Joseph – Stretched and Strengthened by God
Genesis 37-50
If ever there was a man whose faith was stretched by life it was a man called Joseph. I am sure that just the mention of his name has you recalling some of the stretching he had to endure. It seems that at almost every turn in his life, there were people and/or circumstances stretching him in every direction.
Yet in the midst of this stretching, the Word of God tells us that God was with him.
Joseph was indeed stretched, but I believe rather than by life, he was stretched and strengthened by God.
A careful examination of the life of Joseph can only lead one to conclude that God is indeed sovereign and faithful.
This is because the account of Joseph, in reality, is an account about God.
Through Joseph we can learn many life lessons, however, make no mistake, Joseph is simply a supporting character, a supporting character that God stretches and strengthens, in order to reveal His sovereignty and his faithfulness, all the while giving Joseph opportunities to grow in godliness.
Over the next 10 weeks we will take a careful look at the life of Joseph. We will watch him grow in godliness as he is stretched and strengthened by God.
I pray that through this we will all see God’s sovereignty and faithfulness and as a result, we too will grow in godliness as He stretches and strengthens us.
Let’s turn to Gen. 37 to see God’s first stretching and strengthening of Joseph.
A Little Jealousy Can Go a Long Way
Gen. 37
There is a fable that says one day a holy man was visited by a group of tempters, who were out to destroy the holy man. The first one said all the sensual pleasures of the flesh are yours, if you follow me, but the holy man was not interested. The second one said all the riches of the world are yours, if you follow me, but again, the holy man was not interested. Finally the third one said, your temptations are too weak, let me show you how it is done. He looked at the man and said, your brother has been given the highest honor of holiness. Suddenly an awful scowl came across the man’s face. The third tempter looked at the other two and said – the next time you want to destroy someone, remember – a little jealousy can go a long way.
The first stretching that Joseph had to endure was the jealousy of his brothers.
This morning we want to take a look at Gen. 37 and learn some life lessons in regards to properly dealing with jealousy.
We will do so in three stages. First we will look at Joseph as the delight of his father Jacob, then we will see Joseph as the disdain of his big brothers, and finally we will see Joseph’s presumed death as the despair of Jacob.
In terms of jealousy, we will see jealousy cultivated; jealousy beginning to blossom and jealousy in full bloom.
My hope is that all of us will see just how terrible jealousy can be, and that this will push us toward gladness and godliness. I also pray that we will see that even in the midst of other’s jealousies, God is sovereign.
Let’s begin with jealousy cultivated in verses 1-17
Gen. 37:1-17 –
1 Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the records of the generations of Jacob.
Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.
4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.
5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had;
7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
12 Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem.
13 Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.”
14 Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”
17 Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Joseph is the delight of his father Jacob. This is jealousy cultivated.
Verse 3 tells us that Jacob loved Joseph more than all of his sons.
It also tells us that Jacob gave him a very special gift. This gift most likely represented, at least to his brothers, that he was going to receive all the rights and privileges of a firstborn son, even though he was not. He was however the firstborn of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel.
In verse 11 we learn that Jacob privately gave credibility to Joseph’s dreams. “Kept the saying” was a way of saying that he pondered them in his heart. So publicly Jacob rebuked Joseph when he shared his second dream, a dream given that in the culture of the day the astronomical symbols represented rulers, meant that one day Joseph would be ruler over the entire household. The brothers probably wanted a much harsher rebuke, but didn’t get it.
Instead, verse 14 shows that Jacob continued to put Joseph “above” his brothers by sending him to check up on them. He should have seen the potential problem here. Despite knowing that his other sons hated Joseph, he sent Joseph to go and check on them.
Combine this with the extra love, the special gift, and the not so strong rebuke and what do you have? You have a father that cultivated jealousy within his family. Note, I did not say planted. This was not something new to Jacob. There was a family history of it. It existed among his parents as well as among him and his twin brother Esau. It existed between his wives, especially Rachel and Leah, and now it had spread to his children. Through the favoritism he showed to Joseph, Jacob cultivated jealousy in his family.
Life Lesson #1 – Favoritism cultivates jealousy; impartial love cultivates harmony.
Parents, don’t show favoritism; love each one of your children the same.
Don’t do things that may foster and/or spread jealousy in your family.
To show favoritism is inviting jealousy to come in and create heartache and trouble.
To show impartial love is inviting unity to come in and create peace and joy.
