Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28
Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
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 am 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.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a 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 a 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 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–and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
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 to Egypt.
So 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 and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
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.
A Thought
There are some circumstances in life that come against us that we have no control over, but we can have control over how we respond to these events. Joseph had been given dreams of his family bowing down to him. Perhaps, these dreams gave him the strength to build his character to become obedient to the vision of God’s plan for his life. God can use the evil that is planned against us, even within our own families, to prepare us for our mission in life. When we trust God and don’t give up, God will rescue us in his own time for his glory.
Our Prayer
Father thank you that you have rescued us from the bondage of sin and death. We bow down to worship you with faith believing your plan for our lives is at work. Use the difficult challenges of our present day to build your character in us. Thank you that your grace is sufficient to bring us to a deeper walk with favor in your sight. We ask for the power of your Spirit to lead us into all truth, in Jesus’s name, amen.
