idea where he was going. Joseph’s brothers had moved to Dothan (v. 17). Note that in Psalm 105:17, God had sent a man ahead of them. Joseph, who became a slave, was sent. Why were Jacob’s sons pasturing flocks 50 to 60 miles away? Why would they go to a dangerous place like Shechem? Why would Jacob send Joseph alone with his coat?

Genesis 37:18–22: The brothers saw Joseph, probably his robe, from far off, and before he could get to them, the brothers planned to kill him. Who starts that kind of conversation? Murder was already in their hearts. Constable suggested that the brothers “may have actually wanted to alter the will of God as revealed in Joseph’s dreams.”⁴In verse 20, the brothers say, “Here come’s that dreamer!” In this account, Joseph’s dreams got him into the pit. Thirteen years later, interpreting dreams will get Joseph out of the pit of jail. Reuben (the firstborn) tried to rescue Joseph (v. 21, possibly to make up for the wrong he had done in sleeping with his father’s concubine, Bilhah).

Genesis 37:23–27: Joseph received no welcome. Instead, the brothers took off his robe and threw him into the empty pit (vv. 23-24).Then they sat down to eat (v. 25). These brothers were heartless. When you have a hard heart, you’ll do anything (Jeremiah 17:9). The next time they have a meal together is with Joseph in Egypt. In Genesis 42:21, as we see the brothers pleading not to bring Benjamin to Egypt when they came back, they were probably thinking back to this moment in time. A caravan came along (v. 25b). Reuben had been the spokesman, but now Judah, whom the seed passes through, spoke up (v. 26). The brothers “not only sold their brother, but in Joseph, they had cast out a member of the seed promised and given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”⁵They were from the Seed of the woman, but they were functioning in the seed of the serpent. Puett wrote, “Kidnapping and selling humans into slavery is a crime that is considered a capital offense,”⁶placing the offense as equal to murder.

Genesis 37:28–35: The price of 20 pieces of silver was common for anyone from age five to 20 sold as a slave. When Reuben found out what happened to Joseph, he was in complete distress. The brothers dipped Joseph’s robe in the blood of a slaughtered goat. Constable said, “Jacob had deceived his father with the skin of a goat. Now his sons were deceiving him with the blood of a goat.”⁷When Jacob examined the robe, he recognized it and said, “some ferocious animal has devoured him” (v. 33). One writer stated the “vicious animal” was actually Joseph’s brothers. Jacob still mourned for his son 20 years later (Genesis 42:36). Jacob refused comfort (v. 35). Jacob mourned not only the loss of his son but Joseph’s lost role in God’s plan (1 Chronicles 5:2).

Genesis 37:36: We know Joseph is an illustration of Christ. Wiersbe described Joseph as “beloved by his father and obedient to his will; hated and rejected by his own brethren and sold as a slave; falsely accused and unfairly punished; finally elevated from the place of suffering to a powerful throne, thus saving his people from deat.”⁸Even though Joseph had to go through all this, so did Christ. Genesis 50:20 states: “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.” Joseph was in the lineage to save all his brothers! Even though Judah carried the Seed, Christ, Joseph had to save his brother.

CLOSING

Daniel 4:35 records that God is in control: “All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (Romans 8:28). God will not allow the Seed to be destroyed.