Genesis 37:1-4 gave us two reasons for
the animosity that the brothers of Joseph had toward him. Firstly, we were told
of his inclination to squeal on them and secondly it’s because of Jacob’s unequal
affection towards his sons. His extreme love for Joseph made his other sons
felt that he never loved them at all. So they became jealous of Joseph. As we turn
to look at Genesis 37:5-11, we will realize that Joseph also did not help the
situation by his lack of diplomacy in sharing the dreams he had. The way he
shared his two dreams with his brothers exuded with arrogance. We could see that
he was not the perfect person as he had always been made out to be. After all his
feet were still made of clay. In these seven verses we see the feud he had with
his brothers came from the two dreams he had that exalted him.
The Bible abound with incidences that
God used a dream to warn or make known to His people of up-coming condition. Dream
was and can still be a sure means by which God will make known His plan for us.
So we should not dismiss our dream without giving it due consideration. The first
dream Joseph had recorded in verse 7 said this, “…behold, we
were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood
erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my
sheaf.” The dream was real stuff and not a concoction of his vain imagination. It
came from God. This dream foreshadowed Joseph’s future as the ruler of Egypt
and his brothers bowing down to him. Everyone could
see his point. Joseph himself certainly understood its message. But being young,
naïve and self-centred, he blurted out insensitively. Joseph did not anticipate
his brothers’ response but they all said to him, “Are you
actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” The
intensity of their hatred seemed to have rocketed. Verse 8 tells us that “So
they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”
Joseph’s
dreams came in pairs to give them the certainty of fulfilment. The second dream
he had would seal the intention of God. It was God’s way of saying that He would
be sovereignly bringing everything he had shown Joseph to pass. This could be why
Joseph was so certain that he described it boldly, not only to his brothers but
also to his father. His second dream went like this: “Lo, I have had still
another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing
down to me.” In
the dream he saw eleven stars in the sky, symbolizing his brothers and the sun
and moon, symbolizing his father and mother, all bowing to him. How did they do
their obeisance we are not told but the interpretation was clear that even
Jacob did not totally dismiss it. However, it was too much even for an indulgent
father that he rebuked him. But the silence of the brothers was threatening.
His dreams had done it. The hatred his brothers had for him had reached a point
where it was irreversible. The course for collusion with them was set.
In all of Joseph’s experiences
we see the hand of God behind everything, orchestrating every detail of his life.
Amidst the influence of the fallen nature, his propensity and sin, God was divinely
working and engineering the fulfillment of His plan. Like him, in our life’s journey
there is also the possibility that we will complicate it. We can also be entangled
with our own propensity and that of the people around us. There is no guarantee
that we will not get caught in the mire of sin and self. It is precisely in
those problems-besieging moments of our life that we should remain steadfast
and continue to take our stand with God. Be sure that His providential and sustaining
grace will continue to work in our lives as they had in Joseph’s. He will carry
us through!
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