Now for the scripture reading this morning, turn
with me to chapter 37 of the book
of Genesis.
Today we begin our study of the life
of Joseph as Moses has recorded it in
the last chapters of the book of Genesis.
Genesis chapter 37 and verse 1.
Now Jacob lived in the land where his
father had sojourned in the land of Canaan.
These are the records of the generations of
Jacob.
Now that expression incidentally is designed to say
that the following chapters will be the generations
of Jacob, not the preceding.
Joseph when 17 years of age was pastoring
the flock with his brothers while he was
still a youth along with the sons of
Billah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's
wife.
And Joseph brought back a bad report about
them to their father.
Now Israel, remember this is Jacob's new name.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his
sons because he was the son of his
old age and he made him a very
colored tunic.
Now this expression has been discussed quite a
bit.
The authorized version has the famous rendering a
coat of many colors.
Many people have liked to make fun of
the authorized version rendering as being incorrect, but
as you can see the New American Standard
Bible has rendered it similarly except not quite
so impressively characteristic of this version in my
opinion.
A very colored tunic.
It may mean simply a full length robe.
We're not exactly certain of the rendering.
I'll say a little more about it later.
Verse four, and 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.
Then Joseph had a dream and when he
told it to his brothers they hated him
even more.
And he said to them, please listen to
this dream which I've had.
And notice in the seventh verse how Joseph
uses the term behold or lo three times.
It's the same word in the Hebrew text.
It's very much like the use of the
expression, I think it's a vile kind of
transformation of the English language.
You know.
There are people today who cannot talk without
saying you know a half a dozen times.
Almost in every sentence and particularly athletes.
If you listen to athletes they can hardly
say a sentence without you know, you know,
you know.
So we'll translate it that way.
For you know we were binding sheaves in
the field.
And lo you know my sheave rose up
and also stood erect.
And you know my sheave, your sheaves gathered
around and bowed down to my sheave.
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.
Now I didn't want to make fun of
the reading of the word.
This really however is designed to give an
impression of Joseph's enthusiasm in telling them about
this dream.
Now he had still another dream and related
it to his brothers and said, lo here
it is again, lo behold I've had still
another dream and behold the sun and moon
and eleven stars were bowing down to me.
And 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?
And his brothers were jealous of him but
his father kept the saying in mind.
Then his brothers went to pasture their father's
flock in Shechem.
And Israel said to Joseph, are not your
brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem?
Come and I will send you to them.
And he said, I will go, literally behold
me.
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.
And a man found him and behold he
was wandering in the field and the man
asked him, what are you looking for?
And he said, I'm looking for my brothers.
Please tell me where they are pasturing the
flock.
And 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.
When they saw him at a distance or
from a distance and before he came close
to them they plotted against him to put
him to death.
And they said to one another, here comes
this dreamer.
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.
But Reuben heard this and rescued him out
of their hands and said, let us not
take his life.
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.
So it came about when Joseph reached his
brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic,
the very colored tunic that was on him.
And they took him and threw him into
the pit.
Now the pit was empty without any water
in it.
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.
These particular spices were used for both medicinal
and for purposes of burying and probably also
for anointing.
And Judah said to his brothers, what profit
is it for us to kill our brother
and cover up his blood?
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.
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 20 shekels of silver.
Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Now commentators made a great deal over the
use of the term Ishmaelites and then Midianites
as if there is some contradiction.
But from a text in Judges, I believe
it's chapter eight about verse thirteen or so,
it's evident that these terms overlap to a
great extent and there is recognized now no
serious problem there.
Now Reuben returned to the pit and behold
Joseph was not in the pit.
So he tore his garments and he returned
to his brothers and said, the boy is
not there.
As for me, where am I to go?
So they took Joseph's tunic and slaughtered a
male goat and dipped the tunic in the
blood.
And they sent the very colored 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.
