Chapter. 22. Genesis 37. Joseph and his Brethren.
OF Jacob’s twelve sons, ten were grown up when they came to Hebron to live. Joseph, Rachel’s son, was seventeen years old, and Benjamin his brother was yet a baby. The ten eldest were wicked men, but Joseph feared God, and would bring his father evil reports of his brethren. Jacob loved Joseph better than all his other children, because he was the son of his old age, and he gave him a coat of many colors. The ten brothers were jealous when they saw their father’s preference, and hated Joseph for it.
One night God sent a wonderful dream to Joseph. He thought he was binding sheaves of corn in the field with his brothers, and his brothers’ sheaves stood around his sheaf and bowed to it. God told Joseph by this dream that his brethren should obey him, and that he should rule over them. When he told them his dream, they hated him the more for it. Soon after, he dreamed again and saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bow down before him. Joseph told his father and brothers this dream also, but the brothers envied him the more, while his father thought much about it.
Jacob’s sons were shepherds, and took care of their father’s flock. They went to feed the sheep in Shechem while Joseph and little Benjamin stayed with Jacob. One day Israel called Joseph and said, “Go I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again.” So Joseph went from Hebron to Shechem, but his brethren were not there. He was told that they were in Dothan, where he went, and there found them. When they saw him afar off, they conspired against him to kill him, saying to one another: “Behold this dreamer cometh, come now, therefore, and 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.” But Reuben, the eldest, heard it and said: “Let us not kill him, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him.” He thought that he could in this way, deliver him out of their hands, when they were away and send him back to his father. So they stripped Joseph of his coat of many colors and took him and cast him in the pit which had no water; then they sat down to eat bread. While these cruel brothers were eating, they looked up, and saw a great many people coming toward them. The people were Ishmaelites, children of Ishmael, the son of Hagar. They came from Gilead, and had camels, which carried the spices they were taking to Egypt.
When Judah saw the Ishmaelites, he persuaded his brothers to sell Joseph to them, rather than to kill him. So Joseph was taken out of the pit and sold for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites took him and brought him to Egypt, where they sold him to a man named Potiphar.
Reuben was not with his brothers when Joseph was sold; and when he came back to the pit, and did not find him, he rent his clothes (a custom people of old had to show they were very sorry), and ran to his brothers, saying: “The child is not; and I wither shall I go?” But they cared little for Reuben’s sorrow, and killed a kid and dipped Joseph’s coat in the blood, and went home, and showed the coat to their father, and said: “This have we found; know now whether it be thy son’s coat or not?” Jacob knew the coat and said: “It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him.” And Jacob wept and rent his clothes, and refused to be comforted.
God has given us this sad story of Joseph and his brothers’ wickedness, as a picture of the Lord Jesus rejected by His own people, the Jews, to whom He came in love. As we know they hated Him, and would not receive Him, because their works were evil, and His were good.
As Joseph was thrown into the pit, so was Jesus nailed to the cross. “We will not have this man to reign over us,” they cried. Oh! The Son of God, rejected and crucified is coming again with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, (Rev. 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)), and “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil. 2:10, 1110That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10‑11). The one who has so suffered is going to get the highest place in heaven, and sit as a judge over those who have rejected Him. What a solemn time that will be! Everyone who has not accepted the Lord Jesus and bowed the knee to Him as his Saviour, will be judged by Him, and condemned to everlasting punishment. Children, will you bow the knee to Him now, or will you wait to be judged?
ML 07/04/1909