Joseph No.2 Rough Treatment

This morning's reading comes from Genesis chapter 37. Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, as you know your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.

Come, I'm going to send you to them. Very well, he replied. 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.

So he sent him off from the valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, the man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, what are you looking for? He replied, I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks? 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. But they saw him in the distance and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other. 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.

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. Let's not take his life, he said. Don't shed any blood.

Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him. Reuben said this to rescue him from them and to take him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the richly ornamented robe he was wearing.

They took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty, there was no water in it. And 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. Judah said to his brothers, what will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, not lay hands on him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.

His brothers agreed. So when the midnight merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern, sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

He went back to his brothers and said, the boy isn't there, where can I turn now? Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, we found this, examine it to see whether it is your son's robe. He recognized it and said, it is my son's robe.

Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. No, he said, in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son. So his father wept for him.

Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of the Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. Amen. Well, let's turn to Genesis and 37 and there in this chapter, as Ian summarized it for us, we have the account of Joseph and his departure.

Accidental at one level, certainly not requested by him, not only from his father, but also from his family and indeed from his native land. If I were to ask you, what is the saddest verse in the Bible, I wonder what offering I would get from this large congregation. One contender might well be that shortest scripture in the whole of the Word of God, Jesus wept.

Another possible competitor would be the words that fell from the parched lips of our Savior when speaking of his father, he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? However, I think that both those two, as far as pathos and tragedy are concerned, are eclipsed or is eclipsed by another verse. In the 11th verse, the 11th verse of John's gospel, where in the first chapter we read this of our Lord Jesus, he came unto his own, but his own received him not. He came to that which belonged to him, but that, meaning a human company of people, denied that he had any ownership, any influence at all upon them.

And the gospel leaves it to us and the knowledge that we have of the contents of the gospel that follow, to understand what is meant by the rejection of Jesus. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. The saddest verse in the Bible.

Some years ago I was taking a meal with a lecturer at a theological college, and the first course of our meal was grapefruit. Not prepared, just sliced in half, he got half and I got half. And as he sunk his spoon into the grapefruit, some of his contribution came up and got me in the face.

And I remembered his quip, as he humorously said, there is more in this grapefruit that meets the eye. Have you ever thought of scripture? There's more in scripture, and particularly the Old Testament, that reaches the mind on first reading. You see, in the New Testament you've got set out in relief, have you not? The great gospels of salvation, redemption, sanctification, great doctrines.

But in the Old Testament you've got illustration of this, encapsuled in some of these historical narratives, is the setting forth of the character in degree of our Lord Jesus, and the cost that is involved in being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's perhaps no one in the Old Testament who helps us to appreciate something of the qualities of our Lord Jesus more than the character of Joseph. And what is more, there are few characters in the Old Testament who help us to understand the cost of discipleship more than Joseph.

And so I bring you back to what I suggested was the saddest verse in the whole of the Bible. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. Now those of you who are well taught, will immediately recognize the reason why I'm singling that verse from the New Testament, and putting it alongside the passage that's already been read from the Old.

Because here is Joseph, and he comes to his own family, and his own family do not receive him, nor the philanthropic nature behind his mission. Why it was that he set out on that journey to a place called Shechem, to minister to his brothers. As you look into the character of our Lord Jesus, you see him spurned increasingly by his people.

As you look into this chapter of the life of Joseph, you find that first it's four of his brothers, and then eight of his brothers, and then even his mother, or rather even his father and step-mother. They see it soon. They themselves seem to have some difficulty in accepting who he is.

And then the whole thing comes to its climax, when Joseph actually meets his brothers in a distant place, and he is damnably treated by them. He came to his own, and his own received him not. Years had gone by as you meet Joseph in this chapter, since the occasion when as a five-year-old with Jacob, he had left the place of his own birth, and returned to the land that God had given to Abraham.