It's rather ironic I think that in order
to make it appear as if Joseph has
been slain by a wild animal, they slaughtered
a male goat.
If you'll remember some of the lessons in
the past, several, a number of weeks back
now, probably about ten, when Jacob and Rebecca
deceived Isaac, remember they slew a goat and
she made some savory food for Isaac and
the goat was the means of the deception.
And it's rather ironic that Jacob is deceived
here through the slaughter of a goat.
If he'd looked very carefully, he would have
seen that the garments were not torn.
And if he'd examined the blood carefully, he
would have probably come to see it was
not human blood, but animal blood after all.
So God has a text in scripture that
is always true.
Be sure your sin will find you out.
And the Lord likes to use our own
deceptiveness to deceive us as well, or to
make us deceivable.
And thus judgment is brought upon us ironically.
Then he examined it and said, verse 33,
it is my son's tunic.
A wild beast has devoured him.
Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.
So Jacob tore his clothes and put sackcloth
on his loins and mourned for his son
many days.
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 and mourning for my son.
So his father wept for him.
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him to eat in
Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, the captain of
the bodyguard.
The subject for this morning and the continuation
of our study of the book of Genesis
is Joseph beloved, hated, and sold into Egypt.
The life of Joseph, of whom more is
told than of any of the patriarchs, is
a story of divine sovereignty.
I would imagine that if you were to
speak to biblical scholars about the book of
Genesis, that is, biblical scholars who are believing
biblical scholars, it would be best known, this
section, as the locus classicus of providence, because
it's such a beautiful illustration of the divine
providence.
But when you think about it, divine providence
is nothing but an expression of divine sovereignty.
And so what we have stressed in these
chapters is the divine sovereignty as it finds
its outworking in the providence related to the
life of Joseph and the life of his
brethren.
Joseph is introduced in chapter 37 as a
specially chosen member of his family because he's
singled out by Jacob for special recognition.
Consequently, he illustrates, as does Isaac and Jacob,
divine election and royal grace.
In fact, if the apostle Paul in Romans
chapter 9 had wanted to give more illustrations
of the divine electing grace than the illustration
of Abraham and Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob
and Esau, he could well have come to
Joseph and the brethren, because the story is
the story of divine electing sovereign grace.
And you'll notice, too, as you read this
chapter, that it begins with reference to the
dreams.
Now, dreams are the work of God.
And so the very fact that we have
dreams right here at the outset is designed
to make God and not Joseph the hero
of this story.
So when we read it, we are to
think first of all, here is a story
of God working in the history of Joseph
and in the history of Jacob.
Later on, I want to say just another
word about the relationship between Joseph and Jacob.
But what I want you to see right
here in the beginning is that this is
a story of divine sovereignty, and it is
a story of divine sovereignty in electing grace,
and that the Lord God is the person
who is the real hero of the account
of the life of Joseph.
W.
H.
Griffith Thomas has written a little commentary on
the book of Genesis, which has a number
of good, thoughtful things about it.
And he's suggested that there are three other
values in the story of Joseph beyond the
illustration of divine providence.
He has said that it's a necessary story
for this reason that we gain some historical
material about information about the Hebrews, and we
learn in this section how the Hebrews who
began their life in the Euphrates Valley make
their way finally down to Egypt.
And did we not have this particular section,
we would not understand how that had come
about.
And he also points out that this is,
these chapters afford us a splendid example of
personal character in the life of Joseph.
Commentators and students and preachers have often wondered
about Joseph's life as it's presented in chapters
37 through 50 of the book of Genesis,
because it's very difficult to find any flaw
at all in the character of Joseph as
he is presented here.
And in fact, many Bible students have contended
that there are no flaws in the character
of Joseph, and then they have gone on
to say that the reason for this is
that Joseph is presented to us as a
type of Jesus Christ, and that's why we
have no flaws in his character.
Now Joseph is a type of Jesus Christ,
there is no question about that.
