Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it 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?
Where the dream came from
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.
William KellyWas 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.
J. G. BellettTo tell what his dreams, or his visions in the Spirit, had shown him was from God.
A picture drawn from their own work
God drew the picture from work these men did every day: binding grain in a field.
William KellyIn 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.
From Egypt to Christ
The dream reached further than Joseph's own life, and further than he understood.
L. M. GrantJoseph 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.
The harvest field and a coming kingdom
One writer looks past Joseph to what the harvest field pictures. Then he presses the point on the reader.
C KnappThe 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.
The cost of speaking
His brothers threw the first dream back at him. Joseph could have gone quiet. He did not.
C. H. MackintoshIn 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.
The road through the pit
Slavery in Egypt looked like the death of everything the sheaves had promised. It was the opposite.
A J PollockThese 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.
Summary
- 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.