Years had gone by since that occasion when, when Joseph, and he doubtless had good recall, had seen his father maimed, limp back into his camp on one occasion, maimed in body but with glory in his eyes, because he had had an encounter with God, and God had settled his fears as far as uncle Esau was concerned. Some of you will know the context of that incident very well. Now here you find Joseph as a full-fledged young man, and he's in great difficulty.

He's been asked by his father to leave the place where he's been living, a place called Hebron, and go and visit his brothers, and they threaten his life. Verse 20 of our chapter, 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 dream.

Why did Joseph come to be in such a life-threatening situation? For that was the case wasn't it? His life is in the balance. His brothers are murderous in their intentions towards him. And the straight answer to that question is this, he was there because he was endeavouring to do what his father had asked him to do.

Look at the 12th verse will you, the 13th verse. As you know your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come I am going to send them to you.

Very well he replied. 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. His father had a great concern for his brothers who'd been displaced from Hebron, where he and his two favourite younger sons were living.

Now it's interesting to notice those of you who are concerned about the meaning of Hebrew terms, that the valley of Hebron, where Jacob has now been living from for some years, actually translates into English as the Valley of Fellowship. Benjamin and Joseph with father were on their own apart from the women folk, as the brothers had gone some many miles away. And in a true fashion they experienced great fellowship didn't they? For Joseph was the father's favourite, and Benjamin came as a close second.

Both these men had as their mother, the favourite wife of Jacob, Rachel. And so from the Valley of Fellowship, Joseph is sent out where? He's sent to Shechem, which is many many miles away from Hebron. You see though the grass around Hebron is fairly luscious, there's a limit to the grass that can be grown in any one period when you've got greedy sheep and lots of flocks to feed.

And so the brothers have gone further and further away, miles and miles away, and there has been no means of communication between father's sons and father. So he asks his favourite Joseph, go and look out your brothers, to see if all is well with them. Now where are they grazing? Where have they taken their flocks? To the place called Shechem.

Those of you who know scripture will read in previous verses will remember that in previous verses at Shechem some dastardly things had happened. The name of Jacob's sons stank to high heaven as a result of their treatment of the men and the inhabitants in that area. And the particular reputation that had been gained by Jacob's sons was such that their life was threatened in Shechem.

So here is Joseph and he sets off to Shechem knowing full well that there is danger. Not only danger as far as Joseph, as far as the inhabitants of Shechem are concerned, but danger because, well because his brothers don't really like him. Now Joseph leaves Hebron, the place of fellowship for Shechem, which actually means shoulder, where he could be very badly treated.

I'm reminded of one in the New Testament who when he was confronted with great difficulty in maintaining his Christian testimony, it said of him, none of these things moved him, neither will he count his life dear unto himself. Paul was prepared to be a Christian, whatever the cost. Our Lord Jesus was prepared to follow through the will of his father, however dangerous the assignment may be.

Joseph is in a life-threatening situation, simply because he has done what his father told him to do. Go and meet your brothers and see if all is well with them. He leaves the valley of Hebron, the place of blissful fellowship, and one reads in scripture of that great concern that Almighty God has for the salvation of the world, and that question which was asked in an eternity gone by, who will go, whom shall I send, and who will go for me? And the Son of God was prepared to respond to the invitation of the Father, to take upon himself flesh and blood, to leave the place of fellowship, the place of unqualified bliss, and to move into Shechem, to take upon himself the sins of the world.

Shechem, you recall, I said means burden, means shoulder rather, and our Lord Jesus is a great burden bearer. He puts his shoulder to the sins of humanity, he bears our sorrows, he carries our sins, he hangs there on the cross as a result of all that you and all that I have done that was wrong and unacceptable in the sight of God. Joseph finds himself in great difficulty for this reason, he wants to fulfill the will of his father.

Jesus comes to earth and is in great difficulty, plotted, plotting took place almost before he began his public ministry. Herod will have all the boy children done to death in Bethlehem and its environment because Jesus represents a threat. The full-grown Savior has only just begun to preach in the synagogue of Nazareth and they've already, the opposition, started putting their heads together as they plot to find a way in which they can silence him.

He comes to his own and his own receive him not, they're not quiescent, that would have been acceptable, there is murderous intent, the same sort of murderous intent as is reproduced here in the 37th chapter of Genesis, when Joseph is aspired by his own and they say, here comes that dreamer. It wasn't that Joseph came to remonstrate with them. Go and look after your brothers, seek them out, see that all is well with them, says Jacob, Joseph's father.

And the reason why Jesus came into the world was not to condemn the world. John 3.16 is a good verse, right that you had it on your mind, right that I often invite you to recite it congregationally, but the 17th verse is equally apposite and meaningful. He came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Go and see how well it is with the sons of Adam, and if it is not well, then deal with the situation so that it can be well, Jesus, Joseph. That's why he came, that's all. This is why Joseph went, first to Dauphin, or rather first to Shechem, and then he discovers as someone sees him wandering around without any particular seeming answer to a fulfillment of his quest, and says, why are you, what are you looking for? He replied, I'm looking for my brothers.

Can you tell me where they're grazing their flocks? Verse 16. They have moved on from here, the man answered. I heard them say, let's go to Dauphin.

Did you ever think when reading this story through, did the great fruit hit your eyes, as you saw beneath the surface, some of the temptations that must have come into Joseph's mind? He was a legitimate excuse to go no further. You see, he's an intelligent man, one of the cutest men that ever lived is Joseph. He knows about Shechem.

He knows about the bad reputation that he and his brothers and his father have, because of the way that they have dealt with the inhabitants of that land. He's also fully informed that he's not number one on the popularity charts of the rest of his brothers. Here is an excuse not to perform the father's mission.

He's attempted it, but the brothers are not there. So he can go back, but he doesn't does he? He continues. He burns up the miles as he moves towards his brothers.

He has the intention of fulfilling his father's wishes. And you'll never deflect Jesus from doing what he's about. Even if one of his closest colleagues, Peter says, not you Lord, not Jerusalem, not the cross for you.

Jesus will not be bent, not even by the emotional appeal of a man who would probably willingly have surrendered his own life for him. Jesus is in a life endangered situation, as he stands before Caiaphas and Pilate and all the rabble, simply because he was there to do the will of his father. Is it well with your brothers? Go and see.

And he went and spent all the three years of his public ministry, sussing out his brothers. Is it well with you in Galilee? Is it well with you in Samaria? Is it well with you in Judea? The whole life of our Lord Jesus, did you not know this? Was designed for the benefit of people like ourselves. Is it well with you? Jesus wants to know.

And if it's not well with you, if there's compromise, if there's sin in your life, he's come not primarily to condemn you, to make you feel guilty. That may be a necessary ingredient along the way. He has come that you might be freed, freed from your sins, freed from all the hang-ups that bind you.

Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other. Why did they dislike him so much? Why is Joseph so hated? Why was the blessed son of God so hated? Well it's all embraced in the word dreamer, you see. Joseph has insights, insights into the mind of God.

He knows the purposes of God at a limited level, for Jacob and for his brothers. He's had dreams of a day that will come when they will benefit by his ability to, to save the family. You remember the sheaves of corn bowing down to his sheaf? You remember the stars and the sun and the moon bowing down to his star? You recall the fulfillment of this as the years have been burnt up into history, as the future becomes the present? How the brothers ultimately are glad to acknowledge that the prime minister of Egypt is none other than Joseph, their own kith and kin.

The salvation of their family depends very much upon the fulfillment of the revelation that Joseph has brought them from God himself. But he's hated as a result. And Jesus time and time again in the scripture is recall, is described as being hated.

And the hostility is because of what he has to say. The ministry that he's brought from the Father. You hate me because of this.

You plot murder because of this. Read John chapter 8 and verse 40. Go on and read other verses in John's gospel and you'll discover exactly what I'm trying to say.

