Dream On

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost A
August 7, 2011
 Genesis 37:1-4 and 12-28

Note: The following is my attempt at adapting a curriculum originally intended for youth to an adult audience.  You find out about the project here.

Beginning with chapter 37 until the end of the book of Genesis, the story focuses mainly on one person, Joseph. You might have heard the story of Joseph as a kid and over the last few years, you might have even a seen a production of the Broadway play, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Here's the Story, of man named Jacob...

This first part of the story of Joseph will deal with something many might find familiar: the rivalries that take place within families. As we read the text, keep in mind this question: where is God in all of this?

Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. ²This is the story of the family of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves.^*4But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

-Genesis 37:1-4 (NRSV)

Our story opens with Jacob and his sons. Joseph is one of the "babies" of the family and tends to chores close to home instead of shepherding the flock with his older bothers.

Now, it's quite common for a child to ask their parents if they love them or their sister/brother more. The parent will say that they love each child equally. You won't find that story in today's text. Jacob played favorites with his children, and Joseph was his number one son. Because he was the number one son, he got a special garment- a "long robe with sleeves," the Bible says.

A word about the special coat. It was a very fancy coat, one that set someone apart from manual labor. In popular culture, the coat is described as one of "many colors." In reality, some translations note the coat was an ornamental coat and others talk about a multi-colored coat. Either way, it was really nice coat that signified Joseph was special- which is something that really bothered his brothers.

The text never said if Joseph knew that he was the favorite, but one could guess that he did and made sure his brothers did too.

None of this endeared Joseph to his brothers. They couldn't stand him. Now in most families, it quite normal to have some sibling rivalries. But as we saw with Cain and Abel, when brother feud in the Bible, it can sometimes get a little out of hand as we shall see.

5 Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. ⁶He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream that I dreamed. ⁷There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.’ ⁸His brothers said to him, ‘Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.

9 He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, ‘Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ ¹⁰But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, ‘What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?’ ¹¹So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Genesis 37:5-11 (NRSV)

In this passage, we find out that Joseph has a special talent: deciphering dreams. His parlor trick will come in handy later in our story, but right now all it does is bug his brothers (and his parents). What do you think Joseph was thinking as he interpreted his own dream?

For his brothers, this was the last straw. It was time to do something. It was time to get Joseph out of the way. Permanently.

So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’ ²¹But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘Let us not take his life.’ ²²Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. ²³So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves^* that he wore; ²⁴and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

-Genesis 37:17-24

"Here comes this dreamer." In those days, dreamers were considered Very Important People- until they died. So, Joseph's brothers were looking forward to getting rid of this dreamer who was an annoying pest.

But two older brothers had their wits about them. Rueben knew there was no way the brothers could cover up killing Joseph. So, he persuaded them to put in Joseph in a pit which is exactly what they do.

²⁶Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, 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 agreed.

-Genesis 37:26-27

For whatever reason, Rueben leaves the scene. The other brothers sit down to eat and after a while, traders come by. Judah decides that the whole let's-kill-our-brother idea just wasn't going to work out. But, Judah says, maybe we could sell our "dear brother" into slavery!

And so for $20 they sold Joseph to the traders and off Joe went to Egypt.

³⁴Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son for many days. ³⁵All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, ‘No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.’

-Genesis 37:34-35

Joseph was now out of the picture. Rueben, who had planned to get his brother out of the pit when the others weren't looking, returns to find out that Joseph had been bought and sold. The brothers scheme to find a way to explain why Joseph was gone. They took Joe's nice coat, tore it up, splattered it with blood and ran to Jacob telling their father that his beloved son had died.

Jacob was beside himself in grief. His favorite son was dead.

Questions:

• How do you respond to people who act like they are better than you?
• Have you ever said something like Joseph did to his family?
• Is it OK to want to do better than others in your family?
• Is it OK to tell them?
• How would you feel if you were a sibling of the boy Joseph?

Dennis Sanders is the Associate Pastor at First Christian Church in Minneapolis.