Where Is God When I Need Him?
Genesis 37 (37:25-36)
February 8, 2015
Well this morning it’s time to start working our way through this absolutely phenomenal story regarding Jacob, Joseph, and Judah.
If you were not here last week, I highly encourage you to go on our website and listen to the sermon from last Sunday morning. It is an overview of the final 14 chapters of Genesis, and it will help you gain a better understanding of the things we are going to talk about as we finish up this book.
But this morning we start working through the story.
I called the study of this chapter:
“Where Is God When I Need Him?”
And when I present that question to you this morning,
You can either be pious and say you’ve never wondered that,
Or you can be honest and admit that you know exactly what I’m talking about.
It is the thought that we are all prone to have
During our darkest hours of pain and despair.
Where is God?
Does He still care?
Why won’t He come help?
Well, as I told you last week, I hope to move you to a place
Where you can understand that God might be doing something
That if you understood it, it would literally blow your mind.
That is what this story of Joseph is, it is a mind-blowing story.
In short, when you read this story – EVERYTHING IS WRONG
Nothing about this story is right.
Nothing about this story happens like it should.
It’s all backward, and let me show you what I mean.
Let’s work our way through the chapter and examine what actually happens
And then we’ll try to move a little deeper.
We can divide the chapter up pretty easily by examining the 4 major players involved.
#1 THE FAVORED SON
Genesis 37:1-11
Again let me remind you of what we talked about last week.
I know that 12 of the next 14 chapters are going to follow Joseph.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that this story is about him.
It isn’t, and that is even made clear early on here.
(1-2a) “Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are the records of the generations of Jacob.”
The story is still about Jacob.
And beyond that I hope you remember that
The next major player in Jacob’s family is not Joseph, it is Judah.
(which helps explain why ch. 38 is devoted to him)
None the less, we are continuing on with the story of Jacob,
Who is the man known as Israel.
The first thing we find is that there is tension among the sons of Jacob.
“Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.”
Now those who want to pause here and make Joseph out to be a tattle tale
Are reading into the text something that the writer did not intend.
He makes NO mention of Joseph either bringing
A false report or a true report with evil motives.
Joseph simply brought “a bad report”
WHY?
Because his brother were bad.
From the 2nd verse of this chapter
Moses is already making sure you see one of the main points.
He is contrasting a good son with the bad sons.
And he is not being vague about it.
So IF you read that verse and saw Joseph as the good son
And his brothers as the bad sons,
THEN you correctly picked up on the writer’s intent.
Don’t let someone talk you into blaming the events of this chapter on Joseph,
Which is something the writer simply does not do.
We have a good son and we have bad sons.
What we also have is STRIKE 1 (the bad report)
If we learned anything from Jesus and John the Baptist
It is that the darkness hates the light.
In fact Jesus told Nicodemus:
John 3:19-20 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
Joseph’s brothers were no different.
They hated the fact that Joseph
Would give a bad report about them to their father.
Well, then comes STRIKE 2
(3-4) “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.”
You would think that Joseph would have learned firsthand
About the heartache that is caused when a father loves one son
More than the other, after all Isaac had preferred Esau over him.
And yet here is Jacob, a chip right off the old block,
Not only loving Jacob more but making it plain for everyone to see.
And the brothers’ response is expected:
“they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.”
They couldn’t even be cordial
They couldn’t even sit around the table like nothing was wrong
These brothers had a deep hatred for Joseph which stemmed from
His righteousness vs. their wickedness
And the fact that their father clearly loved him more.
Then comes STRIKE 3 (and 4 for that matter)
READ (37:5-11)
Now again, there have been many who have wanted to attribute gloating or pride to Joseph here, but that is something the writer does not do.
Joseph had no control over whether or not he had the dreams,
That was the prerogative of God.
I don’t suppose Joseph had to tell his brothers about it,
But that would seem to undermine the purpose
Of giving him the dreams in the first place.
God was clearly spelling out His divine plan.
Joseph was being tabbed by God as the future deliverer of his brothers.
