Genesis 37:1-11

Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

A bad report, two dreams, a spectacular coat, and hatred. In the middle of this soap-opera caliber family drama, God shared his gospel with his people. In the middle of bad behavior, a father playing favorites, a naïve son getting on everyone’s nerves with his open, unfailing honesty, and jealousy rapidly boiling over into murderous hatred, there is the gospel of God’s grace and love.

There is so much here in Joseph’s story, the scope is so big and so broad, that it’s hard to keep focused on both the bad and the good at the same time. But let’s step into the story and look around. Moses presents Joseph to us as a seventeen-year-old. He was with four of his brothers—Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher—and gave their father a bad report about them. Later on, we will be told that all of Joseph’s brothers misbehaved, and all of them got told on.

There are two sides to the concept of a tattle-tale or a whistle-blower. Although that person will never be popular for what they do, it is also true that if you don’t do anything wrong, you won’t need to worry about someone telling on you. And while Joseph was not breaking the 8th commandment, it seems as if the way he went about making this report may not have been the best way to handle things.

On the other hand, Jacob their father lavished Joseph as his favorite son. This was partly because he was the firstborn of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, who had died giving birth to another brother, Benjamin. One way that Jacob showed this was through  a fabulous robe.

This robe has been called many things: A coat of many colors, a coat of palms (which means a long-sleeved overseer’s robe). Luther called it a coat of many threads (a higher thread count means a softer garment). Our NIV says “an ornate robe.” Later in the Bible, King David’s virgin daughters wore this kind of robe, so either a softer robe or an ornate robe seem like good translations, and the point is clear even if I can’t show you an accurate picture: Joseph got a gift to wear that his brothers didn’t get, and they hated him for it.

This speaks to us on several levels, and notice what the Holy Spirit has done. In the Epistles, Peter, Paul and John teach specific doctrines with great accuracy, with pinpoint precision. In the Psalms, David and Asaph and the others sing God’s praises in many different ways that fit many difference occasions. But here in Genesis and the other books of Bible history, the Holy Spirit can teach us many different lessons with the same simple verses.

For example, here in the story of Joseph’s dreams, we see three different lessons about the fourth commandment. First, Joseph honored his father and respected him, and this led him to give a bad report about his brothers. Second, Joseph’s father broke the fourth commandment by showing more love to one son than to his other children, causing hatred and jealousy in his family. And third, the other sons did things that brought on their bad report, and this was by sinning against their father’s will and against his instructions.

Where do we fall in this tangle of fourth commandment sins? Are you a naughty child? Are you a parent who plays favorites? Do you make peace in your family, or do you stir things up? Do you take things in the kindest possible way, or are you easily hurt? Of course, there is a whole host of sins we commit against the fourth commandment with regard to respecting those we work for, the men and women who keep the peace and who sit as our authorities in school, church and government, both local, state or district, and national. But simply within the home, God gives us a picture of our relationship with him which we see in our relationships with one another.

And it’s God who has established these positions of authority. Paul says: “Keep watch over yourselves and the all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made your overseers.” And again, “There is no authority except that which God has established.” So when we grumble about a boss or a parent, about rules we don’t agree with, we’re grumbling against God’s representatives, and we’re grumbling against God.

For this we ask God’s forgiveness—and as we turn in repentant faith to God, he assures us that he loves us and that he is still working in our lives. In our text, God does this with the dreams he gave to Joseph. Notice what those dreams were about. The brothers thought that the bowing grain and the bowing stars and so forth were about Joseph getting above himself. But those dreams were a prophecy from God about what he had planned for the future.

Remember that when this happened—around the 1870s BC—it was still four hundred years before Moses began writing the Old Testament. Job may have been alive and talking with his friends on the other side of the Dead Sea, but no one would write about him for another thousand years. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us that God spoke to his people in dreams. But notice that he gave Joseph two dreams: one to teach the basic lesson (God would raise him up even with respect to his brothers), and another dream to confirm as a second witness, now including the sun, moon and stars.

This would be fulfilled. But first, Joseph was going to be betrayed and sold into slavery. He would resist temptation from Potiphar’s wife which would cost him his freedom yet again. In the Egyptian prison, he would help people who would forget about him, until at last God would use him to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh which would serve as warnings and as the mechanism by which Joseph, thirteen years from now, would be lifted up the life sheaf of grain in the dream to the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. Then, more than seven years after that, his own brothers would come and bow down to him, just as God had foretold.

Your heavenly Father has plans for you, too. They are not the same that he had for Joseph, but they’re just as personal. They involve you and the will of God and the rest of your life. To know his will, you and I don’t need to wait for dreams. We can search the Scriptures, and we can be assured that although we are sinners like Jacob and his sons, we are also forgiven in Christ.

It does not matter for your salvation whether God ever speaks to you in a dream. It does not matter for your salvation whether God lifts you up to be the sultan of Egypt, or the sultan of New Ulm, or the Sultan of Swing. All that matters is that the Son of God—his specially beloved and only begotten Son, gave his life for you on the cross. That means that you will be lifted up out of the grave on the Last Day. The sun, moon and stars will not just bow, they will fall and disappear. But you? By the grace of God who loves you, you will be lifted and brought to your eternal home.

Until then, serve God and trust in the promise of the Gospel. And always, always remember: Your heavenly Father loves you dearly. Amen.