These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them.
Genesis keeps family records, and this verse opens the record of Jacob's line. It turns at once to one son: a seventeen-year-old shepherd who brings home a bad report about his brothers.
One writer starts with what this record leaves out, and names Joseph a type of Christ — a living picture of Him:
His generations center simply in Joseph (v. 2): there is no list of names. The answer is simply that the true genealogy of the line of faith centers in the person of the Lord Jesus, of whom Joseph is a type.
Another writer traces the whole story from this one verse:
Genesis 37:2 gives "the generations of Jacob." Joseph is the special object of interest. He is a plain figure of Him whom His brothers rejected and who was separated from them. God exalted Him to hold the power of the throne over the Gentiles. In due time His brothers are brought to repentance and humbled before His glory, and He makes Himself known to them.
The first thing we are told about Joseph is his work, not his rank. That work carries weight across Scripture:
The first view that we have of Joseph is at seventeen years, feeding the flock along with his brothers. The ruler God appoints is always a shepherd! We see this with Moses and with David. In Matthew, the Gospel of the kingdom, we hear the scribes quoting Micah to the king: "Out of you shall come a Governor who shall rule My people Israel." The margin has "feed." The word literally means "be a shepherd to" My people Israel. Jacob's prophecy at the close of this book connects this character of Christ's rule with the type of Joseph (49:24).
(He quotes an older translation. The ESV of Matthew 2:6 reads "shepherd my people Israel.")
Joseph works with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's servant-wives. The same writer sees meaning in that detail:
But he is with the children of the servant-woman. That is a telling picture of Israel's condition when our Lord came in the flesh — perhaps in politics as well as in spirit. Joseph is separated from them too, far from them in his morals, just as the Lord was. That was the ground of the later separation, and it came from their side, not from his. "The world... hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil."
Commentators differ over the report, and one writer leaves the question open:
He worked with his half-brothers, feeding Jacob's flocks. He brought his father the report of their bad practices. If these things were serious, Joseph may have needed to do it. But Scripture does not say one way or the other. On the other hand, we know that the Lord Jesus was always right to talk with His Father about the evils of His natural brothers.
Another writer sees courage in the boy, and jealousy in his brothers:
He was a witness of their evil ways, and his father loved him. Both things made Joseph hateful to the sons of the servant-mothers. The special robe Jacob gave him did not soften their harshness, and neither did his two dreams. "Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?"... Everything on record stamps Joseph as a devout youth. He had moral courage. He was faithful toward those who were going wrong. He had a lowly mind, and wondered at the dreams as much as anyone or more.
One writer points to what the record never says about Joseph:
The generations of Jacob are mainly about the doings of his sons, who came from him. They are about Joseph most of all. Verse 2 introduces him at the age of seventeen. It has been said that in him we have the most perfect and complete type of the Lord Jesus in all the Scriptures, and we believe that is true. In keeping with this, we shall see that Scripture records no sinful or unworthy action of his. This increases the value of his life as a type, though he was a sinful man like the rest of us.
- Generations. Jacob's record gives no list of names. It narrows to one son, because the line of faith runs toward one Person.
- Shepherd. Joseph first appears feeding the flock. The ruler God appoints is always a shepherd first: Moses, David, and the Governor in Micah's prophecy.
- Separated. He works among the sons of the servant-women, but stands far from them in his morals. That gap is the seed of the split, and the break comes from their side, not his.
- Report. Scripture does not say whether the boy was right to carry it home, and commentators differ. What he spoke against was real evil.
- Faultless. The record never puts one sinful act of Joseph on show. He was a sinful man like us, but the silence makes his life a fuller picture of Christ.
And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was son of his old age; and he made him a vest of many colours.
One sentence sets up all that follows in Joseph's story. Jacob loves one son more than the rest, and he puts that love on public display in a garment. Commentators read this in two ways: as a real family failure with real damage, and as one of Scripture's clearest pictures of the Father's delight in His Son.
The favouritism is not excused. One writer names it, then turns from Jacob's household to a love no one could call unfair:
Verse 3 tells us that Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons. This was Jacob's failure. Love in a family should be completely impartial and concerned about the true welfare of every child. Above all this, though, this history reminds us that God's love for His Son must be unique.
