Reading 14 • September 27
Today's Scripture
Genesis 37:1–20
Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. These are the descendants of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him an ornamented robe. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
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.
Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” (NRSVUE)
Reflection
Jacob has been struggling with God, but now, in chapter 37 of Genesis, he announces he is back in Canaan, the Land of Promise. The author of Genesis uses Jacob’s new, God-given name, Israel. And the narrative of Israel’s favorite son, Joseph, begins.
It is a familiar story: the youngest kid showing off to his older brothers the beautiful coat his father has given him, the favorite son. It gets worse when Joseph relates a couple of dreams in which these brothers and his parents are bowing down to him. His father scolds him, but in a bit of foreshadowing, the author relates that Israel (Jacob) records this important incident in his mind. The vengeful brothers plot Joseph’s death.
While we know how this story turns out — capture, exile, forgiveness, and eventual freedom from exile for Joseph’s descendants — what is the message of these first 20 verses of chapter 37? Although the explanation is obscured by the brevity of words, it will become clearer that God was watching and teaching.
Families are imperfect arrangements, often times: multiple marriages, deaths, favored offspring, infighting among step-siblings, and confusion. Maybe God cannot or does not prevent us from fomenting jealousy and destructive behavior. However, ensuing results become instructive, perhaps more meaningfully than if we lived lives free of disruptive or punishing events.
Maybe running through your mind and distracting you from the message in this Genesis passage are excerpts from the musical that helped to launch the careers in the 1970s of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. That’s OK. Make the connection for a fidgety adolescent you know and encourage them to pick up their Bible, turn to chapter 37, and read it and the remaining fascinating Genesis chapters to get the “true story.”
Prayer
Wise and all-knowing God, help me to discern your signals, however obscure or slight they might seem to be, to guide me to a better understanding of my thoughts and behavior. Then help me to choose or plan the outcome most in accordance with your will. Amen.
Written by Rebecca Dixon, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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