LITMIR.BIZ

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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. 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words. 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. 9 He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, “Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down 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? 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?” 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. 11 So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. • • • • • • • • • • • • 23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; 24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 24 and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. • • • • • • • • • • • • 28 Then there passed by Midianites merchant-men; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 28 When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

      MAIN THOUGHT: And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. (Genesis 37:11, KJV)

       LESSON SETTING

       Time: Unknown

       Place: Egypt

       LESSON OUTLINE

       I. Hate in the Family (Genesis 37:2–11)

       II. The Result of Hate (Genesis 37:23–24, 28)

      UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

      Jealousy, hate, and love are emotions people experience in their families. How do people deal with these emotions? An absence of love for Joseph by his brothers led to envy and finally a plot to kill him.

      INTRODUCTION

      The family is made up of loved ones who know us best, in front of whom our vulnerability is on full display. In this divine institution we are introduced to love for the first time, either by the demonstration of it or by the longing for it in its absence. The family is also where love is tragically tested. Whether by grief, betrayal, unfaithfulness, neglect, and more, the strength of a family’s love is measured by its ability to navigate the uncertain waters these inevitable life experiences cause. Family dysfunction is unfortunately the evidence of love failing to do so. But failed love doesn’t mean lost love. At the least, failed love implies an attempt to love was made, and there’s hope in that. Lost love, on the other hand, is when love has been buried beneath the layers of pain until the flame of its true expression has been totally deprived of much needed oxygen. Like fertilizer, the decomposition of dying love feeds the root of hate in the wake of its eventual and inevitable demise. A scar flourishes in its place, reminiscent of where love once was and is no more.

      Sounds depressing, I know, but its unfortunately indicative of the drama played out in the ancient family of the patriarchs of Israel. As the last of the three great patriarchs, Jacob, whose name was changed by God to Israel, was both a victim and perpetrator of lost love in the family. As the youngest son of Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob was favored by his mother, while Isaac his father favored his older brother Esau. This favoritism played out with tragic results. Rebekah and Jacob conspired to manipulate Isaac into giving Jacob the birthright blessing intended for Esau because he was the firstborn. Because of this, Esau hated his brother and vowed to kill him upon the death of their father (Gen. 27:41).

      As if inherited by the next generation, hatred in the family again revealed its ugly head among Jacob and his twelve sons. Similar to the favoritism that plagued his family of origin, Jacob favored his second youngest son, Joseph, more than the rest of his sons. Jacob’s older sons hated Joseph like his brother Esau hated him, and their hatred for him resulted in tragedy.

      Known by many scholars as Joseph’s narrative or Joseph’s Novella, Genesis 37 opens with a brief introduction of Joseph as a young man. At the time of the lesson, he was seventeen years old and enjoying the life of entitlement and privilege. But that would soon change.

      EXPOSITION

       I. HATE IN THE FAMILY (GENESIS 37:2–11)

      Joseph was the firstborn of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. This is why he loved Joseph more than all his other children and also because he was the son born in his old age, the eleventh son. Being favored and showing favoritism was part of Jacob’s legacy. He was favored by his mother Rebekah, and his father Isaac favored his older brother Esau over him. Jacob favored his second wife Rachel over his first wife Leah. Actually, Jacob never wanted Leah as a wife but was tricked by the sisters’ father, Laban, into marrying her. He then was given Rachel in marriage after a total of fourteen years of labor. This history of parental relationships certainly played out in the way in which their offspring were treated. Thus Jacob favored Joseph heavily for the reasons mentioned above.

      Sibling rivalry and parental favoritism are a repeated theme within the stories of the families of Genesis. As mentioned, Jacob was favored by his mother and rivaled with his brother Esau. This pattern, however, was entrenched as it was three generations deep. Abraham favored his son of his wife, Isaac, over his son of his slave, Ishmael, ultimately leading to Ishmael and Hagar’s removal from their home. Parental favoritism and sibling rivalry have catastrophic results as forecasted by the stories mentioned above and the Cain and Abel narrative of Genesis 4.

      Jacob

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