Amen, okay so we're up to Genesis chapter 37 and as I've been doing I'll remind you
again of where we were in chapter 36 but it's quite a quick recap really because we focus
really on Esau and his line after him, the Edomites, how Esau after the death of his
father and due to the wealth of cattle that he and Jacob both owned by this point, he
chose to leave Canaan and dwell in Mount Seir where his son has continued to intermix with
the people of the land, being ultimately unsaved people, not God's people, as he had
with his first two wives and Esau had already been dwelling in Mount Seir we saw, which
made him going back there that much more likely didn't it and we talked about that and how
much easier it is to go back to our old sins, to those places, those people, those things
that we've done previously when you've opened that door you're much more likely to go through
it again and there were some warnings that we saw there.
We then went through his genealogy with it going from dukes which are kind of like tribal
chiefs to kings with hados seemingly the last and then back to dukes again and the chapter
finished from verse 42 it said and these are names of the dukes that came of Esau according
to their families after their places by their names, duke Timna, duke Alva, duke Jethath,
duke Aholubimah, duke Elar, duke Pannon, duke Kenaz, duke Timan, duke Mibzar, duke Magdiel,
duke Iram, these be the dukes of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their
possession he is Esau the father of the Edomites and we're going to chapter 37 now and this
is kind of in contrast now verse 1 says and Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father
was a stranger in the land of Canaan I'm going to pray and then we're going to get started
with a message.
Father thank you for your word, thank you for this great chapter Lord and the many lessons
we can get from it, the many things we see in this chapter Lord and just remember with
your spirit please while I preach these help me to preach them accurately and clearly and
boldly and everyone to just have a tent of his, in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Okay so as opposed to Esau like I said who basically legged it to see here Jacob is dwelling
where God wanted his people okay it said in verse 1 and Jacob dwelt in the land wherein
his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan these are the generations of Jacob so being
the days of Jacob Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and
the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah his father's wives and
Joseph brought unto his father their evil rapport.
So Bilhah, Bilhah's sons were Dan and Naphtali, Zilpah's were Gad and Asher, they were the
two bomb maids if you remember that Jacob had those two sons with each of them and Joseph
is basically telling his father the bad things that they're doing okay so and I believe ultimately
it's probably something his father's asked him to do as we see that he tells him go bring
word from the other guys later but he's coming and he's saying look this is what they've
done he brings back their evil rapport now it's not that he's he's just telling tales
because it does seem as though there is an evil rapport hence it's called an evil rapport
by the narrator here the narrator being the Holy Ghost says these are generations of Jacob
Joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with
the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah his father's wives and Joseph brought unto
his father their evil rapport it was their evil rapport it was ultimately the evil report of them
not his evil report of them and whatever it is that they're doing Jacob is their father okay
he's a boss it's probably right that Joseph is telling him what's going on isn't it okay
should be telling me like this is a basically he's he's kind of like their employer in a way
as well there's a family business here of cattle and everything else he's a father as well and this
isn't you know it sounds like a bit of a telltale or something else look fair enough right he's
coming back and he's telling them and I'm sure this is what what he's meant to be doing and
something to say here is it at least rather than joining in with the men here because these are
all young men Joseph is 17 instead he's doing the right thing he's come back and telling his dad
about what's going on isn't it like it should be right okay instead of just kind of joining because
let's be honest it takes character to be a kid like that and say no because most kids will just
join in most kids were joining with kids their own age or even younger than them and it takes
character but to be able to say no I'm not gonna join in with whatever evil whatever bad things
they're doing and to say no actually I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna tell our father about what's
going on and that does take character and you know what kids you know there is there's so much
we can learn from Joseph like Joseph is a great man of God in fact right now he's a great boy of
God and he turns into a great man of God and there's so much we can learn from because he
has character doesn't he he's able to stand there against his brothers he's older brothers and say
no I'm gonna do the right thing and not just just the usual peer pressure which sadly might not only
kids but adults get pulled into as well just following and copying whatever the the status
quo is whatever the majority do you know it takes character to say no to the smoking doesn't it
takes character and many people here when young probably didn't have that character which you know
what Joseph would have had wouldn't he to say no I'm why would I want to smoke why would I want to
smoke and then be an addict for life but so many don't have the character to do that because really
if you looked at it from just a normal point of view and just looked at cigarettes and looked at
you know it's pretty obvious that they're not going to do you that much good yeah you just
smoke you like to smoke into your lungs though it the easy thing what it should be is just say
oh I don't want to smoke that but what is it it's a peer pressure but it takes character to say no
it takes character to say no to the drinking kids and in case anyone sitting here don't worry they're
Christians all right look believe me they're gonna have people trying to push him people trying to
pressure him people trying to encourage them into something which is just completely foolish it's
poison yeah people can't say no and when you're young it's a peer pressure and that's what starts
this everyone else's people trying to encourage you and it takes character just say no it's to
say no to the drugs no why on earth would I want to be would I want to mess my mind up with who
knows what but so many don't have the character to say no to the bad music just say why would I want
to listen to absolute junk made by absolute scum because that's what they all are just pure scum
poisoning you with stuff which you can't get out of your head after you listen to just say no I
don't want to listen to that junk say no to the filter say no to the fornication say no and you
know what Joseph is someone who I'm sure he would have said no no he's got character this kid and I
don't believe that this is what caused the problems for Joseph so he had character you can look at it
go yeah but he had character and then everyone hates him and they try and kill him and everything
else I believe that it was the favoritism ultimately that was causing the problems for him
