Genesis 37: Joseph's brothers sell him into Egypt
Joseph’s betrayal by his brothers led to suffering, but God's plan for his greatness prevailed.
Parental favouritism
Joseph was the favourite of his father Jacob, and his youthful impudence was too much for his brothers to handle. The first episode traces the gradual disintegration of Jacob’s family: First through Joseph telling tales about his brother and then by giving him a special robe as a mark of his love, and finally by God sending two dreams that predicted that Joseph would one day rule over his brothers.
Read Genesis 37: https://bible.com/bible/1713/gen.37.1-36.CSB
Joseph’s Dreams: Destined for Fulfillment Despite Betrayal
According to Genesis 41:32, duplicate dreams are thought to indicate that they would certainly and promptly be fulfilled. Joseph's brothers, however, were determined to prove the dream wrong. They decided to kill him, but the idea of profiting from him changed their minds. His brothers sold him for 20 shekels (three years' wage for a shepherd), which was a useful bonus.
Genesis 41:32 CSB: Since the dream was given twice to Pharaoh, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.
Joseph’s Journey: From Betrayal to God’s Plan Unfolding
After selling Joseph to the trader, who then sold him as a slave to an Egyptian official. His brothers told their father Jacob that Joseph was dead. After hearing this, Jacob was heartbroken; his children's efforts to comfort him proved fruitless, and he declared he would remain in mourning till his dying day. This makes Jacob’s family shattered and hopeless.
However, the dream still stood, and Genesis expects its readers to view it as setting out God’s agendas and to keep wondering how the discrepancy between Joseph's situation as a slave and what his dreams predicted will be resolved.
Application
God’s plans are bigger than our understanding: Joseph's dream was a prophecy of his future greatness, which demonstrated that God has bigger plans for us even when we do not understand them.
Jealousy and envy will lead to destruction: Joseph's brothers were jealous and later shattered their family into hopelessness.
Keynotes
Genesis 37:3 - The robe was the basic outer garment, a long ‘tee-shirt’ reaching to the knee or ankle.
Genesis 37:3 CSB: Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a long-sleeved robe for him.
Genesis 37:10 - The reference to your mother need not imply that Rachel was still alive.
Genesis 37:10 CSB: He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had? ” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you? ”
Genesis 37:12 - on Shechem reference to Genesis 12:6 Genesis 37:14 - on Hebron see Genesis 23:2 and Genesis 18:1.
Genesis 37:12 CSB: His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.
Genesis 12:6 CSB: Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)
Genesis 37:14 CSB: Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.
Genesis 23:2 CSB: Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron ) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Genesis 18:1 CSB: The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day.
Genesis 37: 17 - Dothan was 14 miles (22 km) north of Shechem
Genesis 37:17 CSB: “They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Genesis 37: 20 - Cisterns were cut out of the limestone and used to store water in the dry season.
Genesis 37:20 CSB: So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams! ”
Genesis 37:25 -The Ishmaelites are also referred to as Midianites (Genesis 39:1). The term seems to be used interchangeably here in Judges 8:24. Either 'Ishmaelite’ means nomadic trader, and ‘Midianites’ is the tribe involved, or the Midianites were a sub-tribe in a group of tribes named the Ishmaelites.
Genesis 37:25 CSB: They sat down to eat a meal, and when they looked up, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.
Genesis 39:1 CSB: Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt. An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.
Judges 8:24 CSB: Then he said to them, “Let me make a request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.
Genesis 37:29- Reuben (the eldest) had wandered off when the Ishmaelites arrived and bought Joseph.
Genesis 37:29 CSB: When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
Genesis 37:31 - Note the divine justice catching up on Jacob, who, when he was young, had deceived his father with a kid (Genesis 27: 9-16).
Genesis 37:31 CSB: So they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in its blood.
Genesis 27:9-16 CSB: [9] Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father #— #the kind he loves. [10] Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.” [11] Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin. [12] Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.” [13] His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.” [14] So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved. [15] Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them. [16] She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.