Wells of Living Water Commentary
Genesis 37:20
Joseph Rejected by His Brethren
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
As we proceed to consider Joseph, as rejected of his brethren, there will be discovered an outline of Christ rejected by His people which will stand forth in amazing colors. Truly the hand of God was working in a way that neither Joseph nor the brothers who delivered him, knew.
Let us now consider the five reasons which Christ, Himself, gave for His being refused by His own. In these five statements we will likewise discover the five reasons why men are rejecting Christ today.
1. Christ was rejected by the Jews because they had not His Word abiding in them. They read the Prophets, or they heard them read in their synagogues every Sabbath, and those Prophets testified of Christ and yet they knew it not.
They even went so far as to fulfill all the things concerning Christ up to the hour of His crucifixion until the moment that they took Him down from that Cross, and yet they knew not that they fulfilled the Prophets.
How many there are today who are rejecting Christ because of their ignorance of the Word of God! The world is filled with Bibles, and thousands of pulpits are dedicated to its exposition, and yet the world knows not the Bible.
2. Christ was rejected by the Jews because they believed Him not. He wrought many miracles, and signs, and wonders which portrayed His glory and gave witness to His Messiahship, and yet they did not believe in Him.
He spake before them as none ever had spoken; He lived before them as none other had ever lived; He wrought deeds of love and mercy as none had ever wrought, and yet they believed not on Him.
3. Christ was rejected by the Jews because they would not come unto Him that they might have life. Their wills were unbending and their hearts were filled with rebellion against God. "They turned every one to his own way."
Having cast off the authority of the Father they were prepared in heart to cast off the authority of the Son. Having rejected the Prophets and having stoned them, or killed them, they found it easy to reject the One of whom the Prophets had written.
4. Christ was rejected by the Jews because they did not have the love of God in them. God loved the Son, but they did not know God, neither did they possess the love of God. They professed to serve God, they boasted that they knew Him, yet, withal, they knew nothing of His love either toward others or toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Christ was rejected by the Jews because they received Him not When Christ was born He had no reception on the part of national Israel. When He was grown His own home city of Nazareth received Him not. For a while the populace followed after Him because of the miracles which He did, but the masses never opened their hearts that He The Word of God with its message is set at naught.
As we have brought before you the reasons why Christ was then rejected, we are sure that we have also suggested the reasons why He is now rejected. The world will not believe today any more than it did then. Innumerable excuses may be given for the rejection of Christ, but the reasons noted above are those which Christ gave in the fifth chapter of John for His rejection.
I. JOSEPH'S BRETHREN SETTING THEMSELVES AGAINST HIM (Genesis 37:20)
1. Joseph's brethren disbelieved his dreams. They said, "We shall see what will become of his dreams." Joseph had related his dreams to his brethren, but they believed him not. They had no sympathy for Joseph's visions.
When Christ spoke men believed Him not. He was the Truth, but they preferred to believe a lie. He was Life, but they preferred to abide in death. It is still the same today. might come in and rule and reign in righteousness.
Joseph's dreams were great prophecies of his future power and glory. This glory was utterly repudiated by his brethren. They would not concede to Joseph any superiority. to themselves.
Here is another striking thing. All of Christ's Word is set at naught, but the world particularly rejects His prophetic words. Prophecy foretells the coming glory and might of the Son of God, and the complete overthrow of the enemy this the world will not accept.
2. Joseph's brethren set themselves in array against Joseph's dreams. Here is the way the brethren spake: "Let us * * cast him into some pit, [then] * * we shall see what will become of his dreams." They thought within themselves to utterly undo the words of Joseph. They felt assured that they could forestall any prophecy that Joseph might make.
Once again we are face to face with facts concerning Christ and His brethren. They thought to lift their hand up against God's beloved Son. They thought that they could make void any prophecy that Christ gave.
All of this is but a pen picture of the spirit of our own day. The Word tells us, "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us." What consummate folly is man's effort against God!
II. JOSEPH'S BROTHER, REUBEN, SOUGHT TO DELIVER JOSEPH (Genesis 37:21)
Among the ten brothers there was one who sought to stay the wrath of the rest, thinking that he might, by chance, deliver Joseph to his father. Here was a touch of sunshine against the clouds.
Let us look for its counterpart in the wrath of the Jews against the Lord. This, as we see it, will not be difficult to find.
As the days wore on the antagonism to Christ deepened. The rulers were seeking how they might slay the Lord. Officers had been sent to apprehend the Master; they returned saying, "Never man spake like this Man." The Pharisees tauntingly replied, "Are ye also deceived?" Then the rulers said, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?" It was at this juncture that Nicodemus, the one who had visited Jesus by night, said, "Doth our Law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" Thus did one man at least seek to curb the wrath of the Pharisees.
