Joseph Sold Into Slavery

Genesis 37:23-36

GOLDEN TEXT: “Charity envieth not.”—I Corinthians 13:4

THE story of Joseph and his brethren, beautiful in its simplicity as a narrative, is deeply interesting and instructive, from various viewpoints. One lesson would be the unwisdom of a parent showing too great preference for one child above another, and thus cultivating among the children a spirit of envy. Another lesson would be the unwisdom usually of confiding even our dreams to unsympathetic ears; as when Joseph told his dreams to his brethren. In the one dream he saw the sun the moon and the eleven stars all doing homage to him.

Joseph was not to be blamed for having these dreams. Unlike the majority of dreams, they came not from any ordinary or physical cause, but were from the Lord. Joseph was not even to blame for artlessly telling the dreams to his brethren; and, evidently, this was the very thing the Lord intended should be done. The Lord foreknew the jealousy of Joseph’s brethren, and how envy would be cultivated in their minds; and He gave the opportunity for it; for He had already mapped out Joseph’s subsequent experiences, the envy of his brethren merely helping to accomplish them.

In addition to what has been suggested foregoing, the most important feature of today’s Bible study is that which recognizes Joseph as a type, or prophetic picture of Christ, the Messiah. Joseph was kind to his brethren and was on an errand of mercy to them when their envy plotted his death, and later on, sold him into slavery in Egypt. His brethren hated him without a cause, merely because he was good, because his father loved him, arid because God in the dreams foreshadowed his coming exaltation.

But God’s providences continued with Joseph and blessed him as a slave, and through much tribulation finally brought him to the throne of Egypt—next in influence and power to Pharaoh himself. Then it was that the famine in the land drove Joseph’s brethren to Egypt to buy wheat. Thus was fulfilled his dream—that his brethren bow down, as illustrated in the eleven sheaves that bowed down before his. Later on when his father and the entire family came into Egypt to live in Goshen, they all did obeisance to Joseph, as the representative of the Egyptian Government, thus fulfilling the second dream. But all of these experiences were at the time dark, hard to understand, they all looked as though the Lord had less love for Joseph than for any others of his family, until the time came for his exaltation to the throne. Then everything changed.

The allegorical meaning of this, as applied to Jesus, is that He was also hated without a cause. We read in Psalms 69:4, “They that hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of Mine head.” Jesus quoted this statement and applied it to Himself, saying, “They hated Me without a cause.” (John 15:25) The brethren of Jesus were the Jews who crucified Him. But there was no cause of death found in Him.

We perceive that it was for envy that they delivered Him up and called for His crucifixion, because His works were good and theirs were evil; because He taught the way of the Lord more perfectly than they; because He declared to them that the time would come when they and all others would recognize Him as the Messiah—coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory—and would bow the knee to Him.

As with Joseph, disaster, shame and treachery prepared the way for glory and honor on the throne of Egypt; so it was with Jesus. His trying experiences proved Him loyal to God and led onward to His exaltation to the right hand of divine Majesty. St. Paul refers to this, saying of Jesus, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2) And again, in II Corinthians 8:9, he says, “Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich,” even as the experiences of Joseph—all of his humiliation—prepared the way for him to be later honored by Pharaoh and prepared to succor his brethren. Again we read of Jesus, that He “learned obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect [through suffering], He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.”—Heb. 5:9

The Scriptures assure us that in God’s great plan, not only Jesus is to be exalted to the throne as the world’s Messiah, but also a company of His brethren are to be sharers of the same glory, honor and immortality. And these brethren, in God’s great purpose, are required to pass similar experiences to those of their Elder Brother, Jesus. Their experiences, therefore, are also illustrated in Joseph’s experiences. However, they are not on an equality with their Elder Brother. He is designated their Head, the Captain of their salvation. So we read again, that “it became Him [God] … in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.”—Hebrews 2:10

Does not this account for the trying experiences of the church during the past nineteen centuries? The Apostle John declares, “As He was, so are we, in this world”; and again, “the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” As Joseph’s brethren were blind to the fact that their brother would be their savior from famine, as well as the savior of the Egyptians, so the world fails to realize that only through the Messiah will any have eternal life.

In considering the experiences of Jesus we perceive that His persecution came from His brethren according to the flesh—from the Jews. And since then, all the way down the Gospel age, the persecutions of the church, the brethren of Jesus, the household of faith, have come from their brethren, too. These brethren are not Jews, but Christians. As the Jewish religionists in Jesus’ day persecuted their brethren, who followed the Master, so since then, nominal Christians have been the chief persecutors of the Lord’s faithful followers.

This persecution has come upon faithful souls of nearly every denomination. And, sad to say, this persecution has come from unfaithful souls of nearly every denomination. Presbyterians, Covenanters, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Methodists and Baptists have all endured persecutions from blinded brethren; and blinded ones among themselves have also shared in the persecuting work. In nearly every case the claim has been made that the persecuting was done for the glory of God. Thus the Lord through the prophet expresses the matter, saying, “Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.”—Isaiah 66:5

Already the world in general, including the Jews, realize that a great mistake was made in persecuting Jesus unto death. Already to some extent, similar transgressions against the faithful followers of Jesus have been recognized. And yet the same blindness, from the same envious disposition, leads some on to persecution even in our own day.

QUESTIONS:

What is the most important lesson for the Christian in the story of Joseph and his brethren?

What are some of the ways in which the experiences of Joseph foreshadow those of Jesus?

To what extent should Christians follow the example of Joseph in forgiving their brethren?

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