Genesis 37:12-36

morning to get on to the website. And so, if you watch this on the website, I'm sorry if it's going to I'm sorry if it's gonna come late. I gotta figure out what's going on. Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. A wonderful Monday morning is where every weekday you and I we get together we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word and we grow and our love for the Lord together in this year 2023. Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis to Leviticus. And so we're at Genesis chapter 37, beginning at verse 12. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into Lord's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you are generous and gracious God have given us this time this morning to read your word and to work through it, we pray that we would understand it, and that you would apply it to our lives in Jesus's name, Amen. Gotta reach over here, grab my glasses. We're at Genesis chapter 37, beginning at verse 12. Here we go. Then his brothers went to feed their father's flock and check them and Israel said the Joseph are not your brothers feeding the flock and check them Come, I will send you to them. So he said to him, here I am. Then he said to him, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring them bring back word to me. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he went to check them. Now a certain man found him and there he was wandering in the field and the man asked him saying, What are you seeking? So he said, I'm seeking my brother's please, please tell me which way or please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said to them, they have departed from here for I heard them say let us go to Dothan. So jaisa Joseph, sorry. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now when he saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him, to kill him. Then they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. Come, therefore, let us know kill him and cast him into some pit. And we shall say some wild beasts as devoured him, we shall see what will become of his dreams. But Reuben heard it. And he delivered Him out of their hands and said, Let us not kill him. And Ruben said to them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him, that he might deliver Him out of their hands and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him, then they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty. There was no water in it, and they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices and balm and myrrh. On their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, what Prophet is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Israelites? And let not our hand be upon him? For he is our brother in our flesh, and his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by. So the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Israelites for 20 shekels of silver and they took Joseph to Egypt. Then Ruben returned to the pit, and then G Joseph was not in the pit, and he tore his clothes. And he returned to his brothers and said, The lad is no more. And I Where shall I go? Sorry. Somebody's calling me on the computer. So they took Josef's tunic, killed a kid of goats and dripped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors and they brought it to their father and said, We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not? And he carried it and said it is my son's tunic. Wild beasts is devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn in pieces. Then, Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist and mourn for his son. Many days, and all his sons and daughters arose to comfort him. But he refused to be comforted and said, for I shall go down to the grave to my son in mourning. Thus his father wept for him. Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, and captain of the garden. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What's this about? Be what's the best verses summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this? Well, what's this about? This is about Joseph being sold in the slavery. About fathers are about son deceiving their father. about deception and evil, jealousy and hatred. About a plot to kill the cell and it's everything about this is wrong, right. This is a picture of evil within a family. This is a father who has shown favoritism to his youngest son right all of a second youngest on all of his kids. are out there shepherding and Jacob calls Joseph and he says, hey, well, why don't you go check on your brothers right there down and check them? I heard that they're pastoring there, go go check on them and, and come back. Tell me tell me how they're doing. And so he's alerted? Yeah, sure. Then I'll go and interesting thing happens in the middle of the story as as Joseph is going, he goes, and he can't find his brother. So he finds some random dude. Random, right? And he says, Hey, where is this? Where's my brothers? And they said, hey, they're not here yet. I heard him late. They went down there. And so he goes, notice this is he just find some random guy and he happens to know where they went. But there's there's an undercurrent here that these things are happening for a reason. But imagine how the brothers feel that you know he's had this dream. He says he's going to rule over though he's going to be greater than them and now he comes and this is like the workers against the management, right? Who the heck does this guy think he is? kid brother, he's acting like the boss here. I'm gonna go check out all my brothers right? We should kill the kid. We should just kill him and take his tunic and tell dad some wild animal killed them. And then the firstborn Reuben says, Guys, let's