Genesis 37:5

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."