But nevertheless, the question of flaws in his
character is a rather interesting one, and I
think that as we go through we'll be
able to point out that Joseph is not
without flaw.
Of course, if we understand anything about the
Bible, we understand that the writer would not,
even if there were no flaws, be desirous
of presenting a person as flawless.
For the Bible makes it very plain that
all of us who are the sons of
Adam are flawed in all of our being,
in our wills and in our emotions and
in our minds as well.
And then Mr. Thomas has suggested that we
have here a striking series of typical pictures
of the Lord Jesus, and this morning we'll
refer to some of them.
So we'll outline those typological correspondences, and the
basic correspondence is simply this, that Joseph becomes
a pattern of rejection.
He's a deliverer, but he is rejected by
his brethren, and though a chosen deliverer and
though rejected because of the unbelief of the
brethren, their very rejection of him becomes the
means by which God brings about the deliverance
of the people.
And so the pattern of rejection by brethren
and then God using that rejection in order
to bring about restoration and reconciliation of the
brethren is a pattern that we see preeminently
played out in the life of Jesus Christ.
And it's true of all of the deliverers
of the Old Testament, that pattern of rejection,
but yet God using the rejection in order
to bring about one of his designs.
Now it's Stephen who puts his finger on
that definitely and makes it plain.
Some Bible students have even had the nerve
to suggest that Joseph is not even a
type of Christ, because he's not called that
in the New Testament.
Now that particular philosophy is a false one,
because we have many types or illustrations of
individuals who are not said to be that
in the New Testament.
There is no text of Scripture that says
that if a person is a type, he
has to be called a type in the
New Testament.
As a matter of fact, those that are
called types in the New Testament are often
types simply by contrast.
Adam and Christ are linked together in correspondence
and Adam is said specifically to be a
type of Christ, but he's largely a type
of Christ by contrast, not by comparison.
So this idea is false to start with,
but it's particularly false since if you study
Stephen's sermon carefully, you will see that he
was thinking about Joseph when he brings out
in a series of pictures the pattern of
rejection of chosen deliverers by the nation Israel
and that very, that very act being the
means by which they had been blessed down
through the years.
Of course Stephen is trying to point out
that's what God has done in Jesus Christ
and you have not responded to him.
He is a chosen deliverer and you have
put him to death, but God is using
that very act to bring about his own
purpose and plan and your ultimate restoration.
That's the pattern of Scripture.
Well, we'll talk about that in a few
moments a little bit more deeply, but we'll
drop it at this point and I want
you now to look at the opening verses
of chapter 37 in which Joseph's hatred or
the hatred of Joseph by his brethren is
stressed.
One of the students of the book of
Genesis has said in divine providence we learn
that the darkest moments are short corridors leading
to sunlit rooms.
And so Joseph now must enter into the
short corridor of a dark moment which will
lead ultimately to the sunlit room of being
the deliverer of his own brethren.
Joseph's story begins here in chapter 37 verse
1 picks up the account from chapter 35
chapter 36 about Esau's generations which we looked
at last week being something of a parenthesis.
Now I know you'll think that as you
read through these chapters that it is Joseph
who is the prominent figure, but that is
not true.
Joseph is the one who appears before us
constantly and if we were thinking simply about
the mention of his name, yes, he is
the prominent figure here.
But notice the opening clause of verse 2.
These are the records of the generations of
Jacob.
So we're still to think of Jacob as
the dominant figure, but he's the figure sitting
in the background, sitting in the shadows so
to speak.
And later on we'll have Jacob come to
the fore, but he's the dominant figure although
Joseph is prominent in these chapters.
Now Moses writes about the love of Joseph
by Jacob.
Now Joseph was a shepherd and he was
pastoring the flock and he was pastoring the
flock.
Evidently a kind of chief shepherd made that
by Jacob the treacherous, murderous, incestuous older brothers.
And specifically mentioned are those that are the
sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, that is Dan
and Naphtali and Gad and Asher.
