The Life of Joseph, Part 2

In the second of his series of sermons on Joseph, Pastor Shane shares young Joseph’s dreams and his interactions with his jealous brothers. Click here for the recording of this 6/23 Service, and you can fast-forward to 28:54 to get to the start of the sermon.

Our text comes from Genesis 37.5-11

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 behold, my sheaf stood up and also remained standing; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 

8Then 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 Then he had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said, “Behold, I have had yet another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 

10 He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Introduction

This passage is about familial communication- how families communicate with each other

• It is about the ongoing impact of favoritism

• It is about whether or not things that are true should even be said

• It is about the power of hate

• Is it about the ignorance of a 17 yr old boy who should have kept quiet?

Question 1- should Joseph have kept quiet about the 1st dream?

• Your sheave bowed down to my sheave, v7

• His brothers’ reaction-

• Are you actually going to be king, and have dominion (reign) over us?

• In a patriarchal, hierarchical culture, the younger never ruled over the older

• His verbiage comes off as hubris

• They hated him all the more

Question 2- should he have kept quiet about the 2nd dream?

• The sun and moon (dad and mom) and 11 stars (his brothers) were bowing down to honor him

• He is rebuked by his father, Jacob

• His brothers are jealous

• Why did his father ”keep the matter in mind”?  Did the old man know something, or discern it, about his youngest son?

Some things to think about

1. Some people resent ambition; people with an unhealthy ego often resent people with a healthy ego

2. Transparency with people comes at a price; you have to ask yourself if the person you’re giving the message to can hear the message - Why do you think Jesus said “he who has ears to hear, let him hear”?
   Have you ever had your words later used against you?

3. There is a price to pay for telling the truth

4. Hate is a horribly corrosive emotion, and should be allowed only of actions, not of people

5. Jealousy is another corrosive emotion, which has no place in the life of a Jesus follower

6. The dreams Joseph had would come true many years later, after many hardships, by all involved