Scripture guards that uniqueness. God brings many into His family, yet one place is never shared:
In His great grace God has brought His saints into relationship with Him as children and as His sons. He has given us "the Spirit of His Son…crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6). But we must never forget that the Son has His own special place at the Father's side, and it is His alone.
Love can stay hidden in a father's heart. This garment made it visible to everyone:
Israel bears witness to this place of distinction by clothing Joseph with a coat of many colours — a public testimony to the delight of the father in his son… The same chapter that tells us, "God so loved the world," also tells us that "the Father loves the Son." A measure is given of the love of God for the world, infinite though it is. But no measure is, or can be, given of the Father's love for the Son… Joseph's coat of many colours, the public testimony of his father's love, has its bright counterpart in the opened heavens of the New Testament. The heavens never open apart from Christ. When they open, they always bear some fresh witness to the Father's delight in the all-varied graces of the Son.
Other places in Scripture show how such garments were used. One writer follows the clue:
They were worn as marks of distinction — "for the neck as spoil," as Sisera's mother says. She thought he should wear this "spoil of dyed materials" as a special honour, fitting such a mighty conqueror as he was.
The word behind the garment names an ordinary piece of clothing:
The inner garment is the kethoneth, a long tunic worn by men and women, made of wool, cotton, or linen. This was the garment God made of skins for Adam and Eve, and what Jacob made of many colours for Joseph.
Why would Scripture record a father's gift of a coat? One writer answers by reading the colours as glories:
God calls the Lord Jesus His well-beloved Son, and has given Him many glories. A robe of many colours is His, but they are the colours of His glories. Not one greater, or more brilliant, than the glory of His humiliation. He laid aside His riches, and became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich.
Later in the story the brothers tear that coat off him. The stripping carries its own meaning:
The many-coloured coat, as we saw earlier, was a mark of renown, or of superior dignity or excellence… The persecutors of the Son of God were not content until they had stripped Him of everything the many-coloured coat of Joseph stood for — His dignity, His moral excellence, His honour. They did this as far as it lay in their power.
His father's love changed the boy. It also cost him:
Loved and marked out by his father in this way, his heart grew large. He tasted the sweetness of his father's affection, and his own affection came out in return. Nothing produces affection in us so much as the assurance that it exists for us. As it is written, "We love because He first loved us."… But at the same time this exposed him to the envy of those who had proved themselves unworthy of it.
The brothers' problem was not Joseph himself. It was what they did not share:
He was the object of his father's love, and the subject of very high destinies. His brothers' hearts were not in communion with these things, so they hated him. They had no fellowship in the father's love… In all this they represent the Jews in Christ's day. "He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him."
- Loved — Jacob's favouritism was a real failure at home. Yet it points past itself to the Father's love for His Son, which is unique and needs no apology.
- Clothed — the coat made the father's love public. Its New Testament counterpart is the opened heaven, which never opens apart from Christ and always shows the Father's delight afresh.
- Marked — such garments were badges of honour, so the coat spoke of dignity, not decoration.
- Hated — the brothers had no share in the father's love, and that lack, not any wrong from Joseph, bred the hatred.
- Stripped — his brothers later tore that coat off him. He pictures the One robbed of every mark of honour before God exalted Him.
And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, and they hated him, and could not greet him with friendliness.
The chapter opens on a household where affection has become evidence. The brothers do not react to anything Joseph does; they react to what they see in their father's face, and the sight breeds a hatred that even ordinary conversation cannot survive.
One writer traces the root of the trouble to what the brothers had no share in:
He was the object of his father's love, and he was marked out for very high destinies. His brothers' hearts had no share in these things, so they hated him. They had no fellowship in the father's love. They would not accept the thought of Joseph's exaltation.
Another writer puts the fault on the father, not on the son:
The love of Jacob for Joseph drew out the bitter animosity of his brothers. Jacob was to blame for this, of course, not Joseph, but the same thing has happened in many families. In the case of the Lord Jesus, Israel hated both Him and His Father (John 15:24). They did not have the slightest excuse for this, though Jacob's brothers might have had some excuse for hating Joseph.
Their hatred took away even a friendly greeting. One writer follows it from that first sign to where it ended:
The clearer it became that his father loved him in a special way, the more they hated him. Their hatred first showed in their speech — they "could not speak peacefully to him." Later it broke out in wicked action. But we see at once a type of the One of whom Psalm 69 speaks prophetically: "They ... hate Me without cause"; and again, "I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons."
Joseph had served his brothers and done them no injury. One writer answers the puzzle of why such a person should be hated at all:
Why was Joseph hated by his brothers? Was he not in their company as one who served? He was. But they were evil. However welcome his service might be, his presence exposed their evil and called out their hatred. For the same reason, and far more deeply, the world hated Christ. He could say, "It hates Me because I testify about it that its works are evil."
The verse says nothing about what this cost Joseph himself. One writer pictures it:
Joseph had done them no harm — no, he loved them, so very much: yet he lived among his brothers as one alone. He "was separate from his brothers." How it must have hurt poor Joseph — out "feeding the flock with his brothers," or at home with them, and never hearing a kind word from any of them.
The love that drew the hatred was also what had to carry Joseph through it:
On one side he learned the tenderness and the resources of his father's affection. On the other he suffered reproach and persecution for being so favoured. So early in life, and in his own family, Joseph learned — as all God's servants do — the basic truth that had to sustain him in the highest service later on: that the one loved by God is the one hated by man. His father's love, marked out by the coat of many colours, had to make up to him for the hatred of his brothers. It had to strengthen him and prepare him for all their opposition and envy.
One writer turns the verse on the reader:
In verse 4 of our chapter we read that Joseph's brothers "hated him and could not speak peacefully to him." It was the same with Jesus here on earth. People hated Him without a cause. And this is every sinner's attitude toward Christ until he comes to Him by faith and learns His love. You may not want to believe this of yourself, but it is true all the same. You may not know this enmity to Christ is in your heart, but it is there just the same.
- Loved — the whole trouble starts with a father's love his brothers had no share in. They wanted no part in what the father valued.
- Hated — the clearer the love, the deeper the hatred. It showed first in their speech, long before they raised a hand.
- Exposed — the deeper cause was moral. His service was welcome, but his presence showed up their evil, and that is why the world hated Christ too.
- Alone — the loved son lived among his own family as a stranger, never hearing a kind word from any of them.
- Sustained — every servant of God learns this early. The one loved by God is hated by man, and the Father's love must make up for it.
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told [it] to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more.
Joseph's brothers already resent him. Then God gives him a dream, and he tells it to the very men who cannot speak a kind word to him.
Joseph did not invent this dream. One writer traces every dream in his story back to God's own hand.
Next comes the record of Joseph's two dreams. It is remarkable how large a part dreams played in his history. Scripture records no fewer than five of them before the climax, and every one contained a prophecy. Each was therefore produced by the finger of God touching the unconscious mind of the sleeper. Each marked a divine intervention, and indeed a revelation of secret things.
Should we expect dreams like that today? One writer points to what has changed since Joseph's day.
In the ages before Moses there was no written revelation of God's will. He often used dreams to communicate His mind, or to reveal coming events beforehand… Now we have His written revelation, the completed Bible. Only in very rare and exceptional cases can we recognise a dream as having come from God. "For a dream comes with much business," that is, from purely natural causes, Scripture says.
The words "he told it to his brothers" are the hinge of the verse. Joseph could have stayed quiet and stayed safe.
In Joseph's case, we see that his brothers refused his first dream, and yet he in no way softened his testimony… This was simple testimony founded on divine revelation; but it was testimony that brought Joseph down to the pit. He could have held back his testimony, or taken off some of its edge and power, and so spared himself. But no — he told them the truth, and so they hated him.
They already hated him before the dream. The dream added a second thing they refused to hear.
