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23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. 29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?” ~ Genesis 37:23-30
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 37 where the hatred of Joseph's brothers is rising. The problem that Joseph's brother had was not with Joseph; their problem was their reaction to Joseph. They did not realize that they could not prevent the fulfillment of the dream that God gave to Joseph from coming true. What God had planned would be fulfilled. Strangely, their hate actually accomplished God’s will.
Man can never frustrate God’s will. It is foolish to try. He is God and we are not. But, the remainder of this story also includes the steps that are involved in forgiveness which are: the injury, the debt created by that injury and the cancellation of that debt. We will look at these three steps as we matriculate through the remainder of the book of Genesis.
Throughout our study of Genesis, we have found a ton of pictures which find their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 10:11 we read, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." In order for these pictures or parallels to be such, they had to align with something God later instructs us on, either implicitly or explicitly. They must be directed properly to the plan of redemption as the Bible reveals it. If this is so, then these pictures explain the seemingly unnecessary nature of some things the Bible includes such as the hatred of Joseph's brothers. Joseph's brothers' problem was that they were not being defined by the God of the Bible. No, they were being defined by their flesh which are the evil desires that we find in all of us. It is these desires which bring death and destruction into our lives.
In v.23 of today's passage we read, "So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him."
Joseph’s coat was a sign of the favor that his father had given to him resulting in him having authority over his brothers. Since they hated him so, they wanted Joseph to feel the effects of the loss of the robe, so when he was sent by his father to check up on them, they stripped him of his special robe. This was the first of three things his brothers did to Joseph which created possibility of the first step involved in forgiving another. And of course, what his brothers meant for evil the Lord navigated to produce good for Joseph because Joseph fairly consistently was being defined by God. This is primarily what enabled him to discover that even their mistreatment of him would produce God's purpose and plan in his life. The only way that Joseph could do this was to be careful that He was following the Lord and the Lord was defining him.
In v.24-28 of today's passage we read, "24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. 26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt."
With the first description of the injury exacted upon Joseph clearly spelled out, specifically that his brothers had stripped him of his robe, they secondly shoved him into a pit which was empty and without water. They initially intended to leave Joseph that day in that pit but their plans changed as we will see in a moment.
It was after Joseph's brothers ate a meal that they decided to sell him to some Ishmaelites from Gilead who were enroute to Egypt. It was at that point that Judah realized that there was an alternative to leaving his brother in the pit, something tantamount to killing him. Instead they could profit off the sale of him. When his brothers sold Joseph to the Ishmaelite traders, they gave us the third part of the injury that they exacted upon Joseph that day: they stripped him of his robe, the shoved him into the pit and they sold him into slavery.
In v.29-30 in today's passage we read, "29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, 'The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?'"
Reuben hadn’t consented to the sale, nor did he know of it. But when he discovered that his brother was gone, he tore his clothes, a sign of intense grief and pain. Then Reuben literally asked, "What shall I do now?" This was the very same question that the people of Israel who had gathered to hear the Apostle Peter's first recorded sermon in Acts 2 verbalized after hearing his message which was nothing less than the Gospel. Peter had explained what had happened, how the Lord Jesus had been crucified for our sin, how His tomb was empty on the morning of the third day, and that the Lord Jesus had risen.
Those Jews on the day of Pentecost who heard Peter's message whose hearts were softened to the plight of the Lord Jesus their brother responded just as Reuben did. For those who repented, they were given the right to be called children of God. When we have come to know the meaning of the name Reuben we discover that this question asked so long ago by Reuben and reiterated by the Jews in Jerusalem on the day Pentecost, we find its fulfillment in the hearts of those who repent from the way of the flesh or those who repent from depending on themselves for their salvation to those who depend solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ for their eternal life.