not do that. Maybe we can still take off his coat but put them in the pit. Rubens plan is I'll get him out of the pit later. I'll bring him to bring him to dad. Anything that's okay. Sure. But as Joseph is down there, stripped of his his room right Reubens off doing something and his brothers see some Ishmael light traders. And I think man whatever, we'll make some money off this. Notice they hate their brother. And they love money. They'd rather just get the cash and go and sell their brother and that's what they do. They don't care about what's going to happen to him and in Egypt. They don't care about how he's going to be treated by the Israelites. They don't care about how he's being stripped from his family and from everything he knows and loves. They don't care. All they know is that they're they're filled with hatred toward Joseph. We just can't stand this kid. He just needs to go. There's this rivalry that's happened. I was just talking to a guy by the way yesterday about polygamy in the Old Testament. And talking about how there's none of these stories end up like Oh, happy yeah, this is great. You know, it's always hardship. It's always heartache. And this is just one of these, once again, another one of these instances where we see this. There's this family rivalry and this is just Rachel skin. Get rid of them. So they tell him Ruben comes in he's helped me and what happened to Joseph and the other boys they seem to men they seem to gleefully say how we sold them off down to Egypt. So Ruben shuts his mouth and goes along with the plot. kill an animal, put the blood on the coat. Make it nice and dirty. Take it to their dad and give him and and their dad immediately says oh, man, he's dead. See that? What they're trying to do is just erase Joseph memory entirely, but it won't be erased. They won't be erased because Israel Jacob loved Joseph. And so they try to comfort him and they try to comfort him and they try to comfort him but all I can think about is his dead son. Or Jacob to think about as this boy who in his heart and in his mind has been has been absolutely torn up destroyed by wild animals. And he was the one who sent him these brothers spent their entire this entire time plotting in their hearts just wanting to kill them just wanted to get rid of them just wanted them to be gone. They didn't want to think about them. They didn't want to be bothered by him. And now all they can think about is comforting their father because his mind and his heart is wrapped up and now this son his beloved son is now gone and dead. Now for decades. This is what's going to be on their mind in their consciences comforting their father as he wails in the night as he cries as he as he's distraught. You can imagine not being able to finish meals and walking out in the brothers thinking what do we do? What do we do and they have to hide that. They suppress it. They bury it deep down. All the while Joseph is sent down into Egypt in a sold and typographers house. That's where it ends here. What's the best verse to summarize us? Well, I have the last part of verse 28 and sold him to the Israelites for 20 shekels of silver. Then I also have underlined verse 34. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth on his waist and mourn for his sons many days. And all his sons and his all his daughters arose to comfort him but he refused to be comforted. He says I'm going to die morning I'm going to die in my grief. So what are we called to do? How does this show us Christ? This is the reality of what Jesus tells us is you cannot be so angry with someone in your heart that you would say we're CA You fool. You've already committed murder in your heart. They have not loved God. They have not loved their neighbor they have not loved their father they Josef's brothers acted with perversity and malice, hatred and jealousy. And when we do that, when people become problems, when people become something other just just an issue that needs to be pushed away. We got a problem with our hearts because that person has made Imago Dei in the image of God. And we might not like them. We don't even have to necessarily get along with them. But we do have to bear with them, love them, show them the respects that the image of God requires. But instead they just want to erase them. But the undercurrent here is that God is going to use even this to save the entire family. Now that's a spoiler. We're gonna get there, right? We're working through Genesis Imagine you've never read this before but but that's where we're going. But I want to call you this morning. I don't know who you are who's watching through this as you struggle with hatred. A man encourage you to look at the story and be honest with yourself. Do you find yourself thinking of others more like the people have are more like the brothers did? Or maybe you are one who's struggled with lying. Maybe you've struggled with deceiving people and not telling the truth. Deceive no more. So work of Satan. He's a liar and a murderer from the beginning. That's not the path that the children of light have to walk or turn from that repent from that and walk in the way of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we have read a portion of redemptive history that's not fun. But it is sobering. Are we pray that you would teach us from this picture of hatred? What we ought not to live like? are we pray that we would love you and love others? Give us your Holy Spirit God, give us love. Give us gentleness give us patience. give us kindness. give us goodness, in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the piece of Jesus Christ. May you love him, and love your neighbor, and I'll see you next time. Bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai