WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

An international Sunday school lesson commentary

For Sunday September 6, 2020

 

Over 248,000 readers worldwide

larrydalexander.blogspot.com

 

BIASED LOVE

(Joseph’s dreams and enslavement at the hands of his brothers)

(Genesis 37)

 

   In Genesis 37 we are given further evidence of how the damning effects of “favoritism” (“biased love”) can wreck a human life and destroy a family’s structure. Here begins the detailed biblical account of the life of Joseph, the oldest and “favorite son” of Jacob and his “favorite wife”, Rachel.

    This account takes up in the seventeenth year of Joseph’s life (Genesis 37:2), and ends about three generations later, with his death at the ripe old age of 110 (Genesis 50:26). At this time, Joseph was an innocent and naïve lad who was experiencing a lot of dreams, or “prophetic messages from the LORD” that seemed to forecast a future for him that was much brighter than that of his brothers, and even of his father, Jacob. In essence these dreams revealed how one day, he would actually rule over his entire family.

    However, because of Joseph’s naivety, he never really saw the great damage that, his honest relating of his dreams was causing to his already strained relationship with his brothers. In fact, he did not really fully understand the dreams himself, but, nevertheless, he kept them on his heart and continued to share them. The sharing of these dreams became “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, as far his brothers were concerned, and soon, even Jacob became concerned, as to whether Joseph’s dreams were valid, or not.

    Jacob, who was the “favorite child” of his mother, Rebekah, had always treated Joseph better than he treated his other sons, since his birth. His open display of favoritism toward Joseph had already “lit the flames” that were now being fueled by Joseph’s honest reporting of his dreams to his family. In the end, this all contributed greatly to Joseph’s brother’s hatred towards him, and ultimately, it led to their plan to eliminate “the object of their distain” (which, of course, was Joseph).

    In verse 12, Jacob unwittingly sets the stage for his older sons to have an opportunity to get rid of Joseph once and for all. Here he sends Joseph on somewhat of a “spy mission” to see what was taking his sons so long to return from their 50-mile trip to Shechem, where they were supposed to be pasturing Jacob’s flocks. Joseph’s charge from his father was to see what his brothers were really doing in Shechem, and then report back to him.

    When Joseph arrived at Shechem, he did not see his brothers, but a man noticed him wandering around the countryside, and he asked young Joseph, what he was looking for. When Joseph told the man that he was looking for his brothers, the man informed him that

they were no longer there, but rather, had gone over to Dotham, which was about 15 miles away.

    After his encounter with the man in Shechem, Joseph headed on over to Dotham to see what his brothers were doing there. However, when he arrived, his brothers spotted him before he saw them. Immediately, they saw this as an opportunity to get rid of their younger brother once and for all, and their first thought, unfortunately, was to kill him and throw his body into a pit.

    Here in verses 18-36, we see Joseph’s brothers struggling in a spiritual battle between their “sin nature” and their “sense of decency”. At first, their plan was to physically slay their little brother, and throw him into a deep pit (Vs.18-19). However, Reuben, the oldest brother, convinces the other brothers not to kill Joseph, but instead, to throw him into the pit alive, and leave him there to die. And so, they removed Joseph’s beautiful “coat of many colors” and they tossed him into the pit alive. Reuben, however, was secretly planning to come back later and rescue Joseph from the pit and return him to Jacob (Vs.21-22).

    However, after Reuben left, the other brothers decided on another plan. In the distance, they could see a caravan approaching, and so, they decided in the spur of the moment, to sell Joseph to the caravan, who turned out to be Ishmaelite travelers (descendants of Ishmael), that were headed to Egypt. The Ishmaelites bought Joseph from his brothers, and upon arriving in Egypt, they re-sold him (into slavery) to a man named Potipher, who happened to be the captain of the palace guards for the Pharaoh of Egypt.

    Meanwhile, the brothers were on the way home from Shechem, and along the way, they hatched up a lie to tell their father, Jacob. They came up with the idea to kill a goat and smear some the blood from that goat on Joseph’s tunic which they had taken off of him. Then they would tell Jacob that they found Joseph’s coat along the way, and that he must have been slain and eaten by wild animals in the wilderness.

    When they arrived back home, they told Jacob their fabricated account, and when he heard it, he couldn’t contain his grief, and he went into deep mourning for days and days at the very thought of such a thing happening to his favorite son. This was in total contrast to way he received the news of his daughter, Dinah’s rape by Shechem, or the news of his son Reuben sleeping with one of his “least favorite” wives, Bilhah. In both those instances, he showed absolutely no emotional reaction at all.

    This famous account from the pages of this book of Genesis, serves to show us some of the “spoiled fruit” that “favoritism” can produce. First of all, favoritism can victimize and make a person the target of all sorts of abuse and evil within a family, the workplace, and, even the church.

    Secondly, favoritism never considers the worth of others. One can never see the value of others if their focus is only on “one individual”. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, favoritism absolutely hinders spiritual growth in all people who engage in it.

    Joseph was an innocent sufferer, and he suffered greatly, even as the recipient of favoritism. Jacob, who was the donor of that favoritism, also suffered when he was deceived by his own sons into thinking that he had lost the one whom he showered his favoritism upon, Joseph.

    His “least favorite” children, Joseph’s brothers and sister, were victimized physically, emotionally, and psychologically, because they had to continually watch Joseph being exalted over them by their father all of their life. Jacob’s favoritism was at the root of his children’s sinful behavior against him and Joseph, and this account is a clear indicator of why man should abandon the practice of favoritism toward certain individuals on earth, and instead, begin to concentrate on seeking the “favor” of the Almighty GOD in Heaven.

 

A Sunday school lesson by,

Larry D. Alexander

 

 

Larry Dell Alexander (1953–) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

 

LARRY D. ALEXANDER'S BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY

larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com

 

            Larry D. Alexander's Books and Publications Spotlight

 

Larry D. Alexander - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

                                 

LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website

 

Clinton Family Portrait - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia