Genesis 37:10

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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'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.