Sweet Sixteen - Bitter Seventeen
Welcome to parasha Vayeshev! This portion begins at Genesis 37:1-40:23. It all begins when Joseph was seventeen years old and Jacob (Yaakov) sends him out to check on his brothers and the flocks. He was sent at first to check on the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah. Whatever report he brought back to his father was not a good one. But Yaakov loved Joseph more than any of his sons. We've all heard of the famous coat Yaakov made him, the coat of many colors. This certainly did not endear him to his brothers to see Yaakov's favoritism for Joseph. Jealousy is an all consuming emotion. To add salt to the wound, Joseph has two dreams. He tells his brothers of the first one. In the first dream, all of them were binding sheaves in a field. Suddenly, Joseph's sheaf stood upright. Notice it doesn't say the sheaf just stood up, but it says it arose AND stood upright. Upright, meaning Joseph was going to be walking righteously. Then his brothers would bow before him, that being the hard part for them to swallow. Perhaps Joseph thought this dream would show his brothers that he was divinely decreed for something in life, if so, then it would be to their advantage not to hate him anymore. Then Joseph has the second dream. This time the sun, moon and eleven stars are all bowing to him.
This dream he also told both his brothers and his father. Yaakov rebuked him, but it also says Jacob observed this saying. Remember when Joseph had this dream of the sun and moon bowing to him, we know that represented his father and mother. But at this time, his mother Rachael was already dead, so how would she bow to Joseph? Possibly it was referring to the one who raised Joseph after Rachael's death, Bilhah. Or perhaps Joseph being a picture of Messiah, the sun, moon and stars were all of us and all of his creation bowing to Messiah. But needless to say, this did not endear his brothers to him, it only made them hate him more. One day Jacob sends Joseph to check once again on his brothers who were in Shechem. When he arrived there, the brothers had already left. In verse 15, we see where it says a 'certain man' found Joseph as he was wandering in the field. Remember what we've told you, anytime you see the word 'certain' before a place or a person, that person or place has high significance to something. This was not any ordinary man out in a field, I believe this was an angel that told Joseph where to find his brothers. Otherwise, Joseph would not have had any idea where to look. The commentaries believe it was the angel Gabriel. The brothers were in Dotham. So he went to find them As soon as his brothers saw him coming, they conspired against him to kill him. They joked to one another saying, "here comes the dreamer".
So they were ready to go ahead and kill Joseph. However, Reuben stepped in and stopped them. Reuben was willing to cast him into a pit, because he had planned to return to him later and get him out. Notice in verse 37:24, that it says the pit was empty AND there was no water in it. Why does it say the same thing twice? It could have just said the pit was dry and left it at that. It is believed that there were two meanings in this verse. One is letting you know there was not any water in the pit. The other is letting you know because there wasn't any water in the pit, it contained things such as snakes or scorpions, or etc. In this case, this was the first miracle YHVH did in Joseph's life, to preserve him from harm while in that pit. We know that Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Only Judah speaks up in behalf of letting Joseph live and selling him. Meanwhile, Reuben returns to the pit to retrieve Joseph, but he is gone. We know they killed a goat and dipped Joseph's blood into it. I personally believe the brothers themselves did not take the bloody coat back to Jacob, but rather sent it back to him by someone else. In 37:32, it states they sent the coat of many colors back. Also, it says whoever brought the coat to Jacob asked him, is this your son's coat? If the brothers had taken it, they would have known it was Joseph's coat and would have not had to ask Jacob. That would have been a silly question for them to ask. They would have had to come up with another line to break the news to him. But they knew Jacob would know something wasn't right if they appeared and asked him if this was Joseph's coat. After all, this was the coat that was especially made just for Joseph.