look at verse 3 it says now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was a son
of his old age and he made him a coat of many colors a coat of many colors likely being worth
a lot and so it wasn't that he loved him so sorry it wasn't it wasn't that that it was because he
was more righteous it says Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was a son
of his old age so he's just I mean doesn't seem like very good I mean one thing you've said he
loved him more than all his children he was so righteous it's like no because he was son of his
old age and this is this is parenting fail this is big parenting fail even if it was I love him
more because he's more righteous that's still wrong isn't it because we're just told to love
our kids love these kids plural you know fathers love your children right and we and we should raise
them up we should we should bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and we should
show them just love and they need they need love don't you and you could argue that his love
perhaps made him more righteous couldn't you because the kid who the father loves most is the
most righteous kid because he's receiving that love that kids need from their parents and the
other lot or an absolute joke as we're gonna see in a minute but because favoritism just it
ultimately really damages kids doesn't it and not just it don't it didn't just damage the kids that
clearly are a complete joke and a complete mess and have all these issues afterwards but but you
could also argue that that the result of the favoritism is it causes problems for the child
that's favored and I've seen this in families I've seen this in you know personal experience
stuff when a kid's favored often the siblings end up hating that kid like we see here and it
just makes their childhood even worse so you're not actually doing what you're hoping to do and
make them happy and pleasing because you've got so much love for that kid we just need to you know
however possible just not show favoritism with your family right and and you know what that's
an action that you you can make the choice because love is ultimately an action yeah there's a
responsive love but the love that we should give our children love that men we should give our
wives is a love that that there shouldn't be any there's not sort of work depends what they do no
you just love them because they're your kid right and you love them and you show them that love and
you treat them fairly and I think that they probably would have avoided a lot of these
issues but perhaps Jacob learnt this from his parents if you remember Genesis 25 28 said and
Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison I mean what on earth right but Rebecca loved Jacob
I mean he loved Esau just because he was a good hunter and bought him some good meat I mean he's
and and sure enough Jacob repeats the sins of his of his parents and we often repeat repeat
mistakes of our parents don't we and but I don't think you have to you don't have to what you have
to do is be aware enough and read the Word of God enough to be aware of you repeating mistakes and
bring it to God and say I don't want to be like this you know yeah we don't have to dishonor our
parents we don't have to be constantly talking bad of them but we need to understand that it's
not a good thing to repeat stuff like this right obviously Jacob's getting this wrong and the
result like we saw in verse 4 and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more
than all his brethren they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him so like I said the
reverse effect he's he's showing favoritism and the result is all his brothers hate him so they
didn't really do him any favors did it the favoritism doesn't do him favors there you go
try and maybe you can remember that right verse five says in Joseph dreamed a dream and he told
his brethren and they hated him yet the more so it's not just that his father loved him but he
also has prophetic dreams okay but who is it that he's giving him revelation through his dreams it's
God God's giving Joseph revelation through his dreams so his brethren hate him yet the more
because he's relaying God's Word to them basically he's relaying God so he's ultimately a prophet
really okay he's being given messages through his dreams by God he's relaying the Word of God
and he's hated even more because of that and isn't that a place that many carnal Christians
end up sadly where they're hating on the preacher for relaying God's Word and I'm not just talking
about myself this isn't the kind of right love in for a bastard to have on a time okay just in
general and more and more men have been getting up here and preaching and preaching messages and
sometimes the reality of it is you're going to be hated for it and and people just end up hating
you because you're preaching the Word of God and they go to bizarre lengths I mean honestly you
know I've seen it over over a few years of ministry now and you talk to pastors I'll tell
you bizarre stuff people end up doing and acting and behaving like because you've just preached
the Word of God to them and ultimately he's relaying the Word of God to them and they hate
him for that as well and they hated him yet the more they hate him yet the more and that's not
a place you want to be you don't turn their problems 15 10 says correction is grievous
unto him that forsaketh the way and he that hateth reproof shall die so correction is grievous to
people that forsake the way so when I see people just get angry and and fuming about preaching I
just think you've got issues you're the problem it's not the preaching that's the problem you're
the problem you can't take the Word of God you're a problem and people get like that honestly and he
that hateth reproof shall die and look obviously the worst types of people just absolutely hate
it you know just just reprobate people do but but we don't we want to be as far away from that as
possible right I've had it yeah where you preach the truth yes and someone someone that needed to
hear it ends up so fuming because of the truth you preached and you're not like look believe me
you're not like writing someone's going how can I get brother so and so it's you know come on this
thing what can I preach you know you just preach you sometimes that I you know you don't get too
spooky but you do preach things that I hope that God lays on your heart right and sometimes it's
amazing you're just preaching through a chapter and you're like yeah we've got this problem in
the church you know let's see how we you know we're gonna preach this and then suddenly it's
like in the next chapter of the Bible you preach you know this is amazing because this needs
preaching but you end up preaching it and they end up so stroppy or and the and sometimes the
person needs to hear it ends up so stroppy of finding a way to kind of get their own back on
you so after you preach and then you get like this little cutting remark afterwards or a day
or two or maybe a week or your family does or you you know just something something so you
and he's like I wasn't even thinking about you now you've just reminded me yeah actually you've
got a problem with that as well that's why you've got the hump I forgot about you because I was
thinking about someone else honestly that happens yeah just but it's not a good place to be right
and this is we're seeing a bad example here this right and this is what's going on here with Joseph
okay he's just relaying what God has revealed to him it said in verse 6 and he said unto them here
I pray you this dream which I have dreamed for behold we were binding sheaves in the field and
