Most everyone has heard of Joseph and the story of Joseph in the Bible. The things you have to recognize and read between the lines here is where everyone stood in this chapter. Reuben the oldest was probably responsible for leading all of his brothers and taking care of all of his brothers since he was the oldest. He also had slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah. So from the very start of this chapter Reuben is most likely on thin ice. Also, it says that Joseph at 17 was responsible for tending sheep with his brothers. The brothers he worked with weren’t just any brothers they were his brothers whose moms were Jacob’s concubines, not his actual wives sons, who were probably looked down upon because of this. Also, Joseph’s mother was Rachel, whom Jacob loved the most. It also says that Jacob loved Joseph the most because he had him at an older age. Long story short, he had a lot stacked up against him for his brothers to be jealous of him and look down on him. Once God gave Joseph a vision, he shared it to his family and it rubbed all of them the wrong way. If the dream was true it meant that Joseph would be over his whole family even his father. This didn’t make sense to anyone and it just made Joseph’s brothers become even more jealous of him. The only brothers who had compassion for him at all were Reuben, who was already on thin ice, and Judah. Reuben was probably trying to hold onto his birthright for what he had done and the other brothers probably wanted Joseph out of the way because they all knew he was the favorite son and needed him out of the way if they were going to have a shot of gaining favor from their father Jacob. So they got rid of their brother Joseph trying to make way for their own paths to glory. It’s crazy how the downfall of man never changes in the Bible. The downfalls of man are always the pursuit of power, women, and wealth. Man falls every time when the world blinds them with these same three things and they all stem from pride. This passage should give us wisdom as men of what to run away from. Genesis gives us history from over 6000 years ago of what tore men down, time and time again, and we still haven’t learned. These same three things still tear men and their families down today. We should read this and it make us want to throw away any ounce of pride that we have and to submit that pride, through obedience, to Jesus Christ. The one who saved us from the punishment of our pride. Love y’all! Have a great day!
Genesis 37:1-36
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“Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a long-sleeved robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him. Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 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.” “Are you really going to reign over us? ” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us? ” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had? ” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you? ” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied. Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem. A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for? ” “I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks? ” “They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert! So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams! ” When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.” Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him” — intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father. When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off Joseph’s robe, the long-sleeved robe that he had on. Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, without water. They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come on, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and his brothers agreed. When Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do? ” So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. They sent the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it. Is it your son’s robe or not? ” His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces! ” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards.”
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