It wasn't any old tweed jacket Jacob picked up at J. C. Penny's:. Needless to say, Jacob is overwhelmed with grief. You would think the brothers would have thought what they were doing to their aged father to let him believe Joseph was dead, but I guess they were too overwhelmed with jealously to care. In verse 35 it says all Jacob's sons and DAUGHTERS rose up to comfort him. We only hear about one daughter of Jacob and that was Dinah. Either one of two things is happening here. Either Jacob had more than one daughter and the Scriptures do not name them, or he called his daughter in laws daughters. I'd say probably the last one, but we can't be absolutely sure. Then the Scriptures interrupt the story of Joseph and begin telling you about Judah's mishaps. Even though he knew better, you see Judah marrying an Adullamite woman. They have three sons. Here is where Tamar enters in. She marries the first born son of Judah and he dies. She then marries the second son and he dies. How would you like to be the third son:? But Judah promises him to her after he's grown up. Then in 38:12, we see the wife of Judah dies. You see how YHVH let Judah suffer the loss of his children just as he had made Jacob suffer the loss of Joseph. Things sure look different when the shoe is on the other foot, right? Tamar gets upset when she finds out that Judah did not give her his third son as he promised. So like a lot of other Biblical people, she decides to take matters into her own hand. She tricks Judah into thinking she is a harlot and he gives her his signet, his bracelets and his staff as a pledge that he will send back a kid from the flock. Later he sends back the kid, but the messenger can't find the harlet, who of course was Tamar in disguise. She then gets pregnant and when word comes back to Judah, what is his reply, burn her. That Judah sure had a tender heart don't you think:? She then comes before him and shows the items he gave her as proof of whom her baby belonged to. What could he say!
Then she gave birth to twins. The midwife tied a scarlet thread around the hand of the baby who reached out first. Being the first born in those days carried a very high significance to it. But that baby pulled back and the other baby ended up coming out first. The baby who came out first was called Pharez, the other baby with the thread around its wrist was named Zarah. The Messiah came through the line of Pharez. Now it's back to Joseph again who has now been sold down in Egypt to Potiphar. Potiphar was an officer and the captain of the guard. YHVH blessed Joseph in Potiphar's house and everything he did there prospered. It did so to the extent that Potiphar put everything he owned into Joseph's hands to manage. YHVH blessed Potiphar's house for Joseph's sake. It says he left everything in Joseph's hands to the extent that he didn't even know what he owned except for the bread on his table. Then Potiphar's wife decided she wanted Joseph. But Joseph was faithful in his walk and refused her advances. That landed him in prison. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned:. Even in prison, Joseph prospered. At least to the extent anyone can prosper in a place such as that. He was made head over all the inmates. The Scripture said the guard never even looked at anything Joseph did, because he knew God was with him. Then a couple of prisoners had some dreams. This is where Joseph excels! The Pharaoh's butler and baker had been thrown in prison under Joseph.
The commentaries say the cupbearer had a fly in the cup he gave to Pharaoh. Whereas, the baker had a pebble in the bread he served. Their thought was, it was more serious for the baker because he had to be negligent in his baking duties to let a rock be in his bread. The cup bearer could have served the cup and the fly landed in it later on, some time after the Pharaoh had it in his possession. We'll never know if either of those theories are true or not. We do know the two prisoners both had a dream on the same night. They were puzzled as they could not understand what the dreams meant. Joseph offers to interpret. The cupbearer began to tell Joseph his dream of a vine with three branches coming out of it and how grapes burst forth out of it. He took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and handed him the cup. Joseph tells him the three branches are three days and within three days Pharaoh will restore him back to his former position in his house. But Joseph tells him to be sure and remember him to the Pharaoh when this happens (which he doesn't). Now the baker decides he'll get Joseph to interpret his dream also. The baker had three white baskets on his head containing all manner of baked goods. Here the birds came and ate out it. Now Joseph begins to inform him the three baskets are also representing three days. However, this time within three days Pharaoh will hang him and the birds will eat his flesh. I would say at this point the baker wishes he'd never asked for Joseph's interpretation:.