lo my sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold your sheaves stood round about and made
obeisance to my sheaf and his brethren said to him shout thou indeed reign over us or shout
there indeed have dominion over us and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words
so again it's the words that he's relaying however it is exactly what ended up happening with them
eventually making obeisance to him decades down line turn to Genesis 42 and we might flick back
there again in a bit so you could keep something in Genesis 42 and it says in verse 6 of Genesis 42
and Joseph was the governor over the land so we're kind of decades later now and here it was that
sold to all the people of the land and Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before
him with their faces to the earth now had they hearken to the word that he that he prophesied
to them many years earlier they might have rumbled him a bit quicker later on in Egypt and not being
conned by his kind of mockney accent that he puts on if you remember so he kind of puts on
this mockney accent and tries to act all kind of like he's like rough and rugged they might have
caught on to that had they thought wait a second this guy doesn't sound like look at verse 7 it
says in Joseph saw his brethren he knew them but made himself strange unto them and spake
roughly unto them and he said unto them whence come ye and they said from the land of Canaan
to buy food so maybe look maybe they could have avoided all of that worry because remember they're
panicking they're thinking we're gonna get real grief off this guy all that traveling to and
fro backwards and forwards everything else had actually hearken to the word of God at the
beginning anyway we keep going verse 9 it says back in Genesis 37 and he dreamed yet another
dream and told it his brethren and said behold I've dreamed a dream more and behold the Sun and the
moon the 11 stars made a basis to me and he told it to his father and to his brethren and his father
rebuked him and said unto him what is this dream that thou has dreamed shall I and my mother and my
brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth now the obvious standout point here
I don't know if you ever read this and notice is it Joseph's mother died in childbirth back in
chapter 35 so he's saying he's he's preaching about this and and the picture is his mother as
well bowing down and by the way Jacob never bowed down to Joseph later on either so for me we're
seeing Joseph here clearly as a picture of Christ and prophesying as such okay so here he's pretty
and often you'll see prophet prophets in the Bible prophesying as the Lord and he's relaying
the words of God and he's obviously a picture of Christ because Jacob his sons Rachel and everyone
else will one day make a basis to him to the Lord Jesus Christ that is okay you'd have to turn the
Philippians 2 10 says that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in
earth and things under the earth and when he returns and the dead in Christ shall rise it
will be then to rule and reign on the earth and and look we'll be raining rolling rainy alongside
yet in a basis to him okay it'll be under the rule of Christ but I believe it's a small picture
of the millennial reign with the wording at the end of verse 10 interesting it said shall I and
thy mother and my brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth and I find
that interesting wording considering for me it's a it's a prophecy of the millennial reign as well
of Christ ruling and reigning on earth okay however it confirms that that that many of the
similarities between what happens here to Joseph and events in Jesus Christ first coming on
coincidental and we are going to look at those in a bit now what I'd like to do and I've done
this before I'd like to just go through kind of it at face value first some of the lessons we can
get and I'm going to show you the pictures of Christ after that we're going to look at them
after we've gone through it first so verse hold fire on that if you're thinking why is he missing
these pictures of Christ I'll be showing you that briefly okay verse 11 it says and his
brethren envied him but his father observed the saying and and shortly we're going to see what
a powerful emotion envy is because it really is a powerful emotion and I know I talk about this
a bit but but it's so clear in the Bible how powerful envy is now turn to Proverbs 27 Proverbs
27 well so I remind you of Proverbs Proverbs and I think it's 1230 sorry which is a sound heart is
the life of the flesh but envy the rottenness of the bones okay it rots your bones it's so
powerful that it rots your bones and aside from the health negatives the stress and what that
does to your attorney Proverbs 27 you could also add that it just kind of makes you a horrible
person it kind of just rots you you just end up with rottenness in your bones you're just full of
rottenness when you're full of envy it's not a nice personality trait if you're full of envy
you're not going to be a very pleasant person Proverbs 27 4 says wrath is cruel and anger is
outrageous but who is able to stand before envy so it's so powerful that it's worse than wrath and
anger and obviously often it creates wrath and anger as well now this is a rhetorical question
because it is just so hard to be on the receiving end of envy you're not able to stand before it
you're not able to just kind of make things okay when people have really got that green eyes of
envy they'll find a way of getting you they'll find a way of bringing you down there a lot of
the time things like there's nothing really off limits to people that are just so gripped by envy
they just end up with so much hatred for you and like I've said many times because most won't
acknowledge the envy they will instead just justify the hatred for you they're not just oh
I'm just so envious of that person I envy them instead they're like I really hate them because
they did this they said that they're like this they've got you know and they find ways because
that's what people do they often self justify don't they they'll blame the object of their
envy so when you start letting envy get a grip on you you you look you I think at the beginning
you could catch that you go am I being a bit envious here of this but once you start letting
it really take control you'll just start to justify and justify and blame things and blame
this and blame that and you don't want to be in that place okay here it drove a load of brothers
to plot to kill their own brother that's how powerful envy is it drove these these young men
these sons of Jacob of Israel to plot to kill their brother I mean what on earth and it's a
powerful emotion he said in verse 12 and his brethren went to feed the father's flock in
Shechem now Shechem being where they slaughtered Shechem and all of his city for what happened
with Dina back in chapter 34 so these guys are already a little bit uh well rough around the
edges let's put it that way right and verse 13 says in Israel said unto Joseph do not thy
brethren feed the flock in Shechem come and I will send thee unto them he said to him here am I
I mean what again like that's the response isn't it that's the response to your father to your
employer basically here am I what you want me to do now I'm sure Joseph wasn't oblivious to his
brother's hatred of him but he was basically just willing to go with his father where his
where his father sent him and I hope that we're all willing to go where our father sends us right
because you know what he's probably got some hairy places to go in the middle of people that
absolutely hate you he's got places that he wants are you willing to go there though are you willing
to go because some people aren't are they some people aren't willing to go that route that God
wants you to go on and here Joseph just says here am I here am I he's willing to go with his father
sending him and he said it to him go I pray thee see whether it be well with thy brethren and well
with the flocks so again you feel like he's just sending him to bring back probably an evil rapport
and bring me word again so he sent him out of the veil of Hebron and he came to Shechem
now this is somewhere between 60 and 70 miles so a good couple of days of walking at least right
okay so this isn't like a sort of go five minutes around the corner this is a long journey okay for
this 17 year old that you sent him on and a certain man found him and behold he was wandering in the
field and the man asked him saying what seekers how and he said I seek my brethren tell me I
pray thee where they feed their flocks so he's looking for his brothers he comes across this
guy in the field where I I'd imagine where they're supposed to be so he's wandering in
this field going where are they they're meant to be around here and a man said they're departed
hence for I heard them say let us go to Dothan and Joseph went after his brethren and found them in
Dothan now Dothan is another is another day's journey on top of that on foot okay so we're now
getting up to the three days journey and when they saw him afar off even before he came near
unto them they conspired against him to slay him now combine a weird family situation with
some favoritism and some envy and you've got the majority it seems of his brothers aside from
Ruben we see in a minute all wanting to kill him I mean what is that about all wanting to kill their
brother but like I said the combination is the favoritism the envy and obviously him talking the
word of God to them as well and now they're they're plotting their power they're planning
to kill him okay the power of envy right unbelievable isn't it this story and like I said
also there is that resentment for God's word isn't there they're resenting God's word I mean these
guys are so far away from God it's unbelievable right and they said one to another behold this
dreamer cometh and specifically the resentment is that he will reign over them it says in verse 20
come now therefore and let us slay him and cast him into some pit and we will say some evil beast
hath devoured him and we shall see what will become of his dreams so it's not just a matter of
of one thing right they're conspiring to kill him I mean how wicked is that it's just unbelievable
and it's interesting how it's a collective it's not one of them influencing the others
it's described as if all of them are other than as we see in a minute Ruben sort of when he hears
and gets involved but it seems like it's just the vast majority at least of his brothers
it says it said it says early on we see they conspired against slay him verse 18 and they
said one to another so it wasn't just one person they're all following verse 19 and then in verse
20 they're saying come now therefore then let us slay him etc and collective opinion can be catchy
can't it that's the sad truth of life and something we're seeing here and even when it
comes to wickedness people are so quick to disagree with popular opinion aren't they
people do and and it's not just reserved to the to the unsaved world out there either
and it's not just reserved to worldly people look christians as well they just agree with the
majority because it's just kind of easier to just agree with the majority isn't it and not just
agree kind of but deep down they disagree these all seem to be of common opinion that it's time
to kill their brother joseph and you think well what on earth right but i was thinking about some
examples of this sort of thing think about for example the abortion industry and how many whether
they're saved or unsaved people just blindly will just agree with it and act as if that's absolutely
fine and will basically conspire with it to the point where they hate people that say anything
against it it's literally just baby murder and there are people all over this world all over
this nation which will just collectively agree with it what's the problem absolutely fine and
is it much different they old they will conspire with family members who will say to them well what
are you gonna do like it's okay why don't you go there'll be literal family members that will
come up to you and tell you to go and murder your baby is there much difference or for example
another one i was thinking of what about the support for the iraq war previously the support
to just go and bomb a load of people based on a complete load of nonsense about weapons of mass
destruction and you're talking about literally something like a million women and children just
wiped out bombed and people literally calling for it shouting for it arguing for it agreeing with it
supporting it and i'm not just talking about wicked politicians i think that most people
probably in this nation at least probably a majority we're saying yeah yeah yeah go ahead
right and again why because it's just majority opinion which is easier to agree because otherwise
you've got to start questioning things right how about another one now currently the support for
bombing a load of palestinians who by the way you do realize that there are christian palestinians
there are believers over there getting wiped out by the synagogue of satan
and people just going yeah yeah you know what's what's the problem raise a whole lot of them
it's unbelievable absolutely amazing and it's the same stuff it's just people blindly following
the masses just agreeing with with wickedness conspiring with wickedness right the truth is
it's just easier to agree now however rubin doesn't okay and now remember that it's rubin
okay that lay with his father's concubine bilhar dan and naphthalie's mum now that was pretty
messed up now i was chatting to someone afterwards okay uh last week or the week before about how
messed up that actually was because you can look at that and just think yeah well you know he
kind of he basically committed adultery with this woman it was his his father's wife
it was basically a step-mom and i know this is a weird situation it was his brother's mum
i mean it was sick and twisted wasn't it really and it was an something that is described as an
abomination in leviticus whether it's chapter 18 chapter 20 and this was a i mean it was a pretty
twisted thing to do wasn't it to go and lie with his father's wife how disgusting is that and i
know we're kind of a bit desensitized by things like jerry springer and jeremy garland all this
freaky stuff and tabloids and stories and the world we live in and everything else
but it's freaky it really is isn't it that's disgusting right and now this is rubin now many
would say that rubin delivering joseph here does show that he wasn't completely wicked and when i
was talking about this one of the things that came tomorrow was like well he does seem to deliver
joseph but i was looking at this a bit closer today and it says and rubin heard it and he
delivered him out of their hands and said let us not kill him and you think and the classic
reading of this and preacher this would be like good old rubin sorted himself out right
at least he made amends after that wickedness you know he's probably seen the error of his ways