Now Reuben is evidently regarded as having forfeited
his birthright because of the terrible sin referred
to in chapter 35.
So Joseph was 17 years of age, just
a lad, and he was pastoring the flock
with his brothers while he was still a
youth along with Dan and Naphtali and Gad
and Asher.
And we read that Joseph brought back a
bad report about them to their father.
Now this report is unspecific.
It's not said what it is, but it's
easy to believe because these brothers were vile
men as you can see in a moment.
They will be plotting the murder of their
own brother, of their own flesh and blood.
And evidently Joseph had been put over them
and perhaps not simply because he was the
son of Jacob's old age and therefore his,
the one that he especially doted upon, but
perhaps also because he of all the sons
was most sympathetic in morals to Jacob the
father.
So being responsible to Jacob he acted probably
properly, if not tactfully.
Now I don't think this was an ancient
sting operation, but it certainly sounds like that.
He brought back a bad report about them
to their father.
Now this would not be an Arab scan
or an Ab scan, but would be a
Heb scan because he would be, he would
be bringing back a report concerning the Hebrews.
But I rather think that this is his
responsibility.
And so we're not to blame Joseph for
it.
We probably would have to say he was
not so tactful.
I read a story this past week about
tact.
Paul said, Henry, looking up from the book
he was reading, what's meant by diplomatic phraseology?
Well replied Paul, if you were to say
to a homely girl your face would stop
a clock, that would be stupidity.
But if you said to her, when I
look into your eyes time stands still, that
would be diplomatic phraseology.
So it, it's definitely true that, I thought
that was pretty good too, that Joseph is
not very tactful.
He should have realized of course that he
was Jacob's, the one upon whom Jacob had
doted, his favorite son.
And he should also have realized that bringing
back a bad report when he was wearing
the very colored tunic was not a very
tactful thing to do.
And that brings me to this coat of
many colors.
The authorized versions rendering coat of many colors
is a very good rendering, many think.
It's possible that the Hebrew expression means that.
On the other hand there are Hebrew scholars
who contend no, that cannot be the meaning
of the phrase.
The facts are we don't really know exactly
the meaning of the phrase.
It could be a long robe with sleeves.
It could be a ceremonial garment with appliqued
ornaments.
One thing we do know about it, it
was very impressive.
And being impressive it was that which excited
envy on the part of the brothers.
The expression, a very similar expression, identical in
some ways, is used in 2 Samuel 13
and verse 18 of a garment worn by
Tamar, the daughter of David.
In that case the garment would be a
kind of royal garment.
And being a kind of royal garment would
have singled Joseph out.
So it was an impressive kind of robe.
And it definitely was a robe in which
a person did not work.
If it had long sleeves, a long robe
with sleeves, it was not a working garment.
And so it marked out Jacob as a,
Joseph as a superior.
And it marked him out probably as an
overseer.
And though he was much younger than his
brothers he nevertheless was given the job of
oversight of the flock.
And thus he had a kind of preeminence
among them.
It was therefore an impressive garment and a
provocative garment so far as the brothers were
concerned.
And we're not surprised then to read in
verse 4, And his brothers saw that their
father loved him more than all his brothers,
so they hated him and could not speak
to him on friendly terms.
Reminds me of the statement that Ahab made
about Micaiah the prophet.
He said, I hate him because he's always
prophesying evil and not good.
And so they hated Joseph.
Now he didn't aid them, but nevertheless it
was their fault so far as the hate
was concerned.
They hated him because Joseph represented that which
was more righteous than they.
And the Lord Jesus has a good deal
to say about that in the Gospel of
John.
In chapter 3 and verse 20 there is
one particular text that I think about in
connection with this.
He said, For everyone who does evil hates
the light and does not come to the
light lest his deeds should be exposed.
And then in John chapter 7, I believe
it's about verse 7, the Lord says, The
world cannot hate you, but it hates me
because I testify of it that its deeds
are evil.
