~ Prove all things; hold fast on that which is good. I Thessalonians 5:21

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Genesis 37:18-36


IV.                Joseph Sold Into Bondage

a.      Genesis 37:18 - And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
·        Matthew 12:14 - Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
·        Matthew 27:1 – When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
b.      Genesis 37:19 - And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
·        Dreamer - בעל ba`al, owner, husband, lord
·        Matthew 27:39- And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads
·        1 Samuel 8:7 - And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
o       They hated Joseph because of the gifts that God blessed him with, it wasn’t Joseph they were rejecting it was God.  Just like the Israelites when they wanted a king, they rejected God.
c.      Genesis 37:20 - Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
·        Matthew 21:33-39 - Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.  And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.  Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.  But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.  But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.  And they caught him, and cast [him] out of the vineyard, and slew [him].
·        John 1:11 - He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
d.      Genesis 37:21 - And Reuben heard [it], and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
e.      Genesis 37:22 - And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, [but] cast him into this pit that [is] in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
·        Note that of all the brothers, Reuben had the most reason to want to harm him, yet he proved to be an advocate even among Joseph’s enemies.
·        Reuben likely was eager to gain his father’s favor again and possibly saw this as an opportunity to do so.
f.       Genesis 37:23 - 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;
·        Matthew 27:28 – And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
·        Psalm 22:18 They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture.
·        Matthew 27:35 – And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
g.      Genesis 37:24 - And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit [was] empty, [there was] no water in it.
·        Psalm 88:4 – I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man [that hath] no strength.
·        Proverbs 27:4 - Wrath [is] cruel, and anger [is] outrageous; but who [is] able to stand before envy?
·        There was no water in it:
o       John 4:11 - The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
o       John 7:38 - He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
o       The well being symbolic of death and the grave has no water or no life in it.  Joseph who as a Messiah type is cast into the pit and later retrieved out of the well.  Joseph is representative of the living water which is Christ for Joseph through his gifts saved Egypt and eventually all of Israel.
h.     Genesis 37:25 - And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry [it] down to Egypt.
·        Genesis 42:21 – And they said one to another, We [are] verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
o       They freely admit that they observed his anguish, yet they did not even lose their appetite because they sat down to eat bread.
·        Matthew 27:36 – And sitting down they watched him there;
i.       Genesis 37:26 - And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit [is it] if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
·        We should always be in a mindset to weigh the cost of our sin
j.       Genesis 37:27 - Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he [is] our brother [and] our flesh. And his brethren were content.
·        Note here that it was Judah who sold Joseph, Judah can be translated as Judas in Greek
o       Matthew 1:2 - Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
·        We have a shadow picture of Judas betraying Christ for 30 pieces of silver
k.      Genesis 37:28 - Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty [pieces] of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
·        Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
·        Midianites or Ishmeelites?
o       Midianites –  מדיני Midyaniy, "strife", a tribe descended from the son of Abraham by Keturah and progenitor of the tribe of Midianites or Arabians
o       Ishmeelites – ישמעאלי Yishma`e'liy, "God will hear", descendents from the son of Abraham and Sarah's handmaid Hagar and the progenitor of the Arabian peoples
·        Matthew 26:14-15 - Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said [unto them], What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
·        Appendix 10:
o       20 – disappointed expectancy
a.      2 – Difference
b.      10 – Ordinal perfection
o       Opposed to 30 – Divine perfection, applied to order
a.      3 – Completeness
b.      10 – Ordinal perfection
l.       Genesis 37:29 - And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph [was] not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
·        Luke 24:12 – Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulcher; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
m.    Genesis 37:30 - And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child [is] not; and I, whither shall I go?
·        Being the oldest son, Reuben would have been expected to give an account of Joseph’s whereabouts.
·        Though Reuben thought he was doing the right thing, it was not part of God’s plan for Joseph to be rescued, similarly Peter when Jesus revealed to him what events were to transpire:
o       Matthew 16:21-23 - From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
o       Like Reuben, Peter thought that he was doing a good thing but instead he would have thwarted what God had planned for Joseph (at least for the time being).  Its important to be lead by the Spirit and sometimes circumstances may seem like an injustice, but it is actually all part of God’s intricate plan.
o       When we ask why do bad things happen to good people, remember this:
a.      Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
b.      This means that there is a higher plan than our current circumstance no matter how miserable it may be, its all part of a bigger picture. 

n.     Genesis 37:31 - And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
·        Jacob had been deceived by his sons as he had deceived his father, both involved the killing of a kid.
o       Genesis 27:16 - And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
·        Note here that the sons of Jacob, killed a kid and presented the blood to their father (though it was a lie it was a type of alibi for their sins, or a covering)
·        Christ was the Lamb of God whose blood is presented to God takes away the sin of the world
o       John 1:29 - The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
o.      Genesis 37:32 - And they sent the coat of [many] colours, and they brought [it] to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it [be] thy son's coat or no.
·        When men commit one sin they often commit others in order to conceal it.
·        Job 31:33 - If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
·        Lets look at this through the eyes of Jacob:
o       Jacob loved Joseph the most (rightly or wrongly that doesn’t matter)
o       Jacob was concerned for his other sons so he sent Joseph, alone, to find them and check on their status
o       Jacob must have felt a tremendous burden of regret, such as…I could have sent servants with Joseph to protect him, I could have just sent the servants, Why did I give him that coat that probably attracted the beast, etc…
p.      Genesis 37:33 - And he knew it, and said, [It is] my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
·        An interesting item of note, the brothers did not say “an evil beast hath devoured him”, Jacob made this assumption and the brothers just let him believe it.  They did not lie to their father Jacob with their words, but rather deceived him through their deeds and allowed him to draw his own erroneous conclusions from the false evidence they presented.
·        Essentially, Jacob deceived himself.  His actions and special treatment of Joseph shouldered a large part of the blame yet he never recognized it.  God saved Israel in spite of their sin, Christ saves us in spite of our sin, but we must first recognize it.
o       1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
o       Jacob had just as much sin as the brothers, and Jacob will benefit just as much as his other sons when they are rescued from death and brought into a prosperous land.
o       Benjamin is the only one who is innocent.
q.      Genesis 37:34 - And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
·        Matthew 27:51 - And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
·        Just as Joseph’s father Jacob rent his clothes at he death of his son, so also did God the Father rent the veil at the death of His Son Jesus.
r.      Genesis 37:35 - And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
·        His sons rose up to comfort him, but not reveal the truth to him.  Jacob could have been comforted by the truth that his son yet lived, yet his sons denied him of that hope by allowing him to believe a lie.
·        We learn here that Jacob could have indeed had more than one daughter, but this could also be in reference to daughers-in-law as well as grand-daughters.
s.      Genesis 37:36 - And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, [and] captain of the guard.
·        Potiphar – פוטיפר Powtiyphar, "belonging to the sun"

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