but he said it he said here it said and rubin said unto them shed no blood but cast him into
this pit that is in the wilderness wasn't quite the kind of the hero story right and lay no hand
upon him that he might reach him out of their hands now look at the end of the verse to deliver
him to his father again did he say their father his father his father to deliver him to his father
again now there is an argument for me as to what his motivations were it's that he that he might
rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again it's that he's gonna deliver him
it's him bringing him it's not he delivered him so he'd survive he said let's not say him so he
could be the hero and rescue him and take him to his father again why on earth is he encouraging
them to throw him in a pit why don't you just say don't kill him what are you doing it's your
brother don't kill him oh no no don't worry just throw him in a pit what so that he could deliver
him to his father now if you jump forward to verse 29 to 30 it says this and rubin returned
unto the pit and behold joseph was not in the pit and he rent his clothes upset for poor joseph
you think yeah you're like poor rubin well he said and he returned unto his brethren and said
the child is not an eye whither shall i go so it sounds like he's more worried about himself
doesn't it the child is not what am i going to do now what about the child is not where on earth is
my brother who we've just i've just told you to throw in a pit and what am i going to do now i
mean what's that about now remember that jacob was well aware that he laid with bilhar so maybe
seeing this is some sort of olive branch or something or you could say he's the eldest son
so maybe he's seeing it as his responsibility or something else there but either way he seems more
concerned about himself now jump forward to chapter 42 to see some more questionable behavior for rubin
who like i said is usually described as a good guy in this in this uh story in chapter 42 the
brothers are in a bit of a tough situation they say this in verse 21 and they said one to another
we are very guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us
and we would not hear therefore is this distress come upon us i just want to pause there for a
second because you can read these stories and forget that this was a 17 year old kid
a 17 year old kid who it's not a simple case of he just got thrown in a pit and then taken out
there we're just giving the the the kind of bare minimum details of the story can you imagine how
that kid felt his brothers have just thrown him taken his coat or thrown him in a pit and then
sold him as a slave could you imagine the anguish imagine the fear imagine the pleading imagine
he was just what he like just could not believe it and he goes on to still be this great kid this
great man of god it's a it's an amazing story isn't it really but they saw the they saw the
anguish of his side they must have seen that fear in him that absolutely must have been petrified
right with them plotting and planning whether they're going to kill him or not or sell him as
a slave when he besought us he was pleading with them and we would not hear therefore is this
distress come upon us i mean what a wicked bunch rubin answered them saying spake i not
hunt you saying do not sin against this childing you would not hear therefore behold also his blood
is required however rubin told them to cast him into the pit i mean it's nonsense he didn't he
didn't say do not sin against the child he threw him in a pit that's sinning against him by the way
okay in case anyone's wondering thinking well maybe it was a soft fall and it was just like a
bit of fun there weren't no toys and games down there okay he threw him in a pit now jump forward
to the end of the chapter with it where they're trying to persuade their father to let them take
benjamin to egypt it says in verse 36 and jacob the father said unto them me have you
bereaved of my children joseph is not a simian is not and you will take benjamin away all these
things are against me a rubin spake come to his father saying slay my two sons what slay my two
sons if i bring him not to thee deliver him into my hand and i will bring him to thee again so
could you imagine any fathers here making an offer like that i'll just kill my two sons and by the
way this wasn't like a sort of oh don't worry it's all going to be fine they'd already had all sorts
of shenanigans going on with this guy i mean this was not of a surefire sort of solution don't worry
it's going to be fine yeah i'll take benjamin and it's going to be fun no he's basically yet he's
saying kill my two sons i mean that's bizarre isn't it that sounds like a guy that doesn't have much
love and empathy for his children right slay my two sons if i bring him not to thee about bringing
back um bringing back um uh sorry it's bringing back his his his brother here and he said deliver
him into my hand and i will bring him to the again talk about benjamin so that's weird okay
now perhaps in genesis 49 4 where the prophesying jacob described rubin as unstable as water if you
remember at the end of genesis chapter 49 verse 4 jacob describes him as unstable as water thou
shalt not excel because thou wentest up to thy father's bed then defilets thou it he went up to
my couch it's not that he's just a bit on and off can do some good and do some bad water isn't just
a little bit unstable is it if you stand on it you sink okay well i mean that's the ultimate of
instability isn't it i mean basically this guy's i don't know probably was 12 3 said a man shall
not be established by wickedness but the root of the righteous shall not be moved and you can't be
established by wickedness and i don't know back in genesis 37 the classic view of good cop rubin
is for me at the very least debatable and i'm kind of swaying towards that rubin's a wicked guy
like a seriously wicked guy and i think that where you got the rest of them go and kill him
he's just thinking this is a way for me to basically curry favor with my dad and look
like the good guy here and everything else and wicked people do all sorts of stuff scheming
stuff it's not oh well he would have killed him if he was really bad maybe he's thinking actually
i'm going to come off even better off if i because what he basically does he goes back there he didn't
know that they've sold him and he goes back there hoping to basically rescue him from the pit that
he told him to throw him in and then so he can deliver them to the father and you know get the
brownie points and the high fives and everything else and good old rubin yet he orchestrated he
could have just said don't kill him i'm the older brother here what are you talking about don't kill
him you know let's let him go home yeah anyway you can't be dogmatic with that but the only mentions
of rubin by the way in genesis there is a child running around with aphrodisiacs with the mandrakes
committing adultery with his stepmom and then this
really uh doesn't have the best advertisement in the book of genesis for rubin
let's keep going verse 21 rubin heard it and he delivered them out of their hands said let us not
kill him rubin said unto them shed no blood but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness
and lay no hand upon him that he might rid him out of their hands to deliver him to his father again
like i said his motives maybe weren't that pure what were the brothers agreeing to well it seems
for him to die in the pit rather than them directly murdering him because this
what it seems like their their motivation is because it's not like oh yeah throw him in the pit