And so they hated him and could not
speak to him on friendly terms.
Now at this time Moses recounts the two
dreams that Joseph had.
Now Joseph is obviously enthused over these dreams.
He says, Please listen to this dream which
I've had.
Behold we were binding sheaves in the field
and lo my sheaf rose up and also
stood erect and yours gathered round and bowed
down to my sheaf.
So he dreamed that they were out in
the field and they were there with the
wheat and they were all engaged in binding
sheaves of wheat and as they threw them
down on the ground suddenly Joseph stood upright
and the other sheaves of the other brothers
gathered round it and bowed over before it.
And it was clear the meaning of that
particular dream because they reply, Are you actually
going to reign over us?
Are you really going to rule over us?
So they hated him even more.
Therefore it's clear from this that this blaze
of hate that had sprung up in their
hearts is growing hotter and furthermore it's spreading
because the hate now is not confined to
the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah but to
all the brothers and soon even Jacob himself
will have some questions about the next dream.
And he had another dream and he related
it to them.
He said, I had another dream and behold
the sun and the moon and the eleven
stars were bowing down to me and Jacob
recognizes immediately that the sun and the moon
is a reference to him and to Leah
and the eleven stars are a reference to
the brethren.
Incidentally this passage is very important for the
interpretation of a very difficult section in Revelation
chapter 12.
It illustrates for us the great principle that
if we are to understand the Bible we
must understand it according to the analogy of
faith.
Now the analogy of faith was a great
principle that the Reformers especially publicized and made
prominent in the study of the Scriptures and
it simply is this, that the Bible is
to be interpreted by parallel passages in the
Bible.
That is the Bible is its own final
interpreter.
Scriptura ex scriptura explicanda est, they have said.
Scripture is to be explained by scripture or
scriptura sui ipsius inter praes.
Scripture is its own interpreter.
And in the final analysis we are to
interpret the Bible by the Bible.
That's why it's so important to keep reading
the Bible.
There are some people that pick up the
Bible and read a chapter and read ten
commentaries.
Well that's all right.
It's all right to find out what others
have said.
I recommend that.
I think it's terrible when a person reads
only the Bible and does not read what
God has taught other teachers since he gives
teachers.
But at the same time in the final
analysis the Bible is to be interpreted by
the Bible and we are to understand the
Scriptures by all of the Scripture and to
bring all of the Scripture to bear on
a particular passage is the way to interpret
Holy Scripture.
In the book of Revelation it's been a
great deal of debate over the meaning of
the woman in that chapter.
And the clue to it is found in
this dream here interpreted by Jacob as a
reference to Israel.
So the woman of Revelation chapter 12 is
a reference to Israel and not the Virgin
Mary as some have insisted or even Mary
Baker Glover Patterson Eddy a founder of Christian
science if you can call it Christian or
science as some have suggested.
In fact I think it was Mrs. Eddy
herself who interpreted the woman of herself.
It could not be her of course because
in that chapter Satan does not get the
woman and we know that Satan did get
her.
This is an important little section this little
dream for the interpretation of that twelfth chapter
of the book of Revelation.
Now at the conclusion of this we read
the brothers were jealous of him but his
father kept the saying in mind.
See Jacob being at least spiritually minded a
man of faith senses that there may be
something in these dreams that is of significance
and so like the Virgin Mary she kept
those things in her mind and he kept
them in his mind pondering the significance of
these dreams that Joseph was having.
At this point Jacob knowing that the brothers
are down near Shechem and remembering that it
was at Shechem that Donna had been seduced
and the brothers had gone in and slain
the males of that city making Jacob's name
odious among the inhabitants of the land.
Jacob realizing that they were pasturing the flock
down there realized that they might be in
danger and so he calls Joseph to him
and gives him a commission and his commission
is to go out and find the brethren
and see how they are doing.
