Genesis 37 Devotional Bible Study

Genesis 37 Chapter Summary

(This chapter seems to be a flashback to before Israel left Shechem and before Benjamin was born.)

When Joseph was 17, he brought a bad report to Jacob about his brothers as they were tending the flocks.

 

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age;

and he made an ornate robe for him.

- Genesis 37:3

 

Their father's favoritism made Joseph's brothers hate him.

 

Joseph had two dreams. In the first, Joseph and his brothers were binding sheaves of grain, and their sheaves bowed down to his. They saw this as Joseph saying he would rule over them.

 

In the second dream, the sun and moon and 11 stars bowed down to him. Even Jacob was offended at this, but he kept it in mind.

 

One day, while Joseph's brothers were grazing the flocks near Shechem, Jacob sent Joseph to them. As he approached his brothers, they plotted to kill him. They planned to throw him down a cistern and say an animal killed him. Reuben said they should throw him in the cistern but not kill him. He planned to come back later and pull him out and take him home.

 

The brothers took Joseph's ornate robe off him and threw him down a dry cistern. When a caravan of Ishmaelites came by, they sold him to them, and they took him to Egypt. Meanwhile, Reuben had left, and when he came back, he saw Joseph missing from the cistern.

 

The brothers then slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph's robe in it. They took it back to Jacob to make him think Joseph had been killed by an animal.

 

In Egypt, Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard, bought Joseph.

 

Should We Always Tell the Truth?

Genesis 37:5-11

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

We know Joseph’s dreams came true. His entire family served him when he became the second-highest ruler in Egypt. But should he have told his dreams to his family? Maybe he should have been wiser and understood that they wouldn’t be happy with him for telling the truth of what he had seen in his dreams.

Or maybe he needed to tell them, because if he hadn’t aroused his brothers’ ire with the telling of the dreams, they wouldn’t have sold him into slavery in Egypt, and he wouldn’t haven been in place to save them from famine that was coming.

Joseph suffered for telling the truth, but then the Lord raised him to a higher position than he ever would have achieved otherwise. What is the truth you need to tell someone? It might cost you. They might not be happy with you. But what good can bring out of your willingness to tell the truth?

 

Can’t Stop God’s Plan

Genesis 37:17-20

Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

These brothers remind me of Satan trying to stop God’s plans. “Jesus is gaining too many followers” Satan says. “I know; I’ll have Judas betray Him and put Him to death to get Him out of the way!”

But what happened? Satan fell right into God’s purposes, because the Father had already determined that the Son should be the sacrifice for all of humanity. What Satan meant for evil, God meant for good, and the Lord used Satan’s actions to accomplish His own will.

We see the same thing happening here. The brothers wanted to stop Joseph from ruling over them, so they threw him down a well and then sold him into slavery in Egypt. After Joseph became the second-highest ruler in Egypt and was able to avert crisis during a famine, he told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

Could Joseph have guessed what God’s plan was for him? No way! Not even after he had his dreams could he have imagined how God would fulfill them.

You might not fully understand God’s plan for your life. You know God’s promises to you as a believer, but it might seem like everything is against you right now, as if your circumstances are meant only for your harm. But hang in there – persevere – and you will see how the Lord will bring good out of your bad.

Satan cannot stop God’s plan for you. Instead, the Lord will use him as a tool to make it happen. Amen?

 

Not All Bad

Genesis 37:21-22

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

Reuben… Reuben… Where have we heard that name before? Oh, yeah! He’s the one who had sex with his father’s concubine Bilhah. That was wrong of him to do.

But here he is trying to spare Joseph’s life when his other brothers wanted to kill him. This is good of Reuben.

So, is Reuben a bad guy or a good guy?

He’s both, isn’t he? Can I tell you that people are complicated? Everyone makes good choices and bad choices – Christians and non-Christians alike – because no one is perfect in this life. We strive to be more and more Christlike, but we still fall short of that goal.

Can you show enough grace to accept people as imperfect, to understand that the people in your life are going to do some good things and some bad things – because people are complex? Our motives are mixed. Our moral strength and resolve to do the right thing varies. Our wisdom and intelligence aren’t always on-point. We want to judge others in black and white absolutes, but the gray matter between all our ears gets confused.

Just keep Reuben in mind the next time someone in your life misses the mark or perfection.

 

The Circle of Serving

Genesis 37:31-32

Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

After Joseph’s brothers decide to sell him into slavery – because just killing him wouldn’t benefit them as much as making some money off of him – they make it look as if Joseph had died. Can you imagine the pain showing Jacob that bloody robe would have caused him? Years later, Jacob was still mourning his son. And all because the brothers were looking out for their own interests. I just can’t imagine someone being willing to bring this much pain on a person – for years – to serve their own interests.

But I can imagine the same scenario to a lesser extent. I can imagine people every day ignoring their family to serve their own interests, or looking only to what they can get from their employer rather than what they can give, or keeping their money to spend on themselves rather than sharing God’s blessings with others.

Let’s remember the self-centeredness of Joseph’s brothers, and then do the opposite.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4)

The beautiful thing is that when everyone looks to the interests of others, everyone’s needs are met, including mine, because I’m looking to serve you and you’re looking to serve me.