you know and then we can just have a bit of fun with him or something i think the idea is that
they throw him in the pit and then he just dies in the pit because it says here and it came to pass
when joseph was come unto his brethren that they stripped joseph out of his coat they as a plural
his coat of many colors that was on him and they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was
empty there was no water in it so some i think these pits were to store water um but it was empty
joseph was left there with no coat no protection from the elements maybe that was sort of part of
it and they sat down to eat bread and they lift up their eyes and looked and behold a company of
ishmaelites came from gilead with their camels bearing spicery balm and myrrh going to carry it
down to egypt and judah said unto his brethren what profit is it if we slay our brother and
conceal his blood so they're still thinking you know well we're going to kill him right
ultimately leaving him in the pit i think is is what the idea was come and let us sell him to the
ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother and our flesh and his brethren
were content and again like i said can you imagine how he felt hearing this knowing what was going on
so it's gone from murder to men stealing basically enslaving their own brother and selling him as a
slave again just amazing isn't it then they're passed by midianites merchantmen and they drew
and lifted up joseph out of the pit and sold joseph to the ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver
and they brought joseph into egypt so at first you wonder by the way when you read this if some
extra midianites are in the mix now but it seems to be the same people okay stephen in act seven
nine you can turn if you want but i'm just going to quote it quickly says and the patriarchs moved
with envy sold joseph into egypt so steven's commentary on this and often you know it's in
good to get the new testament commentary is it's them that sold him but god was with him and again
it's all about the envy he said they were moved with envy okay so they sold him the envy is just
so powerful it's such a problem so for me there was some sort of mixing between the seed of ishmael
and the seed of midian who was of abraham's other concubine keturah if you remember okay so um as
opposed to hagar being being uh his mother being ishmael's mother the they who drew and lifted
joseph and sold him is his brothers okay so then they're passed by midianite merchant
merchantmen and they talk about his brothers drew and lifted up joseph out of the pit and sold joseph
to the ishmaelites it's the same people for 20 pieces of silver and they brought joseph into egypt
and like i said the majority of his brothers ruben it seems isn't aware of this because
verse 29 says if ruben returned unto the pit and behold joseph was not in the pit and he
rent his clothes and he returned to his brother and said the child is not and i wither shall i go
so like i said he's worried about himself where am i going to go now and they took joseph's coat
and killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood and they sent the coat to many colors
and they brought it to their father and said this have we found no now whether it be thy son's coat
or no now it's worded as if they sent it ahead with some servants or something like that i believe
it said they sent the coat of many of many colors and they brought it to their father so i'm
imagining they sent it ahead maybe um with some runners or something like that and obviously it
passed on a message that we found this no not whether it be thy son's coat or no and he knew it
and said it is my son's coat and evil beasts have devoured him joseph is without doubt rent
in peace and jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son
many days and all his sons and all his daughters which is interesting isn't it all we know about
his dina rose up to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said for i will go down
into the grave unto my son mourning thus his father wept for him so poor jacob not only his
young teenage son dying but but he's clearly the most righteous out of the lot of them as well right
and we're not sure of the age of benjamin at this point probably quite very young and the
midianite sold him into egypt under potiphar an officer of pharaohs and captain of the guard so
he sold as a slave into slavery however like i said earlier there are many events here that
are pictures of events in the life of jesus christ with joseph being clearly a christ figure here and
i think this kind of sets the scene really for the later chapters now of genesis we're going to see
much picturing jesus christ um with joseph and this chapter i think there's actually loads there's
loads in here which is picturing the lord jesus christ let's have a look from verse one i'm going
to try and go through it fairly quickly um so keep up with me with this it says in jacob dwelt
in land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of canin these are the generations of jacob
joseph being 17 years old was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons
of bilham with the sons of zilp his father's wives and joseph brought unto his father the evil report
and when it came to the lord jesus christ first coming he was bringing the physical nation's evil
report wasn't he okay he ultimately when he's there he's he i mean he's he's their rejection
of him is just is their evil report isn't it okay that's what he does as he comes and specifically
of the children of the bomb maids if you could apply maybe the same analogy from galatians 4
where it was referring to hagar and ishmael here we're talking we're talking about the two sons
of each of the bomb maids right so there is that picture there i believe that same picture that
we've seen already um referred to before as that picturing those basically that are of the law
okay they were rejecting the lord jesus christ and ultimately clinging to the law weren't they
now israel loved joseph more than all his children because he was son of his old age and he made him
a coat of many colors now the coat perhaps representing his being chosen like being
anointed and you could argue maybe that that and we see later that rubin didn't get the birth right
joseph does with his two sons in the end menacion ephraim receiving the double portion okay and you
could argue that it's kind of like you know it's it's a picture of that but ultimately i would say
it's a picture of him being anointed like being the christ it's a picture okay with this with this
coat when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him and
could not speak peacefully unto him and wasn't that what jesus christ experienced they hated it
they hated the vast majority of the jews in inverted commas of the time hated him okay they
hated his words they hated him they're just stalking him trying to find fault in everything
he says they're just trying to cause trouble the whole time they hated him and joseph dreamed a
dream and he told it his brethren they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here i pray you
this dream which i've dreamed so like jesus preaching to what was known as the jews by then
he's dreaming a dream he's kind of prophesying they hated jesus christ preaching is prophesying
they hated the whole lot didn't they they hate it all for behold we were binding sheaves in the
field alone my sheaf rose and also stood upright and behold your sheaf stood round about and made
a base since to my sheath to my sheath sorry and his brethren said to him shout thou indeed reign
