PROCLAMATION
“And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he
told it his brethren; and they hated him yet the more … And he dreamed yet
another dream … And he told it his father and his brethren; and his father
rebuked him … And his brethren envied him …”
Genesis 37:5-11 (KJV)
EXPLANATION
These are
the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the
influence of The Holy Spirit of God. Jacob, now called Israel, had
twelve sons (Genesis 35:23-26) but he loved one, Joseph, his first son by his
wife Rachel, more than the others and they hated him because of that. (Genesis
37:3-4) Joseph had dreams in which his brothers bowed down to him.
When he told his brothers of his dreams they hated him even more. (Genesis
37:5-8 and 37:9-11) Joseph’s brothers went to feed their father’s flock
in Shechem. (Genesis 37:12) Some time
later, Israel sent Joseph to get information for him regarding the wellbeing of
his brothers and the flock. (Genesis 37:13)
His brothers saw him coming from far off and they had plotted to kill
him, but his oldest brother Reuben prevailed upon them not to kill him but to
cast him into a pit. (Genesis 37:17-24) Afterwards they saw a caravan
approaching and agreed to sell him to them. But first they took his coat
of many colors that his father had given him and smeared it with goat’s blood,
to give it to their father. (Genesis 37:25-33) Joseph’s brothers were
moved by envy when they sold him into slavery, but God was with him. (Acts 7:9) The Midianites who bought Joseph sold him in
Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
(Genesis 37:36)
APPLICATION
Not all of
our family members and friends will rejoice with us and share in the joy of our
dreams. In fact, not all of them really want to see us do well and
succeed, especially if we will become better off than they are.
Unfortunately, some people act like crabs in a barrel, pulling one another down
before they can reach the top. We should rejoice when our family and
friends rejoice and be sad when they are sad. (Romans 12:15) We are not
to desire or covet anything which belongs to others. (Exodus 20:17) We
should also be aware of the fact that dreams may show us a successful end point,
but they may not reveal the grievous predicaments which must be endured before
the prosperity. We must keep the faith and endure to the end, with or
without the support of family and friends.
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