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Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, ‘Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf.’ His brothers said to him, ‘Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?’ So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words. He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, ‘Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’ But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, ‘What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?’ So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37: 5-11)
I suppose little brothers or sisters can serve a purpose sometime in their life, don't you? Friend, if you have little brothers or sisters, you might understand this story.
We met Joseph last Friday when we read about the Christmas lights coat his father gave to him. The story gets better. You read it above. That little kid goes and dreams two dreams, in which, guess who is the star? Yep, Little Joe! And amazing dreams they were, "For there we were, working in the field binding hay into sheaves and when suddenly, MY sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and guess what they did? They bowed down to my sheaf! (Can you hear the laughter in his voice?)" It gets better; "I had another dream: The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me!" Dad or Mom might have said, "Let's get this boy to a therapist right away!" Well, they all rebuked him for having these dreams. And okay, Joe might not have been laughing when he told the dream; laughter was not really needed as the content of the dream was enough to anger his older brothers. They were already jealous of him, and this added icing to that bitter cake that was already cooked.
Those of us who know the rest of the story know that this was God's way of preparing the boy for a difficult life that was coming his way. It was already bad enough to be the 12th brother to eleven older brothers; now he was the star of these dreams which made them look bad. God's plan was in motion to deliver all of the family from coming natural disasters and events, and God was going to use little Joseph as their deliverer. They didn't know it yet, and Joseph didn't know how to interpret the dreams. What we do read in the verses following the above ones, is that the brothers did an evil thing to Joseph and to their father. Their first plan was to kill him and then blame the murder on wild animals, which was a plausible story. It was Rueben, the oldest who said no to that plan. He did agree to throw him into a pit in order to save him later. When Joseph arrived to check on them as his father had asked, they stripped him of that robe they hated so much, and threw him into a pit. Not exactly Leave It to Beaver TV is it? This was real, evil human nature at work. They sit down to eat while lil bro is in the pit with no water. A caravan of Ismaelites is passing through and they decide they will sell their brother into slavery. Sigh. Twenty shekels of silver for a human life. They go and show Dad the famous robe covered in animal blood that they blame on a wild animal that had devoured him. Interesting, how the real wild animals were they themselves. They broke their dad's heart and the old man mourned for days.
We sometimes "kill" our siblings with words or thoughts. The anger we may feel for them is taken out in bad thoughts or bad words said about or to them. We also, sometimes "kill" brothers or sisters in the faith with the same actions and thoughts; all the while the real wild animal may be us. We sell their worth for money, or laughter or seek popular opinion from others, knowing that the money or laughter has very little worth compared to the true value of a human being in God's eyes. The moral of this story is to not be like the older brothers. We have to trust God and God's big plan for our lives not knowing if they or we are in it at the present moment. The day may come when our eyes are opened to the truth of what God was doing all along. For now, we seek to love and get along the best we can, trusting and awaiting that day of revelation.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see how I truly am right now, but show me how best to love and live with those who make me uncomfortable. Bless those who may have come into our minds as we read the above story; and bless us into being who you want us to be. This we pray in faith and trust in You in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day and weekend in the Lord! Give life to people today with your words and actions!
Eradio Valverde