The dreams that speak of Joseph's future supremacy are a fresh motive for the envy and hatred of the brothers. He had been a witness against them of their evil; now he is a witness to them of his future glory. They will have neither one nor the other. The Lord did the same. He witnessed against the evil of the world and bore witness to His coming glories. Like Joseph, He drew hatred on Himself… Before the assembled leaders of Jerusalem He can say, "From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power." A furious outburst of hatred followed that confession.
Was it wise to repeat a dream like this to men who envied him? One writer leaves the question open, and still refuses to blame the dream.
Whether it was wise or fitting to repeat his dreams to those who had no love for him may be a question. But the dreams were of God, as the effect on his brothers was of the enemy… The whole record marks Joseph out as a devout youth. He had moral courage. He was faithful toward those going wrong. He had a humble mind, and wondered at the dreams as much as anyone or more… A sign of coming exaltation always provokes adversaries to madness and revenge. Yet, strange as it may seem in their eyes, God turns even their spite and wicked ways to accomplish His purpose.
God gave this promise of honour to a boy who was soon thrown into a pit. It was not wasted. It became fuel for the years in between.
We may not doubt that God had a gracious purpose in this. He was exercising Joseph's spirit and strengthening his heart for the distress and the many troubles ahead of him, before those remarkable foreshadowings came true… The dreams were simple and striking, and they touched the whole family. If his brothers could not forget them, the sufferer could forget them still less. In the middle of grief and shame he remembered the visions of strange dignity that awaited him.
The dream looks like nothing more than a family quarrel. One writer sees it opening onto something far wider.
All this applies in a striking way to the One Joseph pictures, our Lord Jesus. The Jews, His brothers by natural descent, hated Him without a cause and rejected Him when He came among them. Yet the day is coming when they will bow down before Him. But not only this. He is to be the central Object of worship to the heavens as well as the earth. What had been secret is now revealed. We know that God's purpose, according to His good pleasure, is "to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."
- Given — the dream was not Joseph's ambition. It was God's finger touching a sleeping mind, a revelation of secret things.
- Told — he passed it on unchanged; softening it would have spared him, and telling it took him to the pit.
- Hated — first he testified against their evil, then to his coming glory. They would have neither, and God used their spite to serve His own purpose.
- Carried — God gave the promise early to steady Joseph through the long years of trouble before it came true.
- Fulfilled — the bowing widens from his brothers to earth and heaven alike, with Christ at the centre.
And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream, which I have dreamt
Joseph is already the least loved member of his family when he asks his brothers to listen to his dream. That raises two questions: where did the dream come from, and was it wise to tell it?
Joseph is not repeating a random night's imagination. Dreams shape his whole story, and writers trace each one back to God.
Next comes the record of Joseph's two dreams. It is striking how large a part dreams played in his history. Before the story reaches its climax, Scripture records no fewer than five, and every one of them contained a prophecy. So the finger of God produced each dream, touching the sleeper's unconscious mind. Each one marked a Divine intervention — indeed, a revelation of secret things.
Was Joseph wise to tell such a dream to brothers who had no love for him? Writers leave that open. But they do not leave open where the dream came from.
Joseph spoke the truth about their evil ways, and his father loved him. That made him hateful to the sons of the servant mothers. The special robe Jacob gave him did not soften their harshness, and neither did his two dreams. "Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?" Was it wise or fitting to tell his dreams to those who had no love for him? That may be a question. But the dreams were of God, just as their effect on his brothers was of the enemy.
Joseph did not soften his message after the first dream. He told the second one too.
Now, in Joseph's case, we see that he in no way relaxed his testimony because his brothers refused his first dream. "Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more" … "Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers." This was simple testimony founded on divine revelation. But this testimony brought Joseph down to the pit. If he had held back his testimony, or blunted its edge and power, he might have spared himself. But no — he told them the truth, and so they hated him.
Joseph had already spoken against his brothers' evil. Now he tells them of his coming glory. Writers find the same pattern in the Lord's words before the leaders of Jerusalem.