What we now desire to ask, however, and to ask with all of our soul, is this: Who is there among those who now live who will stand forth against the voice of the masses, and step in the breach for Christ?
The world cannot, now, crucify the Son of God. He is risen indeed and hath ascended to the Father. However, the world with an heart of unbelief still hates the Son of God. Where is He who will stand with Reuben, and plead the cause of our Joseph?
Do you cry, "Let Him plead His own case? If He be God let Him deliver Himself." Never thou fear. Our Christ will yet vindicate His holy Name. He will yet put to rout the enemy. Every knee shall yet bow, and every tongue shall yet confess Christ as Lord. Now, however, He is looking to see who will stand with Him and for Him, against the unbelief of the hour.
Be thou a Reuben. Take up the cause of the Lord. Lift up thy hand against His foes. Cry aloud thy praises of the Christ. One day He will come and will glorify thee.
III. JOSEPH STRIPPED OF HIS COAT OF MANY COLORS (Genesis 37:23)
We have already spoken of Joseph's coat of many colors. We now wish to suggest how the age in which we are living today has sought to rob our Lord Jesus Christ of that robe of His Deity, which is His token of many colors, which designates His glory.
1. The Lord Jesus is defamed as to His Virgin Birth. No one would hesitate in saying that the fact that He was begotten of the Holy Ghost and born of a virgin stands forth as one of the colors which crowns Christ as God. If Jesus were not the Son of God, begotten of the virgin, then He would hare been a sinner the same as all other men who are conceived of natural generation.
2. The Lord Jesus is defamed as to His eternity. Here is one of the colors that stands out so plainly in the Word of God. He came forth from the Father because He had been with the Father. He is described in the Bible as the Word which was with God, and was God, in the beginning. He is described in the Bible as the One by whom and for whom all things are made, and in whom all things consist. The world would rob Christ of that glory.
3. The Lord Jesus is defamed as to His miracle-working power. The Bible says of His first miracle, wherein He turned the water into wine: "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory."
The Jews said that Jesus wrought these miracles through Beelzebub. Theologians of today do not always go thus far, but they do endeavor to do away with the miraculous by explaining the miracles upon some supposed natural basis.
4. The Lord Jesus is defamed as to His vicarious atonement. Men seek to take away this color of His God-given coat by stating that His death was due to the increasing wrath of the Jews and His utter inability to avert its catastrophe. They utterly repudiate any vicarious, saving power in His Cross.
IV. JOSEPH CAST INTO A PIT (Genesis 37:24)
1. Joseph helpless to his brethren's wrath. "And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it." Such is the story of their treatment of Joseph. The next statement is, "And they sat down to eat bread."
We know that it was after the Lord was nailed to the Cross that they sat down and watched Him there. Thus, it seems that the pit may have to do with the seeming utter helplessness of Christ as He came to the hour of His death.
Not but that the Lord had all power as Deity not that. But, because of His having voluntarily given Himself over to His persecutors and would-be slayers, He was left helpless in their hands.
Joseph, shut up in the pit, was without an avenue of escape. He could not scale the sides of the pit, he could not lift himself out. Jesus Christ was shut up to the will of the Father. He was shut up by His love for the lost. It was for this cause the Lord did not exert His own power, nor did He call for twelve legions of angels, as He might have done.
2. Joseph suffered while his brethren sat down and ate bread. What spirit of unconcern to the fate of their brother did these sons of Jacob show! They could eat while he was left to die.
As they ate, they, no doubt, talked about Joseph and sought to justify their villainous deed. They simply had made up their minds to get rid of the one whom they despised. They were setting themselves to do away with any possibility of Joseph's holding any lordship over them.
As Jesus hung on the Cross His haters sat down and watched Him there. They also talked. They talked of their notable achievement against what they termed was a would-be Messiah. They said, "Let us see what He can do now." They imagined that all of His power was gone. If God had ever "been with Him, they assured themselves that He was now, at least, deserted by Him.
V. JOSEPH SOLD TO THE ISHMAELITES (Genesis 37:27)
1. A cunning subterfuge. As they sat down to eat, while Joseph languished in the pit, they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead en route to Egypt. One of them said unto his brethren, "What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him."
This action of Joseph's brethren reminds us of the Jews seeking to shift the burden of Christ's death over on Pilate and the Romans. When Pilate urged them to judge Him according to their own law, they said, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death."
Unto this very day the Jews will argue that it was the Romans who crucified Christ. This was true. The guilt, however, of the death of the Lord lay upon the Jews. Peter was not slow to say, "Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain."