I know I would have! Just as Joseph had told them, each one received as he was foretold. Now time goes by as Joseph realizes that the cup bearer did not put in a word for him with the Pharaoh and he's still stuck in prison (2 years later now). At this point, how would you feel? I'm going to assume you wouldn't be taking it as well as Joseph. You would probably be thinking, hey YHVH, what's going on here? What have I done wrong that you leave me here in prison for something I didn't even do in the first place? Come now, you know you would be asking God a lot of questions:. If we get one kink in our lives, we think God has abandoned us! Don't you love people when things are going wrong, they say you must have committed some sin to be going through that problem:? Wow, in using 'that reasoning', Joseph must have committed a real whopper:! At sweet sixteen Joseph was at home and his father's favored son. But at seventeen, his life changed brutally. He was thrown in a pit, sold as a slave and spent twelve years in prison for something he was innocently accused of. Sometimes, things in life seemingly go wrong, but not for the reasons we think. We cannot see the big picture as YHVH does. Sometimes the sweet sixteen turns into a bitter seventeen, but the bitter seventeen doesn't last forever, thankfully! Shalom
This dream he also told both his brothers and his father. Yaakov rebuked him, but it also says Jacob observed this saying. Remember when Joseph had this dream of the sun and moon bowing to him, we know that represented his father and mother. But at this time, his mother Rachael was already dead, so how would she bow to Joseph? Possibly it was referring to the one who raised Joseph after Rachael's death, Bilhah. Or perhaps Joseph being a picture of Messiah, the sun, moon and stars were all of us and all of his creation bowing to Messiah. But needless to say, this did not endear his brothers to him, it only made them hate him more. One day Jacob sends Joseph to check once again on his brothers who were in Shechem. When he arrived there, the brothers had already left. In verse 15, we see where it says a 'certain man' found Joseph as he was wandering in the field. Remember what we've told you, anytime you see the word 'certain' before a place or a person, that person or place has high significance to something. This was not any ordinary man out in a field, I believe this was an angel that told Joseph where to find his brothers. Otherwise, Joseph would not have had any idea where to look. The commentaries believe it was the angel Gabriel. The brothers were in Dotham. So he went to find them As soon as his brothers saw him coming, they conspired against him to kill him. They joked to one another saying, "here comes the dreamer".
So they were ready to go ahead and kill Joseph. However, Reuben stepped in and stopped them. Reuben was willing to cast him into a pit, because he had planned to return to him later and get him out. Notice in verse 37:24, that it says the pit was empty AND there was no water in it. Why does it say the same thing twice? It could have just said the pit was dry and left it at that. It is believed that there were two meanings in this verse. One is letting you know there was not any water in the pit. The other is letting you know because there wasn't any water in the pit, it contained things such as snakes or scorpions, or etc. In this case, this was the first miracle YHVH did in Joseph's life, to preserve him from harm while in that pit. We know that Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Only Judah speaks up in behalf of letting Joseph live and selling him. Meanwhile, Reuben returns to the pit to retrieve Joseph, but he is gone. We know they killed a goat and dipped Joseph's blood into it. I personally believe the brothers themselves did not take the bloody coat back to Jacob, but rather sent it back to him by someone else. In 37:32, it states they sent the coat of many colors back. Also, it says whoever brought the coat to Jacob asked him, is this your son's coat? If the brothers had taken it, they would have known it was Joseph's coat and would have not had to ask Jacob. That would have been a silly question for them to ask. They would have had to come up with another line to break the news to him. But they knew Jacob would know something wasn't right if they appeared and asked him if this was Joseph's coat. After all, this was the coat that was especially made just for Joseph.
It wasn't any old tweed jacket Jacob picked up at J. C. Penny's:. Needless to say, Jacob is overwhelmed with grief. You would think the brothers would have thought what they were doing to their aged father to let him believe Joseph was dead, but I guess they were too overwhelmed with jealously to care. In verse 35 it says all Jacob's sons and DAUGHTERS rose up to comfort him. We only hear about one daughter of Jacob and that was Dinah. Either one of two things is happening here. Either Jacob had more than one daughter and the Scriptures do not name them, or he called his daughter in laws daughters. I'd say probably the last one, but we can't be absolutely sure. Then the Scriptures interrupt the story of Joseph and begin telling you about Judah's mishaps. Even though he knew better, you see Judah marrying an Adullamite woman. They have three sons. Here is where Tamar enters in. She marries the first born son of Judah and he dies. She then marries the second son and he dies. How would you like to be the third son:? But Judah promises him to her after he's grown up. Then in 38:12, we see the wife of Judah dies. You see how YHVH let Judah suffer the loss of his children just as he had made Jacob suffer the loss of Joseph. Things sure look different when the shoe is on the other foot, right? Tamar gets upset when she finds out that Judah did not give her his third son as he promised. So like a lot of other Biblical people, she decides to take matters into her own hand. She tricks Judah into thinking she is a harlot and he gives her his signet, his bracelets and his staff as a pledge that he will send back a kid from the flock. Later he sends back the kid, but the messenger can't find the harlet, who of course was Tamar in disguise. She then gets pregnant and when word comes back to Judah, what is his reply, burn her. That Judah sure had a tender heart don't you think:? She then comes before him and shows the items he gave her as proof of whom her baby belonged to. What could he say!