The dreams speak of Joseph's future supremacy, and that gives the brothers a fresh motive for envy and hatred. He had been a witness against them of their evil; now he is a witness to them of his future glory. They will have neither one nor the other. The Lord did the same. He witnessed against the evil of the world and bore witness to His coming glories. Like Joseph, He drew the world's hatred upon Himself. Before the assembled leaders of Jerusalem the Lord speaks of His coming glories: "From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power." A furious outburst of hatred follows that confession. Priests and elders unite to spit in the face of the Son of God.
The next verse gives the dream itself: sheaves of grain in a field. It pictures something still far off.
In Joseph's first dream he tells his brothers that he and they were binding sheaves of grain in the field: his sheaf arose and stood erect, and those of his brothers all bowed down to his sheaf (v. 7). Joseph probably did not understand that God meant the dream as a prophecy: his brothers would one day bow to his authority. Genesis 42:6 tells us they did. Of course, the most vital lesson here is that all Israel will yet bow to the Lord Jesus, whom they have despised and hated.
Years of trouble lie between the telling of the dream and its fulfilment. God had a purpose in that gap.
We may not doubt that God had a gracious purpose here. He was exercising Joseph's spirit and strengthening his heart for the distress and many troubles that would be his portion before those remarkable foreshadowings came true… The brothers could not easily forget dreams so simple and striking, dreams that touched nearly the whole family. Still less could the sufferer forget them. In the middle of much grief and shame, he remembered the visions of strange dignity that awaited him within his lifetime and theirs.
- Given — the dream was not Joseph's invention. Each of the five dreams in his story carried a prophecy and marked God stepping in.
- Spoken — Joseph told it as testimony resting on divine revelation. Blunting its edge would have spared him the pit.
- Hated — he spoke against their evil, then spoke of his coming glory. They would accept neither.
- Fulfilled — the sheaves came true when his brothers bowed to him, and point on to Israel bowing to the One they rejected.
- Carried — the dream that stirred their hatred also strengthened Joseph for the grief and shame before the glory.
Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields, and lo, my sheaf rose up, and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves came round about and bowed down to my sheaf.
Joseph is a young man working the fields with brothers who already resent him. Then God gives him a dream of the harvest field, where his sheaf stands and the others bow. Two questions follow. Where did the dream come from, and how far does its meaning reach?
Joseph did not invent this picture, and he did not boast about it. One writer asks whether he was wise to repeat it to brothers who hated him. Then he looks at where the dream came from, where their hatred came from, and what God does with both.
Was it wise or fitting to repeat his dreams to those who had no love for him? That may be a question. But the dreams were from God, while the effect on his brothers came from the enemy... Everything recorded marks Joseph as a godly youth. He had moral courage. He was faithful toward those who went wrong. He had a humble mind that wondered at the dreams as much as anyone, or more... Such a sign always provokes opponents to madness and revenge. Yet God turns even their spite and wicked ways to accomplish His purpose.
Commentators differ here. Another writer defends the telling outright.
To tell what his dreams, or his visions in the Spirit, had shown him was from God.
God drew the picture from work these men did every day: binding grain in a field.
In Genesis 37, what could be simpler or better suited to these men? Joseph's sheaf rises up and keeps standing, while the other sheaves come round and bow down to his sheaf... The dream was so plain, vivid and startling that it needed no interpreter.
The dream reached further than Joseph's own life, and further than he understood.
Joseph likely did not understand that God meant the dream as a prophecy: his brothers would one day bow to his authority. Genesis 42:6 tells us they did. The most vital lesson here is bigger still. All Israel will yet bow to the Lord Jesus, whom they have despised and hated.
One writer looks past Joseph to what the harvest field pictures. Then he presses the point on the reader.
The scene of this dream is the harvest field. It is Christ's kingdom on earth... All the earth shall own His rule... He does not yet openly take up His great power and reign. But He will, when He reaps the harvest of this earth. Now is the day of His kingdom and patience.... He waits in patient grace to see if you will submit to His authority of your own choice. If you refuse Him now, while He is patient, sheer force will make you own His righteous rule in the day of His power.
His brothers threw the first dream back at him. Joseph could have gone quiet. He did not.
In Joseph's case, he did not soften his testimony when his brothers refused his first dream... This was simple testimony founded on God's revelation. But it was testimony that brought Joseph down to the pit. If he had held back his testimony, or blunted its edge and power, he might have spared himself. But no — he told them the truth, and so they hated him.