If you want a parallel that explains their hatred
All you have to do is listen as John the Baptist declares
That Jesus will be the Savior of the World.
Listen as God the Father declares from Heaven,
“This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
And then see the ensuing hatred that came from the Jews because of that.
John 5:18 “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
Now Joseph is not Jesus,
But at least on a small scale he can identify with the hatred.
Joseph was to be the deliverer of his family and his family hated him for it
• He didn’t choose to be
• He didn’t ask to be
• I’m sure a time is coming when he won’t even want to be
But God has determined that he will be
And because of that, his brothers hate him.
He is the favored son.
Now let’s look at the next event of the chapter.
#2 THE NAÏVE FATHER
Genesis 37:12-17
You certainly notice Jacob’s poor parenting skills
It is true that the other brothers hated Joseph,
But their hatred had been conditioned in them by Jacob.
But at the very least Jacob should have been able to see the animosity that was present.
• Did he not remember the response of his sons to a previous “bad report”?
• Does he not see that they can’t even talk to him on friendly terms?
Then how is it that he would be so foolish
As to send a hated brother to once again go and evaluate his brothers
And then to ask him to bring back another report?
Well, that’s what happened.
(12-14) “Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “I will go.” Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.”
There it is.
Go to the brothers who hate you for a previous bad report and bring me back another report about them.
Not to mention that this was about a 50 mile journey – on foot
– across rugged country – for a 17 year old boy – alone.
And yet, true to form, not a negative word is spoken by Joseph.
HE IS A MODEL OF COMPLIANCE.
“I will go”
(It reminds us of Isaiah’s “Here am I, send me!”)
And not only did Joseph willingly obey,
But he persevered to see the job done right.
(15-17) “A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “What are you looking for?” He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.'” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.”
And so hopefully you are picking up on
The clear contrasts that Moses is pointing out.
Yes Joseph is favored above his brothers, but with good reason.
When asked to work, they do a poor job (as evidenced by the previous report)
And when Joseph is asked to work, he does a great job.
Joseph is the good son, whereas they are the bad sons.
And Jacob was extremely short-sited if he couldn’t see disaster coming.
The Favored Son The Naïve Father
#3 THE WICKED BROTHERS
Genesis 37:18-35
• Moses wants us to see the good son
• Moses wants us to see the clueless father
But most of all Moses wants you to see
The depth of wickedness of Joseph’s brothers.
There are actually 8 attributes of wickedness seen in these boys.
1) THEIR MURDEROUS HEARTS (18-20)
(18-20) “When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”
• They saw Joseph coming
• They probably knew it was him because of the obvious tunic he was wearing.
• They probably even knew he was there to make a report about them.
But more than that they were still seething about his prophetic dream.
“Here comes this dreamer!”
And their hatred instantly turns to murder.
“Now then, come and let us kill him…”
They had murder in their hearts.
Obviously we don’t have to spend time outlining the iniquity in this mindset.
Jesus taught that hatred alone is heart murder,
And yet these boys seem more than willing to carry out their evil desires.
They are wicked men.
2) THEIR HEARTLESS BRUTALITY (21-24)
(21-24) “But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him” — that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.”
There Reuben actually steps to the forefront
As a perceived guardian and protector.
It actually sounds like Reuben may be a good son too.
• You will see later that Reuben is just as self-seeking as the rest.
• He sees delivering Joseph back to Jacob as a means of restoring himself back to the chief position which he lost after sleeping with Jacob’s concubine.
But, he does succeed in getting them not to instantly kill him.
Instead they opt for a slow and agonizing death
Of either drowning or starvation.
It was a heartless thing to do.
It is even crueler when you learn later that
Joseph begged for mercy the entire time and yet received none.
Genesis 42:21 “Then they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.”
These men were murderous and heartless
3) THEIR COMPLACENCY TOWARD SIN (25a)
(25) “Then they sat down to eat a meal.”
That may not seem like much,
But in light of the plan they are carrying out
It certainly pictures a group of people without a conscience.
They are in the process of murdering their brother,
But it doesn’t seem to bother them.
