Joseph's brothers already hated him because he's their father's favorite and appears to be Jacob's intended primary heir. Now Joseph is having dreams in which his family bows down to him. This is the final straw for his brothers and they conspire to kill 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 said. 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." (Genesis 37:12-14a) Shechem is the city where Simeon and Levi slaughtered every grown man, yet Joseph's older brothers are grazing their father's sheep near there. The Bible told us that the Lord put fear in the hearts of the peoples surrounding Shechem so they would not attack Jacob's family to avenge the men of Shechem. The Lord showed Jacob's family more mercy than they deserved, but we could say the same of the mercy He's shown to us. I've made some bad choices in my life. Some of those choices were deliberately sinful and others were just stupid decisions that I wouldn't have made if I'd spent enough time considering my options, but the Lord prevented me from receiving the full penalties and consequences that should have naturally followed. There were some consequences here and there of course, but the Lord in His mercy prevented disaster from following my bad decisions. That's what the Lord did for the family of Jacob. Dysfunctional though they may be, they recognize Him as the one true God whereas the men of Shechem were heathen idolaters. The Lord protected Jacob's family because they have not denied His name, unlike the men of Shechem who refused to serve Him.
Joseph is an obedient son. He knows he's the favorite son and I'm sure this made him somewhat spoiled and selfish in his youth, but he immediately agrees to his father's wishes. We can already see that this young man is someone the Lord can use. A person who respects and honors his parents is a person the Lord can use, for that person already knows how to graciously accept and obey instructions. "When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around 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." (Genesis 37:14b-17)
I tried and failed to find any commentaries that assigned any importance as to why Moses mentioned the man who gave Joseph directions. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there's something going on here. There was really no need for Moses to provide this seemingly inconsequential detail, yet he records the conversation between Joseph and this unnamed man. I don't know if this is another Old Testament appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ, or whether this is an angel, or whether this is an ordinary man who (by design of the Lord) happened to overhear where Joseph's brothers were going. But if Joseph had not met this person, he might have given up on finding his brothers and returned home. Or if he had wandered about for a day or two until he found them, it might be that the anger of his brothers wouldn't have been burning so hotly toward him. The events that need to be set in motion require Joseph to meet up with his brothers in a particular place on a particular day. I really believe his meeting the man in the field is a divine appointment, whether the man is someone special or just an ordinary guy. The Lord has plans for Joseph's life and those plans depend on him finding his brothers, upon his brothers plotting to kill him, and upon his brothers coming up with an alternate solution that sends Joseph to another country where he will fulfill the Lord's will for his life.
Joseph doesn't dread meeting up with his brothers. He seems oblivious to their hatred of him, just as he seemed oblivious to their indignation when he told them his dreams. I think he might not be a very perceptive person when it comes to picking up on body language and tones of voice. Or maybe he's been made so self-centered by his father's favoritism that he believes everyone loves him. I get this, in a way, because I was the baby of my family and a big deal was always made of me by everyone in the family. So everywhere I went, I expected people to just naturally like me. It wasn't that I thought I was something special and that everyone was obligated to like me; it was just that I wasn't used to being disliked or disciplined or held accountable for anything. I like everybody and just assumed everybody I ever met would like me too. When I started school and realized that not everybody likes everybody, it was a hard and confusing lesson but it was a lesson that needed to be learned. Joseph is about to learn a hard lesson from his older brothers. "But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him." (Genesis 37:18)
Murder had to already be in their hearts for them to come up with such a heinous idea so quickly. Between the time they spot Joseph coming and the time he reaches them, they've come up with a plan to take his life. They didn't spend much time thinking about it. They didn't have to. I think most or all of them had already thought about how much better life would be if Joseph had never been born or if something happened to him. We need to keep in mind that Joseph's full younger brother, Benjamin, is not among the conspirators. He's still a child and is at home. The ones who plot to kill Joseph are his older brothers, the sons of Leah and Bilhah and Zilpah.
Two of Joseph's brothers have already committed murder. The rest of them looted and pillaged the town of Shechem following the slaughter of all the men there. Their hearts were already hard before they committed these horrible sins at Shechem and, since they haven't repented of their actions there but instead justified their actions to their father in a previous chapter, their hearts are even harder now. They thought nothing of slaughtering an entire town full of men with whom they had worked and socialized. They now think nothing of killing Joseph who is their own flesh and blood.
Thankfully, one of them will shrink back from following through with the plot. Reuben, Jacob's oldest son who rebelliously lost his place as primary heir, will be the voice of reason in the midst of madness. Join us tomorrow when the brothers agree to a compromise in which they do not kill him but still find a way to permanently rid themselves of him---or so they think.
No comments:
Post a Comment