That Jesus is utterly hated because of the revelation that he brings. But the day will come when the dream of Joseph, the revelation of Joseph and the revelation of Jesus comes to pass. The Bible says that the day will dawn when at the name of Jesus things in heaven and things on earth shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That Jesus is hated for these things. Why is it that people don't come, flock into church these days? Why is it that they don't want to come under the sound of gospel preaching? The fact of the matter is that they don't want to accept in their hearts, in their lives what God has revealed through his word. They don't want to bring into their thinking what God is teaching them in regard to their own responsibility to him.

They will not have this Jesus. They will not have this Joseph. The best thing therefore to do is to silence these people.

And so there's an attempt to silence Joseph on the part of his brothers. Come now let's kill him. Do away with him.

You do away with the dreams. Do away with the dreams. You do away with the consequences.

We'll never bow down before him. Do away with the Christian message. Bring in your liberal preachers.

Use some scissors and cut out those passages from the Bible that speak of the wrath of God and the impending judgment. Do away with it. Get rid of the dream.

Get rid of the dreamer. You get rid of the consequences. And then languish under that illogical conclusion that they have made.

That you can silence the revealed voice of God. The revealed message of God in the world today. So what do these brothers do? Well they put together this particular scheme.

And they think they'll throw his, his body down the cistern. And ultimately they'll ensure that his life has been taken from him. Reuben to some degree tries to ameliorate those plans.

There's 21 when Reuben heard this. He tried to rescue him from their hands. Let's not take his life he said.

Don't shed any blood. Throw him into the cistern here in the desert. But don't lay a hand on him.

It was to the credit of Reuben that he hoped to rescue his brother from such a dastardly end as the other relatives plotted. But you remember what happens. How Joseph is very, very badly treated by his brothers indeed.

They strip him of his robe. That thing that had caused so much enmity. That thing that had caused their jealousy to reign supreme.

They took him and they threw him into the cistern. And then what did they do? Well they sat down and ate their meal. Can you imagine it? You see their screams from this young man.

I don't exaggerate. If you were to turn to Genesis 42 and verse 21. There is back reference to this particular event.

The whole idea of this young man being thrown into a pit. And there in all the dark knowing terror. And in no way shouting out in terms of pleading for escape.

Well you have to toss that on one side. Joseph was afraid as to what was going to happen to him. And so he shouts out.

But these brothers they've stripped him. And they quietly sit down to eat their meal. Such is their hostility.

You say how could men behave in such a fashion? Well they did it again. Did they not? Here is our blessed Lord Jesus. They strip him of his raiment.

They pin him to a cross. And the Bible says. And sitting down they watched him there.

Incredible brutality of men. Don't you think? But not just the men of yesteryear. Do you read your papers? Have you heard about some of the things that are happening in our own society today? Did you read of that Chief Justice who was so upset by fathers who were outraging their own children in these days? Not just our examples unfortunately.

So many things that are happening beneath the surface. Now coming to the top. And we're seeing something of the nature of society.

And what goes on in dark corners so to speak. Yes men were dastardly in their treatment in the days of Joseph. They were in the days of our Lord Jesus.

And they are still today. That's the reason don't you understand it? Are you hearing me? That's the reason why Jesus came into the world. Is it war with the brothers? No it's not war father.

It's far from war. The way they treat men and women. All right all right Jesus.

The reason for you going there is to be able to deal with this condition. And here of course you're parallel with Joseph falls down as every type falls ultimately. Joseph struggles as he's thrown in the pit.

And ultimately he's allowed some measure of escape. As you remember a deal is done with some Ishmaelite traders who come down from and are on their way from Gilead to Egypt. It's a softer option or so it seems to for Joseph to be sold for just a few pieces of silver.

And for him to go into Egypt as far as they're concerned he's dead. They'll never see him again. No more dreams.

No more dreamer. No more consequences. But as for our Lord Jesus there's no taking him out of the pit.