Slavery in Egypt looked like the death of everything the sheaves had promised. It was the opposite.
These dreams of their young brother enraged his jealous brothers, and they got rid of him. They sold him to passing merchants, who took the boy to Egypt and sold him as a slave. This did not look like the fulfilment of Joseph's dreams of future greatness. It was indeed a very sorrowful road to the answer of his dreams, but it was THE road.
- Source — The dream came from God; the hatred it stirred came from the enemy. Joseph wondered at it as much as anyone.
- Sheaf — God spoke in the language of their daily work, so plain and startling that no one needed an interpreter.
- Sequel — Those same brothers bowed to Joseph in Egypt. Commentators see beyond that a day when Israel bows to the Lord they despised.
- Silence refused — Joseph did not blunt his testimony when they rejected the first dream. That faithfulness put him in the pit.
- Sorrowful road — Slavery looked like the end of the dream; it was the way to it. Submit to Christ's rule now in the day of His patience, or own it later under His power.
And his brethren said to him, Wilt thou indeed be a king over us? wilt thou indeed rule over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.
Joseph told his brothers his first dream, and they answered with two sharp questions and a deeper hatred. Where did that dream come from, why did telling the truth make the hatred worse, and what does the scene point forward to?
One writer separates two questions: where the dreams came from, and whether Joseph was wise to repeat them.
Joseph was a witness against their evil ways, and his father loved him. That made him hateful to the sons of the servant mothers. The special robe Jacob gave Joseph did not soften their harshness, and neither did his two dreams. Whether it was wise or fitting to repeat his dreams to those who had no love for him may be a question. But the dreams were of God, just as the effect on his brothers was of the enemy.
The brothers needed no help reading the dream. One writer thinks Joseph understood less of it than they did.
Joseph tells his brothers his first dream. He and they were binding sheaves of grain in the field: his sheaf rose and stood upright, and the sheaves of his brothers all bowed down to it (v. 7). Joseph probably did not understand that God meant the dream as a prophecy: his brothers would one day bow to his authority. Genesis 42:6 tells us they did. Of course, the most vital lesson here is that all Israel will yet bow to the Lord Jesus, whom they have despised and hated. At the time Joseph's brothers thought it ridiculous that he would ever have dominion over them (v. 8).
Their hatred had a history. It began with the father's preference and grew when God marked Joseph out.
And so his sufferings begin. The Lord marks him as the heir of glory. He speaks of the goodness he had found, and of God's high purpose for him. And his brothers hate him. They envy him; and who can stand before envy? They had already begrudged him his father's favour, and now they hate him for God's. They hate him for his words and for his dreams.
The verse gives two causes: his dreams and his words. One writer traces the words back to the lives behind them.
Finally, Joseph's brothers hated him for his words. … So too Christ is still the object of a hatred that men cannot hide, however hard they try. … But never forget what lies behind the "harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him": the "ungodly deeds that they have committed in such an ungodly way." The evil lives of Joseph's brothers lay behind the hatred in their hearts and the evil words of their lips (Jude 15).
The brothers refused the first dream. Joseph then told them a second one.
Now, in Joseph's case, we see that he in no way relaxed his testimony because his brothers refused his first dream. … This was simple testimony founded on divine revelation; but it was testimony that brought Joseph down to the pit. Had he held back his testimony, or blunted its edge and power, he might have spared himself. But no — he told them the truth, and so they hated him.
One writer finds the same refusal repeated on a national scale.
He was the object of his father's love, and the subject of very high destinies. His brothers' hearts were not in fellowship with these things, so they hated him. They had no share in the father's love. They would not yield to the thought of Joseph's exaltation. In all this they represent the Jews in Christ's day. "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." … They would neither own Him as the Son of God nor as king of Israel.
Nothing they did to Joseph stopped the dreams.
Joseph was lord. His rule was absolute in that great land. His dreams came true. The other sheaves bowed to his sheaf; sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed to him. His brothers had said, "Let us … throw him into one of the pits … and we will see what will become of his dreams." Well, now they had seen!
