“Joseph, Despised and Sold”

“Joseph, Despised and Sold” (Genesis 37:12–36)

Pastor Cameron Jungels

Eastside Baptist Church

Sunday PM, September 18, 2016

Genesis 37:12–36 (NIV) 

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” 

“Very well,” he replied. 

14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. 

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” 

16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?” 

17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” 

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 

19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” 

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 

23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 

25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 

26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 

28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. 

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?” 

31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” 

33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” 

34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him. 

36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard. 

• Jacob sends Joseph, his favored son, to spy on/check on his brothers (12-17)
• The Mission (12-14)
• The Detour (15-17)

• Joseph, the despised one, is threatened with violence by his brothers (18-24)
• The original scheme: murder and cover-up (18-20)
• The motive: hatred and jealousy
• The method: kill, throw into a cistern, blame on wild animal
• The end-game: destroy the dreamer and his dreams
• The double agent: Reuben tries to alter their plan so he can later rescue him (21-22)
• The method: don’t kill; throw him into a dry cistern
• The end-game: rescue and return to his father Jacob
• The motive: Brotherly compassion? Earn standing and favor with his father because of past misdeeds (35:22)?
• The revised scheme: throw into a cistern (23-24)
• The method: strip ornate robe, throw into a dry cistern
• The end-game: Torment and release? Left to die? Wait and see?

• Joseph, the despised one, is sold by his brothers as a common slave in exchange for money (25-30).
• The opportunistic scheme: sell as a slave for money (25-28)
• The opportunity: Ishmaelite traders on way to Egypt (25)
• The opportunistic scheme: don’t kill, sell as a slave (26-27)
• The motive: no profit in killing; profit in selling 
• The method: sell for 20 shekels of silver to Ishmaelites who were going to Egypt
• The end-game: get rid of Joseph and make a profit-double bonus
• The reaction of the double-agent: Reuben is angry and despondent (29-30)

• Jacob loses Joseph, his favored son, because of the hatred, jealousy, and deception of Joseph’s brothers (31-36).
• The Ruse (31-32)
• The method: deceive their father into thinking Joseph was killed by a wild animal
• The motive: absolve themselves of responsibility for Joseph’s disappearance in the eyes of their father
• The Response (33-35)
• Jacob sees the evidence and assumes the worst.
• Jacob responds with mourning and sorrow.
• Jacob’s intense sorrow and depression reveals his over-attachment to his son.
• The Reality (36)
• Joseph is not dead, but has been sold as a slave to an Egyptian official.
• The final verse of the scene hints at more to come.