Life lesson # 1 – Parents, don’t show favoritism; love each one of your children the same.
The account now shifts if you will from focusing on Joseph and Jacob to focusing on Joseph and his big brothers. And what we discover is that Joseph is the disdain of his big brothers. This is jealousy beginning to blossom.
Early on we saw watched the just how disgusted his big brothers are with Joseph
In verse 4 it was established that his big brothers hated Joseph.
Later, verse 8 tells us that they hated him even more.
Then, verse 11 says, ‘his brothers were jealous of him’.
In the OT, the word jealousy is used both positively and negatively. Today we will focus on the negative. Negatively speaking, jealousy is hostility toward someone who you believe has an advantage over you due to their possessions and/or their position.
This hostility can be expressed in two ways, by wanting the advantage for oneself (the NT calls this jealousy) and/or by not wanting the other person to have the advantage (the NT calls this envy). However, in the OT there is no distinguishing made between the two.
In other words, Joseph’s brothers were hostile toward him because they wanted what he had, his fathers favoritism, and they did not want him to have it.
When this hostility was put into action, we see jealousy start to blossom.
We see the disdain of Joseph’s brothers come to life.
Let’s pick it up in verse 18.
Gen. 37:18-28 –
18 When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.
19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer!
20 “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”
21 But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.”
22 Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father.
23 So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;
24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
28 Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
His brothers saw Joseph coming, recognizable by the coat, and they remembered the hatred, the deeper hatred, the jealously. Everything came to a boil – and now they were ready. It was time for them to put their jealous feelings into action – it was time for a murder and the preparation of lies in order to cover it up.
They had let their jealousy became so deep that were ready to murder their brother and in doing so get back at the other person at whom they should have lashed out in the first place, their father. They knew the news of the death of Joseph would destroy him as well.
Life Lesson #2 – Deal with jealousy or it will deal with you.
Don’t let jealousy go unchecked in your life.
Deal with it at the moment of conception – left to grow; it can destroy you and/or those around you.
If need be, talk to someone about it; if you don’t it will burn until it explodes.
Stop comparing yourself with others. Learn to be happy for and rejoice with others.
Did you know that comparison is the thief of joy? When you compare yourself with others one of two things will happen and they are both bad. You will either find yourself better, and then become proud or falsely secure; or you will find yourself worse, and become sad, depressed, etc. Both are bad. Comparison is the thief of joy. Real contentment can only be found by looking at Jesus.
Be thankful for what you have and don’t complain about that which you do not have.
Deal with jealousy in these ways, or it will deal with you – in ways you do not even want to imagine.
Life Lesson #2 – Deal with jealousy or it will deal with you.
Let’s finish by seeing how Jacob learned this first hand.
Let’s read verses 29 to the end.
Gen. 37:29-36 –
29 Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments.
30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”
31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood;
32 and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”
33 Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
34 So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.
35 Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.
Joseph’s presumed death is Jacob’s despair. This is jealousy in full bloom.
Jacob was now inconsolable. He was experiencing the terrible effects of jealousy. This is jealousy in full, ugly bloom. All brought about because Jacob did not take jealousy as a serious sin.
Jacob had a history of ignoring sin within his family. His greatest sorrow came, when he ignored jealousy.
Life lesson #3 – When jealousy deals with you, there will be sorrow.
Jealousy is far more dangerous of a sin than most think.
Listen to Proverbs 27:4 from several different translations –
· Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?
· Anger is cruel and destructive, but it is nothing compared to jealousy.
· We’re blasted by anger and swamped by rage, but who can survive the destructiveness of jealousy?
Life lesson #3 – When jealousy deals with you, there will be sorrow.
God used Joseph’s brother’s jealousies and his dad’s ignoring of them to stretch Joseph.
Joseph’s brothers thought they were controlling his life, but God was the real one in control.
God in His sovereignty took Joseph away from his jealous brothers, who no doubt, given the opportunity, would have tried to kill him again until successful.
And if we read ahead, I believe it is fair to say, based upon Joseph’s actions, that in the midst of all of this he learned –
· Life lesson # 1 – Parents, don’t show favoritism; love each one of your children the same.
· Life Lesson #2 – Deal with jealousy or it will deal with you.
· Life lesson #3 – When jealousy deals with you, there will be sorrow.
2. As God in His sovereignty stretches us, may we be strengthened by learning and applying these same life lessons.