Jacob responds, Joseph responds with characteristic alacrity and
offers himself in obedience to Jacob for this
particular commission.
Someone has also commented, I think it was
Mr. Thomas as well, that Joseph is a
person who has within him the capacity of
Abraham, the quietness of Isaac, the ability of
Jacob, and also the personal beauty of his
mother.
I think it's interesting that Joseph the male
is described in words that are identical with
the description that is given of Rachel.
In chapter 29 and verse 17 we read,
And Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was
beautiful of form and face.
Beautiful of form and face.
And then when you turn over to Genesis
chapter 39 and verse 6, I believe it
is, we read, So he left everything he
owned in Jacob Joseph's charge, and with him
around he did not concern himself with anything
except the food which he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance
and so he inherited the good looks of
his mother Rachel.
So Jacob, so Joseph then a beautiful young
man, a handsome young man, characterized by obedience
and qualities of wisdom and responsiveness to Jacob
says, Aye, aye, sir, he will go.
And promptly he goes to seek the brethren.
Well when he went down to Shechem he
couldn't find them because they had moved on
to Dothan.
And so finally in verse 18 and following
we read of the account of his being
sold by the brethren.
Now this account is a beautiful illustration I
think of the statement that Paul makes in
Romans chapter 8.
And it's this, The mind of the flesh
is enmity against God.
It is not subject to the law of
God and it cannot even be.
The mind of the flesh, that is the
mind of the old nature, is not subject
to the law of God.
It not only is not subject to the
law of God, it cannot be subject to
the law of God.
That's another expression of human inability to respond
to the message of the word of God.
There is not a single person in this
audience who can of himself respond to the
message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You do not have it within yourself to
respond.
The mind of the flesh is enmity against
God.
It is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be.
Now that is an important principle to remember.
It's an important principle to remember as a
spiritual principle.
You do not have it within you to
respond to the word of God.
There are so many people you know that
preach.
They preach a kind of evangelism which is
not biblical evangelism at all.
They preach the gospel of Christ and then
they tell us that we may choose to
follow the Lord or we may choose not
to follow the Lord.
That's not the gospel that the Bible presents.
Now if you preach that kind of gospel,
why men nod complacently in the pulpit because
they like to think that they can of
themselves make that choice.
And thus they remain finally, in the final
analysis, the sovereign of their own destiny.
But Scripture tells us you cannot be subject
to the law of God.
You cannot decide.
You have to decide, but you cannot decide
for the Lord God.
And so when you preach the true gospel
that men are under the curse of God
and unable to respond and that God has
in the death of Jesus Christ satisfied his
own claims of righteousness and holiness and he
has received the death of the substitute, the
representative substitute for his own people and that
he has chosen some out and has brought
them to the knowledge of himself when they
could not of themselves respond and he has
loved these to the end and will love
them to the end, then there is something
within human nature that rises up.
It's called Adamic fury.
Rises up and says no, it cannot be
that way, but that is what God says
in his word.
The mind of the flesh is enmity against
God.
It is not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be.
So we learn that if we do respond
and we are responsible to respond, it is
because God has jiggled our willer.
That is, in wonderful sovereign grace he has
brought us to himself and he becomes the
sovereign master of our destiny.
And then we are grateful and thankful and
then we want to serve him out of
love and appreciation for what he has done.
We don't nod complacently in the pulpit, in
the pew rather, while the pulpit drones on
with this false gospel.
We respond in love and gratitude because he
has brought us to himself when we could
not of ourselves come.
I love that gospel.
Here we have Joseph now approaching the brethren.
The brethren see Joseph coming and they recognize
him.
Maybe he had a certain gait about him.
He had those handsome looks.
And it may well have been that he,
they were noticed immediately that beautiful garment that
he was wearing because he was wearing it.
And so when they see Joseph coming, they,
this group, as one of the commentators says,
the group homes with schemes.
Fools make a mock at sin, the writer
of the Proverbs say.
