Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're looking in Genesis chapter 37. We'll start today on the life of Joseph. Stay tuned for our broadcast. Well, in our last broadcast, we saw that Jacob and Esau got together, had a great time of reconciliation, and things were made right between the two boys, and that is a very good thing. But we also saw that although they were from the same family, they certainly were not on the same page. And in chapter 36 it says, now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. Now it says in verse 6, Esau took his wives and all his family and so on, and it says that he went into the country from the face, of his brother Jacob, and that was a good thing. Why? Well, because we read in verse 9, these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites. And as you go down through and study it, you'll see that his descendants also included the Malachites, who were the great enemies of the people of God. In chapter 36, you'll see a story about a bunch of dukes that are mentioned in the Bible 43 times as a duke or dukes another 15 times. And this course is a title of distinction that people seek for today. It's kind of like preachers looking for doctor's degrees. We've never had so many doctors amongst our circles, and yet the church has never been as sick as it is now. So it certainly isn't the doctor's degrees that are going to do it. But while these guys are all out there following the ways of Esau, we read that Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger in Genesis 37 and verse 1 in the land of Canaan. Then it begins in verse 2, and it says, Now these are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilphah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, They hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Here I pray you this dream which I have dreamed. For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright, and, behold, your sheaf stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said unto him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more. for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream. And he told it his brethren and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? And his brethren envied him, but his father observed the sayings. We want to see as we go through this story that there's a lot of things in the life of Joseph that were very much a type of the life of Christ when he was here on earth. For example, in verse 2, we see that he was 17 years old when he is already talking to people about what God is going to do in his life, and Jesus was 12 years old when he did the same thing. Joseph was a shepherd, and the Bible says that Jesus was the good shepherd. In verse number 3, we see that Israel, that is, what's called Jacob, Joseph's father, had a special love for him, as the father of our Lord had a special love for the Lord. We see he had a coat of many colors. He had a special coat, and so did Jesus. You remember at the cross, his coat was made without seam, and they gambled for it there. The Bible says Joseph was hated by his brethren, and the Bible says that Jesus came unto his own, and his own received him not. Joseph was hated without a cause. I mean, they hated him simply because his father loved him, and Jesus was hated without a cause. Down in verse 5, he brought a message from God for those brothers of his that Joseph did, and they hated him yet the more, as was the situation. Now, as the story unfolds here, we see that Joseph is with a motley bunch of brothers. They've got 12 sons here, and Joseph is one of them. And except for Benjamin, they're all a bunch of write-offs. It's hard to believe that they could be so far from God as they were. Now, Joseph had been born back in chapter number 30 in verse 24. And we read that after he was born that Jacob was with Laban in that area for about another six years. So when he left and then Laban caught up with them, you know, as they were traveling back to be in God's country. Laban came and they had this confrontation between Jacob and Laban. Joseph would have been about six years old, maybe seven, and he would have witnessed this whole thing. He would have also witnessed the meeting with Jacob and Esau and them getting things right together. Well, in chapter 33 and verse number 17, we see that Jacob made a little side trip down into Succoth, which he never should have done. And at that time, Dinah, was also in her teenage years, and Joseph by this time would have been in his teenage years as well, probably around 15, 16 years of age, when that whole situation took place, and they would have been witnesses to that. Well, Jacob's little side trip into Succoth was good for his financial situation, but it was a disaster for his family. Little Dinah was wanting to see some friends. She went out looking for the daughters of the land, the Bible says, and the prince of the country saw her, and of course, you know, he defiled her, and he laid with her and defiled with her, the Bible says, and then Her brothers went in there and slaughtered all the men in that city. Now, Joseph was a teenager by this time, and he was witnessing all of this. And the bottom line here, as we get to when Joseph was 17 years of age, he was living in a trashy world, and he was living in a totally dysfunctional family, and yet he made it. He was one who stood out as a great young person for the cause of the Lord. And we have situations today where we're living in a trashy world, and God's looking for some young people who will stand up, as did Joseph. But if you're going to do that, understand, you're going to pay the price. Well, we see here in verses 2 through 4 that Joseph, this 17-year-old lad, was out with the sons of Bilhah, and he was out with the sons of Zilphah. And that would be Dan, and Naphtali, and Gad, and Asher. that Jacob had put Joseph with as they were out there in the shepherd. Now, they were simply the best of the worst. I mean, they were the best of this motley group. The old 12 of them, except for Joseph and except for Benjamin, they were all write-offs. Well, Joseph was out there with four of them that were not so bad. Jacob certainly wouldn't want to put him with Simeon or Levi, who had gone into a town and slaughtered a whole bunch of innocent men. because of what had happened to their sister. Well, we get into verse number five, and it says, Joseph dreamed a dream. Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told his brethren, and he just told them what he dreamt, and they hated him yet the more. And keep in mind, he's only 17 years old. His brothers are all adults and supposed to be the leaders. He has far more character than any of them. But anyway, the problem was not only that he had told them about this dream. They already hated Joseph for what he stood for. It was sort of like when Christ came here. Yeah, you can heal our sick people if you want to. We like that very much, yes. But don't go telling us how to live our lifestyle. Don't go telling us what we need to do. We see in John 6 that multitudes, large multitudes of people were following the Lord. And they said, Tell us what we must do that we might work the works of God. So he went ahead and told them, and the Bible says they followed him no more. As a matter of fact, you get into chapter 7, they're getting together to figure out how they could kill him. And that's exactly what is happening here with Joseph. They said, let's kill this fellow before we get too much further on in this story. You'll see that. And so he was hated, not only because he opened up his mouth and told them what his dream was about, but they hated for what he stood for. Well, we read verses six through eight, he was hated yet the more for his words, which was sort of the same reaction that the Lord had. Well, in verse 9, he had another dream, and the Bible says he told them that dream, and when you get down to verse 11, we read that his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying. Now, they envied him. What is envy? Envy is a resentful feeling aroused by someone's possessions. Someone has something that you don't have, and they are envious of it. Well, what did he have? He had his father's love. He was Jacob's favorite. He had a coat of many colors. and they envied him for it. This word envy in this verse, number 11, has actually been translated jealous 10 times. Well, it says that they envied him, but his father observed the sayings. That's very interesting. He observed the sayings. This word denotes a perception that Jacob had. In fact, it has been translated wait seven times, just wait. He knows that something is going on in the life of Joseph here, and he is determined that he is going to wait and see how it unfolds. Well, in verse number 12, we read that his brethren went to feed their father's sheep, or the father's flock, in Shechem. What were they doing in Shechem? That is where the two boys went in and slaughtered all the men because of what had happened to Dinah. And there they are up there. No wonder Israel, as he's called here, which is Jacob, uh said unto joseph do not thy brethren feed the flock and check them come and i will send thee unto them and he said to him here am i now here he is young fella he's only 17 years old he said i want to send i want to send you up there see how they're doing i hope they're okay and immediately he says here i am here i am i will go and he does what his father directs him to do as did our savior And so we read in verse number 14, He said unto him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a certain man found him, a certain man, that's very interesting. That phrase is found in the Bible 31 times, an interesting study. A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren. Tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And the man said, They are departed hence. For I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Now, once again, they hated him without a cause. Verse 19 says, and they said one to another, behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, therefore, and let us slay him and cast him into some pet, and we will say some evil beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dream. Well, as I said, young Joseph grew up in a very dysfunctional family. Very dysfunctional. We'll see what will become of his dreams. Yeah, we will see what will become of it. Well, Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hand and said, let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him that he might rid him out of their hand to deliver him to his father again. So he's trying to get some time here to so he can save joseph and it came to pass when joseph was come unto his brethren that they stripped joseph out of his coat his coat of many colors that was on him and they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty and there was no Water in it and they sat down to eat bread. That's them and they lifted up their eyes and There was a company of Ishmaelites coming and they decided they would sell him to the Ishmaelites and we'll have to pick up the story here again Tomorrow be sure and tune in we'll try to make it plain. We'll try to make it simple. I