2. Sold by Judah. We almost catch our breath as we note that it was Judah, one of Joseph's brethren, who suggested that Joseph should be sold, and it was Judas who sold the Lord Jesus Christ. Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver; Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver this was the price by which He was appraised.
Think you that the brethren of Joseph lessened their crime by selling him to the Ishmaelites? They sold him into what they supposed would be abject slavery and death, They never expected to see Joseph again.
We wonder if the twenty pieces of silver did not burn in the pockets of these men as the Ishmaelites moved on their way carrying Joseph with them as merchandise, to be bartered and sold in Egypt.
After Judas had sold his Lord he went and hanged himself, and perhaps, Judah ofttimes wished himself dead, as in the wee hours of the night the last look of his brother haunted him.
VI. THE BLOOD-SPRINKLED COAT OF MANY COLORS (Genesis 37:31)
While Joseph himself was spared from death, yet a kid of the goats was killed in Joseph's stead, and the coat of many colors was dipped in the blood.
1. The coat all blood-stained and dirty suggests the humiliation which men placed upon the Lord. Christ was covered with all indignity by the ruthless "brethren" who delivered Him to death. He was buffeted, spit upon, beaten, and exposed to the ribaldry of the maddened mob. A crown of thorns was placed upon His brow, as the people in mockery bowed the knee and cried, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
The Prophet Isaiah in the Spirit described Christ in death, with His visage more marred than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. Thus was Deity set at naught. Yet the God-man bore the ignominy and shame without a word. He gave His back to the smiters and His head to those who plucked out His hair. For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame.
Let those of us who suffer, not count it a matter of boast, that we are buffeted for Christ's sake. Let us gladly bear His reproach.
2. The coat dipped in blood was brought to Jacob with the statement: "This have we found; know now whether it be thy son's coat or no."
After the Cross work of Christ was finished, we have every reason to believe that the Blood was carried into the Heavenly Holy of Holies and presented to the Father. We know in the annual feasts of Jehovah, once a year, the high priest carried the blood into the holiest of all and there he sprinkled it upon the mercy seat.
Of this much we are sure, the Blood of Christ is the basis on which God, the Father, accepts the trusting sinner.
Here is a quotation from Hebrews concerning Christ's sacrifice: "But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."
VII. JACOB'S GRIEF (Genesis 37:34)
Travel in memory with us now into that ancient dwelling of the aged patriarch. There we may learn several vital lessons.
1. Sin begun, must be sin continued. The brethren of Joseph not only sold their brother, but when they returned home they were compelled to add sin to sin in order to cover their tracks.
They carried with them the coat of many colors, and as they gave it to their father, they lied saying, "This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no." They played the part of the innocent although they were guilty. They sought to cover their sin by an act of deceit and by a falsehood.
The same men who so treacherously treated their brother, now, with the same maliciousness, trample under their feet all the tender love and devotion of their father toward his son Joseph.
2. Jacob mourning for Joseph. When Jacob saw the coat all stained with blood, he said, "Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." Then Jacob rent his own clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son for many days.
As Jacob mourned, his sons and his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted. Thus did Jacob weep for Joseph and said, "I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning."
3. A cloud with silver lining. As Jacob wept, God was working. The Midianites had sold Joseph to Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard.
Is it not often true that if we could look beyond our tears, we would find God working out our own salvation? That which seemed against Jacob was, in fact, for him. In a future sermon we will learn how God had sent Joseph down into Egypt to preserve the lives of Jacob, his sons, and his son's sons.
AN ILLUSTRATION
TO DIE FIGHTING
Let us have the courage of Joseph.
"'Sometimes God letteth His people alone till their latter days, and their season of fighting cometh not till they are ready to go out of the world, that they may die fighting and be crowned in the field. But first or last the cross cometh, and there is a time to exercise our faith and patience before we inherit the promises.'
It has been observed that many of those who begin their spiritual career with severe mental conflicts are afterwards filled with peace, and are left unmolested for years. Others have their battle in middle-life, and find the heat of their noontide sun to be their severest trial; while a third class suffer, as our author tells us, at the very close of their pilgrimage. No rule can be laid down as to the varied experiences of the saints; but we suspect that few make the voyage to Heaven over a perpetually glassy sea; the vast majority, at some time or other, are 'tossed with tempest and not comforted.'
What if we also must die fighting? We shall fall amid the shouts of victory. How surprising will Heaven be to us! One moment almost wrecked, and the next in 'the Fair Havens.' Wrestling one moment, and resting the next with the crown about our brows! 'At eventide it shall be light.'