- Given — The dreams came from God. Commentators differ on whether Joseph was wise to repeat them to brothers who had no love for him.
- Refused — The brothers caught the meaning at once. They would not accept the thought of Joseph raised above them.
- Envied — They already resented their father's favour. Now they resented God's, and their own evil lives lay behind the hatred.
- Unsoftened — Joseph blunted nothing. Had he held back the testimony he could have spared himself, but the truth he told took him to the pit.
- Fulfilled — They asked whether he would really reign. In Egypt they bowed, and Israel will yet bow to the One Joseph pictures.
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamt another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he told [it] to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream which thou hast dreamt? Shall we indeed come, I and thy mother and thy brethren, to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
Joseph tells his second dream to the whole family, and this time his father answers him. The rebuke raises three questions: was Joseph boasting, what did the sun and moon stand for, and did Jacob believe him?
Jacob did not need the dream explained. The heavenly bodies carried a plain meaning in a household like his.
Both his dreams foretold his coming greatness and glory. The meaning was so plain that his brothers, and his father too, saw it at once. The drift of the two was the same. But only the second suggested that his father and mother, as well as his brothers, would bow down to him in a day to come. There was a further difference. Sheaves belong to an earthly harvest, while sun, moon and stars are heavenly objects. The sun is a symbol of supreme authority, and the moon of authority derived from it and joined with it. Jacob saw at once how well this fitted the place of father and mother in his large family.
Commentators differ on what Jacob was reacting to. One reading is that he heard pride in it.
The second dream seems to have raised questions in his brothers' minds. He told them, and told his father too, that he had dreamed of the sun and moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. His father rebuked him. He evidently felt that pride in Joseph had produced the dream. The implication was plain to him: he himself, Rachel and his eleven children would all bow down to Joseph.
Another finds no fault in Joseph, and puts the trouble on the brothers.
The second dream implied a remarkable honour, and it moved Jacob. He could not help storing up its meaning, dim as it still was to him. Joseph was simple and open, with no presumption in him at all. That only made his brothers' spite burn hotter, and it soon found an occasion to break out in outrageous malice. How like the way of the Jews with Him who was long afterwards to be the blessed One that Joseph pictured!
Jacob's rebuke was not his last word. The next verse says he held on to what he had heard.
His father rebuked him. He assumed that what the dream pointed to could never happen. Yet Scripture records that he "kept the saying in mind." That shows he could not dismiss it, and that he saw more in it than he had thought at first. He had faith in God, even if it was weak; whereas the brothers had none.
Jacob questioned the dream; his brothers resented it. That reaction has a direct echo in the trial of Jesus.
And see what happens next. When Joseph tells his second dream, we read that his brothers envied him. It was the same with the great One whom he pictured. It is written of Pilate, "he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up" (Matthew 27:18). And who can stand before envy, as the proverb asks? The rulers and the Pharisees were jealous of His standing. "Look, the world has gone after him," they said, in alarm.
The move from sheaves in a field to sun, moon and stars is not repetition. It widens the scope.
One dream might have been enough to foretell the glories of Joseph. It would be far too small to picture the glories of Christ. For His supremacy will have a twofold character… The dream of the sheaves bowing to Joseph's sheaf may well speak of that excellent supremacy over all the earth which Christ is destined to wield. Yet this first dream does not set out His supremacy in full. He is destined to be supreme not only on earth, but to hold universal sway over heaven and earth… And this second dream speaks of that heavenly supremacy. It presents heavenly bodies — the sun, the moon, and the stars — bowing down to Joseph.
Jacob measured the dream by the household he knew. The picture reaches further than that.
Jacob's view of the prophetic dream seems limited to his own family. He heard that the sun and moon and eleven stars paid homage to Joseph. He then asked whether he, Joseph's mother and Joseph's brothers would really bow to the ground before him. The sun and the moon were, to Jacob, father and mother. But this dream goes far beyond Jacob's family, or the nation of Israel.
- Read — Jacob needed no interpreter. Sun stands for supreme authority, moon for authority derived from it, and he applied both to himself and Rachel.