In the blackest day that ever there was in human history he's engulfed in hours of dreadful darkness as he offers his life as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. You know something? It's very difficult to live with a skeleton in your cupboard. You see these brothers they thought they'd solved their problem.

Actually they'd created even greater ones. Jealousy had come in. Murder was in their heart.

They settled for enslavement as a foul option. But they've got to go back to the Father haven't they? They've got to speak to Jacob. Isn't it interesting, let me say as an aside for you friends who are really skilled in scripture.

Isn't it interesting how your sins ultimately find you out? Do you remember what they did? They got a goat. They killed the goat. And the blood of the goat was splattered on that long flowing coat of Joseph.

And they used the deception of the goat as an explanation for the non-return of Joseph. Years before when he was just a young man relatively so Jacob had deceived his father Isaac. You remember? The short-sighted man.

He wanted the blessing of Esau. How did he get the blessing? By wearing goat skin which gave his arms the impression of being hairy like that of Esau. And the old man was duped, duped by goat skins.

And here is Jacob duped by the shedding of the blood of a goat. Many skeletons in people's cupboards and unless they're dealt with they have an ability to rattle at the most inconvenient times. But that was just an aside.

Back to these brothers. They have to live with what they've done. They have to pile one lie on top of another lie.

That they do show that coat, that blood-drenched coat to the father. And in one sense the type comes in again because without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. They don't understand that of course.

But you do. And I have some inclination, some understanding of this myself. That when the blood of our Lord Jesus is spilt on Calvary's cross that atones for the foulest deed that I have ever done.

I stand complete. In him he becomes my righteousness having forgiven me for my sins. There is bloodshed, not atoning blood.

But perhaps it anticipates with all the subterfuge and all the layers of deceit that are on top of it. It anticipates that one glorious day when God will deal with the sins of the sons of Jacob and Jacob's own sin himself. And he does so ultimately through the sending of his son.

But back to Joseph just for a moment. Have you ever thought that one of the wonderful things about God is he works at both ends of the scene. You see your problem is this.

It's the same as mine. You only see your end. You only see the pit, the dastardly brothers with all their evil intention.

Where's God in this? Where's God when Jesus has his face almost beaten in through the cruel fists of Roman soldiers? Where is God, the Father, the loving Father? He's at the other end of the situation. He's there realizing that this is necessary so that that can become possible. It's not easy for Joseph to understand that all these things are locked in the eternal tortoises of God.

Send him a text from the New Testament, he'll swing it back at you. All things work together for good. You can't tell a man who's been incarcerated in a pit and now he's being sold as a slave to Ishmaelites that all things are working together for good.

But they do because God is at both ends. Not so. The rough treatment of Joseph.

One day he will thank God for it. But the months will be absorbed into years. And he'll come to the situation ultimately as a mature man.

And he'll speak to those brothers who still have blood on their fingers, at least symbolically. And he'll say, you meant it to me for evil, but God, he meant it to me for good. And even when the blessed Christ hangs on Calvary's cross, it is true to say, though you may have the tremble in your lips as you let the words fall out, it was for good that God allowed the rough treatment of his son.

He came and to his own. And his own did not receive him. They did their damners towards him.

But to as many as received him because of what was done to him, to them gave he the latter category, those who believe in him, power to become the sons of God. You see the point, the logic is fantastic. You should be dancing in the aisles at the moment.

Joseph is used by God for the salvation ultimately of Jacob and all his brothers. Jesus is used by God for the salvation of the believing world. And without the rough treatment, there could have been no salvation.

Where was God? He was at both ends, working it all out with that great benevolent heart that caused him to send his son into the world to see how well it was with the family of Adam. He got more than a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't well. So he sends to Jesus to deal with the situation.

And that's what he's done. Praise be to his holy name. Let's stand and give him the glory.

I want us to sing a little song drawn near to God. And he'll draw near to you. Lift up holy hands to him and sing of what he's done.

Praise him. Praise him for his son. Amen.