over us or shout though indeed have dominion over us and they hate him yet the more for his dreams
and for his words which is ultimately what they hated jesus christ for for his words for what what
he was saying yeah and really what did it really come down to was grace through faith and like all
these work salvationists now that's what they hate they hate the gospel really they hate the
fact that he was coming and saying your works aren't good enough i was talking about this earlier
i'll be talking about this a bit that's what so many of these christians that you knock on the
door that's what really triggers them before you even get a chance to preach the gospel because
they're they're trusting their works the fact that you're knocking on their door to preach the gospel
is suddenly showing them that their works ain't really as good as they're trying to claim they are
so they just get so angry and they're slamming the door for even here where you're trying to
show them that salvation is a free gift and here it was the same when jesus christ came they hated
him they hated him because of ultimately he was coming and saying i am the bread of life he was
coming and saying that you just got to eat him me and you should live forever all those different
things they hated it and he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said behold i
have dreamed a dream more and behold the sun and the moon the 11 stars made a basis to me now aside
from the picture here that we spoke about earlier of of you know ultimately a basis to christ for
eternity you have to turn to Colossians 1 16 says for by him were all things created that are in
heaven that are in the earth visible and invisible where they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers all things were created by him and for him and ultimately even basically everything is
is subject to the lord jesus christ because he's god in the flesh and he told it his father and to
his brethren his father rebuked him and said unto him what is his dream that that dream shall i
shall i my mother and my brother indeed come down come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth
and of course like i said that would be fulfilled after the second coming verse 11 his brethren
envied him but his father observed the saying and what did pilot say in matthew 27 18 for he knew
that for envy they had delivered him okay and again it's the envy here which is the cause
and his brethren went to feed their father's flock in sheikham and israel said unto joseph do not
thy brethren feed the flock in sheikham come and i will send thee unto them and he said to him here
am i and the picture is the lord jesus christ submit to the will of the father being sent
to the lost sheep of the house of israel verse 14 and he said to him go i pray thee see whether
it be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks and bring me word again so he sent him
out of the veil of hebron and he came to sheikim interestingly the veil of hebron is really close
to bethlehem but regardless of verse 15 the certain man found him and behold he was wandering
in the field and the man asked him saying what seekest thou now for me this likely pictures john
the baptist making straight paths for his feet that's what i think we're seeing here in matthew
3 3 speaker john the baptist says for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet aziah saying the
voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the lord make his path straight
and of course john was doing that by preaching the gospel sort of the week from the chapter
paying disciples for the lord and here he's basically directing him isn't it he's making
the path for him okay he's saying where to go and he said i seek my brethren tell me i pray
thee where they feed their flocks and the man said they are departed hence for i heard them
say let us go to dothan and joseph went after his brethren and found them in dothan so like i said
preparing the way make his path straight and when they saw him afar off even before he came near
unto them they conspired against him to slay him and they said one to another behold this dreamer
cometh come now therefore let us slay him and cast him into some pit and we will say some evil beast
hath devoured him and we shall see what will become of his dreams now turn to matthew chapter 21
this makes me think of the parable of the husbandman where after his final entry into
jerusalem he's teaching the temple and the chief priests and elders come in okay this is in matthew
chapter 21 and we're going to look at verse 33 so matthew 21 and verse 33 the parable of the
husbandman jesus christ says this here another parable there was a certain householder which
planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged a winepress in it and built a tower
and let it out to husbandman and went into a far country and when the time of the fruit drew near
he sent his servants to husband husbandman that they might receive the fruits of it and the
husband took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another again he sent other
servants more than the first and they did unto them likewise but last of all he sent unto them
his son saying they will reverence my son but when the husband men saw the son they said among
themselves this is the air come let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance and they
caught him and cast him out to the vineyard and slew him when the lord therefore the vineyard
cometh what will he do unto those husbandmen they say unto him he will miserably destroy those
wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen which are render him the fruits
in their seasons jesus saith unto them did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the
builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner this the lord's doing it is marvelous
in our eyes therefore say unto you the kingdom of god shall be taken from you and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof did he say it might be or did he say it shall be
he said it shall be it's pretty clear isn't it i mean replacement theology isn't a dirty word
it's clear as day in the bible and who whosoever shall fall and the stone shall be broken but on
whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder and when the chief priests and Pharisees
had heard his parables they perceived that he spake of them but when they sought to lay
hands on him they feared the multitude because they took him for a profit he's talking about them
they they they slew the son is what obviously they they they did obviously later on and back in
genesis 37 that's what they're doing they're conspiring to kill joseph picturing christ who
they conspired to kill okay verse 18 says when they saw him afar off back in genesis 37 even
before he came near unto them they conspired against him to slay him and they said one to
another behold this dream of cometh come now therefore and let us slay him and cast me into
some pit and we will say some evil beast has devoured him and we shall see what will become
of his dreams so they hate god's word so much the picture here of these jews that they want
to prevent it being fulfilled any way they can and in the gospels eventually they just sought
false witnesses to convict him didn't they they just keep trying to find false witnesses and try
and find a couple where their story add up like like uh their story agrees with each other and
now from this point onwards are events that picture events around the crucifixion of christ
okay now just bear in mind they're not in chronological order okay i think in our mind