- Rebuked — He objected to the dream. Some read his reaction as a charge of pride; others find no presumption in Joseph at all.
- Retained — The rebuke was not the whole of Jacob. He kept the saying in mind, and that marks faith, weak but real, in a man whose sons had none.
- Resented — The brothers answered the second dream with envy, the same motive Pilate saw in those who handed Jesus over.
- Reach — Jacob measured the dream by his own household. The sheaves picture supremacy over the earth, and the stars supremacy over heaven too.
And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying.
Joseph has just told his second dream to the whole family, and the news splits the household in two. Ten brothers burn with envy at what it means, while their father keeps the saying and wonders.
Their envy had a target: the place of authority the dream gave Joseph.
Joseph told his brothers, and his father too, that he dreamed the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. His father rebuked him. He seemed to feel that pride on Joseph's part caused the dream, because the implication was plain to him: he, Rachel and his eleven children would bow down to Joseph. But his brothers envied him. Did this not show they were afraid Joseph would have such a place of authority? We know too that it was not only unbelief that moved the Jewish leaders to reject Christ. It was envy as well (Matt. 27:18).
The brothers refused two things from Joseph, not one. The same double refusal met Christ.
The dreams that speak of Joseph's future supremacy are a fresh motive for the envy and hatred of the brothers. He had been a witness against them of their evil, now he is a witness to them of his future glory. They will have neither one nor the other. The Lord did the same. He witnessed against the evil of the world, and He bore witness to His coming glories. Like Joseph, He drew the hatred of the world onto Himself. Before the assembled leaders of Jerusalem the Lord speaks of His coming glories. "From now on," He can say, "you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power." A furious outburst of hatred followed that confession. Priests and elders united to spit in the face of the Son of God.
Jacob corrects his son, then holds on to what his son said. The second response is the telling one.
The recounting of these dreams greatly fanned the flame of hatred, as we see in verses 5, 8 and 11. His father rebuked him, thinking that what the dream pointed to could never happen. Yet the record says that he "kept the saying in mind." He could not put it out of his thoughts. He recognised that there was more in it than he had first thought. He had faith in God, even if it was weak; whereas the brothers had none.
The same dream produced faith in one man and fury in ten. That difference does not lie in the dream.
Was it wise or fitting to tell his dreams to those who had no love for him? That may be a question. But the dreams were of God, and the effect on his brothers was of the enemy. Even to his father the second was distasteful, though he kept it in mind. Everything recorded here marks Joseph as a godly youth. He had moral courage. He was faithful toward those who were going wrong. He had a lowly mind, and wondered at the dreams as much as anyone, or more. And we cannot doubt that God had His gracious purpose in it: to exercise Joseph's spirit and strengthen his heart for the distress and many troubles that would be his before those remarkable foreshadowings came true.
Envy has a cure: taking the lower place so that Christ may have the higher one.
When Joseph tells his second dream, we read that his brothers envied him. It was the same with Christ, the One Joseph pictured. Of Pilate it is written that "he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up" (Matt. 27:18)… How different the spirit shown by John the Baptist, who said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." It was his joy to step into the background, so that Christ his Lord might, as God intends He shall, be preeminent in everything.
The brothers set out to make sure the dreams never came true. Their plan became the road to their fulfilment.
What a mercy it was for his half-brothers, who were not brothers in heart, that their cruel purpose took effect only in part. In divine goodness, wisdom and power God turned it to bring about the very exaltation which they hated as much as they envied. Like Cain, they meant to kill their brother. And why? Because, underneath it all, their works were evil and their brother's were righteous.
- Revelation. The dreams were God's, not Joseph's ambition; he wondered at them as much as anyone.
- Envy. The brothers saw what the dreams meant — Joseph over them — and hated it. Pilate saw that same envy behind the handing over of Christ.
- Rebuke. Jacob thought such a thing impossible and corrected his son.
- Kept. Yet he could not put the dream out of his mind. Weak faith held on where his sons had none at all.
- Fulfilled. The plot to bury the dreams became the very path to the exaltation the brothers envied.