And so they say one to another, here
comes this dreamer.
Let's kill him.
Let's throw him into one of the pits.
Let's say a wild beast has devoured him.
Then we'll see what's become of his dreams.
How could Abraham's descendants do something like this?
After all, Jacob was their father.
Isaac was their grandfather.
Abraham was their great-grandfather.
And here are the great-grandchildren of Abraham
acting like this.
Do you know how they can?
Well, to give you a human reason, first
of all, they were the products of a
bigamous home to start with.
That didn't help.
You see, the things that we do really
do affect our children.
Well, of course, in sovereign grace God may
overrule things like that and has done that
often in the past.
But there is one thing about these men
that makes them no different from you and
me.
They were sons of Adam as well as
Abraham and thus afflicted with the depravity that
is common to us.
So Reuben, Reuben now is having some second
thoughts about life.
He says, let's don't take his life.
Don't shed blood.
Throw him into the pit.
Because he had the idea that he would
rescue him from the pit, perhaps to restore
himself to favor with Jacob.
Well, anyway, the brothers took Joseph.
They threw him into the pit.
The pit was empty without any water in
it.
And then what do you think they did
then?
That opening sentence of verse 25 is so
vivid.
That's the final touch of callousness, some commentator
has said.
Then they sat down to eat a meal.
One of the old Puritans says, with what
heart could they say grace either before or
after this meal?
Later on, about twenty years later, the brothers
are in the presence of Joseph and at
that time now he's the premier of Egypt.
And they talk about this.
And they say, we saw the anguish of
his soul when he besought us and we
could not or would not hear.
They remember Joseph in the pit.
They remember Joseph crying out, asking them to
take him out of the pit.
And they paid no attention to him.
That incidentally may be one indication of a
flaw in Joseph's character.
He may not have at that point had
perfect trust in the Lord God, but Donald
Gray Barnhouse, who's written some just some little
meditations on verses in Genesis says, a physicist
could compute the exact time required for his
cries to go twenty-five yards to the
hear, eardrums of the brothers.
But it took twenty-two years for those
cries to go from the eardrums to their
hearts.
It's very easy to hear a message.
You can sit in an audience like this
and hear a message about the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And you hear the same words that the
person sitting next to you hears.
But often they're just in the ear.
And sometimes it does take five, ten, fifteen,
twenty years for the message to go from
the ear to the inmost being of an
individual.
So I ask you this morning, are you
listening?
I'm not talking about you that are nodding.
Are you listening?
Are you really listening?
That is, are you doing more than just
hearing the words and are they really sinking
deep down into the heart?
Is the Holy Spirit bringing a response to
the message of God?
Amos reflected on this.
Later on, hundreds of years after this, he
describes men whose hearts are hard and calloused.
And he does it in the language of
Genesis chapter thirty-seven.
He speaks about those who drink wine in
bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments.
I wonder if what he does not mean
here is that when the Midianites and the
Ishmaelites came along, not only did they sell
Joseph, but they also got some of their
goods.
And they sat around, they drank their wine,
they were eating their meal, they drank their
wine, and they anointed themselves with the chief
ointments.
But Amos says, but they are not grieved
for the affliction of Joseph.
That is, they don't care a thing about
those cries that are coming out of the
pit.
People can be awfully calloused and hardened.
Well, the rest of the chapter is a
description of how they deceived Jacob.
When Reuben returned, he was devastated by what
he saw, but the others are hard and
callous.
And finally, Jacob hears about it, and Jacob
is so overcome because of the relationship that
he bears to the son of his old
age that he refused to be comforted, saying,
surely I will go down to Sheol in
mourning for my son.
And so he spent much time weeping over
Joseph.
This chapter illustrates both the sin of man
and the grace of God, and especially the
sin of envy.
We covet things and we envy persons, and
a person has no peace when he's an
envious individual.
The writer of the Proverbs says, envy is
the rottenness of bones.