4) THEIR CONCERN FOR PROFIT (25b-27a)
(25b-27a) “And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come and let us sell him…”
Not only are they willing to commit murder
And unconcerned about the horror of their sin,
But instead of remorse they continue to look for more ways to benefit.
They aren’t opposed to killing Joseph because it is wrong,
They are opposed to it because it won’t make them any money.
These are wicked men.
(And please pay special notice to the role of Judah in this)
Moses wants to make sure you see him as the biggest villain of all!
5) THEIR DISDAIN OF COVENANT (27-28)
(27-28) “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.”
Selling him is bad enough, but to Ishmaelites?
• The illegitimate son of Abraham through Hagar?
• The boy God specifically commanded to be sent away?
These were not people of the covenant and there should have been no association, but obviously Jacob’s boys don’t mind.
6) THEIR SELFISH REMORSE (29-30)
(29-30) “Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments. He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”
Reuben sure looks sorry doesn’t he?
You might be tempted to think so until you read his final statement.
“The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?”
• Not, “Poor Joseph, where did he go?”
• Not, “What have you done, we must fix this”
Reuben didn’t care about Joseph,
Reuben saw this is an opportunity to gain back his father’s favor.
When Jacob was sold, Reuben saw his opportunity lost
And then he grieved for his own misfortune, not Joseph’s.
It is remorse, but it is selfish remorse.
No pity for Joseph, only that he couldn’t benefit more from it.
7) THEIR COMFORT WITH DECEPTION (31-33)
(31-33) “So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” Then he examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
Obviously these men have no problem with lying.
I always remember Adrian Rodgers statement,
“You are never more like the devil than when you tell a lie”
These boys are looking an awful lot like the devil here.
8) THEIR PHONY COMFORT (34-35)
(34-35) “So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.”
It sure looks good that all those boys tried to comfort Jacob.
Well, if they had wanted to comfort Jacob
All they had to do was tell him what happened.
• Your son is alive
• He has been sold to these people
• We can go to Egypt and buy him back
But they weren’t interested in comforting Jacob,
They were hypocrites in the purest form.
AND THE POINT TO ALL OF THIS?
Joseph’s brothers were wicked men.
Moses doesn’t really have any other agenda here
Than to show you how good Joseph was,
And how wicked those ten brothers were.
Namely because when you recognize that,
You see how WRONG this whole scenario is.
And then the final point:
#4 THE SOVEREIGN GOD
Genesis 37:36
Now I know that God is not yet mentioned, but hopefully you will remember from last week that this is all going according to plan.
God had to get Joseph to Egypt
So he could get him in touch with Potiphar and his wife,
It would be Potiphar’s wife who would get him thrown in prison
Where he would meet a cupbearer
Who would later introduce him to Pharaoh.
It’s all part of the plan.
NOW LET’S JUST STOP AND BREATHE
AND TAKE THIS CHAPTER IN FOR A SECOND
Moses definitely has a plan for this chapter.
Suppose you were reading it for the first time,
And you don’t know what’s coming.
You should SEE THE DRASTIC CONTRAST
Between Joseph and his brothers
You should TASTE THE DEFINITE INJUSTICE
YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LIVID AT THIS POINT
This is one of those things that just shouldn’t happen.
• It is a truly heinous crime.
• A faithful son mistreated
• A father mourning without comfort
• Wicked sons getting off scot free
You should FEEL THE DARK HOPELESSNESS
I mean look at this chapter:
There is no light at the end of the tunnel
There is no hope of deliverance
This story absolutely wreaks of hopelessness and injustice.
I picture that the writer of Ecclesiastes would have loved this chapter.
Ecclesiastes 4:1-3 “Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them. So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living. But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes 7:15 “I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.”
Ecclesiastes 8:14 “There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.”
Those statements accurately depict this story for sure.
It’s just all wrong, it shouldn’t happen this way.
And it is statements like this that cause us to ask:
WHERE IS GOD WHEN I NEED HIM?
“Why would a loving God let bad things happen to good people?”
“How can there be such cases of suffering?”
