Genesis 37: Who Will Deliver Me? (For the “this sums it all up”, scroll down to the black line)

We turn in this story to one of the most familiar figures we have heard of in Scripture…Joseph. This is not only important to know as disciples because these stories about Joseph teach us much about God in its own chapter, but also because it is part of the larger story we have been viewing in these last months.

So…Let us do a review real quick. Here we go: In the beginning, we had Creation; we are God’s handiwork, the masterpiece. Then we as humans rejected God and the devil threw black crude oil on the masterpiece, then Cain and Abel, with Noah and the boat, then the Tower of Babel.

The whole time God is saying, “I ain’t quitting the plan yet”.

And so calls Abraham, tells him “Go and I’ll be with you.” God says, “You, Abe, are the one who will bring my plan of redemption.” Abe leaves his home, with no son, but God says “trust me”, then Ishmael came along, then Isaac came along.

After Abe is tested in that climatic scene with Isaac nearly dying, Abraham is then reaffirmed. He says to God, “OK, You got this”, Isaac grows up, Becky has twins, one of whom (Jacob) lies to everyone. So brother Esau now wants payback, Jacob runs, gets married twice, has a bunch of kids, ran back home, met Esau, and they reconciled…whew!

There is much going on between that time of reconciliation and now, I wish I had time, but read Genesis 34, 35, and 36 to put things into perspective. Let me just fill in one last detail before we start here. Jacob married twice, but only loved once: his beloved Rachel. Yet, she only had two of his over a dozen children.

One them was Joseph, the other was Benjamin. Ben survived but Rachel died while giving birth to him. So think about it. You fall in love with someone, and so you work hard for him/her (and again remember Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel!) And even after all that, you lose your precious one unexpectedly. All you have left are these two children. Maybe Jacob sees her eyes in Benjamin’s eyes, maybe Joseph has her color hair, and so it is easy to see how favoritism happened, but the kicker?

Jacob should have known better, because remember who his Papa Isaac played favorites toward? It was Esau not Jacob.

He should have thought, “hmm I don’t want to make the same mistake my father did”. Yet, no matter the reason, the result is the same…Joey is the favorite. And we all have the one family member that just rubs us the wrong way, because you know they are everyone’s favorite, and if you don’t know who that is, it could be you 🙂

If you are a parent, favoritism may happen in your family, especially if you have one child who listens to everything you say, and one that will not listen to anything you say, but don’t let it taint your judgment, treat every child fairly.

Jacob did not learn that, and in fact he showed his love for Joseph by making him this awesome shirt, the kind used by royalty. It meant that Jacob was basically saying to everyone “Joseph is my primary son”.

Joseph did not make this any better either. He had this attitude that bragged to everyone. “Hey guys guess what dream I had,” and we all know no one likes a bragger. So he tells his brothers these dreams which have them (and mom & dad) bowing to him. This did not win him any favors with his brothers. It fueled the flames of violence.

I mean look at verses 4, 5, 8. It said “they hated him”. I do not know if you ever felt hatred, I mean pure hatred. It is the ultimate enemy of a Christian who is to be guided by the Holy Spirit and Love of God. Yet these brothers were guided by hatred, not for an enemy, but their own brother!

All in all in this story, you have a dad who played favorites, a brash teenager, and a bunch of older brothers just seething with rage. Friends, take comfort, the struggles and the brokenness you face is no better or worse than what they faced.

Well in this story the dam finally broke, the brothers having had enough, said “ok here comes the dreamer, let’s see what becomes of his dreams then”.

At first we think there could be some hope. Ruben speaks up! Surely the brothers will listen to him! He is the first-born, he has to know this isn’t right. He does not stop them like he should. All he says is “throw him in a well”, while he thinks, “I am too cowardly to do the right thing and stand up against these guys”. Reuben reasons, “I will come back later and get him”. So, you cannot count on Ruben.

The only other brother that gets mentioned here is Judah. Judah! He has to help! He is the forefather of David and Jesus. Surely, then he is righteous? Nope. He suggests they sell Joseph to the slave trade. Joseph is about to become another victim of human trafficking, it happened back then just as it happens today.

What hurts me the most here is verse 25, it says, “then they sat down to eat”. I can only picture Joseph pleading for them, screaming for help, and they eat!

These were the tribes of Israel! Later their descendants would paint banners saying “I belong to the tribe of Ruben, I belong to Judah”. These guys were God’s royalty!

The rest of the story has the brothers covering up the plot, with Jacob mourning and refusing to be comforted, and Joseph going from shepherd boy to city boy, away from his dearly beloved father, into a culture he does not know, with a language he does not speak, kidnapped and alone.

What does this have to do with us, Craig? Well, a couple different things. One it helps us understand Jesus better. And what follows is not only my thoughts but those of a much wiser pastor than I, Max Lucado.