But if God fills our lives, and if
we're satisfied with Him, and if He's really
the object of our affection, then He fills
our lives and there is no place for
envy.
Grace brings that condition about.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said, our greatest mission
is to rescue admitted truths from the neglect
caused by their universal admission.
That's true.
And one of the duties of a commentator
and a preacher and student of the Word
of God, teacher of the Word of God,
is to rescue some of the admitted truths
from the neglect that is caused because we
all agree.
And consequently we do not pay the things
that we agree about the proper attention.
Now I think that's illustrated here because if
there's one thing that stands out in the
life of Joseph, it's the providence of God.
It's the expression of the sovereignty of God.
And the other thing that we all see
is that Joseph somehow in the experience of
his life is a beautiful type of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who was rejected and ultimately
exalted and becomes the means of the blessing
of the brethren who rejected him.
Let me just close by pointing out a
few of the likenesses or correspondences between Joseph
and Christ.
Joseph and Christ are alike in that they
both are the object of the affection of
their father.
The Lord Jesus at his baptism heard the
words, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased.
And just as Jacob doted upon Joseph, so
in the true sense the father dotes upon
the son and rejoices in him and in
us only as we are in him.
Joseph and Jesus Christ are alike in that
they both have a commission from the father.
Joseph was sent out for the brethren, so
Jesus Christ.
In the fullness of time God sent him
forth born of a woman, born under the
law that he might redeem those under the
law and bring to them the adoption of
sonship.
Joseph and Jesus Christ are alike in that
they both were rejected by their brethren.
He came unto his own and his own
received him not, but as many as received
him to them gave he power to become
the sons of God.
They are alike in their humiliation and Joseph
is sold into slavery and so the Lord
Jesus comes as a servant in the form
of a servant in the likeness of men
and ultimately in becoming the representative substitutionary sacrifice,
reaches the epitome of humiliation for the son
of God dies as a common criminal.
He was obedient unto death, even such a
death as the death of a cross, the
death of a criminal.
And Joseph and Christ are alike in their
exaltation for just as Joseph was humiliated, sold
into captivity and by the grace of God
becomes the second in command over all of
the land of Egypt and really all over
the world of that day.
So Jesus Christ has been exalted to the
right hand of the father and one of
these days he's going to appear again a
second time apart from sin unto salvation.
They are alike also in that in their
exaltation they acquire a bride and Joseph acquires
a bride and the Lord Jesus Christ today
is acquiring a bride by the preaching of
the gospel.
It's just possible that this morning as the
word of God goes forth, someone is responsive
to Jesus Christ and the atoning sacrifice and
has in their heart said, Lord, I am
a sinner.
I need to be saved.
I do receive Christ as my Savior and
you become a member of the body of
Christ, the bride of Christ.
That's what God's doing today, acquiring a bride
for his son Jesus Christ.
And finally, Joseph ultimately will become the means
of the restoration of his own brethren to
the proper relationship that they should have to
him and the Lord Jesus Christ is ultimately
the means by which the nation Israel is
restored to its rightful relationship to the Lord
God.
The scriptures say that they shall look upon
him whom they've pierced and they shall mourn
for him as one mourns for an only
son and the nation Israel shall be reconciled
to the one whom they have put to
death.
What a great day that's going to be.
Let's stand for the benediction.
Father, we are thankful for the stories of
the book of Genesis and for the wonderful
spiritual truths that are taught us through the
experiences of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and
Joseph and others of the patriarchs.
Lord, may we be responsive to them.
Enable us to realize and truly act upon
the great principle that thou art sovereignly at
work in the affairs of men.
And we pray for those who may be
here without a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Give them no rest nor peace until they
rest in him.
Through the Holy Spirit, make those who are
unable to respond willing to come to him.
And we'll give thee the praise and the
thanks for the wonderful saving grace that flows
only from our sovereign God.
Go with us, Lord, as we part.
For Jesus' sake, amen.