Esau, Joseph, and God’s Good Plans

Text: Genesis 36:1 – 37:36

Introduction

Genesis 37, and the chapters that follow, could hardly be a greater contrast to Genesis 36, which brushes quickly past Esau and his descendants. From here, to the end of the book of Genesis, God will share in painstaking detail the life and labors, trials and triumphs, struggles and successes of one man named Joseph.

While Esau and many of his descendants did achieve a certain kind of success in their day, God is not impressed with efforts that are at their core rejecting Him as Creator and Lord. On the other hand, God is intimately caring for and protecting those who, like Joseph, trust and follow Him. Even if at times the opposite seems to be the case.

I. Joseph Is Given Dreams (vv.1-11)

1. Verses 1 & 2 include the ‘chapter’ introduction we’ve become used to, marking another major section of the book of Gen. (and the final one): ‘these are the generations of Jacob.’ (And we are told Jacob, unlike Esau, is settled in God’s promised land Canaan.)
2. Then vv.2-4 provide a brief word of explanation/backdrop for Joseph’s story.
   1. Jacob’s second-to-youngest son Joseph is now 17 yrs old. He shepherds the family flock along with the rest of his brothers. However, that is where their common experience ends.
      1. In v.2, Joseph brings a bad report of his brothers to his father, an early indication of what we will see is true: he is more righteous than they are.
      2. Joseph, we are specifically told, is Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph & Benjamin were both born to Isaac’s favorite wife Rachel; yet apparently Joseph is a step up even from Benjamin in his father Jacob’s estimation.
      3. Jacob so clearly favors Joseph that, of all his 12 sons, Jacob makes a beautiful, royal coat and gives it to Joseph.
   2. Well, as nice as being the favorite son might sound, it actually comes with at least one obvious drawback, and that is that all your other brothers are going to have a hard time not hating you.
      1. While this is not excusable on their part, the temptation to jealousy overcame Joseph’s brothers to the point they could not even greet him with friendliness.
3. Into this powder keg of a situation, God steps in with a Zippo lighter in vv.5ff, by giving Joseph dreams which occasioned his brothers’ hating him even more.
   1. Keep in mind that these are not ‘Joseph’s dreams’: they are prophetic dreams, sent from God, foretelling the future.
      1. As elsewhere in Ge, these dreams are divine revelation. This is not Joseph dreaming up his own goals/ambitions & subliminally rehearsing them in his sleep. IOW, not like you or me ‘dreaming big dreams’ for ourselves.
   2. And God sends Joseph 2 such dreams—one with bundles of grain, the other with sun/moon/stars bowing to him—both plainly indicating Joseph would be a ruler.
      1. These dreams are not Joseph’s fault. Neither do they necessarily reflect any ambition on his part. What they are, however, is God’s indication of what he plans to do through Joseph.
      2. Applying the same key Joseph gives to Pharaoh later, the fact the dream is repeated probably means that its fulfillment is imminent. These events are about to start unfolding!

II. Joseph Is Betrayed (vv.12-24)

1.  In vv.12-17, at Jacob’s request, Joseph seeks to join his brothers, who are keeping flocks in another region, some 15 miles or so away.
2. Thus in vv.18-24, according to their own wicked hearts/thoughts, Josephs’ brothers plot to ambush and kill him, their own flesh & blood.
   1. It is hard not to be reminded back to the first fratricide, in which Cain killed his more righteous brother Abel out of jealousy!
   2. And it is hard not to marvel already, at how God is the one who in a sense incited these events, by sending Joseph the dreams that stirred up the jealousy that was already in his brothers’ hearts.
      1. Thus, Josephs’ brothers are seen to be guilty in their plotting/harming of their brother, yet God is seen to be sovereign from the very beginning.
      2. We cannot help but think of a NT scene, in which wicked men with wicked hands fulfill the preordained plan of God, betraying a righteous man.
   3. Back in Gen. 37, Joseph’s brothers plot to kill him, although Reuben the oldest steps in to intervene, suggesting instead they throw him in a pit.
      1. Reuben plans to come later and rescue Joseph. But even Reuben’s good plans cannot contravene the plan that God is working out in Joseph’s life!

III. Joseph Is Sold (vv.25-36)

1. v.25 says the brothers, having just betrayed Joseph, ‘sat down to eat.’ Such a simple statement is clearly out of place with the horror & guilt of what they have just done. Yet it is an indicator of how calloused they are!
   1. Remember how in Gen. 34 & 35 Reuben, Simeon, & Levi were passed over (in favor of Judah) as ancestors to the Messiah because of their wickedness?
   2. Here we are reminded that, while our punishment is always deserved, our rewards are always based on God’s mercy rather than our merit.
      1. It is none other than Judah who suggests they sell their brother Joseph to slave traders headed to Egypt! Why? Not mercy, but for profit, lit. ‘loot’.
   3. And so Joseph’s brothers sell him, their own brother, for pieces of silver.
2. In vv.29-36 Reuben discovers he can’t rescue Joseph after all; so, unable to beat them, he joins his brothers in deceiving their father Jacob. They dip Joseph’s coat in blood and show it to Jacob, letting him draw the obvious inference.
   1. Jacob responds with inconsolable grief, thinking his son Joseph is dead.
   2. Yet v.36 closes the chapter with this striking reminder of how wrong Jacob is. In fact, Joseph is taken to Egypt & sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.

Conclusion

God’s plan has not been derailed. Rather, he is sending Joseph ahead of the rest of his family, in order to—unbeknownst even to Joseph yet—bring about a great deliverance for them all.