How? Jacob loved Joseph who was hated by his brothers. The Father loved Jesus who was misunderstood by his brothers. Joseph was sold for silver by his brother Judah, and Jesus was sold for silver by his friend Judas, (Judah is the same name). So we see parallels here, and we are going to see even more parallels later on in the story.

Yet there is something else here that we can learn. Look at the Psalm here. Friends, we have all been in those pits and cisterns and wells of life, with jagged rocks surrounding us. Like Joseph, we find our voices hoarse from the crying out.

Joseph was in the trenches, so have we. Maybe yours came in the form of a cancer diagnosis, traumatic injury, a betrayed love.

Joseph was thrown into a hole and forsaken. You? Thrown into the unemployment line and forgotten. Thrown into a divorce and abandoned. Thrown into a relationship and abused. And maybe you have lost hope, for pits often have no easy exits.

Joseph was where you are at: It got worse before it got better. He was sold out and sucker punched and was a graduate of the school of hard knocks. Sadly for him, and maybe for you, it came from the one source it should never have come from..family.

Yet, when you are in the midst of the pits, there is only one place to look…up! That is what Joseph did.

He never gave up and, like a real man, once his faith in God was secured, he never quit. Bitterness never took root in his life. Anger never grew into hatred. His heart never became hardened. How? Because he lived by this verse, when he said to his bothers at the end of Genesis,

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

Fear not dear friends, we do face struggles and challenges, both as individuals and as a church, but that is why we meet here to draw strength in worship, from prayer, God’s Word, and one another! Life gets chaotic. We see a perfect mess, God sees the refining and purifying fires meant to produce pure gold.

You are a Joseph in your generation. You carrying something of God in you. You bear his image, something noble and holy (maybe it is mercy, wisdom, truth, skill). It is something the world needs, the story of Joseph is in the bible for this reason: to teach you to trust God to trump evil.

My friends, I say to you today, as my brother Max Lucado would say if he were here,

‘You will get through this, It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime, don’t be foolish or naïve, but don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will get through this.’

For in God’s hands, intended evil becomes eventual good. So when you are down in the pits, the deepest well and you think you have lost all strength and hope,

when you feel at your worst…Look up!

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Genesis 37-CIA (Context, Insight, Application)

CONTEXT

Friends, take comfort, the struggles and the brokenness you face is no better or worse than what those in the Bible faced.

INSIGHT

What does this have to do with us, Craig? Well, a couple different things. One it helps us understand Jesus better.
How? Jacob loved Joseph who was hated by his brothers. The Father loved Jesus who was misunderstood by his brothers.

Joseph was sold for silver by his brother Judah, and Jesus was sold for silver by his friend Judas, (Judah is the same name).

So we see parallels here, and we are going to see even more parallels later on in the story.

APPLICATION

Yet there is something else here that we can learn. Look at the Psalm here. Friends, we have all been in those pits and cisterns and wells of life, with jagged rocks surrounding us. Like Joseph, we find our voices hoarse from the crying out. Joseph was in the trenches, so have we. Maybe yours came in the form of a cancer diagnosis, traumatic injury, a betrayed love.

Joseph was thrown into a hole and forsaken. You? Thrown into the unemployment line and forgotten. Thrown into a divorce and abandoned. Thrown into a relationship and abused. And maybe you have lost hope, for pits often have no easy exits.

Joseph was where you are at: It got worse before it got better. He was sold out and sucker punched and was a graduate of the school of hard knocks. Sadly for him, and maybe for you, it came from the one source it should never have come from..family.

Yet, when you are in the midst of the pits, there is only one place to look…up! That is what Joseph did. He never gave up and, like a real man, once his faith in God was secured, he never quit. Bitterness never took root in his life. Anger never grew into hatred. His heart never became hardened. How? Because he lived by this verse, when he said to his bothers at the end of Genesis,

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Fear not dear friends, we do face struggles and challenges, both as individuals and as a church, but that is why we meet here to draw strength in worship, from prayer, God’s Word, and one another!

Life gets chaotic. We see a perfect mess, God sees the refining and purifying fires meant to produce pure gold. You are a Joseph in your generation. You carrying something of God in you. You bear his image, something noble and holy (maybe it is mercy, wisdom, truth, skill).

It is something the world needs, the story of Joseph is in the Bible for this reason: to teach you to trust God to trump evil.

My friends, I say to you today, as my brother Max Lucado would say if he were here, ‘You will get through this, It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime, don’t be foolish or naïve, but don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will get through this.’

For in God’s hands, intended evil becomes eventual good. So when you are down in the pits, the deepest well and you think you have lost all strength and hope,

…when you feel at your worst…Look up!