Then she gave birth to twins. The midwife tied a scarlet thread around the hand of the baby who reached out first. Being the first born in those days carried a very high significance to it. But that baby pulled back and the other baby ended up coming out first. The baby who came out first was called Pharez, the other baby with the thread around its wrist was named Zarah. The Messiah came through the line of Pharez. Now it's back to Joseph again who has now been sold down in Egypt to Potiphar. Potiphar was an officer and the captain of the guard. YHVH blessed Joseph in Potiphar's house and everything he did there prospered. It did so to the extent that Potiphar put everything he owned into Joseph's hands to manage. YHVH blessed Potiphar's house for Joseph's sake. It says he left everything in Joseph's hands to the extent that he didn't even know what he owned except for the bread on his table. Then Potiphar's wife decided she wanted Joseph. But Joseph was faithful in his walk and refused her advances. That landed him in prison. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned:. Even in prison, Joseph prospered. At least to the extent anyone can prosper in a place such as that. He was made head over all the inmates. The Scripture said the guard never even looked at anything Joseph did, because he knew God was with him. Then a couple of prisoners had some dreams. This is where Joseph excels! The Pharaoh's butler and baker had been thrown in prison under Joseph.
The commentaries say the cupbearer had a fly in the cup he gave to Pharaoh. Whereas, the baker had a pebble in the bread he served. Their thought was, it was more serious for the baker because he had to be negligent in his baking duties to let a rock be in his bread. The cup bearer could have served the cup and the fly landed in it later on, some time after the Pharaoh had it in his possession. We'll never know if either of those theories are true or not. We do know the two prisoners both had a dream on the same night. They were puzzled as they could not understand what the dreams meant. Joseph offers to interpret. The cupbearer began to tell Joseph his dream of a vine with three branches coming out of it and how grapes burst forth out of it. He took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup and handed him the cup. Joseph tells him the three branches are three days and within three days Pharaoh will restore him back to his former position in his house. But Joseph tells him to be sure and remember him to the Pharaoh when this happens (which he doesn't). Now the baker decides he'll get Joseph to interpret his dream also. The baker had three white baskets on his head containing all manner of baked goods. Here the birds came and ate out it. Now Joseph begins to inform him the three baskets are also representing three days. However, this time within three days Pharaoh will hang him and the birds will eat his flesh. I would say at this point the baker wishes he'd never asked for Joseph's interpretation:.
I know I would have! Just as Joseph had told them, each one received as he was foretold. Now time goes by as Joseph realizes that the cup bearer did not put in a word for him with the Pharaoh and he's still stuck in prison (2 years later now). At this point, how would you feel? I'm going to assume you wouldn't be taking it as well as Joseph. You would probably be thinking, hey YHVH, what's going on here? What have I done wrong that you leave me here in prison for something I didn't even do in the first place? Come now, you know you would be asking God a lot of questions:. If we get one kink in our lives, we think God has abandoned us! Don't you love people when things are going wrong, they say you must have committed some sin to be going through that problem:? Wow, in using 'that reasoning', Joseph must have committed a real whopper:! At sweet sixteen Joseph was at home and his father's favored son. But at seventeen, his life changed brutally. He was thrown in a pit, sold as a slave and spent twelve years in prison for something he was innocently accused of. Sometimes, things in life seemingly go wrong, but not for the reasons we think. We cannot see the big picture as YHVH does. Sometimes the sweet sixteen turns into a bitter seventeen, but the bitter seventeen doesn't last forever, thankfully! Shalom