WHERE IS GOD,
AND HOW HE COULD HE LET SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN?
AND RIGHT HERE YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES.
You can either attribute this to the work of the devil,
Or you can attribute it to the providence of God.
But be careful. If you pin it on the devil, then he just defeated God, by accomplishing something that God didn’t want to have happen.
THE SHOCKING REALITY IN THIS STORY IS:
• GOD DIDN’T FAIL, in fact He orchestrated this
• SITUATION ISN’T HOPELESS, it just looks that way
• SUFFERING ISN’T FOR NOT, it is for a greater good
In fact the Providence of God is ALREADY at work here.
Do you want to see it?
• The brothers moved from Shechem to Dothan (near the trade route).
• There was no water in the well where Joseph would have been drowned
• Instead of instant murder the brothers decided to eat first
• A caravan just happened to come by at that exact time
• Something prompted Judah to sell Joseph instead of killing him
NONE OF THOSE THINGS WERE ACCIDENTS.
God simply took the sinful desires of sinful men
And carefully orchestrated them to meet His desired end.
That is what we call PROVIDENCE
That is not to suggest that God approved of their sinful actions
clearly He does not.
Nor it is to suggest that God caused their sinful actions
that was the flesh, not Him.
What we are saying is that God simply used sinful men,
Who did exactly what they wanted,
And yet He crafted their desires to accomplish His perfect will.
Admittedly, there is a mind-blowing level of wisdom involved here.
That God in His sovereign control can keep control
While at the same time letting the wicked carry out their evil schemes.
And this isn’t the only time, not by a long shot.
The most famous is:
Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
God didn’t make them hate Jesus, they did that on their own.
But God used it to fulfill His plan of saving the world.
So it is with the selling of Joseph.
It wasn’t an accident, God was doing this.
And as we spoke about last week, He was doing it to save Judah.
Joseph here pays an enormous price
For a purpose much greater than himself.
Now granted, we don’t like to see that.
(it’s to our detriment that we don’t)
We only like to think of providence in a positive sense.
• When we get extra income, we see that as God’s providential care
• When we narrowly escape an accident, we see that as God’s providential care
• When we see an open door, we see that as God’s providential care
BUT LISTEN…
Failing income, unescaped accidents, and closed doors
Are all His providence too!
He uses those things as well.
He is the author of both comfort and hardship.
And He does it for a greater good.
God is not only the author of our victories but also our defeats.
He providentially orchestrates and uses both.
We don’t like to think that way…
We’d rather that God only want soft, comfortable, mushy, good things for us.
But read the Scripture:
Philippians 1:29-30 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
1 Peter 2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,”
Listen to what Paul said about his hardships.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;”
2 Corinthians 12:7 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me — to keep me from exalting myself!”
God orchestrated hard situations for a greater good.
Too often we credit our victories to God
And blame our defeats on the devil.
But God’s will was never thwarted by the enemy.
• Who was the ultimate authority on Job’s suffering?
• Whose will was the cross of Jesus?
• Who gave Paul that messenger of Satan?
DO YOU SEE MY POINT?
God is sovereign at all times.
SO, WHERE IS GOD WHEN I NEED HIM?
• The same place He’s always been.
• The same place He was when His Son was killed.
• ON – THE – THRONE!
Yes, when we read this story it is only a story
Of suffering and injustice and utter hopelessness.
Joseph is leaving Canaan and he will NEVER return
(only his bones will be brought back)
But God was doing something through Joseph’s suffering
That was for the greater good.
• God was preserving Israel
• God was saving Judah
• God was maintaining the Messianic line through which the Savior of the world would come.
NOW LOOK AT YOUR OWN INEXPLICABLE SUFFERING
• Does it seem wrong?
• Does it seem hopeless?
• Does it seem like good must have lost to evil?
• Does it seem like God has abandoned you?
I promise you He has not
And I promise the devil isn’t winning
God is the author of prosperity and adversity
And He uses both for a greater good – an eternal good.
Learn to open your eyes to His providential care
And simply submit and wait – God IS doing something great!
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