we would just love to see chronological it's not like that okay we're just going to see individual
things that happen here which are pictures not even pictures they're kind of prophetic basically
they're prophecies of what will happen now that we've kind of set that up and seen okay joseph
is clearly picturing the lord jesus christ here the clear giveaway was with the dream of of even
his mother bowing down before him as well now we're going to see some prophecies clear prophecies
written long long long before the new testament 1500 years before the new testament this was
written and this take took place many many hundreds of years before that and we're going to see clear
prophecies now of what was going to happen verse 21 said rubin heard it and he delivered him out
of the hands said let us not kill him rubin here likely pictures pilot okay who in luke 23 16 said
i will therefore chastise him and release him and he rather than killing him throws him into a pit
okay for me clearly pictures pilot verse 22 rubin said unto them shed no blood but cast him into
this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him that he might rid him out of the
hands to deliver him to his father again now remember rubin later on considering himself
absolved of blame in the matter yeah remember that he said i didn't i tell you guys and everything
else this is what you've done well matthew 27 24 says when pilot saw that he could prevail nothing
but that rather a tumult was made he took water and washed his hands before the multitude saying
i am innocent of the blood of that just person see you to it was he innocent of the blood of him
no they had the greatest sin because they delivered him but pilot what on earth he even
said it there's nothing wrong with it he hasn't done anything wrong he's not guilty yet he still
delivered him because because he didn't want the tumult so very similar right to rubin there
verse 23 and it came to pass when joseph was coming to his brethren that they stripped joseph
out of his coat his coat of many colors that was on him and they took him and cast him into a pit
when the pit was empty there was no water in it for me probably picturing the lord being forsaken
by the father being numbered with the transgressors and going into the bottomless pit okay matthew 12
40 there was no water in this pit and there's no water in hell matthew 12 40 says for as jonas was
three days and three nights in the world's belly so shall the son of man be three days of three
nights in the heart of the earth look look and i this i like these people that try and fight tooth
and nail any which way they can to just to to explain away scriptures like this and many many
others acts 231 etc jonah even sang out of the belly of hell cried i it's just bizarre it's so
bizarre because he clearly tasted death for every man where do they think he was for three days and
three nights anyway for me that's a picture here as well he's being cast into a pit yeah and they
sat down to eat bread and they lifted up their eyes and looked to behold a company of ishmaelites
came from gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and mer going to carry it down to egypt
and judah said unto his brethren what profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood
come and let us sell him to the ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother
and our flesh and his brethren were content what what is the greek new testament version of judah
judas who sold jesus christ to to the to the chief priests and elders didn't he
and here we see judah just interestingly deciding to sell him for here it's 20 pieces
silver as opposed to 30 it says and they're passed by medianites merchantmen they drew and lifted up
joseph out of the pit and sold joseph to the ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver and they
brought joseph into egypt in matthew 26 15 judas went to the chief priests and said unto them
what will you give me and i will deliver him unto you and they covenanted with him for 30 pieces
of silver it was inflation i don't know okay verse 29 ruben returned onto the pit and behold joseph
was not in the pit and he rent his clothes probably picturing the resurrection for me here
and he returned unto his brethren and said the child is not and i wither shall i go
and they took joseph's coat and killed a kid of the goats and dipped the coat in the blood and
they sent the coat of many colors and they brought it to the father and said this have we found no
not whether it be the son's coat or no now this could picture something to do with maybe the blood
of the sacrifice being sprinkled on mercy in heaven being sent to his father it's ultimately
jesus christ it brings it to his father okay so again maybe just a picture there again all the
all the events don't have to be exactly the same obviously they're just pictures they're prophecies
and he knew it and said it is my son's coat and evil beast had devoured him joseph is without
doubt rent in pieces and jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for
his son many days and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him but he refused
to be comforted and he said for i will go down into the grave unto my son mourning
thus his father went for him perhaps represented the rejection of the physical nation perhaps and
the media knight sold him into egypt after potiphar and officer of pharaohs and captain of the garden
again these are possibilities for me maybe representing the gospel then going out for
gentiles being delivered to the gentiles okay um now some of that is clear some is speculation
and you know i'm not dogmatic about most of that some of that for me is clear like you know the
judah delivering him and other bits and pieces like that okay um but uh for me like whenever
i see stuff like this it just makes you just it just leaves in all of god's work doesn't it
just so amazing that you got the events in genesis just prophesying events in the life of jesus
christ amazing you just i don't and again i'll always say this those people that go it's just
fairy tales so what are you talking about some amazing fairy tales right to just how how on earth
is that you just you can even do that it's amazing isn't it the word of god is so amazing
and when we go through and we see things like that ultimately what should it do just strengthen your
faith in the word of god in the king james bible the word of god in english um on that we're going
to finish off in a word of prayer father thank you for your word thank you for all the lessons
we got out of there the warnings about envy especially there and where what that can lead to
and uh the examples that we see of joseph and what a righteous uh what a righteous lad and
someone that goes on to be just such a great man of god lord help us to learn from those lessons
and also help us to just be strengthened in our faith in your word lord the preservation of your
word the inspiration of your word lord um how just just what an amazing i mean you don't even
want to say book just it's just amazing the oracles of god the word of god the holy scripture is
absolutely amazing lord thank you um hopefully that we have such an amazing book to study to
learn from to grow from um help us to all get home safe and sound this evening lord and to
to um just you know not forget the things we've heard tonight anything that's maybe stood out to
us that we've really needed here to just put it in our hearts lord and to return safe and sound
on sunday for for a full day in your house in jesus name for all of this amen